First "adult food"

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conas tá tú?

February 1, 2010 -- Migo's first taste of what I call the adult food. It was the day after my daddy's birthday bash and mom, who prepared almost every meal in my dad's birthday celeb, was still in the mood for cooking. I made my way to the kitchen to check what could satisfy my already grumbling tummy. She handed me a newly-cooked menudo. Thick menudo sauce, tender bite-sized pork, sweet carrots and chewy potato, oh yum yum!! Paired with uber malata rice... and steaming hot coffee..oh gosh,that was perfect!!

Just when I was about to finish my last two spoonful, I saw my little man in his just-borrowed walker (thanks by the way to his tita Aileen and tito Edwin) staring at me, with that look. That look telling me that he too wanted a bit of a share of what I was having. I shooed away the thought of giving him a tiny serving, but that look!! That look got me. His eyes were begging for it, and his mouth was doing some chewing motions. His mouth was watering! He melted my heart in an instant. Sans the meat, I found myself mashing my last two servings. I gave it all to my little man and he enjoyed it up to the last grain.



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Modern Pinay Wife's Birthday

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Happy morning!

January 23, 19nevermind--- the day I was born. For the past, I guess, seven years, I started treating my family during my birthday. Previous years, it was the duty of my mom or my ever loving nanay Lileng (lola), who I must say I terribly miss on my birthdays since she would always give me a call to greet me a happy birthday and a box of either cake or an ice cream will be sent in the house
afterwards.

Since I got married, I have been celebrating my birthday in two days. First day, the birthday itself, was spent with my family. My Rockville family, as expected, had simple yet satisfying ways to celebrate it. This year, they just requested for a bucket of KFC (hot and crispy and original recipe combo with overflowing gravy), Arjay barbecue (the best in Nova I guess), Jollibee spag (original plan was Tropical Hut spag but the branch near us was under renovation), and two liters of chillin' soda. This setup never failed to remind me of my childhood since these are the very food that I grew up with. These are the food that never failed to put a smile on my face.


Second day, I spent it with my Fairview family. We heard mass since it was a Sunday, then proceeded to Teriyaki Boy afterwards for my lunch treat. Honey and I took charge of ordering the food and we ordered our usual favorite-- Teriyaki Boy Chicken, Tofu Steak, Yakisoba, Japanese fried rice. Two of our dishes we ordered for the first time and turned out to be great too, the Wafu beef and the Cold Soba.


For dessert, Jeff and Brian bought two boxes of Caramia Gelatia. I have been hearing good reviews about Caramia and was always excited to try one. Good thing the two gentlemen got it for us for the taste was really heavenly. I was not able to catch what particular flavor they bought, but whatever that was, it was uber yummy.


We ended our lunch with the very pinoy tradition of picture-picture. Too bad my little sweetheart could not fight his sleep and just went to slumber land.

My baby's birthday gift to me--his first words

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Hallo!

Flashback: Migo and I, along with my mom, visited the pedia for the monthly check up. Honey was in Australia by the way, and thanks mom is always there to fill him in. When the pedia asked me if Migo was already talking, I said not yet. Which was true because he would just make sounds, not talk. "No consonants" was how I described it. Pedia checked the record. Eight months. No talking yet? She then started talking about how important it is to talk to the baby often, face to face, no television, actual interaction, etcetera etcetera. I was not at all listening for I was doing all that already. Even the yaya (I wanted to believe that, but the truth really, I was not sure at all). She then dropped two words that made me focused to her again--developmental pedia.

Developmental pedia?! Wait, wait!! I did not want these words. Did it mean my Migo was sort of slow? Or behind? Eight months and not yet talking. I texted all my cousins and girlfriends and asked them what month their babies started talking. Six months. Seven months. Some even as early as five months. My little man was already eight months!! I got scared really. And how am I going to tell this to honey? I was not able to sleep that night.

That week, we were scheduled to spend it to my parents' place. I asked everyone to talk to Migo as often as possible. It did not come as a problem for they were all really sabik for my baby. Apart from that, I spent several, as in several times in a day talking to him with just da-da-da-da. Just da-da-da for I heard almost babies started with these syllables. I even often sang to him Lady Gaga's Bad Romance replacing the lyrics to da-da-da. That was how determined, dedicated and hopeful I was. It went like that for a week, non-stop.

After one week, we went back to Fairview (had to be back in time for Elmer's arrival). I told honey the "news". He shrugged it off. Okay, at least one of us was not panicky about it.

January 24, 2010-- we were having dinner at the gazebo and all of us were gathered there. Just when everybody was doing their chikas, Migo uttered da-da-da. Yes, he did!! And everybody stopped to listen to what he had to say. My heart skipped a beat as I watched his mouth move, giving out a loud voice saying da-da-da. It eventually became da-da-di and it made Elmer smile. A big smile, actually.

When we said our goodnight's to everybody (since it was already 9:30 and I was set to be strict with that sleeping time), I had a one on one talk with my little man. All I just said to him was thank you, thank you, thank you so much. That was the best birthday gift I have ever received--your da-da-da.
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Established sleeping time

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Bonjour!

From Migo's birth up to his seventh month, I was terribly looking forward
to some quality, deep sleep. That was because Migo was so hyper up to midnight
and some point up to 2 in the early morning. It was really so hard to put him to
sleep. Honey and I struggled to find ways to make him sleepy--- sing to him, dance
him, shake him a little, give him a warm bath, even baby products to invite sleep,
etcetera, etcetera. Once he got his sleep, I already felt so tired and harassed. I had no time to do the things I love doing before going to bed. That meant I had no time to catch up on my reading, no time to go to my fave websites, and even no time to take a shower!! Goodness!! And the sad part of it all, Migo is an early riser. So no matter how late he slept, he would wake up at 5ish or 6ish. And I had to be up by the time he's up. Imagine how short my sleep was.


Good thing our one week of stay with my parents' house helped me to at last
establish his sleeping time. We had to stay over my parents' place for a week because
honey was in Australia. We had no company so dun muna kami natulog sa kanyang
papu and mamu. Peeps there sleep early. 9 in the evening and lights off already. That's because my dad and mom jog in the early morning, plus Migo's kuyas (cousins)
-Nico and Dane- sleep early for the next day's school. Also, my sisters work in a call center so they are not around during night time. My brother naman stays in his room all evening to watch the movies he downloaded from the net. So in other words, there was no much happening come evening time. And though I find it odd, it was a great way to find my baby's sleep time. 9:30 in the evening became Migo's official bedtime.

A week after and we were back to Fairview. I had doubts if I could go with this pattern once back there. Dinner time there is 8ish, some days it could be as late as 9ish. And we still have to do some chika here and there afterwards. And of course, after-dinner is the time they-the uncles, aunts, cousins and even manangs-play with Migo. The time we will be back to the humble pad is like 10:30, and by then we would struggle to put him to sleep. Hyper na sya by that time due to the talking and playing with him made by people around him.

I was really determined to establish his sleeping time. What I did, I snatched my little Migo away from everybody after dinner. That was around 9pm already. And good thing nobody gave me a violent reaction, hehe. I had to explain my plan of putting him to sleep same time everyday and everybody agreed. So far so good. In fact, he would be the first one to show signs that he was sleepy already. I just had to sway him a little, sing any song in a soft voice, give him milk to suck, and after ten to fifteen minutes, he's in dreamland already.

This has been going on for several days now and I am crossing my fingers!!
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Andi, the wooden walker

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Hola amiga!

Honey and I already saw signs of Migo's eagerness to stand up and do small steps so we wasted no time and looked for a walker. We would frequent the malls so to look for a walker that would fit the little man, but to no avail. Branded or brandless walkers, they won't "fit" Migo. Migo has long legs and from what we saw upon fitting the walkers, his legs would fold and he found it hard to straight them up and walk. Aside from that, he found the trinkets and toys placed in front of it interesting so he would just sit still, not walk at all, and just play with the toys placed infront of him. Our search for the right walker lasted for almost two weeks until we settled to the idea of just buying him the traditional walker. So on Christmas day, while driving our way to papu and mamu's place, Elmer saw a nomad selling an andador and we swerved, stopped, and bought the wooden walker.

Andi. I named the humble andador Andi. I know I used one too when I was a baby. In fact from me to our bunso Cris, mom and dad also welcomed the benefits of the andador. The older ones-titos and titas, lolos and lolas, ninongs and ninangs, prefer Andi over the new-kids-on-the-block who looked really fancy with all the toys
in front of it, the nice padding, and the rolling wheels. But then why did we settle for the plain-looking Andi? Here are our reasons:

-Andi looked so plain that Migo just focused on his walking, unlike when placed in a walker where he would just play with the toys placed in front of him.

-Migo would just glide, not walk, in the walker. The wheels made him move, not his feet. With the andador sans the wheels, his legs would do all the works. Literally, he would move himself from one place to another with the small steps his feet could make.

-Thr price. Andi priced at only p250, who would not get it? ;) Seriously, andador for me is durable compared to any branded walker available in the market. And if Migo would turn out to be stronger and nastier than other babies his age, andadors are easier to fix as long as there are nails and hammer around. Beyond repair already? Priced at P250,let's go and buy a new one!

One downside though, was that I had to make a padding so to not hurt his kilikili and chest, and another pad where to put him in. I had to sew these paddings and I slept at around 3am to finish it. It was not easy for me, but I had fun sewing anyways, thinking that my little sweetheart will spend some hours in a day, jumping and walking, in this wooden walker I named Andi.


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