April comes with more showers. And they would come at irregular times, too. Mama likes hearing the sound of light rain dancing on the tarmac at night, or knocking on window panes to announce their presence. Mama's a rain sort of person. But kids don't like rain. Rain gets in the way of outdoor fun. Rain makes the slides and the climbing frame at the playground slippery. And that's not good because it means Mama would say "Be careful" a lot and try to intervene a lot, too.
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| Need...help...getting into this monstrosity |
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| Something's not right here |
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| It's okay, it's just my silly Mama, Jayden |
Still, we managed to squeeze a few new activities into your days and weekends (usually before the sky bursts apart into torrents of rain). And due to the fact that you're less sleepy these days when you get home from play school, Mama has also had to think of new twists to the regular activities that you do engage in. Like, painting the branches and twigs you pick up along the walk to play school in the morning.
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| Looks like Papa, talks like Papa, but it's really Papa Monster! Shoot, guys! |
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| Let's see, what abomination can I make today... |
We also made chocolate chip cupcakes together one afternoon. You like pouring things from one container into another anyway. And mixing sauces together at restaurants. So Mama thought it'd be a good time to start you on some simple baking recipe. This time, you tried your hand at flour sifting, cracking eggs, measuring the sugar, butter, milk and flour, and stirring.
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| I'm happy to report for chocolate-chip-pouring duties |
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| Mmm... |
You were extremely excited to be in charge of pouring the chocolate chips into the batter. But the first batch ended up in your mouth.
Mama had to pry the bag from your hands. And even then, you tried t wrestle another handful into your little 'cave'. The cupcakes turned out nicely, though. And we had them for tea.
About 2 weeks ago, we flew back to visit Poh-Poh. It wasn't a long trip and we spent a lot of time together painting with your finger-paints and fooling around with your bicycle and the new tricycle Poh-Poh bought as a belated birthday present. For the painting sessions, you and Papa made yourselves some aprons using dustbin bags. Quite ingenious, really.
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| Bring her over, Papa - the car wash is open today |
Papa also let you help him assemble the trike and you've been obsessed with washing it using the garden hose. One morning, on the way back from the playground, you couldn't resist pushing it down the steep alley we took home; it veered into the drain and almost broke. Of course, you got a lecture all the way home and once we arrived, sentenced to The Corner.
Your love for bursting spontaneously into song continued this month. One night, after dinner, you decided to sing gibberish using the Amazing Grace melody. Apart from the fact that you practically yelled the song out, you were rather expressive, employing sweeping hand gestures for the first time.
We got into reading three brand new books this month: Little Rabbit Lost, Only in My Dreams, and the Lion and the Mouse. The first is a delightful little story about a young rabbit who thinks he's all that once he turns 4 years old. He dashes off ahead of his family when they spend his birthday at a fun-fair, and ends up lost. Mama bought it because you're a little like Little Rabbit these days - so eager to grow up and not have to hold hands at the escalators or walk closely with us. The second book is about Julius the monkey and his dreams, while the third is gorgeously illustrated version of the age-old classic that comes with no narrative, allowing us to tell the story of a lion's fateful meeting with a mouse, according to what we see in each page.
Story-time is such a favourite time for you and for us. It's nice when you're paying close attention and are fully engaged in the story, asking about this and that, and pointing to details Papa and Mama miss out sometimes.
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| I can fly in my dreams |
Aidanism #205:
1.20 pm:
Aidan: I'M GOING TO SHOOT YOU. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
1.45 pm:
Aidan: Don't look at me. I'm getting ANGRYYYYYYYYYY.
2.20 pm:
Aidan: The monsters are coming, Mama. They're going to spit fire on you. *Hawwwwwwwwwwww*
6.10pm:
Aidan: ROARRRRRR. Don't talk! I'm a lion and I'm angRYYYYYYYY.
10 pm (in bed):
Aidan: Mama, please hug me and kiss me. I'm injured. No, I'm dead. You have no more son.
Aidanism #206:
Aidan: Mama, look, it's a jet plane!
Mama: Oh yup, that's a fighter jet.
Aidan: It defeats monsters.
Mama: Well, they help defend Singapore from enemies. You know, the mean guys who attack us.
Aidan: The pilots come down and get into a taxi to go to our house so they can defeat the mean people.
Mama: Well, I suppose that's a good idea. If they shoot from the plane at the mean people in the houses, they might kill both good and mean people.
Aidan: Yeah! And we are the good people!
