Category Archives: Mateo

an insured future

Posted on by
Reply

Ramil and I have long been planning to get some life insurance quotes from some agents we know. Since I used to work in the insurance industry, I fully understand how important it is to have insurance. Now that we have Mateo, the need for it seems all the more glaring to us. When it was just the two of us, Ramil and I lazily put off getting ourselves insured. When we became parents however, Mateo’s future became too important to put off. Hopefully, we get to follow through with this plan of ours soon.

love for balls

Posted on by
1

Ever since Mateo was smaller, he loves balls more than any other toy. We first introduced him to a small bag of soft balls. It has a basketball, a football, a soccer ball, and a baseball. He loved them so much that he’d call anything round a ball. ‘Bah’ is his first word aside from ‘dada’, even before he was able to say ‘mama’. Even heavy golf balls would interest him.

Ramil has dreams of making him into a ball player, be it a basketball player or a soccer player. Until now, balls are a weakness for Mateo. When we went to Bora last March, Mateo refused to step foot on the sand. Only a soccer ball being played by another one of the hotel’s guest enticed him to do so. He’d willingly go with anyone who has a ball for him and a ball could stop tantrums.

A few weeks after his first introduction to balls, we introduced him to toy cars. Although he was intrigued by them, especially by the wheels, his interest for balls in unmatched. He has a lot of different toys now but he would always have his fondness for balls. I guess in this case, first love never dies huh? :)

yaya-less once again

Posted on by
3

Once again, Mateo’s yaya went home. This time though, she told us way ahead of time that she wants to visit her mom in the province. Initially, she told me she’ll be back after two weeks but after several days, she told me that she’s not sure if she’ll be coming back. It would have been no trouble at all since I’m supposed to stay home this summer. However, I decided to teach math summer classes so that we could augment our summer income too. My class is still ongoing until next week and we’re left with no one to look after Mateo. The remedy we’ve found is to ask a former co-teacher’s wife to look after Mateo while we’re in school. Their house is just a few blocks from school so it’s easy to drop him off and pick him up. Ever since yesterday, Mateo and I have our morning bonding times when it’s just the two of us at home. It can be quite a struggle keeping him entertained. If only he has some swing sets he can play with. What we do is just play with his toys, read his book, blow bubbles, and anything else we can think of. Despite getting so tired with taking care of him and playing with him, I feel myself getting younger each day ;)

keeping mateo busy

Posted on by
1

Mateo is such a handful lately. He could barely sit still for ten minutes. It’s such a hassle now to bring him whenever we eat out because he could make such a ruckus. He’d cry with such vigor, worthy of Bantay-Bata. He has a lot of toys but he’ll be interested in them for only about an hour. After that, something new needs to be offered to keep him preoccupied. He has gone through his books several times already, he has almost memorized each one of them. He talks incessantly, as if having a conversation with us. He loves going out and would readily go with anyone by the door. He’d run around when inside a mall and refuse to hold our hands. He can shriek like a girl and laugh like there’s no tomorrow. He’d sing with emotion on his face and dance like no one’s watching. He’d tinker with absolutely anything that catches his attention, which would be everything when he’s bored. He loves climbing our sofa, our dining chairs, our gate, our bed’s headboard, etc. He opens cabinets and removes things from inside (but puts them back in if asked). He’d challengingly remove scotch tapes, band-aids, anything that has adhesive on it and stuck to something. He likes to hold his crayons and doodle on big cartolinas. Sometimes he’d even lie face down on the floor and ‘write’. He’d automatically go up somebody’s back/tummy once he sees them lying down and he’d go ‘horsy, horsy’. He’d sometimes defy our admonitions with a naughty sparkle in his eyes. He’d insist on something he wants until the two of us are almost in a shouting match. He’d stubbornly keep his lips shut if he doesn’t like the food we’re offering. He’d say ‘dede, bel’ if he wants his bottle, say ‘dede, mama’ and pull my shirt up if he wants to drink milk from me.

My sister calls him Mateo the menace while Ramil and I wonder if we have a child with ADHD.

And he’s not even two. So help us God.

mateo’s tita

Posted on by
Reply

Ever since my sister started staying with us last week, Mateo has been having more fun. The word ‘Tita’ is one of his most used words lately. My sister seems to be having a blast too. The two of them get along really well. The only problem is that Mateo would sometimes be too much of a handful for her. She’s even thought of Botox for migraines because her migraines has been bugging her a lot lately. She’s attributing it to the heat and Mateo. I told her no, I won’t pay for botox or anything mateo-induced. Hehe!

doodles

Posted on by
Reply

Mateo loves doodling now. He even holds his pencil or pen the right way. A few weeks before Mateo turned one, I bought some big crayons and decided to let him try them. I brought out a big, light colored cartolina, he sat on it, and then I showed him how to use the crayola. Unfortunately, his first attempts would go beyond the paper and onto the floor. At one time, he grabbed one of my Papermate pens and tried ‘writing’ on his own. After some attempts to gnaw at the crayon, I decided to put them away first, thinking that he’s too young to use them. A few weeks ago though, while we were in school, I gave him paper and pen in the library. He then proceeded to ‘write’, looking like any other preschool kid there. Haha! So yesterday, I brought out his crayons again and thought that maybe I should let him use them because he enjoys doodling so much. I just have to keep a close watch on him :)

mateo mall time

Posted on by
Reply

Since its summer and there’s no work for teachers like Ramil and me, we find ourselves heading for the mall these days. It’s funny because once we get there, we often just walk around and window-shop. Of course, Mateo would often tag-along and we’d always end up wishing we left him at home. Hehe! Yesterday, the three of us went to Megamall to have Ramil’s laptop checked. Since it was a holiday yesterday, parking was terrible. We ended up having valet parking service because we didn’t want to hassle ourselves with waiting for an available space. The first thing we did upon getting there is to get ourselves some yummy halo-halo from Razon’s. We then proceeded to the Neo shop to have his laptop’s CDROM checked. We also met up and had dinner with our friend Jeng. Also, we dropped by the hardware to buy some bulb so we can change our bathroom lighting. It was a very tiring day. Mateo was fast asleep even before we got home. Ramil and I were tired but satisfied. It was a good mall time for our small family.

slooow weaning

Posted on by
8

At 14 months, Mateo still feeds from my breasts. Although he also takes in formula milk whenever I’m not home, I can say that for the past 14 months, he gets his milk from me 70% of the time. Until a few weeks ago, a 900-gram can of formula milk would last for more than a month. Recently though, we find ourselves buying a new can every three weeks. It seems that Mateo is slowly shifting his milk preference. I think we’re on our way to a really slow weaning process.

To be honest, I never thought we’d last this long. I still remember my frustrations at pumping during the first few months, the blessing of losing my pump’s valve, finally finding joy in breastfeeding, and my attempts to wean him at seven months which ended up in relactation. I’ve reached a point when I just let him feed whenever he wants to. I’ve decided to just sit and wait for him to wean himself. I figured that he will, eventually. There were days when he would refuse to feed from me and I would get all sentimental about it. Now I know that weaning doesn’t just spell freedom for me, it also means losing just a little bit of my baby. Sure, I could still feed him from the bottle while cuddling or holding him but there’s nothing more intimate and close than having him at my breast. It was something that nobody else could offer. It’s a form of nourishment and comfort that only I could offer. But my baby is slowly becoming more independent.

I think Mateo senses this sadness that I would sometimes feel whenever I think about not being able to breastfeed him anymore. I’d like to think that he also chose this slow weaning process to make it easy on both of us. I’ve heard of some babies who are weaned overnight but I couldn’t imagine such a thing for us. Nowadays, there are times when he would ask for the bottle and there are times when he would ask for my breast. The times when he would prefer the bottle though, is slowly increasing. His milk budget is also getting a bigger chunk of our monthly income.

Considering his milk preference these past few days, my fearless forecast is that he would be completely weaned in a month’s time, maybe earlier. Saddens me a little but I also look forward to it. Whatever happens, I know he’s still going to be a mama’s boy.

Boracay trip (part 3)

Posted on by
3

Read part 1 here and part 2 here.

My sister and I told ourselves we want to wake up before the sun comes up. After the long walk we did on Sunday night, I knew we wouldn’t be able to make that happen. Mateo woke up around 7 am and since his waking time dictates my waking time, I woke up at the same time. Upon waking up, we ordered our breakfast. The rates we got are inclusive of daily breakfast. We had it served at the cabana and ate after changing into our suits. I love the cabanas in front of the resort! It made staying at the beach so much more relaxing.

my parents at the cabana

After eating our breakfast, we were eager to let Mateo try the sand. He refused to let his feet touch the sand on our first day. Only one thing got him walking and running on the sand…

soccer by the beach

Good thing another guest of the resort was willing to lend Mateo the soccer ball. Mateo had fun kicking the ball with his Dada. The sand was a huge playground for him after that. These were his constant companions:

sand toys

He ended up having sand on his scalp (because he liked getting some sand and throwing them around), on his face (because he’d rub some on his face), even inside his diapers (because he’d get into all kinds of positions while playing on the sand).

Lunch was again, prepared by my mom and me but my sister helped this time. After lunch, everyone except my mom and dad, went to d’mall to check things out. We also passed by Jonah’s to have some shakes and french fries.

cooling at jonah’s

having shakes and french fries at jonah’s

We took a tricycle back to the resort then I put Mateo to sleep. Ramil and I got ready for the wedding we were invited to. We were excited for this wedding especially since Ramil’s friend is the main reason why we were able to go to Bora. The wedding took place at Sea Wind, right beside White House so it was very convenient for us. The best part of the wedding was the dancing afterwards. It was one of the most relaxed wedding I’ve been to. I guess that’s what you get if you’re having a beach wedding, everyone is so laid back and I got to enjoy myself without worrying about high heels and formalities.

After the wedding, we were too tired to do anything else. Oh, but I just had to have another shake from Jonah’s so I dragged Ramil along the beach and had my mocha shake.

On our last and final day, Mateo had more fun at the beach. He loved ‘riding’ the resort’s jetski parked at the beach. Since we left him with my parents when we attended the wedding the night before, they were able to spend time together and ‘bond’.

sunbathing1

sunbathing2

sunbathing3

We also took some time after breakfast to walk farther up Station 1, where the more expensive resorts like Discovery and Fridays can be found. Ramil and I vowed to go back and stay at Discovery. Haha!

fridays

Since our Kalibo-Manila flight was scheduled at 4:55 pm, I asked the resort if we could have a late check-out. They agreed since they don’t have any arriving guests. We still took a quick dip in the sea and the pool, then we got our stuff ready. After a quick lunch, we used the resort’s van to take us back to Cagban Port. We made a quick stop at the talipapa on the way there so that we could buy some pasalubong.

After Mateo’s scary first boat ride, we’ve been trying to think of ways to make the next one less scary for him. We tried to distract him even when the boat wasn’t moving yet. I guess it worked because he enjoyed our boat ride back to Caticlan! Our vacation was short and sweet. We were able to do what we came there for – to attend a wedding, to have Mateo enjoy the beach, to relax and unwind. How I hope we get to do something like this every year! :)

according to Mateo…

Posted on by
4

Here are some of the words that Mateo can now say. Some are very clear to everyone while some needs an interpreter (me!).

Duhduh – means Dada
Mama – obviously means Mama :D
baba – Barney
boh (with a long o) – ball
bohk (with a long o) – book
booh (with a longer o) – boat
ish – fish
deh – there
tiss – toys
pooh – Pooh (as in Winnie the Pooh)
cath (with a long a) – cat
cath (with a short a) – car
ber – bird
Dedi – our golden retriever named Ledi
Tuhta – Tita (my sister)
Maamu – Mamu (my mom)
Paapu (with a long a) – Papu (my dad)
Giigii (with long i’s) – our neighbor’s yaya
beh – bell
teh – water
dide – means he wants milk from me :P