I’m not sure if I’ve done anything productive this week with my kids. Their dad went for a business trip to Bogor, Indonesia, and getting stuck indoors were our daily routine as it has been pouring non-stop this week, so most of the time we just hung around the house playing with each other.

I did have fun bringing the kids out to eat a couple of times at this kopitiam-styled restaurant on the ground floor of Asia City Complex. Not only was the food good, but it was cheap, too.

And there was the kids’ cousin Aidyl’s birthday this afternoon. The party was the longest two hours of my life this week. Heavy rain was as expected; Joel escaped my clutches too many times to play with the droplets flowing from the yard shades, so after a while I was too tired to chase him off the open yard and just let him jump around and glorify in the rain. Eric didn’t have a nice time, which was all his undoing. He was out after the second round of the musical chair, and being a sore loser, sulked and yelled a couple of times out of anger. When I failed to coax him out of his temper, I just rolled my eyes and left to care for my other two boys while Eric sat crying in front of everyone. Yeesh. By the time we left, I was too tired to do anything and had to skip my cousin’s party for her kid Gabriel in the evening.

So much for being in the Merdeka mood.

It so makes my day when I see a smile on my kids’ face, even so when they were still babies. Ezra is just a generous bundle of smiles and giggles these past month; it’s like a magic medicine that takes all my tiredness away just by looking at his happy face. I just need to look him in the eyes while I talk and he’ll start cooing, then smiling and even laugh a little. My mom gets a kick out of babysitting Ezra, because in this way she can talk the whole hour without worrying whether Ezra would be bothered with the noise!

It sometimes makes me forget that Ezra has the loudest cry compared to his big brothers, that even our pediatrician had to agree as he examined Ezra while he was still one day old!

This has got to be Eric’s best birthday yet. Not only does it coincide with one of the most interesting dates of this year (20082008), but he also got a yummy and specially requested choc moist Spongebob Squarepants where he gets to share with his favourite cousins, Aishah and Aidyl. Thanks to his Nenek Carol for the great cake!

It was a last minute plan to have Eric’s birthday in Tuaran instead of at our apartment, but since Eric was already spending a few nights there, I thought, why not. I didn’t plan on getting anything else other than the cake to celebrate it (being the lazy mom I am), but Eric’s Nenek Tuaran (me mom) took care of the food and drinks, by whipping up a quick serving of laksa Sarawak, noodles, chicken soup, and french fries with some soda and soft drinks. Those were more than adequate to whet everyone’s appetite.

Eric’s present? Well, he didn’t get any, and it’s something that I made very clear a few weeks back. The reason? I’d rather keep that story for another day.

In any case, today’s definitely a great day to celebrate being a year older! Happy Birthday, Eric!

Joel had his head shaved while he was staying for a few nights at his Nenek Tuaran’s place. This is the third time he’s had a hair cut; the first one was when he was 7 months old, and the second while he was 14 months old.

Just like his big brother Eric, Joel’s hair has been growing unevenly, though lately it’s looking better. This should be his last shave-off, I hope. He’ll be getting a normal haircut from now on.

*Gondol is a Malay word meaning bald-headed.

I’ve been looking forward to Eric’s first ever school holiday camp ever since I saw the ad on TV and registered for it late July. Eric went to the half-day Junior Labs camp in the afternoon meant for the 7 to 12 year olds, to learn how to make slime! In adult translation — “learning the properties of polymers and colloids.”

Being a seemingly shy boy, Eric was in his usual mood of observing everyone, but brave enough to participate in the ice breakers. When the camp started at 1:30pm, the parents were shooed out of the hall and were asked to return by the end of the camp.

I returned half an hour before the end of the camp session at 5:00pm, and saw that they have started handing certificate of attendance to the kids. At the end of the ceremony and group photo, Eric went up to me and told me it was “awesome”.

I observed that a couple of the camp facilitators were quite charmed by Eric for some reason, and even during the certificate presentation, the woman in charge gave Eric a light pinch on the cheek.

In any case, I’m glad Eric had a great time, even though he didn’t know anyone there. I wouldn’t hesitate to send him to another one soon.