M almost stepped on the brakes out of shock when I announced that I forgot something. Today is Pristine’s first day of swimming classes. Swimming is something so big for her. She looked forward to this day for the past 600 years (kidding), laying her bathing suits in the bed, talking to herself, pointing to each one saying, this will be for this week, that for the next, etc.

Now, the lovely suit, towels, pair of googles and sunscreen lotion is left on the sofa. I forgot to let her take it on her way out to get on the bus! I am sure if the teacher says she couldn’t swim naked, her scream will reach my office.

This kind of situation would usually make my husband go ballistic, monstrous and all nasty things you can think of. But I guess he was too sleepy (he came home at 2 am last night because of work) that he plainly said he’ll return home after dropping me in my office and take the swimming kit to her school.

Whew.

Due to the road situation, a crazy one by the way, Pristine will be taking the bus to school instead of us driving her there. Lately, roads are clogged up making our travel to her school so difficult. It’s only supposed to be 10 minutes away but we are taking 30 minutes of going there which lead to my being late for two consecutive days.

We have adjusted our waking times, believe me.

Tomorrow, a mini-bus will pick her up in the morning so hopefully I will not be late but realizing that, I am a little bit sad. I work full time and the time we have in the morning in the back seat of our car while my husband drives is so precious. We would sing songs, do makeup, play riddles or just cuddle up and see the cars and the people outside. For me, that was quality time with her, no matter how little, it was so precious for both of us.

I told her after dinner that the next morning she’ll be taking the bus with her friends and she’s like, “why mom, I don’t miss my friends in the bus!”

I am sure, adjusting to this new routine will take time, for her and me.

Tomorrow, after more than a week of vacation, school will open again which means we need to gather ourselves and go back to the usual routine. Early to bed to be able to leave home at 7:30 and send Pristine to school. Traffic had been heavier than usual lately so I am not sure if with that schedule I’ll arrive in my office before 8:30 so tomorrow is a test.

Anyway, we tried to get her to bed at 9 pm, a little bit late than planned. And all know how she responds to that.

Of course that would mean the rest of the adult population in our house has to go to bed, too. Boo hoo, no internet time for me until she sleeps! Hubby is sick so it wasn’t an effort for him to go to bed. Me? I lay down in the dark room, (im)patiently waiting for the tot to sleep. 10 minutes, 20,30..still I can see her eyes wide open. I told her if she’s not going to sleep, then we’ll not take her to school tomorrow (translated: if she’s not going to zzzz then there’s no internet and blogging time for mommy!).

I don’t know what happened after that.

Then I woke up to her moaning and saying “hot!”. Our a/c stopped working!The horror. I got up, checked the a/c settings and returned to the room to change her wet shirt. Looked at the clock and realized that I have slept for at least 2 hours.

I only pretended to sleep so she’ll sleep and once that happens, I’ll sneak out of bed to blog - which is what I am doing right now, only, I planned to wake up earlier than this wee hour of half past midnight!!

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.

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.

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!

A couple of days ago, Pristine complained of pain in her molars. WTH!? We have been brushing her teeth and practicing oral hygiene since the first tooth came out. What went wrong? Her father has not experienced toothache ever so naturally he was shocked.

I checked the tooth today and found a small dark colored patch, located in between her two molars. It looks like it’s really tooth decay in action! I just hope the pain will not bother her until we go back to Japan then we’ll go to the dentist as soon as we can.

I hope I won’t break the chain of peaceful nights with this post because we are all enjoying uninterrupted sleep at night for almost a week now. Gone are the nights of waking up at 3 am and puffing inhalers. We recently found magic in the form of Bricanyl.

She takes it before sleeping at night and voila! No more wheezing and dilated airways all throughout. It has become a routine that after dinner, she shouts, “Break a nail! Break a nail!”

No chipped or broken nails around here, that’s just how she pronounce the medicine name!

How do you keep a toddler who loves outdoors and school at home for five long weeks? What are the chances she’ll ask to be taken outside and tug your skirt asking “why no school today?” for a minimum of 10 times per day? Answer: everyday!

Pristine had her last day of school last June 19 and had been staying at home with her grandma (my mom who stays with us). The first few days was a bliss, she seemed so happy not be waken up early in the morning for school and just relax at home, play, watch a movie in DVD and nap. Thankfully, my mom is also minding one boy living in the same apartment building. He is the same age as Pristine and they really get along well. They are keeping each other entertained for the long summer vacation and I am happy…

Until both of them started asking why no school and sleep-talking - calling their classmate’s names in their sleep!

We live in Dubai, where there is practically no outdoor life while the sun is out at this time of the year. We can’t take them to the parks, it is too hot, humid and since we are living in the big construction site (the whole city is under construction - check out my other blog for that), it is dusty outside. Five more weeks and we are off for our vacation in Japan.

Oh, I can only hope the days go by doubly fast!