Ako gwapo!

I wish David would say that. But no. For some reason since last Friday, he started saying "ako gago, ako gago, ako gago" to my shock! He hardly hears tagalog with us. I have no idea where he got it from. Blame it to his cold and flu!

I'm giving a twist to his ryhme. Every time he says "ako gago", I reply with "ako gwapo!" We'll see how it runs!

Sleep tight my little one

For the past days… or has it been weeks, David has a troubled sleep. It has turned our nocturnal activities into a wild circus of a child screaming, or going wild playing around or watching never-ending Barney show. The night has turned into days and the moon is not rising. My and dadi’s eyebugs are black, eyeballs on red-hot fires. The scenario has put us parents on the edge of a nerve-cracking patience painfully stretch to the opposite ends. One of us is bound to snap.
It did. Dadi’s. Understandably tired and worn-out after a day’s work, no one wants to come home with a screaming child. And no wife would want to open a door for a gloomed face of the most expected person.
We’ve come to the conclusion of lessening David’s sleep during the day. An experiment. It could help. Usually David wakes up at 7 am and has a morning nap and an afternoon nap. I’ve decided to manipulate the clock and make him nap from 11 am until he wakes up.
When he is tired at night, David takes a pillow and his filou, marches around the house looking for me, and then grabs my hand, goes to our bedroom, and taps our bed. A toddler’s straight-forward declaration. I refute. Naturally. I court him gently to sleep in his bed. Cuddles, books, kisses, lullabies, cds -- formula that don’t work. There is no magic in putting a toddler to bed. His bed. It’s all hard work, lots of kempt woo, lots of fake smiles, lots of repressed aggravations. On my part.
The experiment was put to test yesterday. We've spent almost all of the afternoon outside. As dusk sat in, David’s battery was low. By 8 pm he was ready to go. But then as soon as I put him gently in his bed, he gave his piercing scream. Dadi was exasperated and told me to take him to our bed. No, I said. Let him scream until our neighbors bang the walls. The scream didn’t last long this time and soon I only heard the lullabies in his stereo. What a bliss! But only for two hours. David went screaming in his sleep. Yet again. I froze on my spot and listened intently, let go for few minutes and see if the cries would ebb low. No. Unfortunately. I rushed to his bed and saw David in a foetal position crying. My heart broke. Took him in my arms and whispered to his ears sweet nothings. It took him twice longer to calm down. We sat together on the sofa and gave him massage until he went back to his dreamland. Dadi and I ate our dinner in unwanted silence, mindful only to the sound of David’s rhythmic breathing that signalled he was fast asleep. I put him back to his bed and thankfully slept all night long. All three of us.
Night 1. Experiment – 7/10

Surprise present! Lucky me!

Merci beaucoup lolo Pierrot, Lola Sarah, tita Laetitia, tita Alyssa and tito Matthieu for these lovely presents. I just love them!

Back to being MAKULIT

David's fever is gone and he is back to his usual busy self, working on demanding, heavy tasks! See for yourself!

Wrecking his dadou's pc!

Harvesting our tomatoes!

Feeding a cow!

Refreshing in his baby pool!

Asa imong pusod David?

Exaggerations:

Q: Where is your belly button David?
Act (A): Bends over searching for the button lost amongst his layers of tummy fats. He bends so hard until he topples over.

Q: Where are your eyes David?
A: Pokes his eye so hard, tears well up!

Q: Where’s your nose David?
A: Pokes his nostril deep down to the hole until he gives a weird grimace!

Q: Where’s your tongue David?
A: Pokes his fingers deep down his throat until he chokes and sometimes pukes!

Q: When you’re happy and you know it stamp your feet! Stamp your feet David!
A: Stamps a foot, outbalances, falls on his butt and stands up again to virtually repeat the act again.

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*His fever is gone but some kind of skin rash is surfacing out... current mood: grumpy, wants to be carried all the time.

** Sabi ni doktor ang kanyang lagnat ay sanhi ng kanyang bakuna. Umeepekto daw ito pagkalipas ng pito hanggang sampung araw!

***Mama's mental and health status: on the verge of insanity, kuba-kuba-kuba!