Tree-house, anyone?

We spent our Thaipusam holiday by going out for lunch at H*lia Restaurant at S*me D**by Convention Centre this afternoon. Mak was the one who called everybody up to join her for lunch there. She insisted that she pick the tab as she said it had been a while since she had all her kids, menantu and cucu-cucu under one roof enjoying a meal outside. Ayah, the kids and I opted for the buffet spread while the rest ordered from the A la Carte menu. It could have been better if most of the food was piping hot, I guess. Imagine having cold roast beef with cold mushroom sauce, or cold spaghetti bolognaise, cold soup berempah, cold shawarma kebab, or even a bowl of cold beef wantan noodle soup...You got the drift? Suffice to say, Ayah, Hanna, Hasya and Hilman ended up being slightly woozy and unwell after that! Not sure if it was because they ate too much (despite the food!), or if the lukewarm dishes played a part in it? Anyway, that was that.

After saying our "Bye-byes" and "Thank yous" to Mak, the five of us decided to go and try to find Hilman's bedroom set for the new house. He had been asking for his bedroom set ever since we went to the new house last Sunday to do some spring, (PLUS summer, autumn and winter!) cleaning at the house. Hasya's bedroom set had arrived on Wednesday last week, and so, her room is the only one which is fully furnished now (minus the curtains, that is) And upon seeing how cosy and nice his K.Ngah's room was, Hilman started asking for HIS set, too.

The thing is, we ordered Hasya's set in July last year and they could only hold it for 6 months. We had no choice but to ask them to deliver it to the new address even though the house is still not as we wanted it to be yet. We were hoping to have all the furniture in after the renovation work is done. But, as it happens, our preferred contractor is pretty tied-up at the moment, and will most probably only be free to work on our house in the last quarter of this year! Well, I guess we can wait. As it is, not many of our neighbours have moved in yet. At least, for now we have Hasya's room to lepak in every time we go and check on the house.

Okay, back to the hunt for Hilman's bedroom set. We managed to find something at V*len*ia at SD, which I think would be suitable for him from age 8 until early 20s. We're thinking long-term, okay? We don't want to change it after only 4 years! Ayah and I have decided that we will only change the kids' bedroom set when we need to siapkan their "Bilik Pengantin" nanti. Hahahaha! Anyway, the set is only about 1/3 of what we paid for Hasya's set! Hilman liked it, and we're seriously thinking of getting that for him. However, as that was the first set that we saw, we decided to scout around a few other shops before settling on that set. We just want to make sure that THAT set is the best choice with the best deal around. We're putting a KIV on it, and hopefully we'll have time to look at other sets this weekend, before deciding on it, insya Allah.

Hilman being Hilman, he was pretty calm about the whole thing, and was very quiet. But on the way back home, he started asking questions. And as usual, one question led to another.

Hilman : Mommy, why didn't you buy me that set?

Me : We need to look around first to find if there are better ones for you, okay, dear? If we cannot find a better one, then we will go back to that shop and get you the one that we saw just now, okay?

Hilman : Okay.... (pause) But, no need la Mommy. Just buy me the one just now laa...(pause) Errr...(pause) okay laa Mommy. Never mind la...(pause) We go and find this weekend, okay? (Long pause)...If cannot find, we buy just now one, okay?

Me : Okay.

Hilman : I can't wait to move to our new house, Mommy. I can't wait to sleep in my own room, in my own bed, with the new set. (Pause) Errr....And Mommy, can we also have a tree-house there, please - just like N*deem. I can also sleep in the tree-house if I don't want to sleep in my room.

(N*deem is his schoolmate, who also happens to be the son of Mak's neighbour in PJ)

Me : Well, Hilman...We need a TREE before we can built a tree-house.

Hilman : You plant la, Mommy.

Me : We need a REALLY big tree for that, Hilman.

Hilman : Why, Mommy? So, you plant a BIG tree la, Mommy.

Me : The tree must be strong enough to support the tree-house. It has to have a sturdy trunk and very strong roots. These take time. If I were to plant it now, by the time the tree is strong enough, you will have outgrown all this tree-house thingy, Hilman. You'll be too big and too old for the tree-house!

Hilman : Ooooh, okay. But, why didn't you plant a tree at our house now, Mommy - when you and Ayah first bought it?! We could have had a tree-house by now, you know, if you planted a tree long time ago.

I just looked at him with my eyes wide opened. He looked back at me, and answered his own question -

Hilman : Oh ya...we don't have any space to plant a tree. It will not fit anywhere. Right, Mommy?

(In my mind - Yes, Hilman. Our current house doesn't have a proper laman. Every time you all wanted to play outside, within the compound , Ayah and I would have to reverse our cars and park them outside to give you all the space you need! Sigh...)

Me : Yes, Hilman.

And Ayah decided to chip in at that point.

Ayah : Well, Mommy. MAYBE we CAN have a tree-house at our new house. But, Hilman, maybe, it will be YOUR kids and all my other cucus who will be playing in it instead of you, Kak Long and K.Ngah nanti.

The kids all together : AYAH!!!!

Ayah continued -

Ayah : OR, maybe not. Hilman, MAYBE YOU will be playing in it, while your kids will be calling out for you to get down from the tree, and let THEM play in it instead? And MAYBE, every morning they will be calling out for you to come down from the tree-house as you need to send them to school, etc?! Hmmmmm....imagine that, Hilman.

By that time, the kids were all laughing their heads off at the back of the car!

Yeah, right, Ayah...

And MAYBE, it will be YOU AND HILMAN playing pondok-pondok in the tree-house after your retirement - and we will probably need a specially-made lift for you to go up the tree! HAHAHAHA!

Hmmmmm...Come to think of it, it's actually a cool thing - Ayah spending a Man-to-Man time with his son on a tree... Very primate, very private, very nice...

And anyway, so Hilman, do you want to sleep in a tree-house, or in your bedroom? If you choose the tree-house, then there's no need for us to go and find the bedroom set for you, huh? You can sleep with Mommy in the mean time - meaning until you're 18 at least? Hehehe!

So, Ayah - are we planting a tree next weekend?