day 674 | june 16, 2013 | Stay-at-Home Dad

It started a week ago. H formally changed status from a working dad to a stay-at-home dad. True, it's a temporary situation, but I can understand how it must be a huge shift for him. To add to the challenge, our lifesaver is on home leave these next two weeks for her daughter's birthday. It's going to be primarily him taking care of the kids and managing the house. It's his first time handling the kids all by himself, for a duration longer than an hour.

That Monday morning, it was strange to kiss the kids goodbye and know that they've got their dad with them while I'm away. I'm so happy the kids finally get their chance to (torture) enjoy their dad for whole day, but I must admit I had images in my head (nightmare scenarios, more like it) of what would greet me after a full day's work.

Nightmare 05 of 1,000,001: Roo and Red are made to clean the house with wet wipes, while H lounges around the home.

Nightmare 181 of 1,000,001: The kids are bound and gagged. In my head, they are also inside one of the closets.

Nightmare 1,246 of 1,000,001: One of the kids loses a limb while H tries to figure out how to work "baby" equipment. 

Instead, all my pre-conceived notions were blown into itty bitty bits to a far-away land where most pre-conceived notions go...

The Pretenders, faking sleep!

Both kids are still alive, and are extremely happy. So happy in fact that my arrival (which is usually greeted with happy squeals) simply got a nod of the head in acknowledgement and a dismissive "Oh, hi mommy."

Happily building using Daddy's 20 year old Lego collection!

The house is recognizable. In fact, I'd never felt the floor that clean ever before. Plus, I had home-made dinner waiting for me.

They made jellies. They went to the McDonalds at the park, and got free balloons. They had an adventure in Takashimaya where they met up with friends and had a mini-playdate. H also admonished the mall management for not having any babycare rooms in gender-neutral areas (outside of the Ladies' room). 

They watched "Horton Hears a Who" after I read the book to the kids the night before. They had Ippudo! They built train tracks all over the house together. The kids now have a collection of My Little Pony dolls, with characters like Rainbow Dash and Summer Sunset. And H plans on teaching the little ones how to bake cookies, topped with icing and sprinkles. 

Now I feel useless. :) It's a good thing the kids' hairs are tangled beyond recognition, so I still have a tiny little role to play of untangling week-long tangles (and I can still try to bribe them with Barbie toothbrushes every three months).

Hands down, you did a fabulous job, Daddy! Note that all the nightmare scenarios happened under my watch. I wanted to take snaps of Red inside the washing machine, and Roo cutting up vegetables in a bloodied chopping board, but both dad and kids just shook their heads at me. Perhaps best to put a disclaimer that no children (or dads) were harmed to complete this post. Grin.

Happy Fathers' Day to Daddy H and all the amazing dads out there! :) Nobody is perfect (not even the supermommies), but we love that you love us enough to try, and try again. :)