Happy Hour

Micah is very athletic and loves to run. Even in the house he runs around quite a bit. So naturally, he loves going to the park near our place where he can run on and off the jogging path, go on the swings and slides, climb around some rocks and run around the fish ponds.

Grandpa is the one who takes him to the park most of the time. Before Max came along, grandpa would take Micah to the park in the evening and I would walk the dog while Grandma cooks dinner. When Max was still very little, he would take his evening nap about 6-7pm and we still carried on as usual. Since Max became more active around 8 months, he has been joining his brother at the park. So grandpa and I take the two boys. (In case you are wondering about the dog, Grandpa will walk the dog later while i shower the boys when we get back.)

Last Saturday daddy took Max to the park while I had to drop something off to a friend before heading to the park. Somehow we missed daddy and Max, but to our delight, Micah met a playmate: Meet Ganeshsri. She is almost a year whole older to Micah. She is the most delightful girl I have ever seen and she giggles at the slightest thing. Micah obviously found her to be really funny and a great playmate too. She shared her toy with him willingly and they both have the same enthusiasm when it comes to running around the park. I watched them both run around, then sit down under a tree and giggled, then one would get up and the other followed and run around again. Her father and I chatted a bit about our family, but strangely we never introduced ourselves properly. We both kept our eyes on the kids almost all the time. He seemed a bit more relaxed than I. When they got out of sight, I would excuse myself and go looking for them. He did not seem to mind her not being in his line of vision. One of the times when they ran too near the jogging track, I called out my warnings and gave the reason: "Be careful. The uncle and unties could run into you. Careful. There are bicycles coming. Micah, Come over here..." He: "Ganeshsri. Don't go there. Go chase those leaves (though no leaves were falling at that time)." Hmmm... maybe that is why she is so funny and delightful.

After a while Mike called. He had gone back with Max and was coming in the car to pick us up. I asked him to bring some bread for us to feed the fish. Meanwhile we had gone "rock climbing". Mike soon arrived with Max and they joined us there, but he did did not find the bread I had packed earlier. So I hunted around the back seat and found a container of biscuits. That will have to do. We all went to feed the fish. Then Ganeshsri's mommy came to pick them up, and we left for home too. Ah Mah (my mum) was coming for a visit, with Ee Ee (my younger sis) and Ah Ku (my brother). What a happy evening. And the evening visit did not end without a visit to the supermarket at 9pm because Ah Mah needed to buy ingredients for making a good chilly sauce and as well as some eggs for CNY cookies. Talk about late evening excitement! By the time we got back it was almost eleven. Max had fallen asleep on the journey home. Ah Mah did not leave till a little past eleven.

Indeed family and friends makes our days worth being alive for.