Day 92

I wake early and take advantage of the quiet to do some scrapbooking. Yes, I scrapbook. It’s a handy way of capturing memories without excess clutter and junk thank you very much. I’m a little behind. Still on 2014, so it’s good to look back at some of my old memories. Stormy eventually emerges and “helps” me sort through the old photos. She picks a few for her future scrapbook as well. She get’s bored after a while and I let her watch some cartoons. I finish a few pages and leave the rest on the dining table. Covered with a sheet so Han and Chewie don’t destroy them.

We talk about the plan for the day. She wants a play-date so I start calling a few parents to organise something. Coincidentally another parent messages me to organise a play-date for the afternoon. Serendipity. We decide to go to the trampoline gym in the morning then. I have a few bits of shopping to get done first — which she begrudgingly agrees to join me for first.

As we emerge from the shops she spots the old arcade. She starts bouncing on the spot. “Can we play there!!!”. I tell her that it’s the arcade or the trampoline gym. She doesn’t even waste a second before responding — arcade. 10 dollars and 30 minutes later she’s exhausted all the throwing, hitting and squirting games that they have. Clutching a massive handful of tickets she goes to the front counter and has enough to get … a small candy. For her, this is the most exciting thing ever.

We return home and it’s time for Lego. I set her up on a small blanket to make the clean up easier. I’m not sure if this constitutes a dad-hack but it works brilliantly. We spend about 2 hours making houses and planes. In the end my back can’t take it anymore and I stagger up to take a small break. Before long it’s time to scoot off to her friends house. It’s a 45 minute ride. About halfway into it, we ride past a traditional Singaporean ice-cream street vendor. We take the opportunity to stop for ice-cream in wafer biscuit. I have Mint and Stormy has Raspberry. It’s perfect given the steamy weather around us.

We arrive at her friends house just a little late. The pent-up energy in each of them reaches critical and they bounce around the house. Pancakes may also have been involved at some point. We decide to bundle them into the pool to give them the chance to let it all out. Stormy borrows a pair of swimmers from her friend and they bounce around outside. I have no swimmers and avoid getting into the water and yet end up soaked. Stormy keeps coming up and wiping her face on my t-shirt or jumping out of the pool into my arms. By the point it’s time to come out of the pool for dinner I’m almost as wet as they are.

None of us can face cooking today so we all decide to go to the nearest McDonalds. The bouncing continues. We eventually part ways and Stormy and I scoot home. On the way home she asks me about the week ahead. “Why is it Monday again tomorrow?” she inquires. I have to admit that I completely agree with her sentiment but need to stop myself from saying anything. I talk about the cyclic nature of the calendar. “But why?” she continue to ask. I really have no response to that one.

I look back at the day and she’s been a real delight. She spoils it all by refusing to have a bath, brush her teeth or go to bed. After much threatening (no movie night if she doesn’t go to bed, throw out candy if she doesn’t brush teeth, etc) she agrees to everything except the bath. It’s so late I can’t fight that one any more. I go through the breathing exercises to try and teach her to slow down for bed. It seems to work as she’s asleep within 10 minutes.

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