HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY ZALI!!! TUESDAY WAS THE DAY!

friday is playgroup day. lita and i take all three bambini to the PPA, parent playgroup association. there is a huge playroom, a smaller room filled with kid sized play kitchen equipment, tables with art and crafts on them, and an outside area with sand pits, water tanks, and ride on toys. my children love the PPA. fact.

of course, we’re not the only people there. and i am beginning to learn that my children treat other children differently than they treat their own siblings. thankfully, they treat them a fair sight nicer.

today sela was eyeing this one little boy who was holding a sponge bob square pants book she was coveting. she was shifting from one foot to another, watching him with this book, her hands wringing a la lady macbeth. when he finally put it down, carys dashed over to the book and scooped it up, much to her sister’s disgust. you would have thought that sela would go back to the shifting and sliding around, but with the book firmly in the paws of someone she has no issues about pummelling, she reached out and grabbed the book. carys responded by pushing her older sister. and mummy had to step in and return to the book to carys. sela got over her pique to participate in the circle time singing, but it was touch and go for a while there.

the "i hit you" hilarity continued on the way home. in the taxi, jasper, exhausted from his exemplary efforts during snack time, fell asleep in my arms. (car seats are not mandatory in hong kong). carys however, was alert and unhappy. a flashback to this morning, when she woke up and was so unhappy at the breakfast she was being served (weetabix) that she hit her dad and received a time out for her efforts. she sat on the sofa and screamed until she realised that no one was paying attention to her anymore.

in the taxi, carys decided that hitting sela would be fun. sela had other thoughts. i made each girl give me a "gentle touch", where they stroke my arm or face gently, as a reminder as to what a "gentle touch" is. then as they started sliding into each other, pushing each other, pinching etc, i decided separating them was my best course of action. jasper and i slid into the middle of the seat, and i put sela next to us.

she was chuffed at the thought of being so near a door, and so i basically had to hold her arm the rest of the way home. when we got home, sela took my encouragement to "use her words" and said, "choclate thak uu"…. which is apparently twice as good as a regular thank you. jasper then started singing a la Old Mc Donald…"E I E I O" and carys started crying. a good nap put her to rights.