When the ants come marching in

Few days ago, we saw ants in our living room and after doing a hunt, we traced the source to the common corridor outside our house and found a colony of black ants. Ok, colony sounds a little exaggerated but when I see over 20 ants at one go, that is a little too much for my liking and something has to be done.

So we mopped the corridor, cleared the drain behind my mother-in-law's line of potted plants, sprayed some insect killer and hoped that the ants would be gone.

Miraculously, some of them are still lurking under the sofa, in the kitchen and we even found ants inside Angel's toy box. As much as I worry about how she is becoming an expert ant killer because she can use her fingers to press them, pick them up and dump into the bin, I am at least glad to have another pair of eyes, in fact these are eagle eyes, to help me keep a lookout. That said, I do teach her to leave insects alone unless they pose as a threat in our house.

Anyway, the story is I was walking her to school yesterday as usual when the little sister was still sleeping at home. Yes, I do not hide the truth and judge me if you want but I do leave the sleeping baby alone in the house for those less than ten minutes while I bring the older girl to her school located next block. If she is awake, she always gets to tag along. But if she is still in her sweet dreams, I do not drag her up because it would be hard for her to fall back to sleep again.  

So we were having a conversation when Angel started to ponder over things for a minute before she told, or rather instructed, me solemnly.

Angel: Mummy, later you must hurry home.

Me: Ok, strange that you say that. But why?

Angel: There are ants in the house.

Me: Are you afraid the ants will eat your toys or biscuits?

Angel: Because meimei is alone at home, don't let the ants get to her.

Me: *heart melts* Sure, Mummy will run back even faster today to protect our little precious.

You see, for all the times she refuses to share her toys, presses on the baby's tummy, pulls her jammies, shakes her limbs too hard, it is not because she doesn't love the baby sister. She just doesn't quite know how to express it and as a kid, she gets overly excited at times and forgets that she needs to share or be gentle. But I know, I know, that she loves the little one deep in her heart and would go all out to protect her if she ever sees her in danger.

And it is moments like this that I just feel like hugging her close and whispering to her

You're an awesome big sister in Mummy's eyes, my dear.

Ariel is so lucky to have you in her life and so am I.

And I love you so, so much.

******
Linking up with