Good Service Is Out!

Larry had never been to America. In fact, he had been to many Asian countries. It would be his first time traveling on an American-based flight. He was going on a Buddhist retreat in San Francisco.

He did not expect the flight to take forever! On top of that, service was poor. The flight attendants seemed to think the passengers owed them something. They did whatever they were supposed to do in a detached manner. Larry observed that if someone asked for anything extra, the person would be received with a cold reception with a raised eye-brow! Most of the time, the request would not be granted. If, by a slim chance, the request was granted, the person would be discouraged to repeat the action again. Larry missed the warm, caring, (even if faked) and eager-to-please attitude the flight attendants had on some other flights he had taken.

Larry sighed as he thought about the flying industry. The price of flying was always going uphill, but the service was going downhill! It was almost like having to pay a penalty for flying! Gone were they days when you were treated like kings because you could afford to fly!

Flying Little

The plane was full! Her baby was very tired, but she struggled to stay awake! How could a little baby know how to resist the natural instinct to sleep? All right. She was not that little. She was already 7 months old. Still, why would she not go to sleep when she was tired? She should not have a clue about what she would miss out on, if she fell asleep. She watched her baby's mouth open, and the dreaded screaming began! That was the scream of fatigue! She looked around at the other passengers warily! They hated her, or they would, after the flight, she thought.

She held the baby close, spoke to her sternly in Vietnamese, and started to rock her vigorously! That was the only way she would go to sleep. She sang to her a Vietnamese lullaby, over and over again, till the crying ceased, and the tiny body relaxed. Her body relaxed too, and she started to feel her arms aching. Gently, her heart thumping, she put her baby down on her seat. The baby did not stir. She heaved a sigh of relief, and sat on the floor beside the baby. She could rest for a little, till the tiny being woke from her sweet slumber.

Birth

When I had my first baby, I was induced, and was in extreme pain with the contractions triggered by the induction fluid. At some point, I went insane with pain, and asked my husband to ask the nurse to give me some pain medication. After what seemed like hours, the anesthesiologist finally came, and I was peaceful and calm after he injected me with the wonderful pain medicine, called epidural.

Just had my second baby a few weeks ago. I told my husband I was going to insist on pain medication before the extreme pain came upon me. Unfortunately, I had to be induced again, because the baby was overdue. The doctor prescribed another method of induction because circumstances were a little different from my first delivery. When the contractions became intense, I asked for pain medication. Of course, the nursing staff told me it was too early for me to have any. When I was finally declared "able" to get some pain medication, both anesthesiologists in the hospital were tied up in surgery! With every onset of contractions, I yelled my lungs out! I could not believe I was not going to get any pain relief! I For what seemed like hours, the nurses, and my husband, had to endure my piercing screams, till the baby was put in my arms.

Till now, I have no words to describe the pain brought on by contractions.

Copy-cat

My 3-year-old toddler is an extreme copy-cat! Spent Thanksgiving at some relatives' place, and my son got to play with two of his cousins. They were about 3 years, and 5 years older than him. He followed them around the whole time! The older cousin was a girl, and loved to dress my son up in dress-up clothes. My son was agreeable to whatever his older cousins wanted to do. The younger cousin was a boy, and wanted to be out in the backyard all the time. My son was happy to do that too! However, at some point, the cousins got tired of him constantly following them around, and would hide from him. I felt sorry for my son, but at the same time, was worried about him being such a huge "follower", and copy-cat! I wondered to myself if he would not develop his own identity. I was told by some friends though, that it was a typical 3-year-old thing! Oh well! Guess we shall see!

High Fever Woes

My little 3-year-old has been running high fevers on and off, since he turned 3. I'm worried about him whenever he runs high fevers. His little body will burn so hot it hurts to touch him. I've tried sponging him, but it doesn't seem to help much. He doesn't like to be sponged too, which makes the task even more difficult. The last time he ran a fever, he ended up with a runny nose, cough, and ear infection. He had never had an ear infection before he turned 3 too! Oh well! Hopefully, the fever woes will leave him alone after a while!

A Birthday Surprise

Mary wanted to do something special for her husband, Henry's birthday this year. Since they had kids, the garage had been dominated by their kids' toys, just like almost every part of their house. Mary knew it would be nice if Henry had a den of his own - a place he could relax in, and perhaps, catch up on his 'guyish' hobbies.

Henry would be going out of town on a business trip in a few days. He would be gone for a longer period of time. Mary was thinking about transforming the garage to a 'haven' for Henry, as his birthday present this year. Mary did not really know what to do, so she got on the computer and found this wonderful website, where she could get attractive garage cabinets to hide all the children's toys, and all the unsightly things in the garage.

On top of that, she could also get interesting accessories to decorate the garage, to make it a more "guyish" place, where Henry would feel like hanging out. Mary planned to make it a place that Henry could even invite his friends over and watch football games with, and have snacks together. The selection of cabinets was wide, and Mary could not believe how much the garage would be transformed once the cabinets were installed. Mary thought she might even feel like hanging out in it, when the renovations were all done!

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Slow Eater

My toddler is a SLOW eater. There are times when he eats fast, but those times are far and few between! It is so frustrating when we eat out with other people, besides my husband and myself. We don't let him leave the table until all the food in his plate is eaten. We want to stick to that rule to cultivate good eating habits. We don't want him to waste food, or be choosy. Sometimes, he takes more than an hour to finish his food. Sometimes, he sits there and eat, and whine about not having anyone eating with him. Sometimes, he just sits there and takes his time finishing his food. I do wish there's a way to make him finish his food the same time as everyone else, but we haven't come out with a workable plan yet!