mommapalooza

go figure/go fish

I was going to post about something entirely different today, but nothing  was more remarkable than Madeline's performance at her swimming lesson today.

As we approached the pool, I heard one of her classmates ask, "Is she going to cry again?" I grinned, remembering last week, and replied, "Well, lets keep our fingers crossed that she won't!"

And Madeline didn't. She started class by jumping into the deep end and grabbing onto the side of the pool, just like the other two girls in her class. Unbelievable! As the minutes passed, Madeline blew bubbles while kicking with a pool noodle, she put her head underwater to reach for plastic alligators, and she paddled a couple of feet out to her instructor without any swim aids! I could not believe what I was seeing! She must be getting as comfortable in her lessons as she is with Chris and I at the pool back at our apartment, because she participated fully in the lesson.

At the end of the class, Madeline waved goodbye to her coach, and told me, "Mom, I wasn't shy today!"  No kidding.

you can lead a horse to water

I think it was fifteen minutes. I was trying not to look too concerned, sending encouraging smiles in Madeline's general direction. At Madeline's latest swimming lesson, she sat at the edge of the pool, sobbing, for the first fifteen minutes of her thirty minute class.

Madeline loves going to the pool at our apartment, and is quite happy to try to paddle her way into the deep end, so I'm not entirely sure why her swim lessons have been on the traumatic side. Is it because it's in a different pool? Because neither Chris nor I are in the water with her? I thought that she was mature enough for "real", un-parented lessons.

Nonetheless, the other day she sat on the edge, nose running and puffy-eyed, until halfway through the class her instructor decided that it was time to jump into the pool through hoops of imaginary ice cream. Ice cream. That's something that Madeline definitely approves of. She was off of her bottom in no time, and repeatedly jumped into the pool, into the center of the pool noodle that was standing in for a circular ice cream sundae. And then she was fine for the rest of the lesson.

As we were leaving the pool after the lesson, her instructor asked us parents to remind him to start off the class with jumps next week :)

can't catch me

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to bake with fourteen assistants. They were all three or four years old, but they all were quite eager to have a turn with the sifter and blend the butter and sugar for the batch of gingerbread cookies that I made with Madeline's preschool class.

I was really thrilled to be invited to visit Madeline's class - since she started in August, both Chris and I have been wondering just what she does there from eight to noon each day! She's normally light on the details, unless we ask her to describe what the snack of the day was.

Anyway, I was asked to bake gingerbread cookies as the class had really enjoyed the picture book about that energetic gingerbread man. The tricky part was finding a recipe that could go from ingredients in a package to cookies in the oven in about an hour, which ruled out the majority calling for dough refrigeration or boiling of molasses. This one fit the bill, and it was kind of nice in that the cookies are soft and firm, not hard. Besides all of the help I had from my little baking assistants, it was really awesome because I didn't have to clean up a thing. The school's maids came in at recess and swept up all of the spilled flour, baking powder, and spices, and the kitchen staff washed my equipment!

Playgroup Drop-out

I'm starting out early in terms of sabotaging my kid's social life. It turns out that one of the other parents at Madeline's swim lessons organizes a playgroup on Thursday afternoons, and she and I were invited last week. I was really excited for Madeline; quite a few of her classmates are regulars and increased socialization was one item that her teacher said she would benefit from at our parent-teacher interview a few days earlier.

Anyway, the location of the playgroup was at the complete opposite side of The Compound from our home. Too far to walk. I don't have access to our truck at four in the afternoon, either. I figured that the best thing was to take one of the local tuk-tuks to the playgroup, so I wrote down the number before we left the pool.  I called fifteen minutes in advance, and Madeline and I were downstairs waiting ten minutes before the ETA that I was given.

And we began to wait. And wait. And wait. And soon, we were thirty minutes late for the playgroup, and the tuk-tuk was nowhere to be seen. Madeline and I gave up. She was quite sad to have missed out on a tuk-tuk ride.

I'm quite mortified. The mom who invited us asked me several times before the end of the swim lesson if Madeline and I were coming "for sure", and we didn't make it. I wish that I'd at least asked for her email address or phone number so that I could call to apologize! Not sure that we'll be invited back for this week ...

Night Light

It's bedtime for the little person (who has recovered from her illness, btw). We read two picture books, and then I ask Madeline if she wants me to leave the overhead lights on. She seems to prefer falling asleep that way. Chris or I sneak in later to turn them off.

Madeline points to the two pot-lights in her bedroom, "Mama, I can't go to sleep - those lights are broken!"

I look up and confirm what I already know - two brightly shining orbs are above us. "They look fine to me," I say. "Madeline, why are they broken?"

"Because they're off when I wake up in the morning!"

So, that night, we leave her lights on all night. I can't remember if I've read something somewhere about sleeping with the lights on being bad for sight or not. Anyway, when Madeline woke up the following morning, she excitedly chirped, "Mom, the lights are fixed!"

how much damage can one little virus do?

Last Monday, Madeline came down with some viral infection that is still doing a number on her tummy, although she's been fever-free since Friday night. The longevity of this bug has blown me away. I can't believe that she's been sick for nearly eight days. She's missed five days of school - about one-third of the school year so far. It's quite a good thing that I'm retired whilst in Bangkok, because I don't think that it would have been easy for Chris and I take this much time off of work to care for her. I have no idea when Madeline can return to school. It already seems like she's away forever. I've stuck her back in diapers, too (she didn't have the energy to run for the potty last week), which has probably sabotaged her potty-going efforts significantly. Ugh.

I took Madeline to see a pediatrician twice last week. It was surreal - I could actually make her appointments for the same day. In Calgary, the soonest that M's doc has ever been able to see her is five days in the future. So, we'd end up going to the icky walk-in clinic, and waiting there for a couple of excruciating hours to see a doctor who's goal is to get his/her patients out of the office in two minutes or less.  Of course, here I had to pay for 100% of the appointment before we left the building, but the availability of medical care more than makes up for that when my kiddo is sick ...