No? Problem?

Today, my 1-year-old son said No for the first time. We were reading the Ice Age 2 book after his bath, and I had to extricate myself from his embrace long enough to give my 3-year-old his bath. Trying to distract my baby long enough to make the walk to the bathroom, I suggested “Show the book to J?” (his older brother). Children are always smarter than we give them credit for; of course he knew what Mom was up to. So his reply was calm, short and succint: “No.” First time he said that word! I was delighted! I clapped my hands! I was so proud!

Then approximately 5 seconds after, a thought flashed through my mind: Should I really be rejoicing? Should I really be celebrating this milestone? Will I still be as happy when he says No a few years down the road? HAHAHA. I think I’ll worry about the repercussions of today’s latest addition to his vocabulary when the time comes. Today, it’s just perfectly wonderful and I will celebrate it for what it is! 😀

Mr. Sniff-a-lot

My 5-year-old son J has a new “thing.” He likes to spend every moment he can beside me, sniffing my back, my arms, my hair… then he gets this look of rapture on his face as he exclaims, “Smells goooooood!!!” Hence my new nickname for him. This preoccupation of his with sniffing reminds me of those childhood days, when my siblings and I would love sniffing our mom’s nightgown. There was something so wonderful, so soothing, so calming, in smelling our mom’s scent left behind in a piece of cloth. Whenever she and my dad would go out of town, we would fight over who got to sleep beside Mommy’s nightgown, as if having it beside us was reassurance that she was still right there.

Funny how scent can provide such a sense of security. Though, given its peculiarity, it’s a good thing that as we grow older, we also outgrow our sniffing tendencies. 😀

You Don’t Know What You’ve Got …

Last night, our airconditioner broke down without warning. Just like that. It was not a humorous thing for me. HAHAHA! Now I can laugh about it. Not last night. Last night I was not mad. I was… hmmm… resignedly disappointed. But not disappointed enough to relocate our sleeping quarters to the living room (where there were 2 airconditioners in perfect working condition). I thought of all the trouble it would take to transfer pillows, blankets, and cushions and then set everything up with the kids (they loooove the thought of having to sleep in the living room and will readily give up their own beds for the opportunity to “go camping”). Just thinking about the entire operation  made me tired.

So we spent the night lulled by the whirr of electric fans. I always try to look at the bright side of life: fans = better than power outage where there is absolutely no air and the hair sticks to the back of your neck when you wake up. Yuck. Yeah, fans rock in the absence of anything else.

But the experience was enough to get my hubby to ensure that the servicemen arrived today. So now we are again ensconced in cool comfort. SIGH. Nothing like losing something to fully appreciate it, eh? (Seriously though: Think about how this  applies to soooo many things in life as well… hopefully, we don’t have to lose much to appreciate much.) I think from this day on, everytime I pass the aircon, I’m going to blow it a flying kiss (no pun intended). 😀

PS. You know that song Big Yellow Taxi? The line that goes “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone…” kept playing in my subconscious the whole night. I’m convinced it was an ode to our aircon. Boy am I glad that it’s back and working! 😀 (Then again, isn’t it funny how losing such a material thing can make us ponder the more profound stuff in life?) For those who haven’t heard Big Yellow Taxi… enjoy!