Babysitting

Both my aunt and uncle were getting vaccinated yesterday and they asked me for a favour to babysit my cousins. I have to admit I was more thrilled than I allowed myself to show. I've always wanted the alone time to torture them. HAHAHA.

I was there by 7.30am. My cousins were still sleeping and I had some quiet alone time to read. I was about to fall asleep again when I heard little twinkling sounds of my little cousin's ankle bracelet. Like a zombie, with her eyes half closed and hair tousled, she stumbled drunkenly to a corner and just squatted there. It was weird but she has always been weird and quiet, so I just went back reading and let her 'sober up'. But after a few minutes, I finally noticed something was wrong, she looked guilty and too silent. I walked towards her and asked her what was wrong (as if I expected an answer), that was when I saw the pool of water she was drenched in.

In hindsight, I should have noticed something was wrong

My reflex action was to carry that girl up from her puddle of pee. She was twitching and shivering like she was disgusted with herself. I'm not going into the detail of how I cleaned her up. I was laughing the whole time while she stared at me. Her face clear with puzzlement, 'what is this bitch doing?'. The whole process can be labelled as 'I tried my best'. I couldn't leave her alone in the bathroom, so I carried her while I looked for a towel. I was afraid she might get cold if she was naked too long and frantically looked for clean clothes.  I was asking her questions like, 'What time do you usually have your bath?', 'Where are your clothes?', 'Do you like this legging?', 'Do you want to wear pink or red today?', at one point she was scratching her head like 'man, this woman is crazy, I can't talk'. When I was finally satisfied with the clothes I've chosen, I suddenly felt very stupid.

I tied a towel around her waist, and told her 'Jie Jie take a quick photo ya'.
Her facial expression... ahahhaha

I crouched infront her and just paused for awhile, trying to figure out whether I was doing the right things. I looked at her and laughed at what a terrible parent I might be, and as if she understood, she laughed together with me. She looked at me, as if telling me it's okay and hooked her arms around my neck waiting for me to put her leggings through her feet. That moment, I felt like I've accomplished something, cause if a little girl still believes in you, you must not be a complete mess. As soon as I was feeling better about myself, her ankle bracelet broke while I was trying to lift her leggings, I thought of secretly taking it back home to get it repaired rather than admitting it to my Aunt. Luckily, the amateur engineer here repaired it with sheer strength and creativity. When I was done repairing, that girl extended her leg for me to wear it for her without me even asking. Thanks for not reporting me girl. 

I mopped the floor while she snuggled up on the bed, smiling at me, flexing how comfortable she was while I was cleaning up after her pee. It was too cute for me to be mad hahaha.

Then the 9 year old boy woke up. Seems like it was just yesterday that I was wishing for him to be able to walk and talk so that I could play with him, and now he was standing there asking me whether I would like to have steamboat at 8 in the morning, cause he knows how to cook now. He took bath all by himself, told me about his daily life, showed me his classmates. I couldn't concentrate, I was wondering where did all the time go, suddenly he's all grown up. He asked me how old I was and I wish I could tell him I still feel like a child, but I didn't because that's an appropriate adult thing to do. 

Then the 6 year old boy woke up and ignored me like I wasn't even there. It was just me yelling at him to take bath and him changing youtube videos of game playing. I was very annoyed but I was very pleased to see him being bothered by the fact that I allowed his brother to play games on the computer. 

When I got home, I went straight to the kitchen where I found my mum and asked her how did she do it, being a working mother. My dad had to go on and on about how he touched my sister's shit to make sure she did not have constipation.

One day, this little girl will ignore me, just like the other two before her. Because, kids grow up. Before I know it, she won't walk up to me with a book, and rush to get a chair to sit while I read to her or laugh when I make animal sounds anymore. But right now, I'm going to cherish every time I get to carry her and slot in more arm days in my schedule cause she's getting kinda heavy.

When a kid holds you like this, you can't help feeling important and your heart swells with adoration. 

I feel like the funniest person alive when I can make her laugh.