10 Things About Dennis

1. He’s got the most mischievous but charming smile that melts my heart. And when he flashes that mega watt smile I often forget whatever mischief he is up to.
2. He’s a politician in the making, possesses strong persuasive and diplomatic skills
   - when daddy is angry with him he will give daddy a big hug and divert his attention to something else, something totally fault-free like his choo choo train
   - I first saw his diplomatic skills at full display during my recent company trip. Dennis was interested in 1 of my colleagues’ portable fan and wanted to play with it. So he went over to his table, sat next to him and instead of grabbing the fan right away, he took it slow and “befriended” my colleague first. Once he knew my colleague had been charmed, he slowly worked his way to the fan. By then, my friend was more than willing to give him the fan. How conniving! I guess you can say he’s a schemer too!


3. He’s got the most peculiar habits
   - before he drinks his milk he needs to have a certain blanket (he chooses the blanket he wants) cover him from neck to toe – he will use his neck to hold on to it. Even when it's blistering hot in the room, he will still ask for the blanket. No blanket no milk. The funny thing is when he's sleeping he doesn't want the blanket.
   - after he finishes his milk he will always pass the bottle to me. If I’m not around when he’s done, he’ll still hand overthe bottle to me when I come around. If I’m in the shower, he’ll knock on the door to get me out so that he can hand over the bottle to me. Strange but true.
   - he doesn’t like it when his pyjama’s pants are pulled up from his ankle, he will keep pulling them down.
   
4. He says “mai” ("no" in hokkien) to everything instead of no, even though I don’t speak much Hokkien to him. And boy, he can say that word with so much conviction and gusto – MAI!


5. He kills all the ixora in my house – he likes to pull them out in a bunch and then throw them in the air. When we away for more than a week during Chinese New Year, the flowers flourished so well, but only to be systematically murdered by Dennis when he got back.


6. He’s such a manja boy – chip of the old block. He will put his arm around my neck to sleep. Either that or I must at least place my hand on him.


7. He’s also a vain pot – chip of the old block too (this time it’s mummy’s block). Whenever I buy new clothes for him, he will want to wear them immediately. To persuade him to take his shower, I use nice clothes to lure him – I would tell him, you’re going to be wearing this handsome shirt, then he will relent. He also chooses his own clothes. Sometimes he has weird choices, like he wants to wear his pyjamas in the afternoon and would fight to wear it.


8. He’s such a weird boy who would refuse a cookie. Even if he eats it, he takes forever to finish 1. Sometimes, he doesn’t even finish it. And guess what he would demand to have??? Scott’s Emulsion! Yes, that smelly yucky fish oil.


9. He’s quite a balanced eater – he eats his carbo, meat, vege and fruits. At one time, he would only eat clean untainted rice or noodle – no meat, no vege, no nothing. If some sauce got on the rice, he would refuse to eat it. But thankfully, that phase has passed (or has it? It relapses sometimes).


10. He’s very good at imitating whatever he sees in the cartoons.
    - Lately his favourite cartoon is Kungfu Panda and every time he eats noodle, he will hang one strand of noodle from his mouth, like how Po does it to mimic Master Shifu and make me call him Master Shifu before he eats up that noodle.
    - Recently Dennis kept giving me these sudden big hugs followed by him calling me “mama”. I was so thrilled because he has never done this before. I felt so loved and of course enjoyed this sudden burst of affection from my son. And then one day, Dennis asked me to play the cartoon, “Ugly Duckling and Me” (which he has watched a few times) for him and I decided to join him. While watching the cartoon, I saw the exact same act - the ugly duckling running to hug Ratso and calls him mama (Ratso is the rat whom the Ugly Duckling mistaken for his mum). At that very moment, it dawned upon me that Dennis’ hugs were not an act of affection; it was another case of him mimicking the cartoon. I was completely devastated that day....