The Wallflower is Blooming

Last Saturday, we had dinner at my uncle’s apartment in PJ. It was my first time at their apartment but Abang’s second time there (he’d been there once with my sister and his cousins). There were a quite a lot of people – adults and children – because we were hosting a dinner for some relatives from Singapore.

When we got there, it was already a full house. I brought Abang and Adik, and since this was a rather unfamiliar place, I also made sure I had extra pairs of hands with me in case either or both boys started to get clingy.

Interestingly enough, Abang was very un-clingy. As soon as we got in he gravitated towards the other children, sitting with them and staying especially close to our cousin’s son (He Who Spills Milkshake).

Wow, I thought to myself, this is great! Usually in a crowded room he would stick to my leg like an ant in a sugar bowl, trying desperately to hide his face somewhere. This time it’s like I wasn’t even there although I did manage to get him to go around the room and salam all the adults. Then he went back to playing with the other children.

When all the other children got their plates full of food and sat down together at a little table, he joined them and sat down with them. I took his cue and immediately put a few sticks of satay on a plate and put it in front of him. By the time I got back to the children’s table with his drink, he had finished his satay!

“See Mummy, I eat my satay already,” he said as he shoved an empty plate in my hand. That must be toddler speak for “May I have some more then, please?”

Feeling like an ill-dressed maître d’, I put the drink down at his table, took the empty plate and went off to replenish it. He asked me to sit down and eat with him and I obliged – how could I not?

You’d be forgiven for thinking that I was having a splendidly relaxing time because Abang wasn’t clingy. Well, you’re forgiven. Because Adik was a totally different story. The poor boy hadn’t napped that afternoon (not from lack of trying on my part, mind you) so even on the way to dinner he was already fussy and not a happy bunny.

Basically all through dinner he refused to be with anyone but me – or if I forced the issue, he would go but under great protest. Also, rather than eat anything, he preferred to play with assorted non-toys like cordless and corded phones. He almost managed to pick up the aerosol insect spray but Mummy was too fast for him and foiled his plans.

Oh well, never mind, one toddler at a time!