Day 14

The weekend. An endless time of play with no obligations and no responsibilities. At least, this is true for Stormy. For me, it’s the exact opposite. Except for the endless part. That bit remains true.

A 30 minute sleep-in and then the day begins. It occurs to me that privacy is completely gone. There were times in the past where I could close the door and have a peaceful shower. Now the door remains open and a stream of commentary flows through it. Stormy seems to take more interest in my weight then my wife does. She’s certainly more amused by it.

A quick breakfast at ToastBox and it’s off to Saturday morning sport. Today it’s Rugby. Stormy seems to take an inordinate amount of pleasure in beating everyone in her class. I don’t know whether to be proud or to tell her off for being a bad sport. “Ha ha, I win” is a common refrain. I should note that she actually says “Ha ha”. Two words. She doesn’t laugh.

Next, it’s shopping. New shoes, as her last were eaten by an escalator, and a present for a friends birthday party. Shopping for the present actually goes well. She doesn’t ask for anything for herself. We go through the toystore and, while she has fun looking at everything, she selects a single toy and we move on. Buying shoes isn’t as simple. I thought it would be simple; her sandals were damaged, so we need to buy new sandals. She doesn’t want sandals. She wants thongs.

As an aside, the look on the shopkeepers face when she asked for thongs was priceless.

She throws a small tantrum and so I walk away. I refuse to buy her anything while she is whinging. Soon after, she calms down and the negotiation begins. After about 20 minutes, we agree to get sandals AND thongs. I don’t think I won that negotiation.

We make it home in time for her friends birthday party. Three hours of junk food, children’s party magicians and small talk. It’s actually rather pleasant. Stormy runs around with all her little friends. No one hurts themselves and all the parents can let their guard down for a short time. At the end of the party, all the kids troop down to the front of the Condo for the Chinese New Year Lion Dance.

And then, the nightly battle begins. I know I’ve lost even before it begins. Stormy uses every trick in the book. She starts with fear — quickly dispelled with comforting words and logic. Then, “the cat is annoying me”. I offer to close the door, but she quickly counters, “but Han can jump, use his paws, and open the door”. I don’t really know what to say to that. Then she tries logic, “I can’t go to bed, because I can’t see in the dark”. This is when I finally become my mother. I associate eating vegetables with seeing in the dark. I don’t know why, it just came out. Some sort of Pavlovian reaction.

For a time she is quiet. This scares me. I walk into our room to discover that she has turned herself into a Goth. Black fingernails, black toenails, black lips, black eyebrows. All with marker, but she’s done an impressive job. I see a glimpse of the future — and I’m proud.

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* For those who missed the context, I’m not actually single. My wife has started a 5-month contract in Australia (yay). This is a Very Good Thing™. Stormy will be staying with me here in Singapore and I have great help both remotely (from my wife) and locally. I’m writing this purely for fun and to practice writing. :-)