Happy Birthdays!

If I ever make notes on my calendar, September would be a month that is filled with birthdays, including my own!

My niece celebrated her 2nd birthday recently at Mcdonald's. It was the first time I attended a birthday celebration at Mcdonald's.

We did not have a tradition of celebrating birthdays except for our grandparents, and as a kid, I have never attended any of my friends' birthday parties. Somehow though, you could roughly figure out how a birthday celebration at Mcdonald's would be with the balloons, games and gifts for the little ones. However, the choice of the outlet made a difference.

The location was at Rideout in Queensway. It has a good playground, a little park for the older kids to roam about, and without a big crowd, space for the adults to sit back and relax, have a bite and catch up on things.

I do not recall when getting presents for kids had become difficult for me. Although there are a lot more variety of toys and merchandise these days, I find it harder to decide on a good present because you do not want to duplicate what the kids already have. Giving money in red packet becomes an option. Fortunately, my 6 year-old helped me decide what to buy for her little cousin.

"We will get her Duplo! We have lots of that in school and she will love them too!" SW says that because he is a fan of Lego. I am very glad that he knows Duplos are for younger children. I thought that was a good choice since CH still plays with them at 4. And the more pieces you have, the bigger things you could build.

Today is LA's 5th birthday. Sis just told me that when we bumped into her and LA on our way to the library.

"CH, today is LA's birthday! Would you like to get her a present?" I asked CH as we went our separate ways, agreeing to meet for lunch later.

"Oh! Yes, mommy!"

"What would you like to get her?" I asked and continued walking, having the least idea what we could get her.

"Why don't we buy her a surprise?"

I laughed, "Surprise isn't an item you can buy, CH!"

I never thought of gifts and surprises that way. Does this 4 year-old really understand what the word surprise mean? What does a surprise look like? Why not? It is the thought that counts, isn't it? All gifts are surprises, aren't they?

On our way home after lunch, CH did not want to part with LA and refused to go home. "Where are we going, mommy?"

"Home, CH, we are going home now." I had to put my foot down.

"Mommy, can we go to LA's Birthday Party?"

I laughed again. Not because LA isn't having a birthday party, but from the earlier 'buy a surprise', CH makes "LA's Birthday Party" sound like a location rather than an occasion!

Original Works

You could say children are the greatest artists. For what they lack in strength and dexterity, they make it up in their originality, and that is unbeatable by any adults. So untainted in perception, so clear of beliefs of any sort, so full of possibilities.

CH, September 2010

I like the the flowers that grow from the sky

Recently, I saw in a friend's facebook, some line drawings done by his preschool daughter, of people she knows. Maybe it is because I have been so used to seeing my own children's, or perhaps it is the noses that she has included on the faces, which do not exist in any of my children's. Her simple lines made an impression on me. If only I can have my friend's courtesy to put up some in this blog to share...

Great! Permission granted! Here are some of 3 year-old Faith Chen's works:

Faith has interestingly added something which looks like a '2' in this picture.

Perhaps she's drawn this when she was two? Or perhaps that is just part of her hair?

Makes me wonder if 'Teacher Michelle' wears glasses.

Notice how she fills up the entire page in each drawing.

Kids!!

I try to keep a record of the funny things SW tells me.

"Jonathan cried in school twice today," said SW. Jonathan is the most popular boy in his class.

"What happened?"

"It's YH's birthday today, and teacher said he is the king today."

"Oh, I see. Jonathan enjoys being king, eh? So why did he cry the second time?"

"Teacher said that a second time!"

__________

"I told teacher that last time Victoria said she wanted to marry me, now she doesn't want to marry me."

"Ah-huh, so what did your teacher say?"

"She said, "Why you bother?"!"

From around 5 to 6 years old, SW blushes when he sees girls showing flesh.

"Yeee, look at this girl," SW commented, pointing to an animated cartoon character in bustier.

"Do you think girls look nice wearing that?" I asked out of curiosity.

"No." He shook his head.

"Why do you think they wear them?"

He thought for a while and replied, "Because there is a hole in their shirt?"

__________

"Look at this girl, she's botak(bald)", SW commented, pointing to Ventress in his Star Wars The Clone Wars book.

"Why is she botak?"

"She has given her hair to Count Dooku! Hahaha!"

"????"

__________

I wish I had taken more notes of what the kids say.

Dragonflies, Dragonflies

Dragonflies, dragonflies,
why do you hang around
these concrete grounds?
Where have I seen you, but
in the greenest fields?
Could it be the puddles from the rain?
Or the smell of grass that remained?

Dragonflies, dragonflies,
why are you still here
after one whole year?
Are you looking for your home
man has taken over for their own?
Are you looking for your little ones
who vanished while having fun?