When Max Is Away...

Max had to go away for work.. unfortunately for me, he was going back to Singapore... and due to the fact that it will cost us $2K to bring me and Ace home too as well and the fact that Ace needs to go to school so as to prepare for their xmas production, we opted to stay behind in Dubai... and since we had to stay behind in Dubai, I tot why not make the experience a happy one:) hehehe

So during the weekend, we went out for dinner with two new friends who had come from Abu Dhabi together with Uncle Gan and Aunty Lily. For Ace, it was love at first sight.. one of our friends Lee Sir (gor gor) is a hit with Ace lor.. cos he keeps talking to Ace and showing him tricks and playing with him... we warmed up to them instantly:)

Then on the second day of the weekend, I decided to bring Ace out.. first to Spinneys for a Mac donalds breakfast...

After we had our breakfast there, Ace wanted to play at the playground. Because there were no other children here, we took to playing "Break The Record". Ace would go one round in the playground... going down the slides, climbing up the platforms and I would time him and his aim was to break his previous record. We ended the game at the highest record of 18 seconds per round;) (he started off with 25 seconds) wahahaha...





Then we went to centrepoint.. which was next to the mac to check out the toys and walk walk for a while...


We found that in the basement of centrepoint, there were many rides (from Funcity) and most of them were some sort of car rides.. and Ace was so excited.. taking picture with this ride and that ride...





After taking many pictures, he asked if he could have a go. As it was only 1 dirham (something like 30 cents sing) I told him as a reward for his good behaviour when daddy is away, I will let him choose and ride ONE ride and he chose this red sports car:)




Then after tat, we walked over to Burjuman and found out tat the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition is in full swing:) So we took a walk around and I tried to read the descriptions of each item to Ace so that he gets to appreciate these things too...


That is The Last Supper painting by leonardo..but of cos this one is a fake one lah...

This is the last painting that Da Vinci drew before he died. Initially at the first glance, I tot it was an angel scolding the F word... maybe scolding god.. wahahaha.. i was so embarrassed and ashamed of myself when I read the description and it says this is a saint, pointing upwards to heaven.. it is then I realized that the saint has got one hand over his heart and one hand pointing towards heaven.. totally different meaning from how I first saw it.. wahahahahaha:) That is the difference betweeen the ego mind and the higher mind.. ahahahaha
And I was happy tat i had a chance to intro this famous painting to Ace-- The Mona Lisa smile.. i explained to Ace that Mona Lisa is famous cos she is smiling at you no matter where you stand and I made him stand in many different positions and he was so intrigued to find out that Mona Lisa would smile at you no matter what!:P wahahahaha

Then we got tired and sat down for a rest at one of the many sofas in the mall...


And finally, after visiting his fav "toy shops" in Burjuman (Virgin Megastore and Hallmarks gift store), he was ready to go home...

I guess when I look back, it was nice to once in a while have a chance to bond 1 on 1 with Ace like during the days when Max was in Dubai and we were in Singapore... I think Ace enjoys it too.. as long as daddy does not need to go away for TOO LONG...

That being said, Ace still always cries and throw tantrums just before his dad leaves.. I think he is still not being able to take farewells and being apart from his Dad very well.

The other day, Ace was watching Heroes, a HK drama serial, and there was this storyline where this mummy and daddy were deciding to divorce. Partially is cos they start to have diff thinking and priority in life.. partially, the mummy wants to accept this job offer from this rich (bad) man to be his exclusive lawyer in New York. So when Ace saw this, he kept saying, "She cannot do this.. she cannot do this.. why she wants to go and work for bad man.. why she wants to leave her family?"

I turned to ask him "Why can't she do this?"

And at this point, the woman's daughter was crying and running after her mummy's car as the car leaves for the airport.

"There, she cannot do this because this will happen lor.. the daughter will cry and cry..." Ace said with an annoyed look on his face..

I think he feels strongly for her and relates to this experience because he has had the experience of watching his parent leave and take plane to go to a far away place...

Anyway, I thought this to be a good learning experience and so i explained to Ace that the mummy left to work for the bad guy because she does not know he is a bad guy yet. Also, there is no right or wrong to her decision.. because different people see different things as being most important to them in their lives. Some people think money is most important... some think being popular is important.. some think having power is important... some think their family is most important... some think being famous is most important...

So I asked Ace what is most important to him in the world.. After pausing to think for a second, he told me very firmly, "Mummy, the most important thing in the world are your family and your friends right?"

Hahaha.. he is indeed a people person..

And I think friends are really important to him because I found out from Ace about a week ago that when he started out at Horizon School, he had gotten into a fight with a smaller boy because that boy was pushing his friends around and he wanted to protect his friends. And knowing that he is at fault, he did not tell us till he talked about this at the slip of his mouth when talking about something else...

Anyway, we asked for the truthful full story and he said that he was fighting with this boy because he kept pushing his friends and he wanted to protect his friends. As a result, he was punished and had to stand in the shade for the rest of the break and could not play with his friends..

When max found out about it, he gave Ace a good prep talk that included these points:

• It is uncool to fight with someone smaller than you (I dun really agree to that, it is uncool to fight.. whether they are big or small lor.. )
• It is not right to fight with other people
• there is a possibility the little boy was just having fun and he did not mean to hurt his friends
• He fights and he pays the price cos his friends still get to play and he is the one who is punished and not allowed to play.. so putting himself in that position
  is STUPID..

And Max shared with him about how when he was a little boy, he too fought in school and what his punishment and consequences were and what he learnt from it and how he fought a bigger bully because the bully tried to bully them. "So don't be stupid like me.."
Max concluded...

PS: I told Max afterward tat it is not a good idea to tell Ace it is ok to fight if the person is bigger. Cos after he told the story about how he fought a bully a few years older and much fatter and bigger, he said, "Want to fight, then fight someone bigger lah.. you fight someone small.. haiya..."

Even if the person is smaller, you have to stand up for yourself. And even if the person is bigger, fighting is uncool what..

But Max says it is a MAN thing.. I think it is just their ego.. hai..

Luckily he added that he hurt the other person and din feel good about that and the fact that his principal threatened indefinite suspension from school after he fought again...

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