What a difference half an hour makes...

I have lots of hairgoing...................

going................

All gone!

oh well! It'll grow back...it might take a while...but I am sure it will.

Hmmm

We are in deep contemplation and will eventually have to come to a decision. Do we or don't we? Should we or shouldn't we? Hmm...a tough decision but fortunately one that we need not have an answer to for a little while as we do have time on our side.

Still, looking through the options is making rather interesting reading. There is much to take into consideration. So much to weigh up.

Through the muddle of information, there is a clear path as of one thing we are certain, the goal.

So weigh up the information we must, sift through the detail we will and a decision will come, no sooner than it is required and no later than it can be made.

Ah go on....you know you want to

Go on....give Daddy a kiss..
No...will not

Well.....I suppose I ought to

Pucker up Daddy - INCOMING!

Mission accomplished and it was better than I thought

One little voice, one little plea

Don't take to the skies, please don't leave me

I'll miss you more than you will know

I really didn't want to see you go

So Cheers! to you from across the seas

I promise to be good so Lau Lang Please!

Make my Christmas wish come true

This one little plea, from me to you, I just don't know what else to do.

Time to say goodbye

They came, they filled this home with joy and love and they have now gone

I have spent the last week trying not to think about the miles that separate us and the days and months until we meet again. My parents are angels. I am biased, I realise that. But there aren't many people who would give up a month of their busy lives (going to kopi tiam, working, exercising etc etc) to:Take on the role of chief groundsman/gardener/gamekeeper at someone else's house

Clear the substantial ironing backlog

And most importantly to dote, totally and absolutely on one little boy

And the investment has paid off. He loves them (so he says), he misses them (bit obvious from the staring out of the window at planes saying "Ah Ma, Ah Kong they back" and he wants them back.

We have all dealt with the void that they have left in different ways; Munchkin has been talking to Ah Ma and Ah Kong on his telephone and holding his treasured tennis ball tightly in his little hands every day, T has fired up the wok and fried copius amounts of keropok and ikan bilis and I have cooked "Mama meals" for both us and Munchkin. They have left a gap. A BIG gap particularly with Munchkin.

Munchkin: I packing my suitcase, Mummy: Where are you going?

Munchkin: To May-see-yaa to live in Ah Ma and Ah Kong's house there with them

Mummy: Do you not want to live with Mummy and Daddy any more?

Munchkin: No....want Ah Ma and Ah Kong. Ah Kong is my Christmas present

Mummy: Is he?

Munchkin: Is going to jump out of a box with a ribbon on his head, for me

So, to two very special people who are sorely missed, thank you, for sharing with us a magical time, blessed with love and filled with joy. Here is not to the miles that separate us but rather to the promise that every day that passes is another day closer to us being all together again.

Out and about

Today we will mainly go into Nailsworth
Here fishy fishy in the river

Hmm..no fishies.....outta here then...onward to Cirencester

Ah well....I'll just slide down this firemen's pole

I want a climbing frame....just like this one.

I LIKE these doggies....Can I take them home with me?

Where is my pie, my 2 in 1 pie?

The ties that bind

Most people who heard that the Lau Lang were staying for a whole month thought us mad. How can you cope, they cried? A WHOLE month living with your parents again.

Between you and I, the time has gone far too quickly. I wish we were back to week one again. I wish time would just stand still.

In the past couple of weeks, there has been such joy in this house and such warmth in this home. Munchkin is happy, ecstatically happy. He has behaved commendably, slept when he should sleep, eaten (a huge amount) when it was time for food. He has found a play mate and a partner in crime in his Ah Kong and thrived under the wise (and very firm) council of his Ah Ma.

This is the sort of care that can't be bought. It stems from love and love alone. They adore him and he knows it. Yet, he also knows not to take advantage of it (too much!). Somehow a deep bond has formed and with it a certain respect. Watching him with them, I see myself in his place. I see them doing all that and more with me as a child and it makes me proud to have them as my Lau Lang.

The apron strings might have worn a bit thin over the years and the many miles might have stretched them a little but the ties that bind, still do just that, more strongly than ever before.