I'm sorry for the very slow update. Our current situation has made me more busy than before. I was already doing the whole 'work from home' bit years before but now I'm busier. Anyway, I hope this update makes up for my absence...
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Sharing in the chores of keeping house, Niko was in charge of the cleaning the living room and dining room. He took care of the fish tank and the balcony, too. One afternoon, he saw Kaia crawl toward the balcony door, pulling herself up to stand. Kaia happily and noisily banged on the glass door while pressing her face on the glass.
"What are you doing there?" Niko said as he approached and picked up his princess.
"Daaaa..."
"Hmm...are you looking at Mommy's old window? Dada used to watch Mommy from here..." Niko said as he looked out the glass to the building across the street. They stood there for a while. Niko recalled the time when he first saw Riki gracefully dancing inside her unit. Weeks later, he saw someone dancing on the rooftop of the building. Niko reminisced on how he was lucky to have met this wonderful woman who became his partner and now, the mother of his beautiful child. He gave Kaia a long kiss on the forehead. Kaia squealed in delight as she clapped her hands and gurgled. Because Kaia also squirmed a lot in his arms, Niko put her down. Niko watched as Kaia took a few wobbly steps to her toys nearby. He smiled then took a few pieces of tissue and doused Kaia's saliva streak on the glass door with alcohol and wiped it down. He threw the tissue in the kitchen bin and washed his hands while glancing at Kaia who was now busy playing with her toys.
A few minutes later, Niko started setting up for his online class. Because he had not stopped working even when Kaia was born, she was used to hearing and seeing Niko do his work. Because her play area was also in the living room where both Niko and Riki worked, she was also a familiar figure in the kids' classes. It wasn't uncommon for Kaia to suddenly crawl up to Niko while he was having a class. The kids were delighted in having a little one join them every now and then.
This morning, while everyone was busy with their own activity, Niko noticed that Menggay suddenly stopped and stared at the screen. Menggay's serious expression turned into a wide smile.
Niko glanced at where Menggay seemed to be looking and saw Kaia standing, swaying, and bouncing on her knees as if she were dancing. Surprised with Kaia's newfound skill of imitating her 'Ates' and 'Kuyas' by watching them on screen (he and Riki have been conscious not to expose her to too much screen use yet), Niko moved to her corner and encouraged her to dance some more. Some of the children realized what was happening and soon were also encouraging their little 'classmate' to dance with them. When the music ended, Kaia gave a loud, "drooly" squeal while clapping her hands, imitating the kids on screen. This earned her more claps and cheers from the other kids. From that moment, Kaia would often join the class when they had movement or dance activities. In fact, Niko noticed that Kaia liked to move (not only her body) when there was a beat, or any kind of music played in the background.
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