Day 8

Gong Xi Fa Cai — A wish for prosperity in the coming year. These words have been uttered to me a hundred times the past few days. Indeed, I am already prosperous with the joy of a 4 year old little girl. She has the heart (and will) of a dragon and it is my fortune to have her in my life.

But, once again we are alone.

We passed inspection. Though only here for 3 days, my wife has passed judgement and found our parenting acceptable. Stormy survived her first week with Daddy and now the real trial begins. It will be nearly a month before Stormy sees her mother again. Though, out of the three of us, I don’t know who will have it hardest.

Today has been a trial in patience. Of decisions changed on a whim and a wilful refusal to accept reality. Two breakfasts were requested, and made. First toast, and then honey crepes by the pool. Neither were actually eaten (although the crepes were eventually reheated for lunch). For a while patience was replaced by exhaustion as Stormy and her friend played for nearly three hours in the nearby playground. As the obligatory “scary monster”, I was made to chase them, all the while bound by arbitrary rules of where I could go and what I could do. Rules that changed any time I got close to “winning”.

After a small break for lunch (made significantly easier by My Little Pony and Phineas & Ferb), it was off again. And because I wasn’t broken enough by the chasing, this time we went to the trampoline park. An hour of bouncing, agony and suffering.

But something had to go wrong. Stormy and I bounced into the same place and the same time. The look of betrayal as tears started rolling down her face. A bruised knee, the penalty for having fun. I comfort her, but inside the guilt is eating me up. I know it’s an accident but your mind can’t help but blame you.

A quiet afternoon, a cosy dinner and a warm shower with Daddy make most things better. She sleeps well tonight — I need to try completely exhausting her more often. Preferably without the ensuant injury though.

But it all begins again tomorrow. Once I looked forward to long weekends. Now, I long for the days when Stormy is at school. A chance to be an adult for a few fleeting hours before being subsumed into the endless (but ultimately worthwhile) period that is parenthood.

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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. :-)