Creativity

Being a mother has allowed me to discover reserves of patience and creativity that I never knew existed.

I was tired from work and being pregnant tonight, and my son insisted on sitting next to me while i ate. "Eat your dinner, mama", he admonished like a class monitor. "Mama read to me, mama read to me, mama read to me...." x30 (ok, i exaggerate. maybe multiply that by 20 times). I was patient with him cos I understand his need for attention, especially since he only has slightly more than 1 hr with me between my return from work and his bedtime at 8-ish.

I read one of his favourite picture books "Help the cat" to him in between mouthfuls of dinner, and read that same book twice more while he was on the nebuliser (reading is one of the very few methods which work in keeping him still while he holds the nebuliser to his mouth).

He was his usual self before bed tonight and refused to open his mouth wide for me to use the finger tooth brush to brush his teeth.

I was really tired, but struck upon the idea of asking whether he wanted his forehead stamped with a kiss.

He perked up, cos he got a Thomas the train stamp on his hand at the doc's the day before, and was so pleased he literally hopped out of the doc's office, waving his hand in front of others and declaring to all the waiting patients "I've got a stamper! I've got a stamper!"

He nodded, opened his mouth wide like a rhino and grinned when i stamped my kiss with my hand onto his forehead after brushing his teeth. Asked for two more on his hand and then proclaimed "I've got a stamp!" before starting to imagine "I've got two cats on my hand!" "I like cats."

Managed to bluff him into sleep by asking whether he's a cat (he often says he's a tiger..) and telling him cats sleep a lot.. and big cats sleep even more, so he should curl up and close his eyes like a tiger.

He fell asleep in record time. ^_^