A Tale of Two Cousins

I love having my nephews over. The older one is 9 years old, and the younger one is 7 ½. Yesterday we had my younger nephew over for a few hours.

Abang was quite excited to have “AJ” over to play with for a few hours after kindergarten. He, too, enjoys having them come to the house. They’re well behaved, very polite (asking permission, please, thank you, etc) and generally are great role models for my sons. Abang has been going through an independent I-Can-Do-It-Myself streak lately, so when AJ feeds himself his entire lunch, of course Abang wants to do that too. (Ignore the fact that Abang is shirtless at the dining table – I take my peace and quiet any way I can.)

While they usually play nicely together, it would be unrealistic to expect a completely smooth ride. At one point I had to referee a tug-of-war involving Thomas the Battery Operated Tank Engine. Then you have the “I Want Cartoon Network, No, I Want Playhouse Disney” singing competition – he who sings the loudest, wins.

After lunch and having had a lot to drink, I asked AJ if he needed to go to the toilet.

“Hey, AJ, do you need to go pee?”

“No can do! I’m going to watch the TV now.”

“Would you like some biscuits?”

“No can do!”

“How about some more water?”

“Um… No can do!”

Sometimes I unknowingly answer his question a little too prematurely and he will clasp his ears, saying, “No, no, one at a time please!”

Ah yes, the things children say – don’t you just love it?

When it was time to go home, I packed Abang in the car and told AJ to wait while I take Adik’s car seat out. It needed to be cleaned anyway, and was just taking up space since Adik was taking his nap at that time. It was a bit of a struggle for me to get the car seat out, which is ironic since the car has Isofix and is supposed to make it easier to install and un-install the car seat.

“Be careful,” AJ tells me.

"Oh thanks, AJ. You're so thoughtful." I smile at him.

“Just doing my job.” And he continues to coolly flick through his magazine.

What a cutie!