1. Huda is now a very protective older sister. Overprotective, we think. The first time we noticed such behaviour, we thought it was cute. Endearing even. But now...
Farah, being all of 17 months old, wants independence. She wants lots of it. If we are at a shopping centre, she wants to walk all by herself. It doesn't matter if she's not heading where we wanna go. She does not care one bit. If I dare stop her and carry her, she'll throw a mighty fit which involves violently swinging her body and arching her back making it impossible to carry her unless you have a very firm grip. Accompanying that is of course a prolonged roaring from her. Sometimes, I'll put her down on the floor and she'll start rolling all over the floor (of the shopping centre, if you have forgotten where we were), kicking and screaming.
So, whenever she has visions of independence and we have the time, I will just let her walk about. I'll be a short distance away (about a metre or less), just enough space for her to assert her independence and for me to keep a watchful eye over her and anyone with evil thoughts on my daughter. (Having said that, however, I must tell anyone who has any intention of kidnapping her of her incessant nightly cries. The kidnappers will pay me to take her back.)
Anyway, coming back to the main point, Huda gets jittery and panicky the moment Farah is more than 5cm away from me. "Mak, mak mesti angkat Farah." Mak, you must carry Farah, says Huda in a whiny tone. "Mak tak boleh tinggalkan Farah." You cannot leave her behind.
Imagine. Every single time Farah goes wondering about (under close supervision, mind you), I will have the overprotective sister badgering me not to abandon her. Every single time. I will ask her if I have ever abandoned Farah. She will look thoughtful, realised it has never happened but continue whining anyway.
AARGH!! It drives me nuts!
What on earth can I do about this?
2. I managed to give Farah the bottle on 3 occasions on 3 consecutive nights!
She cried.
I ignored her.
Cried some more.
Ignored her again.
Cried one more time.
I made a bottle of milk.
She went back to sleep.
The bottle of milk went to the fridge.
Cried.
Milk came out of the fridge.
Too sleepy to heat it up.
Gave her the chilled milk.
She finished all 5 oz.
Next night.
She cried.
I made the milk.
Gave her the milk.
She refused.
I put inside the fridge.
Cried again.
Gave her the chilled milk.
She finished all 5 oz.
The following night, she finished all 6 oz.
So for 3 nights, she has breastmilk at around 8pm, one bottle of milk at around 2/3am and then wakes up at around 7am. This is a huge improvement from waking up 4-6 times a night for milk. Hooray!
I wonder if it's okay to give a kid chilled milk in the middle of the night. It just does not seem right.
3. H has been coughing for 3 days but I have not taken her to the clinic. Sigh. Thought she would get better using the cough medicine she received 3 months ago but looks like tomorrow will be spent waiting for our turn at the clinic. Isn't there a magical remedy for kids' cough?
4. I had been calling my girls Princess MonMon. They took turns to be Princess MonMon. Rarely were they on MonMon's throne together. Normally, it's the younger girl who ascended the throne.
Originally, MonMon is simply short for Monster.
The monstrous behaviour the younger one displayed at night started the entire thing. But ever since I started calling her that, her night-time behaviour worsened. See? My mom always tells me not to say bad things, nanti jadi do'a. Everything you say is a supplication and so, if you say nonsensical things, your request may just be granted.
So while I still call them PrincessMonMon, it is now Mon for montel. Chubby.
It's 1.35am now. I'm reeling from Brazil's loss but at least I still have Argentina.
/end of disjointed thoughts
Oh wait! One more.
5. My friend put up the song Don't Cry by Naked on her facebook wall. Mak kau.. Lagu jiwang habis seh. (Gosh.. what an emo song.) It reminds me so much of my JC days. Actually quite a few songs from the year 94/95 remind me of my JC days because that was the only period of time in my life when I used the walkman heavily. Before that, in secondary school, we were not allowed to bring such devices to school. Besides the journey to school then was too short. Clementi to Queenstown. In JC, it was Woodlands to Jurong. The walkman, along with Amelia and sometimes Nomad, was my regular travelling companion. Later on, in NUS, the walkman was hardly used because it was just too inconvenient to stuff the earphones under my tudung. Besides, the MRT provided a smooth enough ride for me to do my tutorials and readings so there was no need for entertainment.
I met my primary school friends last week and other than my classmates I am pretty clueless about my schoolmates in primary school. My memory of primary school is very hazy. In secondary school, I found a few close friends but I was still rather reticent. I woke up from my stupor in JC and that was when I started enjoying school activities and everything that life had to offer.
And so, I always remember my JC life with a lot more nostalgia and fondness than any other periods in my life. I'm gonna go into reminiscing mode now while waiting for the Uruguay-Ghana match to start.
Toodles!
5 comments:
for point no. 5, am i one of those u reminisced about plus ur AVAC counterparts?? mwahahha! aku sungguh tak malu!
like u, i enjoyed my jc life the most. Even though i had to travel from bedok to jurong every day for close to 2 years, i am glad i made the decision! oh well, beggars cant be choosers. grateful enough tt ms ching ah kim accepted me in. :P tt's y also i stick to jc friends in uni, which made me an anti-social cos' i dun really make any new friends in uni. :P
how come huda suddenly exhibits this overprotectiveness over farah? i mean it's really good, cos' she will look out and take care of her beloved younger sister but is it sudden?
which reminds me of this ramli sarip song, "jgn tunggu lama2, nanti lama2, dia diambil orang."
bcos of this song, when i was a little girl, i was so scared each time i had to wait for my mom outside the market when she did her marketing cos' i took the meaning literally:nanti aku tunggu mak aku lama2, orang amik (kidnap) aku , macam mana? padahal lagu ni pasal sunting bunga! hahaha!
agaknya, huda dengar lagu nostalgia ni tak?
Princess Monmon? Hahahahaha...Sebijik macam aku. Sarah pon ada display her Monmon moments and sometimes I tell her that monster children go to the storeroom to be with the monsters if she does not behave well. So aku takutkan dia dgn storeroom jer. I know I should not do that :p
wahahahaaaaa!!! seious? you so imaginative! never ever would i ever be able to relate that song with a kidnapping. hahaaa!
but i think huda miiiiiight have got the idea that she and her sister are worth kidnapping when we were at a surau in johor sometime last year.
i put both huda and farah between my sis-in-law and i. both of us were praying. while we were praying, a young woman (late teens/early 20s) went to huda and farah. she started bending over farah and kissing her all over and in all seriousness, asked huda, "kakak amik adik, eh?" (i take your sister, okay?) you know how sometimes some people say such things but you know they are just kidding? but this woman was diffferent. she said it in a very, very serious tone. both my sis-in-law and i quickly finished our prayers. (errr... how khusyuk were we, huh?) the moment i turned and looked at this woman, she just stood up and walked away. both of us were super-spooked by the incident. so that could have caused it.
and point #5 - actually i was thinking of our malay 'A' class. we were talking about our class very recently, remember? heh heh. and that got me thinking abt the other students in our batch (i met nomad and geetha (budak science, nomad's friend. remember her? she used to run around the stadium dragging a tyre.) last sunday and errrr... i'll share certain details with you later. cant talk abt it here. heh heh.) and of course, other silly things like, errrr.. my first mad [-bleeped this part out-], which is a bit embarrassing to think about now. and coming in almost late to school and running for my dear life to the school gate before that jj spirit song ends... but all in a positive nostalgic light. at least my time in jc was not hazy and blurry. dont tell me u went thru primary school blur as a sotong also?
u know what? me too!! i know that threatening is not the way to go but sometimes we had to resort to that. huda, for some strange reasons, doesnt want to go to the dentist. so whenever she refuses to brush her teeth with toothpaste, we'll threaten her with a visit to the dentist. unfortunately, we really do have to take her to the dentist cos her 2 front teeth are brownish.
i like your line - that monster children should go to the storeroom to be with the monsters. i think one of these days, keluar jugak ayat tu. :p
this was scary mary..i remembered u told me abt it. huda must have remembered this incident oh so clearly too and is therefore very protective of farah now. err tak khusyuk? the incident calls for an emergency reaction so... ;) at least u finished ur prayers, kalau aku agaknyer terus stop and dun complete it. wait for whoever's with me to finish, ask her to keep an eye then i pray again.
the name geetha sounds v familiar but bab drag tyre ard stadium not familiar..hehe..maybe wen i see her face then can remember. haha!
i remembered my primary school days too, not hazy, quite clear.. :)
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