The world is a rainbow

After colouring these, she asked: Mummy, why is our house white?

I swear, I caught an unmistakable glint in her eyes.

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1st Lie (and then some)

She came home from school one day with the cutest litle food peg. It was blue, with a sticker of a little brown fox holding out a sweet pink flower. It was most definitely not from our home.

So I asked her where she had got it from. Even though I knew that it was probably a goody bag item given out during one of those birthday celebrations in school.

This is what she said:

It’s from the playground in school. I saw it and I picked it up. And I think I can bring it home.

She must have seen my expression (finders keepers?!) because before I could say anything, she hurried on:

Actually, Teacher A gave it to me. She picked it up at the playground. I told her, I really like it, you know… Can I have it? So she gave it to me. And I think I can bring it home.

I left it as that. But later that night, when Mr Fluffy Hubby returned home from work, I got her to tell him again how she had came by her new food peg. As she told her story, Mr Fluffy Hubby and I exchanged looks with each other. When she was done, we unanimously told her she had to return the food peg to whoever lost it.

Widening her eyes, she protested:

But I don’t know who it belongs to!

Well, we will just have to ask all your friends, we told her.

She kept quiet for a while, then smiled and said:

Actually, I think it belongs to RC.

I blinked a few times before asking, why do you think so?

She grinned:

Because I saw him drop it at the playground.

I repeated dumbly, you saw him drop it at the playground?

She confirmed:

I saw him drop it. And I picked it up and told him, I want it. He said, no, it’s mine. I told him, But I want it. He said, it’s mine. So I told him, You give it to me now. Tomorrow, I’ll give it back to you. Then, the next day, you give it to me again. Then, the next day, I’ll give it back to you again. Ok? He said ok.

I was so stunned I could only tell her she HAS to return the food peg. All the while casting horrified looks at Mr Fluffy Hubby at the side.

My baby! Lying!

I knew this day would come. I even expected it. The experts say it happens at about age 4 – give or take some. She was exactly one month short of turning 4. But what I hadn’t counted on was the compexity with which she had woven her lie:

1. Firstly, she cleared the stage – her story started off with no other characters but herself. That way, she clears herself of any wrongdoing unto others – in this case, RC whom she had bullied into letting her have the food peg. This also means that she has a clear sense of right and wrong. She knows what she did was wrong – hence, the need to cover up.

2. She then tried to legitimize her posession of the food peg with a figure of authority i.e. Teacher A. She understands the law and its mechanisms. (And if she understands this at age 3 years and 11 months old, why am I bothering to write my PhD dissertation???)

3. Left with no other route of escape, she feigned ignorance. She pretended she didn’t know to whom the food peg belonged – so that she didn’t have to return it.

4. Last but certainly not least, she kept it up until she was threatened with the very real possibilty of being shamed in public. Only when she realized that she would be made to ask all her friends in school about the food peg and thus risk being exposed, then she admitted that the food peg belonged to RC. She understands shame and its function as social reinforcement of the law.

The justice of it all? If the lie she had woven was way complicated, I surely have only myself to blame.

Not a photo of the foxy food peg because she tried again a week later to pull off the same stunt! This is the sparkly pink plastic ring she convinced her friend, M, to let her bring home. I’m suitably impressed; I take my hat off to her – I certainly don’t recall myself having possessed such powers of persuasion over my friends at 4 years old. (Did I even have friends??) But HOW?! HOW HOW HOW??! Help.

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Not a Barbie Girl

She received a Barbie dress from her grandaunt for her last birthday.

Her first reaction when she got it was, “I don’t like it.”

So she never wore it.

But when we got back from Hongkong recently, she asked for her dress.

As I pulled it over her head, I quizzed her about her sudden change of heart.

Do you like Barbie doll now?

No. I like the carousel. It’s like the Cinderella carousel in Disneyland.

Oh, is that why you want to wear this dress?

Yes.

Does it remind you of Disneyland?

Yes. It reminds me of the Cinderella carousel in Disneyland.

So which girl are you, sitting on the horse? Are you this girl with golden hair? Or are you this girl with brown hair?

I’m the HORSE, mummy.

Hmm, she’s the horse… but why do I feel like I’m the one who has been silly?

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Graduation (not mine)

We received her graduation photo.

Puffing up with paternal pride at the sight of his 3 years old daughter in her graduation robe, wearing her mortar board, holding her scroll, looking straight on ahead, Mr Fluffy Hubby boasted, “Check out the focus in her eyes!”

Then addded, “She looks like the one who’s getting her PhD!”

Hmmph.

Wait till I do get the PhD. I shall make him eat his words AND my mortar board (but maybe not the PhD degree scroll… I have spent quite a bit of time trying to get it, and it’s rather essential for any chance I have at future employment) AND make him swallow them both whole. I’m that focused too. Hmmph.

Hmmph Hmmph!

PS. She does look a right picture. I wish I can show her off to the whole world. 😀

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Shall we walk into the beautiful night?

She asks, as she peers out of the restaurant’s window overlooking Clarke Quay.

I indulge her, my 3 year old poet. I indulge myself.

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The years are passing me by

Somehow, for her 3rd birthday, I feel a need to chronicle.

So here are all her birthdays, immortalized.

1st Birthday (Part I)
1st Birthday (Part II)
2nd Birthday (Part I)
2nd Birthday (Part II)
2nd Birthday (Part III)
2nd Birthday (Part IV)
3rd Birthday (Part I)
3rd Birthday (Part II)
3rd Birthday (Part III)
3rd Birthday (Part IV)
3rd Birthday (Part V)
3rd Birthday (Part VI)

It makes me feel safer.

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3rd Birthday (Part VI)

Slightly more than 2 weeks on, we brought her for her 3rd birthday photoshoot.

She enjoyed herself tremendously during the photoshoot because the photographer treated her to a chocolate muffin.

Another week later, I brought her for her yearly photoshoot with her grandparents since they had missed this year’s Chinese New Year photoshoot.

This year, she’s old enough to know to want to bring a friend along for her photoshoots. So for her 3rd year birthday photoshoots, it was not just her grandparents, her parents and her, but she was also accompanied by her polar bear, Snowball.

The much loved princess.

Read also:
3rd Birthday (Part I)
3rd Birthday (Part II)
3rd Birthday (Part III)
3rd Birthday (Part IV)
3rd Birthday (Part V)

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3rd Birthday (Part V)

When the actual day of her birthday rolled around on Friday, Mr Fluffy Hubby took leave from work as he did on previous years, and we brought her to the zoo, as we did the year before on her 2nd birthday. She had her KFC lunch, enjoying it even more than last year, since she not only got popcorn chicken, but even cheesy fries in addition to Milo this year. We saw the polar bears, as we do on every trip to the zoo (except the traumatic school excursion). We saw the white tigers, which she is always fascinated by. And for the 1st time, we rode on an elephant and watched the Splash Safari show.

After the zoo, she knocked out in the car for her nap while I drove Mr Fluffy Hubby to nearby Causeway Point for his audio fix. When she woke up, I brought her up to the shopping centre to buy her some very old-school big round, super thin wafers in various colours and flavours. She munched 1 in the car on the way back to meet her Grandpa.

When we reached, Grandpa was hanging out with his buddies at the nearby coffee joint.

So we brought her to get her favourite orange Yakult from the vending machine, then to choose her birthday balloon. I pointed out all the huge floaty mylar balloons puffed up with helium which she could choose. But even Dora didn’t get as much as a 2nd glance. She went straight for her orange stripey cat walker balloon, which she had already asked and received from Santa Claus just 6 months ago for Christmas last year. I tried to get her to consider all the different breeds of dogs, the duck, the tortoise and even the dinosaur with an egg, but she just wanted her orange stripey cat. The birthday girl gets what she wants, so we were soon pulling her orange stripey cat along with us to meet her Grandpa for some toast and barley.

After her teatime snack, we brought her to the toys store. She had fun wandering around, checking out everything and trying to work the demo sets on display.

Then it was time for dinner at Werners, joined in by the family. She had a grand time, stuffing herself with her favourite pretzels with her favourite people.

When we reached home, she placed orange stripey cat at the foot of her bed, before going for her bath. And when she returned from her bath, she chattered to orange stripey cat about her birthday before finally crawling into bed and falling asleep nestled against me.

Read also:
3rd Birthday (Part I)
3rd Birthday (Part II)
3rd Birthday (Part III)
3rd Birthday (Part IV)
3rd Birthday (Part VI)

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3rd Birthday (Part IV)

On Monday, she returned to school. At 11am, I turned up with goodies bags for 24 children and was immediately swarmed by at least half of them. But before they could lay their hands on the goodies bags, they were called away by their teachers for her Montessori birthday ritual.

Teacher N placed a cut-out picture of a sun on the floor, then surrounded it with 12 cards, each stating the month of the year.

She handed a globe to the birthday girl and told her to stand at June. Grasping the globe in her hands, she was then asked to walk around the sun and months formation while her teachers and friends sang

The earth goes round the sun tra la
The earth goes round the sun tra la
It take 12 months to go round the sun
And Toffee turns 1!

At the end of the song, she had walked 1 round and was back at June. Teacher N asked, “What did you do when you were 1 year old?” She looked utterly bewildered at the question. Probably there were so many things she did when she was 1 year old, and everything’s a milestone for a 1 year old. Teacher N prompted, “You walked?” She nodded uncertainly (probably because she certainly didn’t walk at 1 year old).

She was then asked to walk a 2nd round while still holding on to the globe. Her teachers and friends sang again

The earth goes round the sun tra la
The earth goes round the sun tra la
It take 12 months to go round the sun
And Toffee turns 2!

Back at June, Teacher N asked again, “What did you do when you were 2 years old?” She was still as bewildered at the question, probably because there were even more things she did at 2 years old and almost every one of those things were still milestones for a 2 year old. Teacher N prompted, “You talked?” She nodded, a little more certainly this time (probably because she knows for certain how much she talks), and repeated, “I talked.”

And so she went a 3rd round with the globe while her teachers and friends sang

The earth goes round the sun tra la
The earth goes round the sun tra la
It take 12 months to go round the sun
And Toffee turns 3!

Going back round to June for the 3rd time, she was posed a slightly different question. Teacher N asked, “So what do you want to do now that you’re 3 years old?” She thought for a while, and answered, “Clap.” (She was probably thinking of her Kindermusik class where she’s asked at the beginning of every session what she’d like to do… tap, stomp, jump, clap, etc?) Now it was Teacher N’s turn to look puzzled. But she obliged and asked everybody to clap for the birthday girl, who looked pleased as punch.

The children were then asked to find themselves a seat at the tables while Teacher N took out the chocolate cake gifted by the school. She stuck in 3 candles and placed the cake in front of the birthday girl, who suddenly found herself surrounded by a crowd of like-minded children whose eyes never left the cake, and whose fingers were inching towards it, even as the teachers kept reminding and cautioning, “No touching!” Luckily, Teacher N found the box of matchsticks before the cake got too messed up. She lit the candles, and led the children in singing the birthday song. The birthday girl was asked to blow out the candles and she tried valiantly twice, blowing as hard as she could, before I decided to help her out on her 3rd try (too much of her spit can’t be good for her friends).

She made the 1st cut on her cake. Then Teacher N took over and handed her the 1st slice of chocolate cake with extra pieces of chocolate to go with it. She grinned in delight.

When she and her friends were all done with the chocolate cake, she gave them their goodies bags one by one.

She sat down dazed on the floor after handing out all the bags.

Her friends, on the other hand, got more and more excited, squealing as they rummaged through their loot.

The teachers herded the children out for lunch afterward. I stayed on through her lunchtime because she was unwilling to let me go, and I didn’t want to risk her melting down into a puddle of tears on the day of her school birthday party. After lunch, I walked her back into her classroom, promising to be return at 1.30pm to bring her home. She hesitated, but waved goodbye in the end.

Read also:
3rd Birthday (Part I)
3rd Birthday (Part II)
3rd Birthday (Part III)
3rd Birthday (Part V)
3rd Birthday (Part VI)

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3rd Birthday (Part III)

On Sunday, we woke up early, put on her gingerbread man necklace which her Aunty E had got for her, and rushed out of the house.

She ate her breakfast in the car as we drove down to Alliance Francaise for The Gingerbread Man play staged by I theatre.

Her uncle and aunty were already there with her cousin RC. RC was holding on to 2 gingerbread men cookies, 1 of which was for her. She was so pleased with his gift that she took his hand, held on to it and didn’t want to let go, beaming happiness.

She enjoyed the play (which was really just so-so, last year’s Rainbow Fish was much better), but preferred yesterday’s concert.

After the play, we went for dim sum lunch. The family joined us.

After lunch, we crossed over to the neighbourhood shops to buy goodies to fill up the goodies bags which she was giving out to her friends the next day during her school birthday party. (Yes, there’s still another celebration, and that’s not even the last of her birthday celebrations!)

Then we drove home. She slept in the car. When she woke up, we packed the goodies bags. Mr Fluffy Hubby divided and cut up the stickers; I sorted the goodies into piles, wrote the names on the goodies bags and handed them to her; she dropped the goodies into the bags, selecting colours for her friends.

When we were finally done after an hour, we headed for dinner nearby.

On our way home, we ran into the supermarket mascot – a giant green dinosaur – handing out orange balloons! Giant green dinosaur gave her a balloon, and because she’s so small, giant green dinosaur knelt down to take a photo with her. The smile that appeared on her face from that bit of good luck, that bit of kindness, was priceless. Meeting giant green dinosaur was the perfect end to her weekend of celebrations.

Read also:
3rd Birthday (Part I)
3rd Birthday (Part II)
3rd Birthday (Part IV)
3rd Birthday (Part V)
3rd Birthday (Part VI)

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