“How do you know whom she has recess with every day? And that she plays badminton during recess?!” the Hub asked in surprise.
“Of course! I asked her when I drove her to school. Don’t you talk to her when you drive her to school every day?! You have already driven her for half a year!!” The hub is 宝贝’s regular chauffeur, aka taxi driver. I took over as the relief driver when he had to go overseas for a business trip.
“No leh… Both of us are very tired in the morning. So we just listen to the music on the radio… ”
Well, I LOVE car rides to bits!
I have been chauffeuring my 宝贝s to classes, because my job has more flexibility with regards to working hours. (However, that means that I can practically work round the clock! I often go back to the office at 6pm in the evenings, after dropping the kids home after classes.)
I have always believed in interacting with them even when they were babies. (Ok. I admit that I’m Miss Talkative!) Even before they started talking, I would carry on monologues with them in the car, while I drove. They would be able to reply in their own baby talk, even though they were not able to form words yet. Or we would sing nursery rhymes together (they chimed along in their baby language) as we sped down the expressways.
When they get older, they would tell me what happened in schools and what they have been doing at home. Even my 小小宝贝 would actively participate with his limited vocabulary. It’s hilarious to hear his descriptions and he often surprises me with new words, which he’s probably picked up from here and there.
This is the best time for parent-child bonding, when we are enclosed within the space, when we are in “a world of our own”. In the car, she tells me who her BFFAE (for the uninitiated ones, it means Best Friend Forever And Ever) is, who her BFF (Best Friend Forever, yes… there IS a differentiation.) is, who the naughty kids in school are, what her aspirations are, how many times her little brother hit her, how proud she is of her small little achievements. It is also during these car rides, when she learns to ask me about others, how great-grandmother is, when she will be discharged from the hospital, what I did for assembly when I was in primary school and more.
So, if you think ferrying your children around is a waste of your time, think again. Time is never wasted if you know how to utilise it. We were on this topic during this morning’s car ride (yes… the Hub is on business trip again…).
She queued twice to get 2 plates of chicken rice because she was hungry after devouring one plate (I have no idea where all these extra food went on her skinny frame) and she didn’t have time to go to the library or play badminton because of that. So today, she’s just going to queue once and buy a bigger portion.
So, I tell her, during the car rides, that my aspiration is to be her BFFAEAE! (must be one up from the BFFAE!)
“Mommy! The Ferrari crashed first!” Then he launched an animatedly detailed account of how Ferrari crashed its team out of the race. “And Mercedes is the best!!! It was no 1 at the F1!” 
