Perseverance

Lil Miss N tends to be discouraged all too soon as exhibited in two incidents described henceforth : she was practising her violon when she slouched and played like a cricket croaking without any effort whatsoever, Petit Suisse made smart-alec* comments such as 'C'est nul, tu fais tout faux' and her reaction was to just give up and bawl her eyes out... all the while complaining that Je ne serai jamais capable de jouer au violon

the second involved her braiding woolen strings into a bracelet, she stumbled and made one or two consecutive mistake and decided that she had had enough and toss the unfinished bracelet into the garbage bin.

Shrek had one of those fortifying talks to Lil Miss N to iron out any self-doubts she might have been harbouring.

As a kid Shrek was not given opportunities to learn to play a musical instrument or have very many extra-curricular activities outside of school. Given that we do our best to give our kids exposure to and the opportunity to learn musical instruments the very least is to give it their best shot and persevere. Practice and effort makes perfect although we are not in any way aiming for perfection, I do aim to give them a well-rounded education with music, literature, scientific discoveries and philosophy. They can then decide what they want to do with all that knowledge and know-how but the most important lesson Shrek and I want to instil into our kids is 'perseverance'. Perseverance is a virtue unto itself but more than being virtuous it is a dogged approach to life that can 'keep them moving forward' borrowed from the 'Robinsons'

Bobos

Recapitulative of the major arm breaking or teeth shaking/losing accidents our brood have had thus far:

At the tender age of fifteen months Petit Suisse fell and face planted onto a shelf losing two teeth in the process. His teeth were put back in place at my aunt's dental clinic and he suffered as the only food intake he was allowed for a whole week was liquid : milk and variants of liquid dairy products via a straw. Shrek and I as a sign of solidarity had to sneakily eat our meals whilst Petit Suisse had his naps. Exactly one week later Petit Suisse whilst running around in circles tripped and fell on the wooden floorboard thereby shaking loose the two teeth that had been reimplanted previously that hadn't had a chance to regenerate itself.In a moment of panic he bawled his eyes out and swallowed both his teeth relinquishing it to the depths of his intestine. This time his teeth could not be retrieved or implanted, they were lost forever in the abyss of his intestinal digestive system.

Many days later I found the two self same darkened thus barely recognisable black teeth in his faeces and that was the end of those two frontal teeth for years. Eventually roots for his permanent teeth grew and now his set of teeth is complete.

Lil Miss N whilst playing in the playground one day during her second year as a kindergartener threw herself onto the sliding pole. She must have lost her grip, fell and as a natural defense put out her left arm to temper the fall. It was unclear as to whether anything in her arm was broken and she had it in a DIY splint (attelle). After several days the pain still did not go away so we went for a radiography and a tiny fracture was discovered au niveau de son coude à gauche. A proper splint with plaster/cast was fabricated and she wore it for several weeks...It healed.

Lil Miss Feisty fell on Tuesday 1st November in the afternoon whilst playing in the playground in the school yard where Petit Suisse and Lil Miss N were following their music course. She was playing mischievously on the slide when she decided to climb up against the slide (instead of the staircase designed for the purpose of climbing). She fell onto the ground and in a flurry of panic, precipitation and natural progression of things used her right arm to mitigate the plunge thereby breaking it. I quickly gathered the troops/my brood and sped towards the nearest hospital. Scans were taken and it was determined that she had a fratured palette humérale on her right arm. She was sent home with a temporary splint and transfered to the Children's Hospital. She had to fast for a minimum of 6 hours in order for the surgery to take place. The next morning after having suffered starvation for almost 12 hours tubes were inserted into her veins via needles. She was calm and co-operative during the shenanigans of tube insertion. She became more and more aghast and understandably so with all the tubes and gaz tied up to her. She was most uncomfortable and coupled with hunger wailed, screamed and was unconsolable. She just wanted a milk bottle but she was prohibited from this basic neccessity as we were strenuously waiting for the operation to transpire. She was finally taken to the operation block agitated, given general anasthesie and her fracture was reduced without the need for titan screws. Soulagement !!!!!!!!!!! She now has to wear a plaster splint for the next three weeks. Hopefully it will have healed and tests/scans come back innocuous: tout est en ordre after the three weeks have transpired. One of the biggest challenges we have to face whilst she still has the attelle in place is personal hygiene. Our concern involves the absolute need to avoid humidification of the plâtre which delineates/anticipates no showers or baths of any kind. As it is winter and one does not sweat or perspire nearly as much in this cold climate compared to summer it is a small consolation.

As Lil Miss Feisty's accident was the most recent dates are still fresh : on the 1st November 2011, she fell from a slide and broke her palette humérale and subsequently had to wear a plaster cast, on the 25th November 2011 she had the cast removed. All is well that ends well !

Terriblement lentement

My calvaire takes the form of teaching Lil Miss N how to read. Whenever we begin our reading lessons she will invariably swing back and forth, her backbone structure will have caved in and she is spineless thus giving way to a wriggly worm with the attention span of a sparrow. Her concentration level is at an all time low!

I am persisting and hoping that she will have a declic. She is making progress however small,slow and drawn out it may seem.

Shrek has also had the pleasure of patienter avec une petite fille facilement distraite or moreover singe like to reflect/hint at her birth year and Chinese astrological sign. She was born in the year of the Monkey after all.

Persist and persist we must...patience is a virtue unto itself.

I hope it pans out nicely. I cannot estimate how long it will take befor Lil Miss N is able to read simple extracts and children's books littered with pictures and limited literature but I do hope our efforts pay off.

Update Petit Suisse is reading and writing like a pro, improving everyday so the painstaking lessons we shared have yielded magnificent results. I cannot stress how proud I feel that it is a victory and triumph in and of itself because the long road was permeated with difficult upheavals.

Maman maman

Lil Miss N had me worried the other day when she proudly announced that she wanted to become une maman.

Lil Miss N : J'aimerais bien devenir maman !

Seeing my bewildered expression, my jaw must have dropped and I was left speechless

Lil Miss N qualified her declaration : Je veux juste être maman pour de semblant ou m'occuper de Lil Miss Feisty.

Soulagement..............................

Lice outbreak !

The outbreak of poux parmi nous has struck again and this time noone was spared. We all went through the arduous process of parafin treatment which meant that we oiled our heads so that the lice will suffocate and die a painful death or so I hope after all the itchy and scratchy that went on here at the Lost in Switzerland household.

Lil Miss N is the portal into our auspicious family. She has time and again proven to be our lice carrier and invariably lice are not satisfied with one head they must propagate and find food and expand their population hence it is with much regret and lots of cussing that I go through the rigamorole (silly process and even sillier spelling) of ridding our family of such invasion and intrusion. It is disagreeable and I wish there was a vaccination against these damned pests/parasites !!!

Whispers

Lil Miss N was surreptitiously excited as she beckoned me to lower my ear to her level so she could whisper a top secret into my ear.

It was pleasing beyond words to hear


...


'Je t'aime et c'est tout'

Je t'aime aussi ma petite princesse !!!


Yeah yeah I know I know I am falling into that parental trap of treating my daughters like precious princesses and my boys as valiant knights or little princes. Call me typical or whatever but I am not budging !


On another tangent she often tells me that

'T'es une jalouse'
which totally perplexes me to no end so I requested an explanation or enlightenment

She coolly interjected that 'You always have and wear all the beautiful dresses and adornments, in short you cover yourself in beautiful things and so you 'faire jalouse les autres dames'. Ah I see she means that I look so beautiful that I leave other women green with envy, she just didn't know how to phrase it. Coming from my own daughter it might seem biased and can be likened to 'the cat admiring the magnificent length of its tail' (Vietnamese idiom) but I will take it because as far as I am concerned kids do not lie.

Digging more holes

Overheard in the swirlpool of Vitam'parc

'Papa, laisser la dame passer, tu vois la grosse là bas ?'

The 'grosse dame' en question was just next to Shrek and felt slightly uneasy at this declaration frank but none too diplomatic. Lil Miss N still has a lot to learn before she can fathom a career in diplomacy. I sense that the non-diplomatic gene has been passed onto the next generation and is perpetuating much to a forlorn father's chagrin.
Ha !

All hail 'La cheffe de nettoyage'

The honorable title 'chief of cleanliness' aka 'le maître de nettoyage' has been hereby designated to Lil Miss N.

Lil Miss N recently came home with a necklace made out of twine and a pendant which features a picture of a girl in the process of cleaning up. I promptly asked her where on earth did you get that from.. She proudly responded 'Mum I have been assigned the role of chef de nettoyage by my teacher.' Lil Miss N could not contain her excitement and pride at having been awarded such a responsibility.

Following from and capping off this self-satisfaction and pride I have decided together with Shrek to exploit this and assign her le titre de la petite cheffe de nettoyage et pliage des habilles...with the hope that she will continue and be our vacuum cleaner operator and floor cleaner.

All I ever hope for in my kids is for them to be independent and to assist me a bit with everyday household chores so as to alleviate my load somewhat.

Random meanderings and ramblings

Lil Miss N has lost her first tooth ever. The petit souris was quick to exchange her tooth for a coin during her revêrie.

She is coquette more than ever and would spend copious amounts of time looking at her own reflection in the mirror. She also eyes my accessories and has an already developed taste for deluxe luxurious adornments and a heightened sense of fashion.

She is a little monkey who cannot stand up straight but prefers to bend and swing about and in short monkeys about spinelessly thus having dire consequences like the time she fell in the playground on the monkeybar and broke her elbow. Alas a broken elbow was not a big deterrent as she continued sashaying about without a care in the world and flirted with disaster and danger....

Lil Miss N has a knack for sulking and will easily detract from one extreme to another. She can be pouting and saying 'Tu n'es plus ma maman' meaning 'You are no longer my mum' because she was contradicted and in the next breath will espouse ' Tu es la meilleure de mamans' which translates to 'You are the best mum in the whole wide world.'

I have come to expect this changeable behaviour and take everything she says with a grain of salt.

She is still my little special girl !

Week 23/52

One of Lil Miss N's favourite subjects to draw is Hello Kitty. She is a girl who is influenced largely by her environment and is easily impressionable by adverts primarily.

She does have a talent for drawing and easily surpasses me in terms of artistic talent.

Reconnaissance

I was especially stoked when I heard Lil Miss N utter

'Je sais que tu travail très dure tous les jours mama.' with an utmost respect and recognition of what I do for her and her siblings everyday.

I feel vindicated and that my efforts are worthwhile even if they are not renumerated or have not materialised into a paycheck and will not be recognised by society at large as home duties, child rearing and housework are considered banal. It is as if those who simply tend their nests and take care of their own families are worthless because they do not contribute positively to society by way of paying taxes.

Aside from polemic and what not It is for those few touching words that I strive so hard for.

'Je t'aime de tout, tout, tout mon cœur'

Those are words to melt a mummy's heart.

Awww
It is not merely sentimental but purely love that ultimately renders us happy and balanced or whole.

Je vous aime tous mes chers, chers enfants pour toujours !
Ta maman cherie

Week 14/52

Five year old fashionista

Lil Miss N is coquettish to the max and is well on her way to becoming a stylish fashionista or fashion star having emulated her chic Mama.

Little Miss Stroppy

It does not take much to ruffle Lil Miss N's feathers these days. She seems to have a kerfuffle and throw a hissy fit/temper tantrum over the most miniscule things. She is a sulky and insufferable cry baby at least once if not several times a day.

She loves to throw around

'T'es méchant(e)' depending on the sex of the person she is talking to.

I was bed ridden and she blamed me for not having surveyed her 'make believe cabane' which she had concocted out of a blanket and some of her knick knacks... and allowed Baby Taz and Ben to destroy her fortress.

She went on and on and on for a good half hour screaming and hurling
'T'es méchante, je comprends tu n'a pas voulu surveiller...etc'

She gets upset over games that she deems too complicated or unwinnable for her. She is an especially bad loser.

She is just going through a difficult phrase as I do not condone the continuing of this reckless misbehaviour.

Papercrafts

River of Babylon,

Ehhh ehhh

There was a river of tears as Lil Miss N and Petit Suisse discovered that I had thrown out some bent paper airplanes and an Indian headwrap that they had fabricated.

Petit Suisse has a knack for folding paper planes...tens of them. I told him that we don't really need so man planes lying around but he was adamant that I had to safeguard them and not trash them.
Lil Miss N was also mightily upset and threatened to tell her teacher on me. The Indian headgear decorated with a paper feather was a crafts project she did in class. I was shaking in my boots.

Shrek is supposedly more discreet when it comes to throwing out waste.

I am taking out a page from Shrek's book.

At their impressionable age they do not get it that we can fabricate and fold paper planes or any other paper based craft time and again over and over... it does not matter really because to them each one is a chefs d'oevre d'Art. They are budding artists and I am not all that sensitive as my sensibilities have been dulled by reality.

I will attempt to be more mindful of such reactions in the future.

I felt like a villain tonight. :(

BricoNöel

Petit Suisse and Lil Miss N fabricated and crafted Christmas ornaments avec soin. They were for the most part decorative candle holders (bougeoirs) and an apéritif centrepiece crafted out of pâte à sel aka salt dough. There was a guirlande punctuated with a dried orange slice, felt heart-shaped jingle bell as well as a felt Xmas tree ornament which doubles as a perfumed wardrobe/closet scenter and finally a pretty pot of pine cones. Little baby Taz did contribute one candle holder which he decorated haphazardly with pebbles and stones.

There is no greater way to show my appreciation for their efforts than by proudly displaying their handiworks.

I am a very proud mummy and what better time than the festive season to display their triumphant crafts(wo)manship.

Breakage, clumsiness and general gaff !

Lil Miss N should have her name changed to Miss Clumsy. She inadvertently bumps into corners, tables, chairs, invisible obstacles and objects. She also has a tendency to drop and spill food, drinks and goods in general. She is after all a kid whose fine tuning is still in the process of perfecting.

I am manic about dropping things and breaking them especially when it comes to costly valuables. I accidentally dropped a watch with ceramic links and will have to replace that link and the damage has yet to be determined. I chastised myself and am prone to self-flagellation over minor breakages etc...which does not bode well for my mental health according to Shrek. I suspect he might be right because I am une gaffeuse, guess that is where Miss Clumsy got her clumsy genes from and if every time something had to be replace I get worked up then it would spell disaster for my sanity and in the long run cost me my well-being and equilibrium which no material object or amount of money is worth fretting over.

Award scheme

I have devised a new system at home. Petit Suisse and Lil Miss N are to receive 2 stickers of their choice after one week of good behaviour, good marks/achievements and concerted efforts toward their schoolwork and or tyding up and helping out at home.

This is an effective tool because the rolls of 1000 stickers I just bought will come in handy. They can each have a log book and will be able to stick their stickers in one of the three columns 'Behaviour', 'Achievements' and 'Efforts'. It will give them a sense of responsibility . It encourages hopefully cooperation and instils a sense of pride in themselves.

There will be follow up reports of how that goes.

Pour ma maman

C'est trop trop chou cette petite chanson que j'aime tant par sa simplicité et sincèrité.

J'adore quand Lil Miss N sings one or two lines of the chorus. It really melts my heart. It is very much what a little being would say if they had the know-how and could express their deep gratitude and heartfelt amour for their maman. It is sung with tenderness and through its simplicity the revelation that from nothing at all one can give all stemming from the heart..The infant or child in question is not capable of giving material and physical things/objects with value but from his or her heart is able to give overflowing love and that is ultimately all this maman needs.

Pour ma maman
par Nicole Snitselaar

Dans ma main,

J'ai bien peu de choses

A te donner Maman :

J'ai un coquillage blanc

Une pomme de pin

Deux châtaignes, trois glands

Et une petite pierre

Pour toi maman

Chorus:

C'est pour toi

Pour toi maman

Ma maman à moi

Que j’aime tant !



Dans ma main

J’ai bien peu de choses

A te donner maman

J’ai une petite coccinelle

Une feuille de marronnier

Des aiguilles de sapin

Et un bout de ficelle

Pour toi maman



Dans mon cœur

J’ai beaucoup de choses

A te donner maman

J’ai des guirlandes brillantes

Des montagnes de fleurs

J’ai des ruisseaux d’'argent

Et des perles d’amour

Pour toi maman



Dans mon cœur

J’ai beaucoup de choses

A te donner maman

J'ai des milliers de baisers

Des mots tendres et gentils

Des bouquets de sourires

Des brassées de bonté

Pour toi maman

Lil Miss N really knows how to pull/tug at my heartstrings

She spontaneously came up to me and said 'Tu es mon amour'. Altogether now awwwwww

They said it

When asked by Shrek who the most important person in the household is, Lil Miss N without the slightest hint of hesitation or doubt coolly replied 'Me of course'.

I come in a close second.

Lil Miss N has a very healthy dose of narcissism or healthy self-image and self importance already.