Mateo has adjusted beautifully to going to school everyday. He now knows the names of a lot of students, some of them I don’t even know. Haha!

He already has his group of friends of varying ages. From the youngest to the oldest, he knows them. During the morning he’d join the youngest level of 2- to 3-year-olds in their class with Teacher ‘Del’. During lunch time and dismissal time he’d mingle with the grade schoolers while the high schoolers would joke around with him. Some high school boys introduced themselves as ‘idol’ and ‘boss’ so that Mateo would enthusiastically call out ‘idol’ and ‘boss’ whenever he sees them.

His biggest fan in school is a Korean male student named June in the grade three level. He’d follow Mateo around whenever he’s not in class and sometimes he’d wait for Mateo to wake up before eating lunch. Mateo has also become the resident ‘library assistant’, Sir Myke’s (the librarian) companion, and does things in the library no one else could. Since he’s a tambay in the library and Sir Myke loves taking pictures of him, we now have a good number of pictures of Mateo in the library.

Mateo with Joshua, a grade one student in HEdCen whom they say looks so much like him.

goofing around in the library

with another library regular, ate Gaby

Mateo’s barkada

library boy

More pictures here.

Aside from not being able to spend as much time with him, I’m pretty much happy with our set-up right now. Mateo is absorbing a lot of information in school and other kids are also teaching him a lot.  He has acquired some weird skills like he can now point to the Philippines (and other countries) given any map or globe, he ‘sings’ the song ‘I’m yours’ by Jason Mraz, he puts his hand on his chest and sings ‘ayaaaa iliw’ whenever he sees a flag, he knows the internal parts of the human body like the lungs, heart, liver, stomach, brain, and ‘isaw’ (intestines) because of a human anatomical model in the library, and so much more.

Our little boy is not so little anymore. He’s fast growing up and sometimes Ramil and I would discuss hypothetical scenarios about Mateo. Questions like what if he’s gay, what if he’s a slow learner, what if he has ADHD, etc. It can be pretty scary for parents not knowing what and how their kid would turn out to be. I’m sure no one wanted their child to be a criminal or someone who has to get drug rehabilitation especially since going to a drug rehab can be pretty expensive. We just hope we bring up Mateo being the best person he can be. While thoughts of having another one are always on our minds these days, Mateo seems to be too much to handle right now and he’s more than enough for us.

I recently blogged about looking for a family health insurance for us and I’ve already narrowed down our choices to two or three providers. Some teachers in our school are also interested so we’re thinking of just getting a group insurance so that we can get a lower rate. I’m also trying to inquire whether our choices have options of maternity benefits. Ramil and I are planning for another baby late next year so it would definitely be a big advantage if I have a health insurance that includes maternity benefits. Let’s hope I get to finalize this by next month.

It’s weekend once again and since the fifteenth is on Monday, it’s actually a no-money-weekend for us. It’s okay because if we have gotten our salaries already, we’d be off to the mall by now. Haha! Instead what we’ll have is a cozy day at home and we’ll be doing some cleaning around the house. A lot of nooks and crevices in our house have gathered so much dust, I wish we can get those Electrolux vacuums to make the cleaning easier and faster. It’s also going to be a chance to spend more time with Mateo. I love weekends, money or no money.

I’m currently looking for a good health card for us. My sister just spent almost 3000 pesos last Sunday because of acute gastritis and I had to bring her to the emergency room of a nearby hospital. It brought back my desire to get health cards for us so that we can always have ourselves checked whenever we feel sick. I know that getting sick can be pretty expensive, from doctors’ fees to medicines like albuterol, and hospital fees. So having ourselves protected from these expenses will be a big help. Not to mention we can get medical attention and help whenever we need it even if we’re short on cash. With a baby in the family, scrimping on health expenses is not an option for us. So if any of you know a good health card, let me know.

This announcement was paid for by Epocrates.

For the longest time, Ramil’s lower left molars would ache. It turns out that his wisdom tooth in that area is impacted and has been pushing his other molars. Usually, the pain would be manageable with mefenamic acid and then it’ll be a few months until the stubborn wisdom tooth would attempt to come out again. Last week however, the pain became so unbearable and the left side of his face even became swollen. After a visit to the dentist, he was advised to have it removed surgically. So now he’s a wisdom tooth and a few thousand pesos less. It made me realize the importance of having some kind of medical or dental coverage whether it’s through an insurance company or through our own funds. Just the cost of medical supplies alone can be pretty painful on the budget and being ready for any medical or dental emergency would be a huge advantage. Hopefully, we get to do something about it in the next few months.