Grocery Run

At the grocery store today, I picked up a bag of carrots. I was about to turn away when I heard a voice say, “很美, hor?” (Aren’t they beautiful?)

I looked up. It was one of the aunties who worked at the grocery store. Short and silver-haired, she looked back at me with a gentle smile.

Frankly I hadn’t noticed. Monday is Grocery Run Day. After dropping Aramis off at school, I have 3 hours to get the goods, zip home, cram as much work in as I can, before I have to make lunch for the hungry hordes. So I pick up carrots like I pick up scattered laundry – as quickly as I can.

I looked back down at the carrots. They looked like every other carrot I had ever seen. Long, orange, firm. What else was there to appreciate?

I looked back at her and forced a smile. Yes, they are, I said.

She told me that they had just come in that morning, so fresh-looking, so firm, and they were on sale too. She had just been bagging them, and was clearly full of admiration for the harvest before her.

I looked back at the carrots and somehow they looked brighter than a few seconds ago. I thanked her, and as I continued down the vegetable aisle, I walked a little more slowly, and let my gaze linger over the greens.

More Manglish Mangling

And then there was this little gem

Aramis: How do you say ‘with’ in Chinese?
Me: 跟
Aramis: 我喜欢走跟妈妈。
Me: Nice try! But in Chinese, you have to say “I like with Mummy to walk”
Aramis: Why is Chinese so ungrammatical?!

Why indeed!

Manglish Mangling

I’ve been trying to speak Mandarin to the Pilgrim boys to help them get more practice. A feeble attempt in the spirit of Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s lofty vision, and not particularly successful if this episode is anything to go by:

Me: 吃你的面包。
Aramis: Yes, I am 吃ing my 面包。

Another day, another milestone

Last weekend, we ran out of milk and flour, and Porthos, who just turned 9, volunteered to go to the store by himself to buy it.

Pilgrim Mom: Do you want Kor Kor to go with you?
Porthos: No, I can go by myself.
PM: Are you sure?
P: Yes.

And so, off he went, carrying a grocery bag and $10. It’s a trip we’ve made dozens of times, and he knows the way, and the store layout, and the whole routine at the check-out. Yet I have to admit I had my heart in my mouth the whole time, and had to resist the temptation to trail along.

He returned soon enough, and really didn’t see what the fuss was about. Me, I had to swallow hard and push away the thought that my little guy was growing up faster than I thought.

A la what?

A few weeks ago, we discovered “The Sing-Off”. Or, more accurately, I just discovered “The Sing-Off”, and the rest of the Pilgrim family has been dragged along, hapless and helpless.

Which led to this little conversation last night:

Athos: I like acapella
Porthos: I like alapecca too.

Wired: 5 Best Toys of All Time

Move aside, iPad. This stuff is the Real Deal. As a mother of three, I can vouch that these five are hands-down among the best of the best. Maybe you can fill a stocking or two with these? 🙂

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/01/the-5-best-toys-of-all-time/all/1

From an old, beloved book

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

– The Velveteen Rabbit

A light rain from heaven

Two emails from two older women carry the grace of God to my heart. Thank You for the reminder that You are looking out for me.

Carrion

That’s Aramis’ current favourite word.

He learnt it from a book about vultures that we borrowed from the library. Up to now, his library book interest has seldom extended beyond trains, resulting in a vocabulary comprising words like ‘freight’, ‘engine’, ‘track’ and ‘coupling’. So I was surprised when he asked about birds at our last library visit. (And I have a strong suspicion I have Rovio to thank for that!)

Anyhow, he’s been practicing saying the word “carrion” for several days now – a little macabre, I know. Then this morning, right after breakfast, he reached down to the ground, smacked hard on a hapless, unsuspecting ant that was walking by, showed me his palm and said brightly, “Look Mommy, CARRION!”

The Neologisms of Aramis

I’m trying to settle the children’s lunch when I hear Aramis call me from behind the open refrigerator door

A: Mummy, I need your help.

Me: OK, coming.

A: MUMMY, I need your help NOW.

Me: OK OK.

A: MUMMY, come NOW! Quick, it’s going to teet me!

I finally walk over to the fridge. “What’s going to ‘teet’ you?” I ask, amused by the urgency in his voice. Aramis, who is struggling to get something out of the fridge, says, “You know, when the fridge door is open for too long? And then it goes TEEEEET! I don’t like that sound.”

Clearly these fridge designers know what they’re doing!

Why I am greying prematurely

Familiarising Athos with this week’s 听写 words:

Me: “印象” means “impression”
He: Oh. I thought it meant “Indian elephant”.

Maturing Palate

During the school holidays, the Pilgrim family had an evening out which included dinner at a nice Japanese restaurant. The boys usually have the kids meal or a bowl of noodles, but this time Athos was amenable to trying our platter of salmon sashimi.

Athos: Mmm, it’s good. I like it.

Pilgrim Dad and Mom: (in unison) Oh dear.

Reading with Daddy

Pilgrim Dad brought the kids to the library yesterday. It was primarily for Athos’ benefit – he has an extended book list from school that he’s working through.

But Pilgrim Dad decided he would try to encourage Porthos (who doesn’t like books) to read as well. I was delighted until I saw the book – a war-time commando comic.

Me: What?!?!

Pilgrim Dad: Hey, he now knows what ‘strafe’, ‘achtung’ and ‘luftwaffe’ mean. And the different pain levels as denoted by “AARGH” and “AAAAAAAAH”.

I roll my eyes and rest my case….

The Curious Case of Supposed Poultry

This morning, I took some time to understand Athos’ current book series obsession, Beast Quest. As far as I can tell, it’s a fantasy with the usual battles between good and evil. And thus ensued this conversation:

Pilgrim Mom: You know, a lot of modern fantasies are inspired by classics like “The Lord of the Rings” and the “Chronicles of Narnia”. [We chat about common themes, and land on betrayal.]

PM: Remember how Edmund betrays his siblings in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”?

Athos: Yah, all because he likes…what was it…Chicken Supreme?

PM: Eh?!?!

Athos: Isn’t it Chicken Supreme?

PM: No, it’s Turkish Delight!

Athos: Oh, it’s turkey then!

I couldn’t stop laughing for a long, long while. We were on the way to the optometrist so it’s a mercy that I didn’t crash….

John O’Donohue: A Blessing For One Who Is Exhausted

Some months ago an older woman whom I greatly respect introduced me to the poetry of John O’Donohue. His poems, for me, occupy that rare space between humanity and the divine, a sort of linguistic thin place.

Today I returned to this poem, felt my breathing slow, a calm return. Perhaps it might bless you too.

A Blessing For One Who Is Exhausted
When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic,
Time takes on the strain until it breaks;
Then all the unattended stress falls in
On the mind like an endless, increasing weight,

The light in the mind becomes dim.
Things you could take in your stride before
Now become laborsome events of will.

Weariness invades your spirit.
Gravity begins falling inside you,
Dragging down every bone.

The ride you never valued has gone out.
And you are marooned on unsure ground.
Something within you has closed down;
And you cannot push yourself back to life.

You have been forced to enter empty time.
The desire that drove you has relinquished.
There is nothing else to do now but rest
And patiently learn to receive the self
You have forsaken for the race of days.

At first your thinking will darken
And sadness take over like listless weather.
The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.

You have traveled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.

Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.

Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.

Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.

Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gentle with yourself.

Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.

Gradually, you will return to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for your heart
And the joy that dwells far within slow time.

NLB’s Video Library

Exams are over and the school holidays are almost upon us! Which means I am once again trying to keep half a step ahead of boredom and mischief among the Pilgrim brood.

Thankfully, there are few places more trustworthy than our neighbourhood library. I’ve raved about Singapore’s library system and its treasures elsewhere on this blog, but I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned that besides the books (which already offer rich pickings), NLB also carries DVDs.

I’m not sure how they determine what titles to offer – you won’t find Hollywood blockbusters or primetime TV series – but there are award-winning documentaries, instructional videos, educational CD-ROMs and the occasional classic movie.

This week Pilgrim Dad and I borrowed and watched To Kill A Mockingbird, the 1962 film adaptation of the book, that won Gregory Peck an Academy award for Best Actor. And for the kids, we’ve found the Popular Mechanics for Kids and Bill Nye the Science Guy series delightful.

I can imagine few better uses for my tax dollar!

Digital Ontologies

Aramis and I had this little exchange yesterday:

Me: I’m bringing the computer.
A: That’s not a computer, that’s an iPad.
Me: An iPad is a computer.
A: No, computer is computer. iPad is iPad.

I wonder what Steve Jobs would have to say about that!

Gigantic Beans

I had to sign Porthos’ spelling sheet last week. As I pulled out my pen, I saw that he got a score of 9/10. The one he got wrong was “gigantic beans”. And against it, the teacher had written, “gigantic bins”.

Me: Why did you write “beans”?
Porthos: Because that’s what the teacher said!

Pilgrim Dad and I couldn’t stop laughing. Another case of “leopard preenz”!

Porthos and Athos the Exegetes

Family worship time and Pilgrim Dad leads the children in a reading-cum-artistic interpretation of the Fall of Man.

They are having a right good time drawing the snake and the fruit and the Man and the Woman (complete with censorship blocks over vital anatomical bits).

After they are done, Pilgrim Dad asks them what they think God is teaching us.

Without hesitation, Porthos says, “Fruits are bad for you.” We dissolve in chuckles, during which time he surmises his answer was not quite the authoritative interpretation.

“Don’t listen to talking snakes?” he ventures in all sincerity.

By this time, Pilgrim Dad and I are in fits. Athos decides to have a go as well and calls out, “Don’t listen to your wife!”

Let’s just say my boys don’t appear as yet to have bright prospects as men of the cloth….

Why Goldilocks should get a different name

Story time with Aramis so I asked him what he wanted me to tell.

Aramis: Bear bear and the logs.

Pilgrim Mom: You mean Bear Bear and Dog Dog? (regulars in the Pilgrim cast)

Ar: No, Bear bear and the logs. With the porridge.

PM: Ah, you mean GoldiLOCKS and the Three Bears.

I proceed to tell the story.

PM: So what story do you want next?

Ar: I want Loggage and the Bears again!

Update on 28 Sep
What story for today? Aramis says, “Goldi-blocks and the bears!”