Some things my son needs to know

Yesterday my little ‘Timan’ turned 3 1/2 years old. To me it seems as if his birth was just yesterday too, time has passed so quickly and he’s growing so fast. He’s clever and in a certain way he is even wise, way beyond his years. But then again he’s my little baby boy who wants to be pampered and cuddled and won’t start his day in preschool if he can’t cover me with ‘by by’-kisses at the door.

I know, before I can turn around he will be going to primary school, to secondary school, to advanced studies (maybe), to ???

And as every parent I want him to be prepared for the beautiful and sometimes cruel big wide world out there.

‘Timan’, I want you to know a couple of things I hope you will keep in mind on your path.

• Be a child now, run around, climb, play, paint, create … and even later in life be a creator, don’t lose your imagination.

• Explore and learn. Do this now and in the future. Don’t ever stop or your mind will get stuck somewhere. And don’t think you know it all. Nobody does, and nobody ever will.

• Play and be silly when you get the chance, work and be serious when it’s needed. There is always a time for everything.

• Travel, explore the world and see how other people are living. Find out with your own eyes about other cultures, other life-styles. Your way of life is not the only one that works. Pick the good things from what you see, skip the things you don’t like. But never judge other people because they lead a different life.

• In the same context: accept, don’t judge. Every person is different. Accept other opinions, discuss them if you like, but don’t judge a person because of what he or she thinks. Accept people as who they are and not for their looks.

• Sometimes you have to do something you don’t like to do in order to get another thing you really need or want. So do it quick, get over with it and have fun with the thing you are striving for. Just make sure nobody/nothing is getting hurt in the process.

• Take care of our nature. There is probably only one earth you will be living on, so don’t litter it, don’t help destroying it. You wouldn’t like others to deposit their trash in your house either.

• Be kind to animals and respect them as living beings. Every creature has a reason to live, even if we don’t always see the reason behind it. Every form of life has its own way to act and react to other living beings, respect this and you will be respected (and won’t get harmed).

• Treat others the way you want to be treated. Don’t do things you don’t want to be done to you.

• Your body is precious. It belongs to one person only and that is you! Make sure you take good care of it.

• Smile. Smile often. Smile at others and they will smile back at you. Smile at yourself and you will feel good.

• Believe in yourself and be proud of who you are. For me you are the most wonderful person on this earth, but I’m your Mommy. You have to believe this yourself and you’ll be surprised what you can achieve when you are convinced that you can do it. (Tilting your head up and pushing your chest out a little works wonders too. :-))

• You are my son and you will always be, no matter what and no matter where you are.

♥ I love you ♥

Your Mommy

What inspiration would you give your child once he or she is ready to fly?

Twosome is awesome, but …

And we had another awesome week in Paradise. The tot was in school, the Hubs was off work for a couple of days and what does the Mommy want more? Nothing, nada, nixinixnix. Ok, a little sunshine would have been nice too, but we managed without.

This week I realized several things, some rather important things.

1. My husband is actually able to morph back into the person he was before ‘Timan’, even before we were married. This week we did things we used to do prior to the arrival our bundle of endless energy, just the two of us.

2. We went for a cappuccino in the morning to our favorite coffee shop,

source

we went for lunch like a couple on a date, we talked and smiled and talked and laughed and enjoyed. But to top it all: we went SHOPPING, shopping for clothes and shopping for shoes, shopping for the Hubs to be exact!!! And it was even his own idea. 🙂

3. I was very surprised. Usually he’s getting goose bumps and runs for cover when I mention the S-word.

4. And yeah, the other thing we did too.

5. And then I cracked my toe. Outch. No, hold your horses, it happened later.

The Hubs and ‘Timan’ were happy doing dude things, like wrestling and such, while I was happily watching from the side.

But the guys wanted Mommy to join in the game. And since I’m doing everything for my men, I gave in. We had lots of fun, for a short while. I was running around and jumping like a deer and … kicked the corner, the tot’s indoor tricycle, the couch, I can’t remember what. Now my toe is almost double the size and blue. I spare you the photo. And I started wondering why do I always hit the 4th or the pinky toe and never the big ones? But never mind, at least I don’t have problems getting into shoes. Flip-flops have plenty of room.

6. My final lesson this week: twosome is awesome, but threesome is best (despite the toe).

And with this I wish everyone an awesome twosome, threesome, plenty-some weekend (or a lonesome one, if you prefer).

For more of those important lessons life is teaching you, head over to ‘Life Ever Since’:

Do you end up with casualties too when you’re roughhousing with your men? Or is it just me getting to old for this stuff. Sigh.

Life is good

All of a sudden my days have so many hours. I still can’t believe it, it’s just wonderful. Oh, life is good. 🙂

Every single day since years I’m getting up at the crack of dawn, but starting this week I am free, I can do whatever I want, whenever I want (for 6.5 hours per day). I’m still getting up at the same time though, but I don’t mind. Oh, life is good.

1. This week I relearned to drink my coffee totally relaxed and in peace. There was nobody who constantly pulled on my legs, was whining about this and that and wanted me very urgently – meaning this very second – to build a ‘bobblebeckerbus’ with LEGOs. Oh, life is good.

2. This week I relearned to use the bathroom all by myself. What a pleasure. Oh, life is good.

3. This week I relearned to enjoy cleaning the house while whistling to a melody on the radio.

4. Actually this week I relearned to listen to whatever music I wanted to hear. Oh, life is good.

5. This week I relearned to be myself again, hmm, at least for those 6.5 hours per day. Oh, life is good.

6. This week I had a happy little son walking home with me in the afternoon, telling me about the things he was doing and who and what he was playing with. Oh, life is good.

7. This week I relearned to have fun playing with blocks and LEGOs and cars again, because the dinner was already made. Oh, life is good.

8.  This week I relearned to stay very calm. I really was a good girl, I didn’t freak out, I didn’t give a spiced answer and I even forced a smile when the tw@t of a dermatologist laughed and said ‘Oh, is this your first child? He he he, that’s why. And eczema has nothing to do with calcium deficiency. No, he he. But here in the tropics a lot of children have skin problems. It may go away eventually. And your son is looking fiiiine.’ Sure, now that the eczema has gone – because of the calcium supplement and wet wraps – he’s fine. He wasn’t fine though when I scheduled the appointment a few months ago.

(Dry coarse skin, dermatitis, hyperpigmentation and eczema can be a symptom of Hypocalcemia (calcium deficiency) according to the Cleveland Clinic and it looks as if this was a reason (or maybe the reason) why ‘Timan’s eczema kept flaring up.)

After she finished laughing she gave me a three-month supply of Cetrizine (antihistamine) and Hydrocortisone, just in case the rash would come back. And yes, this was after I told her that I was successfully trying to get off the steroids. Having specialists from other countries with not much experience who are pushing certain medicines to make it easy for them, these are the beauties of a free healthcare system. 😦

Luckily I got ‘Timan’s eczema under control, I found the triggers, without a doctor. Oh, life is good.

9. This week I didn’t care about those downsides in Paradise, the sometimes rude behavior people show here, because ‘Timan’ is healthy and happy, the Hubs is healthy and happy and the Mommy is healthy and happy. Oh, life is good.

10. This week, today, I’m finally going to the beach all by myself.

(source)

I wish everyone a great weekend.

For more of those important lessons life is teaching you, head over to ‘Life Ever Since’:

P.S. I’m not the only person complaining about the public healthcare in this country. Everyone here makes the same experience. It’s sad, but if you don’t have to pay for it, you wont get the service either. Unfortunately there are not so many other options, private specialists are rare.

But for now, life is good. 🙂

Bliss in Paradise is beach, hassle-free early bedtime, bears and dogs … I mean cats

Since we got rid of the rash I have the feeling ‘Timan’s behavior has changed too, he seems more well-balanced and a lot happier. Finally my little boy is back and we had a week filled with yokes, laughter and happy playing. And lots of kisses, you know, the sweet and sometimes a little wet kisses only your little tot can give you. And what else did we learn?

1. The beach was calling us, the weather was perfect, the water warm, the surf acceptable and the tot happy.

2. And afterwards the Mommy was cleaning the powder-like sand out of everything. But as always, it was worth it.

3. This week was quite busy for our standards. Being always on the move, jumping, running, not resting at all, not even for a couple of minutes, this would make everyone tired. No wonder the tot was on the brink of a fit the longer the day lasted.

4. Over time the 5pm frenzy has turned into a 7pm meltdown while he’s taking a shower. However this outburst happens only when the tot didn’t take a nap, like … hmm almost everyday.

5. First I thought the water was painful on the rash, but now the rash has gone. So maybe it is to hot, to cold, has the wrong color, but no, not at all. ‘Timan’ is just overtired and anything slightly not the way he wants it results a tantrum with epic proportions.

6. I kept asking myself if I have any chance to stop this behavior and finally came to the conclusion: No. I just have to live with it. It will change, eventually, I hope.

7. But hey, my reward comes about 30 minutes later, when the tot falls asleep while I gently rub some coconut oil all over his body. 🙂

8. I just have to remember to carry my sleeping little boy to the bathroom after a couple of hours, or else he wakes up in a little pond. As a matter of fact, I do the same thing every night before I go to sleep. I tell him when he can do his business, he does it, but he never wakes up while doing it. And I carry him back to his bed. Easy. But now enough with talking about the potty.

9. If you plant some seeds, you have to replant them after a while, or else you wont have your kitchen herbs. Even I realized this and finally I did it. May they grow big and strong now.

10. Watching ‘King Kong’ with a 3-year-old might not be age appropriate, but it’s really fun, because he’s asking all those cute questions about the dinosaurs ‘jumping’ around and the ‘bear’ with the girl in its hand.

11. Yep, this week was all about bears. ‘Timan’ is convinced there is a bear living in our bathroom. But it’s a nice one and he can cuddle with it.

12. And it was about dogs too. One of the gazillion yapping dogs in our neighbourhood got puppies a couple of days ago. Some of the other boys living in our street get to take one home and ‘Timan’ was all ‘oh mommy, look, these cats are sooooo cute’. Luckily he didn’t ask if he could have one too. Big relief, I’m off the hook.

13. And last but not least, on such an obscure day like today, a Friday the 13th, when we have to avoid black cats crossing the street from the left to the right, we can either a) stay in bed (I wish I could, but this is not an option with ‘Timan’) or b) go to the beach. There is only the ocean, lots of sand and some coconut trees. So … off we go now. 🙂

I wish everyone a wonderful weekend.

For more of those important lessons life is teaching you, head over to ‘Life Ever Since’:

But now, please tell me, what is your recipe for a Friday the 13th?

Surviving the bug and diggin’ the dirt

I think every woman knows when men are sick, the world is falling apart for them and they suffer a gazillion deaths. This week I learned that my little tot is on the way to become a man.

1. Last week ‘Timan’ was in creche (preschool) for only three days, for the first time in his life. And he caught a bug already. Saturday night he was a very sick little boy, suffering from THE COLD.

Ok, I agree, having a cold is uncomfortable and a pain in the neck, especially when you’re three years old. But all the screaming ‘Mommy, Mommy, hold my hand, stay with me, don’t go away, never, Mommy, Mommy’ sounded more like my Hubs when he’s sick (just change the Mommy to Honey). Well, the little one is a man in training after all.

2. This shows without a doubt, bugs are everywhere and just wait to jump on my tot. Well, that’s the way it is and I better get used to it. But there is a good side to every coin, isn’t it? The more often ‘Timan’ is coming down with a cold, the better his immune system will get trained and the easier he can handle getting sick later in life, or the more immune he will become to those nasty bugs.

3. Just look at me. When I was a child I probably had every virus on the planed that is causing a cold. But now, not anymore. These days, both of my men are getting sick, the big one on a regular basis. And me, I can be the nurse.

4. The Hubs was working on Sunday so the tot and I spent the day cuddling on the couch watching movies and I was the ‘nursie no. 1’ to my ‘oh so very sick’ little man.

5. And guess what, early Monday morning ‘Timan’ was himself again and started the day with decorating the bathroom with toilet paper and the cold was just a shadow from the past.

6. And because I’m desperately looking for things to do with the little one we did some planting this week. I’ve bought some seeds for kitchen herbs and ‘Timan’ was very eager to help when he heard the magic words ‘let’s dig the dirt’. But he did it very carefully and filled up the pot and put the seeds in.

If all goes well and he doesn’t I don’t forget to water the plants,

we will have basil, sage, thyme and parsley in no time. Hey, we are living in the tropics and everything is growing like weeds ;-), anyway, things are growing much faster here then in a temperate climate.

8. I’m already looking forward to a good old ‘insalata caprese’ (if I’m lucky and find somewhere some mozzarella), one of my favorites.

I wish everyone a wonderful weekend.

For more of those important lessons life is teaching you, head over to ‘Life Ever Since’:

Do you experience the same phenomena with your male family members when they are sick?