Day Out with Gabe Boy

I don't know what went through my mind when I agreed to let Gabe take up the role of Page Boy at sunshineinmysoul's wedding. He was going to be only two plus years old. The date was drawing near and the boy needed a haircut in preparation for the big day. As you all know, I've been the person behind his haircuts and of late, I seem to be doing more damage than creative cuts. Check out this last monstrosity.

So we decided to make a good looking chap out of him and while we're at it, might as well try out those with televisions screening his favourite shows and see how effective they really are. Derod and I decided to make it a day out with Gabe and left Rou with my mother, a first since Rou's arrival. We went to one of the branches of Junior League, sat him down in front of the one-eyed monster and witnessed the wonders of this concept. Whoever thought it out has to be a genius, though I do question the long term ramifications of the relationship between television and today's young.

The long and short of it is, nothing happened. Gabe sat there, flinching occasionally, but was quiet. It didn't matter whether it was the scissors or a shaver being waved at him. There was no crying, no protesting, no bargaining, nothing. The only thing that came out of his mouth was a request to watch Barney instead of Thomas, halfway through the cut. The hairdressers were real professionals! They look a little "auntie" but their skills were impressive; they were fast, accurate and were experts at flicking hair away from the kids' faces. Derod and I were so caught up in wonder that we basically looked like two idiotic parents snapping pictures and taking videos. We walked away with a boy with a spunky do, complete with stand-up hair held together by gel.

"There she goes..."

"There she goes again..."

"Racing through my brain..."

"And I just can't contain this feeling that remains..."

Thereafter, we had lunch at a Japanese restaurant and then derod had to go back to work, on a Saturday. So Gabe and I made our way back to my parents' to pick Rou up. We walked down Orchard Road, all the way from Isetan Scotts to Somerset MRT, took the train to Dhoby Ghaut, crossed to the connecting line and to our stop, and walked back to my parents' home. Here are our adventures en route:

We walked all the way and Gabe was very well behaved. He walked throughout with me. When we reached the traffic light at Takashimaya, he started to shiver and tugged at my hand, refusing to go on. He was crouching awkwardly, grunting weirdly, refused to move a step. I was quite taken aback and a pang of guilt shot through me as I wondered if I had made him walk too far in the sun. Then the realization of what really happened hit me.

The boy was pooping right in the middle of Orchard Road!

He's been toilet trained right, which means his poop was now sitting nicely in his underwear. I was astounded. I grabbed him off the streets and headed towards Taka, all the while hoping his poop won't drop out of his pants. That will really test my reaction to the max. Well, it didn't drop out, not even as I lugged him to the kids toilet on level 5. The lift was crowded and the smell was so obviously diffusing in that small space. I pretended not to notice.

We went to the toilet, dunked the clump into the toilet, thanked God it managed to go down at the flush (poops in confined spaces clump into big lumps), wore the same underwear back on the boy and went on our way. All this while, I was nagging at Gabe, telling him how upset I was that he didn't tell me he wanted to poop, that he did it in his underwear, etc etc etc. He must have felt how cross I was and when I stopped to look at something, took the opportunity to say, "Sorry Mummy," *hugs me*, "I'm upset with you. I mmmm mmm in my underwear."

That misuse of noun got me stifling a little giggle, and the apology too. Then there's the absurdity of your son pooping in the middle of the streets of Orchard. I was actually quite amused but in the true spirit of a mother chiding her son for not telling her he wants to poop, I had to, as they say, give it to him.

The rest of our journey was uneventful. Then again, no event could outdo that poop-deed that day. So here ends our day out with Gabe boy, complete with a spanking new do and poop-stained underwear and butt.