The Missing Moon

The story of The Missing Moon occurred last weekend when we celebrated Hao's and Wen's birthdays.

Hao celebrated his birthday on Saturday while Wen (BIL's younger daughter) celebrated her birthday on Sunday (her birthday is on the 9th but she insisted to do it earlier on the 7th at my in laws place). After dinner and the celebration on Sunday, we were in the car heading back home when Hao noticed that the moon was big and round that night. He said to me "Mummy, the moon tonight is so big, round and bright...maybe it knows that it's Wen's birthday and so it came out especially for her...but Mummy how come the moon wasn't out yesterday? Is it because the moon forgotten all about my birthday and so didn't come out big and round for me?"

I was speechless for a while, wonder how a 7 year old can have such sad thoughts. I told him that the moon was much bigger and brighter and rounder last night but because there were some dark clouds overcasting the skies and so he couldn't see it at all. He felt better after that and was in silence all the way back home.

It didn't occur to me that he actually made comparison to the attention given to both him and Wen and felt a little left out that we didn't make a big deal out of his celebration. Obviously he had a happy birthday and loved the presents he received and that we took him out for his favourite food (soup dumplings) but he wanted more. This might not be healthy as I find that they are getting more and more competitive in seeking attention from the adults and that might just make them resort to pitting against each other, which will heighten sibling rivalry. Kids nowadays are getting more and more intelligent and complicated in their thoughts and sometimes I feel that we might not be ready for such intelligent little beings. How I wished they were the same little happy boys who would squeal in joy for the little things that we do to make them happy...they are so much more demanding now and we might not be able to fulfill them in all ways...