Chicken with sweet soy sauce, pleeeaaaseee....

Ariq is starting school again today.. That is why I can write in my blog again.. ;-)

Since the day after the operation, Ariq has been complaining about the food.. all the soft food he had to eat during the healing process (the first few days after the operation)..

Ariq doesn't like porridge.. He likes eating his rice with chicken or fish, then he has his vegetable soup separately.. So, the first couple of days, when he could only have oatmeal porridge and soft pudding were a complete suffering for him!

From the second day after the operation, Ariq has started asking for rice and chicken with sweet soy sauce (his favourite dish).. I had to hide from him every time I had my meal so that he wouldn't be tempted.. but once, he found me when I was having lunch and he begged me for a little taste.. so, I gave him about five tiny bits of rice in a spoonful of clear soup.

He chewed on the rice slowly while closing his eyes, as if it was the first time he ever ate! Then he looked at me, "Thanks, Mum! That was very delicious.."

I quickly asked him, "Does your throat hurt?"

Ariq shook his head, "No. Not at all."

I was battling inside, whether to let him eat some 'normal' food, or keep asking him to be patient until the post-operation check up. I finally calmed myself down and asked him to wait.

Ariq is not a picky-eater, as a matter of fact, for a child his age, he eats healthy and I have previously received some thanks from other mothers at school because their children started asking for vegetables because they saw the food Ariq brought from home.. (Ariq often brings stir-fry broccoli, vegetable soup, chicken in sweet soy sauce or fried fish to school).

Ariq is not a big fan of soft-drink or fast food either.. for drinks, he always prefers fruit juice or fruit-flavoured tea, or.. milk (his all-time favourite drink), while for food, he prefers chicken noodle or spaghetti (bolognese or cream sauce). He still likes fried chicken (like KFC, etc.), but most of the time, he leaves the skin/flour and eats the meat with steam rice instead of fries (in Indonesia, fast food outlets offer steam rice and fries as side dishes).

So, when he is healthy, it is not that hard to get Ariq to eat, but once he is sick -with something related to throat or stomach- it would then be a challenge to get him to eat!

After the tonsil operation, it was exceptionally difficult to get Ariq to eat because he really needed to start very slowly on eating.. it wasn't only a challenge for Ariq's patience, but also everyone else's at home..

I kept praying that everything was well when we had to see the doctor on the post-operation check-up, so that Ariq could start eating something more solid, as he really needed the energy to get him 'up and running' again.. :-)

So finally, last Thursday was his post-operation check up.

*You would seriously laugh if you had seen him in the doctor's room that afternoon*

The doctor smiled to Ariq as he was entering the room, "Come in, Ariq. You are not afraid of doctors anymore, are you? Please have a seat on the treatment chair."

Ariq sat on the treatment chair and the doctor started examining his throat.

The doctor asked Ariq, "What have you been eating, Ariq?"

Ariq quickly went sullen and looked at me! And I exhaled..

The doctor turned to me, "Has he been eating normal food or still soft food?"

I answered honestly, "He doesn't like soft food, but I'm not confident enough to let him eat normal food yet.. I think he lacks of energy.."

The doctor smiled and asked, "Does he feel any pain?"

I shook my head, "He said not all, except some tingling."

The doctor laughed, "It looks like his throat is fine. He can start eating normal food."

Suddenly Ariq stood up, holding the doctor's table, "Really? I can eat normal food?"

The doctor looked at Ariq and gave him a confident nod, "Yes, you can."

Ariq asked the doctor again, to be sure, "I can eat chicken?"

The doctor laughed again, looking at Ariq's excited expression, "Yes, you can! You can eat anything you like now.. except snacks like chips, etc. .. and while it has been raining, you should hold off the ice cream too."

Ariq looked at the doctor for a few seconds but then replied, "OK. No problem."

The doctor looked at me for assurance.

I replied calmly, "Ariq is not a big fan of snacks and ice cream anyway, Doc. It won't be too hard for him to stay away from those things.. It would be harder for him to stay away from his chicken and fish.."

The doctor nodded, "Good! Then he should be fine and better very soon.."

The nurse was giggling when Ariq asked her as we were walking out of the doctor's room, "I really can eat chicken now?"

The nurse nodded with a big smile, "Yes, Ariq.. You can eat chicken and everything else.. just no snacks or ice cream for a while, OK!"

Then, Ariq was jumping up and down with excitement, with his fist on his side, "Yes.. Yes.. Yes.."

My husband arrived as we were waiting for the payment to go through, and Ariq quickly asked us to have a dine-out. He couldn't wait for his first 'NORMAL MEAL'!!

For dinner that night, Ariq chose grill chicken in sweet soy sauce in 'Chicken Story' (his favourite outlet).. I had to remind him to eat slowly and take a sip of his lemongrass ice tea in-between bites. At the end of dinner Ariq said to me that it was a great meal and he asked me to order take away for his breakfast! Hahaha..

I just love him and his appetite!

Ariq has started to eat well again now, and I can't wait to see him gain weight in a week or two. He still feels some tingling in his throat, but he loves the fact that he can eat normal again and that compensates the tiny pain..

I also still need to remind him to drink water every so often.. but he has been cooperative about this..

Some of my friends at times tell me about how worried they are whenever their picky-eater children get sick, because getting them to eat when they are healthy is already quite a challenge..

Well, now I can also say that feeding a healthy-eater child when he is sick is also quite a challenge.. :-)

I guess we all want our children to stay healthy and eat healthy.. ;-)