The chilly wind during the last 2 days of the past week had brought the three of us down with minor colds over the weekend. After our afternoon nap yesterday, Second-born was the first one to rise up:

Second-born: You feel better, Mommy?

Me: Oh, yes!

Second-born: Why?

Me: Because I was able to take a nap.

Second-born: No, Mommy. Because I hugged you.

And he said it with as much conviction as he could muster!

We went to a fishpond two days ago and let’s take it from Firstborn’s unedited take on this experience:

the "canoe" that inspired my son

We were in the pond and we watch the man do fishing in the pond. and me LeRuof I really wanted to ride in the canoe. But my mother didn’t allow me because only next time only if we have time. And we ate their yummy fish and I love it so much but a fish bone was stuck in my throate and wen I swallow my saliva it hurts alot but the bone almost came out and it came out. then I ate desserts and we watched them take out the fish and bring it to Iloilo.

He said this was his secret diary… and I stole it again for My Rocking Cradle! He even clipped together the two papers he had written it on… wise move! Dare I make corrections in his secret diary?

I don’t know if he learned about mountains in school or he got to know about them from playing or from reading, but his fascination for mountains is reflected in his writing. Here’s another unedited “guest post” – I steal his writings, with credits given to him, of couse –  from my son (corrections of his writings are treated like playing time as he does not bother to listen…lol):

Their were three friends who lived in an old house. thier names are John paul who is friends with LeNaum. LeNaum he is a movie actor and he is very playfull. And the last one is the little one. his name is Xian. He lived in Europe before. And he was a very very very cute child. Then he transferred to the Fillipines. He made friends with lots and lots of Fillipinos. Those three boys went to Mount Kilimanjaro And it was very very tiring trip to Mt. Kilimanjaro. And they also went to Mt Everest. And they went to Mount Fuji and it was also tiring. And they lived happily ever after.

My son wrote a simple story last night. Here it goes, unedited:

Their were two men and those were Daddy’s friends. Those where LeRuof’s Daddy’s friends and their name is zee and will. They were very busy and LeRuof’s family went to a very exciting trip on Mt. Everest and to Mt. Kilimanjaro. They were very tired but happy.

Of course, it needs some editing but I’m a proud Mom of a 6-year old♥

Good morning…

I know, I know! Looking at the picture below of the gym I had been going to, you would ask me why did I have to put up with this? Surely, there were better options!

My husband had the most prophetic reaction when I brought him to this Winner’s Gym in the Iloilo Sports Complex: “Matetetanus ka dito!” Wasn’t he almost right!!!

I know that the gym is old and rusty with old equipment… the stubborn me opted for convenience. The gym is located in the Sports Complex and I could do my cardio in the ovals… it is near my kids’ school and I could just drive back a short distance while kiddos are in class.

And so last Tuesday, when my body was craving for a work-out I went to Winner’s Gym. It was humid. For the first time, I tried to open one of the windows and before I knew it, my thumb was dripping with blood. It could have been the adrenaline rush as I didn’t feel any pain at all! The rusty window frame gave way to my gentle push and cut my thumb… it was a deep, nasty cut.

And I thought I was tough. I thought I could handle my injury. It was only after a lot of convincing from well-meaning friends when I decided to go to an emergency room in a hospital with the purpose of asking for an anti-tetanus shot.

To my surprise, a very bad surprise, I was told by the doctor at the ER of Mission Hospital that my cut needs to be stitched. And that was when the bad realization dawned on  me. The cut was not as simple and as manageable as I thought it was.

I ended up with having 7 stitches on my left little thumb. Before the stitches came, there were six painful pricks for the anesthesia and those hurt pretty bad.

I’m still nursing my injury. The stitches are yet to be taken out next week… and that would be another uggghhhh!

Now, that I had been injured I get to ask what keeps the owner of the gym from improving his place? As long as there are people like me who go to this gym, it will continue to offer its old, rusty place sans any effort for improvement.

So, what do we do? BOYCOTT the place… lest you want to end like me!

Just like Firstborn’s actual birthday, our Second-born had a quiet celebration yesterday, the actual day of his 3rd birthday.

And since he had been blessed with so many gifts during their “Meet and Greet the Superheroes” birthday party, I decided to give him a card as soon as he woke up. My 3-year old baby (big boy, he would insist) kept on looking at it every chance he got:

Since he can’t read yet, I got him a musical card and it amazed him…

Now, this gives me an excellent idea for their christmas gifts. It’s not going to be clothes (they have plenty!), or toys (the grandparents, titas and titos and friends take care of that). Nah, it’s not going to be a christmas card:-)…

It’s something they could cherish for life… kids are capable of showing sentimental emotions, after all! My boys’ reactions on the birthday cards they received could attest to that.

Cheers!

My Little Superheroes had a joint celebration last November 18 at the Westown Hotel here in Iloilo City. Well, that’s what they get for being born on the first and the last day of the same month:-).

It was a real blast for the little superheroes who dressed up as their favorite characters – Firstborn came as Batman and Secondborn came as his ultimate superhero favorite, Ironman.

They have matching cakes for their fave superheroes, of course!

Batman Cake for Firstborn

Ironman cake for Secondborn

They each have Ironman and Batman cupcakes, too! This time, I didn’t have to do the cakes and cupcakes myself unlike during their birthday parties last year when I had to do almost everything on my own in Seoul. Those were done with great love but the current ones are more pleasing to the eyes… lol.

And I loved doing these souvenirs:

Little Superheroes Fragrances

These colognes are mild enough to be used on kids. These were supposed to be handed out by my little superheroes after the pinata and the pabitin. Unfortunately for the others, some kids (and adults, shhhhh!, hahaha) already took more than 1 cologne/souvenir with them while games were going on. But even without the souvenirs, the kids just had so much fun and everyone got prizes:

game prizes

Add to that the loot they got from the 2 sets of pabitin I prepared:

adult guests enjoying the pabitin with the kids

(celebrants faces were intentionally edited)

It was so much fun watching kids and adults alike enjoying this very common kiddie party activity. In fact, it looks like adults were the ones getting the items:-). I guess, the kiddie feeling would always follow us to adulthood.

It’s amazing how yayas and even parents could do anything – and that includes struggling it out to get their kid’s share of candies amd toys from the pabitin and the pinatas – to please their kids. It prompted the host/magician to good-naturedly exclaim that the pabitin is for the adults instead of for the kids:-).

Since I have two superheroes celebrating their birthdays, it just had to follow that each one gets his own superhero pinata. Thanks to my very skillful 14-year old cousin, kiddos got their personalized pinatas:

pinatas

The presence of all the guests was very much appreciated by my little superheroes.

Though a lot of the guests didn’t rsvp as requested ( I had to request three additional tables and some guests had to be accommodated outside of the function room), I am very certain that this is a birthday celebration that the kiddos will remember with so much fun.

And thanks to technology, hubby watched his kids enjoy their party in real-time from his part of the world.

Cheers!

I have long wanted to blog about my happiness when I saw how my now 6-year old son reacted while he was reading the birthday card I gave him on his birthday last November 1.

His eyes were so full of joy I can’t help but be proud of the boy that he had become… appreciative and very perceptive.

Hubby suggested that I give him a birthday card instead of the material things that he was used to receiving. Sans wrapped boxes for birthday presents, we celebrated his actual birthday quietly. I was actually a little bit nervous as to his reaction since he had always been used to receiving gifts… the look in his eyes when he read my message started the day perfectly.

I could only look back to that day with a smile and a confirmation that this Firstborn makes things perfect. Yep! He is a perfect son and a perfect brother with all his imperfections considered:-).

Cheers to another life year!

He is turning 6 tomorrow… my Firstborn…. my very special Firstborn!

What could we give to him a s a gift? I had been scouting around for gift ideas. I wanted it to be something special… a toy makes him happy but after a few days, he immediately puts it aside… a book is good but i thought it isn’t special enough to excite him… he has plenty of clothes!

Then his Dad suggested that I give him a love letter or a card.

Perfect!

I found a perfect birthday card for my perfect boy.

Yes! He is getting a birthday card. No toys, no clothes (at least from his Daddy and Mommy). Will he get to appreciate it?

Firstborn is turning 6 in a few days. We had a talk about bullying and hitting last night. I laid down my rules and checked if he remembers well:

ME: So, what’s the first rule about hitting?

Firstborn: I will not hit first.

ME: What do you do if a girl hits you?

Firstborn: Tell her I don’t hit girls and go away from her?

ME: What do you do when a boy hits you?

Firstborn: Tell him that hitting is not good.

ME: What if he hits you again?

Firstborn: Tell him don’t hit me or i’ll hit you back.

ME: And if he hits you for the third time?

Firstborn: I will hit him real hard so he will never hit me again.

ME: Great!

Firstborn: But Mommy, what if he hits me again several times?

ME: Then I will hit you real hard so you’ll know how to hit hard.

That simply shows that you were not effective enough to scare bullies away!

Tough talk,yes! But I am a Mom of two boys and bullying is an ever-present threat these days. I will never allow my kiddos to be bullies but I will not allow them to be bullied, too.

I ended it with:

ME: But you’re both likable boys, babe. You’ll do just fine!