Monday, February 16, 2009
KL Diary - The Boys
The boys are one of the reasons why I yearn to move back to good old Tanah Melayu. I'm talking about my two nephews who gave so much joy to Dominic during our trip back. It reminded me of how my brother and I and our cousins were when we were young (Cattypants one of us). We were inseparable (whenever we weren't separated by the long distance between Ipoh and JB). It was almost unbearable when we had to be separated for a few hours because I needed to attend my piano class or when she had to go to church (I don't remember why she didn't drag me to church with her). Bedtime was most dreaded because there weren't enough hours in a day for us to be together, but at least we slept in the same room, two person squeezed into one single bed. I'm not sure if you remember this, couz - we refused to close our eyes and stayed up until we couldn't bear it anymore, and even got caught once or twice. The boys reminded me of all these.
The boys will do Saimun and I good as well. One of the nights, Dom slept over at their place and it felt really good to have one night to ourselves. It was the first time he spent a night away from daddy AND mummy.
No doubt, there were bad influences from the boys as well. For example, Dom has now learnt to hit another person. He has also learnt to fake-cry loudly (with tears, actually) when he doesn't get his way - something which I believe he picked up from WS.
During our stay, Dom was also exposed to Ben 10 and "alien forces", whereas all along his TV programmes were all educational and non-violent. One day, after an "alien show", all three boys were running around the house shouting "I'm the alien!", "No, I'm the bigger alien!", "I'm going to eat you!". I'm not sure if it was the same night or several nights later that Dom screamed in his sleep - like how you would scream if someone on high-heels stepped on your bare toes - and he started to cry, repeating "It's so scary! It's so scary!". He had nightmares before this but none as *severe* as this. Later, when I talked to him about it, he said he saw a lizard, not an alien. I wondered if he could've seen a real lizard but I don't recall seeing a single lizard in the house during the 3 weeks we stayed there.
It was on the same afternoon the boys played the "alien game" that the following conversation took place after I gave Dom a shower:
Me: Quickly put on your pants, otherwise the alien will bite your "jiao-jiao".
Joe: Eh ... how come your "jiao-jiao" is so small?
Me: Is it? Is yours bigger?
Joe: (Nodded)
Dom: Show me. Let me see. (Joe was fully clothed)
Joe: (Took off his pants and showed Dom his birdie)
Dom: Emm ... it's bigger. I wanna check Wing Sern's (and he ran off to find Wing Sern).
During those 3 weeks, we saw my MIL and the boys' parents dealt with problems that we know someday we'll face, such as refusing to go to school, refusing to do homework and lying (for example, can't go to school because the leg is painful). When the time comes for me, I'm not sure how I will deal with it but at least daddy and I have talked about our general approach. The conversation was very short:
Him: If you don't feel like going to work, what can I do to motivate you? Whack you?
Me: (Paused for a moment, thinking) Hmm ... okay.
I like to think that we're sooo connected that we totally understood each other without saying any more. :-D
Apart from having fun together, the boys fought as well - fighting for toys or someone accidentally hurting the other. Most of the time, it was so noisy and chaotic when the 3 of them were together that it was a relief when the holidays were over and the two boys went back to school (one morning and the other afternoon session).
