Ramblings continued

For anyone who thought it might perhaps be easy to just stay at home all day and look after a child, occasionally teaching an English class from the comfort of my own home, ought to think again, or get married and have a child and try yourself! For those who have gone through the child-rearing years, you must clearly understand what I'm about to relate.

Yesterday Lauren started having what I reckon is the most difficult word in the English language to spell - I can never get it right so let me go and check the dictionary.............     ...............     ............... I still can't find it! .............      ...............    oh there it is....."diarrhoea". It can be a mouthful to pronounce and it is certainly a handful to spell correctly, let alone clean up! While I may be talented in writing, spelling, and all things English, I am most definitely frail when it comes to spelling 'diarrhoea.'

Anyway, that's what Lauren came down with, whether it had anything to do with two worm tablets she took on Monday, I have no idea. So her bum and genitals (one of my favourite words, coincidentally, the other being 'scrotum' - just sounds great, doesn't it?) are extremely sore and it's a painful job washing her after each episode of diarrhoea. This morning was no different. She couldn't sit down because of the soreness, so she stood to watch her cartoons and gingerly walked to the fridge to grab her mango juice.

And so I took her to the clinic across the road where the waiting time is high but the price of consultation and medication is ridiculously low - RM1! We actually, and very thankfully, didn't have to wait more than half an hour this time, and we received four different medicines to combat the dreaded diarrhoea. (I spelt it without looking this time!)

Administering the medicine was the hardest part of all though. It took longer for Lauren to consume these four various medicines than it did checking in, waiting, consulting a doctor and waiting for medicine, at the clinic. "Yucky, yucky!" were the cries from her distraught little face. With much persuasion and a little force, I managed to get it all safely down her throat. (I think the reward of skittles played a big part too!)

No sooner had I finished the arduous task of medicating her, than I discovered several mosquito bites on her feet which would explain why she kept taking her shoes off at the clinic! I don't know where they came from, but anyway, I applied some extremely effective cream called "Mozbite" and shortly after gave her feet a wash with cold water, and soon they were fine again.

I put her to sleep, which took no longer than five minutes, at 12.30pm and she has been sleeping for the past four hours, which is a marathon snore-fest by her standards.

Checking my inbox I came across a most beautifully written email from my dear wife, thanking me for looking after Lauren and various other things. Isn't it great to receive a note of gratitude from someone you love? Thank you Fidelia, for lighting the candle of love in my heart today! 

It made all of my troubles with Lauren seem well worth it.