What do you do when you lost something? Nothing big, just a trivial thing, like an electric adaptor that costs three dollars.

My husband swore that he placed the adaptor together with the busted extension sockets in the kitchen counter a week ago and then when he wants it now and could not find it, went ballistic and interrogated all the people in the house including a 4 year old kid. My mother and I never saw that adaptor he is talking about yet he swears by his life that it was in the place he remembered he last time saw it. Seven days ago. Who could have thrown it? I certainly didn’t, my mom didn’t and we all know that Pristine knows her boundaries regarding electrical fixtures. Darling daughter never, not even once ever touched an electric wire ever since!

Point is, hubby was huffing and panting with anger (mostly to himself, I bet) that the adaptor was lost. He kept on looking for it and murmuring God knows what. I just ignored him as he is always like that. My biggest hunch was that he threw the adaptor with the busted extension sockets but forgot. He is sometimes disoriented when tired from work and he was last week.

For me, it is really useless to be looking for something missing for more than an hour, especially things that are trivial and can be easily replaced. The whole atmosphere at home was tensed just because of his gesture. If it was me, I’d quit looking for the item and buy another one to lessen the emotional damage, to myself and the people around me but to some people, I guess every little thing counts, regardless of the effect it does on people around them.

How about you, would you rather search for the thing until you find it or buy a replacement to save your sanity?

I haven’t said anything about it but I actually had 4-days off from work this week. It was Eid Al Adha and though modern as Dubai can be, the Islamic festivity was observed for three straight days starting from Tuesday to Thursday and Friday being the usual day off, I had 4 days of no work. You bet I was so happy with that.

We toured the city from corner to corner, well, almost! We’re a little bit tired but really satisfied with the great cool weather and the places we went to. Last night as I was preparing myself psychologically for another work week starting the next day, Pristine suddenly got sick! She was extra-clingy (the ultimate sign that sickness is on the way) and silent, another sure forewarning because she can only be silent if and only if, (1) she is sleeping and (2) she is sick.

Last night, for the first time in my four years of being a mom, I got puked on.

All over. Nasty, smelly, huge clumps of child puke. We took her to the hospital and on the way, she threw up in the car once. Glad I brought some plastic bags to catch all that stuff. Looks like she got the stomach bug along with the many crying children at the hospital last night. Doc said it’s the treacherous desert winter weather that did it. 28C on midday and a sudden drop of 15C at night does not do good for little children.

My almost 4 year old daughter suddenly fainted last Saturday, just when I thought she was not sick anymore. There was no more fever and she was playing. I wrote about our ordeal in my other blog.

Right now, she is well and good and back to her old cheerful self. Last night, while I was changing her clothes, a plain white t-shirt and a red pair of pants, I stopped and took it off. It was the same set of clothes she wore the day the ambulance came after my frantic call. Looking at her getup makes me cringe and remember the horrid details of her state that time: motionless, closed eyes, pale face, blue lips. The set of clothes made me remember everything and every scared feeling I had.

She will not wear that combination again, at least, not in a long long time.

For the first time in a long time, my daughter got sick. Suddenly she had high fever and complained of an ear ache. I have given her meds given by the doctor earlier in the day before we slept last night and she slept almost as soon as her head landed on the pillow in her bed, just next to ours.

For a couple of hours she seemed ok, breathing a little bit fast and snoring; must be the clogged nose or something. I felt her forehead. It was hot. I grabbed the thermometer and it read 38.1C. She was shivering with cold and I could not do anything but keep her hands and feet warm. She was murmuring words, waking up so many times to ask for water. Poor baby.

I could not sleep. Every jerking movement she makes wakes up the tiniest bit of sleeping nerve I have. My daughter has a history of febrile convulsions and I can’t sleep through the night knowing the convulsion attack might come.

It was a long night. In between comforting her (she seem to have had nightmares) and keeping her warm and giving her water or taking her to the toilet, I kept praying my little girl to get better. I have no complaints. She has been really active and well these past few months and she is not a robot. Sickness like this is normal for a child her age.

I am a mom and I love her to bits, no sleep and a full time work afterwards will not make me love her less.

Today I am thankful that I have increased my resistance to sleepless nights. Prior to getting married and having a kid, I would be dysfunctional beyond 10 pm and would wage a war if woken up before 6am. Now, I am surprised I can really stay up really late if my daughter is sick and can be contented with 10 minute short naps.

Our daughter started going to school as kindergarten 1 last September. She will be 4 next month. Contrary to the daycare center she was in Japan, the school here is like a real school where big boys and girls go. In her class right now, they learn the alphabet, phonics and the basics of reading.

They have homework on Thursdays that needs to be done by Sunday when they are back to school. We give her a break on Thursday nights, as we too want to be worry free after a hectic week at work. Thursday nights are just basically free time, snuggle time, play time.

On Friday night, we start to present her with the homework and sit down with her. This week, she is supposed to write the letter S, practice the sound of it and color some objects starting with that letter. There are a few examples to follow through, write through the dotted lines over and over and make lots of S’s. She was fine.

The moment she needs to write on her own, however, she gives up. So easily. She want us to hold her hand while writing then she cries when we say she should do that herself!

My husband and I tried to gather all the patience we have and teach her that she needs to learn to do things on her own, to believe in herself and try, try, try. All she did was cry. She did try but with the crying she makes, she could not seem to get anything done right. The letter would go out of the paper line, unbalanced or worse, written in opposite direction.

We are facing a huge problem with this kind of attitude and we talked until the wee hours in the night what to do. What kind of teaching method to use. Let me make it clear that we do not aim for perfection, we just want our little girl to know that she need to at least try a couple of times before giving up because life outside is all about striving, no matter how difficult, you must at least try. 

I am thankful that I am able to control anger and impatience with regards to teaching my child. Patience is always a work in progress for me as I easily snap if someone don’t understand what I am trying to say. It would be unfair for a child if I get angry right away. I count to a hundred, bite my tongue or close my eyes and breathe and stop when I feel I couldn’t handle it. This is very easy to say but hard for me to do and I am thankful that I have the patience to practice it.

Since my mother was diagnosed with hypertension, she was told to revise her diet extensively. That meant very low salt and fat and plenty of potassium.

Do you know how depressing can it be to be told like that? It’s like suddenly, you are not able to eat the things you normally do and every little milligram of salt can be a matter of life and death.

My husband and I combed the net and educated ourselves with my mother’s condition.

The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet is a diet method that has been proved to lower and control blood pressure and reduce the risk of health complications. The diet consists of as little as 5 grams of salt for a day! Less salt in the diet means so many things to avoid, like biscuits, cheeses, pizza, even breads, french fries (oil and salt in it!), soy sauce, barbecue sauce, sausages, etc.

My mother has been cooking dishes that look normal but tastes really bland. It’s so sad to know her life will never be the same again.

Today I am thankful that I can eat almost anything my heart desires. Of course I have to watch out for the calories but basically, if I eat in moderation I can have the food I fancy. I will try to eat without my mother looking, though and watch my diet before it is too late.

I am also thankful that hypertension did not dissolve all my mother’s enthusiasm at life. She is trying to live normally and bravely facing with the reality one bland recipe at a time.

Today, my mother called me while I was at work. It is unusual since I am always the one calling her to check up on my daughter, if she is already home from school.

Her voice was different. Rather low, a little bit trembling and obviously unsure.

“I am not feeling well. Can you please come home?”

It took me a while to understand her. She was always the person to do everything in her own power not to disturb her loved ones. I’ve seen her keep up a brave front so many times but this time, she sounded really sick.

“I am dizzy. My fingernails are turning blue. Please come home.”

At that instant, I called my husband and we went home to pick mom up. After quite sometime battling with the usual Thursday traffic rush, we were at the medical center. I know she had been told to have hypertension before but her face looks very much in denial now. I too, could not believe my mother is sick and her face is painted with weariness and worry. Anything can happen when your blood pressure shoots up and right at that moment while sitting in the cold metal chair in the waiting room, hugging my very tired sleeping daughter, I thought I was so not prepared to lose mom.

We were called and her blood pressure was taken. 150/90! which means it is so beyond normal. We paid the bill, got on the elevator without talking and got her meds at the 1st floor of the same building. She took them and after a few minutes felt a lot better but she was not celebrating but instead asked for apologies.

We went home and asked her to take a rest. I did all the work in the kitchen and the whole time thought to myself, if I am constantly slapping myself and asking if this had been all but a bad dream, my mother, in that dark room must be asking herself more.

*****

I am thankful that nothing serious happened to my mother today, that we were able to travel from home to the medical center which took quite a long time because of the heavy traffic.

I am also thankful for the doctor who prescribed her meds that took effect almost immediately.