For those of you into numerology:
14:
This is the number of years that Dr. Stiles (73 year old pediatrician, often mentioned throughout my blog) has been in Abu Dhabi. At the end of this month, he will be retiring his stethoscope in this region (though he tells me he will be back on 'well-advertised locums') at the end of this month. We will always remember him for:
1. his old nurse who told me that A's voice reminded her of the duck on The Simpsons (?)
2. being our (very) "white knight" wrt to Pickle's 12 days in NICU at the New Al Noor Hospital. Once Stiles got involved, Pickle started to progress and was released two days later. Stiles got us into the system at SKMC and was always happy to see us for N's annual follow-up visits. My favourite was when he
walked N over to Dr. Salam and said "Look Salam--remember this little guy? This is a case of benign hypotonia".
3. catching Magoo in the delivery room (as a favour to me b/c of our difficult experience with N), and bursting out with "I haven't been in one of these for a long time" when he walked into the O/R.
Long may you run (literally) Dr. Stiles!
37:
This is how old Peter is now.
On Saturday night I organized a surprise party for Peter at Toki. With the help of my friend Shariza (who picked up the cakes, texted me while I was driving and in the bathroom and coordinated things with the hostess while I was distracting Peter) and our friends Arul, Brian, Linda, Rajeev and Meera, it was a great success.
My favourite was when the hostess came to offer us a move to a private room which had just been vacated (Peter had expressed interest in the private rooms when we first arrived only to be told they were all booked--how perfect!). She led us to the room at the end, and I saw Peter step back apologetically when she slid open the glass door, and he saw these ladies sitting at the sunken table (I could tell he felt embarrassed, and likely had a few words ready for the hostess). Then everyone yelled "Suprise!" and he clued in. Stepping back into the room, he recognize the ladies and saw their own male counterparts, who had been cleverly (or coincidentally) seated on the other side of the table, out of view.
For a guy who didn't want any kind of party for his birthday, he sure seemed happy.
We shared some good laughs and enjoyed each other's company. It was a good group of people, and everyone got along well.
For his official birthday, we lavished Peter with chicken wings, cannelloni and chocolate birthday cake (decorated by little A). The children enjoyed singing Happy Birthday to their papa, and Magoo discovered she loves ICING more than cake.
5:
The number of minutes I had to settle little A in at school, after the holidays. She was upset about PE (bc she doesn't like it) but she was a trooper. At the end of the day she told me she had fun in PE and participated in the dance game.
76468:
The license plate number of the Euro-trash who blocked in my car in the parking lot at school yesterday. This lady (from some Eastern European country--NOT a local, as many might assume), is my first run-in with rude and inconsiderate people in parking lots here. She double-parked behind me and I could not get out. When she arrived at her car (dark sunglasses, high heels and braces--is that a sexy look?), and I explained to her she was parked illegally AND I had been waiting for her she said "Oh--I didn't see your car". I repeated the statement (louder and as a question--somewhat incredulously) "You didn't see my car?" and she said "No", slammed her door and drove off. Perhaps we need to look into some PRESCRIPTION lenses for those sunglasses, babe...
2:
The number of days of nursery Pickle has under his belt as of today. N did very well the first day, and the report was that he only cried a bit during the day. The real test came today, when I took him to school. In the morning he was very excited and the first one ready to go with his monogrammed backpack (of which I noted there are now two of--thanks ANDERS!!). However, when he realized we weren't going home after dropping A off, he became more and more upset. It took him about 15 minutes to settle down, and he spent that time crying off and on. It was sad for me, but I stayed hidden from view. Ultimately, I had to sneak out (thanks to the floor-to-ceiling windows which he seems to guard).
4:
The number of years that I have known my friend Mirha, who I learned today (when I took her up on that offer to 'just drop by anytime' she has been issuing to me) will be moving to Doha at the end of this year (or sooner).
We had a lovely talk, with Magoo mixing and Phinn trying to pick up anything he could scarf off the floor. I have always enjoyed visiting with Mirha. She made me this fantastic coffee-shop latte too!
