Desperate Housewife

Maybe I'm just not made of enough Mummy Mettle.. 3 weeks flying solo with 2 kids and I do believe I'd be less stressed being at work.

I've run out ideas on what to do to fill up Arissa's hours at home and I clench my teeth each time I turn around and see her glued to the telly. Hell, I even feed her in front of the telly just because she eats without protesting much when her attention is fixed on Dibo or Mickey or whatever's on. And that, ladies and gentlemen, makes my life e/a/s/i/e/r so I let her be. Sue me.

On top of having to cook family meals, I also juggle..
vacuuming
mopping
wiping surfaces with Dettol
showering both kids
laundry
folding laundry
keeping clothes in closet
serving food
washing dishes
...need I bore you with more?

On the occasions when I actually have some time to attend to Arissa one-on-one, out comes the marker pens and crayons..


Yes this is how she colours... in spots..


..and a little bit of drawing (me) and copying (her). She's only perfected her circles and lines, anything squarish or trianglish stumps her still.

And the perfect subject is still her fight club buddy- Rifqi, looking a little rough around the edges but oh-so-exhilarating to Mummy who NEVER knew she had the artistic hand (ok, not my gene!).


Next comes alphabet time.. though she still lines them up like a train.


The thing Mummy garnered from this exercise is the realisation that Arissa recognises her alphabets. Yea, yea.. so not the As from the Cs from the Ss (only X and B so far)... but she actually actually knows which way is up for each letter (except W and f and the divide sign). Haha!!

Not bad for a Playgroup dropout!

Oh and on top of the 1002 chores I need to attend to, No1 on my list is mediating between a bully and her 2 month old 'victim'.

Somewhere close..

A short break from life's bump & grind..












@ Aranda Country Club.

Tough as nails

Its been almost a month since my last entry, and a case of 'reality bites' it has been for us.

Let's see now...where do I start?

How about having to watch Sofia go through 2 hospital stays because Arissa kept passing viruses to her- first a cough that resulted in bronchilitis, then a week later a viral fever that peaked at 39.7deg.




I broke down many times at the hospital seeing such a tiny person being suctioned, loaded with drugs and pricked with needles. If not for the support of family and friends, I would have plunged into PND unavoidably.

The decision to pull the plug on daycare was made during the 2nd hospital stay, based on Sofia's paediatrician's recommendation. It hurt at first until I found out there are 34 other kids in her Playgroup and then I was just M-A-D; no bloody wonder she kept getting sick. It was a tougher decision because I had moved back home and now had to juggle 2 kids on my own with no help.

I waged a war against Oren, our beloved tabby. He just had to go, again I was acting on paediatrician's advise that his dander and fur can cause asthma development in an infant. Many a fights ensued with Hafidz about Oren's future but he's now safely placed with an aunt who herself has 6 other cats living in her terrace so I'm sure he'll be happy to have buddies (both Hafidz and Oren).

Then a few other phonecalls were made to a relative working in a maid agency and before I knew it, we've signed away another few grand to acquire more headache with dealing with a FDW. But help I do need especially now that Arissa is home 24/7 with me and I'm damned near losing my mind. I've resorted to many tricks that puts many parents to shame. To get her to behave I've allowed her to

a) watch Playhouse Disney the whole day
b) eat M&Ms for breakfast
c) threatened to give all her toys to the neighbours
d) spanked her countlessly
e) stuck her in the store room for all of 2 seconds

Hafidz says e) counts as child abuse- does it?!