Baby Brother

Last night, while we were having dinner, Jeanne suddenly exclaimed “Mommy, can I have a baby brother, please.” We all smiled and I joked “Do you want to buy one at the mall?”. She replied “You buy vegetables at the mall.” Oops, right you are, Jeanne.

Michelle added “Do you want to go like one of those kids on Facebook holding signs that go ‘Mommy said if I get a million likes, I get a baby brother'”. First time I heard of that. Guess that’s what you get for not having a Facebook account. Heh. Anyway, it shouldn’t take a million likes. It just takes two likes: the boy to like the girl, and the girl to like the boy :P

Unwanted Milk Refill

Jeanne accidentally spilled her milk. So I made another cup. When she saw it, she stared at it for a few seconds, then exclaimed “Hay naku! You repaired it!” But still she drank it all up like the good girl she is :)

Books

I love books. My siblings and I grew up on a steady diet of Dr. Seuss and The Bernstein Bears. This was followed by a whole lot of books from my parents’ bookshelf. There’s The Book of Knowledge, The Fascinating World of Animals, the dictionary (which I tried and failed to read from A to Zymurgy), a whole bunch of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books, and so much more. You can say that that bookshelf to me then was what the Internet is to me today.

At around 7 years of age, I found and read The Hobbit. Followed soon after by the full Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I don’t know exactly when I finished it but I recall when I was 9, I was telling my schoolmates about lembas during recess. That means I could be in The Two Towers or The Return of the King by then. I even tried to read The Silmarilion. I’ve read many more novels since but nothing ever came close to JRR Tolkien’s books. They have a special place in my heart. And I sure hope Jeanne will read them someday, too.

Yes, books definitely were a huge part of my childhood. So I’ve always worked towards instilling Jeanne a love for books. I give her books once in a while and we read them during bedtime. Sometimes, on trips to the mall, we visit the bookstore. Today, we went there again, I sat down and she got book after book from the shelves and we read and read them. And she enjoyed it so much she didn’t want to leave. It’s great to see progress in your parenting.

Bonding Weekend

I made a spontaneous (yes, I can be) decision to go to my parent’s place for the long weekend. Unfortunately, Michelle had to work extra hours due to work lost from the days of flooding as well as from the loss of her laptop so it was just Jeanne and I.

Sat Aug 18 – Michelle drove us to the airport. After checking in, we had a quick breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts before going to pre-departure and boarding. Jeanne slept throughout the plane ride. We were met at the airport by my dad, my, mom, and Ioan. We headed straight to a mall where my mom picked up some stuff. Then we had lunch at Road House Cafe where we had corn soup, chop suey, and lechon kawali. Pretty good, but then maybe I was rather hungry. After lunch, my dad headed to the department store, which was holding a sale, to look for good deals. My mom waited while Ioan, Jeanne, and I went to Book Sale and browsed through the kiddie books. I was watching two kids and I survived! Yeah! After my dad was done, we then went on home.

Sun Aug 19 – We went to the beach. We were there early so we had the beach to ourselves for the morning. We swam and treated the kids to a boat ride. When the sung got higher and hotter, we came out of the water and had lunch of lechon and grilled fish. Typical beach fare. There was also durian. I gave Jeanne some but she didn’t like it too much. We left the beach soon after, just when the crowd started arriving. Back home, we had snacks with coffee. This transitioned to early dinner. And then was followed by dinner. It was eat and eat and eat. I felt so stuffed!

Mon Aug 20 – Early in the morning, we went to the plaza for a morning stroll. I the accompanied my dad for a change oil of his trusty truck. While waiting, we dropped by a convenience store where I got the kids some biscuits. We then went home and I spent the rest of the day resting and napping while Jeanne had fun playing with Ioan and Viela. I only went out when we went for dinner at Tatay’s Grill ‘n Bar. We had shrimp sinigang, tuna roe, and tuna belly. Great food! After dinner, the kids headed over to the mini-playground where they had a blast. Then we went to Iliganon for durian shake. Jeanne tried it and she said she liked it better than the fruit. Good idea for those who want to get started on the joys of the fruit.

Tues Aug 21 – We went to the plaza for a morning stroll again. After breakfast, I rested and napped again (hey, it’s a vacation after all!) while Jeanne played with Ioan and Viela. After lunch, we prepared to leave for the airport. My mom and dad took us to the airport. We had a late snack before they headed off to the city to buy stuff. Jeanne and I checked-in and headed to pre-departure. It was crowded! Several flights were delayed, including ours, so there were more waiting passengers than normal. Fortunately, one of the delayed flights arrived and we were able to finally sit down. Soon after, our flight arrived and we boarded. This time around, Jeanne was awake and was constantly chatting all the way till landing. Michelle picked us up at the airport and then headed home for dinner.

Four days of bonding with Jeanne and spending time with family. Now that’s a great weekend! If only Michelle were there, it would have been complete. Next time.

Bonding Day

Jeanne and I have been having lots of occasion to bond the past few months but today was particularly intensive!

We started in the morning when we went to Val’s place for gown fitting (Jeanne is going to be a flower girl. Yay!). When we got there, she was initially shy but soon she warmed up. With some more effort, we were able to convince her to put on the dress (actually another flower girl’s). Then the next challenge was to convince her to take it off :P

After that, we went to Power Plant for lunch. I invited Crissy for a play date with Cassel and they agreed to meet up. While waiting, we went to Toys ‘R Us where I had a bit of a scare when I couldn’t find Jeanne for several minutes. That place is a maze!

When Crissy, Jimmy, and Cassel arrived, we found out that there’s no Gymboree yet. So we drove over to Serendra. As we hadn’t had lunch yet, we had a kinda late lunch at Sentro (yummy catfish adobo flakes and kare-kare!). Then it was off to Gymboree where Cassel and Jeanne had a blast playing.

We still had to do grocery after Gymboree. I asked Jeanne where she wants to do her grocery: Market! Market! or Power Plant. She chose the latter. I already had an idea of her choice because yesterday, on our way to watch Ice Age 4 at Market! Market!, we passed by the grocery and she declared “I don’t like Market! Market! grocery!”. Also she likes the car grocery carts at Power Plant. So we went back, did groceries, and finally went home.

What a day!