I admit that I have been more of a laid back Dad when it comes to administering Renzo's daily routine since forever. Apart from his daily showers and sleep time, I probably know less than Mummy or Renzo's auntie Jona. You would probably find me in front of the PC or on the bed most of the time, with the exception of Renzo's after-shower activities such as reading or maths time or even colouring/tracing.
But when Mummy Chan goes overseas, I see myself stepping into the role of full-attention parenting quite comfortably (much to my own surprise). My first encounter of such a situation was a little less than 2 years back in May 2011, when
Mummy Chan was away for a business trip. Back then, Renzo was still little and didn't have much of a concept of what a "business trip" was, so we simple told him that Mummy went on holiday (he knows that from his
Hi-5 DVD) and he seemed to take it pretty well... and to think that it was a 12 day trip. Kudos to the little one... haha
This time round, Mummy is away to USA again. Having spent the last week explaining to him what was going to happen, Renzo apparently was reluctant to be separated from his dearest Mummy and in fact replied, "Mummy, I want to go US too. Mummy you wait for Renzo to wear shoes, I also want to go (A)merica~"... The thought of him having that impression not just melts the heart, but kinda leaves that sour feeling when you know the kid wants so much to be with Mummy yet we know he can't be. Alas, such is life, not everything turns out the way you want it to be. Thankfully Rynus hasn't come of age to even know what is going on...
On the morning that Mummy was US-bound, we sneaked out of the house early in the morning while Renzo was still in bed to avoid having to deal with a cranky 3-year-old who would refuse to let Mummy leave without bringing him too. We made it to the airport smoothly thanks to the empty 7a.m roads and had a simple breakfast there. With a kiss, Mummy went through the gates and I set off on my way back home to take on the role as Dummy (my quite appropriately self-coin term for a Daddy+Mummy hybrid... without the motherly instinct).
Just when I was at the front door... I heard the unmistakable "Noooo... Noooooo... NOOOO"...wailing of Renzo... I knew he was awake and knew that Mummy had left him behind in Singapore and pacifying him wouldn't be easy. It was an pretty one-sided conversation from the start, with every action/word of mind drawing a tantrum kicking response. So I decided to let him wail till he got tired, only then did I crawl slowly into the bed and, with an iPad in hand, so him this very blog of himself. I trolled through the blog to find the entry describing Mummy's previous trip and what had happened and praised him for being a good boy back then and that we are sure he would be this time round. The pictures of Mummy and her voice from the videos finally brought a smile to Renzo. He then calmed down and took a moment to go through a few other videos before going back to his usual Angry Birds and Plants vs Zombies.
He skipped breakfast totally and refused food till I told him I'd bring him to eat some
Andersen's Ice Cream, only then was he ready to end his iPad regime and head out with me. Knowing that he was tired from the morning's tantrums, I brought him to Suntec City by bus and sure enough, Renzo slept through almost the entire journey and woke up just a couple of bus-stops before our destination.
The renovation works forced us to take a detour around the building and we entered via a side entrance and just down the escalator was a Burger King. Followers of Renzo's would know that Renzo ain't a stranger to fast food joints and was more than happy to settle for a mini-sundae at BK as opposed to walking to Marina Square for Andersen's. Travelled halfway across Singapore just to have lunch at a fast food joint. Well, at least I haven't had a BK burger in months. =/
After touring around Suntec City and Marina Square (where Renzo thoughtfully (albeit a little randomly too) picked out a pink headset for Mummy, insisting that it would look good on Mummy) we headed home by MRT as Renzo requested and we reached home a happy boy. So satisfied in fact, that the rest of the evening was easy for us too. He showered early, had his dinner without fussing, completed a couple of Maths questions (ooo... he is into the hundreds+hundreds now...) and went to bed himself.
As I write this post, Renzo and Rynus are happily tucked in their beds beside my computer table and I can hear both of them snoring away in sweet rhythmic melody (at least to my ears)... Now I just need to repeat and maintain these incredible feats of awesomeness until 4th Feb and I'll be able to handover the superhero cape back to Mummy...
This is my 2nd business trip after having Renzo and again, I had to take a 18 hours flight from Singapore to San Francisco, including one hour layover in Korea, and stay 8000 miles away from my 3 darlings for one week, that's a torture, really..
