“Swiddle”

On Monday evening (August 24, 2009), we brought Jules shopping at Parkway Parade and he told me he would like to buy a toy boat.

Jules: “Mommy, can I buy a toy boat?”

Me: “What do want the boat for?”

Jules: “So that I can play with it and swiddle it around.”

Me: “Oh … what is swiddle??!”

Jules: “Swiddle is a ‘boat’ word. You know, move it around on the water?”

Me: “You mean, so that you can play with it and navigate the boat on the water?”

Jules: Yeeesss! So that I can navigate and swiddle it around!

I tried googling for the definition of ‘swiddle’ and found that no such word exists, except in the form of surnames. Jules has always been fascinated by words and I guess he has just invented his first word, for us in the family at least! Who knows? We may have a linguist among us.

For the record, if swiddle really makes it into the dictionary, it would probably look something like this:

swiddle
verb
[swiddling, swiddled]
1. Travel on water, moving back and forth or sideways
2. To move across the surface of water, especially by means of a sailing vessel

Through His Eyes

On Sunday (August 23, 2009), Julian had a sudden whiff of inspiration and decided to do a portrait of Mommy.

He may be no Leonardo Da Vinci and the drawing nowhere near the Portrait of Lisa Gherardini but nevertheless, I am immensely proud of his first attempt at three and a half!

Portrait of Ma Mère

Fluff Ball

Pebby has been with us for about 5 months now and he has settled down nicely as “one of the family” and blossomed into a cute little “fluff ball”!

External Influences

Lately, TY and I have observed through Julian’s behavior and speech that he is increasingly “susceptible” to influences from his peers in school and around him. This led me to conclude that it is absolutely essential for me to rework my lifestyle so that I can spend more quality time with Jules, especially during his formative years.

A clip I received this afternoon further strengthened my belief!

Batman Jingle
Batman, Superman
Ali Baba, Chicken Man
Don’t Forget Your Underpants!

Followed by …

Jules: “Hey, there’s an ant! Quick, KILL it!!!

Now, where did that killer instinct come from??! Hmm ...

I later found out Jules picked up the jingle from a good friend in his class, who incidentally also taught him the Transformers’ theme song, “Transformers: Robots in Disguise!” And to think he hasn’t even watched a single episode of the animated series or movie!

I guess in this age we are living in, hands-on parenting is imperative and we cannot afford to delegate this responsibility to our parents, nannies, domestic helpers or even the schools, no matter how good they may be. Raising up the next generation starts right here in our homes - with our own children!