A few months ago, Ramil and I saw a small study desk that would be perfect for Mateo. We both wanted to buy it but we restrained ourselves, thinking that it’s not really a necessity at the moment.

A few weeks ago, we finally bought it with Mateo’s barya. Ramil and I have this habit of setting aside all our 5 pesos and 10 pesos coins. We give them to Mateo for him to put inside his piggy bank. It has been an effective way to set aside little amounts to jumpstart Mateo’s savings. We figured that we could use some of the coins to be able to get that table for him. Okay, they’re not just a few coins because they were worth 1000 pesos. We shelled out a hundred to be able to buy the table.

Ever since he got the table, Mateo has been in a drawing/coloring/writing frenzy. If I had only known that it would have that effect, I should have bought it earlier. I’ve noticed that he’d rarely play with his toys now because I don’t find myself frequently reminding him to pack them away. His fine motor skills have greatly improved because of this. His doodles are more interesting now with faces, snakes, airplanes, centipedes, trees, batman, etc.

It was really a great buy and I know we’ll put it to a lot of use this summer which I plan to fill with activities for him. Unfortunately though, he’s been suffering from cough and cold for several days now so he has been having difficulty spending long minutes on his table. I need to find a good remedy for allergy relief because I highly suspect it’s just his allergy acting up.

Ramil though has been wondering when we would get our own work table. Most of the time, we use the dining table or any makeshift table whenever we need to work. I jokingly answered him that we’ll be able to get one when Mateo is big enough for it as well.

Mateo had his culminating activity last Friday. We’re done with the first year of his 17 years of schooling, yey!

It was a week-long preparation for the preschool department. Mateo had been going to school a week before simply just to practice with the other levels. It was a good thing that we were teachers there so we also get to sneak in during practices. Knowing that actual performances would have numerous parents standing up just to get a better view of their child’s performance, I planned on making the most out of the practices by watching Mateo to my heart’s content.

After much preparations, the day finally came. I invited my parents to come and watch and they came armed with Mateo’s costume because my mom offered to be the one to buy it. Of course, they also brought many things for us like kilos of mangoes, a gift for Mateo, some promotional calenders, blouses for the pregnant lady (hehe), and a coffeemaker (because ours got busted). I was intent on putting the little one in a good mood since it would be vital to what he will be doing that afternoon. Practices were great, he would dance and sing his heart out. Although he would often get distracted by other activities or movements, he was performing and having fun and that was more than enough. A stage full of lights with a lot of people watching however, is an altogether different thing. I brainwashed him every chance I got by saying that he’ll be dancing and singing on stage and many people will watch him (with exaggerated wows interjected at the correct intervals). He seemed to be ready because he wanted us to keep on watching during practices.

After the usual graduation rites, the performances of each level finally started. Mateo’s performance gave me a tummy ache from all the laughs. He truly enjoyed their performance. It was refreshing to watch a performance where the performers are uninhibited and were only concerned with delivering what they’re supposed to. With Mateo, I was happy to see him dancing with so much gusto just like how he would whenever he’d hear an upbeat song here at home. I’ll let his performance speak for itself.

I only hope Mateo does not lose his energy and spirit during performances when he gets older already.

Since I am only teaching part-time, I am basically jobless this summer. Except for whatever online earning opportunities I have, I won’t be getting my regular paycheck. Not to mention that this might go on indefinitely since I will only get re-hired for the coming school year if they can’t find a replacement for me because I will also be giving birth by late July or early August.

This situation has given me more motivation to think of other ways to earn. My sister and I have signed up to be dealers of a line of natural, biodegradable body products and I hope we get some success from that especially since we really love the products. Right now, our best customer are ourselves, haha! Since we’ve replaced all our body products with those from the brand we are selling. We have flyers which we hope to distribute here in our subdivision and I’m also thinking if direct mail marketing would be a good idea.

I’m not exactly sure whether we will be financially successful with this new venture but we went ahead and signed up anyway because the discount we’ll be getting as dealers will still be worth it.

Well, considering that we are saving up for the new baby, we don’t really have summer plans. Instead, I plan to maximize my summer time with Mateo and Ramil. It’s going to be the last time it will just be the three of us and I want to savor it as much as I can. Since we cannot have a vacation in Orlando or Hong Kong or any local destination, we’ll just make the best out of what we can.

This explains my vow to be Mateo’s teacher for the summer. I have yet to make my daily plans for him because I’m waiting for all school activities to be over before I get myself deep into another ‘teacher mode’. I hope to scour internet site and some books from the library on some activities we can do at home. I also hope I can keep up with my plan to take Mateo swimming at least once a week to help him get more comfortable in the water and then maybe teach him a little how to swim.

Regardless of what the summer months might bring us, we are bent on enjoying ourselves!

I’d like to think that Mateo is a happy child. Of course, he’s not happy ALL THE TIME because not knowing how to express one’s sadness or anger does not make a happy child. He has his moods which can often be explained by a particular situation (i.e. he did not get enough sleep, he’s hungry, etc.) but I think his default state of mind is being optimistic, cheerful, enthusiastic, and energetic. We pretty much know how to put a smile on his face if we want to.

There are times though when I wonder if my child is too happy. He is sometimes too independent and confident for his own good. My son is not the type to sit in one corner, waiting for instructions  or for someone to notice him, even if he is in a totally new environment.

The whole week, he would often go to school in the afternoon instead of in the mornings. The preschool culminating activity is scheduled on a 4-6 pm time slot and practices were likewise scheduled during the same hours. In one of the presentations, all the preschool children would sing the song ‘Tomorrow’. In order to make things more effective, each student in the oldest level (6- to 7-year-olds) were paired with a student from the youngest level (3- to 4-year-olds). It thus became easier to guide the younger ones into their proper places on the stage without the teachers actually instructing them. Since I’ve been watching practices, I’ve noticed though that Mateo does not make it easy for his partner to do his job. He gets partnered with a different student every time and all of them would get stressed from Mateo. I would often hear a student calling out, “teacher!” and just one look would prove to me that it is Mateo that is causing the student to give out the SOS call.

It does not help at all that at 3 years and 2 months, he is the youngest among all the preschool students. He also has a tendency to be overly inquisitive and assertive. *Notice that I’m trying to use positive words to describe my son here.* I know that my little boy can be quite a handful which is why I’ve always been grateful for people who can handle him well like his teachers.

I know that he is still young and he can be very exuberant at times. I just hope that it’s something he’ll develop into something more productive.

I can’t believe I’m half-way done with this pregnancy. Based on my ultrasounds, I’m around 19-20 weeks pregnant right now and if I base it on how far along I was when I gave birth to Mateo, which was around 37 weeks, I only have around 17 weeks to go.

According to many sites and books I’ve read, our little girl can, most likely, hear now. Her brain has already designated areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Because of this, I plan to start listening to the classical tunes I used to listen to when I was pregnant with Mateo.

Also, I’ve gained around 8-10 pounds already which is just about right for 20 weeks. I haven’t been as religious as with my pregnancy with Mateo in taking my prenatal vitamins which often makes me feel guilty. However, I’ve been getting more sleep than the Mateo pregnancy.

I’m also starting to feel more movements everyday which is very reassuring. Both Mateo and Ramil have also been lucky enough to feel our baby’s movements. Also, more and more of my clothes are going to have to stay inside our closet in the next few months. Mateo touched my tummy today and surprise registered on his face, followed by “your tummy’s so big mama”.

I’m talking about genes. I’d like to think that Mateo got himself a good pair of genes when Ramil’s sperm came together with my egg. Right now, we know that our baby girl is structurally well-formed according to the congenital anomaly scan. Of course, we wouldn’t know if she’d have other problems or difficulties until we actually get to see, hold, and observe her. Some syndromes even show up just a few years later. Still, just like any parent, we are hoping that we were able to pass on a good set of genes and that nothing went wrong along the way.

Based on our ‘sample’ (which is Mateo), we are hoping our baby girl gets the same skin, hair, and eyes. We also hope she’ll be armed with her own gifts and talents. Good thing both Mateo and her need not worry about natural cures for hair loss because it does not run in both our families. Hypertension might be something they both need to watch out for later in life though. Also, Mateo was spared from asthma, which Ramil has, so I’m hoping our baby girl also gets lucky too.

Mateo is growing soooo fast! With my impending delivery in a few months, I can’t help but look at my baby boy and wonder how everything could happen so fast. Since I’ve been very sentimental lately, I want to savor these last few months when Mateo is still an only child. Here’s how he’s been doing so far:

• Writing. He’s growing more confident with his drawing, writing, and coloring skills so he loves doing them more now. I’ve noticed that Mateo is not the type of child who readily jumps in and tries new things. If it’s something he feels he’s not good at then he puts in a lot of resistance into doing it. We initially had a little difficulty making him color or write for long periods of time. These past weeks though, he could go at it for hours especially if Ramil or I are doing it with him. He loves drawing happy faces most of all, complete with squiggly lines for the hairs. I must remember to post one of his drawings soon. He also likes drawing an airplane (which is just actually 2 lines making a cross), a sun (again with a happy face), a tree, and drawing his name. He equally loves asking Ramil to draw him anything (favorite subjects are dinosaurs, crocodiles, birds, etc). Good thing my husband has an excellent pair of drawing hands
• Reading. He could now devour books for hours. By devour, I mean me reading books and him piling them up for me to read out loud. He does not get tired of reading books whose stories he almost know by heart. There are also times when he would sit by himself and ‘read’ the book by telling the story based on how he remembers it or by how he understands the pictures. He also loves ‘reading’ signs, labels, and other words he would see. It’s not reading for real because he does not know yet how but he likes to point at the word and read it based on what he thinks it is. For example, he would see a picture of Simba with the name below and he would point at the words and saw ‘sim-ba’. I guess it’s a good start anyway, hehe! Unfortunately, if there are times when I would correct him (if he’s wrong in his interpretation of the word), he would insist on his version.
• Eating. He’s still the moody eater. There are days when he seems like a bottomless eating machine and there are days when he would eat almost nothing but drink milk instead. We used to alternate between two multivitamins but we noticed that one has a tendency to decrease his appetite so we stuck to the other one. He still drinks milk, although it’s down to around two glasses a day – one in the afternoon and one before going to bed at night.
• Playing. He’s such an expert at alone play now. He could play by himself for hours if everyone is very busy to play with him. It’s very amusing though to listen to him play because you wouldn’t think he’s by himself if you’re not looking. His playtime comes with complete OST, sound effects, dialogue, and actions, all with a full range of emotions. Ramil and I have been thinking of lessening his playtime ever since he started school but his playtime has been developing at such a rate as well. It made me realize that play is really very important in a child’s life because that’s when he often gets to think on his own and to ‘synthesize’. I used to be more conscious of the times that Mateo would play on his own because I almost never want him to do that. There was a time when I would always play with him but I realized that learning for a child goes beyond having someone to show and teach him. Mateo is now more independent because he’s grown confident doing things on his own, including playing.
• Socializing. He loves going to school and we never get complaints anymore in the morning. He loves being with his classmates and teachers. Although he still prefers enjoys playing with children ages 7-10, he has learned to play with kids his own age as well. He’s still moody at times when it comes to greeting people but I would like to think he’s less grouchy now. We’re still teaching him how to be nice even when he’s in a bad mood.
• Talking. We never had any problem with Mateo when it come to talking. He said his first word when he was around 6-7 months old, was conversational at around 18 months, and I don’t even want to start on how he could talk for hours now. Aside from the time before and after sleeping, our little boy loves to just talk and talk. That includes singing. His usual repertoire lately is the irritating why-series of questions. He’d ask why to just about everything. He tends to ask the most challenging why questions (‘bakit hindi sya fly?’ – referring to birds that have wings but don’t fly) and I sometimes find myself at a loss for words. He also loves word plays now. He loves making new silly words out of words he already knows.

There, I think I’ve pretty much covered how Mateo has been doing lately. An added aspect of his development so far is how he’s handling my growing tummy and the information that there’ll be four of us in a few months. But I think that deserves another post.

Lately, I’ve been feeling back pains which can be attributed to my growing tummy. It’s a signal that my back muscles have been compensating for the weight that my abdominal muscles have been having difficulty with. As far as I can recall, I experienced the back pains later during my pregnancy with Mateo – sometime towards the middle of the third trimester. It makes sense that I should experience it earlier this time around because I was way fitter before I got pregnant with Mateo. I used to regularly go to the gym a few months before my first pregnancy and although I didn’t use any whey protein powder, I was able to tone my muscles. I guess it’s too late to start ‘re-building’ my muscles since I’m already pregnant but I hope the last months of my pregnancy won’t be so difficult for my already worn muscles.

Because of my impulsiveness and impatience, I was able to convince Ramil to let go of his plans of bumming around last Saturday. I dragged him and Mateo to Megamall so I can have the congenital anomaly scan that my ob was requesting.

When I had the CAS done during my pregnancy with Mateo, Ramil and I were more concerned with the baby’s health and the ob-sonologist even had to ask us whether we want to know the gender. This time however, we wanted a girl though a boy would be just as welcome.

The ob waited until towards almost the end of the session before showing us that our baby is a girl. We couldn’t believe it and until now, we still couldn’t fully believe that we’re indeed having a girl!