Perfect Profile

The other day, I was watching miss Haana as she was busy doing something. I was watching her from the side, looking at the profile of her face, her nose, mouth and chin. And I thought to my self, just how perfect she is, so wonderful, so beautiful, so amazing. Whenever I feel this way, which is quite often, I feel like wrapping her in a bubble wrap so I can keep her out of everyone's reach; and strapped on to me.

I also remembered the day when i first saw her face in a profile. I was far along in the pregnancy and was having a scheduled ultrasound. She was laying on her side, and i saw her face on the grainy monitor: we could clearly make out her forehead,  nose, mouth, chin. It was surreal. But, that night i had a dream. I dreamt the little girl was born, but i couldn't find in my heart any love for her. She grew up loveless, uncared for, taking care of herself. And one day I was surprised (in the dream) to notice that she was now 5 years old and had glasses; and I hadn't even noticed or cared for her in all these years. I didn't love her, I didn't find her beautiful, I hardly even remembered her. I woke up with a start from the dream. And I cried. She shouldn't feel unloved, uncared for; I know how that feels. I hope I don't hurt her like that by being absent from her life. I hope both of us can see and feel in our hearts how amazing she is, how amazing she has always been. I cried for sometime and later blamed it on my wonky pregnancy hormones. But i still remember it clearly like yesterday.

Today, looking at her, i can't help feeling, my little baby (told her she will always be my little baby!), is absolutely, heart meltingly, gut wrenchingly, so completely - perfect!

Safe For Now

Miss Haana and I love dum-dums (aka lollipops)! We love cotton candy and ice cream too! But dum-dums are special.

Recently I visited a doctor's office and they had a jar full of dum-dums at the check out counter. I have been doing a low-carb diet, so dum-dums are definitely out for me. But I immediately thought of little miss Haana and wanted to take some for her. I opened the jar, and grabbed a green pineapple; I like that flavor. Then I got the yellow lemon too; I like that flavor too. Then i figured I should take the red strawberry. And oh, little miss Haana likes the yucky purple one too. I was just picking out this handful from the jar when i saw the note right on top of the jar that said - 'Please take only one'!

Oops! I quickly shoved the handful of dum-dums I had just selected into my purse, closed the zipper, and looked over my shoulder to see if anyone noticed my deed.

Nobody was looking. The dum-dums are safe! Until they meet little miss Haana!

O Wise One

Little miss Haana is very fond of arts and crafts. She uses her creativity to come up with new craft ideas; she dreams up, then builds, sticks, decorates, glues and paints.

For her paintings, little miss Haana has been borrowing my acrylic paints. They are very good quality artist grade paints. I got her a pack of her own brushes and set of small canvases. Recently, she decided to paint on a long canvas she found had been hiding in the upstairs closet for a while. It was 12x36 inches. I warned her, it will take a long time for her to paint it all, and she may lose interest mid way. She insisted she wanted to paint it. I relented.

It took her a couple weeks to finish her painting, but she did! She made 2 tall trees, on green green grass, with a little girl smiling, and a little boy climbing. The painting came out wonderful, and I am so proud of her! I put the painting up on the wall.

However, a week or so later, her table-top easle, the paints, the brushes, the palette, the water cup, all the things she set up for her painting, were still out there, waiting to be wrapped up and put away. And not for the want of being reminded.

I finally lost it one day. And i told her all her brushes are ruined, I'll not buy her new ones, and unless she learns to take care of her art things, she doesn't deserve to have them. This led to her crying, saying, "You never support me..". I got mad-der. I told her I let her have my paints which were so expensive. She made some snarky remark at that. Which made me angrier still. And then more crying. I lectured for a little bit more, before both of us got silent into our own bubbles, both unhappy.

What I didn't expect is, little miss Haana came around after about 5 mintues till both of us had cooled off. She first coolly circled around the area where i was. I didn't react. Then she came back, took me by my hand and took me to the couch, and said "Mumma, I love you.  But when you keep on scolding me it makes me really upset". I didn't really expect her to be so wise as to come around and talk to me like that! I had already melted in my heart when she took me by my hand.  I hugged her, and said "I love you sweet baby. But when you don't listen to me or retort at what I'm saying it just gets me angry. Can you just say -ok mumma, next time?". She said fine. More hugs and kisses and we were all made up. Meanwhile i was wondering how wise she proved herself out to be!

Little Miss Haana's Tall Trees Painting

Throw It Out

For months, neigh, years, I have been telling little miss Haana not to leave dirty clothes on the bedroom floor; put them in the laundry basket. Is that too much to ask? I have tried making it a chore she has to do, threatening to take the clothes away from her, lecturing her, nagging her. Lately I had been threatening her if she leaves her clothes on the floor I will throw them out of the balcony. The bedroom has a small balcony that overlooks over the front yard.

Nothing has worked.

This last weekend, I was standing in the bedroom looking over little miss Haana's small stack of dirty clothes on the floor. I picked them up. Then i looked over at her with a mischievous twinkle in my eye. Little miss Haana's eyes widened wondering what to expect now. I opened the balcony door, and quickly threw out her t-shirt from the balcony. It swerved for a second or two like a parachute and landed on the bushes in the front yard. Little miss Haana screamed to dad, "Papa, Mumma threw it out!! She did it!". I was laughing with delight by now. Papa shook his head. I had two more items in my hand. Little miss Haana jumped up at me to grab those items from my hand. She got one and ran to put it in the laundry basket. But i had the towel! And before she could jump up and grab it back, i quickly opened the balcony door and threw it out as well! I laughed with delight and clapped by hands. Little miss Haana's screamed to her dad again, "Papa, mumma threw the towel out too! Oh no!!".

The two of them headed downstairs to retrieve the prized artifacts from between the bushes in the front yard while I chuckled at myself for a job well done and certainly well enjoyed!

Since then, little miss Haana has never once left her clothes on the floor. I look out for such opportunities, but am left disappointed. "Oww!", I complain to her when i don't find anything to throw out. But it has been the most effective parenting success ever!

Dentist Office

Little miss Haana had been wanting to go to the dentist for a long time. It's somewhat counter intuitive too. But other kids in her class had been to the dentist. Worse - even kindergarten kids she knew at her school had been to a dentist. But not her. And she is in 1st grade!

Since this was on the to-do list for us, Dad got a dentist appointment. She was to be picked up early from school one day, to go to the dentist appointment. To say she was excited was an understatement! Everyone in her class probably knew about it!

Finally the big day arrived! Dad was going to pick up little miss Haana early from school. This was of course an added benefit too! I wanted to be a part of this grand spectacle of the first ever dentist visit! So I scheduled to meet them up at the dentist office.

When I arrived, dad and little miss hanna was already inside in the dentist office with the nurse. She was sitting on this dentist chair holding a purple teddy bear, a gift she had just gotten! Along with a new toothbrush in a fancy bag. For the nurse and the doctor to look inside her mouth, they reclined her down, gave her cute sunglasses, and turned on a movie on the tv hanging upside down from the ceiling! She slid back on her chair and began watching the movie and laughing in parts! There are no movies for me to watch at my dentist, I grumbled!

They checked out her teeth and gums and gave her a B+ for her teeth health and cleaning. Once we were done, little miss Haana and I posed in front of the photo booth, also at the dentist office, to commemorate our landmark visit to the dentist!!

Perks

I was having another one of my usual tiffs with little Miss Haana the other day. I asked her to do something, and she flat out refused.

I asked her, what happened to my perks. What kind of perks do I get for being a mom! I feel robbed! She said, 'As a mom you take care of me. You get to cook for me. You get to take me places. As a mom your perks are those'. I rolled my eyes and asked, 'Do you know what perks means? It's like this special benefit you get for doing something. Like that time we went to watch the Rangers' game because my friend Angie gets perfomance tickets - that's a perk she gets at her work. So where are my perks as a mom? I thought the kids are supposed to do what I say, that's why I got into this'.

Little miss Haana thought about this for a second, then she said, 'Your perk is me, you get to be with me and take care of me!'. I did agree with it in my heart, but I rolled my eyes at her anyway!