Garden Party

On 4th June, the nursery held a garden party in the nursery garden. The parents who were going were to bring a savoury dish. After thinking about this and that (we were thinking if we wanted to bring something special), we decided to just bring fried rice. The last time we tried something new - mochi with red bean paste filling - at the Ceilidh party, it wasn't well received. Then there was the International Lunch at the Women's Club last year, I tried to make Chai Tow Kway and all the batches turned out so bad in the end I brought Tau Suan, and that wasn't the best we had cooked either. Anyway, this time I thought it'll just be plain old fried rice that we have almost once a week. If it wasn't well received, at least I didn't put in too much effort.
Well, the rice was finished, but not because it was good, I think. There wasn't that much food there and there were in fact many rice dishes. Our fried rice was one of the last to go. There was this Japanese rice dish that tasted like sushi, only instead of rolling it up, it was spread out and covered with seaweed pieces, smoked salmon and avocado. It was really good and our fried rice really paled in comparison, even though it tasted alright on its own.
Anyway, this is not about food. Or wait - it is about food. Because that's the only thing Ethan would do when he got there. There was a tattoo stall (just a sort of printing, not actual tattooing of course) manned by one of his teachers, Jennifer. It looked so fun that I dragged Ethan there, but he refused to have it done on him. Then we thought we would take a picture of him in front of the playhouse (which was locked up), but he did not want to. Then there was a live band, with some percussion instruments on the mat in front that the children can play with along with the music. I went there and fiddled with them in an attempt to get Ethan involved, but he, who is always so noisy with his own instruments at home, did not want to have anything to do with them. There were also the permanent things like the sand pit and the climbing frame but nothing interested him but food. So, I thought that's it, that's how this party will be spent.
Then came the desserts. Ethan had some chocolate rice pops and cake and fruits. The sweets might have energised him, for after that, he started to get on the slide. It also seemed to happen just around the time when I got talking to a Malaysian Malay so I tried not to look at Ethan. He's probably gotten self-conscious when his parents are around. Soon, I can imagine, he'll say, 'Oh Mummy please, don't come along!' Anyway, now he just gets all shy and non-participatory when we are present. Later, he got into a chair behind Tristan. Then - his best friend appeared.
I did not mention this best friend before except once during video conference. They've been best buddies for more than half a year now. We think it all started one day when he saw his classmate at the museum and called out her name. She did not respond then, and he also did not walk fast enough (you know, lingering and loitering like most children have the exasperating tendency to do) to catch up with her, so we forgot about it. It thus came as a surprise to us when he began to mention her name after that day. On and on and on. Initially we thought it was probably more of a one-sided friendship, like with the guys. Because although he mentioned some of the names in the nursery quite frequently, I have never seen any special recognition or smiles from him to them or from them to him when I brought him to the nursery. With the girl, I have not seen them say 'Hi' or 'Bye' to each other in the first few months. Until one day, the girl's mother told Jianming that Lorien (that's her name) kept talking about Ethan. And it became well-known among the teachers that Ethan and Lorien always do things together. Also, when we bring Ethan to and from the nursery, we can see that now he will look for her and take part in what she's doing (she's there from morning till afternoon), and they smile at each other. Jianming told me Ethan introduced him ('That's my Daddy.') to her once.
At the Garden Party, they played very well together. When Ethan fell down and got bruised, Lorien tried to hold his hand and get him to dance. But he was too unhappy then. Later, Lorien went to the sandpit by herself, Ethan was in a bad mood and told me he did not want to go to the sandpit. But in the end, somehow, he got himself to join in and they had a really good last 20 mins or so of fun.
Jianming is so amused by their friendship that he even thought of staying on for another year so Ethan could continue this friendship. He finds it a pity it has to end soon. I am more cynical. I just feel they are quite young and friendships at this age usually do not blossom into fast friends when older. Still, it is a nice thing now.
Not many photos though, since I don't want to publish the front view of the girl.