Art Always Takes Top Priority

Last night, the hubs got stuck in traffic on his way home so our date run did not push through. It was a blessing in disguise because the kid was again refusing to let me out. Despite seeing me dressed in running clothes, she held me up to help her with homework. 

She had two assignments last night. One for Science and another for Math. I was never pushy when it came to homework. As long as she tries her best to get it done, I'm okay with it. She doesn't have to finish if she does not feel like it. I don't know if this is good training or not. I'm just going by my instinct here. And trusting that I know what works best for my kid.

So anyways, I let her pick which one to do first. Their topic for science this week is about the types of weather and the homework is asking her to draw her favorite weather type. I think the minute she heard me say drawing, a bell went 'DING' somewhere and she instantly grabbed the science book from me. It said drawing and yes, drawing always takes top priority. She can actually draw for hours. Just give her a bunch of paper or notebooks or sketch pads (even newspapers, she's not picky), pens (she really prefers to use pens - ballpoint, gel pens - rather than pencils when she draws. she's picky when it came to the drawing tool), markers and she'd be good on her own for at least 2 hours.

It didn't take her long to finish the drawing. Just a few minutes actually. She drew herself and a friend playing with a ball on a sunny day. With an apple tree and birds chirping on the background. She has a very detailed imagination and steady hands. Just by watching her draw with ease, my heart is filled with pride. Give her one more year, and she can draw better people figures than me. I bet she can even draw better landscapes then. (Now where did I put that art class flyer...hehe...)

So she finishes the science homework in a matter of minutes, gave it color even. In less than half an hour, we're done with homework #1. She knows it's time for homework #2. Then she stalled. She suddenly thought it's the perfect time to do some painting. And guess what she picks to be her canvas? MY ARMS. MY freakin' flabby arms. She grabs her watercolor and paintbrushes and asked me to choose - "what do you want mom? heart or ice cream?". I go for heart. And she started working on painting my arms with a green heart (because green is my favorite color, she says). She worked on painting my arms for almost an hour. Sneaky little kid, eh?

After finishing up with me, she goes up to yaya and asked her - you like me to paint you too ate? you want ice cream?. I have been holding the math book in front of her for quite sometime now (for like maybe 15 minutes already). She's really getting better at this stalling thing. And everyday she gives me the chance to exercise my patience. I should probably thank her for that. 

Thankfully her dad arrives just in time and she finally runs out of excuses. Guess what? She made me wait for an hour. She finished the math assignment in 2 minutes. Only took her two minutes but we had to wait for an hour before she finally gives it a shot. Sigh. The things I would for my daughter.

Anyways, you want to see the finished body art? I'm thinking of buying her face painting materials. This is probably due to an overdose of birthday parties this past couple of months. But I'm glad activities like that always tickles her curiosity and imagination.

Dad and Little Miss Playground Convo

The little miss and her dad gave me some time alone last Sunday morning so I can sleep in for an extra hour and gather my wits to whip out a decent breakfast. Ate was taking a day off so it's family time for us (something that we haven't done for quite sometime now).

They headed out to bike at first and then later on spent a good few hours at the playground. We usually don't stay for a long time in there so I was a little surprised when they weren't back for more than an hour already. When they finally got back, Tibs told me they did some role-playing at the playground. The daddy becomes the student and the little miss becomes the parent. It was kind of hilarious because she distinctly remembers every single thing we do and say the minute she gets home from school (or rather the minute we get home from work).

O daddy, how was school? 
Can I please see your diary?
O you have homework? 
Did you finish doing it already? 
What did you have for lunch? 
Did you finish your food?
Who did you eat your lunch with?
Time for bed! You still have school tomorrow. 

That was how the script went and that elicited a lot of head-shaking and chuckles from the daddy. She played her parent role very well. We could very well swap roles with her at any given day and I'm sure she will absolutely rock as a baby mommy.

Monday Take-away!

Found this bankang papel (paper boat) in my bag pocket this morning. I remember her telling me not to forget to bring this paper boat to work and she made sure I did not. Such a sweet kid. She's enjoying at extra day off from school today because of the People Power Revolution special holiday and I am so wanting to take the rest of the day off and go home to just cuddle and snuggle with my adorable, super sweet little miss. (Every Mondays actually in the past 4 years, I almost always wish the same thing. Some Mondays, I do get lucky.)

I can't wait for our annual trip to my hometown in Antique. I think this is going to be by far our best trip home as we will spending 10 days of uninterrupted family time there. Longer rest period for the hubs and me. And more beach time for the kiddo. Summer has already started making its presence felt in my side of the planet. Yesterday afternoon made me crave for halo-halo because of the heat. That and my mom's visit finally ending last weekend rendered me homesick and itching more than ever to see home (soon Faye. don't rush). 

Meantime, I'm wishing you all a wonderful, productive week ahead! #letsdothis 

Weekend Recap # 7 - Unplanned Trip and New Discoveries

Pathetic that the most I can post is about weekend updates. But better than none for now, I guess. I have yet to saddle back into getting my mother groove back. Nasty flu also had to victimize our entire household this past week. And Saturday saw us making a unplanned call to the little miss's pedia since she started running fever early morning.

It was a bad rhinitis attack that was worsened by a sneaky trip with Ate Inday to the frozen yogurt booth last Friday after the little miss's mini-intrams in school. I think she pretty well has learned her lesson now. I don't think she's ever going to ask for anything cold, iced or frozen when she's coughing. 

So while waiting for our turn at the doctor's clinic, the daddy kept saying -- "NINAKAW NA NAMAN ANG SABADO NATIN. GANUN GANUN NA LANG!" (so our entire Saturday was stolen from us again. Just like that) I shot him a killer glare and he zipped it after that. I'm sure if we didn't make the trip to the doctor's he would have been worried sick about his unica hija the entire weekend. I'll take one wasted day (if you ever consider it that way, I honestly don't Mr.) over an entire wasted weekend due to worrying. Then you will have to call work for an Emergency leave come Monday because you just couldn't bear seeing your daughter suffer anymore.

But mommies and daddies just really seemed to be wired differently. And there's a reason for that most probably. I think by having that, household decisions are balanced (doesn't happen all the time for us, but at least we often get to see the pros and cons first before we plunge into something). 

Sadly, we went home with an antibiotic prescription and 2 more additional medicines to take for a week. What seemed to have been a viral thing last week resulted to swollen tonsils (thanks to that sneaky frozen yogurt trip). Good thing, we're almost halfway through the medication and I can't help but look forward to Friday. We used to have no problems giving medicines to the little miss but since she got accustomed to just taking homeo meds, she started hating commercial meds already. So every time we need her to take her dose for the day, we had to constrain her else we end up playing chase the entire day. Somebody's gotta take the kicks and punches for now (and that's actually me) till this little miss is declared healthy again. 

Photo dumping in here again to recap the weekend that just passed:

bored. and getting a bit impatient.
had to wait for more than an hour for our turn at the doctor's clinic.

Grew tired of doodling on her notebook
so she grabbed the phone from me and starting taking pics of her feet,
her dad's phone, the walls, the door. Haha

passed by this dainty cupcake store on our way home.
i'm writing a separate post on these because I wanted to document
all the pics that I took of the store. And the little girl just loved it so much
i didn't have to force her to pose for photos.

We took these home:

Nice package eh? The girl was thrilled to hold the box since it's in her fave color!

Sunday was a lot better. Kiddo was more energetic.
We even got to sneak out for an easy 30-minute run before breakfast.
Then we hit the playground before Mr. Sun made his presence felt.
No pictures to show for that. But it was a happy morning.

I made cabbage rolls for lunch! My first time.
Wasn't bad. But wasn't great either. Plenty of room to improve.
Please check out my personal blog : tibsandfaye.blogspot.com for the recipe.

During naptime, she fashioned an imaginary TV out of her school folder.
The pic didn't show the pile of books below that was supposed to be an imaginary DVD player.
At this particular scene when I took the photo, 'KUNG FU PANDA' was showing.
She was laughing and giggling as if she was really watching a real movie.
She entertained us with her funny dialogue!
But I had to cut that short (yes, KJ mom) because she really needed that nap to recuperate fast.

I sneaked out of the house while she's napping to accompany my Mom and sis to the salon.
I grabbed the opportunity to get my hair trimmed too (it's been a year since I had a haircut. Yikes, I know)
The hairstylist was trying to convinced me to get a digi-perm but I was hesitating because I never had my hair 'curled' ever. So when he was blow drying, he decided to make temporary curls.
When I got home, kid was so thrilled to see my wavy hair. She was pushing for me to get it permed so we can both be curly. As of this writing however, I'm still about a thousand likes away from the husband's approval. Haha. 

Whew! That was quite a lengthy one. How's your week going so far? I hope you're having a great one!

Vanilla Cupcake Bakery

I was once a dessert monster. But having vowed to choose healthier food some months ago, I have since buried that monster persona unto the deepest bottom of my craving list.

Once in a while though, when I stumble into a pastry store that is so daintily decorated and sells goodies that are just too inviting to every sweets addict (recovering or not) roaming this planet, the monster awakens. And that's exactly what happened today. Normally (knowing how I miss the shops in Makati CBD where I lived for almost half of my working life. I do miss the city life sometimes BUT not all the time) my husband would strategically stir me away from malls or if unavoidable, would jokingly tell me to just close my eyes while passing through. This afternoon he didn't do such thing. Maybe because we have the little miss with us. I don't know what got into him. But it seems, we were really destined to see (and be lured by) this attractive pastry shop. 

SWEET TO THE LIPS, KILLER ON THE HIPS.
Gotta lace up really soon, if I don't want to worry about my weight again.

While I was still undecided if I will try their cupcakes, the little miss already pulled me further inside the store. She got so excited seeing the colorful, pretty interiors of the store. 

"Are we going to eat here Mommy?" As if on queue, we both threw the daddy puppy looks. (Probably) Left with no choice, he reluctantly nodded back but added: "Buy them to go." So I replied back to the little miss, "No baby, well just buy the cupcakes then we'll eat them at home. You need to get some rest because you're still feverish". She didn't retort as if silently affirming my statement. But she asked if we can check out the other end of the store. She kept pointing at the fondant cake displays which were equally colorful as the store itself.

that's pretty mommy!

loving everything inside this store.
from the drawer details to the play of pastel colors in its interiors

photobombed. but she didn't mind. she just wanted 

awkward at first. but loosened up when i told her we'll buy cupcakes for her

she feel in love at first sight with the yellow mini-Daphne chair. she attempted to carry it but turned out to be heavier than she imagined. Haha. i don't know what she was thinking by doing that. but those chairs cost a fortune litte girl i don't think your dad will let us take it home.

tea time mommy!

the store also sells cakes by the slice.
but they're a bit steep for our pockets (around 300+/slice) so we decided to pass up

There's nothing like ending the day on a sweet note. Although, among the cupcakes that I've tasted it's still Sonja's that tops my list, I would come back to this place if only for the ambiance. I would hope though that they consider lowering the prices of the cuppies (special cupcakes are on the range of 85-100) to encourage more cupcake lovers and sweets aficionados to try their goodies. I only tried two flavors the choco malt vanilla cupcake and red velvet. My mom who isn't very fond of cakes loved the vanilla cupcake (maybe that is really their specialty, I should remember to ask next time). I'm still raring to try the other flavors. One at a time, I guess. I would wish they will consider having choco mint icing on their menu as well (as I am a sucker for that combo).

VANILLA CUPCAKE BAKERY
Glorietta 4, Makati City/ Trinoma, Quezon City

Food for thought #1 - On Contentment

Hey Maia!

I thought I'd start sharing here too words of wisdom that I would read from a book or from the internet so that when you grow up so can just simply search for them in here if you needed a boost or some sort of 'enlightenment'.

Today, I'm sharing this excerpt from one of my favorite books: The Gift Of An Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison.

photo source

"The secret of contentment, as I've come at last to know, is not in getting what I want. It's not about being in the perfect place or having just the right sort of life. Contentment and grace may just be two sides of the same coin. And they are both mine whenever I remember to stop, look around, and appreciate where I already am and what I already have."

love,

Mommy (and Daddy too)

Weekend # 6 - Lazy Saturday, Busy Sunday

Can you believe it? We're almost halfway through February.

And we still have not packed away our Christmas lights out on the front. (waiting for next Christmas na yata, ano beb?)

But the good thing is, we're finally enjoying lazy weekends (errrr, Saturdays for now) again with our little missy. And she's just a few weeks away from summer vacation. Happy. Happy. Well, recently she's back to throwing the weekend question first thing in the morning - Monday and the first thing you hear is -- "weekend na ba, Mommy?" but she still claims she's happy to be in school 5 times a week so I don't really feel anxious when she badgers me with that question.

Honestly, there are still struggles in school. But I am more relaxed now, having been assured by her class adviser that she's coping well. We were just advised to do more follow through of her lessons at home. Ate Inday's been doing a great job on that especially with the math assignments. I come home to pages that are already finished. I just have to check them. And most of the time, yes they would be answered correctly anyways so the little miss gets to have an extra hour or two to spend on tickle/giggle time with me. 

started our Saturday morning with some sun and a scooter trip
(and some imagination gone wild too - the scooter became a school bus, a van, then all sorts of transportation)

Lately, I seem to have more stories of me and the hubs to unload than of the little miss. So I've been more active over at my personal blog than here. But I'm hoping to get the mommy blogger groove back since I'm taking some time off with marathon training for now (next race we're eyeing is Milo in July then a big race and our 2nd marathon come December). I have more time to focus on mommy duties once again. I honestly miss those times. Although, having spent almost 6 months running regularly, I most likely will still spend at least 30 minutes to an hour every other day running around our village just to loosen the nerves up before plunging myself into domestic duties. 

Anyways, having said that, let me just dump in here photos that I took last weekend. I am most active in instagram of late and I must admit, it's the easiest way of documenting the milestones of the day. It is on weekends that I take a lot of photos and it's probably best to share them here as well since not every one in my family or circle of friends are active there. So anyways, here goes:

when the heat in our lawn became unbearable, she went in and immediately grabbed this little project from me and started sewing. 

she ended up making her dad an advance valentine's card

made him very happy by finally showing him she can write his name without  our help
(Trivia: The first 2 words she learned to spell independently were the word LOVE and my first name)

took a few hours off our lazy Saturday to attend Nica's birthday in the little miss's Happy Place
she surely had fun as evidenced by her joining the kiddie games without our prodding.
she's really learning to come out of her shell now. YIPPEEEEE!

didn't forget to draw something memorable from the birthday (she drew a hamburger and of us going to the party)

Unfortunately, we ended the night with an allergic rhinitis attack so the following day I was a lonely mommy at the mommy blogger meet up that mommy blogger friend Maqui and Maggie organized (shout outs to you Aimee, Pepper, Em, Erlaine, Dew, Sha). Although I was feeling a little off having no kid to chase around (when everyone had one), I thought it turned out to be quite a breather for me. I had a chance to really sit down and chat with almost each one of the girls (I would have been the winner of the most chatty award last Sunday if we had one, don't you think so girls?). The highlight of our day was when funny mommy behind the blog MOMMY FLEUR dropped by. We were all starstricken! Yay (sorry no pictures to show though but you can hop over to her blog).

So it was a mix of lazy and busy for our household last weekend. This weekend my family is visiting so it's going to be a hectic one. But the good kind. Hope you week is going great as great can be!

Taming Tantrums (Not An Expert's Opinion)

LITTLE MISS GRUMPY

I try my best to avoid it. But I always am very unfortunate when it comes to tantrum attacks. I always get caught in it just when I am about to leave for work in the mornings.

I'm quite certain though I am not alone in this. Most working parents have probably been in this same situation a million times over just like me. After 4 years, I would think I should be an expert at dodging tantrum bombs before they explode out of proportion but no. Some days, it can get so sneaky you won't even see it coming seconds before it hits you.

This morning was just like that. I was rushing out when she starting crying, shouting, jumping (you'd think she's on a trampoline), stomping her feet and in seconds was down on the floor. Sometimes, it takes me just about the entire time she's crying to figure out what she wanted. (And you think once your kid learns to talk, you bridge the communication gap...well, think again Mom!)

The last time we were in Boracay, she threw an almost 30-min fit at Jonah's. We couldn't figure out what the heck she wanted. It turns out she was mad because the waitress said they don't make ORANGE SHAKES. (well, who makes them anyways?)

Waiting for her to finish her concert at Jonah's

This morning, however, I knew exactly why she went on a crying fit. You see, it's exam week (it's the last grading period and we're hoping for an early school break this year) and even if it's not exam week our rules are pretty simple and clear. No computer, no TV, no games on the phone when it's a school week. It's been almost 8 months since she started preschool. By now, I'm sure she understands why we have these rules. To her credit she's admittedly been a pretty good and obedient kid on most days. We rarely wrestle with this rule, in fact. But today was not one of those days. She wanted me to let her watch just one miniature cooking video on You Tube. Yes on school days, I am heartless like that. And I really stand firm on consistency to rule implementation. It is what's best for both of us.

So she goes on a crying fit for like 5 minutes (or maybe shorter but you know when you're dealing with a tantrum it always just seems to take like forever). How do I handle it? I LET HER BE. And it's always been that way. I JUST LET HER BE.

You want to shout? Fine. Shout your heart out. Even if a neighbor rushes to check on us, just keep shouting. I won't dare get in the way.

You want to lie on the floor and wail? Fine. The floor needs some mopping anyways.

The crying and the shouting, I can take. I can wait even if it takes forever. What I detest thought are the times she would attempt to hit. Mostly out of frustration, I know. The most I can do is leave her with a pillow and lock myself in a room. Then she'd wail some more.

The good thing about every tantrum though is THEY HAVE AN ENDING. At some point, she will get tired. And stop. When that happens, that's my queue to console. Then explain why she can't get what she wants and when's the right time to ask for it. Most often, we would always come to an understanding. I also won't have to squeeze out an apology from her because she would most often than not offer it without me demanding for it.

And... I always emerge the victorious one in this drama. So yes, I am a tantrum tamer. And am rather proud of it.

Just before she threw a fit, she finished this.
Just got out of bed and went straight to get her art supplies and started painting.
Turns out she was painting something for me and her dad to bring to work.
I have the sweetest kid ever (even if she's the TANTRUM QUEEN)! 

Sandwich Making Contest In School

Tomorrow my charming little miss is going to join her first ever school competition. She represents her class along with another classmate in a sandwich making contest. I have yet to decide on what kind of sandwich she will make but I will definitely choose the easy-to-assemble and friendly-to-the-kiddie-palate kind. Her one and only requirement would be to make sure there are scrambled eggs in it. The rest she gave me the freedom to choose for her. Here is the criteria to serve as our guide:

No pressures whatsoever on the winning part but I was hoping she will impress the judges with her uber-delicious sandwich. WHICH I HAVE YET TO DECIDE ON. Sorry Tita Maqui, crammer lang talaga tong nanay na ito! We really wish you are just next door to help us!