Anyone Missing Daddy?

Alex is away on a business trip in China. He's been there for a few days. And each day, I would ask the kids if they missed their daddy. The answer was invariably a "No", expressed in an I-couldn't-care-less manner.

But this morning, I got a different reply from Joanne. She actually said "Yes". Ah finally, I thought, redemption for the man of the house. At least one of his kids finally started to miss him. When I asked my 4-year-old why, she replied: "I want Daddy to come home because we don't have much money left. We need him to give us money to buy things."

Some redemption. (I have been stressing the need to be thrifty since we are now a single income family and it appears that Joanne actually understands that more than I give her credit for.)

So Daddy is only useful because without him, we have no money. It's awful to hear my own child sounding so mercenary!

Well, that the price for not being a hands-on dad during the first 12 months of the kids' lives. Unlike many modern dads I know, Alex seemed to be stuck in the 1950s, happy to leave everything concerning the kids to me (and his parents while we were in Malaysia). It used to irk me endlessly. Then I gave up on nagging him. He would eventually regret that.

And I was right. These days, Alex does try to make up what he missed before with the kids. Unfortunately, he doesn't know how to handle them. He'll be completely lost if I were to leave the kids with him for more than 2 hours. Yes, it's that bad.

The kids will always prefer me to him, no matter what. So you blokes out there, if you're about to be a dad, make sure you play your parenting role effectively when the time comes. It's kind of sad if your kids don't miss you when you're away!

Fighting Over Nothing

Kids being kids, they often fight over the same toys. Strangely, they must have the same thing. I mean no one would take note of one particular toy until one of them notices it and starts playing with it. Then the other kid, for some inexplicable reason, must have the same thing as well. A tussle will follow, sometimes quite violently too.

That's pretty normal. I had my shares of such fights with my sisters when I was kid too. What is not so common, however, is seeing kids fighting over something that's not even there!

Joshua and Joanne do that a lot and they drive me completely insane whenever they are at it. You see, one of them will pretend to be having an imaginary toy and have a blast playing with it. The other one, curious, would want to know what it is. If the former refuses to tell the latter what it is or share it, the two of them will start shoving each other.

I mean, for crying out loud, it's a PRETEND toy. You can't see, feel or touch it. And yet, the two little devils can fight over it. And they fight, literally. Mike Tyson would have been proud!

Too imaginative, too creative. Maybe I should look at the bright side and hope my kids will put their imagination and creativity to good use someday.

Yoyo Flu

Just as the kids were showing signs of recovery from their last bout of cough and flu, they went downhill again!

Last night, Joshua was feverish. After dinner, he perched himself on a chair right next to the heater and claimed that he was cold. He was burning. I gave him some medication and sent him to bed early. Then he coughed non-stop throughout the night. He didn't sleep much. Neither did I.

Today, it's Joanne turn. She is having exactly what Joshua had last night. Both kids are sleeping now as I write this. But I know I'll probably be in for another rough and sleepness night.

Just what kind of bug is floating around? Apparently a lot of other people have fallen sick too. It's probably more common in winter than other seasons. Newbies like us are even more susceptible to winter flu.

Guess Joshua will have to skip school for a couple of days again this week.

Huggies

"Mummy, give me a hug" - these are the favourite words of one of my kids. Normally, people would assume the request comes from the younger child. But heck no. This is Joshua's (the older child) motto, and he says it every time he sees me. Well, almost.

Sometimes, I don't know whether to be flattered or frustrated. I mean, Joshua is six and yet he is a tad too clingy with me. I detest the term "mummy's boy" but he seems to be turning himself into one. I have no part in it. I want him to be more independent. I don't want to be the mother hen fussing over him all the time.

He is the exact opposite of his younger sister. Joanne is fiercely independent and doesn't give two hoots whether I give her a hug or not. The thing is, after seeing her brother asking for a "huggie", she won't even ask for one. She is pretty cool about this huggie business. Of course, she is so adorable I'll just give her a bear hug anyway.

I suppose I shouldn't be complaining. Children are children for such a short time. Once they hit their teens, they probably don't want to be seen in my company. So maybe I should just shut up and enjoy the huggies sessions while they last.

Road To Recovery

The kids are getting better. The weather is getting warmer too. Hopefully, that means they won't be so susceptible to bouts of cough and cold anymore.

I took them to the clinic 2 days ago. I needn't have bothered. The over-the-counter (OTC)medicines that I'd been giving the kids prior to seeing the doctor turned out to be the right stuff. Well, unlike GPs in Malaysia, their counterparts here don't have the habit of prescribing medicines unnecessarily. Antibiotics prescriptions are unheard of unless the patient is really, really sick. So I can play doctor too, as long as the kids' conditions are not too severe.

The thing is, OTC medicines here are very effective (and hopefully safe for use). It's true. Joshua and Joanne recover much faster here than they did in Malaysia when they fell sick. And I feel much more comfortable knowing they don't have to resort to antibiotics for no good reasons.

Maybe if the Malaysian government forbids doctors from selling medicines, they will stop prescribing medicines, particularly antibiotics, like there's no tomorrow!