I don’t know whether to be proud, embarassed, or alarmed, but this is something that happened yesterday that had everyone in tears (from laughing).  Believe me, this isn’t anywhere near as funny written as it was when it happened.

A friend, (who declines to be named so let’s just call her X) was staying over with us recently.  Three of us (me, X and another friend) were kneeling on the bed looking at some pictures on her laptop.  Gavin was running around the room munching on a bun.

This is what happened as described by X…

I could hear him walking past behind me several times.  Then suddenly, I felt this cold finger on my back…

It was Gavin attempting to feed little bits of his bun down the back of her pants.  When we all looked at him, he was giggling to himself, rather amused by his little gag. 

Yes, this is my cheeky, soon to be 17 month old toddler and his idea of humour.  I swear I have no idea where he got the idea to pull such a stunt, but clearly, it looks like he’s turning out to be every bit the mischievous imp his father was as a boy.  And if he is half as bad as the stories I hear about his father as a child, then all I can say is, “God help me.”

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Recently, we took Gavin over to his godsister’s house where Gavin had a field day with her masak masak (read: cooking) toys and play kitchen.  Knowing that Daddy wouldn’t like this, I made an attempt to get Gavin away from the toy stove. I brought out some blocks and tried to get Gavin interested in building blocks instead. Sad to say that the blocks lost out to the masak masak set, the latter being clearly more interesting to Gavin.

“Not to worry,” said PL.  “He probably likes it because it’s new and he’s never seen it before.”

Well, we can only hope so…

But here’s the irony.  When Gavin was younger, hubby and I used to take him to the toy shop.  Whenever we came across a masak masak set or any toys related to household care (such as toy cooking sets, ironing boards, vacum cleaners, etc.) hubby would say, “Move along!  My son’s not playing with these toys!”

At home, Gavin loves the kitchen.  He loves to watch Ah Mah cook and he likes to “help” my SIL bake bread.  Since lots of children are fascinated by the kitchen because of all the activity in there, there’s really nothing to worry about, right?  Well, he also likes hairbands and bangles and pink stuff!  Okay, maybe he likes pink because the colour is bright - all kids love bright colours.  As for the hairbands, well, they’re interesting and so are the bangles.  He’ll grow out of it, won’t he?

The hubby reckons this is the result of me hoping too hard for a girl when I was pregnant with Gavin, although my BFF has another theory.  During my pregnancy, she mentioned a book or article (I can’t remember which) that she had read which said that mothers who had stressful pregnancies were more likely to deliver boys who are gay - at least I think that was the gist of it.  In the effort to preserve the peace, I shan’t extrapolate further, but there’s food for thought, wouldn’t you think?

Personally, though, I think if the hubby just relaxed and stopped worrying about his son liking girls’ stuff and girls’ colours, it will all eventually go away as Gavin grows older.  The more fuss made of it, the more Gavin will get curious as to why Daddy says, “no”, and the more he’s going to do the things Daddy doesn’t want him to do.

Already I can see a rather defiant streak coming out in my son.  For instance, when I ask him which pair of shoes he wants to wear and he won’t give me an answer, I’ll simply pick a pair.  As if he has to have the last say, Gavin will then indicate he wants to wear the other pair of shoes. 

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My SIL saw this during her stop over in Taiwan while on her way to the States:

Now I wonder… does he look familiar?  This isn’t a good shot, but Gavin pulls the exact same pose.  It’s just a shame I don’t have it on camera…

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The reason why children rue the day the camera was invented is shown below…  If we thought we had it bad back in the days of our childhood, the children of today have got it even worse.  Now that we have the digital camera, we can afford to get trigger-happy and take as many photos as we like. 

Gavin: Oh!  Hairbands!  Yay!

“Let’s try this on…”

“Hmmm, I think I’ll need another one.”

“Oh!  It’s Ah Mah’s sweet bucket!  And guess what??  It fits my head!”

“Commando Gav is on a mission.  The task at hand is to seize the Astro remote control before being intercepted by Ah Kong.”

On the other hand, Gavin’s friends are going to love us when they get their hands on these pictures…

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How do you tell your kid off when his actions are just too adorable?

Gavin’s raging curiosity often gets the better of him - so much so that he almost can’t seem to stop himself from touching things he knows he shouldn’t be touching.  Take, for instance, Daddy’s glasses.  Occasionally, after work, Daddy will lie down on the bed with his eyes shut and his glasses lying next to him.  Gavin, playing nearby, will wander over and cast furtive looks at Daddy’s glasses.  Next, he’ll drop one of his toys next to Daddy’s glasses and “accidentally” brush his pinkie against Daddy’s glasses as he leans over to pick up his lost toy.  Then he’ll drop a blanket over Daddy’s glasses and while retrieving his blanket, he’ll “accidentally” scoop up Daddy’s glasses along with the blanket.

And here he is playing with the remote control he’s not supposed to play with…

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Well, not really, but I’ve discovered why being a Mummy can be so exhausting…  Here are the 6 ways Gavin’s been using to tell me that I need to lose some weight:

1. He crawls up to me, lifts up my shirt and pokes my belly.

2. He won’t sit in the pram when we go shopping, but insists on being carried by me and me alone (I don’t know why it’s just me, but I sort of thought Daddy needed to lose weight, too).

3. He won’t go to sleep unless I carry him and pace around the room for at least half an hour first.

4. He keeps coming back for more “swinging” games that require me to flex those biceps as I lift him up into the air.

5. He insists on playing “chase me” on all fours (and yes, that means Mummy has to get on all fours, too).

6. He wants me to push him around while he sits on his ride-on car.

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If I didn’t know better, I would think that my one year old’s idea of amusement is to wake Mummy and Daddy up at three in the morning and watch us scramble out of bed while he attempts to poop into his diaper before we get him to the toilet.  After being a regular morning pooper for quite some time, Gavin seems to have done a hundred and eighty degree turn with his bowel movements.  He now poops at anytime of the day and at any place.  Unbelievable!

Here’s the little tyke looking rather pleased with himself:

I guess when you can smile groggily and share your child’s amusement instead of having to squelch an irresistible urge to flush him down the toilet with his poop, then you know you’re starting to take parenthood in stride.  Indeed, I reckon every child carries a secret weapon - cuteness.  If these little tykes weren’t so cute, I’m sure the human race would have long gone into extinction.

One of my anatomy lecturers once explained that nature had planned it all this way so we wouldn’t be able to help ourselves but want to nurture and care for these little people.  It is no mistake that the cute factor correlates with having a larger skull to face ratio - which is exactly what all babies are born with (the cranium being 80% developed at birth, compared to the face which is only about 20-25% if I recall correctly). 

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Once you have a baby, nobody ever remembers you any more.  They only remember the baby…   

On Sunday, the hubby, Gavin and I attended a full moon party.  While there, we met another father who said to me, “You go to Dr Lam, too, don’t you?”

“Yes.  How do you know?”  I asked.

“I recognise your baby.”

Yesterday, my Dad, Gavin and I went for lunch at Oriental Cravings in 1Utama.  When we arrived, one of the waitresses said to Gavin, “Aiyoh!  Long time you haven’t been here!”  Several months back, my parents, Gavin and I would frequent Oriental Cravings for lunch.

Well, I can’t really blame them.  I did the same thing when I was pregnant with Gavin.  The hubby and I were having dinner at The Ship in Damansara Utama one evening.  On our way out, I walked past a table with a little girl who looked remarkably like the hubby’s god daughter.  On closer inspection, I realised it WAS the hubby’s god daughter and she was sitting with her Mum and Dad whom I never even noticed up until that moment!

Below: Superstar Gavin in disguise

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As most of our friends know, the hubby hates Barney.  And he’ll let our son play with Barney, alright - over his dead body!  So I’m sure the picture above will come as quite a surprise to friends reading this blog.  Yes, that is indeed Gavin you see sitting in a car next to Barney.

“Good grief!  How did that happen?”  I hear you exclaim.

Well, the gentleman in the blue shirt and khaki slacks standing next to Gavin is none other than his grandfather and well, you can’t exactly tell “Ah Kong” (the Hokkien term for paternal grandfather) that you don’t want your son associating with the likes of Barney.  This is  one of the privileges of being a grandparent that I will definitely be looking forward to when Gavin has children.

The other privilege is the right to dispense advice that doesn’t apply to me.  Let me explain further…

When Gavin was a wee lil’ baby, my FIL would lecture us on end that we should never, never allow Gavin to sit on these rides at shopping complexes (like the one you see in the photo).  If we do, he said, we would never hear the end of it the next time we’re in a shopping complex and we happen to pass one of these rides.

So what does “Ah Kong” do the moment Gavin is old enough to sit up by himself?  Yup, “Ah Kong” puts him into one of these rides…

And this was what he had to say by way of explanation to the hubby:

“But Gavin wanted it!”

Sure “Ah Kong”, whatever you say.  Nevermind the fact that Gavin is only nine and half months old…

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(And in the process grandchildren)

I received this through email and I thought it was too good too keep to myself…  Mums and Dads, read on and laugh…

To those of us who have children in our lives,
whether they are our own,
grandchildren,
nieces,
nephews,
or students…
here is something to make you chuckle.

Whenever your children are out of control, you can take comfort from the thought that
even God’s omnipotence did not extend to His own children.

After creating heaven and earth, God created Adam and Eve.

And the first thing he said was: “DON’T!”

“Don’t what?” Adam replied.

“Don’t eat the forbidden fruit.” God said.

“Forbidden fruit?  We have forbidden fruit?  Hey Eve… we have forbidden fruit!”

“No Way!”

“Yes way!”

“Do NOT eat the fruit!”  Said God.

“Why?”

“Because I am your Father and I said so!”  God replied, wondering why He hadn’t stopped
creation after making the elephants.

A few minutes later, God saw His children having an apple break and He was ticked!

“Didn’t I tell you not to eat the fruit?”  God asked.

“Uh huh,” Adam replied.

“Then why did you?” Asked the Father.

“I don’t know,” said Eve.

“She started it!”  Adam said.

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“DID NOT!”

Having had it with the two of them, God’s punishment was that Adam and Eve
should have children of their own.

Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed.

BUT THERE IS REASSURANCE IN THIS STORY!

If you have persistently and lovingly tried to give children wisdom and they haven’t taken it, don’t be hard on yourself.

If God had trouble raising children, what makes you think it would be a piece of cake for you?

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT…

1. You spend the first two years of their life teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend the next sixteen telling them to sit down and shut up.

2. Grandchildren are God’s reward for not killing your own children.

3. Mothers of teens now know why some animals eat their young.

4. Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn’t have said.

5. The main purpose of holding children’s parties is to remind yourself that there are children more awful than your own.

6. We childproofed our homes, but they are still getting in.

ADVICE FOR THE DAY:

Be nice to your kids.  They will choose your nursing home one day.

AND FINALLY:

IF YOU HAVE A LOT OF TENSION AND YOU GET A HEADACHE, DO WHAT IT SAYS
ON THE ASPIRIN BOTTLE:

“TAKE TWO ASPIRIN” AND “KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN”!!!!!

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