Friday, 3 July 2026

The long suffering firstborn

Kai is so big now, not just coz he's the tallest in the family now, having overtaken Sito recently after overtaking me last year.

He doesn't need me to tell him to collect his laundry to fold; he doesn't need us to remind him to revise for WAs and exams; he could make his way on his own to a new place for chess tournaments. (But when no friend is going to a chess tournament, he will 不堪寂寞 ask Papa to accompany him.)

Of course, we still have to nag him for many other things but he's certainly becoming more independent.

Being the firstborn has its boons and banes. We think he had too much coddling so he didn't learn independence early, unlike his brothers who had to contend with this big brother for attention since they were born. So yes, a lot of attention for Kai but he learnt independence last. Actually, the firstborn is really the "experimental kid" - gotta suffer at first-time parents' hands hoho!

Well, it takes time but he's getting there.. And it really hit me that he's quite grown now when he said something deep last month on the 6th.

In a tussle with Kai, Yu kicked Kai's bedroom door and smashed the bit of fake wall behind the door such that the door stopper sank a bit in. It was a baby palm-sized hole that I couldn't be bothered to get a professional fix and so taped up to prevent pests from nesting within the wall!

When I was done, Kai said, "Thank you, Mama." 

He says this a lot these days, especially after his end-of-term NPCC camp as he fell chasing for the bus and suffered three scrapes - two on his right knee and one on his right elbow. I have been putting on cream and plasters for him every day and enjoying his very nice "thanks".

So this time, I turned to him, smiled and said, "嘴很甜 hor?" He smiled sweetly and said that he read in a book that it's hard not to criticise people so he wanted to neutralise it using praise. Wa.

So glad he's trying to be nice :) Coz sometimes he's really irritating ah... Makes me want to tear my hair out! But the next instant, he offers a hug. Then how? Succumb to my son's charms lor... Hoho! Useless Mama...

Oh, he doesn't offer hugs in public ok. Very prim and proper, this one. If I so much as hug him or swoon over smile at him in public, he'll tell me to "act normal". Now he has a new line.

That day after Swensen's Unlimited, we were stuck outside Cold Storage (again) while Papa took our sole brolly to get more from home. I asked Kai, “喜欢妈妈爱爱你吗?” Big smile. Me. He turned to me in disgust and said "act normal" as usual. I refused to give up and continued chasing after him while the other two were chatting next to us. 

Then I also asked the brothers. Yang gave me a shrug. Wth? I turned away to Yu who said, “妈妈很可爱!” Yeah! And I turned back to Kai with the same question again. This time, he threw back a “丢死人了!” Hilarious!! 哪里学的,这个 si gin nah! Hahaha!

He's the long suffering firstborn, and I'm also his long suffering Mama!

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