A Note to Myself

I'm just writing this to remind myself of Eya's progress at 2 years and about 5 months.

*Eya's getting sharp with colors. She can now identify almost any color.

*She can now ask questions like, "What you doing, what's that, what's this?"

*She can now count in Spanish from 1-10 and sometimes upto 15 and 20, and she remembers some of the Spanish words and phrases from Dora, like 'alen' and 'impuhen' (pull and push, I think, hehehe)

*She makes up her own lyrics to familiar tunes like The Alphabet Song and "twinkle, twinkle"

*She plays with and talks to her own shadow.

*She comforts her toys when she thinks they're sad or crying. Like she'd tell Eeyore, "don't cry," while rubbing and patting his back alternately.

*She can now tell you what she's feeling, like when she's in pain or afraid of something. She can also identify emotions in others like when others are sad, or happy and laughing.

*She can now describe what she sees, like what people are wearing and doing around her, like when other kids are playing or talking or laughing. Actually, she's quite eager to describe, and sometimes, in her excitement, the words get jumbled.

*She can assert and instruct in a positive manner, like she'd tell you what she would like to eat and drink, or what she would like for you to do for her. And she now knows how to use 'please,' although she still needs to be reminded from time to time.

*She's improving with her toothbrushing skills. Her 'aim' at her teeth is getting sharper. (hehehe)

*She can do a lot of things with her hands now. Her strokes are getting bigger, firmer and more expressive.

*Her imagination and improvisation skills are improving as well. She'd draw something curvy and then say that it's a blue whale or a fish.

*She can now assemble and disassemble things, and can put things and toys back in their proper places.

*She can expertly put on her shoes and boots, and she's attempting to do the same with clothes although she still needs help with her panties, shirts and shorts from time to time. Her skirts she can put on with no problem.

*Her memory is getting sharper. She can remember which things belong to whom and she can recall events that happened recently.

*Her impersonation skills are excellent. She can copy an act or imitate a sound in no time at all. And for this we all have to be very careful in front of her. Yup, this is definitely that stage.

For all of these, I'm thankful and proud. I look forward with excitement to other developments very soon.

Dreamz

I dreamt of Uncle Clarge the other night. In the dream, he was smiling brightly. He was wearing the trademark faded shorts and white shirt, but he looked like he gained some weight. His face was rounder and his legs sturdier. He was in this simple bare room (he was fixing something inside a cabinet), but with a very bright light coming in through the window. I had this nice and comforting feeling when I woke up, and his smile (oh what a smile!) stayed with me.

Maybe it was his way of letting me know, of reassuring me, that he's happy wherever he is. Although they are rare instances, this was not the first time that a departed loved one visited me in my dreams (and I'm just glad that they do so in dreams and not 'in person' hahaha; maybe they know that I'd be scared and not get to enjoy the moment as much hehehe). My Lola Conching, my father's mother, also visited me in my dream years ago. But it as a shorter and hazier visit.This one about my uncle was a very clear and bright dream.

It was a very welcome dream. We lost Uncle Noring, Auntie Betsy's husband, January last year. Then Uncle Clarge died September last year. And just this February 8, we lost Auntie Marian's husband, Uncle Fred. When you lose three (3) members of the family in a span of less than fourteen (14) months, you somehow need some reassurance that they are now in a better and happier place. And I think that Uncle Clarge just sent a message that he is.

Special Day

Today is our first wedding anniversary. What a year! We’ve been through a lot and I’m just very thankful that my husband Biboy is my partner in everything and every way. Well, we have the usual misunderstandings between couples from time to time, but I’m glad that we’ve learned (and still learning) not to dwell on them for long periods.

Hey husband, if you get to read this, you should know this blog entry is for you. After all, you’re one of the very few who has access to this (hahaha).

I just want to let you know that even when I don’t always show it, I’m really very grateful for and deeply touched by all the sacrifices that you’re making for us – your family. I really think that you’re the most hardworking and selfless dad in the world, and I believe this everyday. But I worry about your health though when you go on working for days with just a little rest.

I am thankful for the little things as well. Like when you don’t balk at changing the diapers, bathing our baby, feeding her, washing her after ‘poopoo,’ taking her out and staying up late at night to watch and play with her, and let me rest even when you’re tired yourself. I am thankful for your patience as well, both with Eya and me – for the many and constant kind, calming and comforting gestures when I’m in my not-so-easy-to-understand moods. These little things really get me through. They make my ordinary days worthwhile, and I really really thank you.

Raising a child while enjoying your marriage is not always easy. Finding the right time for each other is really hard work. I’m just thankful that we had the chance to enjoy each other’s company as sweethearts and best friends for about seven (7) years. I really think now that that was what prepared us for this next hard (but of course fulfilling) stage in life—having a baby. Those long years have taught us how to somehow always find a way to understand each other, and we still do so now especially during the inescapable trying moments.

So let’s enjoy this day and look forward to the coming years. You know, of course, that Eya and I both love you muchy muchy, always. There are still lots of things to say, but I’ll save that for later when you wake up. Cheers darling!!!

Oscar Fever

I don't watch much TV these days. In fact, some days would go by without me turning on the tv. I especially hate watching the news. I know I should, for the sake of knowing current events. But heck, everything in the news seems to be depressing. And I don't consider showbiz talk as news, even when the media tirelessly offer it as such.

I was so bothered by that particular news about a ten-year-old girl being raped by four men and then murdered and then left in a grassy abandoned place with hastily put-on shorts. I was really so bothered that I kept thinking about the incident for the following days. I have a daughter, and it's just so scary when you think about all the dangers that she might face the moment your head is turned away from her even for the shortest time. Even now, that video about the girl's shorts and legs after rape and murder still haunts me.

But even when I don't watch tv, it seems that nobody can escape the orcars (nice transition, huh? hehehe) The moment I log onto the internet, that's there staring at you.

I watched three out of the five nominated films for Best Motion Picture of the Year.

Babel was very well-crafted. It smoothly intertwined four extremely different cultures. In fact, it so smoothly intertwined the four cultures that when you watch the film, you wouldn't focus on the difference but on the distressing similarities among them. The film expertly presented how ordinary days can instantly turn into shocking ones and how ordinary lives can turn upside down in a moment, and that no matter what you do, some events will always be totally out of your control.

The Departed was an exciting film. I was able to watch the original on dvd, but I enjoyed the remake more. It was more thrilling and suspenseful somehow. And I liked that they killed the protagonist-antagonist character in the end (giving the film some sense of "justice") which they did not do in the original.

Little Miss Sunshine was both serious and hilarious. It was dealing with some very grave issues like suicide, drugs, homosexuality, death, marital strife, and the list goes on. But they were presented with such day-to-day matter of factness that you couldn't help chuckling all through the film, while shaking your head from time-to-time and thinking about the themes at the same time

Hello Mr. Darcy!

I’ve just recently watched ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ and I can’t get enough of Mr. Darcy’s eyes! Hehehe

He was played by Matthew Macfadyen, and well, upon seeing him in the film, I thought ‘where have you been all this time?’ (sigh, hehehe) It was because of him that I pushed myself to read the classic online, and I had to rest my eyes for a few days after.

In the book you’d truly hate Mr. Darcy, you’d just like him toward the last pages. In the movie, you’ll instantly fall in love with him even when he doesn’t smile for the most part of two hours on screen.

It was a nice film, with beautiful cinematography, and simpler than the book. But it was a courageous book. Jane Austen discusses in depth the double standards during the late 18th century. She made her character speak such language that may have shocked her conservative readers at that time in their frankness and courage at questioning morality standards and the treatment of females as objects of patriarchy. I learned that at that time, the book was first published and acknowledged as “written by a lady” without revealing the writer’s name. And long before it was made a classic, it was considered simply as an interesting romance novel.

The Magic Word

My two-year-old daughter has learned to say “sorry,” whenever she has done something that seemed to have displeased somebody.

The word truly does something to you. I can’t exactly place it. Well for one it makes you stop and think if you’re truly worthy of receiving such pure goodness. Children are really a wonder. You expect so little of them and so they give you too much. It makes me calm. It gives me peace. It also pushes me to strive to become a better mother every single day, to be equal to her, who I think is way way up there.

Of Gardens and Unfortunate Events

I have just read Alice Walker’s book of “womanist prose” (her term) ‘In Search of our Mother’s Gardens’, alternately with Lemony Snicket’s ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events.’ What a reading combination, you’d say ☺.

Well, they were both very good reading. Alice Walker’s writing style is simple, yet profound and with unexpected and very welcome twists. She has this way of letting you feel that you’ve already read what she has written in other writer’s works, and then she’ll completely take you by surprise and drop a line of two which will make you stop and think deeply for more than a few minutes. I specially liked her expositions on the problem of race and discrimination among blacks themselves. I never thought that terms such as “dark-skinned blacks” and “lighter-skinned blacks” exist among their circles. It was truly shocking to learn that “lighter-skinned blacks” often pick-on their “dark-skinned” brothers and sisters. Black men prefer “lighter-skinned” black women. Imagine. They were considered more superior, luckier and with more graces, when actually they were most likely products of the act of rape of a white man of a “negro” slave. Imagine again. The “blackest” women with the flat nose and big bones and who wore traditional African garbs were often laughed at, considered humiliating for the whole race for their appearance and refusal to take in American culture. When in fact, Alice Walker asserted, they are the truest essence of being black. They must be duly respected because they are representations of black history, their struggle and their unique nature and culture. I know I am sometimes guilty of wanting to look at more “lighter-skinned” blacks than the “dark-skinned” ones (think Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Halle Berry hehehe). But I never thought that the blacks themselves are the guiltiest of all of this penchant, which when involving them particularly, already manifests strong racism and discrimination of their own race.

As to the “unfortunate” books, I can’t wait to get hold of books 7,8 and 9. The plot is getting interesting. The kids have transformed from being truly unfortunate in 1-3 to being whiz and kick-ass kids in 4-6.