Slow Progress

It's been almost a month since I stopped working, but I still haven't gotten used to the rigour of housework and childcare. Hahaha! My back hurts just from doing chores while carrying my one year old. Yes, you read right, while carrying her. Sometimes it's alright, but sometimes it's just a pain. She gets into moods where she wants me to carry her while I do whatever it is I'm doing (such as putting clothes into the washing machine or cooking, or just arranging things on the shelf) so that she can get a better look at what I'm doing, because she can't see much from where she's standing on the floor. It is bordering on being spoilt, but when you think of it, in the olden days, women used to do work with their babies strapped to their backs, so there really isn't much difference from her and me now. Heh.

She doesn't like to sit in a sling, so that won't work. Plus I feel like she's too heavy for a sling. Plus she wiggles too much. Then I thought I had gotten round the dukung (being carried) problem by letting her sit in her highchair beside me while I'm doing whatever, but then she started trying to stand in her highchair, so that's no good.

I honestly don't know how to make her do her own stuff while I'm cooking or whatever. I bought her a few singalong dvds and they manage to capture her attention for awhile, but then she will get tired of watching it before I finish my chores, so that doesn't work for long. How do you other women do it? If you are a stay-at-home mom, or even if you're not, and you have well-behaved toddlers that do their own thing while you are cooking or cleaning, please tell me your secret! It would be wonderful if I can have a stress-free day at home. I used to think that it was stressful working in an office, but I find that I face the same amount of stress at home when I'm not able to complete my tasks in peace. It seems like she's never satisfied until she disrupts whatever it is I'm doing.

Moodiness

Salma had her MMR vaccination last week, to immunize her against measles, mumps and rubella, and the doctor said that she would get a fever one week later. And sure enough, on the day of my husband's bowling tournament on Sat, she got a fever and was more quiet than usual. Which is good, considering that both my husband and me had to bowl. Then, in the middle of my second game, the most suprising thing happened! As if my body knows my child is sick, I started to produce breast milk! More breast milk than usual, and my breasts really began to hurt. It was my body saying, 'go feed your child silly, and make sure she recovers fast.' So I stopped playing, asked my husband to bowl for me, and I went to breastfeed her. And after 20 minutes of nursing, she fell asleep. The fever lasted for two days.

Since her fever, we were introduced to the phenomenae that is "Poppet's Moodiness". She can get really moody, like a big girl! Like the day before yesterday, for no reason at all, she got angry at me while I was reading to her, she grabbed the book, walked to the edge of the bed, threw the book to the floor and sat down. And just remained there, sitting quietly for some very long seconds, before I urged my husband to pujuk (console) her. Then she kicked and screamed and cried, and I really don't know what was the reason. I was having a sore throat and my reading did not sound as nice as usual, but could that really trigger her anger?

Another common mood of hers is to suddenly lose interest in her meal halfway before it's finished. She wants to feed herself, but sometimes the situation won't allow it (like when she's having something soupy). She will get angry. Then when I allow her to feed herself, she doesn't want to anymore, she will just throw the spoon onto the ground and walk away. Oh well, you'll just go hungry, I say. But she doesn't care. Eigh.

She hasn't even hit puberty yet, and I am beginning to lose patience with her antics. I would just let her be, but I know she wants me to pujuk her. She's so funny that way.

On the 3rd day...

I thought I would spend more time with Salma now that I am jobless, so I pick her up at 1 o'clock from school now, so she can spend the entire afternoon with me. Usually at the end of the day, I am pretty tired after work so we do those gentle activities like eating dinner and reading books, so I thought, you know, with me now having more time on my hands I can do more strenuous activities with her, like whatever she does in school. But boy was I wrong! That girl has such boundless energy, that after an hour or two, I was totally wiped out! And she has this short attention span so even before we finish one game, she's already on to the next. Eesh! (She certainly doesn't get that ADD from me.... hehehe). Well, let's just hope it's just a phase that she'a going through while she's still a baby, because this short attention span thing will definitely mess up her studies if she keeps this up when she's older.

I was so pooped out from the first day of playing with her, that by the second day, I didn't even have the energy to do the stuff I planned in the morning. I just plonked right back into bed and slept for 2.5 hours right after I dropped her off at school. By the time I woke up, it was time to have lunch and go pick her up again. I thought to myself, "Letting her stay in school for just half a day is not enough. I can't get anything done this way!" So I decided that on the last day of each week (or maybe the 1st starting next week), Salma should stay a couple of hours more in school, so that I pick her up in the afternoon instead of midday. That way at least I can get more chores done and even rest a bit.

Today though is Thursday, and Salma stays at home with me the whole day. She only goes to school 3 times a week so that we can save on the school fees while I'm out of work. That way, she can still play and learn with her friends and spend time with mommy. Today was not so bad. We went to her paediatrician in the morning for her MMR jab, then we went to Tesco, where, to my surprise, she was very well behaved and stayed in the shopping cart the whole time. After Tesco, she fell asleep in the car, and I was able to prepare her lunch. We played for a bit after lunch, and then it was time for her afternoon nap. And she's still napping now. So I'm getting the hang of it...

Now the challenge for me is to think up of more interesting activities for her to do at home so she doesn't get bored. In school they do all those fun things like sing songs and book circles and whatever else. But at home it's pretty much just mommy and the same basket of toys over and over again. She still insists on me reading to her the same books over and over, and that tires me out. But at that age, they learn better by repetition, so I'm not meant to complain about it.

When her dad comes home in the evening, she looks forward to having a car ride, which we usually have to buy dinner if I don't cook. She will insist on it, and even hand over to us the car keys. She will drink her milk in the car and fall asleep (well usually)... And that's how her day ends. I need to recharge my batteries before taking her on again tomorrow!