For Ms Santamaria

As with any school day, Miguel was sleepy when I woke him up on February 14. But when I greeted him "Happy Valentine's Day," he bolted right out of bed saying, "I have to make a card for Ms. Santamaria!"

At that point I could have whined, "What about me?" but I didn't. I think that it's sweet that my son's knee-jerk reaction to Valentine's Day is to make a card for his teacher. Unless of course his teacher was a man.

Then he went to his toy shelf, and I asked him what he was doing. "Looking for a gift for Ms. Santamaria," he said. Handing me one of his Kiddie Meal action figures, he said, "Wrap this please." I convinced him to give a wooden puzzle block instead. But then Ninang came in and, being a teacher herself, convinced us both to give his teacher a pack of Hershey's Kissables.

Going back to the card, he insisted on a plain paper board, which he wrote and drew on. I would've been contented with "Happy Valentine's Day" but he wanted to say more. The personal touch. It was only after all this hullaballoo was over that he agreed to get dressed for school.

Even over breakfast, he would ask,"Mommy, where is my gift? Did you wrap it? Did you tape the card on?" Such attention to detail. I hope Ms. Santmaria enjoyed the gesture. I sure did...as if I were on the receiving end of that card.

...

When I got home that night, I had a card from Miguel as well. It read "I love you Mommy even when you stink." Sound familiar?

The smurf smile!

Defined as "smiling without showing teeth," this was taught by none other than Ate Mara during our Christmas eve celebration. Miguel picked it up right away and put it to good use the entire night.








I think, though, that the best smurf smile belongs to Ninang Aly :)

Presenting - Mommy Sandy!

Early this week Miguel got up from his breakfast for no apparent reason and went into a monologue at the foot of the dining table.

Let's talk about Mommy Sandy!

(Assuming a booming announcer's voice:)

Mommy Sandy: Talking to her undies.
Mommy Sandy: Always brushing her teeth after breakfast.
Mommy Sandy: Thinks that she is an animal.
Mommy Sandy: Being chased by the police at night.
Mommy Sandy: Forgetting to pass by the bank.

(Bow)

So according to him I am an obbssessive-compulsive animalistic nighttime fugitive with Alzheimer's who talks to her undies. Don't ask me where he got it from. And no, I don't talk to my undies.

"I'll tell you in song!"

Bedtime is the final frontier of your child's day, your last chance to find out the most significant thing that happened to him in the last 24 hours. In the midst of all the cuddling and kissing and good-nights, he is wont to reveal to you his deepest darkest secrets. I always use it as a time to find out what's really going on in his life. A lot of times Miguel tells me things that reveal something about his character, his wants, or his anxieties. But sometimes he just makes me laugh.

Well last Thursday I wanted to find out how he felt about riding the bus, or more specifically, why he only threw up in the mornings. Here's how our conversation went:

Me: Miguel, do you like riding the bus?
Miguel: No. I mean, I don't know.
Me: Do you like it better in the morning, or the afternoon?
Miguel: I like it better in the afternoon.
Me: Why?
Miguel: I don't know.
Me: I'm trying to find out why you throw up only in the morning and not in the afternoon.
Miguel, suddenly piping up: I'll tell you in song!
(Starts singing, to a tune that sounds suspiciously like "The Yellow Submarine")

In the morning, the bus is stinky
It smells like a pinky
Mrs. Binky!

In the afternoon, it's very fu-un
Games games games
Games games games

I couldn't stop laughing. Like I always tell him, I'm glad that he has a sense of humor. I totally believe him that his nausea is triggered by smell, because he's always been consistent about that. The smell could be an accumulation of the boys' sweat (eww) or the exhaust from the tail pipe, but certainly it's the full stomach that allows this to happen in the mornings.

I also suspect that afternoons are more fun for him because it's just the Prep and Grade 1 kids who ride home with him - a smaller, more homogenized group that is bent on play.

'Course, it could also be that he's unconsciously trying to get my attention. In any case, I'm just glad to know that he's a really happy boy.

Faster than a speeding bullet

Guess who flew in for Halloween. Superman was "it" this year. No amount of persuasion could convince him to change his mind because "Superman is Enoch's favorite." Enoch is as close as you can get to a friend among his busmates.

I would have preferred a home-made costume (see last year's outfit), but since the folks at Binondo are already much better at making Superman costumes, off I went to the mall and bought a set. I was so proud that I had the official outfit, endorsed by the Justice League and Cartoon Network. When I presented this to Miguel, he took one look and said, "I need a red brief."

But of course! A quick trip to the tiangge and I had Superman's brief - or rather, panty - to which I sewed on the requisite yellow belt and buckle. A brief with a buckle. Now that's what I call...anyway.

Had to create the red boots too, and sewed on the cape - both of which satisfied my need for a home-made component to this costume. And to complete the transformation, we put a cowlick on his forehead.

He was the most authentic Superman in the village Halloween party (all 7 of them, excluding the Supergirls!) but of course that's me talking. He was upset that he didn't win a prize, and I had to explain that there are just too many Supermans every year. Well, now he's looking for a prize-winning costume for next year. And I say, go for gold! :)

Overdue

And a happy United Nations Day to you too.

This is Miguel's costume for Guyana, lovingly made by mom just 2 days before the UN "assembly." Not bad, I must say (a little self-patronizing here). Felt cloth is always a heaven-send when it comes to these requirements. Sword not included :)

Take a breath

Adults (that's me) can be so neurotic. What seems so complicated and convoluted to us is actually quite simple to a child's eyes. Maybe I'm just reading too much meaning into motives and social contexts.

I'm glad I survived these last 2 weeks. Marlon was right - maybe I'm the one who needs a psychologist, not my child.

Just taking a breath before I go under again.

Storm Chronicles

(Annotations added October 10)




























That clump of bamboo is as old as the house - about 30 years. "Mommy, you should see this!" Miguel said. "I wish I was here to see it fall." Well not long after he said that we were having lunch (without electricity) and our makeshift china cabinet came crashing down. That's because it was placed against a floor-to-ceiling screen window with wooden grilles. Who'd ever think that the wind could blow it down.














I was saddened about the broken antiques. Not because of their value, but because I honestly feel that they are a part of our heritage. Granted most of these came from China, but then you have to consider that they travelled hundreds of miles to get to our shores. I felt bad that these vessels survived hundreds of years and they finally came to an end in our home. See, these are the things that convince me that I'm a nerd.

At the time I thought that only dad and I were the only ones who appreciated the value of these things. Gee, maybe dad was a nerd too - a sort of cultural nerd. Anyway the other night I was talking to Fr. Tito Caluag about the incident and he expressed the same sadness that I did over the broken shards. I felt validated by his reaction. I'm not so strange after all. Most of my family members shrugged off the breakage. It's true that we still have a lot of other antiques and they do tend to occupy space and gather dust. But I really do see a historical and cultural value in them. Sigh. Only dad would understand. Well at least Fr. Caluag does too.













As it got darker Leslie and Miguel resorted to odd games to distract us from the fact that there was no electricity. Hence the impromptu costumes, and much later - flashlight games. The piggy bank and candle shot is from my room.

Papparazzi

As you may or may not know, parents are not allowed into the grade school during classes. But on the pretext of being head of the decorations committee for Miguel's class salu-salo, I got to go in for an ocular visit.

Rare photo opportunity like this must not be wasted.

Birthday

Late post I know. Eight days late to be exact. But it was a really great day for me - didn't go to work, then surprised Miguel by picking him up from school.

The pic was taken at Dulcinea, which is Miguel's favorite restaurant because of the churros. Mom and Les joined us there for lunch.

Afterward, we went to Timezone to play his latest obssession, Soulcalibur. Little tyke ended up going home with a few prizes. Seemed like it was his birthday.

Had to do a quick change after that and get ready for my dinner date. All in all a good day :)

What the...?

Joke of the day

Coming back from lunch, I find a bouquet of on my desk. Supposedly from my Anonymous Secret Admirer Mr. "F"

Anonymous Secret Admirer Mr. "F"? Har har! Anonymous na, secret pa!

I must say, I really got a good laugh out of that one. The carnations are almost dried out, for crying out loud. I accosted Ome and Omie but they swear they have nothing to do with it.


Of course they had a field day poking fun at me and our colleague F.

If Ome and Omie didn't do it, then it must be Ace. Just the other day he joked about F giving me an old bouquet of Mondo's. Next time Ace, please make sure that the flowers are fresher. At least it wouldn't be obvious that they're recycled.

We're singing

...so you might as well sing along too. It's Miguel's new piano piece:

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flow'rs before Thee,
op'ning to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;
drive the dark of doubt away.
Giver of immortal gladness,
fill us with the light of day!

All Thy works with joy surround Thee,
earth and heaven reflect Thy rays,
Stars and angels sing around Thee,
center of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain,
flow'ry meadow, flashing sea,
Chanting bird and flowing fountain
call us to rejoice in Thee.

Thou art giving and forgiving,
ever blessing, ever blessed,
Wellspring of the joy of living,
ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our Brother,
all who live in love are Thine;
Teach us how to love each other,
lift us to the joy divine.

Mortals, join the mighty chorus,
which the morning stars began;
Love divine is reigning o’er us,
binding all within its span.
Ever singing, march we onward,
victors in the midst of strife;
Joyful music leads us sunward
in the triumph song of life.

He's already memorized the piece and can play it very well too. And he sings the song at the piano, at the dining table, in the car, while brushing his teeth, and before going to bed at night. Isn't that cute? It's been going on for more than 2 weeks now.

You gotta hear it.

Goal for the day

Yesterday.

Classes were called off for the second day in a row due to bad weather. Miguel's quarterly exams start the following day but by 9:30AM he's already reviewed all his lessons and done his piano drills. Nothing left for him to do the rest of the day.

Me, about to leave for work (ha! late!) : Miguel, I think that you should have a goal for today.

Miguel, playing while watching TV: What?

Me: I know! Why don't we ask Lola (Grandma) to teach you the rest of your piano piece? After all, you were supposed to have piano lessons today.

Miguel, self-importantly: I already have goals.

Me: Like what?

Miguel: Watch TV.

Me: That's not a goal! Okay, that's it...your goal for the day is to learn the rest of your piano piece.

Miguel: I don't want to learn the rest of my piano piece.

Me: I'll give you 5 extra minutes of Playstation time if you learn it.

Miguel, turning away: No thank you, I don't need 5 extra minutes.

Me: But if you don't learn it you'll lose 5 minutes.

Miguel, suddenly running toward Lola: Lola, can you teach me the rest of my piano piece?

How to make a strawberry-flavored cake

Cute, isn't it? That's what you get when you watch too much of Dexter's Lab and cartoonnetwork.com.

In his words:

You get a cannon, then take out the bullets, then replace them with strawberries.

Now that's what I call a recipe for world peace.

Just to enlighten you, the cannon at left shoots icing; the one on top shoots sugar; the one at right shoots strawberries; and the one at bottom shoots butter. The finished product comes out at the lower left corner. He was conscientious enough to draw two legs for the machine to stand. And of course don't forget the remote control!

He even drew instructions on how to set up the machine:



On my birthday, he wants me to make a strawberry-flavored cake using this diagram. Piece of cake, huh?

It rains, I sneeze

So it takes an allergy at 2AM for me to blog.

It's not unusual for me to wake up early in the morning just because I feel cold - even in the summer. What's worse is when I wake up feeling cold,and then I sneeze.

Once that happens, it's goodbye peaceful sleep.

To the fortunate, oblivious ones, it poured this morning - as in typhoon-grade downpour, the kind that makes you wonder where in the city it's flooded right now and whether classes will be suspended.

Checking at my cellphone, I saw a message from my co-parent that came in at midnight: classes suspended according to the news. Yahoo!

That means I don't have to get up early, my son doesn't have to get up early, he won't get caught in the rain, and more importantly - he has a chance to recover from his month-long cough.

We've been to the pediatrician 3 times in the past 3 weeks. My son was getting frustrated that his cough hadn't gone away. Since he had no fever and it's persisted for so long, the doctor suspects that it's brought about by allergy. Another possibiliy is primary complex, so we took an x-ray to help us find out.

And he had to prescribe stronger medication this time. He was even apologetic about it - I can see that he's not too keen about giving prescribing antibiotics and other such medicines.

So unlike Miguel's other pedia, who always brought out the big guns at the slightest symptoms. By age 3 my son was no stranger to corticosteroids; he was even taking puffs from a babyhaler. We were at her clinic once a month, without fail. That's why I left her.

When I switched doctors Miguel's visits were limited to maybe 3 a year. And I like Tito Doctor's less aggressive approach. That's why I'm still sticking to him.

During yesterday's visit, I frustratedly asked him why Miguel's cough won't go away, and he pointedly told me, "because it runs in your family." Well I am exhibit A right now, with my inflamed sinus and post-nasal drip brought about by a 2AM downpour.

I'm trying to comfort myself with green tea right since there's no Claritin in the house. It seems to be working. But more than that, my son is sleeping soundly. His medication seems to be working too.

Fingers crossed, please. And prayers.

Art attack weekend

Thanks to Neil Buchanan for the snake activity. Thanks to Ninang Aly and her Fun Factory book for the pull-down puppet activity.

65/100

Checkmate

Miguel hit the jackpot this weekend: 2 Superman movies, trips to Powerstation and Egg, coming-home gifts from my bro and his wife, plus his latest object of fascination - a chess set that he coaxed out of my sister-in-law G.

While we were eating a post-movie merienda he took his tita's hand, ostensibly to show her the baby grand piano that was playing on its own. Then I saw them heading for the arcade and the toy store, and I knew that my beloved sis-in-law was about to be hijacked. Or rather, held up.

They were in the toy store by the time I caught up with them, and sure enough, G had asked him to choose a toy. Well, she did miss his birthday so it was a kind of belated gift. He pointed excitedly at wooden box that had sported a chess board. I suggested that he get the classic "barrel of monkeys" instead. But he liked the box because it read "5 games in one." In other words, he wanted something for 2 or more people.

G gladly bought the set, which contained pieces for chess, backgammon, checkers, dominoes, and pick-up sticks. He was so excited that the moment we got home we played a game. Surprisingly, he was quite good for a first timer. And not surprisingly, I made a lot of mistakes. Much like my billiard and bowling games, I'm lousy at chess. But I discovered that it's so much nicer when you're playing just for fun.

I won in the end; it was probably the first time that I've ever won. But it was a good game. I've never really had an interest in chess before, but with Miguel's new fascination for it, I'm already looking forward to the next game.

63/100

Mr. Potatohead as you've never seen him before

Here, tucked inside Miguel's latest art attack...is Mr. Potatohead.

I really like it.

I know that my brother would be appalled if he sees this, it being so girly.

You can blame me for that, because most of the stuff is mine. And I was the one who gave Miguel the violet paper. He asked me for colored paper, and that was the only unused sheet that I could find.

The round box came from a craft project I made in one of Mama Aly's children's parties, and some of the beads came from a broken bracelet of mine. That's why everything looks so girly. And that's why I like it.

The earthworm, of course, is his.

But honestly, as an artist, I find it quite good. It's an example of unbridled creativity, and I totally support it. Except that I don't know if anybody will pay money to buy it off him.

Actually, you could call it a collaboration, because I was the one who wrapped and taped the potato, "so that you can see the shape," as he instructed. And I was also the glue gun operator.

The sweetest thing is that Miguel made it for Ninang, who just left for camp Friday night. He made it for her because he will miss her. Awww. Too bad she won't get to see it for 21 days.

I reminded him that since he has to keep it intact, he cannot play with Mr. Potatohead until she comes back. His response: "Grr. I knew that I should have put holes in it."

62/100

Die, varmints!

Okay, so I've been waking up around 2AM or 4AM for the past 4 days. And guess who's responsible? No, not my wisecracking, hyperactive, super inquisitive, ADD-suspect son. But scores of tiny, sneaky, stubborn, insiduous, stinging ants! In my bed!

What did they think I was, a midnight snack?

Lately ants have been invading strange parts of our home, like my mother's bathroom and the computer table. They must know something that we don't.

My guess is that they invaded my bed because I sorted Miguel's pre-school artworks there a few days ago. I suspect that among all those drawings, stained glass windows, mosaics and mixed media, there must have been some sugar. For the record, I do not eat in my room...and neither do I store snacks there.

I thought that vacuuming the mattress would do the trick, but apparently not. They may be tiny, but their bites really do sting! By the 4th night I had had it with the rude awakenings. So instead of brushing them off my bed or crushing the nasty biters between my fingers, I decided to be more methodical in my extermination.

No, I did not burn the mattress. I just got pieces of scotch tape and stuck them in between. A bit labor-intensive, but sure to get the job done.

By now you're starting to worry if I have a sick mind. But if you ask me it's more humane than what I did to that cockroach in my bathroom when I was in college. Never again! Besides, it would ruin the marble tile.

Now I've got a tiny collage of scotch-taped ants on my bedside table. I'm thinking of posting them on my headboard, just as a warning to other intrepid ants. Kind of like Vlad Dracula impaling victims in the front of his castle.

You can run, but you can't hide!

61/100