went home scared

Yesterday, the little girl was out to play with the kids at the neighbor's house, just a few steps in front of ours. It was already an afternoon routine for her and her playmates. Not long after she went out, she went home scared and crying. One of her playmates informed me that one of the older kids showed her a toy that really looked like a real snake. Boy, she was shaking, sweaty and in so much tears! The kid (a girl) who scared her with the toy went to the house and apologized and explained to her and us that it's nothing real because it's just a toy. She showed it again in front of her. Feeling assured, she has already calmed down and was ready to play again after I let her drink some water. I told the kid that regardless that it's a toy, she shouldn't play with it (although it's really her choice) because she might see a real one and think that it is still a toy and not mind picking it up. She said, she has already seen a real one.Tough one! Reminded her not to do that again to my daughter because she's scared of it. Anyway, when the kid left, my daughter Dippy told me she shouldn't have bought a toy like that. Jesus will not be happy seeing her play with a creepy toy like that. One way or the other, I really thought she made sense. Oh, the wisdom of a five-year old!

just a short breaking story

One time, I jokingly asked my 4-year old little girl if she has a boyfriend in school. Shyly, she said "Yes" and the name of the boyfriend was "Jacob".  I hope his mom doesn't get to read this. :-) My daughter actually mentioned the little boy's name with a giggle. LOL. Funny daughter!  Days passed, she talked to me about what happened in school one morning. She was teased by Jacob in school and made her cry. I listened to her story and tried to make her feel better. In our dialect, I then told her to break up with her boyfriend Jacob. :-) The next day, she told me that she already said what I asked her to say to her classmate. Curious, I asked what happened next. She said, they were eating their snacks during their "break" time. Hahaha.. Oh c'mon, give me a break! :-)

proud of our nursery student

I am proud of my Nursery student. She is doing a good job in school. I hope it continues to be that way. I can really see she's improving a lot. She's also having a great time with other non-academic activities. She loves to dance and to sing. I can see the delight in her eyes when we ask her to perform what she was asked to do in school. Wow. And you think she only got that from me? No. Her father also has some artistic side. He is one proud father as well :-)

a lesson well learned

father and daughter outside the church

I know how important it is for us parents to model the right kind of behavior/attitude to our children. After all, kids will often copy what we do. This is what I and husband are most careful about. We want to make sure that we are setting a good example for our daughter to emulate one day. At her age of almost 4 now, we needed to be careful since she is quite observant of our actions.

There are times though when we would slip and show the opposite of what we are trying to teach her. Let me give you an example. I can't help but laugh at yesterday's little fiasco with husband while we were inside the church hearing mass with our daughter. At the start of the mass, the daughter can't help but be her talkative self - talking almost non-stop about anything she could think of. Naturally, I had to make her keep quiet since we are inside the church. I gestured to hush her up immediately. And she did keep her quiet and tried her best to pay attention to the mass.

During the homily, the priest said something that made me want to talk to husband and clarify it with him at once. Without really meaning to, we ended up talking while the priest was also talking. Naturally, our daughter noticed and also felt the need to make us keep quiet! She gestured her small index finger and placed it standing horizontally next to her mouth. Shhhhhhh!!!! It was a little embarrassing on our part but we just smiled and apologized to her. We realized our discussion could have waited outside the church or until the mass was over. Thanks to our daughter, we learned our lesson. :-)

the story behind a sad face

One day, we ran out of dishwashing liquid already; so I asked the nanny to bring the little girl along to buy one from the neighborhood's mini-store since this could no longer wait until the next day's scheduled grocery shopping at the big store. The little girl actually thought they are going to buy Coke. Coca Cola is one of her favorite drinks (sorry), aside from Tang which she calls "Handa, Inom Gawa" (words she copied from a jingle of the brand's TV commercial) and her milk, of course.

So, when she learned that they are going to buy only the dishwashing liquid, she was so disappointed and insisted that they buy Coke as well. The nanny wouldn't yield to her request. Besides, she didn't have extra money for that, anyway. And so, the nanny went back home with the dishwashing liquid and a broken-hearted little girl. The little girl then went upstairs to let me know they already bought what I asked them to buy. She also went to her father who was reading a book to ask money so she can go back to the store with the nanny to buy softdrinks. To her dismay, the father said No and told her that it's not good for her small tummy and she didn't even take her lunch yet. [We actually didn't want her to drink carbonated drinks; although, occasionally, we would allow her to drink but would remember to mix some water to it. LOL!] She was crying and felt so bad that her father said NO. She grabbed me along so we can go downstairs together with the intention of leaving her father behind, and blurted "Ma, ayaw na i-friend si Papa!" (Translation: Mama, do not be-friend Papa) :-) After that, she then turned to me and asked if I can give her money for the drink. When I also said No and explained to her why, she was a huge picture of sadness after that.

She really felt so bad but when I told her I'll take a picture of her so she can see how she looks like when she's not happy, she managed to compose herself - crossed her legs and faced the camera! Oh, my poor girl! :-)

We must have broken her heart at that time but we know it is for her own good.

smiled at this story today

Nanay Thelma, the nanny, just told me today that my little girl complained about why I need to work. She doesn't do that all the time, though. According to her, my daughter said I shouldn't be working so I can be with her all the time. However, when she told her that Mama has to work so there is rice to cook and some clothes for her to wear, she quickly smiled, changed her mind and said (in our own dialect), "All right, Mama has to work!" I can't help but smile at this story as well. As young as she is right now, I was glad she already understood our situation. I know I am raising a good daughter.

amazed again at daughter's musicality

with my little girl, when we were younger :-)

Last night, I couldn't help but be amazed again at our daughter's fondness for music. While she was writing at her kiddie table, she was also singing. Although she's still not getting some of the lyrics perfectly right just yet, she seemed to be hitting the right notes. Even with the instrumental part of a song, she would also hum along. I guess she got this musicality from the genes of my relatives and from my mother-in-law. The little girl never gets tired of singing any time of the day and even during bedtime. Speaking of musicality, I also remembered that she was still a few months old when she started showing an interest in playing the piano. This was during the time when we visited the house of a relative. We thought it would be great if we can support her if she wants to be a singer and/or a musician. But how can we ever afford a real piano? We have been seeing a lot of well-known brands lately that have already lowered their prices. Perhaps they'll become even more affordable in the future. Crossing my fingers here. :-)

some moments of nostalgia

Just recently, my daughter's face is a picture of loneliness every time she remembers her cousin. It is quite understandable because when we were at the in-laws' place, they were constant playmates. They've been the best of friends, although there were also times that they don't get along too well and one of them (my daughter usually) would provoke a disagreement or a fight. Last night, she said she misses her cousin. Thus, come weekend (hopefully), we are going to travel and pay the in-laws a visit.

A picture with her cousin

with her aunt and cousins

One of the things that I admire about my daughter is the fact that she didn't show any objection to the "moving back home" decision that we made. Even though she knew that moving means being far away from her beloved cousins and grandparents, it was like she was already mature enough to handle or get over her feeling of nostalgia to the people and places she became attached with outside our home for about a year. She seemed happy wherever we choose to stay. It was like she already has this orientation that she will be happy wherever her parents are.

husband's birthday dinner postponed

Today is husband's birthday. We were supposed to have a simple birthday dinner at our favorite restaurant today but decided at the last minute to postpone it so that we can go home immediately after office work is done. However, we realized that the water pipe at home needs to be fixed tomorrow. So, after remembering that the plumber is supposed to come back tomorrow morning after having inspected the cause of the problem, we had to stop at the hardware store to get one of those threaded inserts that he requested. Good thing we brought the worn-out sample, so it didn't take us longer than 5 minutes to get what we need. We are glad that we still made it home early because little daughter has long been waiting for the birthday celebrant to arrive.