Out of the mouth of babes

Do you remember your first sentence ? Dad always recall Serene's "Komb air" For me, I will always treasure the children's first complete sentence.

Serene with daddy, in Sri Gading

 Serene and I were playing in the living room (old house in Foh Sang) one afternoon, when she suddenly stood up and turned to me, with a smile "Tetene ungee" - Puzzled, I said "OK, tetene ungee". And continued to fix the toy puzzle - After a while, she pulled my hand and said, "Tetene ungee, Tetene is ungee.". "Ungee?" I asked, " what's that" She nodded, "yes, ungee" "OK, ungee" I said, still puzzled. Getting no other response from me, she pulled my hand again, "Tetene is ungee. Milk". And she made a sucking sound. A flash of understanding! "Oh, milk!" I exclaimed. "Serene is hungry. You have spoken your first sentence!". Was I excited. I duly prepared the milk for her. She smiled contentedly. Dad was informed - "Pong ku chai, so clever!". He said - but now he claims I didn't tell him 'cos he can't remember any of it.

In KK we faced frequent blackouts. One of our favourite activity was to bundle all the children in the car and go for joy ride - to ride off the the heat and darkness. It was fun - listening to the children's chatter. It was a time for us parents to catch up with each other on the day's event. It was a time of talking about our future plans. On one such trip, Serene was at the back seat, singing her nursery rhymes, Sam was on my lap - he was about 2 years old. These two were close companions - he was trying to follow the songs. Suddenly, he looked at the sister and muttered, "Bad"

Sam on his first tricycle

"What's that Tam?", pipped his sister

" Bad. You bad"

" No, I'm not bad" the sister protested.

"You bad", Sam insisted. Then there was a gleam in the eye and a cheeky grin, "You bad girl."

" No, I'm not a bad girl. Mum tell him I'm not bad." Serene wailed.


I was more interested : "Wow, Sam, that's your first sentence - did you hear that dad? That's Sam's first sentence". Boy, was I excited. Sam continued to find delight in irritating his sister and he gleefully called her "You bad girl". His sister was exasperated. Finally, I intervened and gave Sam a new sentence. "Say, you good girl". For Sam, he found power through his new vocabulary - now he can match his sister, word for word !!

Paul having his hair cut

Paul joined the gang much later and he was often left out in many of their games - I can imagine his frustrations, having constantly to fight to be included. It was "Paul, don't do this! Paul don't touch that! No Paul!". The children loved to tell stories as well as do play acting together - I still have recordings of their songs. 
With 3 children clamouring for attention, one really had to impose a time limit so that everyone has a fair "talk time" as they gather together in the evenings. In one of these gathering, after a struggle for certain roles e.g. "I want to be the woodcutter! Paul, you be the bad wolf" etc.. I guess the little boy had enough of being bossed around by the older siblings. One day, Paul stood up and declared "No, I won't do it". I was stunned - a four word sentence, perfect diction. I immediately hugged him "Paul, you've spoken your first sentence". Of course he didn't know why I was so excited. Paul has always spoken clearly even as a one word baby. Perhaps he had the advantage of listening from his siblings. Church is pronounced with the 'ch'; Rice is 'r' not 'l'.

Once those first sentences were articulated, there was no stopping them , the sentences cascade to explainations, lawyer-type arguments etc. But there were sharing of thoughts, hopes and struggles. For me, I will always treasure their first sentences.