The Gems That Make Abang

Mid-morning on Saturday Abang was sent home by (a very sleepy) Ant J well-fed, happy, contented and clutching his surprises for Mummy and Daddy. He was almost shy to show it to us, but when he finally did show it to us we were totally taken aback. It was a collage of cut out Formula 1 cars stuck on art paper. He chose all the pictures and stuck them himself using the glue, but Ant J had to help him with the cutting. (Since then he’s become quite adept at using the scissors, which, I suppose, can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it.)

“Wow, Abang! Those are really, really good! Thank you for the surprise, it’s very nice,” kisses and hugs all around.

Ant J reported that in the middle of doing his surprise for Mummy and Daddy, in a very serious tone while furiously concentrating trying not to get glue on his hands, he said, "I think my Mummy and Daddy will be SO impressed with this surprise."

Spot on!

During the day when he was hanging out with us, he mentioned several times, “I think I did a great job of sleeping at Ant J’s house yesterday.”

We thought he needed some affirmation, so we piled on the praise and told him how proud we were of him for doing that (especially since there were so many aborted attempts and midnight runs!). Little did we realize he was actually setting the scene to get permission to sleep over again that night. The sneaky devil.

Mummy and Daddy were ok with it, but could Ant J handle another sleepover? Hah – who can say no? So Saturday evening we re-packed his Arts & Crafts box, clothes, etc, and sent him over.

When he woke up from his nap, she asked him if he would like to go to the market with Nenek the next morning. The old man that is my 3-year-old son replied, “Nenek kan dah tua, tak daya nak tolak the trolley. Abang tolong tolak lah.” ("Nenek's too old to push the trolley, I'll help her-la.")

Later, at bedtime, after reading his new Winnie the Pooh books, he told Ant J, “Daddy always tell me about his work after we read. Ant J, I want you to tell story about your work.”

I’m not sure if it was at this point when she melted, or after he asked her to “sleep closer” (as in snuggle) with him. Could be both.

I guess going to the wet market must be quite an experience for him since he’s only ever done it once or twice before this. When he got back to Ant J’s car she asked him if he had a good time at the market and he replied, “Yes I did! It was very exciting!”

Then she noticed his knee was grazed. “Did you fall down?”

“Yes I did! Abang jalan-jalan and then ge-de-bonk! Abang jatuh on the road.” He was almost pleased with himself.

Watch this space for more gems.