The Untold Perks of The Job

Although my current multi-tasking job as a chauffeur, personal chef, food stockist, tutor and disciplinarian brings me zero income compared to what I used to earn in the corporate pressure cooker, this current job does bring me many moments of unexpected joy and laughter, and precious memories of my Little Man hitting his various milestones. I would not have been able to share and enjoy these milestones on a daily basis if I was still stuck in that horrid pressure cooker.  In fact, I missed many of those daily moments of pure laughter, joy and mini milestones with my older two princesses. Those moments were limited to the evenings and the weekends when I would be trying to recuperate and rejuvenate my knackered self.

Let me share the recent moments of pure laughter with the Little Man...

1. Sometime in October 2012, the Little Man [LM] at 33 months' old calmly declared:
"I don't like this".  Here's the story.
LM was sitting down at the shower room whilst his Loyal Slave [LS] was busy soaping his body.
 LM: Out of the blue, he points his finger down at his private area and firmly declares "I DON'T LIKE THIS". 
LS: Trying to maintain my composure, I calmly asked what it was that he did not like.
 LM: He started pushing and inspecting his "balls" around left and right, left and right and said "THIS ONE, I DON'T LIKE THIS. See..."
LS: I calmly replied "Why don't you like it? That is your testicles...it is for making babies next time" whilst cracking up inside. I didn't make it a big deal and continued scrubbing him clean. [I don't encourage calling a boy's genitalia birdie and balls, hence without any hesitation, I decided to teach him the correct name.]
LM: The Little Man just responded with an "Ohhhhh......." and he never raised the subject again of not liking his testicles!

2. A couple of months after the above exchange. I was waiting for him to pee before dinner at his grandparents home one day, when he suddenly declared "I LIKE MY TESTICLES" to the utter shock of his Loyal Slave, who was quietly amazed that he could still remember what the organ was called after just being taught that one time. I just stood there in shocked silence, whilst trying not to smile, so as not to illicit any further reaction from him. With the Little Man, the more you smile or laugh, the more he will repeat that same line or behaviour again and again. Heavens forbid, I wouldn't want him telling that to anyone else! A professional entertainer in the making.

Moving on from the reproductive organs to matters of the heart.....

3. Just recently, As I pick the Little Man from school one day, he suddenly blurts out "Mummy, she pretty right?". I quickly looked at who my little darling was staring at. Her name is Isabelle, his classmate in the Smart Reader playgroup that he was in. The teacher and staff there immediately remarked "Comel, lah, mereka dua!" (translated to mean, the two of them are really adorable) and told me that the Little Man often hangs out with Isabelle, they would queue up and go to the toilet together and then hang out with each other after school whilst waiting for their transport home, etc. Not sure who is more obsessed.... the Little Man or his teachers with this notion of "Ohhhh, so sweet."

As for the Loyal Slave, it was another of the Little Man's classmates that had me curled round her little finger. Her name is Avery. She had huge, big round eyes with the chubbiest cheek ever! She would always save her sweetest smile for me.

One day, her beautiful, round eyes suddenly noticed the abnormality in the physical appearance of my toes. You see, I was born with brachymetartasis which means that my fourth toe stopped growing and looks stunted as compared to the taller pinkie toe. This used to embarrass me a great deal and I would hide my toes in public; I would never be seen in flip-flops. In recent years, I realised that there are far bigger problems facing people in the world, so it has stopped bothering me as much now, though i am still very conscious of it when out barefoot in public. This innocent little girl asked me, "Why are your toes like that?". I feigned shock, horror! and uttered "Oh no, Avery....what happened? You must have stepped on Aunty's toes earlier, then they became broken like this!".
Silence.
Just the big, round eyes staring back at me until the Little Man exclaimed "Huh, Mummy? Really, ah? Avery stepped then become like that?"
I looked at the Little Man and responded, "Or was it you JF, did you step on Mummy's toes?"

The poor little darlings. I never did explain to them why my toes look the way it does.
Hope i didn't traumatise these two adorable 3 year olds!


~ Written by a blessed Mother of a little boy who is growing to slowly show appreciation for his human anatomy!
;-)

Author's Note: The Little Man still occasionally looks at my toes and asks "Huh, Mummy....really, ah? Avery step on your toes?" Muhahaha!