6 November

1. As always, I have a lot of things to write about but I somehow avoided this multiply page. But today, after reading an article in the Life section of Straits Times, I decided that I must write now. Now. The story is the one about Nora Ephron's book. The point of the entire story is you must do what you want NOW. Because when you are old (if you don't die tomorrow, that is), you can't walk, can't see and in my case, the fingers would be too stiff to type. So, do everything now when you are young(er).

2. Part of the reason why I haven't been writing is that the laptop I'm using occasionally tries to be funny with me and will somehow deactivate the following keys: w, e, r, u & i. Today, it is much better behaved and combined with the Nora Ephron story, I'm somewhat motivated to write.

3. Now, about the kids (which this blog is primarily about). Recently, I updated my facebook status with H's nonsense:

Daughter #1, who is selectively OCD, was eating spaghetti. She often wipes her mouth on her sleeve so I have a supply of tissue paper beside her when she eats potentially-messy food.

In between each mouthful, I saw her wiping her fork and spoon with the tissue paper. And her mouth with her sleeve.

Once, when I took her to meet a couple of friends, Murniyati noticed how she couldn't stand seeing the spaghetti sauce on the table. So, each time the sauce landed on the table, she would move her plate to cover the sauce.  (Hmmm.. it seems like spaghetti is our staple diet but really, no, it's not.)

Another OCD moment of hers happened when she was about 2-ish. She just came out of the bathroom, did something wrong and was scolded. She cried. In the middle of her crying, she noticed that the corner of the mat outside the bathroom was folded. She stopped crying, straightened the bathmat and then continued crying again.

4. Asthma and Eczema - the disgusting duo that Farah has been diagnosed with: I was a bit disheartened initially but I've come to realise that it's not that bad. There are worst things out there and asthma is manageable.

I've read up a bit on it and it seems like a diet rich in fruit and vegetables is one way to keep asthma in check.

I also believe in eating the real stuff. Not fruit that has been whittled down into a capsule or a tiny little pill. I'm sure there's a very good reason why apples, oranges, pears, mangoes etc are in the shape they are in. So, I try not to be overly dependent on supplements either.

For now, what I should do is to record down diligently all episodes of her falling ill and try to look for a pattern to establish the allergen that's causing her asthma. I did this before when she was getting fever/runny nose/cough about twice a month. But, as the months went by, each of her fever/runny nose/cough episode was getting milder and with longer stretches of good health in between and I figured that she was developing better immunity. So, I stopped the recording. Then, she was hit by her most recent asthma attack. I still hate using that term. In the past, the doctors didn't want to label it as asthma because it's too alarmist an approach. So, they called it bronchialitis. But, when confronted with many wheezing episodes, it's time to call a spade a spade. So, asthma it is.

4. F is now a very feisty almost-21-month-old. She is doing well in all areas of development except in the height and weight area. But we all know that I'm resigned to fate when it comes to weight issues.

Speech: She calls her Kakak Huda, Tatak Tuta. Attempts to correct her have not been heeded. She also calls her youngest uncle Bubu although she's supposed to call him Pak Usu. When corrected, she will say Pak Usu once or twice but will still address him as Bubu. She can string together 3-word sentences and recently surprised my mother when she says ta-tih (sounds suspiciously like terima kasih - thank you) when given a biscuit.

Food: There are good days and not-so-good days. The good thing is, she is an easier person to feed. But the bad thing is, she has already started on french fries and salt.    Trans fats trans fats.. sigh.. And she likes them.. double sigh..

As long as we eat at home, she eats what I cook and that means loads of vegetables, fish and rice. On weekends when we go out, if we go somewhere that serves fries, she wants them. "Fai! Fai!" she calls out to them. Even if the fries belong to somebody two tables away. So, we get it for her but I'll wipe away as much of the salt as possible.

Play: Like most other children, she likes toys which another child is playing with. And Huda also seems to prefer whichever toy Farah is playing with. So, fights between them break out very frequently. And boy, does Farah fight; she bites and scratches. Huda has some battle scars to prove what the younger sister has done.

Despite the frequent fights, they enjoy each other's company. At bedtime (they are both sleeping on the mattress on the floor; I wish I knew their preference before we bought a bed for them), they will play and laugh together before finally falling asleep. Too much, sometimes. So, to ensure that they fall asleep quickly, I have to lie down between them to physically separate them.

5. Back to Huda: She and her cousin were talking about junk food. Being a health-conscious (well, not really) mother, I told them that they shouldn't eat too much of junk food because it is not good for them. Huda then said, 

"A'ah. Tak boleh makan banyak sangat. Nanti jadi gemuk macam ayah. Ayah Huda dah tak boleh jadi princess tau."

Yes. You can't eat too much of it. Otherwise you'll be fat like my father. He can't be a princess now.

In case you are wondering, despite not being exposed to much television, this girl - thanks to all the children around her - wants to be a princess or (no! no! noooooooo!) Barbie. So, everything is about reaching that ultimate goal - to be a princess. And she thinks everyone has the same goal, regardless of gender.

This reminds me of another exchange we had:

Me: You must apply cream on your leg. You have dry skin there.
H:  But I don't like cream. They make my legs oily.
Me: If you don't apply the cream, your legs will get even drier and the skin will bleed each time you scratch your legs. And then (I thought I was a genius when I said the next line) you can't be a princess if you have all these scars on your legs.
H: Never mind, I'll apply the cream when I'm living in Diamond Castle.

Diamond Castle is some Barbie-related rubbish. Don't ask me what it is. I'm assuming that it has something to do with Barbie being a princess and living in a castle called Diamond Castle.

6. Talking about Barbie, I will never ever buy my children Barbie dolls (both the original ones and the pirated versions). The girls once received an imitation Barbie doll and I threw it away after they've played with it for a few days (thank goodness it was of low quality so I didn't feel bad throwing it away after the arms fell off repeatedly). There are just so many things wrong with Barbie. I don't think I'm even gonna start on it now because I'll take too long and my keyboard has shown signs of retiring. (I have to press the i key a couple of times before the i appears. Most annoying.)

Okay. Gotta go now.

This entry feels somewhat constipated. I know I'm so eloquent to describe it as such :rolls eyes: but this is what I feel after reading this entry. Maybe, I'll be more coherent next entry. Here's hoping for diarrhoea in the next post!