"Maid-less" life has made Renzo a stronger boy

On Saturday, August 20th, we sent AyeAye to Changi Airport Terminal 2, she took a Silkair flight at 7:55am to Myanmar with her slightly over-weighted luggage. We then headed to Terminal 3 to board our SQ flight to Shanghai at 8:05am. That ends Ayeaye's 1 year and 10 months employment with us.

I had imagined in the past that upon Ayeaye's departure, we would have thrown in a delicious meal, a beautiful farewell cake, thoughtful gifts and warmest hugs and kisses at the airport. All these didn't happen somehow, but she did ring me from the plane right before taking off, and I let Renzo talk to her for a little while. Our little boy followed my instructions and said 3 things over the phone:
"Hello Auntie Ayeaye"
"I love you Auntie Ayeaye"
"Bye bye Auntie Ayeaye"

It's a long story about why she chose to go back to her hometown, in a nutshell, she decided not to work as domestic helper anymore and we decided not to hire anyone till our new condo is ready and we move out from my in-laws' place as they are not used to a life with maid.

So officially, we are "maid-less" now!

I remember mentioning how important Ayeaye is to us in one of my posts before, there is definitely a significant impact to our daily life. Win has to help out with housework again (just like the period when I was preggy), floor mopping and laundry are things he does everyday. I still need to cook during weekends, and take care of other household chores. Even my father-in-law started to iron Renzo's school uniform and my mother-in-law's responsibilities is probably the heaviest, to pick Renzo from school and cook for the family during weekdays. And the worst part is, we won't be able to spend our time freely and easily with Renzo like before... unless we could get the housework settled in the blink of an eye.

But I can see everyone starts to get a hang of our new lives in a few days. Even Renzo seems to grow up overnight. He was acting like a super glue throughout our trip in China and insisted to cling to me only, and at night, sometimes he even had nightmares and woke up crying for his auntie Ayeaye. But when we returned to Singapore and started sending him back to school on Monday, he immediately got back to his usual routine without making any fuss.

Win has been sending him to school these mornings and I've heard from him about how well behaved Renzo is, that makes us feel really proud of our little boy. Deep in his heart, I am very sure he sensed that things have changed. On a few occasions, while he was playing his toys on the floor or eating and stoning in his high chair, out of sudden, he mumbled, "Auntie Ayeaye go home, no more", "Renzo is a big boy already!".

Now he is able to eat well, play well and sleep well without the presence of Ayeaye, although I am not sure if he has fully accepted the fact that his Auntie Ayeaye will never come back again, but sending Ayeaye back and bringing Renzo for a 2 weeks holiday at the same time, is definitely a wise choice. He has definitely picked up a lot new stuff during his trip, see how a 2 years old play with his seat belt in the plane!!