(Don't) pick up (those) sticks!

Here's what Baz did with a few popsicle sticks.

He sure looks proud of his masterpiece :) I checked - no one helped him :)

It's typical

for the boys to go from best friends to the worst enemies in a matter of seconds. What more when there's something yummy, or what appears to be yummy, at stake.



Note: The boys love the story of the gingerbread man. It took awhile for Hadrien though as the first time the story was read to him, he literally shed a tear when he found out that gingerbread man was eaten by the fox in the end.

Ouch!

Crying, shouting and chasing around the condo...

Yaya: Kinurot ni Baz yung bird ni Hadrien. (Baz pinched Hadrien's penis.)
Me: Baz! Never, never do that. Stand in the corner.
Baz: I don't want to!
Me: Did Hadrien like it when you pinched him?
Baz: crying and wailing - but louder this time.
Hadrien: Hi, mommy!
Me: Hadrien, what did you do? Why did Kuya pinch you?
Hadrien: Because I put sipon (mucus) on him. Because he's bad!
Me: Ok, that's not good also. You stay in the other corner.

More crying and wailing....

5 minutes later, all was forgotten :)

Another 10 minutes later, the two boys were sharing a bowl of strawberry pretzels, waving them around (pretending they were magic wands) while singing "salagadoola mechika boola bibbidi bobbidi boo, put 'em together and what have you got bippity boppity boo".

No stage fright here.

The boys marvelled at the idea that their Daddy was also a teacher. So, given the opportunity to take the stage, the boys did not hesitate. All weekend, and up to now, Baz would repeatedly brag that he had to meet with his ex-students to discuss Media Law - his Daddy's assigned topic. On the other hand, Hadrien took to the stage pretending to actually give a lecture, and not to mention, regaled his audience (by then only Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Gramps, Auntie/Dean Neny, Auntie/Professor Ritchie and the UP staff) with his rendition of the Lupang Hinirang (the Philippine National Anthem) which goes like this - "Bawang magiwiw, buto naman dagiwiw..."

Auntie Ritchie's comic art says it all -

What's the deal?

Given that we don't have good TV reception at the office where my boys hang out on MWF's and that we have had a fairly good amount of control over what the boys get to watch.... the boys, or might I say, Hadrien in particular, has become quite a fan of "Deal or No Deal". I should have known when I heard him say "D oh D" how bad it was. I just hoped it was not because of Kris Aquino, the host of the Philippine version of the hit US TV show.

Tonight however, my hopes were dashed. While driving along EDSA, packed with giant billboards, many of which have Kris Aquino's right profile and raised eyebrows smiling right at you, Hadrien pointed out McDonald's golden arches to hi Kuwa-Ba. "Look, Kuwa Ba! It's McDonald's o - on top of Deal or No Deal!". True enough, the big yellow M was on top of a picture of Kris Aquino! Arggghh!!!!

Tagaytay Photos

I'll leave it up to Raffy to write about our recent road trip. For those who prefer photos to words, click here. Drop me a line if the link doesn't work!

Seeing Double

Early Friday morning, Raffy gave a lecture on Media Law in a seminar for Batangas and Mindoro journalists sponsored by the UP College of Mass Communication and Shell Exploration so we decided to make a trip out of it. After Baz's class which ended at 2 pm, we all drove to Tagaytay. Grandma and Gramps, as well as Auntie Ritchie and Grauntie Neny were there too.

For dinner, we went to The Boutique Bed & Breakfast along Aguinaldo Hi-way. It was a refreshing change from the usual hotel look and feel and lived up to its name. It felt like a smaller W. Hadrien loved the lounge/beds in the lobby and couldn't be dissuaded from lying on it (not even the mention of how many b_tts did you know what on it managed to gross him out of the bed).

Baz, on the other hand, discovered what it was like to have a twin. Auntie Ritchie captured those moments as well as what were probably Baz's thought bubbles here -


Actually, Baz had a twin! A dermoid cyst which had to be taken out when Baz was about 19 weeks in utero. An unsightly mass of muscle tissue, hair, teeth and bone which was all of 10", roughly the size of a large avocado. (Or was it my twin? Remember that line in the My Big Fat Greek Wedding?) Sorry, Baz, your twin is nowhere as cute as you.

Just chillin'

With Malou out of the country, and Yaya Cyril having left to resume college, me and Yaya Dora are 1:1 with the two boys right now. Since they're such bundles of energy, keeping up with them when we're out is a challenge indeed.

So yesterday the four of us trooped to Anson's Ortigas to buy a new microwave oven (the old one's kaput). The two boys had a blast peering at, around, over and into the refs, ovens, toasters, washers, dryers, TVs and various other appliances. After a little running around, we got what we wanted and were back home. Baz brought his "checkbook" and his "passbook" and helped me out with the payment :)

Today I decided to divide my time with each boy, so after lunch I took Hadrien out to The Podium where we bought a few books at Ink & Stone, and then had some crepes at Cafe Breton. He still calls them pancakes, though. He started off with the cream off my hot chocolate, then ate his half of a butter and sugar crepe, which was prepared in view of him (we took a table next to the griddle).

From Podium to the condo - a 5 minute drive - Hadrien fell asleep in the car seat.

After dropping off Hadrien, Baz and I went to get the car cleaned. Since there was a customer ahead of us, we stopped for some fries at the McDonald's on 32nd Street in the Fort. There was a children's party about to start, and since it was Disney-princess themed, he noticed the Cinderella posters. He's excited to go to Disneyland, and apparently he knows - likely thanks to Gramma and Gramps - that there's one in Hong Kong in addition to the one in "North America." I explained to him that, if we go visit Auntie Na-ah for her graduation, that we'll visit Disneyworld in Florida. No problem with him, as long as there's a castle. Ah yes, there's that Disney branding magic again.

Baz liked watching the car get washed and kept saying, "Good job!" to the fellow doing it.

The boys have been taking too much time at dinner (sometimes over an hour), at times leaving the table and, thus distracted, eventually losing their appetite. So we've decided to rein that in and keep them to a 35 minute time limit, beyond which they lose dessert. Tonight Baz equated that time limit with "background music" I had joked with them about two months ago: I had said that, because I was fast, my background music was "tarang teering, tarangteeringteeringteering...," while Mommy was slow, so hers was "wekwekwekwek...".

So at dinner this evening, when Hadrien was trying to leave the table, Baz said that Hadrien's background music was "wekwekwekwek," and his was "tarangteering." Hadrien didn't take kindly to that, and said, "I throw away the wekwekwekwek ." Since Hadrien wasn't at the table, I joined in and said, "I put wekwekwekwek back on you." Hadrien: "I take wekwekwek, and cook it in the pan, and I eat it!" After a couple more minutes of this, both of them were back at the table, eating their food to the tune of "tarangteering...".

We had a one hour blackout tonight, and I realized this is the first time the kids have experienced it. They were all, "Ooohh, it's dark!" and "Where's the electricity?" They loved playing with the flashlight but mostly we spent the time just doing our individual kulit routines in the dark while seated on the red sofa. When the lights came back on, they took turns blowing out the candles, Hadrien, of course, claiming that it was his birthday.

We miss you Mommy! Oh, and don't forget our vacuum cleaner, IKEA work table and IKEA triangular steel bathroom shelves!

UN Day

October 25 was UN Day in Toddler's Unlimited. They had a short program scheduled, to be followed by "trick or treating" at the building's ground floor. Pretty good idea actually, since the kids were already in costumes and all. We decided to bring Hadrien along, also in costume, because he likes imitating his Kuya Baz.

So they're Khans, we've got an authentic Afghan hat and a Turkish fez ... let's see, how hard could it be to think up a costume? Malou had dishdashahs tailored for the two boys, over which they put on some 20-year old Igorot vests Malou used during field demonstration in elementary school, and the result was pretty Arabic:



Naturally, Mommy and Daddy had to get their pictures taken with Bazworth.












All of Baz's classmates and teachers know Hadrien, and I must say he's pretty smooth with the girls:



Baz's classmates are all nice kids (Enzo, Luigi, Anton, Mateo, Milena, Sebastian); smart, alert and considerate too.



This year's UN Day theme was, "Hello To All The Children."



The school had made arrangements with the ground floor tenants of the building, Metrobank and Starbucks, to host the kids while they did "trick or treat." No tricks, actually, since everybody got pre-packed paper bags of goodies and some Starbucks frappucinos (without the coffee).