The day we were both depressed

19 December 2010

Jen & Sharon had a Christmas party and we were invited.

There were many kids there so I decided to be more lax with K's dinner and let her join the kids instead of watching her like a hawk. She hadn't been eating well for days already. But it was Christmas, right?

Mary-Jane got her a plate of fried rice but she didn't want it, understandably since there was kiddy food prepared. So I struck an agreement with her. She would eat two slices of ham, some cocktail sausages and a non-spicy otah instead. She promised so I left her in the company of the other kids.

I checked on her once thereafter. The next time I saw her after that, she was without her plate of food. Suspicious, I asked her about it. She said it was finished. I asked if she finished it. She said she was full. I asked what happened to the food and she said aunty ate it. I asked Mary-Jane who then told me that she said she was full and needed help to finish the food. Hmm.

After reminding her of her promise, she agreed to a slice of ham and two cocktail sausages before she could go play with the kids again. This time she sat at the adults' table so we could all keep an eye on her. When I left the table to get a drink, she offered Michele her ham. Thinking she was so sweet, Michele fell for it and took a bite before realising what my daughter was up to. When K offered Mich some more, Mich promptly refused. Sigh.

Later after finally finishing her plate of food, she was given some jelly. This time Mich asked her for some. She replied, "Mummy said I sick, cannot share food."

Dumbfounded. I told her we had to go see TK since she was sick and she then claimed she wasn't anymore.

She finally was allowed to leave the table. She joined the kids who were playing with the toy hamster. The kids were mostly in primary school and they sat in a circle watching the toy hamster run around its cage. K picked it up. The other kids immediately told her not to. She replied, "My mummy said can." This, Siew Li related to me.

When I asked her about it in the car on the way home, she claimed that she had told the kids that I had said she cannot hold it. I confronted her about her lying. She finally admitted that she did in fact lie to me in the car and also to the kids.

P and I went home in almost complete silence and spent the rest of the night in near depression wondering what had happened to the innocence of our three year old.