Waking up in my House

4:30am: Pitter patter of tiny footsteps. Keira.

Big sigh. Me, “Come on, back to bed, it’s not uppies time yet. “

Keira, “But I want some water.”

Ok, walk around the bed, fall over the singing star (which is now singing), retrieve the water bottle from Etienne’s bedside table. Walk Keira back to bed, put the water bottle on her bedpost, tuck her in and walk out.

Hysterical crying.

Me, “What now?” Trying to calm her down before she wakes up Gabby.

Keira, “I can’t reach my water.”

Pass Keira her water bottle and retreat as quietly as possible. I have even been known to crawl out if it means Gabby stays asleep. Climb back into bed. I’m just falling asleep again when I get that feeling that someone’s watching you. I slowly open one eye and nearly die of heart attack. Keira is standing quiet as a mouse right in front of me, staring at me while I sleep.

Keira, “My water’s finished. Here’s the bottle. “

Seriously? You couldn’t keep that with you till the morning? (Oh yes, that’s in only 1 hour).

Me, “Ok, go back to bed.” Silently praying that she does actually do this. To my surprise, she does.

6:00am: Pitter patter of tiny footsteps. Gabby. So this is usual, pick her up put her into bed with us, with the 6 dolls, 2 teddies, and 5 blankies.

Me, “Lovie, it’s your turn for coffee. “

Etienne, “Uhu, I made coffee yesterday, it’s your turn for coffee.”

Me, “No you didn’t! I made coffee yesterday, it’s your turn. Get up!”

At this point Keira usually stumbles into the room carrying on with her dream as if she is still in it, “But baby just pinched me and I had to give her a time-out.” J Pick up Keira, put her into bed with us too. Same thought every day: we really need a bigger bed.

6:30am: Me, “Keira, tickle daddy so that he can go make milkies.”

This is my fail safe. Both children jump on daddy and start tickling. Have you ever felt a three-year-old tickle? It’s like they’re trying to gorge out your insides. Dad slips off the bed, “Ok, ok, I’m up.”

Getting my girls dressed is a nightmare. We always first have to fight about who goes first, then they won’t stand or sit when they need to, Gabby won’t let me change her nappy, the hair bobbles get pulled out  before we even leave the house, and let’s not even mention brushing teeth… Needless to say, by the time I get my coffee in the mornings, there usually isn’t any time left to drink it J

Car Seats in the Rain

Every time I have to lean over a car seat to strap in my kids in the rain, and my back gets soaking wet, I remember the time Keira needed to be hospitalised.  

It was just after Keira’s first birthday, I’ll never forget because I kept thinking to myself it was awful that this poor child had to be hospitilised at such a young age L.  Keira had bronchitis again, she always had bronchitis, was always on the nebuliser, but this was probably the worst time. Along with the bronchitis, Keira had a runny tummy. I had taken her to the paediatrician that morning, and he had told me to keep a close eye on her. By late that afternoon Keira had still not eaten a thing, and although the doctor had told me not to give her dairy, I was desperate for her to eat anything, and was now trying a yoghurt. Then her little eyes lolled back in her head and she slumped over sidewards. Phone the doc again, rush her to the hospital. So, it would be the day that the worst storm of the year hit. I have this desperately sick child, and I’m trying to get her strapped into her car seat, and my back is absolutely and completely drenched.  

Any mom knows that having sick children is no fun, and how terrifying something like this can be. We needed to get a drip into Keira quickly, but she was so dehydrated that they couldn’t find a vein. One more try, otherwise they were going to have to put it in her neck. They poked & prodded my poor baby 6 times before they got the drip in her wrist, and all the while your baby can’t understand why you’re doing this to her. What an awful feeling knowing that you are the cause of so much pain.

Our experience at the hospital was not a great one. Keira’s runny tummy was so bad that I scarcely had time to fasten her nappy before I had to change it again, and it kept on leaking so the bedding needed constant changing. The drip had been put it very poorly, right on the bend of her wrist, so it caused her constant pain and eventually started leaking too. I had a terrible time trying to get her to sleep, and then as soon as she fell asleep the nurses would barge in to take her temperature, or nebulise her, or give her more meds. I later learnt that at other hospitals, if the child has just fallen asleep, they administer the medication when the child wakes up, now this sounds far more logical to me. At one point the nurse even confused the doses for Keira’s medication and if I hadn’t been there to stop her I shudder to think what would have happened. You are allowed to stay with your child at this hospital, but you have to sleep on a beat-up recliner, and this I suspect was more comfortable than Keira's metallic cot as she slept on top of me, just in her nappy to get her temperature down, and trying to avoid pulling on the drip cord. It must just be said that at this stage I was already 16 weeks pregnant with Gabby and already had that hollow back :)  

Upon Keira’s discharge, the doctor ever so matter-of-fact informed us that he had been most worried about Keira, not something you want to hear, but glad he had not told us sooner. Keira was in hospital for 2 nights & 3 days, my husband and I were so ecstatic when she was discharged, no place like home. I think we were just so glad to be able to take her home with us and care for her properly, away from the ignorance of callous nurses.

Shopping with my Girls

Shopping with my Girls.
Classic example of how shopping goes with my girls (true story).

Now, before every mom starts bombarding me asking why I took the girls to the mall in the first place, we were supposed to meet my husband there, so it wasn't supposed to be a 1 to 2 ratio, but a 1 to 1. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Etienne needs to have his pants made shorter but obviously this is an impossible task for a man to do by himself. Hence, the girls & I meeting him there. But, as usual, Etienne’s 10 minutes & my 10 minutes vary by about 20 minutes! So I get to the mall already frustrated that he is only now leaving the office. Ok, fine, let me go to Woolies first & buy the few groceries I need.
Keira, “I need to make a poo.”
Me, “Seriously?! You just had a poo, do you have to make another poo?”
Ok, into Woolies to get a trolley to put the girls in cause there’s no way I’m running after the two of them. Off to the loo on the other side of the mall. And, as expected, Keira didn’t have to poo after all *angry face*. There is some sort of novelty about using different toilets for my dear Keira. Ok, back to Woolies to grab those groceries. Gabby refuses to climb into the trolley so now I’m pushing an empty trolley and running after the kids *angrier face*. Gabby runs flat bang into a display at Woolies & immediately there’s a bump the size of an egg on her head *fuming face*. If you had just listened to me in the first place, you wouldn’t have hit your head! Ok, eventually console Gabby enough to finish my shopping. Finally Etienne arrives, off we go to Edgars to get his pants shortened. All of 5 minutes later we’ve finished the undoable task… Etienne goes to check out the Xbox games & considering both girls are relatively quiet in the trolley I decide to pop into Ackermans to look for a baby shower gift for my friend. While I’m trying to find something suitable, the girls manage to tip the trolley over sideways and pull the entire rack with all the bottles & teats & dummies etc over on top of them. Besides dying of embarrassment at what my children have managed to accomplish, I have to try to console 2 crying children, pick up the trolley & the groceries, and clean up the bottles etc lying everywhere. One word: MORTIFIED! Needless to say, all I want to do is join my kids in their crying & flee. Moral of the story: I will never take both my children to the mall at the same time ever again.

Etienne says, “On the upside, at least now you have more material for your blog…” Hahaha  

To Smack or Not to Smack

The Controversial Issue of "Whether to Smack Your Child or Not".

What an insanely difficult question to answer. In my opinion, only a question you can answer for yourself. I am the mother of a 3 year old and a nearly 2 year old (they're exactly 18 months apart to the day). I, myself was smacked as a child, to the extent that I would call it child abuse today. My father on the other hand would argue that it was only on my bum so it couldn't possibly be considered wrong. Let me put it to you this way, the thought of hitting my children with a belt or a sjambok has never crossed my mind & never will. However, I still do not find myself opposed to giving your child a good smack on the bum, or the hand depending on their age. I tend to lean towards the thinking that is, children under 3 seldom understand anything other than a good smack. If you need the behaviour to stop immediately (especially dangerous behaviour like running in the street), sometimes a smack is the only thing that works, and sometimes it has no effect at all, but you can't tell me you're going to be able to put your irate 2 year old on the Thinking Chair and get them to sit there for 2 minutes... 

Having said that, smacking is no longer effective on my 3 year old. We tried a number of different discipline routes, including the "Thinking chair / Get Good chair", I just could never get my kids to sit on it, no matter how hard I tried, so I ended up putting them in the bathroom for 1 minute per year of age. This didn't last long as soon Keira started playing with the soap and the water and this was no longer a punishment :) We are now onto the Reward Chart. Today the Reward Chart is one week old and so far so good. Keira needs to get 9 stars and then she gets a sweetie as a reward. With all the ups & downs, it took her an entire week to get her sucker, but the threat of removing a star has proven most successful. On the other hand, Gabby is too young to understand the reward system & thus it fails horribly on her.

Children need to understand boundaries, we as parents are teaching them the difference between good & bad behaviour. And honestly, different strokes for different folks, just don't leave the behaviour unchecked. And the current topic under discussion: Proposed changes to the Children's Act could make it illegal for you to smack your child. Seriously, banning smacking in the household is not gonna stop the sickos in the world abusing their children. Think about it...