Of Caterpillar, Fish and Sparrows

Candid Shots.. of the 2 little boys and updates of them..




















The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Some of my friends without kids are appalled at En's Eric Carle books, when they realise that each copy costs like 15 bucks or more, when they saw the price tag on one of En's books during dinner one day.

Well, we do not really understand the appeal of Eric Carle as well, though we feel that the books are always beautifully illustrated. I think that is supposed to spark the imagination in little kids, with the vibrant colours and the creative painting style.

And also, the repetitive lines used in the story help to reinforce the message and kids love to say the lines again and again for each story. At least En never gets tired of repeating "Hey you, want to fight?"

So when we heard that Act 3 is presenting the puppet play, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar and other stories", I had wanted to get tickets. I thought that En would enjoy it. But when I was going thru the tickets available, all the good seats were taken. And coupled with my erratic schedule, not knowing when I will have to run groups or work late, I gave up.

However, these days i am an addict of online shopping and also reading the various online forum threads, and it so turned out that a fellow mum was letting go of 2 seats last Friday for a good price and the seats were fantastic.

So I bought the tickets from her (and I bought a whole lot of baby prep stuff online as well, but on that next time), and brought en to the play.

He was thoroughly fascinated and really engaged in the play, even though he has never read any of the presented stories. It was a play in which children were allowed to "participate" in the sense that they did not have to be quiet and were free to say and narrate the stories as they unfolded.

So whenever a puppet character came on stage, En will, along with the other kids, exclaimed the name of the object, enthusiastically.

That was not the most surprising, after all, even I, find the entire production of the play really well executed and the puppets very professionally and well made. And I have brought en to a couple of his school plays where I have observed that he tends to be quite well engaged with stage plays (provided they are not scary)..

What surprised me was the following incident during the play..
A girl in front got a tad restless and was standing up midway through the show.
En was frustrated that he can't see some of the actions, (by this time, we have already swopped seats as the adult in front of En's original seat kept moving left and right to tend to the restless girl, so i swopped seats with En so that he will be seated behind the girl who is shorter..)

So when the girl stood up and blocked him again, a frustrated En said the following in a stern, matter of fact voice:
"I cannot see! Sit down!" :-o

The girl sat down after that, but not without her grandma and her turning around to look at the source of the voice. I dunno what to say so I let it be. Did not feel compelled to apologise..
But at the same time wondering about my son.
The usual shy and afraid of strangers En does have a "bite" in him.. hm... another facet which I do not usually see..

Wats happening on weekend?

I have been trying to train my helper not to resort to tele-sit my kids. i.e. there are lot of things that they can do when at home.

And for the past week, En brought home 2 pieces of "shredded" art.. think he really enjoyed doing that and we have proudly pasted that on the "wall of art".

So yesterday, with all the glossy shopping brochures sent to our house, I got the 2 boys to do their own shredded art.. and some peace time for us all as each of them was engrossed in the shredding and pasting.

And these days, they are playing a lot with each other, albeit in a very noisy manner by running around the house and laughing loudly together. I can't figure out what they are playing, but well, it is very nice to see them bond with lots of laughter with each other.

Sometimes, they are also capable of playing together without erupting into fights and tears.
En has also been showing that he is capable of giving in to Xuan or creatively offering options whenever he wants something that Xuan Xuan has.

My problem now is that Xuan does not give in or collaborate. And I am trying hard, even though I know his age and language grasp may be hindering that for now.. Still I do need to try and work around Xuan's really stubborn nature..

Of fish and sparrows

Today, despite the little fatigue, I felt I need to bring the boys out.. so that they are not always cooped at home since Papa left, and I also can do with a bit of more nature and fresh air..

So we all went to the Botanic gardens to feed fishes..

The 2 boys as usual are really enthusiastic.. and En attracted a lot of sparrows to come and eat his bread too.. We all managed to come home before the thunderstorm hits.. So I am feeling very "accomplished". The boys were exhausted from their outing, and Xuan started clamoring for his milk and pacifier at 730 pm. He is one real sleepyhead. And as usual, I love taking pics of them at the gardens.. i believe that is where they should be more often!!