jules nora yati

We had a lovely day out today. We went to the Mills market and had brunch there. Nora wasn’t interested in her lunch and just wanted her yoghurt and berries after having a bit of my toast.

Then we went to the City Farm near by so that Nora will at least know what dinner used to look like. Jules and I decided if we ever have any pet lambs, they will be called Lamb Chops, Mint Sauce and Kebab.

Of course we also had to do the weekend grocery shopping… but the main buy for the day was from the market… a rocking horse for Nora. It was only a tenner… and she really seem to love rocking in it!

It was a long day but I still made some fish fingers for Nora and mee hoon (vermicelli noodle dish) for Jules and me. I have a feeling that Nora seem to know the difference between cod and haddock! I never had problems feeding her the cod fish fingers I made but she kept spitting out the haddock fish fingers today.

I gave up and she started grumbling when I was eating my mee hoon. I told her it’s pedas (spicy) but she kept on grumbling. So, I put some on her tray and she ate it! I put more on her tray and her hand was quick to grab the noodles and put it straight in her mouth.

Oh well… she is part of me after all and probably been wanting a bit of South East Asian food for a while.

I know Nora will one day be reading this site and oh… how she will be cringing!

She’ll be letting me know that I didn’t need to tell the whole world that yesterday while she was in her bath, her face went all red… and indication that she needed to poo… so I lifted her out of the bath and put her on her potty. She had been in the bath for a while and her fingers were going all wrinkly… but I wasn’t expecting anything as usually when she is straining to poo and I put her on the potty, she won’t as I must have interrupted her concentration.

However, yesterday, there was a lump of poo in her potty!

Yes, Nora… it might be embarassing… but for Mama, it was a very proud moment indeed!

I took time off from work on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The week before I had a chat with Liz, one of the managers from Toots, and we agreed to try to have another settling in period for Nora, where I will stay for an hour and play with her, but disappearing every few minutes.

On the Monday, we came in, and I sat her at the Busy Bee section (18months to 2 years) as there was where they have their breakfast. She was on the floor playing with a doll that Sophia (one of the babies) gave to me, so I went to put my coat up. Nora was fine. She just played and did not make a sound.

Then we went to the Baby Room. Nora had to make sure that I was about but she was happy to crawl away and play… but kept crawling back just to make sure that I didn’t leave.

But when I did leave, she was not happy at all. Every time when I went to pick her up, they kept telling me that there hasn’t been much improvement. She was still screaming the whole time I was absent. My heart sank every time I heard the report.

It didn’t help when the other manager, can’t remember her name and not really caring to find out, had a chat with me yesterday. She seemed rather cold and said that I should be realistic and start to look for alternative care, especially since I’m taking a few days off, so I should start calling first thing when I get home. Of course she is saying all of this and not trying to make me feel that she’s pushing us out. She also said that on 9 July, the whole nursery were going out for an outing and that if Nora keeps on screaming the way she does, it wouldn’t be good for anyone… she gave me the form for the outing but I was thinking ‘I don’t want to go if you’re going!’

It was a very upsetting day for me yesterday. We were walking down the street when there was this old lady who waved at Nora and Nora happily waved and smiled back to her. She commented about Nora’s lovely smile and how friendly she is… that’s when I started pouring my heart out to a total stranger… who was kind enough to listen and said that if she was in Tooting, she would love to look after Nora as she is such a lovely baby.

I almost burst into tears.

We went to a baby exploring centre near Figgs Marsh with Lina and Maya and again I poured my heart out to one of the staff there who got me information on childminders and was very helpfull and reassured me that everyting will be fine.

This morning, I woke up and did our morning ritual together. Going to the loo and letting her use the potty. Gave Nora her morning milk and then passed her to Jules so I could have a shower. Nora and I then watched Tikabila together while I fed her breakfast of banana and yoghurt. I changed her clothes and pass her back to Jules so I could get ready for work and gave her a kiss goodbye.

The whole morning I was upset and spent most of the time looking for childminders and putting ads up for a live-out nanny… and do work at the same time.

At around noon, my phone rang and I saw it was Toots. My heart just sank… until I heard Keisha’s news!

Nora found a friend… she’s called Ruby but she’s not there fulltime. Nora has been playing with her and she did not scream that much. She even had her lunch and pudding!!

I felt a huge weight was lifted of me… I can’t say how happy that news made me that I had to share it with everyone that I’m quite close to at work. Rebecca suggested that maybe I should pay Ruby to be at the nursery fulltime… I might be broke but Nora would be happy!

I really hope that this is not a one off thing and that Nora has in the end figured out that I will always come for her at the end of the day… or I might just do what Rebecca suggested!

Things I’d do to make my child happy…