Rynus "mei mei"??

When Renzo was much younger, many strangers asked me if he is a girl, probably because he has rather fair complexion and soft hair. My mother in law's neighbor who's been staying next to us for a year plus, congratulated us for having one boy and one girl (好) in the family after I delivered Rynus, because he thought Renzo is a girl despite seeing and speaking to him almost everyday.

For Rynus, we have even more such encounters and especially after we moved into our new place recently, and met many new friends around our neighborhood, we've been asked countless times about whether Rynus is a boy, or a girl. Obviously, Rynus has much fairer skin, softer hair than Renzo, and, bigger eyes for sure. 

I met a couple at the pool side one day, while bringing Renzo and Rynus for a walk, the uncle spoke to me in Chinese: "You have one GIRL and one BOY?", he then turned to Renzo and asked "You are the Jiejie(elder sister)?", I responded immediately, "Nope uncle, he's the Korkor (elder BROTHER)!", the uncle looked confused, then he smiled at Rynus and said, "Sorry sorry, uncle was wrong, you are the baby GIRL!!"..
 
Just a few days later, when my mother brought Rynus down to the playground, an old aunty introduced herself and her 17 months old grandchild to my mother. My mother said to Rynus, "Baby, say hello Korkor..", the aunty corrected her, "Nope, this is my granddaughter!". My mother felt embarrassed and kept Rynus busy at the slide for the rest of the time there. Till she decided to bring Rynus home, the old aunty walked over and said to her granddaughter, "say bye bye Meimei (younger sister)!!".. Now this time, guess who's feeling even more embarrassed?!

I know Daddy Chan will be very upset to see this, but I promise, I won't play with their hair again and I will never dress them up like dolls, never ever!!

Being the Second Child of the Family

Having a loving brother is never a bad thing. Whenever I look at these two play together and roll around the bed in unison, I think back at the times when Renzo was the only child and how lonely and solitary his life must have been before Rynus came along. Sure, Renzo had Mummy Chan and myself around him, but who better to understand oneself than a sibling who is just a few years apart.

I sit here by the edge of their bed and Rynus crawls over to the curtains and attempts to conceal himself behind it. As an adult, I am amused at the 1-year-old's attempt, and finds it funny because he didn't realise he had only covered his torso, while leaving his stubby little baby legs in plain view (good attempt still...haha). But the very same action triggered very different response from Renzo. He saw it as something wonderful, and immediately mimicked it with the other piece of the curtain, and instantly, we had two giggly kids covering and revealing themselves, flailing the curtain around as if the curtains were the wings of an intoxicated pigeon. I can only imagine how proud Rynus must have been to know his actions led on Renzo to do the same and it must have bolstered Rynus' self-confidence by a bit too.

Being the second child of the family, I know Rynus is disadvantaged from birth. Renzo had dedicated attention and funds when he was the only child for the first 3 years of his life, whereas Rynus will never know how it is like to have that sort of love and fundings (3 boxes full of Renzo's Thomas & Friends trains...). As most parents will say "We love them equally"... yeah.. and we know the equal half of the whole loving heart is 50%. It maybe that because I'm also the second child in the family myself, subconsciously I tend to be more biased toward Rynus, being more tolerant and understanding (at least that is what i gathered from my conversations with Mummy Chan, my sis-in-law and my mum... =/ )

Well, in any case, Rynus IS a cuter, more adorable baby even when compared to Renzo when he was at this age... then again, it might be my subconscious mind drawing at that conclusion... haha... guess we'll have to wait till Rynus turns into the little terrible-two monster to see if it'll change my perception of things...

Rynus Di Di is just as sweet~~

Most of our friends who have seen the boys often, would agree with me that Renzo is a very sweet brother, his tolerable limit is amazingly high when it comes to his little brother, and many have witnessed how Rynus bullied Renzo by pulling his hair, poking his mouth and squeezing his cheeks, while Renzo stayed calm and gave the occasional unhappy frowns without making a single complaint. Although they fight for toys everyday, they can play together in peace and harmony most of the time.

Rynus is often curious about what Renzo is doing. Besides trying to mimic his actions and sounds, every sudden expression from Renzo could be a laughing trigger that makes Rynus giggle out loud. Not to forget this cheeky kor kor is extremely funny and dramatic! So the room is often filled with laughter from the two boys. 

They can be very sweet to each other of course. I've seen countless times when Renzo crept into the cot and kissed his little brother while Rynus was sleeping like a log. When Rynus cries, Renzo grabs his milk bottle and stuffs into his mouth immediately, or passes him his #2 favorite remote control if we refuse to give Rynus his #1 favorite handphone to play. But last Saturday, we caught Rynus wobbly walking to Renzo, and trying to cheer him up by shaking his pajamas right in front of him, since Renzo was upset from being disciplined by Daddy for his mischievous behavior. That scene was absolutely heartwarming!

I know sibling rivalry is inevitable when you have more than one kid, due to personality clashes, ability battles, attention tactics, etc, but promoting sibling harmony and helping my children be friends with each other before they learn to fight with each other, is always on top of my list. Friends come and go, siblings are forever!!