We woke up in a hurry this morning because the journalist and the photographer were coming to talk to us about our family and Faith's autism.
Faith also had her ABA lesson, so she had her breakfast of gluten-free bread with organic peanut butter to finish before her teacher arrived.
Isaac had already cleared his plate, and decided to help himself to his sister's breakfast. His nefarious plan involved taking a piece of Faith's mini-sandwiches and transferring it to his own plate first, before putting it into his mouth. Faith quietly took it back from his plate before he could get away with it.
"Teamwork, I take care of certain things like appointments and filing Faith's therapy records, and he does the blogging and keeping the teachers and therapist in the loop with the Faith blog," my wife told Theresa, the journalist.
I felt a moment of pride and surprise that my wife of a few words could articulate the way we worked together as parents, especially for Faith. We had never discussed it before, and the duties just fell on the parent with the relevant skills. We were the Faith and Isaac tag team.
The afternoon went by quietly, and we had lunch with my parents at Bishan, followed by a moment of silliness at the supermarket. When Ginny and I got home with the groceries we did not plan to buy, the kids were having their afternoon nap, so we took ours too.
When the kids woke up, Faith was playing with her plastic bag (it's a sensory thing), and Isaac, as usual, decided to amble up to take it from her. I gave Isaac a stern word, to give her sister back her "toy". I didn't want him to make a habit of snatching things from her, since she does not fight back.
Isaac looked at me to see if I meant it. His tiny hand still held the plastic bag. Then to my surprise, Faith looked at him and tapped her chest, her hand signal for "I want". And to my surprise, Isaac listened to me, and offered the bag back to his sister.
Kids, they drive you nuts one moment, and then surprise you the next. I have never seen Faith communicate directly with her brother before. And I have never seen Isaac return his sister's stuff before.
We decided to take the kids out to the Esplanade after dinner at mom's, to catch Shelley Leong's repeat performance at the Outdoor Stage.
We drove down the CTE, where the EMAS electronic signs helpfully told us that "2 July, Roads near Padang closed. Use public transport". Sure, thanks, we are already reading this on the expressway traveling in our private transport. So helpful. Good thing we moved out expecting this.
The road diversions forced us to park at UOB Plaza, near Circular Road. And so, we began our trek.
Pushing Isaac in his pram, our family strolled along the Singapore River. We could see the spotlights from the Padang, which were part of the NDP rehearsal. Twice, we saw fireworks. We walked past Botero's fat bird, then past the river taxi stand. Faith got frightened by a portable generator running near there, and we had to carry her for a while.
When we reached the Fullerton Hotel, we thought we could take the bridge that led to the Vic. But there was a road block there too. So we doubled back to the Fullerton, and walked to the Boathouse, crossing the empty Shenton Way to where the Merlion was. The road closure was a pain, but then, I guess it it wasn't for this, we would not have found such a pleasant route to walk on a Saturday night.
By this time, Faith was getting too heavy to carry, and we decided to carry Isaac instead, and push Faith in the stroller. She resisted at first, but settled down after a minute. I pushed her all the way to the Outdoor Stage at the Esplanade, and Shelley Leong was just about to begin her set.
Evie was once again at the merch booth, and when she saw us, she got really excited. She fussed over the kids, especially Isaac, who, PR Boy that he is, gave Auntie Evie a little wave.
Faith was overwhelmed by the crowd and the loud music coming out of the speakers. So I picked her up and held her trembling body close to mine. I pressed my cheeks against hers and let her cling on to me, until she calmed down.
While Evie continued to play with Isaac, I carried Faith down to the front, so that we could sit down and enjoy Shelley's music.
She sat on my lap, enjoying the songs. It was a hot and humid night, but occasionally a sea breeze would blow in, and we could smell the ocean air.
Isaac listened to the music with mommy and Celia for a while, but then got restless. So mommy accompanied him on his run around the open area. They ended up inside the Esplanade mall, where Isaac made friends with an auntie, and got fascinated by a shop selling dangly stuff that you hang from the ceiling. When they returned, Isaac looked a little tired but satisfied after his adventures.
My left leg went dead, being Faith's seat for so long. Pins and needles left me wincing when I tried to stand. But it was worth it to see her smile, clap and even dance a little. We were surrounded by people, but for about 45 minutes, it was just my daughter and me.
Then Shelley sang her last song, and it was time to walk the long but scenic walk back to our car.
I was most reluctant to see the day end.
Singapore's most widely-read Chinese broadsheet 联合早报 (4th July 2005) ran a story on bloggers, Tomorrow.sg and the upcoming Singapore Blogger's conference, Bloggers.sg 2005 (to be held 16th July 2005). Yeah, that's Miyagi and me. You can look at the screenshot of the article here.
Recent Comments