We can't find him

When I was over next door warming up my pamangkins' lunch, the phone rang. It was Ancie. She was calling from school. “Tita, is Diko (Angelus) there? We can’t find him.” I told her he wasn’t and to wait for him a little bit more. “If he doesn’t show up, can you guys walk by yourselves?” I asked her. She said yes, but I was worried and decided to go out and get them myself. I met them walking with Angelus. Amica was crying. I guess Angelus was making her run, or walk faster and she was tired. Amica is a slow walker. I held her hand and told her to stop crying and that she didn’t have to walk fast. They had enough time.

Having to help the kids with lunch, I found myself multi-tasking more than usual. I usually use my lunch time to cook or start preparing our dinner, or do laundry. On days that I have appointments like today, I have to manage my time in such a way that I could still complete my 7 ½ hours of work. This week, I have been leaving them after they were all seated and eating and then I would go home to do the stuff that I usually do at my lunch time. Like today, I unloaded the washer and loaded the dryer. And then I went back there. They were all done eating except for Amica, who is also a slow eater. They usually go back to school after 30 minutes. The kids have been very polite. They always said, “thank you po.” The other day, Angelus’ jacket zipper was broken. The zipper opened up from the bottom when he bent over to tie his shoe laces. (Don’t you just hate it when that happens?) I fixed it up for him. I realized that I have been these kids' mother during lunch for the past two weeks.

After school, RK asked if he could play outside with his cousins. I let him play since it wasn’t very cold. He came home later with wet socks, boots and pants. I told him to let his boots dry over the heating vent.