Quo vadis, Bela?

At 14 months, Bela already has a mind of her own and once she has decided on something, nothing will stop her.

At lunch time today, while Mommy and yaya were busy cooking for Typhoon Ondoy victims, and with only Gabi and me to watch over her, Bela chanced upon her swimming floaters in the closet. She quickly put them on, tried to blow air into them and without asking anybody, went out the main door.

Without hesitation and oblivious to all our calls to her, she went down the road towards the clubhouse ...

And straight to the swimming pool!

What confidence and determination for such a young girl! Made me so proud. And so scared at the same time.

Of course, I ended up disappointing her by not letting her jump into the pool. But I did let her soak in the batya as a consolation.

Un fuerte abrazo

We need ...
... 4 hugs a day for survival.
... 8 hugs a day for maintenance.
... 12 hugs a day for growth.

- Virginia Satir, family therapist

I love hand me downs

One of the privileges I enjoy as the youngest of the Mercado grand kids and as one of the eldest in the Tengco-Bautista clans is that I get first picking from tons of good stuff from my older cousins and youngest titos and titas.

Like this Formula 1 bed that my Tito Xabi Tengco gave me recently!

The red bed was already too small for Tito Xabi and was thus given to me. Just in time, I must add, for I was already getting too big for the bed Cousin Pepi lent me. :)


But what do we do with Pepi's bed? With Tita Dana's permission, I helped Mommy sell the bed in the village bazaar last week.

And with me as a very convincing salesman, we sold the bed within the first hour.

Thanks again, Cousin Pepi for lending me your bed. And next time you're here for vacation and want to sleep over, you and I can share the red bed my Tito Xabi gave me.

A funny thing happened on the way to Sweeney Todd

I was going on a movie date! It was a spur of the moment thing. (Which if you know me, a self-confessed creature of habit, is an achievement in itself.)

It wasn't in my schedule. I went to my Mom's house to pick up my sister-in-law Dana. We were supposed to go to Fr. Honti's wake. But she was tired. And her husband, my brother Paolo, was also too tamad to go.

And so I suddenly had four hours to spare before my next scheduled appointment: another wake this time in Araneta Ave. at 10:30 pm.

Dana suggested we go see Sweeney Todd.

And I agreed immediately. (Which surprised even me! I didn't even bother to first consult my schedule on my PDA!)

I love musicals! Ever since my Dad started to play Rogers and Hammerstein's classics on Sunday afternoons when we were kids. Sound of Music, Carousel, West Side Story ... And I'm a great fan of today's classics as well. Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Sondheim, Shonberg, Boubil and Mackintosh.

And I love movies! In fact, not too long ago, when I was still single, I would regularly go on movie dates with certified movie addicts, Kit and Elisa, Bert and Michelle, Gel and Ria, Rich and Kathy, Peter and Geli, and before they left for the States, Gonz and Sandra.

(Okay, I may not be as well-versed in comparative movie analysis like Kit, Gonz, Peter, Gel, Bert and Rich. I prefer to stay with the girls, making snide remarks like the Muppet Show hecklers and swooning at how guapo this or that actor is. But hey, I love going to movies. And the popcorn too!)

Anyways ...

And because my nephew Gio was a Stephen Sondheim fan like Paolo, Dana and me, we decided to take him along as well, and with my niece Therese in tow.

Fun! A group movie date! Like the Tweedle Bugs of Sesame Street fame, we all excitedly trooped to nearby Galleria to catch the 7:30 pm show.

Let's take the car to the zoo!, was my silent refrain as Gio and Dana began to hum the movie soundtrack.

My first mistake was not checking the movie rating beforehand. :(

To our horror, the movie was rated R-18. (And justifiably so, Dana later on confirmed. Disturbing, she said... Buti nga sa 'yo!)

It was 7:20. The movie was to begin in 10 minutes. So I made another spur of the moment decision. (The second in less than an hour! I must have been running a fever.)

"You and Dana go see the movie," wise Robbi quipped. "I shall take care of the kids!", he said with a wave of his hand.

So off they went to see the demon barber.

"So what do you want to do, There and Gio? Want to see another movie?"

Mistake number 2.

"Yes, Ninong Robbi! Let's go watch Alvin and the Chipmunks!"

So it was.

Well, the bright side is I did get to watch a movie. And it was a musical too.

And I got to spend time with my two eldest pamangkins.

And I did get a good hour's sleep before my next appointment.

I am so proud of you, my son!

Gabi is now officially potty-trained! Woohoo! (I'm already counting the savings on them damn diapers!)

And I witnessed it myself early this morning.

Gabi and I have a daily routine. I get up at around 5 every morning. I go down to the dining room and sit down on my favorite chair on the dining table cabezera.

Say my prayers. Check my blood sugar. Inject insulin and take my medications. Write my blog (if I have anything new to say). Update Gabi's multiply. Check my e-mail. And sigh, begin to work.

Gabi, almost always, at 5 minutes before 7, wakes up and calls for me from his third floor room.

(Yes, to Patty's horror, Gabi is slowly becoming a mini Me. He too is slowly becoming a creature of habit. And OC too! Not because I force him, mind you. It's HIS choice. So there!)

I bring Gabi down and he takes his favorite chair also on the head of his small table. Gabi and I spend the next thirty minutes talking about anything and everything under the sun. Today it was about school and how excited he was to see his favorite teacher Mia and his classmates again.

Suddenly he stands up, grabs my hand and leads me to the powder room, proudly saying "I'm going to make poo poo, Papa!"

And he did! All by himself. (Okay, I helped him up the seat and wiped him clean after the deed.)

Patty did mention to me yesterday that Gabi has indeed learned to relieve himself. But this was the first time I witnessed it myself.

Made me cry. (To the puzzled look of Gabi who probably thought, as he is wont to do, that Papa is being weird again.)

I wonder if this will now form part of our routine. Hmmm. Must put that down on my schedule.