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!
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