Ramil and I are teachers. However, we are not Education majors. He finished BS Biology while I finished BS Mathematics. We have yet to fulfill the requirement for Education units and the PRC license. Good thing we are given several years to fulfill them. Ramil is in the process of getting those requirements because he already finished 9 units of the required 18 last year. He plans to take the remaining units next semester. It would have been so convenient if he can get an online degree instead. With an online university, he will not have transportation costs and he has full control over his time. Ideal for someone like him who works full-time and still gives a lot of time to his family as well.

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Having a two-year-old can be a pain in the neck sometimes but in my opinion, it’s also one of the wackiest stage a child goes through. Ramil and I cannot count the number of times our tummies ached because of something that Mateo did or said. It does not help that our son is very talkative and assertive. He blurts out things that crack us up. Also, it’s really fun talking to him. He’d sometimes surprise me with his insight and perception. Nothing could be more entertaining than watching him or talking to him especially on his good mood days. No amount of TVs, DVDs, ipods, or laptops could be more engaging.

Today, when I came to fetch Mateo, his teacher had this story to tell: They were marching around the classroom. Mateo was the one directly behind his teacher. He began tapping his teacher’s butt while marching. The other teacher laughed at him and asked ‘why are you doing that Mateo?’. Mateo answered with ‘ang laki-laki’ (so big) while still tapping the teacher’s butt. He drove his point home by adding ‘o, ang laki-laki pwet’ (see, such a big butt) and continued tapping his teacher’s butt. The teacher was a little on the healthier side.

I literally laughed out loud when his teacher told me about it. When we got home, I decided to ‘grill’ him about it:

me: ‘did you march in school today with your teacher?’

mateo (while tapping the pillow): ‘yes, ganon pwet teacher madel’ (yes, i did this)

me: ‘why?’

mateo: ‘kasi big butt sya’ (because she has a big butt)

me (laughing): si mama din big butt? (does mama have a big butt also?)

mateo: no, teacher madel lang big butt (no, only teacher madel has a big butt)

For several months now, Ramil and I have had to endure with Mateo’s toys all over the house. Despite being reminded to return them to their proper places, being the two-year-old that he is, there are instances when he would forget. We would often find toys in the most unusual nooks and crannies of our small house. The disorganized toys stressed us so much on some days that I decided to do something about it.

I’ve decide to move do some ‘remodeling’ of our interiors and set aside a designated play area for Mateo. Before letting him use his play area for the first time, I had to talk to him and explain to him the rule – that all his toys should remain inside his play area. He seemed to accept it and all other parts of our house has been toyless since we fixed up his play area a week ago. He knows it’s his territory and he spends almost all his time there, often asking Ramil or me or his tita to play with him.

The drawback is that our living room is now only 2/3 of its original size and our dining table has been pushed to a corner to accomodate my idea. Still, it was a brilliant one because even Ramil and I enjoy lounging around with Mateo in it.

A friend started entertaining the idea of trying out stockoption trading. He has been talking to some people who have invested in stocks and looking for a reliable stock broker. He seems decided on pursuing this investment vehicle because he is pulling all stops into learning everything he can by browsing sites and reading books.

He is delighted with the possiblity of purchasing an option screener, software that lets you find, compare, analyze, and make money on stock option trading. According to him, there are several providers of such an application and he is also trying to look for reviews on which is the best software.

I can only wish him luck on his new investment endeavor. I wish I can invest more like him too.

My little boy is enjoying school now. What’s funny is he doesn’t want to admit it. Every morning, he would still give me his usual protests about not wanting to go to school. However, he willingly submits himself to being dressed. He would even reach for his bag on his own once he hears the tricycle that regularly fetches us. Sometimes, when the tricycle hasn’t arrived yet, he would say to me ‘come na, bakery tayo’ so that we could walk to the bakery on the corner near our house and wait for the tricycle there.

Before getting off the tricycle, he would again give me his ‘ayaw school teo’ line but he would willing walk up the long stairs going up to their classrooms. Upon reaching the door of his classroom, I have to gently remind him to remove his bag first before going inside. Otherwise, he would just walk inside in his eagerness to play.

Despite his usual protests, he notices when one of his teachers is absent and looks for her from the other teacher. He proudly points out his classmates whenever he sees one of them in other places in school.

At home, he would sing ‘on the floor now’ to me and his Tita, just like how his teachers sing it and then insist that we sit like indians on the floor. Once we are seated, he would point to the nearest vertical surface and ask ‘ano letter ito?’. He likes saying ‘auditory nerve’ and pointing inside his ears. When he was watching Happy Feet the other day, after not watching it for a loooong time, when the scene where Mumble is in school and his teacher said ‘our lesson for today is…’ came up, he excitedly pointed out to us ‘parang Teacher Madel yun’.

My son is growing up soooo fast, the thought could easily get me teary-eyed. I am glad I am a witness to all of his experiences. A few months back, someone asked me what’s new with me. I told him I’m resigning to spend more time with Mateo. He responded with ‘iiwan ka rin nyan’, expressing how he does not understand why I would resign. I replied with ‘alam ko, kaya nga sinusulit ko ngayon’ and with how fast my son is growing, I know I made the right decision.

A few weeks back, my parents’ Revo was damaged due to some mishap on a parking lot. They were trying to drive going inside a parking lot but a jeepney was blocking the way. The jeepney didn’t just stop for a few seconds, it was standing still, blocking the entrance to the parking lot because it was waiting for more passengers!

It grew to a point that there were more than five cars in line behind my parents’ car. My dad honked his horn to signal the jeep’s driver to move forward but he was ignored. My dad then decided to go down the vehicle and to approach the driver and personally tell him to move his jeep. As my dad was going back to their car, a rock flew across the air, hitting the windshield of the car next to theirs and then the left side of their own vehicle. Afterwards, the jeep drove away. My dad was convinced the rock was for their car but it failed to hit its target because of a lousy aim.

I was so shocked to learn of what happened. If anything serious happened, I would insist that my parents look for people like Seattle personal injury attorneys to help them out. The owners of the car parked beside them were likewise shocked to see their windshield broken. Unfortunately, no one really saw who threw the rock so they couldn’t do anything also.

Instances like these are what make me shake my head and wonder about the safety of being on the road. No matter how safe a driver you are, your vehicle might still get damaged. Heck, you might not even have a vehicle and you could get hit by a flying rock.

Ramil and I always knew we want kids. Take note of the ‘s’ in ‘kids’. Even before we got together, we both wanted more than one child. In fact, we would want to have three or four if we can handle it (financially, mentally, physically, and emotionally).

Now that Mateo is two and a half years old, talking about having another one is our common activity. We realize that planning a family is not just economics, it’s also vital to think about the dynamics of each member. We wanted Mateo and his future sibling/s to get along well and we’re afraid it might be difficult for them to become friends if their ages are too far apart.

We’ve thought about many factors we need to consider. One major concern is where I could give birth. Of course, we want the hospital to have the best medical equipment aside from having the best doctors and personnel. I gave birth to Mateo in St. Luke’s in Q.C. but it’s too far from us now. Back then, we stayed with my parents for two weeks so that we could be nearer the hospital. For the next one however, we are foreseeing an Antipolo-hospital-Antipolo scenario especially since we have Mateo to think of. The best option for us right now is Medical City, I guess.

We would have targeted for an April delivery date because we don’t have work the whole month of April. However, I had to undergo root canal treatment this month which means we might delay the baby-making until next year again. Oh well, all in God’s time

I’ve been browsing through architecture, home, house designs, and interior design sites. Since Ramil and I are wishing and hoping to have a house of our own soon, we’ve been looking at ideas we could use. We realized that even when it comes to architecture and house designs, our country is not very progressive. Many different ideas and innovations are being used in other countries that would make building a house less expensive. Unfortunately, many architects here are very traditional and not too open to other ideas. Since we’re going to be working with a limited budget if ever, we love designs that are easy on the pocket. We’ve even considered using container vans, which is a very interesting concept already being used in other countries.  I’ve seen  a few structures here that also utilizes these so we’re very open to the idea. Look at the very interesting house designs we’ve seen so far:

The house that’s designed above kind of looks like a warehouse, hahaha! What appeals to me though is the amount of space. It’s also open and airy, which I like. Using a nice set of outdoor furniture would look nice even if it’s placed inside the house. Unfortunately, the design above needs a huge lot. Although we’d love to have a big lot where there’s space for running around especially with our golden retriever.

We found many more house designs using container vans and the idea is very promising. There are also prefabricated houses that are well-designed. At least now, we have an idea of what we want when it’s time to sit down with our architect and draw up a plan of our house.

I am at a crossroad right now. The next few weeks might mean a huge change in our lives. I’ve been mulling over some things and thinking about it has been giving me headaches. I’ve found myself thinking about it almost every waking hour. I even think I should read eye cream reviews with all the stress it is giving me. I am praying very hard that I discern what would be best for us and what God would want for us.

We’ve been having rainy days lately. I love it when it rains and I don’t have to go out of the house which means classes should be suspended. Otherwise, it’s just terrible. However, if it rains for more than three days, it’s just crappy whether I get to stay home or not. My laundry takes forever to dry and I can’t bring the dog and Mateo outside. Sometimes, electricity would be cut off, there would be no internet, wireless alarms would go off for no reason, and we’d be bored out of our wits at home. If classes get suspended like today, I can only hope that I’m updated with my lessons. I hope the rains stop today. Ramil and I are planning a date (which we haven’t had in a loooong time) for tonight and we have our weekend full with plans.