Borrowed time

Sunday night I was sleeping next to Chiyaa (yeah we still co-sleep, generally its K with Chiyaa and I with Pumpki). Around 2330 ish she woke me up and said she was not able to go back to sleep. I turned the night light on and gave her a book (yeah I did that :D) and drifted off to sleep myself. I thought she would sleep off, but 30 mins later she was still reading. I asked her to hit the bed, since she had school the next day. She asked me for something to eat (obviously one would be hungry if one wakes up in the middle of the night). I warmed a cup of milk and gave her. Minutes of having it, she needed the toilet! Obviously again. After that she and I snuggled and slept. 2 hours later, she said she wasn’t getting sleep again. I asked her to read again. After sometime, (I am not sure whether she slept in the interim or not, cos I was sleeping J ) she said she felt sick. Hmm… now that was troubling. We went to the toilet and poor child had a big puke. Cleaned up, we tried to sleep. She was definitely feeling better now. (Must have been the restaurant food we had on Saturday, plus my chicken biriyani on Sunday would have added fuel to fire). She slept for a bit, but then complained about not being able to get back to sleep! I asked her what she wanted to do and she said play J Good for her, she has toys handy everywhere. She started playing. It was close to 0400.

By now I had decided that she would not be going to school on Monday.

I told her “You are not going to school tomorrow”

She blinked and said “Will I be all alone?”

I said “Yes, of course”

“But who will take care of me?”

I said “What take care?

Chiyaa replied “I cant cook”

I said “I will leave some cooked food, you just have to eat it”

Chiyaa took a few moments to digest this. I asked “ You will be ok?” She nodded.

She was so cute! (And yes I was mean by messing with her head) I gave her the tightest hug and let her play)

I rang in school on Monday morning. When asked what was wrong with her, I was unprepared for a lie. I replied, she was sick. “Oh that means she has to kept at home for 48 hours to rule out any infection” Darn it!! Now I had to take 2 days leave. Thankfully my company had a policy that allows upto 5 days leave in a year for family emergencies.

And was I glad! I caught up on some books. I played with Chiyaa. We took a 90 minute long walk. We practiced some karate since she has a tournament in 4 weeks’ time. I got to prepare food and be around the house pottering around. I realised just how much time we spend at work! When I came back on Wednesday I also realised how little we add to day to day. When I was at home, I felt a lot would be happening. But then everything seemed the same. It was very kind of everyone to ask about Chiyaa.

It wasn’t for the best of causes but the effect of the two days was very good - some more time with my little one J