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Friday, April 6, 2012

Princess A****d

A skinny little girl came by today who charmed both the young males in the house - Milo and Little Boy. She was all of 8 years old, with a shy smile, a gentle manner... and a mind of her own that she did not hesitate to impose on my 2 young males. Milo has been known to turn grown men pale, the whites of their eyes showing. This little thing  not taller than Petite Petunia's belly button trotted over to Milo like a medieval Princess A****d armed with the magical aura of innocence that has been known throughout European history to calm the savagest of beasts.

Tame Milo she did.

Within 5 minutes my dog was kissing her face. Sure now of a her power over his snarling fangs and evil looking snout, she commanded "Sit down!" and Milo did. But well, Milo is an easy conquest. Readers of this blog know that he is a Wimp, with a capital W. More impressively, Princess A****d tamed Little Boy.

Parents that come to the house with their kids in tow for Petunia's sessions often expect that their kids will be working hard. Hence, the kids expect this to be another "tuition place". This is not true. I work the parents hard. The kids are my instructional tools, and when the tools aren't needed, they get to roam the house and play. Pleasantly surprised at this, Princess A****d, still armed with her powerful air of fearless innocence wandered upstairs and into Little Boy's room.

This is no mean feat because Little Boy doesn't take well to the rapid succession of kids and parents that have in recent times descended upon our house. He keeps his dark mahogany room door resolutely closed. It is a most unfriendly door indeed but that obviously deterred The Princess not a bit. She opened it a crack and saw a Little Boy hard at work. She came downstairs and commented "There is a Boy upstairs doing his work. When will he finish his work?" I absent-mindedly said "Yeah... he has to do 1 English Compo, 1 Chinese Compo and a Math paper. I don't know when he will finish, but he will do it quickly so that he can play."

She took this news with a pensive nod. Then she disappeared. Her Mom and I spent a long time analyzing a video so that Mom could learn how to motivate. The Princess was nowhere to be seen. Mom and I had peace and quiet. We did great work. When it was time to go home, we found The Princess together with Little Boy up in The Secret Room, accessed by a long ladder and through a trap door. Little Boy was looking quite amused when he gave me an account of the happenings.

She had let herself into his room, cautiously commenting "Your Mommy said that when you have finished your work, you can play with ME", which wasn't REALLY what I had said. Surprised and a bit distracted from his Math practice exam, Little Boy mumbled "That's good." There was then a long pause. Then...

The Princess: What is that trapdoor in your ceiling?
Little Boy: It leads to the Secret Room.
The Princess: Secret Room? Can I go there?
Little Boy: Yes. But you need the key."

PAUSE

The Princess (gone to stand politely next to Little Boy's chair): Can you get the key and open the trapdoor for me?
Little Boy (clicking on his timer and looking for the first time at the scrawny child): You wait here. I will open it for you.

Having got Little Boy's attention, and having got him started on doing things for her, The Princess had him firmly in her gentle grasp. She made Little Boy bring down some of the toys he had squirreled away in The Secret Room. Then she christened the room "The Play Room". Then she decided that it was quite appropriate to read in The Play Room, so she made Little Boy carry his books up. Then she made Little Boy bring his exam paper up there and then she made him do his work up there with her, all the while keeping up a companionable chatter, which of course meant that Little Boy couldn't concentrate. Since he couldn't concentrate, he couldn't solve his sums... and so The Princess (Primary 2 only) offered to help him solve Math problem sums from Nanyang Primary School's PSLE Preliminary Exams.

When we went upstairs to get The Princess, she was perched on the ladder with her head through the trapdoor trying to help Little Boy with his Math. My heart leapt into my mouth. If she had fallen off the ladder, it would be like having Princess Rapunzel fall out of her tower. Ceilings in this house are high and so the ladders are long and tall. I was upset that Little Boy had opened the trapdoor for her. It was dangerous.

I was also surprised. Little Boy can be irritable with pesky younger kids, especially if he is working. He most likely would have refused to open the trapdoor to his Secret Room... strangely, there he was looking very pleased and a bit amused at this chatty little girl with her head sticking out of a hole in the floor.

Later on, he told me that she was very cute. So I gather that The Princess had also charmed Little Boy into submission.

6 comments:

My Sinfonia said...

Petunia, looks like you have to warn Little Boy about pretty young things like Princess A! LOL

Blur Ting said...

Oh, what an adorable pair!!

Petunia Lee said...

Sinfonia - You will like her, I think. She has spunk. A girl like that would grow up into a lady of strength and dignity. That's the kinda girl he SHOULD be dating... not one of those insipid pretty things with little courage and nothing else but looks.

Petunia Lee said...

Ting - I was quite shocked at Little Boy's patience. He usually thinks girls are (1) mean, (2) strange and (3) irritating.

Wen-ai said...

ahh... Little Boy's future girlfriend. ;)

Petunia Lee said...

Wen-Ai: I think Princess A's Mommy is gonna freak out when she reads all this. Hahahahahahaha! I freaked out when this boy's Mommy suggested that her 5 year old son and my 4 year old daughter get MARRIED!!