I have decided.

I am joining the Dubai Marathon and I’m telling the whole world - at least shamelessly revealing to people about my plan to run. And I am serious but don’t be. I don’t plan to run the full marathon. No, I don’t have the guts to kill myself yet, either by exhaustion or by shame or both.

This year, there’s a 3K run. It’s a fun run but still. Running is never my forte although I love the feel every time I ran. It’s also a good excuse to buy a nice Nike shoes. Kidding.

So, I have come up with a plan, grabbing ideas from all over the net. Heard of the Couch to 5K program? That. I am going to train for some weeks to be able to run a full 5K. Will that day come? I guess it’s up to me.

In honor of the end of Ramadan and the upcoming Eid celebration in Dubai, schools have announced a break for one whole week! Pristine went to school last Thursday and came home with a paper signed from the principal saying they’ll only go back to school on October 5 with their party clothes.

I am quite happy with school breaks (although I can’t tell if my mom, who takes care of the babe for the whole day thinks so). It means longer sleeping time in the morning and not driving her to school. I don’t even have to think what to put in her lunch box.

I’ll be having a break myself for the Eid holidays, probably starting on Wednesday until Friday. I say probably because it all depends on the sighting of the moon. I am not kidding.

 Pristine had asthma attacks while we were on vacation in the Philippines. This photo was taken minutes before my brother’s weddingl.

Just a quick note to say that for the first time in almost two weeks, we are all able to sleep through the night without being awakened by Pristine’s ashtma!

I am so happy for my little girl.

After 2 weeks of being apart from each other, Pristine is finally reunited with his dad who came tired and sleepy from his long flight last night.

I am puzzled by their relationship. When they’re together, they constantly fight. Dad tries to kiss the little girl and she squirms away. He attempts to put his arms around her at night and she says, “it’s hot!”. But when her dad is away, she constantly asks, “when will he return, mom?”

Women always have complicated feelings, even at a  young age.

Finally, M is on his way home from Japan.

I couldn’t believe how much his daughter misses him. She missed him more than I do! When we came back from vacation almost two weeks ago, she was fine but lately these days, she had been asking about the blank space in our bed and how many days until papa boards the plane.

~ M is always ready to carry her all the time, when she wants to! ~ 

Last night, I chanced upon M online at Yahoo so we had a chat. Pristine was so enthusiastic to talk to him so we called him through Yahoo Messenger but being 5 hours ahead of Dubai, it was already 1 am in Japan. Not a good time to chat long as he needs to sleep to catch up with his flight the next day. But M was still awake packing his things and tidying up the room he stayed (in my brother’s apartment in Tokyo) so he said ok.

Father and daughter talked - mostly, Pristine talked using the PC mic. M has no PC mic, can only hear and see us from his computer screen. He then typed his replies to his daughter’s questions via chat. It was so interesting. Every time a new line is typed, Pristine would call my attention and ask, “what did papa say, mom?”

Then the talking continues.

Pristine couldn’t last more than 10 minutes talking to my father or to my sister but to her own father? Thirty minutes later and she was still at it. She obviously missed him a lot!

In the end, she said, “ok papa, I love you. Don’t ever leave us again, ok?” Lol.

*M didn’t leave us behind, he was just stuck in Japan for work. *

Pristine saw a hair straightening iron in my sister in-law’s apartment while we were in Japan. She picked it up and asked me to straighten her curly hair. Literally begged! With much hesitation, I ironed her hair, only mildly just to make it a little bit straight. The result was so overwhelming - to me and of course to her. I never realized her hair is so long when straightened. It never seemed to grow because it curls up.

This is the original hair (Stitch ears, not included):

Straightened version:

See the hair length difference? and her reaction to her straight hair?

Clearly elated!

But I told her I love to see her with curly hair. I find her cute and age-appropriate with the curly hair. I don’t know, it’s just me.

Pristine: Finally, we have the same hair, mom! (with the emphasis on the word finally)

Me: You look great, sweetie but I still love the curls more.

Pristine: (while touching her hair a lot!) Don’t worry mom, when I wake up in the morning after sleeping, the curls will be back…

Then we slept and the next morning:

Me: Good morning! Whoa…the curls are back!

Pristine: See, I told you!

Me: Why do you think they came back?

Pristine: because they want to be loved by you!

 Pristine was back to school this week but only for two days. On the third day, she showed flu-like symptoms and had asthma, again. Might be the change in the weather - we were crossing continents during our vacation. Then it could even be a flu bug she caught while we travelled, on the plane, in the airport, or in their classroom, from her classmates who came back from travelling also. I don’t know but she’s so sick that she’s crying the whole night and clinging on to me. 

I got lucky last night to be able to sleep 6 hours straight before waking up for her nebulization. Last Wednesday night, asthma was so severe the maximum sleep I got was only two hours. It’s such a pity to see her struggle with breathing and I can only look at her and pray the meds would kick in so she can sleep.

When we were in Japan, we went to see a doctor and the doctor said, Pristine has mild asthma. If she has cough, it has to be treated immediately so it will not affect her air pipes. But we all know how a flu can be so sudden, with our children playing around and then in the next minute, they sneeze.

She is well right now and staying at home with my mother. After being diagnosed as asthmatic, I don’t know how many days or nights like that of Wednesday’s we have to endure from now on but I am still thankful I have my mom around. She had a very asthmatic son, my brother so she knows the ins and outs of asthma more than I do.

I feel stronger with her around.

A shot with Belle at Tokyo Disneyland, summer 2008.

Pristine ears are not pierced. Turning 5 years old this December, she is the only girl in my home town who has no earrings. My mother kept on asking what keeps me from beautifying my daughter by piercing her ears and buying a cute stud to decorate it. After all, in the Philippines, it is a norm for little girls to be pierced at a very young age. I had my ear pierced when I was barely two months old. God, I bet I really screamed much that time!

Living in Japan, I was surprised to see school girls with  not pierced ears. My mother in-law and her mom don’t wear earrings too. I asked M why and he said it is not in their culture to mutilate body parts. What a word. So we went on with our lives with the ear piercing issue out. Pristine never questioned me about it because all her classmates don’t wear earrings(in her school in Japan). Everything was peaceful until…

We travelled to the Philippines for vacation and she noticed that everyone her age has a bling in their ears. She started to ask me why she has none and that she wants too. Here in Dubai, school children from different nationalities (except Japanese) all have their ears pierced. The “why I have none, mom?” inquisition accelerated on a daily basis.

I bought earrings at Claire’s in Japan during our vacation there. The ones you can clip on your ears! They had sizes for children so I bought two. She was delighted! She and a newly found bestfriend, Melody wore it for more than an hour and gamely posed for pictures:

Melody’s dad is British and believes that having her ears pierced should be a decision Melody should make for herself (pretty much the statement M said about Pristine too). But look at them, they both looked so cute with the little shiny blings on their ears!

But after a while, they both came to me and asked the clip earrings to be removed. When I took it off, it left a mark on their ears, a clear mark that looks really painful! The clip part was heavily etched on their ear lobes - but they didn’t complain. See they were even smiling in the photo!