One day, while driving over to Emma’s house with the two elder tykes in the back, suddenly Haris broke into song: -
“Here I am to save my friends,
I’m flying Rocket
Can you hear my rescue song?”
He was repeating this verse several times, before he got slightly annoyed , and said, “Kakak!” as if prompting her.
It was only then, that his sister sang back:-
“Yes, I can hear your rescue song
you’re flying rocket
and you’re gonna save us all!”
The lightly out of tune melody was familiar to Papa- something from Georges Bizet, and Papa asked- “Where did you learn that from Haris?”
“Little Einsteins, Papa. Dia fly rocket ship dan nyanyi-nyanyi.”
I knew the two of them simply loved the show ever since it first aired over the Playhouse Disney Channel over Astro. The could tell the exact time it was due to air (at the time over weekends only). Then when it started to air daily, there were simply estatic, to say the very least. Papa and Mama, having conceeded to the power of the TV, tried (successfully, it seems) to get them to see the more educational-based kiddie shows over at channel 63. Luckily for us, the cartoon shows over at the other few channels, didn’t seem to attract them at all. Of course before Playhouse Disney, they were entranced with the Disney Channel over channel 62. Nowadays, especially Haris, flip once in a while to channel 64- Ria. He finds it amusing his best loved cartoons are in Malay.
Well, we knew it’d come some day, and the day has since arrived. Just look at the pictures. Emily and Alisha groovin’ to the beat of the Little Einstein theme. Ish… ish… ish…
Papa must say, at this age, Alisha certainly is the noisiest most vocal of the lot. Emily was very plump but very well-natured. She smiled her fair share but wasn’t grumpy or compalining or throwing tantrums. Haris was also a well-behaved baby. But this little missy of ours- she’s something else!
Babies cry for sure, but she? She’ll complain, point fingers at whoever just annoyed her, she pouts, plays hard to get at times, is simply impossible sometimes crying non-stop until both Mama and Papa stay awake at the same time, and much much more tom foolery. She has decided that jumping off Papa’s bed onto hers (just beside), is quite exhilirating- especially since it gets so much response (grabs heart at shock) from Papa.
But she is also the most talkative of the lot- yabbing away for hours even when she’s all alone. And, she sings as well. Well, humms unrecognisable tunes at least. She mimicks very well- the usual “Mama”, “Papa” and oft calls out to Haris- “Aba”. She can say “Kakak” quite well, and “flower”, as well as “Allah”, when she’s ‘reading’ Emily’s Children’s Book of Duas. But her favourite phrases has got ot be- “Nak! Nak!” (when she wants something) and “Nanak!” (when she doesn’t want it) and “Air” (that’s water not the gases).
Kids, they keep amazing and surprising Papa all the time, even when we’ve been twice round the block before this.
