WASHABLE NAPPIES V DISPOSABLES # 1

The British government (or at least the council in my town) gives monetary rewards to parents who use washable nappies. Parents can claim back £25 out of £50 or over spent on washables. Considering the state of our planet, it sounds encouraging.

Before I gave birth to Lewis, I bought cloth nappies and wraps. But long before this apparent dislike of anything plastic that my husband has rubbed off on us, and long before the second pregnancy, I potty trained Zak with washable trainer pants (ironically, with a plastic outer-lining on it). My husband’s friend also uses washable nappies for his child and Lewis is the lucky successor of dozens of nappies and other paraphernalia.

And so I started using them and I was ever so proud of my deed that I started to believe that global warming would lessen because I was doing my part in helping mother earth. If ever there was going to be a search for the most environmentally aware mother, I would be discovered and honoured and looked up to by all mothers in the world because I use washable nappies for my kids. And not only that. I also let my baby have the nappy on despite him looking like stuffed chicken. The sheer thickness of the folded cloth swamped his tiny little body and I was worried that he could self-disintegrate and I wouldn’t even know about it. He was born 8.5 pounds and the nappy weighs half of his weight and every time I pick him up to breastfeed half of his body would still be in bed. Two weeks into this, I couldn’t put on him his newborn sleepsuits. His hips seemed to become wider than mine.

And then he started clamouring for nappy change every hour that my eyes started darting from the Huggies voucher to the pile of freshly ironed lampin.

Huggies? Or Washable nappy?

Today

It's dreary again today which is unusual for British weather. It's been like this for a couple of days now. At the library, there were sneezes from behind shelves and computer monitors. The heating is at its max despite it being 19 degrees outside, nevertheless, I pulled over the pram raincover because I could almost see in the air droplets from snotty noses.

K is still having cough and colds and is now relegated to the other bedroom. Honey and lemon drink keeps him company as well as tabs of strepsils, books and a bedtime companion, the silly Big Brother. The voyeaur Britain is again treated with snaps of madness and boobs, the cheapest entertainment you can get that will rub off your summer as it runs for 14 weeks.

Meanwhile, the England flags are out. Yes, the cross of St George is the symbol of English football. God save the Queen!

Grandma, what big teeth you've got!

Flossing the British way:

"...they used makeshift items, which included knives, keys, needles and
forks."

more here.

How to eat

I got this news from Lyn in France.

This incident annoyed me (eating with spoon and fork doesn't make us eat like pigs!) but then some people are really just ignorant of other cultures. They're traditionalists, I suppose, with superiority complex, but then so are we. Here in England, students who go to public schools are expected to eat the traditional way, i.e. with knife and fork. If you have fish and chips, or a traditional English Sunday dinner of roast and veg, you can't very well eat them with spoon and fork, can you?

For the seemingly educated people, they should understand and respect cultural diversity. For us immigrants, we should teach our children to be diverse as well, and not just act like the Filipinos that we already are. We should assimilate with the culture that we chose to join. We shouldn't pretend that we're still in the Philippines because we're not and if we are really that nationalistic and clingy to our roots, then by God, we should just go back to where we come from. Nobody forced us to exploit other country's financial opportunities and if we can't cope with what the Philippines can offer, then we should at least try to adopt to the culture of the country where we are settled. It doesn't diminish our Filipinonish.

Eating the Filipino way, i.e. with spoon and fork doesn't express patriotism. It shows inflexibility (if this term does exist). Our looks already make us stand out in the community of whites and the least we could do is highlight our presence to them by showing how different we are to them. We say, well, in the Philippines, Filipinos accept how Westerners behave. But then it doesn't mean that because Filipinos are laid-back and accepting that Westerners should be as well.

I feel sorry for that boy who went through such prejudice from his own educators who should know much better.

May Day

I'm sure there are rallies going on in the Philippines today.

This morning we went out to let Zak see the parade of the trade union congress. There were stalls to showcase creative arts as well as the works of all charities. A huge stage is also put up for the songs and dances. In short, a celebration.

It's a far-cry from what's going on in the Philippines now.