An Afternoon with Paquita

The four year old Paquita is my niece. While her American father has to work in Thailand, her mother has a good career in the local government and can only spend time with her during the weekend. Fortunately there are my other sister and the maid who watch over her at home. All of them live next door.

One day, her mother asked me to watch over her after she got home from school, since the other adults weren’t home.

12:30 PM

When Paquita arrived home that afternoon, I was already standing by in front of her house. Her first words to me were,”Can I play Barbie in your house?”

Me : (Oh dear…) If only you put them all back yourself in the right place after finish playing. Paquita : Okay, Boss.

Me : And you have to finish your lunch. After that you will take a nap.

Paquita : Yes, Boss.

And suddenly the floor is full with any kinds of Barbie: the torn-dress, the one-shoe, the nude, the chopped-head… yeah, they’re all Paquita’s

1 PM

Lunch was ready and she had it without argumentations. Ate it herself, neatly. Good girl, but hang on coz the best is yet to come…

Barbie party continued. I got the chopped-head and I had to pretend it had a crush on the little bear. She played the bear. The bear said to the chopped-head,”Will you marry me, My Princess?”

Love must be real blind in the Barbie World… *sigh*

2 PM

Nap time. But uh-oh, I just remembered that the fridge was almost empty! I had to go groceries shopping that day or else there would be no dinner, and breakfast, and lunch for the week! So I called Paquita’s Mom, asking her permission to take the little princess at 5 PM to the supermarket. After I got the ‘OK’, she talked to Paquita. The little girl then climbed onto bed after washing her feet.

Me : Paquita, would you come with me to the supermarket if it’s not raining later?

Paquita nodded several times with a bright smile on her face.

Me : We’re gonna take a public vehicle. Is that okay with you, Chubby Bubby?

Paquita : Okay, Boss!

When I was lying next to her, she held my hand tightly and then closed her eyes. We were like that for I don’t know how long, but it was enough time for me to watch this sweet little chubby princess

4 PM

It wasn’t hard to wake her up. I only needed to whisper,”Let’s go to the supermarket,” and she jumped right off of the bed. Minutes later she had finished taking a bath, wore her cute pink dress and held her Barbie small bag with Powerpuff Girls raincoat inside. She picked a small can of milk from the fridge and with her wide smile saying,”I’m ready, Aunty!” when I was still stunned watching her do all that by herself.

Paquita : Let me bring your umbrella.

This is when we were waiting for the public car. Thank goodness it wasn’t raining.

Me : Nah, it’s okay. It’s a bit heavy.

Paquita : No, it’s not! I’m strong! (seizing my umbrella.)

On our way to the supermarket, she held the umbrella tightly as if it was gonna lost if she didn’t do so. I just couldn’t help pinching her chubby cheek looking her do that. My heart thanked her

She’s however the first four-year who’s ever been that sweet to me, while other four-years usually prefer me bringing their stuffs for them.

6 PM

We were already in the supermarket and were almost finished shopping. On our way to the cashier, we walked pass the snacks and sweets lane. Uh-oh… this girl must be asking me to buy this and that after this in a minute!

… …Snacks and sweets lane were way behind us and Paquita looked just cool. I couldn’t believe she didn’t ask me for any sweets at all coz I knew very well how she liked those things much. It was almost abnormal to me!

So this aunty dragged her back to the lane,”Okay, Girl, what would you like?”

Paquita : Mom told me not to buy anything.

Me : Your Mom is right, you shouldn’t because you don’t have any money, right? So I’m gonna buy it for you. But you must remember that this only happens when someone wants to buy it for you. If they don’t, then you don’t ask them to, either. Got it, Chubby Cheek?

She got it. She picked three bars of chocolate right away with different flavours from the shelf. Hmm, that’s… quick. I kinda thought she’d only take one.

Paquita : The other two are for Lala and Lia.

She remembered to buy for her other cousins as well?? If amazement came in the form of water, then I’d be all wet.

Outside the supermarket, she opened her can of milk.

Paquita : Here Aunty, have some. This tastes really nice!

Gosh, is it really her job to always surprise me with her awareness of being sincere in such a young age?

My Dad once said that if you go to a kindergarten, you’ll see that each child, of all that many, is unique. He’s totally right. I’ve seen many children and none of them has similar characteristic to each other. Still, without any intention to brag, mostly I can guess what’s in their mind and what they’re gonna do next.

But not with Paquita. I often can’t see it coming with her. The fact that she’s four year old and yet has the ability to be unselfish, while other kids her age normally are, makes me fall in love with her just easily.

Please don’t forget that we cannot blame kids under five for being selfish. It’s a mere stage of their childhood life that we adults must understand. In time they will learn how to think about other people too. So, looks like Paquita has learned it earlier than her friends.

Well, good on you, Chubby Bubby

I hope that heart of a princess’s stays in you no matter how old you are, where you are and whom you’re with.

Advertisement