Seize the day

Kaylia loves Bloomington. She likes the parks, the pool, the library, the resto, the campus buildings, the creeks, the (only) mall, the falling leaves, as well as the idea of winter time (she doesn't know what she has to deal with). She enjoys her school so much. She loves the teachers (she starts speaking like one of them); she adores her friends (sometimes she pushes herself too hard on making friends, of course); and she has no problem with nap time (she is so ... me, in that matter).  

My princess is growing so fast. This picture was taken when she visited TMII with her classmates at the end of last year. She had fun, she said when she came home. Last year was TMII. Next year she might go somewhere else. Ten years later she'll be on vacation to a village or a skycrapping city. Twenty years from now she'll probably be on her flight to Europe. I just wish she'll remember me while she's heading her new world. 

After a discussion with my class mates in the library, around 8.45 am, Mbak Riskun and me came to the office room to congratulate my division head. He was formally promoted last week and will be leaving for his new place soon. He has been my supporter in my graduate school planning. Sometimes I have a feeling that he overpriced me and I owe all people, not necessarily him, the proof. Such a long term debt to me. I have to pay it back plus interest later. 

The babysitter messaged me that Kaylia was still expecting me to pick her up from school even I might be late for that. She said my kid would wait. So I finally got there and found the sparks in her eyes when I came out of my cab. I said how sorry I was about the situation and she seemed understand, “It’s OK, Mom.”. Then we had lunch together and bought a gift for Hendri, Kaylia's friend in my neighborhood who would have his first birthday party this afternoon. Again, Kaylia asked me to join her to the party. She volunteered singing two songs at the party. She had a fun time. I had it, too. Cool Friday!

Some important things happened in Kaylia’s 18^th month this Dec.  First, she succeeded in shifting from the previous Bebelac Free Lactose which addressed for baby with digestion problems  until 12 months to Excella Gold, a new variant from Nestle. The substitute was promoted by her doctor although he said from the beginning that I should stop soon after the formula causes any bad effect on her. I read the content before decided the change. I tasted the milkpowder…hm it is good!  I tried the first bottle and nothing bad happened. The rest is fine.
Then after waiting for quite a long time to eat her first “normal meal”, finally on 1^st Dec Kaylia had a bowl of rice –the real rice–, scrambled kampong-chicken egg and chicken soup. I prayed seriously that she would chew the meal. But she didn’t. She just swallowed it, made her sometimes choking on her food. So I thought that great was contributed by the broth of the soup that day.
Another one was last week end when her grandma found out that all her 4 first molars erupting and hurting her gums. She got fever and felt uncomfortable. She often cried, “My teeth are hurt”. When I asked her to open her mouth I saw some scrues on her tongue.  I gave her Tempra and gradually her fever decreased.  But she is still feeling uneasy and hurt. If the ache lasts more than 5 days I will call her doctor and ask for generic prescription because it will be clear that analgetic ingredient in Tempra has done very little in reducing the pain. Today is the fourth day. So we’ll see how the thing will be doing tomorrow.
Funny moments happened a lot this week. Every time I mentioned the word “suka” or “senang” which both mean “like, love, in favor of, fond of” suddenly Kaylia smiled and said “Udin” or “Kiki”. It happened always. Udin is a waitress in catering service across the street and Kiki is the shopkeeper from the grocery store in the traditional market who often drives a motorcycle to deliver our groceries. I couldn’t believe it ! What a shock !! How comes she ever like those guys ? I mean, come on… she’s just 18 months. She wouldn’t possibly know the true meaning of “like or love or fond of”. My God !!!  They’re both too old for her…  I’ve suggested other candidates: the big Naufal (2 years), the silent Kevin (3 years), the cool Alvin (9 years), or the naughty Juli (8 years). She kept saying no. So I gave up. I guessed little I can do to change her mind now.
All the above stories marked the time when she developed amazingly. She’s getting smarter each day. Me, on the other way, is loosing my pace in starting new things. Playing piano, swimming, and driving car are three among many unrealized promises. Poor me,  aren’t I ? Hope still get time to catch what I had missed. 

It’s the name of a parasite which had haunted us along this year. The parasite grew inside the colon and hadn’t been easy to destroy. My little Kaylia had been infected (it was rather attacked) by the parasite and its kista for three times. The first was diagnosed on April. 2 months later we came back to the doctor and found out that she got kista amoeba. The third and I really pray that it would be the last, happened last August.

She was in her early forty. She smiled back at me the morning we first met in a not too large room in a building in Kuningan area. She was gonna be the speaker in a seminar about teaching babies to read. Another wanna-know-does-it-really-work young mom, she might think of me.  I took a deep breath, wishing the session would not bore me. Once again, I asked my self : how can she convince me then prove that a baby can really read?
No. She couldn’t. Somebody else has already done that, according to her. So, what was she there for? To share her precious experiences with her daughter, Dea. Dea was 14 years old girl, a bright and smart teenager, and unsurprisingly always being on top in her Global Jaya. Dea plans to go to a Singapore univ, wanna take major in art design, or maybe language, or maybe the other. She hasn’t  firmly made up her mind yet.
Mrs. Irene asked what our dreams are. Does anyone reach most of them, all of them? Then, what kind of life we want our kids to have and enjoy in their own time? No need to doubt, no one would ever wish for something less for her children. She asked again : so what did we, young working moms, do daily after long hours of working outside home? Sleeping? Watching some never ending telenovelas? Chatting with some friends? Hovering around malls? Browsing some sites? Doing office matters? How many percent of our time had been dedicated to our child?  “Does the baby sitter know your baby better than you?” She straightly shot us in the heads. The point was : we expected too much with too little willingness and commitment.
She told us that she and Dea had been through a great baby-moon and kid-moon, and now teen-moon. When Dea was 3 mois, Mrs. Irene  read a book titled How to teach your baby to read. She didn’t believe it at the first place. But since she had not much to do, she began to follow the steps from the book. She wrote down some words in 15x60 cm white cards. Bunda and Dea were among the first words. She didn’t expect much at that time. It was only an always-win game. Nevertheless, on Dea’s first birthday, she was able to step on some words in a seek-and-step-on-it game. When she was 18 mois, she took her mom’s hand and showed and mentioned a word on the body of  a square 1992 Toyota in a parking line. The magic word was “Kijang”.  Since then, the whole world was in her reach, thanks to her ability to read.
This story was just a sweetener of her message. She said : please, go home and play with your kids. Caution : time won’t be on our side and suddenly they will fly away.
I smiled due to my own sins. Too little has I given my own child compared to great things she has brought into my life.