Nostalgia

Ed's not around...

So the guest blogger is in the house today! And today is a day of remembering what growing up was like!

I dropped Nicole off at school today. It was different the minute I entered the gates. Strangely quiet.

When we were outside her class, suddenly out popped all her classmates. They were there to welcome her (or so I thought!). No teachers were around (found out later, they were settling some stuff behind). Well, all the little tods came round Nicole, as she took off her shoes.

All was well, until one of them started showing me a toy she was holding, and chanting out "botak! botak!" It was like a new word for all 10 tods. Soon, all of them went "botak! botak", laughing hysterically at each other, pointing at the toy. Well, Nicole was sitting on the floor, shell-shocked. (she's never heard that word before) Suddenly, I realised, uhoh! She thinks that they are all laughing at her, and she's feeling totally "out of it!" And 3-2-1, she burst into tears!

That distracted the tods. They then decided to laugh at crying Nicole. ohh... at that moment, I really wanted to go "shut up, all of you!" But, I'm only Nicole's mummy, not all of theirs! And if I were a 3 yr old, I would be laughing too! It was a let's all laugh moment for them! Well, in what was like eternity, Mo Lao Shi appeared and took over.

Reality check (in chronological order)
1. Felt like a failure as a mummy to protect my baby
2. Realised I can't protect her all the time
3. Remembered that this is part of growing up--misunderstandings and being misunderstood

I drove back realising how important it is for the kids to know God! He'll see them through these 'trials of growing up'!

BETTER things ahead...

It's Camp Breakaway till Wed! Nicole, Nathan, Aunty Weng & I went down to check it out. ohhh.. it looks great! The campers were excited. There was a sense of "we had fun so far, and there'll be more to come" in the air! It's such times when I wish I'm in a better state physically, and the kids are older. So that we can all join in the camp!

Then again, reality check.

What we saw:
1. Wearing t-shirts that don't match your bottom. And no one will say anything, cos it's CAMP!
2. Eating fried rice (literally. Rice that is fried, and a little coloured) with an omelette for lunch
3. Screaming out loud the team cheer, cos it seems points are awarded for volume
4. Sleeping bags in the classroom for Zzzz later
5. Bathing in a primary school toilet where there're tiny toilet bowls and lower flushes and sinks

Of course that can't be compared to what we smelt: sweat+sweat+more sweat!

hmmm... to be young again....