"Day Off"

Saturday is the best day ever. No work, no daily routine, just me and my husband on bed. It’s been a while; it’s been really a while to have such a quite morning like th-

“Mommy!”

Jazmine’s loud and clear voice was heard from the aisle and I immediately knew when she called me with such a voice it would only mean one thing.

“Mommy, where’s swimming suit? I can’t find it” she continued, ignoring the fact that I haven’t responded to her yet. I sighed, lazily moved up from the warm and comfortable hug of Kris and closed my face with my palms. It’s coming again.

Jaz and Alex, in their eight years, are most likely talked more that I thought they would be. Well, Alex is calmer than Jaz, but still, both of them do talk a lot and when both started to talk, it’s like a small party being held in this house. They started to socialize with their friends from school as well as their cousins; they started to copy someone, to like someone, and of course, to dislike the others. And they really never stop talking to both me and Kris, asking everything they wanted to know. It’s good, of course, I’m glad that they’re not being too silent, but sometimes, I wished they could do their own things without asking me.

“Mommy... My swimming suit is missing...” she started again with her long whining voice.

“Mommy... Where is my baseball cap?” this time Alex joined. And he didn’t fail to wake up his daddy. “Mommyyyyy...”

“What is that?” Kris groaned with his eyes closed, refused to awake yet.

We both attended a gala dinner last night and just back home past midnight, we’re so tired and sleepy all we wanted to do was to enjoy this Saturday without any hassle but then I realized that Alex should go for his baseball practice and Jaz was about to go out with my mother in law. She promised to take her to the swimming pool, so the little girl felt all the way excited about spending the day with her grandmother and her beloved grandpa Bruce. And on Sunday, we’re going to go out with my parents for brunch and movie. What a weekend.

“The kids, of course” I answered as I stood up from bed, taking the robe as I messily tied my hair into a bun.

“Do they have to wake up this early on the weekend?” Kris asked with his hoarse voice, half opening his eyes.

“Well, get used to it, Mr. Wu. They’re your child as well; please do give me a hand here?” I replied with a soft shrug and Kris nodded with his cheeky smile.

“Will do, Ma’am”

In thirty minutes, I’ve done whatever should be done with Jaz. Her cute pink backpack filled with the proper stuff for her outing and now she’s enjoying her breakfast while playing with her baby brother Andrew. Oh my baby almost went forgotten here. I saw him looking confused when he leaned to the couch with his cute banana pajamas, checking on what his brother and sister doing. Alex and Jaz walked around the house with me and Kris helping them to get whatever they need while Andrew just watched us moving around. Busy morning as always.

I let Alex had his jelly and peanut butter bread on his own; he’s into creating his food these days. Kris put Andrew on his lap, taking him for a breakfast although the toddler didn’t want it. He just wanted to screw with the milk of the cereal, but refused to eat it. Only Jaz who acted all princess and being extra careful with her breakfast, afraid that it would spoil her pink dress. She’s truly my daughter.

“Be good with your grandmother, okay?” I told Jaz when she’s about to leave the house with our chauffeur. She nodded in excitement before kissed me and Kris as well as to Andrew.

“Let Mommy know when your practice end, we will pick you up” this time, I told Alex. He nodded as well, giving his dad a hug and kissed his little brother. The two bigger kids jumped to the car and once they left, the house felt so empty with only me, Kris, and Andrew.

“You want to go too, Andrew?” Kris playfully asked Andrew, making him giggles and shook his head. He’s almost three this year and how he coped up with us never failed to amaze me. It’s nice to see him growing up so well, but deep inside, I have this fear that he’d grew too fast. He’s the last baby in this house and I really wanted to save a lot of time taking care of him.

I let Kris played with Andrew while I asked the maid to clean up all of the breakfast mess. I still need to prepare Andrew this morning, he has not yet taking a bath but I let him enjoyed a moment with his daddy. It’s so cute to see Kris enjoyed the time playing with Andrew while he’s watching the news with the baby on his lap, leaning to him. I really wanted to join them, but I recalled that I have not yet made our bed and I need to call my mother to inform her about our plan tomorrow.

After the bigger kids left house, I have this routine of coming to their rooms and cleaned up. I knew that most of the time I raised them to be on their own; preparing books for school, getting ready when they’re about to go out, and of course, packing on their own. They have not yet doing it perfectly, but seeing them getting ready on their own already made me proud but at the same time, a little melancholic.

Every time I went to their room, I realized that they’re growing bigger and bigger each day. They started to sleep in different room; Alex with his blue theme room and Jaz on her all white and pink color. Since they started school, I got smaller portion of time to be spent with them since they’re starting to talk all about class, friends, anything school related. I’m happy for them, I do, but I couldn’t hide this sad feeling of not having them with me forever. They used to cling on me, every second possible. And here comes the irony.

Human would never feel satisfy over anything and I realized it happened to me. Those days when the twins drove me crazy with their cries, the fights, the scream all over the house, those time when they started learning to walk and made me move around the house to catch these two, I secretly prayed that they would be on their own soon. But now that they’re really started to be on their own, I was the one who got scared.

Recalling what I’ve been through on my teenage period, I feared that the twins wouldn’t need my help anytime soon. Those time when I was a teenager, capable of earning my own cash, I started to tell my parents that I could do things on my own, they should not worry about me and they should start learned that I’m big enough to be independent. But seeing how my own child grew up, I started to understand how it feels to be parents, and moreover, how was my parents feel about me back then.

Kris said that it’s a phase that would be gone in time, but to be honest, he had his own thought too. Spending more time outside home, Kris always said to me that he felt like he’s not the best father for our babies. He knew he provided us with everything we need, but he rarely seeing them and it made him worried that they might not love him in return. And here we are two insecure parents.

When I’m done cleaning up Alex and Jaz’s rooms, I moved to Andrew’s to prepare for his bath this morning. He really likes to take a bath; usually it could take almost fifteen minutes of him playing on the bathtub with me sitting on the floor, watching him. He’s my little muse, my favorite time-spending. He’s the one I’ve been taking everywhere these days, especially since he stopped his baby’s cries. Andrew usually is gentle and all about giggling and smiling to everyone, people really love him, a lot. He’s like a new superstar; he’s the center of attention whenever I brought him to my working place.

Andrew had been really active these days though. We always put baby-gate in our house, just in case he went unnoticed like he always does but we didn’t expect to put that one on our stairs. When Jaz and Alex started to walk, they really never touched the stairs, but Andrew, he’s so having a lot of energy he started to climb the stairs. I would not notice he’s there if Alex didn’t call me. And since the stairs was too large for the baby gate, we decided to put a large couch so Andrew couldn’t pass it. It worked, but he’s recently had a good training on climbing, so we really have to pay attention to him. Not so much a little baby...

Kris came with Andrew just in time when I prepared the bathtub. Since we’re not having any schedule today, Kris decided to join the baby on the tub. I laughed as I saw them playing inside the tub. When Kris decided to spend time with the kids, I always see the side of him that I thought would never see. Promising himself that he would be the father his father was, he really lived up to his words.

He might be rarely spending the time with the kids, but Kris actually showed his effort to be with them. Although he came back late, he always went to the kids room first, checking on their day through their notebooks, their school stuff, everything. He usually tried to make Andrew sleeps at night, which I really feel grateful for since Andrew got heavier these days, making it hard for me to keep taking him on my arms every time he wanted to sleep. And those days when we have to do nothing on the weekend, the kids would invade our bed and attacked us, trying to make us awakened. That’s the time I love the most, to be able to have the love of my life altogether.

“Honey, is there something wrong with Andrew?” Kris asked me as he brought the toddler on his lap.

I checked on Andrew, he looked like he’s in pain.

“Andrew, is there anything wrong?” I asked him, slowly touching his face.

“Noooo...” he whined as he moved away from my touch. I looked at him in confused. Was there really something wrong?

“Let Daddy see, Andrew” Kris held Andrew and much to his thought, it’s indeed something wrong with him. I failed to notice how his left cheek was a bit swollen, and it’s true, he’s having a toothache.

“I guess we should see the doctor now...”

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Coming to a dentist was never a hard task for me and Kris since Jaz and Alex usually had their semester regular check up with no problem. But Andrew was an exception. He always fears doctor, dentist, hospital, anything that sounded medical and that’s why a trip to the hospital would be another challenge for us. As expected, he remained stress and refused to cooperate with me and Kris when we arrived at the dentist.

“Andrew... It’s ok, Baby. Would you want to go with Mommy?” I said to him as I moved closer to him. He didn’t say anything but shook his head and decided to put his face on Kris’ neck.

“He didn’t want to move yet” Kris whispered with worry as he rubbed Andrew’s back. And without a word, Andrew started to cry; seemed like the pain started to kick in. It’s really my weakness, whenever I see my kids in pain; I would go all panic and worry. Kris held my hand as we went inside the building.

The dentist already greeted us when we arrived there, he’s the one who had been taking care of our baby’s teeth so I’m glad that he’s there although it’s weekend.

“Let me see...” he said calmly as he tried to make Andrew looked at him. “Andrew, look at me, please?” he patted Andrew’s back but the boy really had a hard a time with his teeth I bet. He started to cry and shook his head, until he cried harder when he accidentally hit Kris’ chin. It really went bad; I could only look at Kris who was as confused as I was.

We couldn’t examine Andrew until he stopped his cries so I had to take him and pput him on my laps, hugging him while telling him that in order for him to feel better we have to get him to the dentist. And after almost thirty minutes of talking everything possible to Andrew, he decided to get calm and agreed to be examined by the doctor. With one condition, he wanted it to be done with his father.

“Andrew wants Daddy” he said in the middle of his pain, giving his hands to Kris who accepted it very well.  

We finally moved to the examination room, but then another problem came in. Andrew didn’t want to sit on the dental engine and refused with all of his best effort to be away with it. Another cries heard and this time he really got it bad. I really didn’t know what’s wrong with my little one, but I bet his pain made him cranky like this. Kris tried to talk to him but Andrew really forgot his nice mood earlier this morning, he cried harder and harder, and in the end, Kris sat on the dental engine with Andrew on his lap. And magically, that’s the only thing that made him calm.

I watched these two and I couldn’t hide my own smile. Kris, with his long body, lying there with Andrew was really a sight to see. Andrew looked so small on his arms but he felt secured with his father under him so when the dentist started to check on him, Andrew didn’t move at all. Kris softly rubbed on Andrew’s arms, trying to calm him and the kid was indeed stayed calm. Turned out, one of his teeth should be removed. The process would be a little painful and I already expected a big cry, but it didn’t happen. Andrew managed to get it done in silent and finally, he went all calm just like he usually was.

“That was a hell of ride...” Kris commented as he brought Andrew on his arms, with him sleeping comfortably on Kris’ chest.

“He’s really into you, hmm?” I commented, opening the back door of and helping Kris to put Andrew on the baby car seat.

“It’s amazing to see this little baby grew up. He got more energy compared to few months before. I really need to hold on him harder than before, just like Alex” Kris shrugged on his shoulder, smiling at the baby before he put his arm around my waist.

“Where should we go now, Honey?”

“Lunch before taking Alex from the field?” I offered. Kris nodded in agreement before we walked to the front passenger seat. But right before he opened the door, I received a call that made me almost fainted.

“Mrs. Wu, I’m Alexander Wu’s baseball coach. I’m sorry to tell you over the phone but... Alexander had been involved in an accident. It happened so sudden, the baseball stick was accidentally cracked into two parts, thrown in the air, and hurt his head. He’s now being taken to the ER, we will text you the address of the hospital. We really need to see you there”

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“Jinah, please calm down...” Kris whispered as he hugged me from the side.

I’ve been crying as I saw blood everywhere around Alex’s head. It’s coming from a pretty long cut around his eyebrows, he’s going to be fine as the doctor said but the way he cried and screamed in pain really drove me crazy. I wanted to calm him, hugging him, but since he’s getting stitched, we need to wait outside.

Jaz came along with my mother in law, waiting as we’re praying for Alex to be fine. My mother and my father was coming as well, they’re taking care of Andrew while I put my attention on Alex. It happened so fast, a cracked baseball stick was thrown accidentally and happened to hit Alex who’s standing not too far from there. It cut him pretty bad; he’s bleeding and immediately taken to the ER.

I couldn’t say anything other than watching on the process in silent. Kris kept staying with me, rubbing on my back to keep me calm but until I could see my baby, I didn’t think I could do anything else. I saw him crying, I saw him asking for me, but I really have to wait until everything’s set for him. And once the doctor announced that I could come for him, I was half running for Alex who got his head covered.

“Alex... How are you, Baby?” I asked him once I could hold his hand. He’s half awake, half sleepy, he weakly touched my fingers. I tried to hold my tears when I saw him like this, but when he spoke to me, I really couldn’t hold the cry.

“I’m sorry, Mommy” he said slowly, looking scared, probably thinking that I was about to scold him. Oh my little boy...

“It’s ok, Alex. It’s okay... Are you feeling better now?” I rubbed on his hand.

He nodded slowly, trying to smile but then he started to close his eyes, sleeping. Doctor said that he’d naturally sleep after getting treated. He could go home directly after he awakes later on, but in the meantime, we have to wait for him.

“He’s okay...” Kris said softly, kissing the side of my head. “He’s strong; he will pass it well, Honey”

I nodded, leaning to his shoulder as I had my arm around his. “It’s just... You know... This kind of feeling when our kids get hurt... It’s really hard to control, Kris...” I told him weakly.

“Mmhmm. I couldn’t stand it when he cries, begging for them to stop...” he responded, taking Alex’s hand, slowly rubbing it.

We went silent after that, watching Alex sleeping. It’s been a while since I watched him sleeping like this. He started to sleep on his own, just like Jaz fell asleep once I kissed her good night. My Alex grew up so fast; he’s having quite long legs just like his father and how he recently acted more mature made proud of this young little man of mine.

Jaz joined me on the couched, sleeping with her head on her father’s lap while I had Andrew on my arms, he’s been looking for me so my mother decided to give him back to me. In the end, it’s the five of us all over again.

“Alex will get better right, Daddy?” Jaz asked, looking at her twin.

“Sure, he’ll be fine. He just need some rest. Did you have fun on the pool today with grandma?” Kris replied as he played with Jaz’s long hair.

“Yes, it’s fun. But it’d be better if Alex came with us”

“He’ll join next time”

And after that we went silent, continued to look on Alex.

“Honey” I called Kris as I touched his arm softly.

“Hmm?” he turned his head to look at me.

“Remember when I earlier said to you that we’re finally going to have a day off this weekend?”

He nodded.

“Is it a jinx or something?” I asked him, half laughing.

“Well... I guess there’s no day off for parents?” he replied, lifted one of his eyebrows as he gave me his calming smile. I rubbed on his jaw softly, the thing I like to do to him when I felt thankful for having him.

“It’s like...two kids in one day with injuries and illness...”

“We still can handle it well, Baby” he responded as calm as possible.

“And I thought we’re going to have an easy Saturday... Can we just stay on bed tomorrow?”

“Let’s hope we can”

I really wish we can have a lazy Sunday tomorrow...

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I always imagine this kind of setting for Mr. & Mrs. Wu. I hope you guys don’t get bored with the additional chapter all over again...

xoxo,

yuriyaa