Happy Rain Drops - (1000 excuses to sleep with you part II)

It's been only two months since our last trip back home to Asia and our son is still sleeping with us almost every night. It's almost methodical like an alarm clock going off at 2.00am and 5.00am that our son would just sleep-walk wonder in to our bed at those times. I try staying up from time to time to take him back to his own room and only to find that he is in our bed again in the morning. He is a very determined child. I suppose many things that happened to him the last few months may have contributed to him feeling a little bit insecure. Since we moved after we traveled back home, he is once again in a new living environment, which comes with a brand new room, new friends in the neighborhood and a new bat-man bike.

On the other hand, he also lost a few childhood friends whom he grew up with and found out just weeks back that his grandfather is sick.
Perhaps that is quite a bit of stress for an 4.5 year old boy who also begins noticing the difference in his own skin color everytime when he goes to the park and play. He was recently called "that little Chinese boy" by an adorable little blond at the park. --> (Stay tuned for Next post)

It has been a tough few weeks since he learned one of his best friends was moving away to California. At first he didn't really know what that meant or even how far his best friend was moving. He would ask us to just drop him off in California when we headed out to work in the morning. He knew it was further away but not realizing it was about 1700 miles away. He found out later on when he was studying maps with Mommy just how far California is, and to him anywhere that needs flying in order to get to is considered very far. He now no longer wants us to drop him at his friend’s place but has switched to "Daddy, can you find a job in California so that we can move to California...please pleaseeee….”

Finally, Mommy found a great way to smooth his transition through these “traumatic” childhood times by re-channeling his longing with simply pen and paper. Mommy told him if he misses someone, he should write to them. Our little boy finally found the motivation to really put his pencils to work, and when asked what he wanted to write to his friend, without blinking, he quickly said, "I love you," with which Mommy’s response was “errr…..” and a smile (he is writing to another little boy). After a brief awkward moment, Mommy swiftly asked, “you mean ‘I MISS you’ right?” Considering the trend of the educational philosophy in California being so free-minded, it may be good to stick with "I miss you" to avoid future complications. Nonetheless, this is the innocence of a 4.5 old which in nowadays is a real blessing.

Following the lost of his precious friends, our little son found out that his grandpa is sick whom he had grown very close to during his Asia trip. He was diagnosed with cancer. They found tumors in his brain and his chest area. Being a 4.5 year old, he didn't know what that is and didn't really comprehend the severity of it until we told him that grandpa needs to be hospitalized and have surgery. He knew what that means since he's been through it himself just a short eight months ago. He remember all the needle poking, being strapped down to the hospital beds, IV's needles all over his body, around the clock blood work and etc. He would ask us, “is grandpa going to get poked?” And we had to answer him yes. “Where is grandpa sick?” We had to tell him that grandpa has tumor or little rocks in his head that the doctor would need to operate and take it out. His immediate response is “that would hurt grandpa!” and his face would turn from smiles to frown as if he remembers his own ordeal. On the night of the operation, as family we couldn't do much but to pray for the procedure to go well since we are half way around the world apart. As we knelt down by our bedside to pray, our little boy saw us and he approached us and asked, “can I pray too Daddy Mommy?” We told him, “of course son,” and he knelt down between and uttered words that instantly brought tears in our eyes. Here is what he said,

“Dear God, please don't make grandpa hurt. Please make him feel better soon so I can play with him. Please comfort grandma. Please don't make her sad. Please give her peace. In Jesus’ name Amen.”

My son has been reluctant when it comes to praying most of the times, and he often rushes through his prayer with gibberish mumbles. But this was one of the few times he uttered each word clearly and sincerely. He understood that grandpa was hurting and this little guy wanted his grandpa to not experience what he had experience just a short few months back. We were so proud of him and got tears in our eyes. He later turned to mommy and said "Mommy your rain drops are on me…" My son calls tear drops “rain drops.”

We went to sleep very late that night since we were staying up late to wait for the phone call from abroad regarding the result of the operation. Mommy was wandering down the hall and stumbled upon our little boy's room and she found our little boy in bed holding on to a picture frame of grandma and grandpa which was originally put right next to his bed. I immediately issued a flash flood warning……..