In this post, I just wanted to write down two incidents happened to my children that captured my attention. More for my future reference (I forget easily nowadays) and if possible, let my kids read about it after they grow up. It should be fun, I think.
K Had Chicken Pox
Exactly a week ago, J spotted some red dots on K’s body while they were having bath. The spots didn’t look like mosquito bites. It was especially apparent on the back of his body. We suspected it’s chickenpox because upon closer inspection, those were itchy, fluid-filled blisters.
Not to take things lightly, we kind of stopped K from mixing with other children so that he wouldn’t spread the disease to them. From my memory, I thought chicken pox must come with fever but K didn’t develop any signs of that and of any discomfort. He acted normal and was still active.
Later in the evening, I consulted a pediatrician and she confirmed that K got chicken pox. I refused to take any anti-itched medications. I let K to fight the illness naturally without interference from the outside. The only thing we applied on K was calamine solution we bought from a pharmacy – to soothe the itchiness.
According to the doctor, for children who have received the chicken pox vaccine, some will not have chicken pox at all. Or if they do, the symptoms would be very mild. But for K, he is not vaccinated but what he had was considered mild.
K didn’t develop fever, stomach ache, loss of appetite, or any symptoms related to chicken pox. He only had a few spots on his body, and some on arms, legs, and face. The spots were small. Besides itchiness, there’s nothing unusual about him.
He told us he liked chicken pox because he didn’t have to go to school.
J, my wife, and I were not affected by K’s ordeal. All of us have had got chicken pox before. We are protected against the chicken pox virus.
Just yesterday, K was back to school again after a week of absence. Things are back to normal for K. When recovering, the blisters will dry up and turn dark.
More info about chicken pox: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002559/
J is No Longer “Shy”
In the last two weekends, J attended two birthday parties. This time is different. We just dropped her at her friend’s home and fetched her later when the party was over.
She is more comfortable with this arrangement now compared to previous parties – which she needed one of us to be there throughout the party. She is now more independent and not so much reliant on parents.
This time even without our company, she mixes well with her friends and plays with them. She used to hold our hand wherever she went. I guess she has grown into a more autonomous girl. This might be the result of letting her mix and socialize with people often.
Not only that, she can joke and be playful with uncles, cousins, or friends… almost immediately. Before that, she did not say a word and sat next to daddy or mommy if someone else is around. Now she is a totally different person. She opens up more and interacts with people albeit a little and she needs a few meetups to warm up to strangers.
What’s more… She has begun to talk to her new piano teacher… starting with short sentences. With the previous teacher, J never said a word throughout the lessons.
Yesterday something happened and this again showed that J has stepped out of herself.
Due to fasting month of the Muslims, J’s school dismisses one hour earlier than usual. And this day was the first. I totally forgot about getting to school earlier. And suddenly I got a call from an unfamiliar number. It was J on the line calling to remind me to pick her up. I was 30 minutes late!
After the event, J told me she told her classmate that she forgot to remind me to pick her up earlier. When her classmate told her mother about this, she lent her mobile phone to J to make the call to me. If this happened months ago, J would have been panicked and she dared not talk to anyone about her situation. In fact, the mommy offered to send her back home but J couldn’t recognize the way.
(Darn! It’s a timely hint to me that I must teach J about the way to her own home in case she needs to go home by herself. But again, I think she knows the way. Maybe she is shy to tell it to her friend’s mom?!)
I know I have mentioned this before but J has shown tremendous improvement in this area as part of her growing up.
If your child is born a people person, you would think that this is no big deal. But if you have a child who is introvert, you will understand how we feel. This little improvement means a lot to the child as well the parents.
See Also…
Unexpected Breakthroughs that Surprised Me
