Leaving and Missing the Boys

I've been at the airport lounge for over an hour now - tired, sleepy and annoyed that I have another 1 and 3/4 hours of wait left. Now I wish I didn't follow the "3 hours before scheduled departure" rule. That would have bought me more time, hugs and kisses with/from the boys who understand that I'm leaving - but weren't told how long I would be away.

Instead, I'm stuck here with a guy who's been on his phone incessantly repeating himself - "we may lose this battle, but not the war"; "we are prepared to lose $2M than risk an event of default"; "this case is only worth $2M; but we stand to lose the technology worth tens of millions of dollars"; "the amount is mind-boggling!; "but what about our reputation?". The weird part was that he was very calm the whole time. Almost talking in a sing-song manner. Oh... he finally ended his call.

So, back to the boys. The plan was for the boys to come with us to the airport. Last night, Baz said he wanted to. But he was asleep when I left. Hadrien, on the other hand, woke up at around 6 am - ran out of the room and asked for assistance to pee. He then went to Yaya Andora and asked for milk. "Yaya, I want milka milka. I'm till teeping. Wuk at my eyes, they're till cosed oh" Priceless! I will really miss those two, ok, three!

I wish I didn't have to finish up with work before I left so that I could have played with the kids more. I wish I had more time to attend to Raffy whose cough got progressively worse - probably due to the construction in our hallway. Oh well...

At least I got to see the boys in their costumes last Thursday. I promised to allow Raffy to blog about it. But at least you can see the pictures here. Thanks to Yaya Andora who managed to make sure their "gowns" were completed in 2 days! Thanks to my parents for getting us those igorot vests more than 30 years ago - they're still alive and have been used at least twice already. Thanks to Dad for getting the head cover from Pakistan that Hadrien is wearing. And me - for the Fez that I got Baz in Turkey. Oh, and thanks to Raffy for not doubting that the costumes will come out as nice as they did :)

Sesame Street Rules!

We grew up on Sesame Street and would love for the kids to receive the same exposure to it, but for some reason it's hard to find on cable. We've had to make do with some Elmo and Bert & Ernie DVDs. Thank goodness for the internet, where you can find the classic segments and some incredible new ones.

Right now the kids' favorite (and mine too) is one where Andrea Bocelli sings Elmo to sleep. They adapted "Con Te Partiro" and changed the lyrics to make it a lullabye. By way of sample, the first stanza goes, "Time to say goodnight/Lie down/Here is your bear/ You've had such a wonderful day/Playing and counting to 20/And going to the park/with your friends.../. The link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgUnYzXU-Fo

Andrea Bocelli doesn't shade his performance one bit just because he's appearing on a children's show, no sir. What a performer! And he's riffing off of Elmo not like he's talking to a puppet, but as if Elmo is really a child - watch his expression at 3:08. The boys know who he is and call him Andwea Botchewi, and when the three of us watch it we sing along to the parts we know.

The boys also like Cookie Monster's "C is for Cookie" (no need to explain to your Gen Xers) as well as "The Alligator King." But not all the ones I've found are great, or are as great as I remember them. For instance, the boys didn't like "Eleven Morning" ("It's a lovely 11 morning ...") too much, and I can't say I blame them; while it's one of those Sesame Street songs that get stuck in your head, it kinda looks cheesy watching it 30 years later.

I'm hunting for other classic segments - "Loaf of Bread ..." is an obvious choice, but it's not too catchy, musically. Any suggestions?

Jean-Michel BAZquiat

Again, blame it on over-protectiveness, we allowed Baz to use pencils, pens and even markers only when we saw how adept his classmates were with them. We were afraid that he would stumble and stab himself while holding a sharp pen/pencil the right side up. So, it was just crayons for Baz for quite a long time.

This didn't stunt Baz's creative side though as you can see here. Look closely and you'll see that he actually scrawled "Lucas Sebastian Khan" rendered ala Jean-Michel Basquiat. That's my boy!

By the way, to see more of our pictures taken during our Antipolo road trip, click here.

Tayo Na, Sa Antipolo

We drove up today to Antipolo with the new car to the Cathedral of Nuestra Senora de Paz y Buenviaje. The boys have taken to calling the car the "Subawu," as opposed to the "Gwandis" (or sometimes, the "black Gwandis") and the Accord, which they identify by the first two letters of its license plate, "WD."

After our church visit, ravenous for lunch we drove up the Sumulong highway looking for Lanelle Abueva's Crescent Moon Cafe, which we read about in a magazine - or it may have been on Anton Diaz's excellent Our Awesome Planet blog.

A few minutes of asking around got us directions to the place, which is set back from the main road in a space that appears to be enclosed entirely by greenery. They've got a beautiful koi pond, a circular lotus pool, and a couple of rock waterfalls. Very tranquil setting - the only noise we heard was rippling water and, naturally, the boys' enthusiastic voices as they got excited about "feeding the fish!" Abueva is also a potter, and on display (and for sale) were various kinds of plates, bowls, sinks, and sundry kitchen and home items rendered in ceramic. The restaurant is apparently by reservation, and consists of a prix fixe menu, but the kitchen was kind enough to accommodate us walk-ins.



While waiting for the food there was enough to see on the grounds to entertain the boys. There was a small turtle pond at the back of the property, and since the boys love fountains the water features got their complete attention. Seeing the boys roving round the koi pond, the nice waiter brought out a container-full of fish feed for the boys to scatter on the water.



We shared a lunch of fish, in a nice teriyaki glaze; chicken curry, and some wonderfully fresh kangkong in peanuts and garlic. The appetizer, which preceded a pumpkin soup with toasted bits of garlic, was novel: alagao leaves you were supposed to wrap, lumpia style, over a selection of dried shrimp, dessicated coconut, kamias, chili, onions, ginger, and a toyo/peanut sauce. Baz enjoyed the fish, and Hadrien liked the chicken - sorry, no gulay because of the peanuts.



The boys skipped the dessert of suman, but Baz had the accompanying mango. Meanwhile, Hadrien - with a moist towelette- was busy cleaning each reachable glass pane of an old wood frame divider.


There was traffic on Ortigas en route home. The boys got a little restless but passed the time taking turns with the dome light, Baz being the "on-er" and Hadrien, the "off-er." The only thing we didn't do was teach the boys the words to "Tayo Na Sa Antipolo," but I can already guess which will be their very favorite part - the line about "Hinulugang Taktak ... tak tak tak."

Futbol!

Baz went to football camp today for a tryout session (i.e. he's the one trying it out). Baz being Baz, he took time warming up to the new environment and basically refused to do the one thing that most people do at football camp, which is kick the ball.

But that doesn't mean he didn't have a good time, because he did. He'd listen intently when Coach Maricar or Coach Babbit would explain an exercise; he'd run with the other kids when they went to get water or out onto the field, and he'd hover in the vicinity of the ball whenever it was in play. Nor was he silent; he'd talk to Malou and I in between plays.



It was a wet afternoon, so Baz got to play in the rain and get a little muddy for a change. All the kids looked like they were really having fun, and with age ranges from what appeared to be a three year old girl, to a seven year old boy, it was a good mix.



Reminds me of when we watched the World Cup on TV last year: there was this one game where French team captain Zidane's teammates mobbed him after he had scored a major goal, and they were pointing to him excitedly, mouthing what appeared to be the exclamation, "You the man! You the man!" Baz enjoyed doing an impression of that, so today - and hopefully more so next week, when we play football again - my message to Baz is, "You the boy! You the boy!"

Prayers

The boys have made a habit of reciting their prayers with us before going to sleep at night. Right now, their prayer goes like this -

"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit Amen!
Dear Jesus, Thank You for watching over-ring us. Thank You for Your blessings today. Please always watch over us, and help us to be good boys. Thank You. We love You. Goodnight.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit Amen!"

Baz has actually memorized it, and lately has been leading the prayer. Of course, Hadrien (who's memorized the first line) tries to fool around, saying "Near" Jesus (instead of "Dear"), and he replaces the second "A-men" with "D-men."

Last night, Baz asked me why we say, "Amen." I didn't have an answer, other than to say that that's what it says in the Bible. Is "Amen" a Hebrew word?