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.