On Tuesday, he woke before 6 am and didn't go back to bed. He was ready for school by the time Kai, Yang and I left at 6.30 am. I told helper to bring him down in 20 min since the school opens only at 7.00 am. But he checked into child care only at 7.40 am. The same thing happened on Wednesday and I remembered to ask helper when she came back - how come he was ready at 6.30 am but only got to school at 7.40 am? She just smiled and walked into the kitchen with groceries.
??
Maybe she didn't understand? There were many things that she didn't do as I asked... So I decided to ask Yu in the evening.
mf: You were carrying your bag when I left with your brothers. How come you didn't leave until much later?
Yu: *a little coy* Kakak sleeping.
mf: Huh? Then where were you? What were you doing?
Yu: *super coy* I don't know.... You'll scold me!
mf: I won't scold you. I just want to make sure you're safe. Just tell me, please?
Yu: I play game on Kakak's phone...
Wa, I was livid. I don't mind if she wants to sleep. There's time to nap in my household. But to give Yu her phone to play some game that Yu couldn't even describe, I was very pissed! I don't even let them play known games on their own phones!
I confronted her and demanded to see the game. She immediately said she had deleted the game. Of course I didn't believe it but no point pushing it. I told her no more such thing. Just go straight to school. I told her I know exactly when the kid reached school coz the check-in photos get sent to my phone.
Immediately, I told Sito. Sito worried if she had scolded or hit Yu before. I asked Yu - thankfully, no. I also checked with Yang whether she let him play games on her phone last year. He said no. With previous helper, they got to school at about 7-7.10 am except on the rare occasions when one or both kid slept in or decided to nua in bed. With this helper, timing suddenly became consistently 7.40 am onwards. I thought she was just slow. But maybe she has been sleeping in all this while but last year, Yang and Yu could play together so there was no need to give them a gadget.
I also told JY who said she would sack her immediately. I wanted to. But I'm still working. Sito is in Malaysia. Agent - I also messaged him - said it would take a month nowadays to get a helper. I'm very much stuck.
Our original plan is to keep her until March or April when I quit (after PB! :p) if she is ok to stay. If she wants to take home leave at the end of the two years this December, we would just terminate. We could get a part-timer in for a few months before I take over the household full-time. It looks like no point changing at this moment too.
So I decided on a 权宜之计 - let her send Kai and Yang while I send Yu. Very safe.
But Yang wasn't very pleased. He said he doesn't like kakak. I think he felt that I was ditching him for Yu :( I had to remind him that on Tuesday, I was already discussing with them about whether they could go to school on their own. Both could. But Yang said cheekily that they would fight on the bus! So no go. But I never saw them fight - just chatting or quietly sitting there. Anyway, this thing came about and I had to transit quickly instead of gradually.
So this morning, helper sent Kai and Yang while I sent Yu. But when Yang was changing, he told me that he wanted to go to school on his own tomorrow morning. Ok! Will go through details with them later today.
Yu was ready by 6.30 am again but he knew I was home so he didn't hurry to get his bag. He brought out toys and an activity booklet. I prepared bread and butter pudding (need to modify recipe) while he was drawing on the booklet. Then we played toys a bit before going to school.
Yu was ready by 6.30 am again but he knew I was home so he didn't hurry to get his bag. He brought out toys and an activity booklet. I prepared bread and butter pudding (need to modify recipe) while he was drawing on the booklet. Then we played toys a bit before going to school.
He wanted me to take pictures :)
On retrospect, I'm so grateful for that piece of work on institutional child care back in 2007-2008, which made me decide to send kids to infant care rather than hand over to a helper. More ex, more viruses, but so much peace of mind with more eyes on the kid and fellow carers, social interaction with other kids and general immunity by primary school! :p
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