The Pink Bike

It took place during the days of no-maids-at-home. Our maids apparently had made plans for their Lebaran holidays. They told us, rather than asked for our permission, that they would be leaving for their home town three days before the government-version of Lebaran days (yes, this year those “smart” guys again decided to have different opinion about the holidays). In total, they were in their hometown for almost TWO WEEKS! What a plan …

Maybe it was God’s plan that the holidays fell on a weekend and my office was closed from one day before the holidays until two days afterwards. I only had to take a 3-day leave for helping my wife at home. Our main concern was taking over the nanny’s daily routines with Ara. This was quite a challenge because even though Tia is at home every day, she spends most of her time working in her “office”, a small corner of our bedroom. She would come out of her little corner several times to check out how things are going with our princess, which has been very effective thus far. With her day-to-day control and my past experience with kids, we should have an easy task to do.

Our routines started early in the morning as Ara opened her eyes and immediately dragged us out of the bedroom to take her to her cozy couch for watching the morning cartoons. Ara would watch her favorite shows, including Tom & Jerry, Chalk Zone, Spongebob and Dora the Explorer, while I prepared her breakfast. Once the shows were over and the breakfast was ready, Tia and I would take her to the bathroom, give her a good bath with warm water and let her play for a while with her toys there. Putting on the right clothes was a quite a challenge, especially when Ara suddenly had her own idea of which clothes to wear. The next challenge was taking the food into her little mouth, including ensuring that she chewed the food and waiting for the right time for the next spoon of food. We were such a sucker in this game. It would normally take an hour for us to complete this task, while the nanny only needs few minutes.

After breakfast, we would spend the whole morning playing any game with Ara until it was time for lunch. Lunches were usually easier as we would be able to finish the task fifteen minutes earlier than breakfasts. We would spend another hour playing before it was time for Ara to take a nap. This meant that we had time to rest for an hour or two. Ara would wake up at around two in the afternoon. The three of us would then play some more games until it was time for Ara to take the afternoon bath. After bath, we would have a choice of going around the neighborhood on my motorbike, going to the nearby supermarket or playing in the nearby playground.

Then it was time for her dinner and we would be engaged in the same struggle once again. When dinner was finished, we would usually spend some time to play with Ara again until seven thirty at night when Ara is usually ready for a good night sleep. We would be so exhausted when Ara was finally asleep. However, we could not go to sleep yet until ten thirty when we would wake her up and take her to the toilet to pee (we have been practicing this for almost a year and it has been very effective to ensure that she does not wet the bed). By eleven at night, we would be in a sound sleep until it was time for the princess to wake up and for us to engage in the same struggle again.

The nanny’s days-off were about to end and so was my leave. Ara had been very “kind” to us that we enjoyed every enduring minutes with her. Yes, for once I lost my temper when she refused to eat her lunch. I scolded her for such a behavior and regretted the action when I found out that it was because the soup was too hot for her. Other than that, the three of us got along just fine. We had actually been planning to buy her a bicycle at the end of the year, but we decided to spend the remaining amount of the Lebaran bonus for it.

I asked my brother-in-law and his girlfriend to drive us to the nearest Carrefour megastore. When we arrived at the bicycle section in the store, Ara apparently had already had a plan of her own. She wanted to bring home a pink bicycle. With the help of a store attendant, Ara finally found the bike of her dream and refused to look at other options at the store. Now, Ara has a pink bike for her to ride every afternoon around the neighborhood. It was a present from us for being such a good girl and the wonderful moments we had during the holidays.