Kung Fu Swim

I am sure you have heard of Kung fu Soccer made popular by Stephen Chow, the actor which was a hit many years ago. Have you heard or seen Kung fu Swim then?

I certainly have and the star of this unique style of swimming is none other than our boy, Ryan Looi. Yes, he loves swimming and he adores kung fu, the fist fights and the kicks. And the best moment he enjoyed the most during his twice a week swimming lessons with his coach Mr Lee, are towards the end of the session where he gets to play and have fun with his coach.

Look mommy, I am flying .....

At the end of each session, his coach will reward him by tossing him high into the air and letting him do his stunt before splashing into the water. He is quite a sensation, I must say at the swimming pool each time, they do this because, many parents would be staring in disbelief and and marveled at how agile and daring this tiny little boy is, having no fear, as it were of the water or the height.

The Eagle stance flying through the air ...

The Bruce Lee's high kick ....

Just a couple of days ago, I took him for his usual swimming lessons. We were a little early. His trainer was still teaching another kid. The moment, Ryan changed into his swimming costume, put on his cap and goggle and the next thing he did, was jumped straight into the deep end without any hesitation.

Jumping into the pool with style ...

There was another mommy who was there watching his daughter swim, and I could see her mouth gasped as she pointed at Ryan. I could see her disbelief and concern, I am sure, thinking that Ryan was reckless. Then I can see that her facial expression turned into one of envy the moment Ryan's head popped up from the water and started his first breaststroke lap.

She came over later and asked if Ryan was our son and how old he is and how long he has been swimming. 

Words cannot described how proud we were, when we happily declared that he is and he is only 5. 

Swimming like a Fish

Although Ryan has always wanted me to stay through his hourly swimming lesson, I have often opted not to, because the indoor swimming pool tends to get rather stuffy and hot (even in winter) since the pools are heated and I always ended up with a splitting headache after staying there for 30 minutes.

Ryan doing a backward flip into the pool for me to take this picture...

He was his usual self, asking us to stay behind after dropping him off at the pool for his lessons. Since my wife and Chenya came along, we decided to stay to watch his progress. After all, this would be his 58th hourly lesson since we started him off one year ago with Mr Lee, his coach. We knew that Ryan has learnt much and came a long way but seeing him swim that evening was simply awesome.

The moment he changed into his swimming suit and had his cap on, he jumped right into the adult pool. His coach was already there waiting for him. He put Ryan through some simple warm up exercises in the pool and then sent him off to practice his breaststroke, which was the very first swimming style that Ryan learnt.

Ryan coming up for air as he did his breaststroke ...

I sat there, watching him swimming from end to end of the pool, each lap measuring 50 meters. Ryan is a small size boy and it is rather cute to see his tiny frame floating across the pool with his tiny head, popping up every so often for catch his breath before it disappeared again into the water ...

I started to count the number of laps that he is doing while his coach urges him on, screaming instructions and corrections, to make sure that his technique is right. Second, third, fourth, fifth and so on. I started to realize that the coach is now not just ensuring that Ryan knows how to swim but having the right technique to swim the breaststroke to maximize speed, as if he was being trained for Olympics. To my disbelief, he actually swam TEN laps of 50 meters each continuously without stopping. That was an amazing 500 METERS for a 5 years old boy. I can't even do three continuously but then again, I can't swim!

Then, after a short breather, he was put through his paces with his free style and then his backstroke, all of which he demonstrated with such ease and little difficulties.

Ryan doing his freestyle ....

Ryan doing his backstroke ....

It has always been our dream to see our son swim like a fish and whenever we see a child swim the entire length of the pool, we wish that Ryan could do the same. Sitting there, that evening, I realized that our dream has been realized. There he was, swimming the entire length of the pool, not once but ten times, and not just in one style but three.

Finally, the coach took Ryan through his paces on his most current technique, the butterfly. Although his timing and his coordination is still not exactly right, I can see his determination to learn and to master it and that was exactly, what his coach sees too.

"He is a very determined child. He does not have the physical strength but his mental strength is amazing." Lee shared with us.

Ryan with his coach whom he adores....Lee

Well, Ryan, as parents, we believed that this is one of the best gift that we have given you, apart from all the toys that you have been receiving...the skill to swim like a fish, a skill that will last a lifetime, a skill that we hope will strengthen your self confidence.

A Tree For His School

Ryan's school had a Christmas party just before Christmas and the school closed for the Christmas season recently. Parents were invited and were requested to bring some food or drinks to the party. We were scratching our heads as to what to bring for the party. I am definitely not one into baking and hence baking Christmas cookies was definitely out of the question. We were thinking of buying some fruits but we were uncertain as to what fruits we should be buying and who is going to cut it for the kids. Moreover, we were quite certain that there would already be fruits at the party.

Then, the idea of presenting the class with a Christmas Tree and some ornaments came upon us. We made a quick call to the school as to whether that would be OK. They more than welcome the idea.

We believe that the tree would be a more 'lasting' gift because they could use it for several years (hopefully) and it fits in nicely with the theme and festive period of the season.

Ryan, Mommy and Chenya enjoying their snacks ...

Hence, we rushed back to the vendor where we got our own tree. She was too happy to see us when we told her that we wanted an exact tree and four boxes of shinny ornaments. My wife, of course was the negotiator and by the time, she finished with her bargaining, the vendor (she) and her were practically best of friends. The vendor was an equally shrewd businesswoman herself. I guessed that they finally found someone to match their wits and crossed swords and were happy and satisfied at the end of the day.

The children taking part in the unpacking the tree ....

The children at the class were all excited when they learnt that they were getting a Christmas Tree. Ryan, of course, was running up and down telling everyone that his mommy and daddy were the ones would bought the tree and he has one similar one at home. Everyone took part in the unpacking of the tree and took turns to put up the ornaments with some help from the teachers and some parents.

"Now, how am I going to organize this and get them to work together without fighting ??????"

All in all, it was interesting to see how the children came together to get it done without crashing the tree, and helping each other out with the taller children decorating those parts of the tree where the younger ones could not reach.

With them putting up their ornaments, the tree somewhat became `their' tree and that sense of belonging.

The children all taking part in putting up the ornaments to decorate the tree ...

We actually suggested to the teachers if they could just get each student in the class to write their name and year on an ornament and put them on the tree, hence, leaving behind a mark that they have been there before. Over the years then, one could see all the children who have had a hand in decorating the tree every Christmas as way of remembrance.

Ryan with Jeff, the Santa Claus and Grace, two of his favorite teachers in the world right now ....

I certainly hope that our little gift has somewhat made this Christmas more memorable and exciting for Ryan and his little friends in his class.

Ryan in The BeijingKids Magazine

The much awaited December 2013 issue of the Beijingkids expat magazine is finally out. We have been eagerly waiting for it because Ryan would be featured in it, promoting a Northeastern Chinese cuisine restaurant known as Liulaogen located at Dongcheng District.

Ryan featured promoting a Northeastern Chinese cuisine Restaurant in the December 2013 issue of the BEIJINGKIDS

He was invited by the magazine to be photographed, promoting this restaurant last month, after we wrote in with pictures of both Ryan and Chenya, informing that we would be glad if either one of them could be given opportunities to be used as models for their magazines. Our sole purpose is to provide them with the commercial photography exposure and experience.

I did not think that the invitation would come so fast but came it did, one month later.

Well, I must said that Ryan was a super easy child model to work with because he was just super friendly and obedient on set and did everything that was asked of him, without raising a fuss. On top of that, he actually enjoyed tasting the food that was put before him and that made the photographer's job so much more easier.

He was enjoying his food so much that the writer wrote in her column "During the shoot, our photographer had to stop to let the model finish a piece because he found it "too yummy to concentrate on the camera."

It was certainly a `First' for everyone at home. Hopefully, he would get more invitations in the future, not so much for the money (that would be good too) or the free stuff (I would not mind having any of that) but more so, for his own personal exposure and experience.

The Legend of Kung Fu

As far as I can remembered, Ryan has always been interested in kung fu and has been demonstrating and posing with his self taught moves in a lot of his pictures as far back as when he was only two. He was agile, flexible and above all, focus and passionate for the art.

Ryan, his friend Slevin and his head coach posing with the performers on stage after the show 'The Legend of Kung Fu'

Hence, as I have posted in one of my earlier post, we wasted no time, in registering him to one of the Shaolin kung fu classes for children his age when we finally found one bear our place. He has been practicing and learning his Shaolin kung fu for a couple of months now and had learnt quite a number of impressive moves which include his signature eagle, tiger and snake stance, all of which he is just too eager to demonstrate whenever he has a chance. Chenya is picking up her kung fu `moves' too, imitating his brother, watching from the sidelines.

Ryan going through his kung fu moves during training every Sunday afternoon.

His head coach seemed to have a special liking for him and at times, pushed him to practice with some older kids or used him to demonstrate some moves to the younger ones, all of which Ryan was just too please.

Ryan with his kung fu stance, taken during our holiday trip to Club Med Bali in 2011. We had always wanted him to learn wushu properly. Little did imagine, that he is now learning Shaolin Kung Fun in BEIJING, CHINA!

Recently, his class organized an evening to watch the well received 'The LEGEND OF KUNG FU' performance at the Red Theatre in Beijing (www.redtheatre.cn). Ryan was over the moon. Honestly, so was I as I have always, always been amazed with the`seemingly super human' feats that this monks could do. It was a family affair. We got special discounts for our seats and only had to pay RMB260 (RM130) for the RMB325 seats and it was 90 minutes performance.

Right from the word go, Ryan was sitting at the edge of his seat, eyes glued to the stage as the monks of all ages, leaped, jumped, somersaulted and `flew' with amazing flexibility and ease, occasionally yelling in recognition, some stance that he could identified with... "Tiger!!! Monkey!!! Eagle ...!!!"

Pictures from The Legend of Kung Fu website

The show was spectacular both as far as the stage production is concerned as well as the high quality of performance from the performers, bringing forth the message of the true value and meaning of practicing kung fu, their quest in training their body likened to rock and steel, as protectors of peace.

And where was Chenya in all this? Silently being cuddled by her mommy, hanging on to her trusty napkin, her thumb comfortably in her mouth, and her eyes peeled, constantly on a lookout for performers dropping from the ceiling or coming out from the side doors.

They must have been impressed by the performance. Why? Because I caught Chenya that night, smiling and with her eyes still closed, laughed and yelled "Very good (in Cantonese) and clapped" and continue sleeping.

And Ryan? He now inspired to be as good and wants to be able to break a metal bar over his head!!!!!! Not wanting to disappoint him, we told him that he could do that in due time and he need to practice harder and eat more to build up enough muscles and strength.

I just found out that they organized special tours to visit the Shaolin Temple. Emmmm...that would sound interesting, don't you think?   

His First Commercial Photo Shoot

Ryan has always been photogenic even when he was a little baby and with his easy disposition, he basically can get along with almost anyone (except with his little sister most of the time, although most of the time, it is no fault of his).

He was once spotted by a talent hunt when we were still in Malaysia at KL Hilton just before we left for China and as requested, we have sent in his details as well as some pictures of his to them.

So, when we are in Beijing, my wife actually wrote in to BeijingKids, an expat family magazine to express our interest to have our children do photo shoot for their magazine if there are any opportunities.

And to our surprise, they actually replied and asked us to sent in some sample pictures and details. I sent in for both Ryan and Chenya and we got a call last week that they were interested to have Ryan do a photo shoot, to promote an upmarket family friendly Chinese Restaurant.

We were definitely excited since this will be Ryan's first commercial photo shoot. When we told him that, he was excited too and told us to give his hair a trim to make sure that he looks NICE! (He actually told the hair stylist to cut it to make him looks nice!)

We took him from school earlier, get him to have an afternoon nap, ensuring that the gets enough rest and off we went in the evening to this restaurant for his shoot.

The staff writer for the magazine turns out to be a real looker and Ryan as usual was in his element, chatting her up in no time and holding her hands like he has known her for the longest time.

When it was time to do the shoot, they laid the food before him, told him to relax and enjoy the food and looked up to smile at the camera. AND he actually enjoyed the food!! We have so much trouble getting him to eat anything at home, and here he was, in his sales and marketing element, selling himself, giving thumbs up for the food, saying how nice and delicious they were.

The photo shoot was over in 30 minutes because he was so so so ready to smile and pose and do whatever the photographer asked him too.

It was a good experience for both us and him. He has done HIS COMMERCIAL PHOTO SHOOT!!! And we are looking forward for more to come, for his sake. Do we have a model and star in the making????

Halloween in Disneyland

We were travelling quite a fair bit last year and with our relocation to Beijing, I have had little time to update my blog then. On checking, I actually discovered that I did not update much of Ryan’s first trip to USA, especially his trip to the happiest place on earth – DISNEYLAND.

 Disneyland at Anaheim, LA was decked with Halloween decorations when we visited last year

So, here I am, just to add that post into this journal, both for myself (to refresh my fading memories as I grow older) and for him to relive his childhood fun when he grows older too.

Before this trip, the furthest we have brought Ryan out of the country was to Beijing. Hence, we were initially apprehensive as to how he would cope with this 20 over hour flight. He quickly put our apprehension to rest, when he excitedly settled down quickly on the plane with the in-flight games, movies, his iPad and chatting up the air stewardess!

Our first stop was in Seattle where mommy has to attend to her business meetings while daddy was left with the job to keep him occupied. More of that in the next few posts.

But he was eagerly waiting for, was the trip to DISNEYLAND, the place where every kid dream of, not to mention many adults too, including yours truly.

 Bright orange pumpkins were everywhere, truly reflecting the spirit and atmosphere of Halloween

When we were there, Halloween was just around the corner and DISNEYLAND went full steam to capture the spirit a Halloween. The entire Disneyland at Anaheim, LA was decorated to reflect Halloween. The sight of bright orange carved pumpkins was EVERYWHERE! It was simply amazing. They even had a special Halloween night where guests were encouraged to go in their full Halloween costumes. We did not opt for that because, firstly, it was held on the first day that we arrived and secondly, it was rather expensive and we gathered that it would be so overly crowded that it would not be worthwhile paying that amount to fight with the rest for the rides.

 The main street in Disneyland, Anaheim, LA

But we had fun nevertheless, soaking in the Halloween atmosphere, on all the three days were there. Yes! We were there for three days and to Ryan, it is still NOT ENOUGH. Who could blame him, when DISNEYLAND has been branded as THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH and if you immersed yourself in all the fun and activities, she actually is.

 Standing in front of the icon of Disneyland, Walt Disney and his star creation, Mickey Mouse against the backdrop of the Magical Castle.

Posing in front of the GIANT Pumpkin Mickey Mouse, at the start of MAIN STREET USA

There is simply a special MAGIC in the air the moment you entered through her gates and you are transformed magically into this fantasy kingdom where cartoon characters that I grew up with comes alive! YES YES YES! There was Goofy, Minnie and Donald. And out of nowhere, apparently, CHIP and DALE popped up to say hello. And of course the STAR of the kingdom, MICKEY MOUSE himself.

 His best Halloween ever !

More pictures of that in the next post. For now, my dear son, you must be one lucky boy. I have to wait 49 years before I could see my dream coming true and there you were, cuddling Mickey Mouse at the age of 4!

Back to School

The long summer holiday is finally over today.

Ryan is finally going back to school and he is more than glad because he just cannot wait to get back to see his favourite teacher, Jeff and his pretty assistants, Mari and Grace and to play with his classmates. The two long months of summer holiday have been challenging especially with Chenya at home as well, because Chenya tends to fight with her brother quite a fair bit. Most of the time, it was Chenya who bullied Ryan rather than the other way round. She bullied her brother so much so that Ryan spend most of his time in the master bedroom, watching TV and playing with his toys while Chenya stayed in the living room with her toys.

The moment they are together, Chenya would already have either scratched or beat her brother, or comes crying that her brother had beaten her, although most of the time, it is the other way around, all within 10 minutes.

This morning while Ryan was getting ready for school, Chenya was getting ready too. She said that she wanted to go school too, complete with her school bag and waiting. I just hope that she is as eager to go to school when she actually has to go and not have to be drag up the school van every morning, kicking up a fuss, screaming and crying.

We have already registered Chenya into the same school and although the term actually starts today, we have asked to delay Chenya starting date till November. That is because the first week of October is going to be China National Holiday and after that we would be going to Juizhaigou for a holiday. Hence, we thought it is best to start her in November so that we don’t have to waste paying for her school fees in October when she is going to be away from school so much.  We also did not want to start her off in September and then having to re-orientate her all over again in November after our holidays. That will save us quite a fair sum of money.

For now, daily routine is back to norm and slightly better, now that we have already engaged a full time Chinese helper (Ahyi) for 8 hours everyday to do the cleaning and cooking.

Just looking forward for Chenya to start school too.

Obsessed with Dandelion

There is no flower that attracts both Chenya and Ryan like the common Dandelion. After the harsh winter this year which ended sometime in February and when spring kicked in, there were so many little white tiny fluffy star burst like flower popping up everywhere – the dandelion.

Both Chenya and Ryan were having a blast, picking them up and blowing them into the wind. 

 

I enjoyed watching them having simple fun like this and being back to the nature, running wild in the park (although it would have been much better if they were in a real natural park somewhere with clear blue skies with little air pollution, unlike the severe ones that we get in Beijing).

 

The laughter, the squeals (especially from Chenya) and the screams from Ryan as the light tiny white dandelion seeds float in the air, being carried by the wind, landing we know not where, but with a possibility of a new beginning and starting the next life cycle was something precious and memorable to me.

I can’t really recall whether I had such fun when I was younger but from the look of both my children, I can sense the true, deep and uninhibited joy of simply blowing the dandelion flowers and chasing after the seed all over the place.

 

We just went through some hot and humid summer here in Beijing, reportedly one of the hottest that most Beijingers would attest to. Autumn has arrived and the weather is slowly cooling down a little and we can see more clear blue skies in the recent weeks as compared to the hot polluted summer days.

Days are shorter now as compared to summer and soon the sun would set by 4:30 in the evening, as winter arrives. Honestly speaking, I am looking forward to the winter although it can be very cold and harsh at times, but I am looking forward to snowfall and another round of snowball fights with my son and this year, I am sure Chenya would be able to join in as well.

 

For now, with this post, I just hope and wish (if I could) remind my children when they do grow up, that the best fun and laughter and true joy sometimes comes from the simplest of things in life, such as a tiny white dandelion.

So, if you are ever depressed and frustrated anytime in the future, try picking up a dandelion and blow it into the wind, sit back and watch them float without care nor worries, wherever the wind takes them, knowing that a new beginning for them has just started.

My Shaolin Master

Ever since Ryan was a young boy around 2, he has always been interested in `fighting’ and keen to demonstrate his `kung fu moves’ that he picked up from his favourite Ultraman movies. There are so many of his photographs that he strikes up a pretty impressive pose with his kung fu stance.

I, for one, have always been interested in kung fu although I don’t have the opportunity to learn when I was young. I remembered that I wanted to learn tae kwan do but was not allowed by my parents because they feared that I would be using those skills to fight even more, not that I fought a lot. I guessed parenting mindset then and now are significantly different. Modern parents nowadays would want their child to learn as much skill set as possible to equip them for hopefully a brighter and better future. Moreover, such opportunities or classes were not so easily available then and even if they were available, were rather expensive.

I am always impressed with my dear doctor friend, Dr Liew (our children’s paediatrician and also my long time class mate) who practised wushu. I remembered him demonstrated his wushu moves during one of our class parties back in ACS Ipoh when we were in Form Four and I had been mesmerized since then. I wanted Ryan to pick wushu as much as possible, knowing that it would do him a world of good, not only learning a skill to fight, but some form of discipline and to channel his interest in fighting in a positive way. Unfortunately, I was told that he can’t be practising till he was four. Hence, we have to wait.

Now that he has turned five, we started immediately to find out where and how we could enrol him for some classes to start him off. We were originally thinking of either starting him on junior golfing lessons or kung fu. However, I still think that at his age, kung fu would be a better choice since he is much more flexible now and is a skill set that would instil better discipline and self confidence.

While looking around, we were informed by one of our new neighbour who has also become a good friend and their son, Slevin, Ryan’s best friend is taking Shaolin kung fu lessons. We wasted no time to get Ryan there for a trial class and he is hooked. He loves it and from what we observed, he is totally focus and agile for this particular sport.

It was his third lesson yesterday after missing several weeks due to our travelling. We were happy and glad that the trainer actually came over and commented that he was totally impressed with Ryan’s commitment and focus during his lessons and training and is of the opinion that he has the talent to pick up this sport.

It seemed that my son is living my dreams. I am not looking forward for him to become another Jet Lee but I would be contended that this discipline would mould him into a better person.

Childhood Friend

Childhood friendship is one of the most interesting parts and parcel of our lives as we grow up. I grew out of those childhood friendship unfortunately, as I got busy with my college life and corporate life and have not touch base with many of those playmates that I grew up with. There are many of us who still keep in touch with our childhood friends and have remained close.

As I grow older, there are nights, digging deep into my fading memories, trying hard to remember their names. As each of their name came up, fond memories followed, of the laughter we had, the mischief we got ourselves into, the secrets and adventures we shared. I always ended wishing I know where they are now and if only we could just sit down for a cup of coffee and relive those little precious moments together.

Ryan has got a new friend here in Beijing and they have become very close over the last couple of months. Just a couple of months younger, Slevin and Ryan have grown almost inseparable. They are constantly asking for each other and always looking forward to meet up whenever they can and have a good time.

They have grown so close that they are each asking whether they could move into each other houses and live together. Kids!!

And Chenya has grown fond of Slevin too. There was a day when she woke up from her nap and the first person she asked for was “Where is SLEVIN?” This girl is having her first crush on a BOY at 2 years old!

The parents of Slevin are probably the closest pals we have now in Beijing and rightly so, because they are also simply nice people to start with. In fact, they have volunteered to take Ryan out with Slevin a couple of times, including the latest Michael Jackson Immortal World Tour concert.

I just want to write this down as a way to remember this great family and remind Ryan that he once had a good childhood friend by the name of Slevin if they should ever part and go their separate ways, that somehow, their lives have touched somewhat and left a little something behind, pleasant and happy memories of a growing childhood.

A break after this break

I was looking forward to come back to Malaysia this round for a short break because I needed one. I last came back in March 2013 to sort out the rental of our house and the sale of our cars. Well, you could say that I have only been away for a short 4 months. It is true but  4 months in a foreign land with no true friends to `lepak', 'minum' and chit chat can be rather lonely and stressful. I honestly desperately needed a break from my Beijing daily routine and monotony and I needed to be away, hopefully with a couple of days away from the kids (not that I don't love them any less) but to have some space to breathe, so to speak.

 

I thought I had that when Chenya, as arranged earlier will be with my in-laws for a week, while Ryan would be away for several days with them as well. At last, I thought I could go out to my usual hangouts back home in Malaysia for my coffee and hangout with some of my buddies of a couple of beers before heading back to Beijing for another couple of months.

 

 

However, I seriously do not think that that is going to happen this round.

 

 

Chenya has developed mild fever for a couple of days now and was told yesterday by my in-laws that she was having some dry cough. Ryan apparently missed me so much that he wants to come home.

 

 

So, I had both of them coming back to me last night and to make my task taking care of them harder, Ryan woke up this morning and told me that his cheek behind the ear is painful. I took one look and saw that it was swollen. My fear was that he has contacted mumps.

 

 

 

I took both of them to see my good old friend, Dr Liew and his diagnosis was Ryan has contacted mumps which will probably take a week to run it's course while Chenya has acute bronchitis and several medication to take. I need to bring her back to the clinic on Friday for a follow up.

 

 

So, there you have it. My next couple of days would be to take care of them, both down with something and Chenya, not feeling well, is becoming very clingy and `sticky'. This is definitely NOT the break that I was looking for.

 

Right now, my only thoughts and wish is that both would get well as soon as possible and that Chenya would not come down with mumps in the next couple of weeks.

 

 

I really need a BREAK after this BREAK!

Who Made Me

The 20 minutes ride to the Summer Camp the last couple of days have turned out to be a rather interesting daddy and son's discussion and conversation bonding. As usual, he will not stop asking questions and talked from the moment he got into the car and will only stop when he got down from the car.

That 20 minutes or so can be rather long when the questions from an inquisitive and curious 5 year old mind comes fast and furious, sometimes too fast and too furious. Topics discussed can be so diverse and wide and a walking encyclopedia could have problem responding appropriately, especially to a five year old.

This morning conversation somehow started with Ryan telling me that he can feel his bone and asked me if I could feel the same. "Of course!" I said.

"Why? Why can you feel your bone? Is it very near to the skin?" he continued.

"Yes" I replied.

"What about blood? Is it very near to the skin too?" his relentless questioning continued.

"Yes. Blood is near to the skin too." I replied. "Blood is all over your body." I replied smartly.

"Why? Why is blood all over the body?" his questioning intensified. 

"Because blood will bring oxygen to every part of your body, your brain, your heart, your hands, your feet ..."

"What is oxygen?" he asked.

"It's the air you breathe in." I replied.

"But why? Why do blood need to bring air to other parts of the body?" he asked.

Baffled and searching my CPU for an appropriate answer, I took a short cut which ultimately led to my doom, so to speak. "Because we are made that way." I replied, thinking that that would help me get out from having to scientifically explained the complex workings of the human body and organs in the most simplistic manner that a five year old would understand. 

He paused for awhile and I thought that that was it. However, little did I realised that the next question is EVEN TOUGHER to answer.

"Daddy. Who made me?" he asked.

I have just dug a deeper hole. How do I explain to a five year old that mommy and daddy made him in a manner that would not lead to more embarrassing questions, which a five year old might not truly or totally comprehend. Isn't sex education a little too early for him at this age? My mind was racing for an answer. The best answer that I could give would be "Daddy and mommy made you" which is true but then again, I can already anticipate the next question from him which would likely be "How daddy and mommy made me?" How do I explain that?

Being smart as I am, or so I thought I was, I took another simple way out, without considering the consequences. 

"GOD made you." I replied and immediately I knew I was in trouble.

"Who is GOD? Where is GOD? Daddy...who is GOD? How did GOD make me?" the barrage of questions kept on coming.

My CPU was now overloaded and at the brink of a crash as I tried to figure out how on earth am I going to get myself out from the bottomless pit that I have just dug.

And then, I was saved by a miracle. That very moment, the car pull up to the school and we have ARRIVED! Phew!

"OK. Time to go. Quick! Quick or we will be late!" I shooed him down.

So, how would you answer his "Who Made Me?" question?

My dear son, in due time, you would know and when the time is right, you would understand the complexity and the beauty of human creation. Yes, daddy and mommy did made you (and you will find out how by then) but GOD did most of the work and you, like all other children of all races, cultures, social status and skin colors are wonderful and amazing miracles and gifts from HIM, unique in every way.