Ramil and I make extra effort not to scare Mateo with guards and policemen. I’ve encountered parents or yayas scaring a child with thoughts of a guard or a policeman out to get them. Instead of doing this, Mateo is in the habit of giving a salute whenever he sees a guard or a policeman. Even those wearing 5.11 Tactical Pants does not scare him. He just finds them amusing sometimes whenever they are in elaborate uniforms. We want him to grow up knowing that he shouldn’t be scared of guards and policemen, unless he did something bad.

My sister can’t wait for her new laptop. Our dad just bought her a new one and she’s eager for him to come home so she can get her hands on them. Ramil was browsing through laptops online a few days ago. We’re thinking of selling his laptop for some extra money that we badly need. After upgrading his computer memory last April, the value of his laptop increased a little and he was trying to check out prices of other brand-new laptops so that he’ll know how much he’ll sell his if ever. Hopefully, we get a good price for it, that would surely loosen our tight budget a bit.

A friend is visiting relatives in US right now and she plans to stay there until Thanksgiving. She’d like to take advantage of the Black Friday Sale that happens on the friday after Thanksgiving. She’s also excited to experience her first Thanksgiving there. She’s looking for Thanksgiving recipes because she’s giving her aunt a hand in preparing for Thanksgiving dinner. She plans to be back on the first week of December. A co-teacher of mine is also in the US right now and I’ve been shopping online so she can just bring them home with her. Ramil and I already bought Mateo his Christmas gifts, a complete set of Backyardigans beanie babies. Mateo would be so happy to have all five characters as his Christmas gifts!

Mateo is currently 20 months old. I’ve been meaning to start toilet-training him even before I learned that toddlers are ready to start toilet-training at 18 months. Since he’s with us in school everyday and unlike before, when I was still teaching part-time and I could focus on teaching him things, we usually have time to teach each other only during weekends. Hence, we don’t put any disposable diaper on him whenever we’re at home. Most of the time, he says ‘wiwi’ or ‘pupu’ whenever he’s doing either one but we have yet to hear it early enough for us to bring him to the bathroom. I think toilet training is one thing in childcare that really has me at a loss. Everything else I almost breezed through but I think I toilet-training will be my biggest challenge yet. It would be so much easier if Mateo and I are at home most of the time but right now, we just have to make do with weekends. Hopefully, it’s enough for now.

Now that I work full-time and we bring Mateo to school everyday, no one is left in our house everyday. We’d often go home and find notices of mail and without any knowledge of any calls made to us during the day. It’s one of the reasons why we’re thinking of getting a telephone unit with caller id and then using a reverse phone search whenever we need to lookup a certain phone number. It can also be very useful in tracing those agents who likes to call and ‘offer’ their products like credit cards. A site like CallerBase.com can easily give anyone a name and address associated with any phone number. Isn’t that cool? I can definitely use that whenever a number that’s not stored in my address book calls me on my mobile phone.

Going to school everyday has been beneficial for Mateo so far. Aside from being a top library user, he also gets to eat a variety of healthy and nutritious food. I worry less now about serving him different food everyday. He gets to taste homemade maki, kamote top juice, santol juice, different kinds of pasta dishes, etc.  Here he is having a taste of corn:

i like corn!

small bite

big bite

It was surprising seeing him enjoying his corn because he usually doesn’t like foods that are grainy or textured. He enjoyed it so much he finished that whole corn in the picture.

Traveling is one of my biggest frustrations. I would love to travel more if we have the money and during times like these when all I want to do is pack our bags, bring my son and my husband, and leave everything behind, I wish more than ever that we have more than enough to bring us to places. Right now, I have an illusion of going somewhere I’ve never been before this coming summer. Going on cruises would be great. Lounging by the beach would be more than enough. Actually, any vacation would be more than welcome right now.

Ramil and I are slowly but surely feeling the terrible stage. Although Mateo has yet to turn two on January, he’s on the fast track to the famous ‘terrible twos’ phase. He is now more insistent than ever and since he can now excellently communicate what he wants (and he knows it too!) he’d stubbornly insist on it, sometimes resorting to tantrums (i.e. crying on the floor complete with stomping feet) or tricks (i.e. smiling, cajoling, sweet-talking). Really, I can’t believe a human this small can be so manipulative.

His hands and eyes spare nothing. God forbid if he gets near the computers in school where a lot of HDMI cable are within his reach. I can now understand why a lot of kids grow up to be spoiled brats. It’s so much easier to give in and let them have what they want. Ramil and I are trying our hardest to be consistent with our rules and not to give in. I hope the terrible stage ends at two.

Our school’s principal asked me the other day if I could handle second year geometry because the current teacher is on a part-time basis and a conflict in her schedule came up. When I told Ramil I said yes, he asked me why and told me I could just say no. I told him that if I don’t take it then who will? I’m the least loaded Math teacher right now and I really feel like I have no choice (unless I stop caring about everything else in school). It just doesn’t feel right if I would say no and I’ll just leave the problem up to them.

Problem is, the whole thing is only just sinking in. I’m going to have an additional 45-minute period everyday. It might sound easy to some people but not if you have to struggle with difficult students during the 45-minute period. Not if it means I have to talk for an additional 45-minute period just when my otolaryngologist told me to stop talking unless I want to have a permanently hoarse voice. Not when I’ve been craving for more time with my son just like before. I guess for the next few months, I might as well put up a digital signage above my head saying ‘Do not disturb’ because I will be swamped and any free time I have would be gladly spent alone (so I can breathe) or with Mateo (so I can recharge) or with Ramil (so I can be inspired).

I am counting the months. Oh how I hope it’s March already.