remembering aniq’s 2nd birthday where we somehow managed to get almost all the guests to dress up their kids as superheroes, i had a sudden flash of inspiration for auni’s 2nd and thought, maaaybe they’d humour me again this time round.
i’d developed a ‘fascination‘ with the fairy tale classics in the recent months, having realised what a treasure trove of rather twisted, backdated values, ideals and morals they represented, as i re-read (and over-analyse) them as an adult. it made me question how relevant these stories are in our modern times, and whether they are worth being retold, being so far removed from that world – where characters lived in woods amongst preying creatures; where occupations were predominantly menial; where the females were mostly depicted as being vapid, preoccupied with beauty, and matrimony was the ultimate goal; and where the males were the overall archetypal saviour. there was so much going on in those stories that the more i read them, the more i baulked at the logic, but LOL-ed at them anyway because come on hana, THEY’RE JUST STORIES FOR CHILDREN, right? who cares if Father Bear and Mother Bear slept on separate beds, or whether Rapunzel’s hair could actually withstand the weight of a grown man, or why anyone would want to kiss a dead woman in a glass coffin unless he’s a serial necrophiliac?
but the moralist nazi in me says, all stories MUST have a moral, dammit! so i wrangle them out as best as i can after every “The End”. i mean, surely there’s value to these classics for them to be so time-honoured, however preposterous they may appear to such a sceptic reader. and i do get that the universality of the themes of these western tales serve the purpose of creating a kind of collective consciousness. plus, anything that promotes literacy and the love of literature wins points in my books any time.
so anyway, for me, the one story that stands out the most with its richness in symbols is the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. from the colour red, to the chasteness of the cloak, to the naivety of the girl, to the wolf’s nature and true intention…
man, i could go on, but i won’t! coz for now, let’s just focus on HOW CUTE the children at the fairytale party were, shall we?
let me introduce to you the characters who appeared:
here’s Peter Pan, who flew in specially from Never Never Land for the party.
Snow White, who took time-off from the slavedriving dwarves. (btw, she won Best Dressed for her mummy’s excellent effort in creating and sewing her costume from scratch. kudos! the non-domestic goddess me is still in total awe.)
I think Alice’s Queen of Hearts’ husband, the King of Hearts, came in his mommy’s best shawl and brooch.
Aye aye, Captain Hook! where’s ye eye-patch, matey?
The Wild Thing put on his best brandon flowers’-inspired guyliner for the occasion. “let the wild rumpus begin!”
The Three Blind Mice. See where they, err, hide.
2 out of the 7 Dwarves came with their chaperone. (along with 4 Giants.)
a little fairy who was supposed to be Puss in Boots (notty pussycat!) but i guess her footwear was sent for mending at the Elves and the Shoemaker’s.
the activities kept them busy…
attempt at group photo. call in the trolls!
Gingerbread Boys and Girls, thanks to Kak Chomel, esah’s sister. off you go, into the baskets, before the greedy foxes eat you up.
special thanks to Keatar, my SIL’s BIL, for making these masks with his own bare hands. (ok, i’m sure there were scissors and glue involved, heh.)
special thanks to Ayu aka Simply Cupcakes @justjetaime, for presenting us with the cake.
“and i’ll HUFF, and i’ll PUFF, and i’ll BLOW THE CANDLE OUT!”
to family and friends who came to share the fun, on behalf of auni – THANK YOU! we’ll make darned sure auni remembers this birthday for the rest of her life. she’s already said “i LIKE!” when we asked if she liked her birthday party. (we also just reminded aniq of *his* 2nd superhero party by showing him the photos as evidence of our equal effort – he kinda forgot but now he’s really pleased with his parents, so.. yey us? ha ha.)
ps: special mention to the Daddy for his kickass side dish of homemade mexican chilli beans in taco shells and wraps. (trivia: his original plan was to cook kachang pool and nasi lemak, but i convinced him otherwise – lol.)
Once upon a time, not so long ago (two years, to be exact), a bald-ish baby girl was born. She lived in a forest of (tam)pines, along with her father, mother and brother. She began to grow into a fiesty, fearless and, quite frankly, funny-looking little girl.
One day, she was told to send a basket of food to her Grandmother living on the other side of the forest.
“Remember, keep to the path and do not – i repeat – DO NOT talk to any strangers along the way!” the mother reminded her little girl. “Yes, mother,” promised the little girl as she donned her favourite red hoodie.
Along the way, she inevitably meandered away from the path, lured by shrieks of excitement from the playground nearby her intended destination, promptly forgetting her mother’s reminder.
“Why, hello there, delicious little girl. And what are you up to on this fine day?” a hairy creature slurred suddenly from behind the slippery see-saw. “Oh, just, ya know, chillaxing…” the girl in red replied, more interested in the swings and slides than the hairy creature who, unfortunately, looked nothing like Jacob Black in The Twilight Saga: New Moon…
baby natra, aka ‘notty pussycat’, had her first birthday last week. hello kitty!
the weather was great…
till RIGHT AFTER this group shot, coz then the skies quickly darkened. hello rain!
and we helter-skeltered our way to under the block, before migrating to the host’s house to continue the bbq-ing. twas quite an adventure!
and today, it’s this little girl’s turn.
according to her, she’s “two oh-ol”.
mummy thanks you for entertaining her everyday, and her birthday wish is… for you to grow your hair long like Rapunzel! (just don’t try to sneak some young punk up your tower.) (man, these fairy tales are just so full of phallic symbols or whaaat?)
Since Earth Day is just around the corner, I’ve lined up a few activities for the kids during the weekend to create awareness on the importance of doing our bit for mother earth. If you don’t know what on earth is Earth Day (where have you been?), let me try to break it down for you, ya?
Earth Day is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment, and will be held on April 22. We can show our appreciation by getting involved in environmental activities such as beach clean-ups, tree plantings, or park restoration.
Appreciation for Earth Day begins at home, too. Parents can teach their children about energy conservation by turning off lights and appliances when leaving the room. (something that I’m guilty about not doing, sometimes!) Teach them to turn off the water while brushing their teeth and use a mug to wash up.
Parents can also encourage their kids to recycle things in the house. Teach them about the value of a product that can be turned into something with a new life, such as an aluminum can or a plastic water bottle. Well, the list goes on!
And to commemorate Earth day, Playhouse Disney will be airing Handy Manny and Friends’ episodes that deal with the importance of preserving the environment on 22 April, Thursday.
There will be also a Handy Manny Earth Day contest. Enter Manny’s Mini Garden and tell us how you can get handy with the earth by drawing on a sketch pad. Hey, you stand to win a Handy Manny Garden Tool!
Help Handy Manny save the planet by sending your green messages!
Just log on to www.playhousedisney-asia.com/earthday.html and click on Handy Manny’s Earth Day icon to enter the site. Click on Manny’s Mini Garden and get creative! There are plenty of brushes and colours to help you and your kids to send your green message.
And don’t forget, let your children learn more about Earth Day on Playhouse Disney (Starhub Channel 34), 22nd April, 9am – 2pm.
the little girl’s many ‘aunties’ have been asking what she wants for her birthday.
what do you think?
clearly, she has waaaay too many boys’ toys at her disposal. from power rangers to ben 10 merchandise to cars to trucks to dinosaurs to (i’m ashamed to say this) guns (none of which i’m responsible for, i stress) – she’s been sharing them all with her brother.
which is not such a bad thing, actually. i think it’s kinda cute. (this is her favourite set of pajamas, by the way. i kid you not. “eh-men! i want eh-men!”) ha ha.
sure, there’s a cooking stove, which both of them congregate at every day to concoct imaginary dishes/drinks for me or the daddy. there’s a little pram with a freaky blonde doll, which they both take turns to chase each other around the house with. there’s a shopping trolley, which they equally find pleasure in scattering its contents all over the floor with.
i’ve not discussed with her yet about princesses (except that one book about a Princess Polly and her potty, and even that, it’s just a girl with a crown wearing panties, not your standard Disney-type womanly princesses with coiffed hair and frilly gowns who go around kissing frogs or supposedly rich, handsome, young, single, charming men), but somehow, either from the incessant advertisements on tv or from observations of older girls and peers, a kind of, hmm, ‘social osmosis’ happened, and she can identify with the concept.
“(pr)een-cess!”, she’d exclaim, her head tilting, her voice extra high-pitched and in such a sing-song manner that you can practically hear glitters and pink sparkles coming out of her. O-o
“princess?”, i’d ask, giving her a sceptical grimace. “dowan lah.”
as you can see, i’m still trying my best to resist the idea of over-gender-conditioning and hyper-femininity. i’m fighting against creating a ‘gu niang’ girl. just as i’d lost the battle with the boy and his penchant for toy guns, i may be losing it with the colour pink.
and, admittedly, mummy isn’t being a great example herself, what with her girly makeup and lipglosses and dresses and high heels, eh? LOL.
the thing with siblings, they can get pretty competitive, and i think even more so if their age gap is close. one of our tricks to make them do something is to turn it into a competition. most times it works.
another thing we like to do is go “who wants to [fill in activity]?” eg. “who wants to eat ice-cream?” (“ME!”) or “who wants to go swimming?” (“ME!”) etc. the daddy thinks sometimes they don’t even hear what he’s suggesting, they simply go “ME!” coz they don’t want to lose out. so he tried an experiment by garbling his words. “who wants to grgmmbfyabbayabbabla?” “ME!!”
for the purpose of this photo exercise, i’d asked “who wants to eat popcorn later?”. guess the answer.
i don’t know how they can be so chipper in the morning. they came back late from a party last night (bad parenting, as usual), yet here they are, all ready to take on the world the next morning… while we adults are cursing away the monday blues.
and i better remember my popcorn promise later in the evening.
went for dinner at na/bins at bali lane the other day. was disappointed for a number of reasons:
1) was misled into believing from their FB site that there’d be bellydancing. ok, nevermind, maaaybe we read or processed the information wrongly. fine.
2) the music was blasting from the moment we sat down, and continued to blast despite our repeated requests to turn it down. fine.
3) the air-con was also blasting, and continued to blast despite our repeated requests to turn it up. by now, we’re like, helloooo, mr foreign-waiter-with-no-expression-and-didn’t-seem-to-understand-us!
4) the food looked good when served (plus we were starrrving by the time it reached us), but discovered that it lacked… oomph after a few spoonfuls. only this appetiser platter wasn’t too bad. we would’ve been sufficiently filled up by sharing this between us and forgetting about the main dishes.
even the birthday girl who treated us left with a “takde dua kali lah tempat ni”. BUT! it was a cosy enough place since we were practically sprawled out in a corner, it wasn’t crowded despite a friday night, and the neighbouring tables pretty much weren’t bothered by our mak-budak-tak-sedar-diri antics and the two children spotted scampering around the place making themselves at home. and yes, we even appointed these two children to be our unofficial photographers. (bagus jugak ada anak.)
(taken by aniq. i’m not kiddingggg.)
(evidence of child labour.)
aaand happy birthday to the eldest mak budaks among us. THIRTY FREAKIN’ THREE OMG.
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