Dance!

The little pantsless dancing dictator was at it again last night during the YOG Closing ceremony, barking out commands to all and sundry.

"Mummy! Stand up and dance! Stand up and dance with Noey!"

"Papa! Take photo of Noey with the camera!"

"One... two... three... (Exhales while giving his trademark grimace-smile)"
(Yes, Noey's so attuned to his Papa's snapping ways that he automatically executes this routine when he sees the camera. And is feeling cooperative, of course.)

"Noey DANCING!!!"

I was amazed he had the energy and was in such good spirits considering the fact that he did not take a nap the entire day. He spent 2 hours rolling all over in bed and all over me, yabbering away, before I gave up. Needless to say, it was an extremely tiring day. Let's hope that would be the first and last nap-less day in a long while!

And as for the YOG, it has come to an end. To the relief of some, like my mother-in-law, who I know is glad to be back to regular programming on TV.

For me, I feel both sorry to see it end and also satisfied to see it come successfully to a conclusion. I was one of those who, in the early stages, tried to be interested in the YOG but just couldn't muster up the excitement. The event was something I would have relished participating in as a teen. It was organised in the name of allowing young athletes to get a taste of what it would be like to be involved in the Olympics and support the development of youth in sport -- something which I feel strongly is a move in the right direction. It's an international sporting event and I love watching sports. Yet maybe because it was budding talent taking centre stage and not established stars, even after reading some of the media write-ups in the lead up to the games, it was hard to feel any interest. It didn't help that the event looked in danger of becoming a fiasco from the reports of a lack of interest from the man on the street, the outrage over the blown budget, and the fact that YOG ambassadors Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt were not going to be present.

But when the action began, I was sucked into it. It started with the 3-1 win by the Singapore boys (for they can hardly be called men, though they certainly played like men) over Zimbabwe in football. Guess it's not surprising that it took the sport that captures the heartbeat of Singapore -- Football -- to stir the nation, ourselves included. All the young athletes present certainly didn't think of themselves as youth. They were serious competitors, playing, swimming, running their guts out to win, with plenty of sportsmanship being displayed.

It was an entertaining 2 weeks. Thank you, young Olympians, for showing me, and the world, what it means to be a sportsman.

And for affording Noey the opportunity to dance.