here is peter, here is jane… here is aniq

weekends mean quality time, and the long cab ride to the hospital with the little one on saturday morning afforded some. we played the point-out-everything-you-know game, which included the trees, the clouds, the cars, the motorbikes (at which he got momentarily distracted when the ahpek on the motorbike made funny faces at him)…

i also asked him to point at uncle (cue tiny index finger to cab driver), mummy (cue tiny index finger to me), and aniq, at which he happily pointed to himself.

he really digs… people, you know? he could easily amuse himself when there are people around other than us, his parents (coz we’re SO boring!). if we’re in a crowded joint, we’d strategically place ourselves near a table with a lot of people, or better still, with bigger children. coz they’re the ones who attract his attention most, and more often than not, they reciprocate his cheeky grins.

and with his liking for people, his taste in books too reflect that.

see, i went to the library the other day, in a sudden burst of inspiration to pick up some books for him.

the mistake was going to TAMPINES library, lol!

gawd. what can i say, there was an almost appalling selection to choose from.

i was looking for good age-appropriate story books, the kinds i’d seen at a particular early development resource centre i’d visited earlier.

but instead, i found mostly tattered-out, gnawed-at, chewed-up board books…

and nicer, but too advanced books for pre-schoolers…

i noticed that most of the books were about animals with human characteristics. all well and good, of course. i mean, dogs and cats behaving just like humans, how can kids NOT get that, right? :p

but seeing that we hardly come into contact with sheep and cows and horses and penguins and giraffes, i kinda prefer stories with… real humans. oops, please don’t brand me, i’m not anti-animals, really, i’m not! i love them to bits! especially them giraffes, i do! i’ve nothing against them! i used to love ‘em aesop’s fables! imagination is good!

so anyway, i spent a good hour at the dusty ol’ library, sifting through the shelves, trying to find suitable stories that i thought the little one could relate to at his age.

i couldn’t find any! i almost wanted to tear off the baby board books in my frustration! (hmm, come to think of it, perhaps the tattered conditions of them baby books are due to adults like me, instead of teething babies…)

i gave up eventually, and left with a few obligatory (sigh) board books. one on penguins, no less. (he’s got a stuffed penguin at home he pats at night as a sign of affection, so that’ll do.)

and this experience reinforced why i always end up buying books instead of borrowing.

especially books with pictures and stories about people, doing the things he does or had gone through before.

like topsy and tim, who also went to the doctor, opened their mouths, got their ears poked at, and their chests checked with a stethoscope…

and like our two good friends, Peter and Jane, who seem to be stuck in the seventies era and perpetually going to the beach, playing ball, and eating sweets, lol! (btw, mariani, we still owe you for the set, beb.)

aniq loves you, tau, Peter and Jane! and not to mention, Pat, the dog, whom Jane – and Aniq – has a tendency to reprimand.

wags finger: “no, no, no…”

i think he likes the idea that little children like him too can ‘discipline’ others.

ouuh what power thine tiny index finger wields.