Today you are you
This is truer than true
There's no one alive
Who is you-er than you
~ Dr Seuss
A child of 4 is suddenly fuss-free and finally enjoyable to me. Its a turning point in their lives where they stretch into childhood and leave behind the awful terrible twos and threes phase.
They grasp language better, they are more sociable and adventurous- always game to try anything new, and they finally FINALLY learn to recognise hunger and fatigue. And that means I can relax and let them come to me for food... And they do so every so often- "mummy i'm hungry" is my nickname.
As for recognising fatigue, well.. Lets just say it varies between these two. Arissa is not one to give in to bedtime readily, she never found sleeping a necessity, but would always be the first one to switch off. Hafidz and I call her The Lightbulb for her ability to talk continuously til the very second she falls asleep- its like flicking a switch, literally.
Sofia is better in that sense, she used to just disappear from the living room and after hunting her down throughout the house, we find her in her/our bed in the darkness- just chilling y'know... "I'm so tooiiirrreeddd" she declares followed by a request for the milk bottle. Despite that, she takes longer to wind down, sometimes getting so active I have to issue a threat to get her to calm down again. All this, in the comfort of her/our bed.
So anyway, like I mentioned, I adore kids of 4- they sit pretty between being cute
and being reasonable, and they still smell toddler-ish, a winsome combination indeed. So for Sofia's fourth birthday, we decided to throw her a week of parties. Because I am celebrating the birth of freedom from diapers and tantrums and ushering in an adrenaline junkie (read: USS roller coaster addict).
The first celebration was in school with her friends on her request. I think she's sung so many birthday songs, she wants to be sung to real badly. "Mummy I want a princess cake. I want to eat with my friends", she tells me that Monday as I was planning her real party- one that involves the cuzzies.
On Saturday, we threw her another fun My Little Pony pool/karaoke party, I will dedicate a whole album here soon:
Then the following Monday we took the kids on a Sentosa Staycation with god-brother Anish and did the rounds to USS, Aquarium and Adventure Cove, despite the bad haze that decided to envelope Singapore. NEA website's psi reading was permanently on our phones, and once the levels came down from hazardous to unhealthy/moderate, we came out running from our hotel rooms/malls.
I discovered what adrenaline junkies my kids were that weekend- they were game on for anything and everything, even as Anish was very hesitant. Seriously that boy belongs to me, what with his need to neatly arrange things *beams*, such a joy to messy girls.
So that wraps up Sofie's fab birthday week, now I have big sister reminding me daily that her birthday theme must be Littlest Pet Shop- yah, riiiiight.
It was Sofie's first big celebration because I realise four year olds can finally understand and partake in the mini adult version of 'fun', and so didn't mind splurging for some memories.
In any case, it's still a looooong road for this boy..
