Singapore - here we come!

Nonie and Jill invited us to join them on their trip to Singapore. Needless to say, we jumped at the chance and Raffy organized a trip so fast that I didn't have the chance to quiz him on the details.

I'm so excited for Baz and Hadrien. When we took our first road trip to Batangas - the boys enjoyed themselves. Until now, Baz repeatedly asks me when we plan to go to Batangas - which gives me hope that they will remember this and hopefully other trips to come.

A Joint Birthday Splash

We threw a joint party for the boys last Saturday. The usual suspects were there - the Felicianos and the Khans (everyone accounted for except for Maribel who can't help it as she lives in faraway DC), Marnie & TJ with Amelie and Miguel, Clarisse & Jose (with baby Tomas), Nonie and Jill (with twins Gabby and Miggy), Rachelle and Andrew (with Isabelle and Illyse) and Jason. The timing was perfect as Lingget and cousin Maddie are here for a short visit, as well as Tito Beb!

The boys were looking forward to their party one week before (around the same time we started preparing for it). The unstoppable Hadrien even got a nasty bump before the party started as he dove into the pool which hadn't been filled yet. They weren't disappointed, the kids enjoyed themselves immensely jumping from one inflatable pool to the next. Hours later, they were busy running around the lanai.

Thanks to my parents for letting us use the house. As usual, they went all out during the preparations. And Daddy, the popcorn maker was a hit with the kids, specially Baz! Thanks too to Ate Linda, Andora and Cyril who were a tremendous help in preparing for the party.

Conversations with Baz and Hadrien

1. Baz (aka Wallace): I want to talk to Grommit (in a sweet voice while reaching out to Hadrien)
Hadrien (aka Grommit): No!

2. Me: Do the boys want to take a bath in the Pasig River?
Baz: When it's clean "na-wang".
Hadrien: NO BA, NO BA, NO BA! I want to take a bath in the Patig Wiver now!!!

3. Mama (Myrna): Green is for go, red is for stop, yellow is for slow down....
Baz: How about purple?

4. Daddy: Baz, you should say hello to your teachers when you see them because you know them (sub-text: your teachers are not strangers so it's alright to greet them).
Baz: But if I don't know them, I won't say hello to them.

5. Hadrien: MOON! MOON! MOON! STOP HIDING BEHIND THE CLOUDS, IKAW HA!!!!

6. Daddy: (Upon seeing Baz push a boy more than twice his age. Apparently, the boy was monopolozing Baz's motorcycle) Baz, you should ask nicely - don't push.
Baz: But he's going to say no!

My Little Pony

Apparently, these things are mechanized.

We were at Fun Ranch last Sunday, this just-for-kids entertainment and activity center next to Tiendesitas here in Ortigas. Nice concept, but it was incredibly hot. This place needs an Iwata (or several) - you know, those outdoor airconditoners that are selling really well this summer.

We ended up riding bumper cars (Baz liked it, Hadrien not so much) and crossing - back and forth, repeatedly - a "suspension bridge" they had strung across the 2nd floor atrium.

We didn't realize these large stuffed animals with saddles could be ridden around the place until we were about to leave, when we saw another kid shuffling along on one.

This picture came to mind because we've got a joint birthday party for the two boys scheduled tomorrow afternoon at Malou's house (Baz is April 8, Hadrien is May 2; April 21 is the Saturday in between both dates). It briefly (as in, for half a second) crossed our minds to get a riding pony, but instead we're sticking to Swimming Party With Inflatable Childrens' Pools. Besides, personally I feel sorry for ponies with entertainment duty like that.

If only there were a provider for some animal other than ponies, then maybe that'd be worth considering. Llamas would be nice. But for a really Philippine touch, how about a Palawan Mouse Deer? Then there'd be a section where you could pet the tarsiers, and throw monkeys to Philippine eagles. Doesn't anyone have ideas like this?

Summer School

Baz is going to school for the summer. We're rueing our decision to start him late - just last January - and don't want him to lose the momentum from those first three months. Baz tends to be wary in new environments, and true to form, after just a two week interregnum he needed Monday's first session to warm up to new classmates and teachers for the summer.

Today he did much better - no more hanging out by the door. When I left he was coloring on an easel.

Baz attends Toddlers Unlimited in Makati - good school, new and complete facilities, and most importantly, pretty teachers. I mean, they have pretty brains. Teachers Nikki and Claudia took time to integrate Baz despite his late enrollment. Everybody else in the class - Marga, Diego, Ethan, Cha Mei, Priyanka, Clexy, Isabel - had been there since June.

One of the things I've enjoyed doing - in addition to the new experience of taking him to school - is watching Baz interact with classmates and teachers, without him knowing. The Toddlers classrooms have little windows so that you can see the kids, but they can't see you. I've spent quite some time - after pretending to leave - just watching from those small windows.

Scientists say that the presence of an observer affects the result. Not to mean that Baz is a science experiment, but I have noticed that - complex guy that he is - he's got his own set of "when-people-are-watching-me" behaviour. Tie this in to the fact that, in general, he doesn't like being observed. I think that's because he is observant himself; he knows what it means to watch another person. His "Most Observant" medal from school - yes, they noticed that about him too - hangs proudly and magnetically on our refrigerator door.

Colloquially, the term that comes to mind is "conscious," as in, "Ay, madaling ma-conscious." But for Baz I think it's deeper and more nuanced than that, and a marker that he's mature beyond his four years. I'm still trying to figure it out-need to do some more observing.

Dora and the two boys

There are two Doras in the boys' lives: their yaya, AnDORA (spelled with two r's, actually, like the country between France and Spain), and Dora the Explorer, a cartoon character on Nickelodeon, the children's TV channel.

Dora is a Spanish-speaking child who goes off on various adventures with her trusty monkey, Boots and her talking backpack ("Backpack"), all guided by a talking Map. She's a great character: she teaches directions (that's where Map comes in), Spanish ("Come on, vamanos! Everybody let's go..."), compassion for animals, counting, and not to fear adventure, ants, heights, crocodiles or trolls.

I'm not as bothered now that the two boys may be identifying with a female character; gender confusion probably isn't a factor at ages 4 and 2. Besides which the boys now see themselves more in the mold of Dora's cousin, Diego. Nickelodeon seems to have realized that they need an equally compelling male character and seem to have been expanding Diego's role of late.

So yeah I've encouraged the Dora references: bought them Dora/Diego Mega Blok playsets to put together, and we're on about the millionth rotation of their five Dora DVDs, "Pirate Adventure" being the runaway favorite. Baz has memorized the chapters he likes, and with usual Baz aplomb uses the remote to jump to them.

Hearing the Dora music in the background sure grows on you, and I must say it's got some pretty catchy music. Now I understand why Hadrien likes singing, "Embruje, embruje" whenever he pushes Baz around.

Of course there'll be people out there who'll argue about the evils of putting kids in front of a TV. But I think TV's inevitable - I'd rather regulate consumption than prohibit it. As it is, the two boys are getting about 2 hours of Dora a day.

Would you rather it was Barney the Purple Dinosaur?

Kuwa-Ba

Baz is such a perfect "kuya" (Filipino for "older brother"). He loves and adores Hadrien, more than you'd imagine a 4-year old is capable of.

As soon as we found out that we were expecting, Raffy and I told Baz that "mommy has a baby in her tummy". Adopting a ridiculously contrived baby voice, we pretended that the baby in the tummy was talking to him. Soon enough, he eagerly awaited the arrival of "baby" (we chose to wait until the birth to find out what the gender was). Finally, he met Hadrien for the first time.


Anticipating that Baz would feel jealous or displaced, we made sure that Hadrien had a gift for Baz when we came home from the hospital. It was not enough however to spare Hadrien from what was to come. We didn't help matters by being overly protective of the new baby - telling Baz not to touch the baby's face or to come too close for fear that Baz would accidentally hurt him. Thus, when we were not looking, Baz would smack Hadrien on his face and you-know-what, and he had only been circumcised! Then, a few weeks later, Baz bit hard on Hadrien's big toe, leaving a bluish depression that went away only after a couple of days. Baz's ambivalence didn't last long though....
















Every now and then, they'd argue over toys. At first, Baz had trouble learning to share his toys. Eventually however, Hadrien started grabbing toys from Baz, who felt helpless since he didn't want to fight back. I realized the extent of Baz's protectiveness over his brother when Raffy was starting to scold Hadrien in a loud voice. Baz rushed to Hadrien and, for no apparent reason, spanked his hand. I was surprised and started to say something - but he said, "Daddy, don't scold him, I scolded him already" - he was only 3 then - so imagine my amazement!

This is not to say that his affection is not reciprocated. Just recently, when Baz was on "time-out", Hadrien got up from playing and stood next to Baz in the "time-out" place. An act of solidarity from a 2-year old. Heartwarming, isn't it?

Hadrien and his booguh!

A very annoyed and frustrated Hadrien woke me up this morning screaming "booguh!!!" - I tried to ignore it at first hoping that it was just a dream and that he would fall asleep again. Alas, I was not so lucky. In an effort to appease him, all I could manage in such groggy state was a few strokes on his nostrils and a feeble attempt to fish out the offending "booguh" - still no luck. Eventually, one of us fell asleep before the other. Tonight, while lulling himself to sleep, Hadrien checked to make sure that his body parts were still intact -"ayt" (eyes), "not" (nose) and what else - booguh! The day started and ended with "booguh" on his mind.

My First Post

I've lost count of the times I promised myself to finally print and organize the kids' photos, update their baby books, and to do many other things that most moms do. Obviously, I haven't gotten around to finishing (I admit, not even starting) any of the projects I've ambitiously planned in my mind. Hopefully, this will somehow make up for it. So that months, years and - dare I say? - decades from now, I will have a record (or at least a record of my attempt to record) of my days with my wonderful 2 boys (ok 3, if you count Raffy).

So here goes....













These are the most recent photos of the boys (including Raffy) - taken on Baz's birthday.

Since his birthday fell on Easter Sunday, Raffy thought that the kids would enjoy painting (instead of hunting) their own easter eggs - he was right! The kids had a blast! Aside from getting to paint the eggs in various shades of purple, Baz learned to deal with droplets of paint on his hands. Hadrien, on the other hand, was oblivious to the wet paintbrush on his cheeks.

It was a good day. To Baz, my first-born, my sunshine and my Wallace (guess who's Grommit?) - Happy Purple!