I don't ever remember specifically teaching irfan any of these things...so i really wonder where he gets these ideas from...he surprises me with his ideas...maybe it's from school or tv,...im not quite sure.

Incident 1

yesterday we saw a heavily pregnant lady and i was just curious what was going on in irfan's tiny lil head. so I asked him,

ME: What's in her tummy?
IRFAN: Baby
ME: How is the baby going to come out?

I had expected him to say something along the lines of cutting open the tummy and extracting the baby...but he surprised me with this answer:

IRFAN: Come out from a big hole

ME: Hole?which hole?where is the hole?

IRFAN: Hole where the ibu kencing. Can ibu? can come out from there or not?

not quite sure what to say, i just nodded and said, "yah...something like that...hey look what's that? " and quickly changed the subject before he starts firing me with more questions, like he always does.

Incident 2:

We were watching Animal Funniest Videos on tv and they were showing some pigs doing something funny..and Irfan out of the blue , dengan bersungguh-sungguh said,

Irfan: Ayah, we cannot touch pig, you know!"

Alim: Why not? Is it dirty?

Irfan: Cause...later Allah ANGRY!

I looked at alim and asked " did you teach him that? Coz I sure didnt" alim said no. MAybe he learnt it in school ...but we often tell him that we have to pray coz later allah angry, but not about touching pigs....

Then alim asked: How about dogs? Can we touch dogs?

Irfan: ( starts thinking. i can almost see his lil brain ticking) Dog, CAAAANN.

Alim: Why?

Irfan: Coz dog good boy...dog can play with irfan..dog can help irfan..I like dogs, ayah. Can buy?

We left it as that and didnt bother to correct him, coz i honestly dunno how to explain to a 3 year old why we can't touch dogs. If I were to say later allah angry, he will definitely ask me why...and I wouldnt know what to say.

Actually, it's no surprise that he views dogs as friendly creatures coz almost all children's books portray dogs as childrens' best friends. He has books which show dogs playing with lil boys and girls, fetching toys and licking their faces in delight. So i guess, that's where he got the idea that dogs are fun to have.

As he gets older, I also noticed he's becoming more sympathetic to others and has shed some of his egocentrism. He tries to cheer people up when they are down and again, I dunno where he learns them from. I dunt remember doing this to him or to anyone around the house so i doubt its from modelling.

Incident 3

Irfan: Ibu, why your face like that? ( pulls his lips down to show me a sad face- which, by the way was really funny!)
I didnt even notice he was looking at me and i didnt even realize that my face was showing how i was feeling. I was unhappy with something but didnt know my face was showing.

In no mood to reply, I just kept quite. He came close to me and looked straight into my eyes and asked again" Why ibu? Are you ok?" N nod nod his head. By this time, I wanted to laugh but played along, and showed an even sadder face. After all, it's not always that I get this much attention from anyone. Heheh.
After a few moments of looking symapthetically into my eyes,
he said, " Smile ibu, Big smile like this." and he gave me the biggest smile ever.

The first time he ever did that to me, my heart melted till it flooded my house!! I guess its true kids are really very sensitive to our moods and they can tell if you are unhappy or not. It's really nice to have someone try to cheer you up like that.

On another occasion, well, ok, I do get my bad moods a lot at times, so he asked " Ibu, why your face like that? (and again, pulls his lips down to show a sad face). " Who disturb you, ibu?" Just for the fun of it, I pulled an even longer face and said, "Ayah! Ayah disturb me." Hehe.

He stood up, marched over to alim, who was in the toilet, happily minding his own business. Irfan came up to him, started cekak pinggang and with an almost defeaning voice said , "AYAH! Why you disturb ibu? Say sorry now!"

Of course, alim ignored him, knowing that it must be one of my silly ideas.
I couldnt help but laugh and that must have confused irfan a bit. Anyway, isnt it nice to have someone blindly stand up for you like that!!:)

I guess 3 year olds are smarter than we think. We dunt have to teach them for them to learn, they just pick everything and make their own conclusions. They probably have formed these ideas in their heads a long time ago, but only now, they are able to verbalise them. The questions are coming fast and getting more difficult for me to answer. Most times, I dunno how to simplify the answers to a level of a 3 year old. Once, just for experimental sake, I answered him using proper sentence, proper terms, like how I would explain to an adult. I am very sure he doesnt know what I am saying, and almost half of the words he has never heard before. After the 'cheem' explanantion, he kept quiet, looked at me and finally said, "Ohhh" and barely a second later, asked" Why ibu? Why like that, ibu?" Why?" Not knowing what to say, I revert to my "Hey look, what's that?" strategy and changed the subject. Luckily, he's easily distracted.

I find it really fun finding out what he is thinking and expeimenting with his thought processes. Of course, sometimes, he will give me silly answers which I never quite figure out. And at times, he is just so impossible, that I feel like tying him up to a tree. But most times, he is always there to brighten up my days. :)