I hate comparing my two precious boys. Only because I feel that by saying something good about one, it might imply something negative about the other. One of the exceptions to this is a non-judgmental statement that Hadrien is the performer, while Baz does not like to perform. It's not that Baz does not perform per se - he does, but mainly just in front of us. And when he feels that it's not a performance.
Hadrien, on the other hand, thrives on performing. When he's warmed up and in the mood, he will gladly perform his antics and may even do more than asked. He enjoys attention and when he notices that he has yours, will maximize it to the hilt. His cuteness does not disappoint either :) Sometimes, he'd overhear me narrating his latest quip and he would interrupt saying "who said that?" knowing full well that I was talking about him. Another time, shortly after being introduced to a group of nuns, he pointed out to Tita Ed "they're my friends" - as if showing off or laying claim on them. He's a real crowd pleaser and I'd have to say, having a crowd pleases him too!
So far, this is what we've managed to record.
Hadrien the Performer from malou.khan on Vimeo.
12.30.2007
Baz's Mega Structures
The funny thing is that his structures sometimes reflect current events. This video was taken less than 2 weeks after the foiled Manila Peninsula coup. Pay particular attention to the role he assigns to Hadrien ;)
Untitled from malou.khan on Vimeo.
12.28.2007
Our christmas holiday in pictures
(Baz drew the tree, which we sent to the rubber stamp maker so that we could make multiple copies. He also wrote "The Khans" on each card :) Hadrien helped with the pasting.)
12.17.2007
Crocodiles!
We were watching Discovery Channel tonight, and they had a show on "Super Croc" - a prehistoric crocodile that was twice the size of today's reptiles.
The boys were fascinated by it. The show also featured different types of crocodiles from around the world, and depicted them in action: stalking prey, remaining immobile, chomping down on various animals. One scene showed an African crocodile stealthily swimming up to a herd of wildebeests drinking water, then suddenly leaping out to grab one of them. Hadrien was so alarmed that he rushed to the TV screen and started spanking it, shouting: "Bad cwocodile!"
Baz mentioned that crocodiles were like alligators, which prompted a rendition of Sesame Street's "The Alligator King" from Hadrien: "Sed the Awigator King to his seven sons, I'm feeling ... mighty down!"
Later in bed I told them that I was the Daddy Crocodile and that it was time for the crocodile boys to sleep. Baz promptly identified himself as the "Adobo Crocodile" and Hadrien was the "Monster Crocodile" - complete with his low rumbling hrrmmmm sound.
The boys were fascinated by it. The show also featured different types of crocodiles from around the world, and depicted them in action: stalking prey, remaining immobile, chomping down on various animals. One scene showed an African crocodile stealthily swimming up to a herd of wildebeests drinking water, then suddenly leaping out to grab one of them. Hadrien was so alarmed that he rushed to the TV screen and started spanking it, shouting: "Bad cwocodile!" Baz mentioned that crocodiles were like alligators, which prompted a rendition of Sesame Street's "The Alligator King" from Hadrien: "Sed the Awigator King to his seven sons, I'm feeling ... mighty down!"
Later in bed I told them that I was the Daddy Crocodile and that it was time for the crocodile boys to sleep. Baz promptly identified himself as the "Adobo Crocodile" and Hadrien was the "Monster Crocodile" - complete with his low rumbling hrrmmmm sound.
On the 8th Day of Christmas
Baz's school held its annual christmas party. For someone who did not particularly like crowds and strangers, Baz was strangely looking forward to it. Truth be told, I was hesitant to go.
The Incredible Pups, Baz's class, was to perform the 12 Days of Christmas. I brought Baz to the room where the kids were practicing and asked if they were expected to perform the whole song.... Yes... I was worried but figured that Teachers Maiya, Julie and Erica had a game plan.
Surprise, surpise! Baz walked onto the makeshift stage - and stayed there! He even counted each day of christmas with his fingers, all the while moving his arm to the beat of the music.
I could not help the tears that welled in my eyes. Teachers Gabby, Maiya, Julie and Erica were also very proud and rushed to hug him - which made him cry but only for a short while. Baz does not like clapping or attention - and he got both - but he truly truly deserved it.
The Incredible Pups, Baz's class, was to perform the 12 Days of Christmas. I brought Baz to the room where the kids were practicing and asked if they were expected to perform the whole song.... Yes... I was worried but figured that Teachers Maiya, Julie and Erica had a game plan.
Surprise, surpise! Baz walked onto the makeshift stage - and stayed there! He even counted each day of christmas with his fingers, all the while moving his arm to the beat of the music.
I could not help the tears that welled in my eyes. Teachers Gabby, Maiya, Julie and Erica were also very proud and rushed to hug him - which made him cry but only for a short while. Baz does not like clapping or attention - and he got both - but he truly truly deserved it.
12.14.2007
Blast Off!
The 2 boys never run out of role-playing scenarios. They used to be Nemo and Boot the tark (Bruce the shark), then they moved on to being Wallace and Grommit. They also love to play with the pillows on our bed pretending to drive to Ayaya Awabang (Ayala Alabang), Toddlers Unimini (Unlimited), the penthouse and Gramma's condo. At Gramma's Condo yesterday, they were blasting off into space but didn't get too far.
Baz: Hadrien, you go to Pluto.
Hadrien: No, you go to Pluto!
Baz: I don't like to go to Pluto - you go to Pluto.
Hadrien: But Pluto's not a planet.
(fighting ensues)
(as narrated to me by Gramma)
He doesn't let on but a lot of things rub off on Hadrien. He just waits for the perfect witty opportunity to show us :)
Baz: Hadrien, you go to Pluto.
Hadrien: No, you go to Pluto!
Baz: I don't like to go to Pluto - you go to Pluto.
Hadrien: But Pluto's not a planet.
(fighting ensues)
(as narrated to me by Gramma)
He doesn't let on but a lot of things rub off on Hadrien. He just waits for the perfect witty opportunity to show us :)
12.13.2007
Baz's Coo-ah (Cool) List
As the kids develop their varied interests, I realize that some interests wane while others stay awhile longer. I don't want to forget the phases the boys go through so bear with me as I immortalize them here.
1. cooking - Early on, Baz developed a love for cooking shows (blame it on the thousands of hours I spent watching the Lifestyle Network while I was pregnant and even after Baz was born). He has a huge crush on Rachael Ray and her 30 Minute GET REAL Meals is one of the first few books he asked his Daddy to buy. To show his appreciation for good food, he would say "mmm.... perfect" with his eyes closed ala Ina Garten of The Barefoot Contessa. At age 4, he read the whole recipe of Swedish Meatballs with Noodles except for the fractions. He has a play-kitchen at home and would spend long stretches of time playing there. This interest has mellowed recently as he became interested in more things.
2. reading/spelling - Baz learned to read all letters at 18 months. He would constantly ask me how to spell Baz, baby, daddy, mommy, car, van, yaya, etc. He had memorized so many words at 18 months that out of curiousity, I asked him to spell "bed" and he did! We tried other 3-letter words and he was indeed able to spell them. When he was 2 years old, he liked playing with the typewriter in my office and would type his name. At 2.9, Yaya Andora found him reading 10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle to Hadrien. Now, at age 4, he is a sight reader and has no trouble reading "thousands", "mini-beasts", "dusk", "termites", "locusts". And it's not just reading, he understands most everything he reads and when he doesn't, he makes sure to ask us.
3. calendars - Baz remembers birthdays and certain events. He knows that I left for a trip to the US on May 7, 2007 and that Daddy followed on May 11. He even remembers what day of the week it was. Early this year, Auntie April gave Baz a cat calendar. For quite a long time, the first thing he would do in the morning is tear off a page from it. He doesn't do that anymore. He prefers to draw the calendar instead, which is good as he gets to practice writing as well as drawing lines. The perfectionist that he is, one time, Raffy found him sobbing as he made a mistake while drawing his calendar.
4. Cinderella - The very first play the boys got to watch was Cinderella. Since then, he would ask to read the book or watch the cartoon. He would also draw Cinderella's castle, complete with a washing machine with the letter "C". He even directs Hadrien and Gramma Cholly in role-playing. Gramma is Cinderella, he's Prince Charming, and guess who's the fairy godmother? Who else but Hadrien. Sometimes, we'd tease Hadrien that he's Gus to which he responds "no, I'm Lutifer (Lucifer)!".
5. the human body - Baz's curriculum included an introduction to the nervous system, digestive system, circulatory system. While at a book fair, I showed Baz a human torso model and he immediately jumped with a big smile on his face. For a couple of weeks after that, he would spent hours playing with it and reading a book on anatomy which his Gramma Cholly got for him in DC. He also enjoying surfing the net to read about neurons and explore the virtual body. Every now and then, he'd ask about whether his food is now in his intestines - whether it's in the small or large intestines!
7. music - When Baz was around 1 year old, he started to make up songs. Ok, maybe they were as simple as "mommy, mommy", "daddy, daddy", "tabo, tabo, tabo-bo-bo-bo, tabo, tabo, tabo-bobobo", "fly, fly, fly, the black hanger, come back soon, the black hanger". But they were consistent. He'd assign different tunes for each of his compositions and would not interchange them. Before he turned 2, we'd play the "Name That Tune" game and he'd usually guess the song in as little as 3-4 notes. He also learned to play the first 7 notes of "Do, Re, Mi" before he turned 2! If you read this blog regularly, you will also remember the many casual discussions we've had about which type of music to listen to on the way to school. Here's Baz performing his Tabo song (age: before he turned 2).
(video from Auntie Genni)
8. languages - Baz learned to count in 4 languages - English (up to 100), Chinese (up to 30), Spanish (up to 10) and Tagalog (up to 10). We didn't realize that Baz understood Tagalog until recently when we asked him "kumain ka na ba?" and he answered correctly. Since then, we'd occasionally talk to him in Tagalog and he'd answer in Tagalog. He likes to play what he calls the "Tagalog Game" and can sing "Lupang Hinirang" all the way up to "di ka pasi-siil".
Recent interests: seasons (questions include "is there day and night in spring, summer, autumn?"), rainbows, planets, weather, the globe and the countries, flags, making different structures with blocks and his pyramid.
I'm sure that in a couple of weeks' time, we'll be able to add to this cool list. For now though, I have to brush up on rainbows and seasons.
1. cooking - Early on, Baz developed a love for cooking shows (blame it on the thousands of hours I spent watching the Lifestyle Network while I was pregnant and even after Baz was born). He has a huge crush on Rachael Ray and her 30 Minute GET REAL Meals is one of the first few books he asked his Daddy to buy. To show his appreciation for good food, he would say "mmm.... perfect" with his eyes closed ala Ina Garten of The Barefoot Contessa. At age 4, he read the whole recipe of Swedish Meatballs with Noodles except for the fractions. He has a play-kitchen at home and would spend long stretches of time playing there. This interest has mellowed recently as he became interested in more things.
2. reading/spelling - Baz learned to read all letters at 18 months. He would constantly ask me how to spell Baz, baby, daddy, mommy, car, van, yaya, etc. He had memorized so many words at 18 months that out of curiousity, I asked him to spell "bed" and he did! We tried other 3-letter words and he was indeed able to spell them. When he was 2 years old, he liked playing with the typewriter in my office and would type his name. At 2.9, Yaya Andora found him reading 10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle to Hadrien. Now, at age 4, he is a sight reader and has no trouble reading "thousands", "mini-beasts", "dusk", "termites", "locusts". And it's not just reading, he understands most everything he reads and when he doesn't, he makes sure to ask us.
3. calendars - Baz remembers birthdays and certain events. He knows that I left for a trip to the US on May 7, 2007 and that Daddy followed on May 11. He even remembers what day of the week it was. Early this year, Auntie April gave Baz a cat calendar. For quite a long time, the first thing he would do in the morning is tear off a page from it. He doesn't do that anymore. He prefers to draw the calendar instead, which is good as he gets to practice writing as well as drawing lines. The perfectionist that he is, one time, Raffy found him sobbing as he made a mistake while drawing his calendar.
4. Cinderella - The very first play the boys got to watch was Cinderella. Since then, he would ask to read the book or watch the cartoon. He would also draw Cinderella's castle, complete with a washing machine with the letter "C". He even directs Hadrien and Gramma Cholly in role-playing. Gramma is Cinderella, he's Prince Charming, and guess who's the fairy godmother? Who else but Hadrien. Sometimes, we'd tease Hadrien that he's Gus to which he responds "no, I'm Lutifer (Lucifer)!".
5. the human body - Baz's curriculum included an introduction to the nervous system, digestive system, circulatory system. While at a book fair, I showed Baz a human torso model and he immediately jumped with a big smile on his face. For a couple of weeks after that, he would spent hours playing with it and reading a book on anatomy which his Gramma Cholly got for him in DC. He also enjoying surfing the net to read about neurons and explore the virtual body. Every now and then, he'd ask about whether his food is now in his intestines - whether it's in the small or large intestines!
7. music - When Baz was around 1 year old, he started to make up songs. Ok, maybe they were as simple as "mommy, mommy", "daddy, daddy", "tabo, tabo, tabo-bo-bo-bo, tabo, tabo, tabo-bobobo", "fly, fly, fly, the black hanger, come back soon, the black hanger". But they were consistent. He'd assign different tunes for each of his compositions and would not interchange them. Before he turned 2, we'd play the "Name That Tune" game and he'd usually guess the song in as little as 3-4 notes. He also learned to play the first 7 notes of "Do, Re, Mi" before he turned 2! If you read this blog regularly, you will also remember the many casual discussions we've had about which type of music to listen to on the way to school. Here's Baz performing his Tabo song (age: before he turned 2).
(video from Auntie Genni)
8. languages - Baz learned to count in 4 languages - English (up to 100), Chinese (up to 30), Spanish (up to 10) and Tagalog (up to 10). We didn't realize that Baz understood Tagalog until recently when we asked him "kumain ka na ba?" and he answered correctly. Since then, we'd occasionally talk to him in Tagalog and he'd answer in Tagalog. He likes to play what he calls the "Tagalog Game" and can sing "Lupang Hinirang" all the way up to "di ka pasi-siil".
Recent interests: seasons (questions include "is there day and night in spring, summer, autumn?"), rainbows, planets, weather, the globe and the countries, flags, making different structures with blocks and his pyramid.
I'm sure that in a couple of weeks' time, we'll be able to add to this cool list. For now though, I have to brush up on rainbows and seasons.
12.12.2007
From Auntie Genni
When I was with Baz in Gramma's condo, he was talking about death. He said, "When you reach 100, you will die." Wondering where he got this number, I told him that there were people in Greece who lived past a hundred, that there are people who live up to 110, 115. He asked, "What's Greece?" so I told him that Greece is a country in Europe and that he should look for it in his globe. Then I told him that you don't have to die when you reach 100 and that you don't die if you don't want to die. He said, "I don't want to die yet" so I said, "That's why you won't die." Baz then went on to explain his concept of death. He said, "When you die you will become nothing, you will become ZERO, you will become nothing, you will become zero." Hearing this from him, I thought, oh my gosh, this boy is a genius, that's a buddhist concept! While I was still marveling at his idea of death, he continued, "You will become MANY ZEROS, you will become nothing!" Amazing! He equated infinity with nothing. So I posed a question and said, " If there are many zeros, then that's not nothing, that's many things, it's everything." He thought about it and seemed to absorb the concept but probably couldn't make sense of it yet so he just said, "Okay, there will be only one zero."
12.09.2007
Conversations with Baz & Hadrien (Part 5)
For the nth time, music becomes the topic of a funny exchange in the car. I don't know when but Baz has figured out that Daddy has pre-set radio stations, each corresponding to a type of music. He also has conjured up his own family, mirroring ours. He has two sons - Dogboy and Catboy. He also has a wife. Dogboy's birthday is on November 22 and Catboy's is on November 24. So, it's no wonder he also has his own car with its own pre-set radio stations.
Baz: Daddy, in my car, 1 is for classical (music), 2 is for pop, 3 is for rock, 4 is for christmas songs, 5 is for dance music, 6 is for light rock and 7 is for dark rock. Makes sense!
______
The boys are starting to play basketball. Hadrien, being more athletic than Baz, took to basketball earlier. Many times, he'd grab the ball from Baz (who does not mind) and shoots it . Hadrien prefers pushing the ball into the ring instead of tossing it.
Grandma Myrna: You should shoot, not push.
Hadrien: Grandma, you know, I did not put (push). I toot (shoot).
_______
Last night, Hadrien woke up crying and for some reason, upset at Raffy. This exchange took place even while he had both eyes closed the whole time.
Hadrien: Daddy's mad at me..
Me: No, he's not.
Hadrien: Yes, he is. He's bwead (bread, which evolved from a very slang "bad"). Spank Daddy.
Me: mmm... ok..... (yes, I know I shouldn't have said "ok", but I just wanted him to fall asleep again)
Hadrien: NOOOOOWWWW.....
______
Hadrien: Mommy, spank Baz, he got the green toy. I want the green toy. I never get the green toy. Spank Kuya!
Baz: Daddy, in my car, 1 is for classical (music), 2 is for pop, 3 is for rock, 4 is for christmas songs, 5 is for dance music, 6 is for light rock and 7 is for dark rock. Makes sense!
______
The boys are starting to play basketball. Hadrien, being more athletic than Baz, took to basketball earlier. Many times, he'd grab the ball from Baz (who does not mind) and shoots it . Hadrien prefers pushing the ball into the ring instead of tossing it.
Grandma Myrna: You should shoot, not push.
Hadrien: Grandma, you know, I did not put (push). I toot (shoot).
_______
Last night, Hadrien woke up crying and for some reason, upset at Raffy. This exchange took place even while he had both eyes closed the whole time.
Hadrien: Daddy's mad at me..
Me: No, he's not.
Hadrien: Yes, he is. He's bwead (bread, which evolved from a very slang "bad"). Spank Daddy.
Me: mmm... ok..... (yes, I know I shouldn't have said "ok", but I just wanted him to fall asleep again)
Hadrien: NOOOOOWWWW.....
______
Hadrien: Mommy, spank Baz, he got the green toy. I want the green toy. I never get the green toy. Spank Kuya!
12.02.2007
He Talks!
Baz has decided that he won't talk in school. And he's sticking to it. He actually didn't start out that way. In fact, narratives from his first 3 months in school document that he talked about his Daddy and Hadrien a lot (nope, not me) and that he is a curious boy - always asking questions. Somewhere along the way, and for reasons still unknown to us, he decided to literally keep his mouth shut. Not even a good tickling will get him to open his mouth, not a wee bit!
So imagine his classmates' surprise when he would talk in the elevator. One of his classmates, Sebastian, couldn't help himself and actually exclaimed "yaya, he talks!" He then approaches Baz and asks "you only talk in the elevator?" Of course, Baz chose not to respond. Whenever I would pick him up, he is in a rush to run to the elevator or to the hallway when no one is there so that he could let out a loud and taunting "HA!"... grrr.....
I'm not a child expert (I'd like to think more a Baz-expert) but I really think that this is plainly matter of choice. I still agonize over it tho hoping that this phase ends sooner rather than later. But Baz has always been resolute in his decision-making. A trait which can be inconvenient to us as parents. The good thing is that he generally makes good choices so I trust he has a "higher" purpose to this self-imposed silence.
At home, Baz is a prolific talker, always speaking in grammatically correct and complete sentences and ever ready with an intelligent retort when he knows you're trying to put one over him.
In this video, Baz has decided "C" is for Cinderella and to complete his jigsaw minibeasts puzzle. Watch.
Drawing and Puzzle Time from malou.khan on Vimeo.
So imagine his classmates' surprise when he would talk in the elevator. One of his classmates, Sebastian, couldn't help himself and actually exclaimed "yaya, he talks!" He then approaches Baz and asks "you only talk in the elevator?" Of course, Baz chose not to respond. Whenever I would pick him up, he is in a rush to run to the elevator or to the hallway when no one is there so that he could let out a loud and taunting "HA!"... grrr.....
I'm not a child expert (I'd like to think more a Baz-expert) but I really think that this is plainly matter of choice. I still agonize over it tho hoping that this phase ends sooner rather than later. But Baz has always been resolute in his decision-making. A trait which can be inconvenient to us as parents. The good thing is that he generally makes good choices so I trust he has a "higher" purpose to this self-imposed silence.
At home, Baz is a prolific talker, always speaking in grammatically correct and complete sentences and ever ready with an intelligent retort when he knows you're trying to put one over him.
In this video, Baz has decided "C" is for Cinderella and to complete his jigsaw minibeasts puzzle. Watch.
Drawing and Puzzle Time from malou.khan on Vimeo.
Conversations with Baz and Hadrien (Part 4)
In the car, on the way to Alabang... again, the choice of music genre was the subject of hot debate
Hadrien: Daddy, I want rock.
Daddy: There's no rock today, it's Sunday (yeah, right!)
Baz: Is there classical?
Hadrien: How about heavy metal? Daddy, is that heavy metal?
Daddy: Look at that man in a barong, he's going to a wedding.
Hadrien: Daddy, I'm going to a wedding oto (also). But it's far away toh (so) you cannot tee (see) me.
Daddy: Is that your wedding?
Hadrien: Yet (yes).
Daddy: You delay getting married as much as you can, Hadrien. Maybe when you're 30.
Hadrien: But I'm pwetending I'm 30.
Daddy: You can't pretend, Hadrien. You really have to be at least 30 before you get married.
Hadrien: I can!
Hadrien: Daddy, I want rock.
Daddy: There's no rock today, it's Sunday (yeah, right!)
Baz: Is there classical?
Hadrien: How about heavy metal? Daddy, is that heavy metal?
Daddy: Look at that man in a barong, he's going to a wedding.
Hadrien: Daddy, I'm going to a wedding oto (also). But it's far away toh (so) you cannot tee (see) me.
Daddy: Is that your wedding?
Hadrien: Yet (yes).
Daddy: You delay getting married as much as you can, Hadrien. Maybe when you're 30.
Hadrien: But I'm pwetending I'm 30.
Daddy: You can't pretend, Hadrien. You really have to be at least 30 before you get married.
Hadrien: I can!
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