I WANT to be a TRAIN

Boys are boys. They are just simply built differently than girls. I guess most folks know the difference between boys and girls. Yes, there are the biological differences between the two sexes, but another big difference is emotional and behavioral. My son, ever since the first day until now, I have never outwardly or distinctly encouraged or promoted in him the idea of what a boy is supposed to be like or do. He somehow learned it and acts on his own natural instincts. One example is his fascination with trains. The fascination with trains started at about six to eight months of age. He will be turning 4 in a few weeks and his fascination only grows and grows. He is able to name just about all the characters from the Thomas the Tank engine series. He can spend hours building tracks after tracks. He would design a new layout for the tracks each time. He is simply borderline obsessed with trains.

Besides trains, he is also very much interested in cars, engines, trucks, planes and playing with all sort of balls. He doesn't mind being dirty and he would prefer not to take a bath if he is allowed to make that choice. Normally when one's diaper is full, the baby would cry immediately. Let's just say, if we didn't check on him (when he was a baby), he would not voluntarily get our attention regarding his diaper status, even if it was fully "deposited."

There is also something about him expressing affection. My son hates it when someone tries to kiss him, instead he would settle and much prefers a head-butt with me as a form of showing love. When we say "I love you" to him, instead of saying the same thing back, he would solemnly say "thank you" until we almost tickle him to death before we could squeeze I-love-you out of him.

I have asked him a few days ago of what he would like to be when he grows up. He answered without hesitation, "Daddy I want to be a Train" and in a few months he might be telling me he wants to be a computer.

I just can't wait until his teen years, when he asks me about girls or maybe he won't since he has done everything else so far on his own instincts!

Every body's GrandChild

Even at a tender age of 4, my son is always excited when it's Friday. It is not because it is approaching the weekends or the fact that he knows daddy won't have to work but rather, he seems to look forward to a volunteer job that he gets to participate on some Fridays if he is not sick. He gets to go to different elderly households and deliver meals.

Each Friday, the volunteer meal deliverers gather at a local church to pick up boxes of special meals according to specific dietary constraints. Some folks drink butter milk, some would take skim and then there are the minorities whom would be allowed to drink whole Milk, followed by different meal plan for different diets. So far, my little boy is at least helpful in helping out picking the right kind of milk for the right folks since the milk cartons are in different colors. He becomes more helpful when the actual delivery takes place.

He would YELL out "MEALS on WHEELS" to get attention prior to the knock on the door. Usually folks are already opening the door prior to the knock because they do look forward to a cute 4 year old delivering a meal with a smile and a mischievous grin. He would normally deliver the meal and then ask "what about me? but I am Hungry too." The response is always a grandpa Santa Claus type jolly laugh then a hug followed by a pinch on the cheeks and finally a candy or lollipops. He has become the Every body's Grandchild on Fridays. This does serve two purposes. My son's grandparents are far away in Asia and most of the elderly folks don't have their grandchild's nearby.

Sisters..Where art thou?

My little boy used to have a few imaginary friends. I wasn't quite sure what their names were but he always seemed to have fun with them. Ever since he developed his kidney ailment, he's been confined at home most of the time to prevent risk of infections. His medication does cut down his own natural immune system therefore a simple cold may lead to a trip to ER. He does play well on his own when he is at home but he seems to light up when he is around kids his age or slightly older. He longs to visit his friends and always asks us to bring him to their home to play or visit. Every time, when a friend comes over to play with him, the moment of his friend returning home is like the ending scene of Romeo and Juliet where tears rain down like a fierce thunderstorm.
Lately we have been feeding him on the idea of perhaps being a brother. He didn't like it at first but he is starting to warm up to the idea. We even picked out his sisters names, and for now, he would just have to imagine that they are there with him. Today, all of a sudden, he said something so sweet that almost melt our hearts. He told us that he would read his sisters bed time stories and would even share his toys, food and his most important precious the OG's with them.

What?

My son usually goes to bed around 9.30pm every night. Well that's when he actually puts himself on the bed but it does not mean his eyes are close. He would go through several different routines after 9.30pm before his eyes would actually shut. First he would asked for some water, then he would request to be held. After being held, he would request for mommy to hold him. Around 10.45pm, he would come to mommy and daddy's room and claims, he is scared. We would sternly tell him to go back to bed and he would rebutt by saying "but I am Scared..." Then we would start counting to 5 and usually when we counted to 4, he would go back to bed very reluctantly with tears in his eyes. He would make one more trip out of his room around 11.15pm and says, can you turn on the music please?. Mommy would turn on his favorite CD. Another 10 minutes will pass before hearing him saying, the music is too loud. Daddy will then turn down the volume to a point where only the ants in his room can hear. Around 11.40pm, I will always take another sneak peak in his room and sometimes, he would catch me looking at him. He would always respond if he sees me
with a "WHAT?" follow by a smile.

Not for Granted

It's been a whirl wind few weeks. My son contracted Chicken pox toward the end of last month and since then, his health has been a roller coaster ride. I almost wish we could have some sort of frequent flyer reward program on our trips to the hospital. By the grace of God, our little guy is finally recovering admirably and have been stable for two weeks. He is back to his old active monkey self. Through out the frequent stays in the hospital, our boy resorted to pass his time by reading which is a great trait to acquire. He is now very familiar with two popular children's book character. One is call "NO David" by David Shannon and "Olivia" by Ian Falconer.
My son loves the mischievous David and often immitates his behavior but he knows at the end of each David story, he would always reconcile with his mom and dad. On the character Olivia the other hand, he also identify with the fact that this lovable pig simply wears people out by her wide variety of different interest.

Wish there is really such a magical machine! See below cartoon.

Be Touched.. Be very Touched

I hope you enjoy the music video above. It's not common to find such powerful pair of duets. The melody and lyrics simply complement there voices. I hope you enjoy and that your spirit will be lifted up. I too have a prayer for my son and I hope he grows up knowing there is an almighty one high up above our imagination watching over him. May this song be your prayer.

Shadows will sometime fill our days, but His power will overshadowed all.