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Wednesday 2 March 2011

From Boo Boos to Yippee Yay!

Every cloud has a silver lining they say….It holds so true in my case…sometimes life gets so erratic and crazy with client deadlines and home chores like laundry overflow or last minute grocery shopping and gala dinner cooking and of course baby making and hubby keeping that you want to just break free from and run away some place doing absolutely nothing…I just finished reading ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ where the author Liz Gilbert so aptly describes this syndrome predominantly affecting Italians since centuries; They refer to it as ‘ The art and joy of doing NOTHING’…

I didn’t think I would get the chance to drop what’s on my plate and disappear into the oblivion…and actually that is not exactly what happened…but I got to put some brakes on my daily 6-12 daily schedule of home- work- home.
This blessing in disguise came in the form of my little girl contracting Chicken Pox at her Nursery. The infection chose my darling as his favourite host on a Monday and come Friday it had best use of the incubation period and started showing tell tale signs of red eruptions across her body accompanied by fever, tiredness and an all- time high temper!
So, I packed up my laptop and work papers, waved goodbye to Boss and dashed to the Doctors where all she was prescribed was Paracetamol and Calamine lotion.
Now, being a typical Asian mom, I tend to overreact to any minor health issue and this was Chicken Pox, and there was the doctor smiling calmly as if these horrendous spots were nothing more than mosquito bites…I was enraged...unfortunately kids under 6 in UK are not prescribed any anti biotic drugs unless absolutely urgent…so I came back home sulking with my poorly child ever so thrilled to be picked up early from her Nursery!
Another freak situation was that I was the only one who hadn’t got it till date and so my altar of obsessive compulsive disorder of cleanliness and sanitization took over! I swept, wiped, brushed, vacuumed, disinfected every square meter of our home every few hours and prayed hard so that my childhood sufferings of vaccinations against this cute named infection really pays off and crossed my fingers, arms, legs etc to come out this with still appearing to be a sane human being!
Next 12 days were like an extended picnic for 3 of us…I was granted the plea of ‘Work from Home’ for which I am still making up  grinding at my office…Daddy got round the clock ‘health check’ report cards from Mommy and of course, Adya was knighted ‘Queen’ status overnight and all her wishes became our instant commands…
To name a few indulgences:
·        Non Stop repeat performances by Peppa Pig (God bless the DVD section of our local supermarket).
·         On demand ice-cream supply with all different flavours to excite the taste buds.
·         Multiple bubble bath hours with loud pitched bathroom singing of favourite nursery rhymes.
·        This was followed by pampering sessions of hair blow drying and moisturizing (P.S: Daddy at my service).
·         Since, we were quarantined indoors, the only fresh air we got was to feed bread to the birdies through windows - They got more bread than me at breakfast…
·         Red cheddar cheese gratings and sweet corn with butter and salt became our regular snack.
·         Ceebies (SKY Channel 614) was the only button pressed on the TV remote with torturous episodes of Chugginton, Timmy, Show Me Show Me, Gigglebiz and many more…

  •   All the books in Adya’s library had to be read out at least twice morning, noon and night.
·        Tea parties at her play kitchen could beat any English Afternoon High Tea offerings at 5 stars.
·         Ringa Ringa Roses and Jumping on the bed substituted afternoon naps.
·         We learnt the Alphabet and almost made it there with Potty Training with unlimited stars on the bathroom chart. All unopened toys hidden for a rainy day came out of the Pandora's box!
·         Finally, quick drives in the evening when daddy returned from work made our days complete.

Oh yes, in between these activities, mommy slipped in the timely fruit juices, yoghurts, strawberry milk, home made chicken stews, fish or lamb pastas, French fries and canned coconut water to cool off the tummy which definitely contributed to the rapid recovery!

But, the best part of this ‘Happy Health Problem’ was getting reconnected with my baby. This bonding was really needed amidst the regular running about where I realised that she is growing up so rapidly…Must mention that I had to super multitask while she had caught her forty winks to catch up on work front and complete assignments and pending projects.
But, my heart just melted away to see her snuggling up to me on the couch every time she got exhausted...this I must confess that I have a fighter in my girl...never gave up with the weakness and fever trying to bog her down…
During these days, she simply refused to sleep in her cot and would invariably come into our bed, no matter what time or how quietly we moved into our room with our mute buttons firmly pressed…but I guess it is something with the parent touch- therapy comfort we all needed when we were younger and unwell…it was an out of the world feeling to feel her soft skin against mine and smell her sweet Johnson’s baby lotion scent just when she was a new born…
Have you ever watched a kid sleeping just like that? It is truly a heavenly sight when I stood and just silently watched my mamma sleeping soundly with mini snores whooshing out of her tiny nostrils and her body heaving up and down with her rhythmic breathing…On warmer nights, I loved to see the lil beads of sweat on her forehead and the way her hair sticks to her head…
I feel so proud of my creation when this 2 feet something lady conquers our life with her non stop blabber and jumps right back into the daily grind, with no blues whatsoever. Thank you God for taking away her pains and boo boos and joining our Yippee party being her cheeky self again…And of course, for this delightful bonding break!