Hello Kitty

No...Pussywillow is not back.  

Here is something I saw on the side of the road, while driving N to his eye test this morning.  It made me smile, and so I pulled out my iPhone and captured the memory for everyone to enjoy.  Please don't misunderstand--my point is not to make fun in any way--but just to have a smile at two things that so OBVIOUSLY don't belong together.  

Hello Kitty and...

Sardarji....???

 Only in Abu Dhabi.  

N has been diagnosed with accommodative esoptropia (don't worry--his eyes look nothing like the picture in the link, and in fact, we have only seen it wander like that once or twice, when he is tired).  He will need to wear glasses to help his eye muscles to relax, so that his eyes do not cross.  Hopefully, he will outgrow this condition.  Until then, he will look just as sweet in his glasses (if not sweeter).

I am thrilled to have found a place in Abu Dhabi that sells Miraflex frames.  According to my research, these are perfect glasses for little ones, as they are light, comfortable, and virtually impossible to break (as I expect they will get flipped off of N's head more than once during the 'adjustment' phase).

S is teething like a crazy baby.  Her gums seem to be itching, and sleep (what little she chooses to have) seems to be her only reprieve.  Do they make Gold Bond for baby's gums?

A has been absolutely lovely the past two days.  However, she told me that she would not dance with N, because he would not be handsome in his glasses.  She is going to need to adjust that attitude.  There are only two options in our family:  love each other, or love each other A LOT!

Our family photo shoot was a trying experience.  Neither Smile-ah or N were particularly cooperative.  However, A was in her element, and was thrilled to model so many of her dresses.  She did much better than our first photo session, where we spent the first hour just trying to get her to smile.  Hopefully, we will get some good shots regardless.  Watch this space.  

The Giants of Golf

After being 'partied out' this weekend (two chidren's birthday parties--one each day), we spent last night enjoying some adult-time with our friends, Shariza and Arul.

After WE (the ROYAL 'we) broke bread (literally--I hit the jackpot when I arrived at Safa just as their buns were coming out of the oven), and picked all the meat off the wings of our feathered friends that we could, we ended our meal with some tea and apple crisp.

Arul had his first experience with "Lady Grey Tea", which he enjoyed for it's light bergamot taste, complemented by citrus notes.  My choice of teas--a choice I made out of sheer laziness, as I have not made the effort to go upstairs and replenish my Earl Grey supplies, spawned an entire discussion about British nobility and titles.  With a brief bit of research on wiki (and yes--we've paid our five dollars this year, have you?), Arul decided that Twinings of London should repackage this tea as "Countess Grey Tea".  

However, this just shows how a little bit of information can be a dangerous thing.  

This morning, I woke up bright eyed and bushy-tailed, and decided to investigate the matter a little more.  I am relieved to discover that my friends at ToL are indeed CORRECT in their naming of one of my favourite teas:

"An earl has the title Earl of [X] when the title originates from a placename, or Earl [X] when the title comes from a surname. In either case, he is referred to as Lord [X], and his wife as Lady [X]. A countess who holds an earldom in her own right also uses Lady [X], but her husband does not have a title (unless he has one in his own right)." 

Thank-you to Wikipedia (seriously--five dollars...cheaper than a set of encyclopedias and you don't even need to clear shelf space!).  Now I can relax and enjoy that cup of Lady Grey so much more, knowing that they have given the correct title to their tea bags.  

Phinn's 'war wound' from his trip to the vet

This morning, after my trip to the vet for Phinn (whose hair loss may indeed be caused by an underactive thyroid gland--I will just need to spend 500 aed MORE to be sure about this...), we (Malou and I) packed up the kids, called a silver cab, and spent some time at the Abu Dhabi golf club, where they are hosting the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship.  I have no love of golf, but must confess I have really enjoyed the marketing campaign for this tournament:  "The Giants of Golf...".  

A went with Peter on Friday, and returned home QUITE disappointed.  There were NO giants there--all the people (including the one we call 'Tiger') were normal sized.  Apparently, she was also expecting the "Tiger" to be orange...

So today, we had a much more happier result.  Not only did she come away with a butterfly on her cheek, but we also scored our OWN photo.  

Enter the Dragon

We celebrated on Saturday, with a few friends.

Little A learned how to make dumplings, and enjoyed eating them with her shark chopsticks as well.  N slept through the dumpling training session, but did manage to participate in the taste-testing that followed.

I discovered that I do not like sesame oil--the taste, the smell...it's just not for me.

We had a lovely afternoon, and are thankful for the good friends we have made here.

Baby S is not sleeping.  Last night was rough, as I think she was up every hour.  During the day she didn't sleep either, and her longest nap was about 45 minutes.  Something is going on.

I have bumped down N's speech therapy to two days a week (and received some disappointed looks from his therapist).  I have also found a speech therapist that works out of KCA--this could cut my drive time down dramatically!

I am loving my new NOOK that Peter brought back from the US for me.  I even have a little light for it so I can read before I sleep.

Happy Chinese New Year!

What would Freud say?

....sometimes a big long balloon sword is JUST a big long balloon sword....

Peter is back on Wednesday night.  He is apparently having the time of his life--if the late night phone calls are any indicator.  There is a reason why I often mistakenly refer to these business trips as 'vacations'.  

I think I ran out of gas early last week, and have been running on fumes...

I have been watching American Horror Story in the evenings, and I LOVE it.  TV writing has advanced so much since the days of MASH.  

Our plans to visit the zoo will have to be put off to next week.  I don't want to feel rushed when we go, and it seems that we have some kind of appointment scheduled for every day this week, that would required us to always be pressured to get back for something.  

Sooo...what happened yesterday??

I'm sure I can't remember.  It's a bit of a blur.

We skipped speech therapy, and ended up taking the really LONG way back home from New Al Noor Hospital (where we went to get Malou's CT-scan results:  her heart is 'unremarkable').  We were going to just stop, get some petrol, turn around and go to Carrefour--but there was an accident that had shut down the traffic circle...so instead, we took the scenic route and went to Lulu instead.

N's new ride on toy

Something wonderful happened on Thursday night (no--S did NOT sleep all night long).  Last night, before he went to bed, N got 'bit' by Phinn (who was being very possessive of his bone).  He didn't ACTUALLY get bit (no teeth on skin, no bite marks, no indented or red skin on N's hands), but Phinn growled at him.  N interpreted this as a bite.  What was WONDERFUL about this, was how N TOLD me what happened (as I was either bathing A or putting S to sleep).  When I came downstairs, N held up his hand and said "woof-woof" (to mean Phinn).  Then, still holding up his hand, he patted his head (for 'got a bonk', which is what I say when he gets a bonk on his head).  He kept repeating this, and I was so thrilled with his desire to communicate the event to me.

In the afternoon, little A was very upset to find that not only was Jessica STILL in her dance class, but TWO new girls had joined up.  There was that 'face'--the one with the big eyes, and no smile...but she didn't cry, and half an hour later we said goodbye to her new friends, Sophie and Jessica.  Today she decided she would ask them to come to the zoo with us on Tuesday.

Today, I was a glutton for punishment.  I am not sure why I agreed to go to Khalifa Park with my dear friend Yang (probably b/c she's my dear friend Yang) in the morning.  I have never been to Khalifa Park, but everyone talks about it.  Having gone now, I can say that IMHO, it's not worth the drive.  The walk from the parking lot to the actual playground equipment (most of which is rusting) is about 1 km, and there is no sun cover anywhere.  When we first arrived, N behaved in a manner most bizarre for him:  he cried for me.  It was so bad that I popped S out of the baby carrier and popped him in.  Eventually he calmed down and I managed to get a hat on him, and he became his usual self again.  Yang sat with S the entire time, and they were both quite contented.  Even A pushed herself outside of her comfort zone a little, and attempted some new pieces of playground equipment.

We got home late, and had to try and squeeze in naps before Omar's 2nd birthday party, at the Play N Learn in Al Raha Mall (which is still PAINFUL to get to).  N had a blast, wandering around and meeting people.  Malou and I took turns with S, and little A took a while to find her groove.  She did however manage to get a butterfly painted on her face, play a little in the 'grocery store' and participate in the "Simon Says" game.  These are all pretty major accomplishments for her.

I am completely bagged.  But it was a great day.  Sorry that you had to miss it Peter.

Wednesday (I think...)

Well, though I desperately wanted to read and enjoy some tea before sleep, I couldn't for the life of me find my book.  Then I thought of catching up on my shows...but remembered that N had messed up the stereo, and there was no sound (which I have somehow fixed today).  So, in the end, I was in bed by 8:30.

Sleep was not in the cards for me though.  S decided to sleep in 90 minute shifts.  She seems to have some incredible gas issues.  So today, I have opted to give her some salinol prior to each feeding, give her supper at 4 pm (thus giving her lots of wiggle time before bed) and PRAY.

Despite the lack of sleep, today was a good day.  We had our speech session, followed by a quick trip to the Pink Shops for fruits and veggies (I love the new and improved Abu Ali!).  I also stopped at the KCA Post Office to mail a letter AND pick up a parcel.  I am very excited that my stretched canvases have already arrived (but...now I worry...where are the calendars, which shipped BEFORE the canvases?).  The worst napper award (in the afternoon) goes to S...who only slept 45 minutes.  I figure that since she slept two hours in the morning, that was okay.

Little A did some more cycling (the seat was kindly raised by Parmjit, the Punjabi maintenance man, who fixed it AFTER he fixed the hole in my ceiling).  We went and had fresh air time in the morning AND the afternoon.  I have loosely planned our Chinese New Year celebration with Yang, who is very excited to be spending time making dumplings with A and N (bless her!).

And NOW...7:24...dinner and a movie (ahhh...I remember the BP's days when that actually meant food cooked by BP's and tickets to go to the cinema), and then...well...who knows..the night is young....

;-)

One day down...

Peter is off to the U S of A again this week.  We have had a busy day, with N's speech therapy in the morning, followed by a trip with my son to "Chinatown, Abu Dhabi" (one shop stop), and then discovering 7-lands--which is now maybe my favourite little gift shop here.  We got home around lunch, and after putting 'the kids' (as little A likes to call N & S) to sleep, I worked with Little A to make a fairy craft.  It took us over an hour, and she is Little A's namesake (they are now heading off to dreamland together).

Once S woke up, the girls went out.  I thought it would be interesting to test A's bicycle skills--and amazingly, they have improved.  Instead of listening to screams of frustration, I got to listen to loud peels of laughter and screams of excitement and joy, as she pedaled around.  It was wonderful to see.  Also amazing to note how much she has grown, as we obviously need to raise the seat on her bike already.

When we got home, N had just woken up, and so we played a little bit together, and then it was time for supper, baths and bed-time.  N is delighting in being back in the bath tub, with ears full of cotton and a swim cap on for good measure.

I have some items on a 'To-Do' list, while Peter is away.  I want to try and sell off some of the baby items that are now just becoming shelves and 'holders' for other objects.  I want to try and get the hole in our dining room ceiling fixed.  I want to organize N's drawers, and find someone to take our old baby clothes.

Let's see what I manage to get done.

Now--everyone is in bed...and I'm here wondering, do I:
1.  have a cup of tea and read a book:  Enjoying another great by Jeffrey Deaver.
2.  have a cup of tea and watch a show:  I am seriously behind in Supernatural, and apparently Peter left me "American Horror Story" as well.
3.  go to sleep...I will be doing the night shifts and early morning and day shifts until next week.

I'll keep you posted...

On a completely different note, a FOLLOW-UP so to speak on my Dr problem--I received a call today from Abdhullah, who works at the Voice of the Patient at SKMC (where I wrote my complaint).  He told me they had followed up, and that the Dr had responded to my complaint.  He offered to read me his response, but I was in a parking lot getting ready to come home after our Chinatown adventure.  Bottom line, the Dr said that we had a 'miscommunication'.  To which I responded:  "I wouldn't say we had a MIScommunication, so much as a lack of communication, in that the Dr was absolutely unwilling to listen to anything I had to say.".  Abdhullah told me that the Dr's director had also been made aware of the complaint, and a copy had gone into his file.  Big surprise, the dr is now willing to have us do another ABR test, and have another ENT in the hospital do N's follow up.  I told Abdhullah that I would come in and see him the next time I am at SKMC, as I want to read what exactly what the Dr had written.