Grandma reads & video

Posted by spots (Singapore, Singapore) on 17 June 2009 in People & Portrait and Portfolio.

Tuesdays are visit-from-Grandma-and-Grandpa days. The kids know that after their naps, Daniel will get a short piano lesson from Grandma followed by a time of playing with her, and Grandpa, who will show up a bit later. This is followed by a family dinner where it's usually a struggle to get the kids to eat quietly since there are so many questions Daniel wants to ask Grandma & Grandpa all the time. Here's a sample of how dinner goes:

(after singing their prayer)
Mum: So, Mummy, are you going to Melbourne?
Grandma: Dunno la. Now all we can do is wait lor.
Daniel: Wait for what, Grandma? Grandma, what are you waiting for?
Grandma: (ignoring him) We bought a cheap ticket la. Cannot cancel.
Mum: Cannot postpone?
Grandma: Cannot do anything. Hiyah.
Daniel: Why Grandma said cannot postpone, cannot do anything? Why you bought a cheap ticket then cannot postpone, Grandma?
Grandma: Er... Grandma was saying the air ticket cannot be postponed, you know.
Daniel: Why?
Mum: Daniel, can we please eat quietly. You eat one bite then you ask Grandma again.
Daniel: OK. (eats one bite) Grandma, how come your ticket cannot postpone?
Grandma: (ignoring him) Did you know Singapore has its 40+ case of H1N1?
Daniel: What's H1N1?
Grandma: (ignoring him) So scary hor!
Daniel: Why Grandma said its so scary?
Benjamin: (mouth full) SCAAAAAAAA-REEEEE! SO SCAAAAAAA-REEEEE!
Mum: Benjamin, please be quiet. Daniel! If you talk some more, I'm putting you in a corner.
Grandma: That's right, don't talk ok? You eat first, then I talk to you later. A... the soup is very good, but I cannot take too much prawns la.
Daniel: What's prawns?
Benjamin: I d-oh-n lai kit I d-oh-n laik prawns. (mouth full)
Mum: DANIEL! Benjamin!
...

Anyway, after a loooong time, dinner is dispensed with and the grandparents will play with the kids. Usually, they end up reading stories to the kids and last night, Daniel was very enamoured with a new book I bought him--The Magic Bus and the Ocean Floor. It's a series of books about a Magic Bus that goes everywhere--so there's The Magic Bus and the Human Body (where the bus goes into your body), The Magic Bus and the Solar System, The Magic Bus and the Five Senses and so on. Daniel was super attentive reading the book, though I'm not sure how much he understood as it's for slightly older kids.

Here's a video of it.