When I was a girl, my parents never bought me anything. At least, that’s how it felt whenever I asked them to buy something cool that all my other friends had. My mother would lecture me about “being easily influenced”, and say that I did not have a good enough reason to justify the purchase of that particular item I was after. I used to resent this deeply. Until recently, that is. I have come to the realisation that although my parents seemed stingy and draconian in denying me my hankerings, they were actually parenting me right. When I had Alison, I promised myself that I would give her everything that she asked for that was reasonable and that was …
parenting
It’s how you see it.
Zoe has developed the habit of giving a thumbs-up whenever she likes something – a food, a drink, a TV show, or just a drawing that she has done. Of course, in her case, it’s really a thumb-and-index-finger-up. A few evenings ago, she was playing with a little LED bicycle light that K bought on our last trip to Hong Kong. After shining it everywhere she was not supposed to, such as in my eyes, she trained the beam on the nubbin on her left hand. “See, I have this little thing on my hand.” “Yes, your thumb was supposed to have been there, but it didn’t grow.” “Nooooo! My thumb is here! See?” She shoved her right thumb in …
Alison’s March achievements
K attended a scheduled Parent-Teacher Meeting this morning together with Alison. He met her class teacher as well as her Mother Tongue teacher. Both had mostly good things to say about the Allycat. Her English is excellent, her Maths is good and her Chinese, well, her reading and writing are good but her speaking, not so much. When the Chinese teacher found out that we never speak Chinese at home, a light bulb came on and he told K he now understands why Alison is so reticent about speaking up during Mother Tongue class. However, she is otherwise “very communicative”. “You mean she’s talkative,” K said to the form teacher, which earned a chuckle and assent. The form teacher also …
In sickness and health.
Zoe is down with asthmatic cough yet again. We had to take her to Dr A this evening to see if it was just the normal cough or something worse. Too many prolonged hospital stays and late-night trips to the ER do make you jaded about your kids’ health, but they also make you more paranoid. Thankfully, it was the normal cough in a slightly more aggravated form. Whenever Zoe gets these coughing bouts, it’s always the same medications: Singulair, Prospan, Duro-Tuss and increased doses of Flixonate and Ventolin. My sister informs me that Duro-Tuss is just a placebo, but I suppose it’s comforting to think that we are doing something to help Zoe get better. She has just come …
