The Unintended Hairdo

Peanut is the best kiddie customer a hairdresser can ask for. From as young as 10 months old, he would quietly sit for up to 30 minutes (that was the longest so far) and allow the hairdresser to do his/her stuff, bending his head this way and that. I have seen other kids screaming and struggling so much that the parent probably wished the child was never born. Nah,just kidding - I doubt any parent would feel that way. Though Sweet Potato did cause a strong desire on my part to dash out of the shop the first and the last time he had his hair cut. And I am so not looking forward to his next hair cut ... week after week, I convinced myself that he has no need for one notwithstanding that his hair is sticking out and half covering his ears. Let's wait till the hair covers his eyes and he starts knocking into the furniture ... well, maybe then I can make do with a hair pin and wait till the hair interferes with his consumption of food ...

Anyway, now that Peanut is capable of talking clearly and can be understood by strangers, I stood by and left him to answer the hairdresser's questions which went like this:

"Do you want (or was it 'like'?) colour?"
"Yes."
"What colour do you want?"
"Red"

And so this is the result:





Poor kid, he was so upset. Kept saying, "Mama, I don't want this hair." He was probably expecting to get a colouring book or some colouring pencils!

The Neverending Story

Here's a typical conversation when I drive Peanut around.

"Mama, why cars go on roads?"
"Not just cars; buses, motor cycles, lorries also travel on the road as they have wheels."
"Why?"
"So we can go to places in a short time"
"Why?"
"So you don't need to stay at home"
"Why"
"So you can go out with mama"
There was a pause. It was the opportunity/cue for me to break the chain of neverending questions with my own question.
"Why do you have so many questions? Why?"
Peanut pondered for a while and answered, "I cannot talk like you."

Less than 100metres away...

"Bicycles have wheels right?"
"Yes, they can go on the roads"
"My car cannot go on the road?"
"That's right. It's a toy car"

A short while later, at the lights,
"Mama, why do you stop?"
"Because it's red light"
"Why?"
"So the traffic on our left can go"
"Why?"
"We have to take turns."

Car rides are such a challenge! I simply love and hate them.

Communal Bath

Another first ...

Happy Halloween

End of the World

21 October

Ever since my 3 y.o has started mouthing words, he has been a real entertainment and live wire for the family. Hang on, I should rephrase that - before he was our Marcel Marceau, now he's our Tina Fey/Sarah Palin.

His first word was dada (for dad) followed by mama. Then came duck, more, mer (for milk), bao bao (carry me), no, moo-moo, woof woof, nai nai, popo, yiyo (for yima), yeye, tar (for car - he couldn't pronounce 'k' sound and substituted it with a silent 't'), down, up - in that order. He then progressed to his first 2-syllabus word - obar (open), enuf and started to string 2 words together - big tar (garbage truck). Sentences came next with "Mama, music pease." (when we were in the car) and "Mama, pease make milk for me (that was after he stopped referring to himself as a third person by name)." It took him a while to figure out "here" and "there", though surprisingly, he got his left and right immediately right. " "L" and "r" sounds were the next hurdles he learnt to overcome. Before that pillow was pi-o and we had quite a fair bit of peace (please). Now he's into words with 3 syllabus and beyond - that brings me to his current favourite phrase "To infinity and beyond" (Captain Buzz from Toy Story). But his first quote from the movies was, "Where's my food?" in the sternest voice he could master (but it still came out too sweet because of the smile that accompanied it) - mimicking the grasshopper from "A Bug's Life". His current favourite word is "difficult" (in addition to his usual "what happened" and "why"). He can even say hippopotamus and excavator clearly.

This morning, after having done his no. 2, he went: "Broken. Spoilt already... cannot flush. Everybody dies ..." See the similarity? It's about as logical as Sarah Palin's claim to foreign policy experience. And by the way, the toilet bowl was working fine.