A Mother’s Monologue

Every time we travel, we’re bound to buy Tok-Tok some duty free Cuban cigars as those are his favourite. They’re very expensive, cigars. And they absolutely stink! I cannot stand them but what to do? Tok-Tok and Nana are always smoking together setting such bad examples to their grandchildren. Now that we have a young baby, perhaps we should start getting him cigars online or better still, show him how to buy his own cigars online. Then again, knowing him, he’ll probably end up smashing the computer.

Last Friday, I went grocery shopping with my Mom and bought 10 mangoes comprising Thai Lilies, Local yellow mangoes and Indian mangoes. We also bought rambutans, apples, persimmons, kiwis and oranges. Plus a whole load of other stuff. Needless to say, the bags were heavy.

Between my Mom and I (one weak with cancer and one heavily pregnant), we were struggling to carry all the groceries up the stairs so we asked for Tee’s help. We gave her the 2 lightest bags but after a few steps, there was already moaning and groaning that life was too tough. The bags were too heavy. She wasn’t made for hard work. It made her sweat. She needed a maid.

She made me so mad. I asked her what had happened to all those muscles that she had, the ones she used to build through the nutritious food that she ate? She used to show off her arm muscles to us because Mom encourages her to eat by telling her that she will grow strong muscles in order to fight off the naughty boys.

“They’re all in my brain!!!” was her comeback.

WAH!!! Since when did she think her muscles were all in her brain? So action…..I wonder if school has been telling her that she is smart…..*shakes head*

Well, firstly……it helps that both her parents are creative architects although not only architects are creative (and some not at all!!!) but if at least one parent is creative, your child has a good chance of being creative. But fret not, because creativity can be TAUGHT!!!

Yes, bet you didn’t know that!

Of course, we didn’t have to teach Tee as she already oozes creativity. Yet from since I can remember (18 months old), I have been making her think. She would ask me a question and I would throw it back at her. Her brain is always working overtime because she is FORCED to think. The more your brain thinks, the better it gets. I must say, she now thinks very well.

When Tee was younger, she would ask me how things worked. To be honest, being the blur Mom that I am, I hardly knew the answers. Yet, I’d ask her to think and imagine how SHE thinks they worked or could work. And she would come up with ideas, then verify the facts with her Daddy later.

Nowadays, she is always asking me how to spell this word and that word but I don’t give her the answers. I ask her to spell it herself. Then I’ll correct her if necessary. Her teachers say she is very good at spelling!

Today, she drew out a grid of 6 by 3 on a piece of A4 paper. Then she wrote on it ‘COSTYOOM SHOP’ (costume shop). I was impressed for the effort in spelling. Then on the far left, she wrote for each section – Belly Dance (apparently, she saw this on TV!), Bug Lady Dance (she once had a LadyBug costume) and Ruler Dance (she made this up, possibly from using the long ruler to draw the gridlines). In the rest of the columns and rows, she drew clothes hangers and then a different item of apparel for each clothes hanger. And then she coloured them all.

The story goes, that she had not only choreographed the dances in detail for those 3 categories of dance, she had also designed in minute detail, the very costumes for those 3 dances! And she explained it with such explicit elaboration that I was thinking, shit! she must;ve been thinking a lot whilst doing these drawings!

All items in the costyoom shop were priced FREE of CHARGE. Oh dear, not a good start for being an entrepreneur!

Just as an example, the belly dancer has a head gear which resembles a Malay ‘tudung’ and then another layer of chiffon material with red sequins on it paired up with some stringy accessories which included a dangly belt and instead of harem pants, she had a green grass skirt layered with a chiffon scarf elaborately garnished with more sequins.

When I asked what a ruler dance was, she showed me how you needed to stand straight upright and stiff, and then move your feet one by one in sequencing motions to the left-right-across-behind in robotic motion. I bet she gets this from school as the school teaches them dance lessons every week as part of the curriculum. Hand and feet coordination enhances the brain power.

Tee, my dearest Tee,…..please don’t be a designer, OK??? Mommy and Daddy will have a heart attack. Stick to the original plan.

Today, I turned the stove on, walked out of the kitchen to get something and was going to walk right back in. I did not walk back in till I smelt a burning smell half an hour later. I had TOTALLY forgotten about it the moment I stepped out. How is this possible?

Then after pricking my finger, I had the needle exposed and of course fumbled with it and jabbed another finger near the nail DEEP. And it was with such force as well. The bleeding did not stop for awhile.

I hate being pregnant.

10 more weeks.

10 more weeks.

10 more weeks.

Help!

The Doctor assures me this is completely normal, especially during a second pregnancy but yikes! I look like an alien!

As if it isn’t bad enough that my boobs are already lopsided, now my tummy points to the right when I’m dead straight facing front.

What is going on???

Despite the fact that I’ve just spent RM450 at the Doctors last weekend to do the 3D scans of the baby, I now have to see another Doctor again this weekend because she is concerned that my diabetes is out of control. *sigh* There goes another RM150.

Total spent on gestational diabetes since pregnant: RM2600

Acuvue Diabetic Kit – RM350

Needles and Test Strips from January to April – RM2250

Roche is really making money, huh?

Now that I need to prick my finger even more frequently, it’s going to cost even more!!! ANd let’s hope I don’t need insulin jabs because I’m sure that would cost EVEN more.

*sigh*

This is all punishment for being such a greedy cow all my life.

Tee had her first taste of a proper library at the very young age of twenty months. There she was encouraged to select her own books and ask the librarian if she could borrow the book, please. Then, she would choose her books randomly, by bold, bright colours. The bolder the better. The bigger the better too! It was completely random.

It is extremely interesting to watch over the years how she selects her books and what kind of books exactly she is interested in.

Around last year, she would select books that had friendly pictures on the cover. Anything with sharp illustrations and dark colours would get the evil eye. She preferred books with little furry bunnies hopping around in pink flannels shirt or cute gray kittens in pastel green bows. How feminine for such an unfeminine girl.

Today however, was the first time that I saw Tee actually open up the books of which she was attracted to, to read a page or two first before she decided if she liked the book. And instead of choosing books she liked that Mommy could read to her, she instinctively chose only books that she could read to herself. I found that so interesting. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t stop reading to her. I just found it amazing how a child evolves independently without any influence in her reading habits.

She chose all 13 books by herself and couldn’t wait to read one in the car on the way back. The first story she read me was actually so funny that I laughed out loud!! And I thought to myself, wow, what a great choice she had made for a book!

I can’t wait to see what else she has chosen……

You would think that since pregnant women were so round and whale-like that it would be easy to just roll over in bed in order to change positions but let me tell you, I spend more than half the night awake because every single position change results in total agony. I’m carrying precious cargo, a damn heavy load, and using my almost non-existent tummy muscles to do the job is really, really difficult.

We saw the baby up close last weekend on a 3D Ultrasound and she looks exactly like Tee. And judging from the 2D Ultrasound, she probably is as precocious too.

*sigh*

How did you spend your Sunday?

We skipped Sunday School today because Tee was running a slight fever. The girl is severely dehydrated as she doesn’t like drinking. What to do?

We woke up at 9am, had breakfast by 10am and Tee started on a 150 piece jigsaw puzzle which was meant for age 7+ (I really wonder how they classify the age versus difficulty in puzzles – so subjective!). It took her 2 whole hours (without any help) of patience and a lot of chatter and grumbling, haha….The Hubs had gone to the market to do some groceries whilst I kept Tee company. I kept reminding her that Slow and Steady Wins the Race whenever she got impatient. She was real pleased when she finally completed her puzzle. See? All worth it.

Then she wanted to do her music theory book and of course, I had to accompany her for that as well. This would have been my third hour sitting beside her doing absolutely nothing but just chatting with her whilst she gets on with it. She is pretty good with her music theory, knows all her notes and counts (I never revise this with her). Impressive.

The Hubs returns. We cook a quick lunch and eat. Then the Hubs and I go into food coma whilst Tee insists that she is not tired and will not be having a nap. She continues her day with some join the dots workbook up to number 50 and then practises her piano. And THEN, she makes me teach her how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the piano so I write out the notes on a five line drawing and she practises it till she gets it. I told her the goal was to practise it until she didn’t need the notes in front of her anymore. Then I realised that it was actually easier if she just played by ear. Shish! What a waste of my time!

The Hubs and I proceeded to the bedroom and Tee followed and did more music theory in bed. An hour later, she too had passed out.

We woke up, cooked dinner, ate and here we are again………I’m on the computer and Tee is playing her Doll House with her Dad (hahahahaha!!! poor Daddy!!! Well, I spent THREE whole hours with her this morning!!!))

What a simple Sunday. No running around. No meeting of aliens. No stress.