All I remember of the last 3 weeks is teaching piano, practising piano, writing for Lent, eating loads of ice-cream, and going away for a holiday with Ben and Sophie.
Speaking of which...
Being a music teacher means having to break when it's the school holidays - public holidays and term breaks - otherwise I would have to do replacements, which I dislike. (There are no sick leave or annual leave entitlements, where I work.) First, it is a hassle to find a suitable time slot when both the student and I are so busy. Secondly, it means having to teach during the precious hours I usually spend at home (with Sophie) or during a holiday when my colleagues are not around (very lonely). Lastly, I would rather have my official holidays free for traveling if I need to. And so, when I fell sick recently, I made sure that my hospital stay did not extend beyond my off-days. I went back to work only a few hours after I was discharged! Contrary to popular opinion, it is not because I am a workaholic. Rather, it is because I want to enjoy my holidays to the fullest.
Since we haven't visited my dad in Subang in a long while, we decided to do it during my break this month. As Genting Highlands is less than an hour's drive from Subang/KL, we thought, why not spend a few days there too?
And so, we went.
Sophie was very excited at the idea of going away for a few days with her superdad and supermum as well as Moon (her stuffed baby giraffe). She looked forward to seeing Kong Kong again and going on merri-go-round rides. The adults were more for the cool weather, rest and timeout from work. I also badly wanted to enjoy doing nothing with the family. That's important too, you know.
Unfortunately, Sophie came down with food poisoning on our first day in GH. It must have been something she ate in KL. (Good thing it happened in GH and not while we were still in KL because if it had, we would have forgone our stay in GH and missed out on all the fun.) It began with a burning hot fever that night and in the wee hours of the next morning, she began purging every hour or so. Sometimes, she would soil her nappy right after we had changed it too. Thankfully, this is not our first time dealing with her condition and so we were well prepared for the emergency - prayers, meds, ointments, soy milk (to replace her regular formula milk), extra diapers, detergent to wash soiled clothes, etc. The challenge, however, was the sore bottom. Sophie cried (screamed in pain to be exact) every time we had to wash her bottom and after a while, she wouldn't even tell us after she had defecated for fear of yet another bathroom visit. Supermum has a very strong sense of smell though... Nights were the worst. She would wake up with random stomachaches and soil her nappy so that her parents would have to clean her up in the height of their grogginess (and disorientation), comfort her profusely, and settle her down again. This happened more than once. It also became increasingly difficult to get her to eat her medicine! There was a lot of gagging, throwing up and she even grew wary of drinking soy milk (because I usually mix her medicine in). Happily, the diarrhoea eased up a little on our third day in GH and she is back in the pink of health now.
Despite the pains, we had a great holiday. (If only we could go on hotel stay-cations every time the toddler is sick!) We took things easy, watched TV in our hotel room, prayed with Sophie when she complained of pain, went out whenever we liked, took Sophie on rides in the indoor theme park of First World Hotel in between diarrhoea episodes, and spent the days and hours giving our little girl lavish hugs and kisses. We even made a short trip to Bukit Tinggi (45 minutes away from GH) just so that Sophie could have fun at the animal park and check out the Colmar Tropical French-themed resort. The last time Ben and I were there (with my sister, Zoey), it was just the beginning of our courtship!
It was after this trip that Sophie began saying the words: "I love you."
We love you too, Sophie.
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