8/9/02
Here are two other stories, I don't know how to make it short. On Wednesday, Vakho got a pair of new shoes for Lily, dark red, soft leather. Lily always has special affection about shoes. But this time, she went a little too far.
That night, after dinner, she started playing with her new shoes. She put the shoes on her hands first, clapping a few times, took them off, and started trying to put them on her feet. She did not have much difficulty with her right foot, but the left foot was giving her real trouble. I was doing things in the kitchen and did not know all this until I heard some painful crying form the bedroom. I came in and helped her a bit to put that shoe on. She was happy and clapping her hands and laughed. But soon, she took them off, and tried to put them on again. I was happy something can keep her busy so that I didn't have to be around, so I went back to kitchen.
Twenty minutes later, some painful and desperate crying made me went in the bedroom again. This time she put the right shoe on her left foot, and sat there kicking! I took it off from her, and tried to tell her she should use the other shoe, or try this shoe on the other foot. Can you imagine how useless my effort was? She insisted on trying the right shoe on left foot (and I believe she would insist that it has to be comfortable, too! :-). I had to trick her, pretending to drop both shoes, picked up the left shoe and quickly put it on her left foot...
The whole matter was worse the second night. After dinner, I put her to bed to sleep. As she was getting on bed, she saw her new shoes on top of the shelf. She asked for them, and started to play with them again. This time she had more success, and did not make much sound at all. After I finished all the work in the kitchen an hour later, she was still playing.
I came into the bedroom to sleep, so I told her to switch off the light. She stood up from bed, switched off the light, and lied down to sleep. I thought she might lay on top of the shoes and it could be uncomfortable. So I got up and tried to take them away. It was then I realize that she had them both on her feet!
It was my mistake that I tried to take them off her feet. The moment I took them off, she got up crying, trying to switch on the light, and started to play with them again! This time, she wouldn't switch off the light, and wouldn't let me switch off the light either. And she put them on and took them off at least for another twenty times.
I showed her that I was upset. She came and kissed my leg, turned her head and looked at me..., Mommy was still upset... Kiss me again, turn and look at me... Mom was still upset. So she kissed me for the third time, and looked again. I couldn't hold back and gave her a smile. Then she was happy... and went BACK playing with her shoes again!!!
By now, it was pass 11:30 pm. I just had to give up. I turned my body facing outside and tried to sleep. About 10 minutes later, she switched off the light and lied down quietly. This time I did nothing. Two minutes later, she got up, took off the shoes, gave them to me, and lied down again. That's how the evening ended :-)
Mommy Coughing
Story number two.
These days I'm coughing. Sometimes I would cough for a minute or so.
Tuesday night after we went to bed, I coughed a bit. I felt Lily got up, came to me, and pat me on my back three times. I was wondering what she was doing, so I turned around. She went back to sleep. I didn't think much of it then.
The next day, when we were on the bus, I started coughing again. She leaned over and kept patting on my back and chest many times. Now I remember! Whenever she coughs, I would pat her back or chest to help her feel better! Amazing how kids understand and learn things!!!
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Some notes for these stories: Though she can put her shoes on and off many times, she still can not buckle them up right. Though she would not stop playing with her shoes and go to sleep, she would stop playing with them and come to pat my back if I cough. What a child!
