Bathtime

It is bath time at 10.00a.m.!
Mummy turns on the hot water tap and the cold water tap.
I watched the water filled the bath tub.
Mummy is in the bedroom to prepare my towel, my fresh nappy and my clean clothes.
Mummy turn off the water taps when the bath tub is half filled with water.
Mummy picks me up and carries me to the bedroom.
She takes off my clothes and put them into the laundry basket.
Then she cleans my nappy area before putting on a special soap all over my body.
Mummy carries me to the bathroom and put me into the bath tub.
She shampoos my hair and cleans my face and ears with cotton.
Then she rinse off the soap on my body.
I like playing with my toys in the bath tub.
I have a pirate ship in the bath tub.
I have a duck swimming in the bath tub.
But sometimes I like splashing water with mummy.
After we are finished bathing and playing, mummy wraps me with a towel and carries me to the bedroom.
She dries me up and put on nice clothes to me.
Not to forget the emulsifying ointment all over me.
Then I am off to play again!

17 Months Old

Today Emmet is 17 months old. Still having a great time with his baby talk. Sometimes it gets so frustrating especially when he wants his milk, he’d go making that irritating noise of mengada-ngada and merengek-rengek. But other than that, I can now distinguish when he wants his bowl refill of malt crunchies, or when he wants what I gave him just before, when he wants people to know he’s dancing to the music on the TV, or he gets his hands on something forbidden like the laptop or the utility cabinet. When he wants to be picked up, he’d put his hands up to me and goes Aaaahh!...Aaahh!

He hates;
- me cleaning his teeth every day after bath
- putting on pants coz he wont be able to scratch his legs anymore
- fruits
- when bath time is over
- taking medicine


He loves;
- dancing
- musical instruments
- music generally
- his toys
- handphones
- Laptop and other electrical and electronic gadgets
- breastmilk
- following me to the toilet
- bruce, the friendly shark in finding nemo
- bugging you and in the jungle songs in youtube
- malt crunchies and other food yg rangup-rangup
- hugging kids, or hugs himself showing affection when he sees pictures of babies in the TV or in the laptop
- kisses both my cheecks before having his milk
- bury his face in my breast (another affection) when he’s breastfeeding
- taking his bath
- playing with switches
- shaking everything that makes sounds like vitamin bottles
- play hide and seek
- playing mummy, mummy, mummy…emmet, emmet, emmet!

I guess the list goes on for this one…

Backdated entry

Today I took the driving theory test. And failed!
Well…have you ever felt like unlucky things always happen to you? Things that u noticed or assume other people will always be able to go through, but when it comes to you, something must go wrong.

I thought I studied quite well. My friend Zack, who loaned me the study material said “Baca yang part hijau je.” There were 40 questions and to pass I need to score 35. At first I noticed something funny at the top of the test screen. It said Category for Cars and Work Vehicles. Yeah, I always wonder why they put the two in the same category. I always thought there were separate sets of questions for cars and for work vehicles. But it’s just too late to wonder some more. The 45 minute clock is ticking. The first few questions were kacang.

Then there came ‘What is the minimum thread depth required for tractor tyres?’ I got confused. I never come across any questions in the part hijau asking about tractors! Then there were more questions about trailer and tractors…and more trailers! This is bad.

Going out of the exam hall after getting the result, in the heavy rain on a gloomy Dublin dark sky at 4.30pm, with the wind blowing umbrellas off of people’s hands, rasa kelakar pun ada, disappointed pun ada, I knew I prepared well. But yet we always wonder is our well good enough? How hard must work hard be? And that unconscious phrase in our head…’La…takkan exam lesen L pun susah sangat?’

I got back and look at the study material again. Apparently there was another section after the part hijau, that includes the work vehicle category as well and you must study that part because it includes cars too! And that first tractor tyre question was in there! Along with the other 10 tractors and trailers questions that I came across in my test!

Maybe I’m used to being the always unlucky one. Getting the hardest set of test questions containing questions I didn’t study, the one who breaks the mug at a friend of a friend’s house, or spill a drink at a restaurant, getting a ketumbit when there is a party you have to attend. I’m just so used to it I almost expected I’d fail in this test anyway. Well…I’d just like to think it’s not the end of the world that I fail (and everybody else passed). I can always take it again with an extra EUR 30.

What bugs me or us shall I say, was always that….Zack salah 2 soalan…and he didn’t even open the book at all!

Arrrgghh!!!

Remote control

When I first heard about smart homes, I was skeptical. Who would ever be so lazy as to get their butt off the couch and switch on the TV or the lights?? Switching off the stove by a remote control??? Open the bedroom door by clicking on the remote control??? People are just becoming smarter and lazier.

That was 10 years ago…

Now…I wished I was living in a smart home…. Where everything is wired up and I just have to carry a remote control. Or better, a voice command controlled house! That would be even super!

How I wished I had a remote control to turn on and off the stove while I was breastfeeding Emmet, so I could finish up my cooking and don’t burn the kuali.

How I wished I had a remote control to dim the lights in the bedroom, close the curtain and open the bedroom door while I carry the sleepy Emmet into the bedroom without a noise that would wake him up (like the squeaking sound of the door when opened!).

How I wished I had a remote control to switch on the washing machine because I forgot to switch it on and now I’m breastfeeding the unsettled Emmet and it would be another 15 minutes wasted before I could turn on the washing machine…that is if I remember to switch it on.

How I wished I had a remote control to switch on the TV and now I’m breastfeeding the unsettled Emmet and somebody else placed the TV remote control on top of the TV!!! And I am already in the couch with Emmet latching on me.

How I wished I had a remote control to browse the internet from the TV while I’m breastfeeding Emmet.

I am very forgetful…and so are hundreds more like me. Especially breastfeeding mothers. It would be a bless to live in a smart home so you can like… “Eeii…lupe la. Takpe….”

First year

Emmet is less than a month away from graduating to his 1st year in life lesson. And I am already planning his birthday party. Nothing fancy since he couldn’t care less. It would be more like me celebrating my success for taking care of Emmet for one whole year! From a girl who repels with babies and kids…to a mom who peeks through the door key hole just to look if her baby is still alive and breathing…

Sure I’m still clumsy sometimes sampai Emmet kadang-kadang terjatuh dari katil or sofa, terhantuk kat meja or pintu but he is so strong he seldom cries out of pain. He just cries when he’s wet or dirty, bored, hungry, need attention or kene marah.

He’s now able to respond to his own name, claps and dance(shake his butt) when listening to music that he likes, claps when told to, recognizes his toy castle, patung Scooby-doo, lampu. Imitate faces, kenyit mata, geleng kepala etc…

So I guess either I’m doing an OK job or it’s just that he’s being a good boy. Whatever it is, I’m just glad my life has improved in order as he’s better at his nap I don’t have to swaddle him anymore. Nap is very important since that is the only time I have for myself. Now I’m halfway to making a list of things to achieve before the end of the year. I love making to-do lists and not doing what’s in the list. Ain’t everybody??? Hahahah….

I’m hungry…later!

For sale!

Last year during puasa, I gave it a shot and promoted my delicious cornflakes cookies to all my friends here in Dublin. Business went very well.

Today, as usual, while Emmet is taking his day nap, I fix myself Nasi Goreng. I made a lot, like for 3 people. Ina, who comes by for zohor prayer, usually has lunch together with me. She works just in front of my apartment. So I figured with the extra plate of Fried rice, I tried selling it to Bert, my ex-neighbor, who just started working nearby.

Instantly he replied asking for another 2 orders. Talking about demand… but unfortunately I can only take one order.

Hmm…maybe I can fakir panjang lagi about this. Coz Ina just told me that around 10 Malaysians work nearby my area.

$$$$$....$$$.....$$$$$$

Hey! Wait! I got a new complaint…

My bed sheets haven’t been changed for 2 months. Coz I usually empty the laundry basket before I can change the sheets. And the laundry basket is always…always full, no matter how often I did the laundry, it is always full. I changed the toilet and bath mat but I haven’t washed the old ones! Coz yea…my laundry basket is still full! And I need to wash Emmet’s car seat cover coz it’s filthy with dead skin flakes from Emmet’s eczema. But of course I can’t wash that coz my laundry basket is still full!

Motherhood

I am never a faithful diary writer. But who am I kidding. With a baby that I am taking care of full time, I barely have time to brush my teeth. Sometimes I get too tired I took it out on Rizal. Poor him, but I needed to badly.

Motherhood is so overwhelming to me. And I get the feeling it will only get tougher soon. I saw a replay of Oprah yesterday. She was telling people how hard it was to raise her puppy that one day after waking up in the morning, getting rid of the poop, cleaning her puppy that by 3pm, she realized she haven’t even brushed her teeth yet! So now she really understands what it’s like to raise a real child.

But I wouldn’t trade this job for any other job, that’s genuinely how I feel about it. It would be hard to let go of this job if one day I have to go to an office to work.

Menjaga anak

Penat jugak nak jaga anak sorang ni. So far I only managed to get Emmet into one routine. That is his morning bath and nap. I usually start his bath at around 10.30am. That’s when he starts to feel tired and sleepy after playing with his toys. Then pakai nappy, sapu lotion, pakai baju and after that swaddle him and put him to sleep at around 11.30am. Putting him to sleep meaning, sapu lotion kat muke and the whole head while massaging and stroking his head making him more sleepy. Sometimes he can settle on applying the lotion on his face and dozed off. But other times I had to pat him to sleep. I know it’s a bad habbit but ……okey yea I’m just no good at this.

Emmet would settle for a nap until around 1.30pm or 2.00pm. After that, no routine would stick. I would feed him when I see he’s beginning to scratch his face, head and body. Layan la macam-macam mana pun. Encourage him to play with whatever there is nearby, ajar dia jalan-jalan, play with the laptop. Sometimes I take him for a stroll to town, but only when I have to go out, like a trip to the post office to collect a parcel or just buy some groceries. I usually walk instead of taking the tram or bus. I need the exercise.

At around 4.00pm he would get cranky, that’s when I would feed him and he fell asleep on my lap and I have to freeze in that position until he wakes up at probably after an hour. Then play again. All the while that he’s awake, I can’t go further than 5 meters from him, otherwise I have to tolerate his screaming in fear that I would leave him. Yea, he’s becoming more and more attached to me I can’t even go to the kitchen to fix something for myself! And I have a difficult time to fix his meal, and get him to eat. He would shut his mouth tight no interest whatsoever in his mashed potato.

So sometimes he eats his solids sometimes tak. I’m a terrible mom. Night time is not supposed to be like this. He was sleeping well before he got the eczema, but now he wakes up 2 or 3 times I had to feed him sambil tido on my side. And my back hurts! But at least I get some sleep. I tried this sleep training I read in a book. Requires you to let the baby scream until he learns to sleep on his own. I don’t have to patience or the discipline to do that. We did try but only for 2 days, didn’t work though.

But overall Emmet is a happy baby. He smiles and enjoys the walk to town. The attention of people around him, chewing other people’s fingers… constantly need distraction otherwise he gets itchy all over.

I’m running out of steroid cream…..