She'd rather another boy!

Last Saturday, I wasn’t planning any get-aways as we now have unpredictable cold weathers/winds (we had to stay home this morning because of strong winds), but just as well as on Friday morning, I received a message from a Mummy in the yard for a lunch get-together to celebrate her daughter’s third birthday.

We went out earlier to Shin Kong Place (since the restaurant was just opposite), and had a quick walk-around as I wanted to get some comfy shoes (my current casual shoes are either too worn-out or too thin for winter) for the upcoming Guilin trip. Wayne knew better – Shin Kong doesn’t have many sales, though I saw a pair at Acupunctures costing RMB599 (no discount, and Wayne did not think much of it…), I didn’t get it. I managed to get a pair of Nikes at Outlet, going out with Wayne when Rosabelle slept that afternoon. They were at 20% off, costing RMB454 after discount – though Taobao seems to have it at RMB50 lesser inclusive of shipping, although I am not sure if they have them in my size since I could not be bothered to come back and do an online search/transaction after spending quite abit of time trawling Nike, Adidas etc shopsthere. With things like shoes, I’d rather try them on for design and size.

Back to birthday celebrations and all – that’s our girl very pleased to see herself on the screen at Panasonic Centre, doing a jump/hop and laugh number:
After that, we walked over to Mao Restaurant at Blue Castle (serving Hunan cuisine, as that’s the hometown of Chairman Mao) – we were the first to arrive after the birthday girl. That’s our girl giving Jing Jing Jie Jie a warm birthday hug after handing her a nice turtleneck present.
The room was very warm as the afternoon sun was flooding in through the big windows, so when the rest of the kids started coming in and filling up the space as well, adults and children alike stripped down to their basics. That’s the gang posing on the sofa as we waited for lunch to be served; Rosabelle’s a year younger than all of them…
And her being not as cooperative (covering her eyes and wanting to cover Jing Jing’s as well) when I asked them to pose for yet another shot together…
The youngest, as usual, was Mr. Meat Loaf, Junqi, 9-month-old brother of 3-year-old Qi Qi – I have yet to take an uncute photo of him…
Even Wayne found it tiring to carry him for long, haha…
Lunch started soon enough (one big table of adults and kiddos) and Rosabelle loved the四喜烤麸 (sweetened dried bean curd), and went on to feed herself tofu, fish, broccoli, and pumpkin (filling up on them all and rejecting the noodles that came last…). She also chomped on a stick of cucumber, using it to deny her mum of yet another photo opp… She even wanted some of my ‘南瓜水’, clamouring to try some of the orange juice I’d just ordered from the waitress – she did not know what it was and kept saying she wanted it, assuming it was pumpkin juice since it was orange in colour, and she was eating pumpkin at that time, haha!
Birthday cake time came, and that’s the Princess of the Day! Rosabelle even shouted loudly ‘祝你生日快乐!', to thunderous applause from adults all round.
Rosabelle fed herself some cake, though thankfully did not finish the whole slice (and obviously also rejected the ‘healthy’ option of pomelo I brought along for her). Every adult commended her for sitting in the high chair for such a long time without fussing, saying she was such a well-behaved child as the rest of the older kids were running and jumping all over shortly after lunch started. Well, they don’t see the behind-the-scenes where she takes way too long to finish a meal by turning/twisting away from us, and harbouring food in her mouth and not chewing/swallowing!
Our girl earned her playtime well and joined the rest of the kids on the sofa, jumping and riding it like a horse.
That’s Weiwei, Mai Dou and her – poor Maidou has a black eye from falling from a slide last week, and it’s much better now, though we can still see a ring of blue-black around it, poor thing…
After lunch, we were heading out together when Rosabelle was holding hands with Mai Dou (he kept asking her to go to his house, and our girl of course agreed vehemently), and declared to heart-broken Wayne that she wanted to follow Mai Dou’s car when asked which car she wanted to sit in to go home. She was most happy in Mai Dou’s mum’s car on the way home, and Wei Wei was sitting together with us as well, though Mai Dou pretty much ignored the poor older girl, only asking Rosabelle ‘玥玥，好听吗' as his mum played some songs over the radio.

When we reached our house lift, Rosabelle was still holding on tightly to Mai Dou’s hand, and when we reached our 10th floor, they actually hugged on tightly to each other and refused to let go. When I asked if she wanted to follow me, she said ‘No, Mai Dou家', agreeing to let me go on home without her! Oh dear, the heartbreak of it all… so I had no choice but to follow our smitten girl to Mai Dou’s house, even though it was already 3pm and close to their afternoon nap times. Poor Wei Wei could not come as her grandmother wanted to bring her home, so she was bawling away on the way up to her house.

Thank goodness Rosabelle agreed to come on home with me after about half hour of play at Mai Dou’s house, and she slept away for close to 4 hours that afternoon, waking up close to 8pm for dinner. As you can imagine, she kept Wayne awake till way past 1 am that night, giving excuses to use the toilet, drink water… phew! Now why doesn’t she look for her Mai dou to do these – she still has to rely on the man she abandoned earlier that day, haha!