Battling Boredom

Chola has recovered well from his surgery. He had a little birth defect that involved something not being in it's right place--otherwise known as 'undescended'. While it was getting descended, we decided to do a Junior nip and tuck otherwise known as circumcision. This is one of the big HIV/AIDS preventions that are being touted so we want to set a good example for the community by having this taken care of for all the kids. I understand this isn't the choice each person would make but it was/is the best for here.

We took Chola to a private missionary hospital which, while miles ahead in standard from a government hospital, was still pretty bare bones. I felt sorry for Chola as he had very little to do for the 2 days he had to stay there.

He had his coloring, painting, puzzles, books, and flashcards to keep him busy plus an Alphabet Go Fish game but when you're four years old your attention span is pretty small. He spent a lot of time sighing and staring at the walls. Poor kid.

I was oh, so grateful for mealtime because eating kept him occupied for at least 45 minutes even though (or perhaps because) the food was awful. The only color on the dinner plate was a dried out orange. White bread with sour cream(?), boiled potatoes with mayonnaise but no seasoning, a boiled egg, rice pudding and milk. It would take me hours to force that stuff down too.

In the meantime, you might be wondering what kept me from climbing the walls. I'm so glad you asked. I brought plenty to keep me occupied as well because, I'm a bit embarrassed to mention, that I don't have a much longer attention span than a four-year-old. My mom once said that I must think a lot. "Oh, because I'm smart?" "Well, because you talk so much." Oh, Mom, you don't have to think to talk.....  But I digress!

For my entertainment I brought:

Crossstiching! I've been an avid crosssticher for 6 years now. I've done large and small projects and it is one of the things that keeps me sane. Focusing on tiny stitches gives me a sense of control and the opportunity to create beauty in a mad, uncontrollable, and sometimes ugly world. Wow! that was a negative statement. Look at the pretty flowers!

Next, I brought a book. Ok, I brought three (and one of those was actually four in one). I was scared of running out of reading material. I obsess that way.

Alright, you've forced the confession out of me! I also brought eight books on computer! A friend introduced me to Kindle for PCs and I love it! Can't you tell by the unnecessary exclamatory marks! It was a good thing that I had all those things to read because I did finish all my books and one computer one and started on another on computer.

A new toy for me was my phone. I'm a little bit addicted to Diner Dash. And! I got internet access on my phone this past week! I was able to check in with Facebook and also access Google for important things like 'what is Eggs Benedict?'. Tom just had to have that for breakfast so he called me up and I looked it up on Google. Whatever did we do in the dark ages of the 1990's without our friend Google?

What would you pack as essential for getting through 2 days of boredom?