Happiness is...

seeing your kid empty out her plate and hearing her happily declare "I love everything you cook, Mommy! They all taste great! I want to eat ALL of them!"

Shallow me, that announcement alone already made me feel like I got the best mother's day gift ever!

posted from Bloggeroid

Daddy's Girl Forever

The week that I was away, I was worried how Tibs and the little miss will survive without me. They can only get along well for a good 10 minutes. After that, expect never ending bickerings and crying and shouting. Yes, one of the major roles I play in this family is being the referee.

So imagine how happy I was to hear that one night the bedtime conversation went like this:

Tibs: "Uuwi na sila Ate Ghab sa Angeles nyan. Wala ka na kalaro ulit dito sa bahay. Gusto mo sumama na lang muna sa kanila. Bakasyon ka muna doon?"

Little Miss Maia: "Ayaw ko Daddy. Hindi kita pwede iwanan dito, wala kang kasama eh".

Tears fell while I was listening to the husband retell this conversation over the phone. I'm sure he shed a tear or two too when he heard it. 

Dearest Maia,

You might not always get along with Daddy but you see, you will forever remain his princess and him your daddy king. 

Daddy never carried you during the first 3 months of your infancy not because he doesn't like it but because he was so scared he will hurt you. And even when you grew plumper after 3 months, he had to plop you up on a pillow till you were strong enough to lift your head because he was so afraid he will crush you. I think in his mind you will remain his fragile little baby. So everytime daddy raises his voice when speaking to you, remember that it's because you were probably putting yourself in harm's way and it upsets him so much.

Most days I am at the sidelines watching you two and I can very see how you adore each other. And one of these days, I will find time to collate all those pictures that I took of you and you will see what I am talking about.

Everyday I thank God he helped us raise you to be such a sweet, independent and very responsible kid. I hope you will always remember the basic things we thought you. LISTEN, OBEY and RESPECT. 

we love you to bits,

Mom and Dad

On Expressing Love (that lasts forever)

While on the topic of age this morning at the breakfast table, I verbalized a bubble thought to my charming little miss:

side story: Tomorrow is Ate Inday's birthday and we are preparing for a little salu-salo of pancit and pichi-pichi tonight since we anticipate that we'd (the hubs and me) be worthless the entire day tomorrow in preparation for our marathon (we're running a full marathon at the Skyway come midnight of Feb 3rd). The little miss is very excited to celebrate with Ate Inday and she's laid out her wishes already (as if it's her birthday no?). She wants a birthday cake for the birthday celebrant and would want little loot bags to go with it (stuffed with ice 'pumps', 2 pieces of chocolates and I forgot what else but she was pretty specific about what she wanted to see in the loot bags). I then asked her if she knows how old Ate Inday is already and she just proceeded to count till 30. Here's the rest of our conversation (again I'm doing it in Tagalog because I wanted to quote everything verbatim):

M: Mas nauna si Daddy mag birthday kay Ate Inday! Di ba, Daddy?
Me: Ilang taon na ba si Daddy?
M: Ilan nga ba Daddy?
T: 34.
M: 30 si Ate Inday (ate inday is her yaya and she is really not 30, she just believes she is). Si Daddy 34. Mas madami yun.
T: E ikaw, 4 pa lang. Madami ka pa ika-count.

then i threw in the question of the day:
Me: 'Nak, pag 34 na kaya ikaw love mo pa din kami?
no hesitations what so ever:
M: OO!. 
T: Hanggang kelan mo kami love?
M: LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE KO KAYO NG MADAMING DAYS!
T: Hehehe. Di mo pa kasi alam ang forever ano 'nak?

I just love sweet morning talks like this.

Love Notes

Maia has a new hobby. She makes love notes for me and her dad. In the morning after breakfast, she would hand each of us a piece of rolled scratch paper with scribbles on it.

"Sa yo to Mommy. Sa yo naman to Daddy. Dalhin nyo yan sa office ha?" "Tingnan nyo muna. Sinulat ko yan para sa inyo. Galing galing ko di ba?" (This is for you Mommy. This is for you Daddy. Bring it to the office, okay? Check them out. I wrote them for you. I did great, didn't I?)

too bad I wasn't able to get photos of Tibs' notes

She's been doing this everyday since the beginning of this week. Times like these make me look back and think about what we might have done to deserve this uber-loving and thoughtful little girl. You see, Tibs and I were never showy and affectionate to our respective families (parents, siblings). Although undeniably, we tend to be quite affectionate to each other. I guess, it does pay to model the values that you want your kids to emulate. 

This morning, while I was instructing Ate Inday on their activities for the day, Maia kept interrupting. So I asked her if she likes to contribute as well. She went to point out several activities in her Art Voyage kit so we wrote them down as well. Being a sucker for surprises (even 'planned' ones hahaha pathetic no?), I dropped hints of wanting to get something special for Mother's day and guess what she did? She got a piece of paper and immediately got down to write. With Ate Inday's help, they came up with this.

Of course, she still had to roll it before handing it to me. (I don't know where she got the idea. She rolls it like the paper scrolls in the ancient times lolz)

ISN'T SHE THE SWEETEST?

I miss blogging so much. I have around 50 drafts sitting in this blog alone but I'm still swamped mostly by work that by the time I get home I usually go straight to sleep after putting Maia to bed. 

But....it's a Friday! So let's get those positive vibes going. Advanced HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO US AWESOME ROCKIN' MOMMAS!