But I Smile Anyway…

Let me introduce my son, 9 year old, Lil Man, and Brat, no sorry, Lil Princess, my 6-going-16 year old daughter.

It took a little while to become parents, due to some health issues, but once we got there, its been a crazy ride, from smooth sailing, to rocky road rollercoasters, but hey, I guess that’s just called parenthood!  Lil Man is a dude in so many ways, a child with a great sense of humour, and he rocks when playing the Dhol drum!  Ok, so academically, he’s not the strongest, but he’s got a great imagination!  He loves his sport, football, basketball, badminton, tennis, and excels at it,even though he is small of stature!  An emotional young man, he loves his family (except his sister, but at this age, I guess this sibling love is hard to come by!), feels change strongly, and has the temper of Vesuvius! I mean, the other day he stormed into my classroom at the end of the day and sneered at me ” I HATE your sandwiches!!!” Erm, ok…. “You put TOMATO in them!” Uh oh! The cardinal sin where he’s concerned! In a hurry to make packed lunches, I had inadvertently put tomatoes in his sandwiched, whoops!!

Lil Princess, well, she’s another story!  I love her to bits, a true character, she’s always singing and dancing… yes, a Drama Queen!  She thinks she is so much older than her tender years, and is constantly advising her friends, telling them what to do! But she is kind caring and considerate, always polite, the first one to volunteer to buddy up with a new child in school to help them settle in, perfect… Though it seems that that child only exists at school! Once were home, a whole other child appears!!!! One that regresses to 3 when she wants something, winding daddy and grandparents round her little finger, tears and tantrums when it doesn’t work, then an attitude of a 16year old when you try to reason with her!

Saying that, I wouldn’t change them for anything! As frustrating as they can be, they are a funny pair’ making us laugh all the time!

Take Lil Man the other day, when I became an Aunty… He saw some pictures showing my Brother Dearest having skin to skin time with Junior, on a hospital bed, swaddled in sheets, the pair of them. He sat pondering for a while, looking confused, then asked me “mummy, did Mamu (uncle) have the baby?” And why wouldn’t you think that?! After all, he’s the one in the pic, with the newborn!

And Lil Princess, well yesterday. She decided to educate us. She’s been learning about the human body at school. “Mummy I know a life cycle! First you eat something, then it goes to your throat, then your stomach. After your stomach it goes to your belly button, then it poops out of your bottom!” And proceeded to illustrate it with a flow cycle chart! Again child logic, it’s fantastic eh!

So there you have it my two crazy children, and I’m sure there will be more anecdotes over time!