One of my earlier concerns was how Isaac will react to Ani missing. Will he be asking for her constantly? As he sleeps with Ani every night will he cry for her for the whole two weeks? In the end I am pleased that all my concerns and worries were unfounded. Not only did Isaac adapt excellently, he never once asks for Ani during bedtime.
There were a couple of occasions when he would ask where was Ani and he seemed satisfied with our reply that Ani went home. We are not sure if he understands by ‘home’ we meant her own home in Indonesia or he thought she was at our home waiting for him. Sometimes he will forget that Ani is not around and he will run out of our room calling out to her for sweets, biscuits or Milo. He never kick up any fuss when we said she went home so long as we got what he wanted for him.
As for the twins they are too young to really notice her missing. Perhaps they are only too happy to be seeing their dad more each day for this dad showered them each morning. Naturally I like to think that was the case.
These two weeks would not have been so smooth if we did not get the support from my parents and my sister’s maid. All of them chipped in whenever they could and since the Mrs and I could not be there all the time we are really grateful for that.
Here is a picture of all the kids having their milk around 5pm.
In the morning I need help feeding the twins and putting them to sleep for I had to run out to pick Isaac from school. We will have the Mrs back each afternoon which was great for the most challenging part of the day was between 3 to 8pm. This period is when all 3 of them will be up and about and they are really a handful.
After this experience we truly appreciate Ani more for we now understand much better what she has to go through on a daily basis.
Take a look at my bruises (different legs) from handling the kids.
Not only that I actually developed sore throat towards the end of the two weeks from the constant screaming and shouting at the kids. So much so that Isaac can mimick after me now. Some of my favourite phases are:
Don’t run!
Too near! (when the kids stood right in front of the TV)
Children come! (this is what Isaac will say these days whenever he calls for his siblings)
Come in! (whenever he ventured out to the balcony and play with the broom and pebbles)
We actually asked Ani to make sure she drinks honey water regularly since her return. God knows she needs it.
Another challenging aspect of caring for the kids are the 2 weekends. We cannot stay at home for we will certainly be driven mad so we need to plan outings that included my parents. Thankfully being the doting grandparents that they are they gracefully accepted overtime ‘work’ and went out with us.
Below are videos and pictures that we captured during our outings which include Marina Square, West Coast Park and Terminal 3.
Here is a video of Hayley smelling a flower which was given to her. One fine day we brought the twins to the Botanic Gardens for a morning picnic after dropping Isaac off in school. A nice lady taking a liking to the twins gave Hayley a flower and she surprised us all by holding it to her nose and took a sniff at it. Who taught her that?!?!?!
Here is a video of Luke falling asleep at Marina Square and we were trying very hard to prevent him from sleeping. The reason was because it was almost 7pm and we were worried if he slept then he will not be able to sleep when we got home.
For the record we failed and he had a good nap in the car but thankfully it was only a rather short one which did not really disrupt his bedtime when we got home.
Below are pictures that we took of Isaac having fun at West Coast Park. Unfortunately his siblings could not join him for they are too young and more importantly Hayley’s dislike of the sand.
This was taken at Terminal 3. See how small Isaac is standing next to the XC60.
Notice how Hayley will spread her legs to prevent from touching the sand?
After these two weeks the Mrs really felt sorry for what Ani has to go through each day and in all fairness she did not sign up for this in the beginning so we are now considering employing another maid but that is a topic I will save for later.
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