It began as a rather ordinary trip out with Megan's Uncle Kelvin (aka "ah-gu-papa", AGPP) and the great grandma. We were heading towards the TB control unit at Moulmein rd. But shortly after we entered the CTE, tod in question decided that she needed mama to be right next to her and started fussing (wailing to be exact). 2 adults couldn't cajole nor contain her. And I had to drive on with all that crying-there was no alternatives, we were on the highway.
Scene 1:
Destination reached. Tod stopped crying miraculously. But the fiasco continues. Strangely, the clinic was packed with other tods on this particular Monday. Mine decided that she was hungry despite the yogurt and muesli she had on the road. She recalled she had her 'stars' (Gerber's wholemeal bananan puffs) when we visited last week and pleaded "stars, please,please". Both tod and I must have made quite a bit of noise negotiating this 'mama forgotten to bring stars today'.
A lady probably felt sympathetic towards my lost cause of explaining to my tod and convinced her older tod to share her honey stars with my whining princess. Friendly tod totters around, looking for the 'di-di' to share her honey stars with. Megan was dressed in a light blue pooh tee and red shorts (and her signature haircut by yours truly) and I don't blame people for mistaking her as a boy. Megan got 1 honey star from friendly tod and shut up for the next 2 minutes.
Scene 2 (quite literally):
Megan spotted another tod feeding on a chocolate roll. And insisted she is starving and needs food. We all tried to ignore her. Her eyes roved around and spotted 2 others having their milk feed and it was "nan-nan" non-stop... No, mama isn't embarrassed that she now has an audience. Reason 1: my child isn't hungry. Reason 2: one of my superpowers is the sheer thickness of my skin, measure it to believe it - my tod has trained me well.
Scene 3:
My supposedly hungry tod was appeased after 1 honey star and 1 morsel of the chocolate roll offered by the stranger of a grandma (whose level of personal hygiene was frowned upon by my own grandma). She decided to amuse herself with her bunny stuff toy and spotted its washing labels. She signed for me to cut it. Sigh.
Intermission:
We were asked to see the nurse to review that jab we had a week ago and my very considerate tod decided that we must pay for consultation on the stop. She took out some money from my purse and insisted that the nurse keeps it. I really couldn't quite decide if I should be amused or mad. But I decided that I would make this intermission as light-hearted as possible and laugh it off. It helps that the nurse was patient with us and rather cool about it.
Scene 4:
A baby was getting her diapers changed. Megan asked for a diaper change although she can be considered toilet trained by now. We continue to ignore her and started singing Barney songs to distract her (Barney "I love you" song is the trick of the month).
Finale:
My daughter doesn't quite understand that the car has no auto pilot function. I had to sit with her at the back. We discussed this for a while and reached a compromise. Mama drives and tod sits next to mama, strapped in her carseat, in front. Tod was happy with the arrangement, but only after minutes of sweating it in the vehicle as Mama cursed-n-swore while fixing the carseat (my mother decided to remove the carseat from this car - my dad's, and did something to the seat belts-I couldn't lengthen them to buckle up my tod). I went berserk and shouted while fixing the carseat and tod wasn't very cooperative. I was very unkind and shouted at my tod and she knew I was mad and tried so hard not to tear or pout (ouch). Imagine that look at my tod's face-semi pout with eyes welling with tears. Tod is probably thinking 'I better not cry cos Mama means business and is really mad, and I can get whacked for real'.
Confession:
I really didn't feel bad towards my tod as I cursed-n-swore and yelled at my tod at that moment. I couldn't understand why it was so difficult for her to understand that I could not possible drive and carry her (we have talked about this many times and she is ok when its Papa's car). But sadly, the guilt does strike. A couple of minutes after we drove off and tod is seated in front, not buckled up cos seat belts too short, and tod is now singing to the radio, the GUILT creeps up and SWALLOWED me. I had to make sure she forgets this episode and yes, I told my tod I love her.
Learning Points:
1. Do not yell at your tod - it makes you tired and guilty. And turn you into an ugly mom.
2. Invest in car seats, and make sure you know how to fix these gadgets. Let the father teach you something, there might be some days when he isn't in town and you need to fiddle with the carseat for whatever reasons.
3. Pack your going-out bags well. If you can, check that you have replenished every item in the bag (we always had 'stars', but today I forgotten to refill).
4. Pack extras, you can be a sympathetic mom/dad for someone =)
Destination reached. Tod stopped crying miraculously. But the fiasco continues. Strangely, the clinic was packed with other tods on this particular Monday. Mine decided that she was hungry despite the yogurt and muesli she had on the road. She recalled she had her 'stars' (Gerber's wholemeal bananan puffs) when we visited last week and pleaded "stars, please,please". Both tod and I must have made quite a bit of noise negotiating this 'mama forgotten to bring stars today'.
A lady probably felt sympathetic towards my lost cause of explaining to my tod and convinced her older tod to share her honey stars with my whining princess. Friendly tod totters around, looking for the 'di-di' to share her honey stars with. Megan was dressed in a light blue pooh tee and red shorts (and her signature haircut by yours truly) and I don't blame people for mistaking her as a boy. Megan got 1 honey star from friendly tod and shut up for the next 2 minutes.
Scene 2 (quite literally):
Megan spotted another tod feeding on a chocolate roll. And insisted she is starving and needs food. We all tried to ignore her. Her eyes roved around and spotted 2 others having their milk feed and it was "nan-nan" non-stop... No, mama isn't embarrassed that she now has an audience. Reason 1: my child isn't hungry. Reason 2: one of my superpowers is the sheer thickness of my skin, measure it to believe it - my tod has trained me well.
Scene 3:
My supposedly hungry tod was appeased after 1 honey star and 1 morsel of the chocolate roll offered by the stranger of a grandma (whose level of personal hygiene was frowned upon by my own grandma). She decided to amuse herself with her bunny stuff toy and spotted its washing labels. She signed for me to cut it. Sigh.
Intermission:
We were asked to see the nurse to review that jab we had a week ago and my very considerate tod decided that we must pay for consultation on the stop. She took out some money from my purse and insisted that the nurse keeps it. I really couldn't quite decide if I should be amused or mad. But I decided that I would make this intermission as light-hearted as possible and laugh it off. It helps that the nurse was patient with us and rather cool about it.
Scene 4:
A baby was getting her diapers changed. Megan asked for a diaper change although she can be considered toilet trained by now. We continue to ignore her and started singing Barney songs to distract her (Barney "I love you" song is the trick of the month).
Finale:
My daughter doesn't quite understand that the car has no auto pilot function. I had to sit with her at the back. We discussed this for a while and reached a compromise. Mama drives and tod sits next to mama, strapped in her carseat, in front. Tod was happy with the arrangement, but only after minutes of sweating it in the vehicle as Mama cursed-n-swore while fixing the carseat (my mother decided to remove the carseat from this car - my dad's, and did something to the seat belts-I couldn't lengthen them to buckle up my tod). I went berserk and shouted while fixing the carseat and tod wasn't very cooperative. I was very unkind and shouted at my tod and she knew I was mad and tried so hard not to tear or pout (ouch). Imagine that look at my tod's face-semi pout with eyes welling with tears. Tod is probably thinking 'I better not cry cos Mama means business and is really mad, and I can get whacked for real'.
Confession:
I really didn't feel bad towards my tod as I cursed-n-swore and yelled at my tod at that moment. I couldn't understand why it was so difficult for her to understand that I could not possible drive and carry her (we have talked about this many times and she is ok when its Papa's car). But sadly, the guilt does strike. A couple of minutes after we drove off and tod is seated in front, not buckled up cos seat belts too short, and tod is now singing to the radio, the GUILT creeps up and SWALLOWED me. I had to make sure she forgets this episode and yes, I told my tod I love her.
Learning Points:
1. Do not yell at your tod - it makes you tired and guilty. And turn you into an ugly mom.
2. Invest in car seats, and make sure you know how to fix these gadgets. Let the father teach you something, there might be some days when he isn't in town and you need to fiddle with the carseat for whatever reasons.
3. Pack your going-out bags well. If you can, check that you have replenished every item in the bag (we always had 'stars', but today I forgotten to refill).
4. Pack extras, you can be a sympathetic mom/dad for someone =)
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