Ah! The beguiling smile that belied the sly look of triumph Babie Z flashed when Mumie's back was turned. Success at last! All the extra effort put into finishing his writing, polishing off every grain of rice during dinner, arranging of toys after playtime and meekly surrendering to bedtime early had finally paid off! Babie Z is here to meet his superheroes in person!
I remember Dadie's worry when Babie Z was around 3 years of age and madly in love with Strawberry Shortcake. Pink was his absolute favourite colour and he would choose pink frilly dresses for himself if given any choice at all. He could not bear to watch any movies that involves the slightest hint of bloodshed, screams or gunshots. He repeatedly shut off the DVD player in the middle of Spiderman, X-Men and Transformers. Any cartoon that does not include girls or flowers are not worth paying attention to. Dadie was deeply troubled by the lack of masculine traits in his only son but thanked god that Babie Z's feminine interest stopped short of Barbie dolls. Our worries were finally allayed one finest day when dear sister-in-law Shirley pointed at her boisterous son, JingJing, and told us he once cried most pitifully for a pink Cinderella dress. 
Still, Dadie's look of relief was priceless when Babie Z began to show interest in automobiles and such. Seldom an indulgent father, Dadie never denied Babie Z any of his requests for toy guns, cars, swords, balls and the like. When Babie Z first shouted,"Power Ranger! Power Up!", Dadie bought him the vcd immediately. But Dadie's happiness took a brutal thrashing when Babie Z announced that he wants to be the Pink Ranger "-_- 
The following day saw Mumie very much better prepared from previous lessons. Not only did I brought a clean plastic bag for Babie Z to sit upon, I was also armed to the teeth - or rather Babie Z was, sporting his favourite weapon - Power Ranger Drive Lance. This was the weapon carried by the Red Ranger, even though what he really wanted was the Pink Ranger's weapon. Once, we had this futile island-wide-high-and-low-search in all toys merchandises outlets for the Pink Ranger's weapon (without even knowing how the weapon actually looked like), before Dadie finally arrived at this truly ingenious realisation: Power Rangers are designed for boys primarily right? Most normal boys would not be caught dead with a girl's weapon right? Hence, isn't it terribly unlikely that manufacturers will produce girls' merchandises for a boys' predominated market? Having coming to complete agreement on that, we continued the hunt no more.
I could not say for sure, what was the exact cause for Babie Z's surge in confidence on this second day. Perhaps it was the clean plastic bag which allowed him to sit in comfort throughout the entire show, or it could have been the envious looks cast by other kids at his Red Ranger Drive Lance, or the simple fact that Babie Z already knew what to expect since it was a repeat of the previous day's performance; whatever it was, Babie Z was surprisingly spontaneous and participated most enthusiatically in the sing-along and follow-my-gestures activities. He even surprised me by shooting up his little hand to volunteer for the puzzle game on stage. I felt it was really too bad my intelligent boy's hand was missed by the emcee *sniff*. Having been brusquely overlooked thus, Babie Z did not raise his hand again, but still managed to enjoy all the kungfu sequences by the Power Rangers.
We lingered till all the performers had left and Babie Z was suddenly enthusiastic about taking pictures with his Drive Lance again. Babie Z was just beside himself with delight to find himself near his favourite ranger at last!
On the way home, Babie Z was rather disappointed to learn that was the last performance. When asked once again on his refusal to bring his Drive Lance along for the photo-taking, Babie Z eventually answered,"How can I pose if I'm carrying the gun?". Oh well.
I remember Dadie's worry when Babie Z was around 3 years of age and madly in love with Strawberry Shortcake. Pink was his absolute favourite colour and he would choose pink frilly dresses for himself if given any choice at all. He could not bear to watch any movies that involves the slightest hint of bloodshed, screams or gunshots. He repeatedly shut off the DVD player in the middle of Spiderman, X-Men and Transformers. Any cartoon that does not include girls or flowers are not worth paying attention to. Dadie was deeply troubled by the lack of masculine traits in his only son but thanked god that Babie Z's feminine interest stopped short of Barbie dolls. Our worries were finally allayed one finest day when dear sister-in-law Shirley pointed at her boisterous son, JingJing, and told us he once cried most pitifully for a pink Cinderella dress. Still, Dadie's look of relief was priceless when Babie Z began to show interest in automobiles and such. Seldom an indulgent father, Dadie never denied Babie Z any of his requests for toy guns, cars, swords, balls and the like. When Babie Z first shouted,"Power Ranger! Power Up!", Dadie bought him the vcd immediately. But Dadie's happiness took a brutal thrashing when Babie Z announced that he wants to be the Pink Ranger "-_- Naturally, Babie Z's overly worrisome parents had to set things right by informing him that Pink Ranger is a GIRL. Dadie goaded Babie Z most mercilessly by asking him, "Do you want to be a GIRL?" in tones that implied in no doubt at all that GIRLS must be the lowest of all living species. Still, a rather unperturbed Babie Z relied in all confidence, "No one will know because she's wearing a mask." Well, defensively-speaking, I thought that was a pretty intelligent remark for a child of five. MY child of five.
Mumie encountered her first tricky task at the Power Ranger Show when Babie Z adamantly refused to sit on the ground. He insisted that it would "dirty his shorts" and kept himself standing at a spot with a far less advantageous view. This streak for cleanliness (which I'm secretly rather proud of) has always been a sore point with Dadie, who ceaselessly accused me of "corrupting young unknowing minds" (I am the irrefutable clean-freak of the Soon family). However, as the show was kick started by the cheeky emcee, Babie Z grew restless in his unfavourable position and began to move his way into the crowd of kids and parents for a better vantage point- much to their annoyance. Despite my many gestures and pleas (and threats), nothing could entice Babie Z to sit! Fortunately for both of us, the kids were soon overwhelmed by the appearances of the Rangers in their respective kungfu stances and started to stand up themselves .
It seems like every kid knew ALL about Power Rangers Operation Overdrive when they enthusiastically yelled back answers like, "Okto Channel!", "Saturday!" and "10.30a.m.!" to the host's questions. Babie Z appeared rather subdued in their midst and often look towards me as if for some sort of assurance. Not once did he raise his little arm to volunteer for any of the games either. Even though he was looking forward to the photo-taking session (every $30 spent within Bukit Panjang Plaza entitles you to a photo-pass which allows a maximum of 4 kids to take an exclusive photo with the Power Rangers; and of course Mumie dearest had the receipts ready since a week ago *_*), he appeared hesitant as his turn approached. Too shy to request that he stand next to his favourite Pink Ranger (I was too busy focusing the camera to be of help there), he meekly stood in the directed position infront of the Red Ranger and struck a pose for Mumie after several words of encouragement from the host.
Nonetheless, the experience must have been an enjoyable one because Babie Z immediately asked if we could return on the following day for the very same show. Despite my aching limbs from carrying the groceries while standing for a 1h 15min ear-spliting show, I agreed, partially because I do love his shouts of "Hurray!" and partially because I felt the exclusive photo was rather poorly taken. And of course, once again in my possession, was a receipt for purchases worth $30+++ ^_^.
Nonetheless, the experience must have been an enjoyable one because Babie Z immediately asked if we could return on the following day for the very same show. Despite my aching limbs from carrying the groceries while standing for a 1h 15min ear-spliting show, I agreed, partially because I do love his shouts of "Hurray!" and partially because I felt the exclusive photo was rather poorly taken. And of course, once again in my possession, was a receipt for purchases worth $30+++ ^_^. The following day saw Mumie very much better prepared from previous lessons. Not only did I brought a clean plastic bag for Babie Z to sit upon, I was also armed to the teeth - or rather Babie Z was, sporting his favourite weapon - Power Ranger Drive Lance. This was the weapon carried by the Red Ranger, even though what he really wanted was the Pink Ranger's weapon. Once, we had this futile island-wide-high-and-low-search in all toys merchandises outlets for the Pink Ranger's weapon (without even knowing how the weapon actually looked like), before Dadie finally arrived at this truly ingenious realisation: Power Rangers are designed for boys primarily right? Most normal boys would not be caught dead with a girl's weapon right? Hence, isn't it terribly unlikely that manufacturers will produce girls' merchandises for a boys' predominated market? Having coming to complete agreement on that, we continued the hunt no more.I could not say for sure, what was the exact cause for Babie Z's surge in confidence on this second day. Perhaps it was the clean plastic bag which allowed him to sit in comfort throughout the entire show, or it could have been the envious looks cast by other kids at his Red Ranger Drive Lance, or the simple fact that Babie Z already knew what to expect since it was a repeat of the previous day's performance; whatever it was, Babie Z was surprisingly spontaneous and participated most enthusiatically in the sing-along and follow-my-gestures activities. He even surprised me by shooting up his little hand to volunteer for the puzzle game on stage. I felt it was really too bad my intelligent boy's hand was missed by the emcee *sniff*. Having been brusquely overlooked thus, Babie Z did not raise his hand again, but still managed to enjoy all the kungfu sequences by the Power Rangers.
Babie Z gave me a rude shock when he decided against the photo-taking. I managed to half-drag and half-coerce him (with a multitude of interchanging threats and sweet promises) into the queue only to have him refusing to carry the Drive Lance for the picture. What was Babie Z thinking about? To have carried the toy all this way and not use it for the photo shooting? It's incredulous but I had to live with it or wind up with no photo shoot at all. I must have appeared pretty silly juggling the weapon and the digital camera at the same time. I was pretty sure the Power Rangers were sniggering beneath their masks!
We lingered till all the performers had left and Babie Z was suddenly enthusiastic about taking pictures with his Drive Lance again. Babie Z was just beside himself with delight to find himself near his favourite ranger at last!On the way home, Babie Z was rather disappointed to learn that was the last performance. When asked once again on his refusal to bring his Drive Lance along for the photo-taking, Babie Z eventually answered,"How can I pose if I'm carrying the gun?". Oh well.
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