Crush

Sharing this again for posterity.

Jullana posted this on FB last 03 June 2016.

To which, her classmate Chester who has a crush on her, commented #10. So here was my comment and the conversation that ensued.

After a while, he deleted his message and replaced with this.

And after a little more while, he PMed me this.

I think I handled it pretty well, didn't I? ;) 

OOTD (Conversations)

This morning as I was getting ready for work, I put on an old top that I must've been wearing frequesntly over the past weeks. The little girl said to me to wear something else. That I should wear my other clothes at the back of the closet.

 

So I took it off and found this girl flowy off shoulder top that I probably used only twice since it was bought months ago. I wore it and showed the little girl. She approved then went to the closet to find a matching black bandage skirt. She let me wear it, stood back and said, "There."in approval.

 

I stood in front of the mirror and told her, "But I don't like wearing skirt in the office." to which she replied, "Yeah. It makes you look old."

 

So I took it off and wore my black distressed boyfriend jeans. When the little girl saw me again, she quipped, "That's fine. Cool pants. Nice top."in approval.

 

The little girl's fashion inclination is manifesting.

 

 

of dishonesty and bullies

The little girl the other day showed me a crumpled 500 peso bill with wrapped around a bottle of liniment. She said she found it inside her schoolbag. Of course, she knows it's not hers because I don't give her that amount of money for school.

So I told her the most logical thing to do. Give it back. Go see her school's principal and return it to her.

The next day, she got bullied by one of the boys in her class. She said she was walking from the front of the class towards her seat when this boy punched her in the stomach. She curled in pain and cried. When the teacher was told, the teacher's reaction was that the next time the boy punches her, his parents will be called to school.

When told of this, I was furious. But my Mom, (the Grandma) who was told first before me, was even more furious and decided that she will personally go to school and report this incident. It was fine with me since my work nowadays demands that I be at the office always.

Later in the evening, my Mom told me about how she lectured the Discipline Officer in school about bullying. It was a little funny because knowing my Mom, I'm sure they heard a handful of her wisdom. She'd made her mark on the school officials, I must say, esp that officer and the Principal.

The little girl later told me she returned the money and liniment bottle to the principal. The principal told her, "You're honest huh. Ang laking pera nito at ibinalik mo." Then she left.

Much later, the principal went to her class and asked for her and told her, "I forgot to tell you, very good for what you did."

Goodness is about character - integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat people. 

~ Dennis Prager

Twinnies

I was told this actually happened a few days back.

The little big man (who, by the way, is no longer little) put a lock on his phone using his image. The way it goes is that the phone only opens if he puts his face in front of it and it detects that it is him trying to unlock it.

The little girl, naughty as she is, put her face in front of the phone.

And walah!!! It opened!!!

Now who still says they don't look alike? 

Rite of passage

Today is one of those days. The nanny hasn't come back from her supposedly 2-week vacation. Last week, my boss told me not to be absent from work for the rest of the month. The little big man has to go to school to finish clearance for his 7th grade before release of his report card this week. 

So this morning I had to leave the little girl at home with Ima. I knew she was sad because she will be left at home to fend for herself. Ima is virtually non-existent in terms of being a guardian to her, but at least she's there to be with.

When Migs and I went downstairs, I heard the little girl calling out following us downwards. I stopped and thought she might be crying out of sadness. When I met her at the foot of the stairs, she came to me and in a hushed voice, asked:

Mommy, pwede ako maglaba?

I broke into a smile. 

Back story: Last week, she watched me do the laundry using our washing machine and said she wanted to do it.

So I dropped Migs at school and got to work. Once there, I received a message from the little girl: 

This day marked the day my little girl became a grown-up.

conversations

the little girl and me  few weeks ago while walking on our way to the grocery. not verbatim. but it went something like this.

mas favorite ko si daddy kaysa sa yo. i love you pero mas love ko si daddy ng konti. pero i love you.

so mas love mo si daddy kaysa sa akin?

uhmm...oo... pero konti lang.. ikaw 99%, si daddy 100%

ah ok.

parang ikaw mas favorite mo si kuya kaysa sa akin.

Children begin by loving their parents; 

as they grow older they judge them;

sometimes they forgive them.

~Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

the ice cream maker

it's the kids' 4th day without school. semestral break. the little girl's been begging me to bring her with me to the office and i've promised her that she can go to the office with me today. just because.

early on, the office has issued a memo no longer allowing employee's children in the premises. it was brought about by an incident among the owners' relatives who fought over one of the kids. long story. so anyway, before going to work with my little girl in tow, i told her that in case the guard does not allow her inside, we will have to go home.

when we got there, guard was all smiles. we went in smoothly without question. officemates who missed her since she was there a lot last summer, were so glad to see her. immediately, i set her on the table behind me doing some papercraft. she was well-behaved and wasn't a nuisance at all.

then one of the HR personnel called my attention about the memo. i immediately said i'll just leave the office with my daughter. it wasn't a big deal really. i knew it was coming but i just took the chance since everyone in the office knew i always bring her there whenever she had no classes.

i decided to take it as an opportunity to bond with her so i told her we will go to the mall instead. perfect timing cause it was already 10am. as we walked out of the office, the little girl started sobbing, saying "i'm sorry mommy, i'm sorry mommy..." i appeased her, telling her it was ok, it wasn't her fault. but she kept on saying i'm sorry as tears fell down her cheeks. i hugged her to me and reassured her that it was ok and we will just enjoy our day.

we ended up in toy kingdom. 

we ended up with a toy ice cream maker.

later, she apologized to her dad as well. she was actually afraid to tell her dad about it and was teary-eyed again as she explained to her dad that she didn't want it to happen. again i told her it was alright. 

then she asked, pano yan san ka na kukuha ng money? wala ka nang work?

and it dawned on me, the reason why she was sooo sad was all the while she thought i lost my job because she went to the office with me. 

this made me a bit mad at what happened. this made me want to get back at that wretched office policy for not allowing my kid in there. i could only imagine the trauma my little girl felt all these hours since morning!

and so i told her over and over again that it wasn't her fault and that i didn't get fired. my dear daughter..... 

so we made ice cream instead.

Children are happy because they don't have 

a file in their minds called "All things that could go wrong."

~Marianne Williamson

little sick girl 😰

Last night, the little girl at dinner told me to bring her to the hospital. What I know she meant was to bring her to the doctor for check-up. This is so unlike her and I am a bit worried. No, actually, i'm very worried that I'm already imagining brain cancer. Forgive me for being OA but I'm coming from my friend Allie's experience where her 13 year old son passed out after just 3 days of fever and was never revived.

Backtracking, last Thursday night the little girl had fever and a headache. I gave her Tempra. When she awoke the next morning, she said her head still ached but I convinced her it was nothing and made her  go to school. By lunch time she had fever again and was sent home by the school clinic. I had to leave work early to get to her but she was fine when I got home and was already playing with her cousins.

Saturday she was ok. At least I think she was. On Sunday, we attended The Feast and she felt shivery and had headache again. 

Yesterday (Monday) at school she said she went to the school clinic again for an hour with slight fever. Which brings us back to last night.

Pediatric doctor, here we come. I'm hoping it's just fatigue over the last 3 weeks that she's been on whole day classes. Fingers crossing and then palms clasping in prayer now.

conversations

High impact conversation with Julla last night.

She was on a tantrum spree. I say spree, because it got really long and dramatic the last few times that she ranted.

Last night I was telling her about not appreciating my efforts to give her what she wants. So I went like this:

Minsan di ako kumakain ng lunch para makatipid. Para may pambili ako ng gusto nyo. Para mapag aral ko kayo sa Notre, hindi dyan sa public.

   

Girl kept crying. Actually, more like howling. She replied angrily, E di dyan na lang ako sa Serrano mag aaral!

Hindi naman yun ang point ko. Sana lang maapreciate nyo yung sacrifices ko for you.

She then insisted sa Serrano na lang ako mag-aaral! (That's the public school near our house.)

Basta kumain ka lang. Kase pag di ka kumain, mamamatay ka. Wala rin! Wala! Wala!!

Oo nga naman.

loss

three days ago.

this story is supposed to be about my two kids'  taekwondo tournament but it's gonna segue into a totally different, devastating story.  that is a forewarning.

it was the bulacan taekwondo championships held in marilao convention center in, where else, bulacan.  the kids were psyched for another fight and so were hubby and me.  i can say that we live for days like these.  it just makes us plain happy.

little girl was sent to the mats early and won her first game without a sweat.  (that's me, the mom, talking.)  second game was a breeze.  (again, proud mom moment.)  

her finals match was unexpected.  she was up against an older girl but with the same height, the younger sister of a veteran champ in clraa (central luzon ahtletic association or something) and although wearing a white belt, we expect has been training way longer than my little girl.  little girl overwhelmingly lost her finals match.  and her tears of furstration and hurt were overwhelming as well.  i consoled her of course that it was not something to be ashamed of and that we're all still proud of her.

...ooOoo...

little big man's first game was a breeze too.  then finals match was definitely not hard but sadly, he lost by 1 point.  he was disappointed of course, being hungry for another gold again but i guess, luck wasn't on his side.... yet.  coach told hubby that the little big man already has everything -- skills, form, speed -- we just have to be a little more patient and we will harvest soon. this guy's time will come.  i've said this time and time again, everytime he loses, because i strongly believe so.

...ooOoo...

towards late afternoon, the intense games of the kids' high school teammates got us all worked up and cheering on the sides.  it became an opportunity for some nitwit to steal my handbag which i left on a chair together with our team's bags and equipment.  the thief singled out my bag because i left our low bat iPad®  inside.  he must've been around already since morning, checking out who would be neglectful of their belongings, and i turned out to be the unknowing victim.

when i found my chair without my bag, i told the hubby and we informed coach who announced it over the microphone to please be mindful of belongings since a parent (me!!) lost her bag.  a little while later, coach's wife when she found out, told us she noticed an abandoned bag inside one of the stinky toilets.  and there it was.  my ransacked bag without the iPad and my wallet.

three lessons in losing today:

1)  the little girl's loss tells me that despite doing your best, if the other person who beat you is way ahead of you, you have to accept.  but you better train harder so you will be as good as her, if not better.

2)  the little big man's loss tells me that being the winner is not a one-time thing.  the process of getting there, overcoming obstacles, learning and maturing marks the true champion.  his time will come.

3)  and what did i learn from my loss?  never leave your personal belongings unattended.  God bless that nitwit thief.  and God bless me more.

“Winning or losing achieves the same result-- change.” 

― Shannon L. Alder

conversations

i was in the gym last week waiting for my little big man and little girl who were in taekwondo training.  the coach's daughter, 6 years old engaged me in a no-nonsense conversation which went on like this:

coach's daughter sits beside me on the bench then says,  what did you look like when you were a child?

me, after thinking for a few split seconds, i looked like julla when i was a child. 

she turns to look at my daughter julla who was busy with their taekwondo drills out on the mats.  then she turns back at me, you looked like that?

yes, but i was darker.

she turns to look at julla again then back at me.  then bluntly, she says, you're black.

of course, i was quick to retort, calmly,  i'm not black.  i'm brown.

she looks at julla again then says, julla is light brown.

L.O.L.

cousins

our little family went on a roadtrip last weekend to orani, bataan. we went to celebrate the feast of our lady of the rosary, which not many of you know, is where my first name rosario was derived from by my dad, who is a devotee.

we went to the 11am mass and afterwards, watched the banda ng mosiko, while my dad related his stories to my kids about how it used to be when he was young there in their town.

then we went to my cousin's house and had lunch.  

best part of the day were the kids enjoying their short but fun time bonding with their cousins that they didn't want to go home when it was time.  the little big man was literally begging me to let him stay overnight.  of course, that wasn't possible so hubby and i promised them we'll come back on the 31st and stay overnight.  i understand how much they long to be with their cousins and i'm glad they've built friendships and bonds with them that will last forever.

"a cousin is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost."

conversations

at the newly opened Joy Avenue Foodstore:

little girl was lingering while there were no customers.  my brother's kumpare was there, who incidentally has the same family name as ours so the hubby calls him 'insan (meaning: cousin).

'insan came over the softdrinks fridge, calling out 'nay pahingi ako ng royal. (<-softdrinks font="">

bayaran mo yan ha, said the little girl.  so she thought, by saying "pahingi" the guy was literally asking for it for free.

ayoko nga bayaran.  bakit ko babayaran e pinsan ako ng may-ari?

e ako nga anak ako ng may-ari nagbabayad ako e.

ayoko pa rin bayaran, 'insan taunted her, laughing as he said this.

the little girl, obviously pissed, retorted, ta-taekwondohin na kita.  marunong ako mag-taekwondo.  lumalaban ako ng lalaki, tumatalo ako ng lalaki.

to which 'insan and everybody within earshot started laughing.  and usually, when she's laughed at, the little girl gets really annoyed. she said, naiinis na ko sa yo.  iiyak na ko! then  broke down in tears.

New Year

Oh yeah, I was supposed to blog about a few things....

It's a New Year in different ways for me so let me run down those "few" things I wanted to blog about for the last 3 months that I was in hiatus from this blog.

New school year.  The little big man, who is 10 years old, is now in 6th grade.  Schoolyear 2013-2014.  Can you believe that?  I must change the picture on the top of this blog soon.  That was so 5 years ago.  (I guess)  And the little girl, who is 7 years old, is in 2nd grade.

CPU and external hard drive are dead.  Yes, 2 weeks ago, my Seagate 500gig external hard drive containing most of my family pictures for the last 8 years, just went kaput.  And just this weekend, our family's personal computer crashed.  I need to start over.  I don't need to tell you how devastated I am about all that I've literally lost.  I did not shed tears but you can imagine my insides falling apart piece by piece as the computer tech told me that none of my data stored in all of that can be retrieved.  

Back  to old coach.  The little big man started training again with his former taekwondo coach.  Yeah, the one who disowned him some 2 years ago.  We've been wanting to communicate with him for the past year and the few times we've connected in some tournaments, he was friendly enough for us to eventually tell him that we wanted our little girl to start training with him.  And then he asked, what about the little big man?  So we took it as an invitation for us to come back and train with him again.  And we did.  There's no turning back.  So last May, both kids went into rigid 4 times a week training with him.  

Home-grown.  In connection with that training, the little girl , after training for about 3 weeks, went into her first official tournament, albeit a mini-tournament.  It was so mini that she did not have an opponent in her category who is a girl.  So, the organizers pitted her against boys.  Yes, she sparred with 2 boys within her height range.  And she won over both. Her first official gold medal in taekwondo has been sealed.

New business.  So after all the ups and downs of the previous year, the parents helped hubby and I put back together the canteen.  It's now located in our own yard converted into a cozy enough, decent enough canteen for students and for the neighborhood.  We called it Joy Avenue Foodstore, derived from our street name, Ligaya Street.  

Work-related.  Last December, the office renovation got semi-completed and my department was moved back up to the 2nd floor.  My new place is right in front of the door leading to the warehouse.  Last April, my Chinese friend and supplier noticed I'd been sickly the last couple of months.  I told her it was probably because of the crazy schizophrenic weather and that I was seated in front of the door that pushes in warm air everytime it opens and closes.  To this, she was appalled.  She said, in Feng Shui, it is bad luck to be working right in front of a door because the negative energy is right at you.  Aside from that, my back was towards the door so I could be prone to back-stabbing, literally and figuratively.  For this, I requested my bosses if we could have a wall put behind me to block the door, to which they immediately said yes.  But to this day, 2 months later, still nada.  

Still work-related but on the side.  I tried to revive SALT last February but my full-time job just keeps me too busy and tired.  So after a few successes for 2 months, I am lying low on this biz again.  My time will come.

Babies.  My younger brother has a new baby.  Cheska was born last March.  My PD Officer Jacq is pregnant and is due in late July or early August.  Her baby's name is gonna be Yuri.

I know I have a lot more to update but this will be all for now.  I will try my best to blog often so I won't forget.

break wind

little girl to mommy some time last week:

mommy, bat ganun yung utot ko amoy kalan?

kalan?  bakit naman amoy kalan?

yung kalan mommy.. yung body of water.

body of water?

yung lesson namin sa sibika.  yung maliit na dagat.

huh? ilog?

hindi yung ganyan o.  (irritatedly motioning with her two hands making some sort of a pathway.)

huh???

ah kanal!  kanal!
(cue in canned laughter)

yung utot mo amoy kanal!

(more laughter)

mommy fail

busy days at work took a backseat again yesterday for my kids' annual field demo day in school.  past years it was only the little big man's day.  this year is more meaningful and eventful, being the little girl is now in 1st grade and participating in the activity.

about two weeks ago, i was already on my toes finding the materials for their costume which was prescribed by the school.  i needed orange gina cloth (luckily both kids needed the same color), white leotards, black shorts, orange shorts, gold foil paper, dark blue art paper, green satin ribbon... the works.  the last night before the event, i had to cram sewing and pasting and putting together the 2 different costumes for the 2 kids.

so yesterday, we were all set.  both kids were excited.  their classmates and teachers worked 2 weeks practicing and this day is the big day they were gonna show off what stuff they're made of.

the littel girl's sched of presentation was at 9:15am while the little big man is at 10:45am.  we  arrived in school at around 9:05-9:10.  (my fault because i agreed to wait for my dad and brother before going to school but that's a differet story and i might digress if i go into the details of that.)

the hubby and i agreed he'd go with the little big man while i go with the little girl.  and so, as she and i were passing by the gym, we heard "fireworks" being played and i turned to her and asked, isn't that the music that you're going to dance to?

wide-eyed, she said yes while we both wondered why it was already playing.  i tried to peep to see what's going on but it was too crowded.  so i told the little girl that we should just go to the meeting area of her batchmates.  on our way there, we passed by a video wall showing  livestream what was happening inside the gym.  

lo and behold!  a sea of orange skirts with blue and gold vests worn over white leotards and black shorts!  my insides ached so bad i thought my knees turned jelly and i felt like i would fall in utter frustration.  i turned to the little girl, carried her in my arms, pointed to her the wall and painfully said, anak, sorry hindi ka na makakasali.  ayun na sila o.  i was close to tears.

she stared at the video wall.  then she patted my shoulder, ok lang yan mommy, ok lang yan. she seemed so cool about it and was even the one comforting me!  she stared again for about a minute then she turned away and rested her chin on my shoulder while hugging me tight.  in a few seconds, i knew she was teary-eyed and i kept on saying i'm sorry, i'm sorry to her.  i told her that when we get home, she will wear her costume and perform for me and her dad and kuya and i will video her performance and we will cheer and clap for her.

mommy, ok lang na hindi ako nakasali.  alam ko naman na pinaghirapan mo yung costume ko hanggang kagabi di ba?  ok lang yun.  then she was teary-eyed again and she hugged me again while i hugged her back.  halika na mommy, ayaw ko na dito.

we found the hubby and the little big man in his grade 5 classroom and told them what happened.  (of course, the hubby blamed me because we both knew we should be there by 8:30 but i told them 9:15 pa naman ang performance e.  and yeah, that thing with my dad.)  afterwards, we went to the gym in time for kuya's performance.  

while waiting, a video wall inside the gym was running the highlights of the grade 1 to 3 performances.  and there again was the grade 1 performance which the little girl failed to participate in just an hour ago.  i pointed it to her, she looked and shrugged saying, ayaw ko na makita yan.  i felt her pain and secretly pointed an imaginary gun to my head and shot myself.  i was as devastated as she.

super mommy fail. :(

here's her costume.  shot at home after.

and here's her vid.  on top of  the bed.  watch it and applaud.  PLEASE.

and here's what the little big man had to show.

and some pics of how the little girl coped with her mommy's failure. :( wearing her kuya's head dress while waiting for him after his performance.

parts of the head

the little girl and i were reviewing parts of the head over the weekend for a quiz this week:

me (pointing at her hair):  What's this? 

little girl: Hair.

me (pointing at her forehead): What's this? 

little girl (full of conviction): Third eye.

baby

http://great-pictures.com/baby-pictures/

it's been a while again.  i guess i've been pretty busy (meaning: happy) to have the time to blog.

anyway about two weeks ago, here's another mind-blowing conversation with my little girl:

mommy, gusto ko pa ng baby.  she meant a baby sister which she hadn't asked for for quite a while now.

wag na 'nak.  ikaw na baby namin.

ayoko, gusto ko pa ng isa pang baby.

wag na nga.  para kayo na lang ni kuya ang babies ko.

sige na.  tapos pag malaki na sya, ibenta natin sya.

me, flabbergasted.  ha? baket??

e ayaw ko na pag malaki na sya.

cool school

the little girl's entrance exam results at the little big man's school were released yesterday.  we went in for interview and were so happy to be told that she topped her test in reading with the highest possible score of 9.  her math is 8 (above average) and her language is 6 (average).  

the guidance councilor told us that per her assessment, the little girl got a 4 (average) as to her ability to keep up with the school's system of education but was happy to find out that her test results showed otherwise.

so, it is official.  she's going to big school and there's no turning back.

Big school

tooth to go 2

the little girl's first milk tooth to fall out... fell out yesterday (saturday) while she was playing.  she proudly raised her unattached tooth as if in victory.  tonight, we're putting it under her pillow for the tooth fairy to find and give her something in exchange.  she's so excited for the fairy to find it!