Abang, The Kind-Hearted (and Sleepy!) Boy

Under the defiance and other irritating 4-year old boy habits, Abang is an extremely kind-hearted little boy. It really makes us feel so proud and warm inside whenever he says these nice things.

For example, many times when we drive past a construction site, he would say, "Kesian the Uncle engineers kan? (To him, anyone wearing a hardhat is an engineer, which may be true sometimes but not when it's a construction worker.) They work so long and then his anak at home will be saying 'I want Daddy, I want Daddy'..."

So I chip in, "Ya, they do work very hard. And look, it's such a hot day today somemore kan?"

Then he continues, "Maybe we should go buy them some food, or something like that, or a drink, Mummy."

So sweet of him! Although I'm not too sure about turning up at a construction site with food and drinks for the 'Uncle engineers' so I just praise him for being so thoughtful and suggest maybe we do that for the security guards that man our housing area instead.

Last Sunday was Wan's birthday. If I'm not wrong, she just turned 66. We had already told the boys on Saturday that it would be Wan's birthday the next day. As soon as he woke up, Abang wished her a Happy Birthday and invited her to go shopping for the TV that she's been wanting to buy for her kampung house, to replace the one that's gone bust.

"Takpa Wan, kalau Wan tak cukup duit, Abang punya Yippie (that's his coin box) ada banyak duit. Can use that to buy your TV."

How do you NOT give him whatever he wants at that point in time, right? A car? Sure! Your own Astro? No problem ... Of course, he has offered his coin box savings to Atok to buy an air-conditioner for Atok's lounge but I suspect that could also have been in self-interest.

The latest incident was when we got our new cooker oven delivered to the house. 2 very friendly and helpful gentlemen first carried the old one out before bringing in the new one. Then they reconnected the gas, tested each burner and showed us how to light the gas oven. I negotiated with (i.e. paid) them to help us send the old oven back to Atok's house because Cikgai wants to use it for her 'wet kitchen'.

As they were about to leave, Abang came up to me, "Mummy can I whisper something to you?"

"Sure, what is it?"

Then he leaned in and whispered, "Why Wan don't give the Uncles some kueh for Hari Raya?"

I was so proud of him and actually rather ashamed of myself for not thinking of it first! Unfortunately, by that time they were already at the gate and it was too late so it didn't happen.

But let that be a lesson to me not to forget next time.