My Lady of the Lantern

When I had one of those neighbour-neighbour talk with the lady next door. She is parenting a toddler and twins, and the latter are just a couple of months older than Figlia * . In September, Figlia had a bout of viral fever, and it was one of the worst ever things we had health-wise. My daughter was miserable and whiny and vomiting, and refusing medicines, and not sure what she wanted. She was tired, we were tired. One morning, as I was leaving for work, I met the NextDoorLady....the twins were awake since 2:30 am. They were a month away from their birthday, and had been running a fever. Figlia had been awake all night and finally slept at 2:30/3:00 am ish . I realized that we slept just as our neighbours woke up. In union, we had been up all night. Figlia is also less than a month away from her first birthday. And boy, we are in the thick of whimpering sleeplessness. Is that some crazy rite of passage to the first birthday? BTW, y'day, we noticed a giant boil on o...

a) Please do tell me that I am, in fact, Charlie Sheen style winning for the longest title ever. b) After the title, the post must be appearing redundant? Alert: There is some yuck/eew element mentioned in the paras ahead. You have been warned.  I caught head lice that Figlia caught from her creche buddies. Figlia's problem was solved.  My issues were different. I had no time, sometimes for a whole week, to wash my hair. Combing hair was a chore, and often done very superfluously. Lately, there was copious amount of hair that could be picked up from the floor. And I was awfully affected.  I wanted a haircut, and I took y'day noon off to get the haircut. It was supposed to be me. I planned on spending the noon on myself, and myself.  The first problem was going to the salon. I wanted to sink and die in the chair, thinking someone would be touching my lice-infested hair. I have not had lice in decades now. I was so dead embarrassed.  I...

Lot of pending Congratulations seem to be due on me. Remember my ICSIgirl ? Her son was born in November end, a little early, but both mum and baby are doing fine, and already home. Such a huge, massive relief and joy for me.  Kakunaa is pregnant and so is Michele . Two women with very different stories to tell, and different TTC histories, and different life scripts, and yet, they are people I have been keeping a tab on, albeit very silently.  - - -  DH has been coming late every night this week. So much so that he has always breezed in after dear girl has fallen asleep.  We keep running through the 'What do you want?' question.  I want to retain the adjective that Lori gave me - kindness.  I am grateful for far too many things, and one day Figlia will be grown up enough for me to not need another person to look out for her, when I am in the loo.  I am not accusing him of avoiding his paternal duty. In fact, he is lovely...

Boy 1: Oh look at them. They were born last night.             Boy 2: Wow, she had eight puppies last time as well.                     Boy 1: Didn't they take those away last time? Boy 3: Oh, so are these the same puppies? Boy 2: No, you fool. She won't have the same puppies again. Children understand what adults do not. Sigh. Yes, I have a daughter. Yes, she is gorgeous. Yes, I feel incredibly fulfilled. Yes, I love her. But no, she is not CBub.

I attempted to change Figlia that evening, and I was welcomed by loud, pained crying. A bout of diarrhoea  and mechanical cleaning at the daycare had left her bums red and sore. I kept singing to her, almost as mechanically, because it was difficult for me to do anything, or even try to apply a diaper rash cream, had I not absorbed my emotions in the act of being right with the lyrics. Next morning was much better, and there was no hint of the soreness induced crying.  I kept thinking of a particular short film I saw in Paris, je t'aime where a woman sings a lullaby to her baby and then travels to this wealthy lady's house and sings the same thing to the infant she is in charge of, and yet, there is a huge difference in what she does out of love, and what she does as labour. It was also the context of the first formal complaint, I lodged at the daycare. It was also the context of another realization. If the baby wakes up from a nap of just 15 minutes, and if the mood is r...