yes I know. Once again I got gobbled up by my little world and forgot about this one. Actually thats not fair. I didn’t forget about this one. In fact I have been thinking of it a lot with a mix of emotions ranging from longing to guilt to annoyance to excitement.
So let’s recap the events of the last month:
It was National Down Syndrome day and Saut society had fantastic celebrations in Riyadh, Jeddah and the eastern province. There was such a huge surge of voluteers it was over whelming and really touching. The kids loved it and we were able to spread awareness. The amount of people who still think that people born with Down Syndrome have a short life span was really shocking to me! That used to be the case years ago but with the advancement of healthcare they live long healthy lives.
It was Mother’s Day as well. The Arab Mother’s Day falls on the same day as National Down Syndrome day so there was a lot to celebrate. The kids had a concert at their school the week before and it was so sweet to watch.
My family and I are still mourning my grandmother. It seems like we are going through days with a choked up feeling all the time. I know it gets better and life goes on and inshallah we all have faith and know this is the way it goes and will go for all of us but we miss her.
I think my grandmothers death lead J to this conversation with her nanny yesterday:
J: I’m worried about when mama dies.
Nanny: Sweetheart mummy’s not going to die for a very long time.
J: but what if she does and i have no one to ask how to do things?
Nanny: What sort of things?
J: Like how will I find a husband and how will I know how to treat him?
Nanny: I think that’s a long time yet J and we will make sure you have a lovely husband!
J: Ok what about when I go to college? Who will tell me about that? Will they be strict?
Nanny: No J, I think you will love college.
J: Does it snow at college?
Nanny: No not always.
How random is my child! I was torn between laughing and crying honestly. This isn’t the first time she asks about who will teach her things if I die. No my child is not anxious at all… not at all. I do love that she knows she’s going to learn these things from me God willing.
We had J’s birthday party in this past month. A swimming party. Yes I hear you gasp and say “what a stupid idea to have a bunch of kids over to swim!” if you realise how many kids were invited that is. We bought 50 giveaways and they were all gone at the end of the night. I know some people doubled up but there were definitely more than 35 children.
I was praying for an uneventful party, boring even. I didn’t get my wish.
Last year I had a joint birthday party for my son who was turning 9 and my daughter who was turning 6. This party was at a bowling alley with a paintball arena right beside it. In theory it would have been perfect. Bowling and arts and crafts and even paintball for older kids. I made sure that the paintball was suitable for their age range. How? By asking the manager and getting someone else to double check and asking them if the rifles would shoot softly or not. And I told them on many different occasions the ages of the children. Long story short within the first 10 seconds boys were running out crying with big bruises on their arms. I wanted to die. And I wanted to kill the people in charge there as well. I was mortified. The kids would be fine I knew that but I put myself in the place of the mothers who have sent their kids to my party only to have them return to them with huge welts on their arms. It didn’t look good.
That was the story of the last party. I was hoping this one wouldn’t have a story. But it had two. I made sure to specify on the card that it was a swimming party and that children who were not confident swimmers had to have a mother or a nanny in the pool with them and if the parents would rather they didn’t swim then there were other activities. I would ask Every child thar arrived if they could swim then I would ask the nanny or mother if they child could swim. One child answered yes, her nanny answered yes and then she got into the pool and guess what… she couldn’t swim. Another nanny jumped in fully clothed and pulled her out. I don’t even have words. She was the third guest to arrive. I of course called her mother. The whole incident wasn’t even 5 seconds from when she went in to when she was pulled out but it shook me up!
8 mothers ended up coming with their children and I had nannies in the pool as well and watched the pool with my breath held till it was time for them to get out. The mothers were brilliant and I was so pleased they came as they were telling off kids and getting them out of the pool and supporting me in my attempts to keep the rest of the party incident free.
The second story in my party was when the music started. A friend of mine told me she knew some dancers who lived on her compound and wouldn’t it be great to have them come and do a dance then teach the kids a dance! I said yes! Sounds great! Please make sure the dances are appropriate and not rude. I guess the term not rude is relative. Even J thought they were a bit much. In the grand scheme of things it wasn’t how I would want my daughter to dance. So when the teaching portion came we decided on only a few of the breakdance moves. During the dance a friend of mine came up to me and whispered “I guess this is ‘the story'” and she was right.
The rest of the party was great. We got a DJ who was brilliant and played only appropriate songs which I chose before hand. I cannot tell you the amount of times I am at a kids birthday party and suddenly there are swear words over the loud speaker or worse sometimes (yes says the woman who had raunchy dancers at her daughters birthday party).
The dancing and fun and games that ensued were enough to wipe away (I hope) the trauma of the horrible dancers.
I am writing this on my iPad in my car half way between Riyadh and Damam where I am off with my kiddi pies to have a nice weekend away. We left school early and may be ditching school on Saturday. If you knew me you would know I am positively anal about things like skipping school but I just need to lay in the sun for a bit and do nothing! Now lets see if my hotspot works and I can publish this!