Day 156 or “The Day Stormy Wants A Bird”
This morning, I wake to find my room has become a model train collectors delight. Stormy has created a magnificent city in my room with all her wooden trains. It’s delightful and a tripping hazard.
It’s a public holiday here in Singapore (Selamat Hari Raya to all my Muslim friends) so she gets an extra day of school holidays. It’s also a friend’s birthday party so we scoot off early to grab breakfast. On the way Stormy asks me if she can get another pet. A bird this time. She tells me how she will feed it and look after it. “I’ll put the leash on him and take him for walks” she explains. I try and tell her that birds don’t go for walks. “But don’t they want to go outside?” she asks, quite concerned for her imaginary birds mental health. “I’m sure they do, but he’ll fly away if you take him outside” I respond. “In that case I’ll carry his cage outside and take him for walks so he doesn’t fly away” — she has an answer for everything. At this stage there is only one thing left to do. And that is a dad lie.
“Maybe” I say. I double down on the lie. “I’ll think about it”.
We get to the party and Stormy runs off to play with her friends in an instant. I manage to get a little time to myself while the children run themselves into the ground. After lunch, Stormy and I scoot home to play some more. Sadly while it may be a public holiday in Singapore, the rest of the world still works. I send Stormy down to the pool (taking advantage of having her grandmother here) so I can make a few international work calls. After an hour, I join them downstairs and watch in horror as Stormy and one of her friends put out more energy in a minute than the LHC. I cannot believe just how excited two little children can get.
They calm down only when dinner time arrives. A lack of food in the house sends us to a local restaurant for dinner. Stormy (mostly) behaves herself during dinner and we even manage to get her into bed a mere hour after her bedtime.
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