Happy Halloween!

with love from 

plus the gladiator and the eudimorphodon 

Sparing the Rod

As a mom I often feel like the luckiest person in the world. Other times like a complete and clueless idiot. Tonight I feel like a total jerk AND an ass.

The older generation can't seem to stop reminding us that we are raising our own children completely wrong. That we empower them too much.  That we wield too little authority over them. That all that reasoning with our young children is just a one-way ticket  to nowhereland. The Because-I- Said-So generation tells us  that,  like they did with their kids back in the day, we ought to occasionally give our own kids a serious whack in the butt. MacDaddy and I don't have very similar parenting styles. One has a more freestyle fun approach and the other is  well, umm , a bit on the strict side. I don't need to tell you who's who. That's not rocket science and that's really not my point.   Fortunately, MacDaddy and I are on the same page about  most other parenting issues.  The one thing we are in total agreement about is that we will not lay a hand on the children. No slipper whacking on their behind, our belts stay securely around our own pants.

Over the last couple of years, I have had bit of a problem with Mak biting his brother.  It has happened quite a number of times and he knows that really gets my goat. We sit down and talk about it and he gets serious time out.  At the end I put two of my fingers together and press it on his mouth with just enough pressure to show him I will not stand for it  but not powerful enough to break my own personal code. I always hate having to do that but I also need him to know some things are just not okay. I find my mom-self on the see-saw again not wanting  to bring up future monsters but not wanting to have to  be  a monster to get that to happen.  

Tonight tucked into my bed because MacDaddy is away, and with the lights out because it was well past our bedtime, Mak started to jeer and shout and heckle while Tato was telling us a story.  I asked him to stop but I only got more heckling.  As I stretched out my arm  to put my fingers firmly against his lips I didn't realize he sat up from bed that very  instant and my arm forcefully hit him across the neck.  It didn't matter that I didn't mean it.  Not to either of us. So much for the attempt to silence him. His cry was that type of cry  you just knew his heart was hurting way more than anything else. I really did want to cry more. I said my sorries because no one is ever too big to say it and really there was no one sorrier than me.  

I know  for certain I don't want to have to hit my children to get a point across. I know for certain I want to earn their respect, not demand it. I know for certain I want to bring up  secure, kind happy children who will know for certain that they don't need a heavy hand to teach anyone anything. Is that so freaking impossible?

Island Adventure

MY trip report, this time.  First destination was Siargao - a surfer and beach bum's paradise. Next stop: Camiguin, one of the country's most beautiful islands and home to seven volcanoes. We chilled out (literally!) in the cold springs, swam in the falls, then dipped into the hot springs.  We drove around one of the most gorgeous coastlines I have seen around here.  Final stop was Cagayan de Oro with lots of family to see and lots of catching up to do.

We planned to have a simple birthday dinner for the four celebrants on the eve of their birthday.  The actual birthday was going to be a hectic one that entailed waking up at  dawn, taking a boat ride and speeding through town after town with barely enough time to spare to catch our second boat ride.  The boys  already knew they weren't getting A party.  We had establshed that early on.  But kids are kids and they started asking all day:  Where are the loot bags?  What's the theme?  Will there be balloons? And moms are moms and we semi-cave too.  A day before we left Manila I bought an assortment of stuff at the book store. Lots of paper, crafty things, art supplies, stamps.  Just in case.  They turned out to be perfect "giveaways" for the "party".  I pretended we had a  theme:  Island Amazing Race. It was the only thing I could think up fast.  Plus it justified no decorations. With the nipa huts, crashing waves and the surfers in the horizon, who needed decor anyway?  I planned a scavenger hunt around the resort and made colorful wired bracelets to wear. 

It helped we we had this wonderful oasis  all to ourselves and a great ally, the resort's French owner. He helped big time.  He found fresh crabs, prawns  and lobsters for dinner -  GrandadDoc, Mak and MacDaddy's all -time favorites.  He made brick fire oven pizza with nothing on it but tomato sauce for Tato. He prepared pasta for the younger cousins.

He even baked a birthday cake from scratch.  Who knows where he managed to dig up candles  with such little notice, but he did. Merci beaucoup, Fred. You saved the day.  

All in all a great way to turn six, fourty-one and eighty-two.  See, kids, no balloons necessary. 

Camp Adobo

Someone's ready to go to camp. An honest-to-goodness sleep-away camp. Imagine, three days out-of-town with no mom or dad around. This is nothing revolutionary, I know, but just a flash ago Bear was a BABY. Now he's ready for this…

Semestral break is coming soon, so if you're interested there are still a few slots left for another serving of Camp Adobo. A Filipino flavored adventure in Literature, Arts, and Geography--also involving bonfires, games, sports, climbing trees, bamboo rafts, getting wet, lots of mud, carabaos and crazy cabin bunkmates. 

For more information you can call:

Apet Nunez, Camp Director 
0917 841 1088

Mocs Javier, Camp Administrator 
0917 827 6627

Rosana Evangelista, Camp Coordinator 
0916 723 2720

Camp Adobo is also on Facebook.

So excited for my (no longer a Baby) Bear!

Out of the Mouth of Babe(s)

We're back from our island adventure. Today's guest post is by my brand new six-year old.  Mak says he will do the next one.  

This is teo. I loved camiguin siargao and cagayan  it was my birthday  October 3 I rode a Roro. The family sang the Birthday song  8:46 in the boat because  that's my real birthday time we sang 8:43 for Mik. 

the three islands were the best.

In Siargao we found an island nobody was my Papa left his slippers on that island he had to buy orange slippers from a man after. funny

in camiguin I tried new food called spam  super yummy tastes meaty.   looks like a red soft pillow.  mt.hibok hibok  was a volcano when it erupted thirty -four thousand people died. the hotel reustraunt hibok hibok was named after the volcano in hotel paras beach resort. 

we had a amazing scavener hunt the first guess was everyones ninang ...........................ninang den next biggest cottage the fifth cottage. amala hot cold teo strech out arm. Teo wins the big bag of treats (school suppies)!!

Bye!

Be Happy

So says my Chicha…

Just a post on random sweetness and memories. Here's something she recently tacked onto my Kindle. The ID picture she found is awful, but the whole thing is awesome for me anyway. 

To go with this Chicha-pachicha post, here's a song she loves because it reminds her of trips to Subic and this year's trip to Coron in Palawan. It was played in the van, the boat, by the beach while the adults were sipping cold beer, while on the hammock, in the cottage, etc.


 
I agree Chicha, RAC's Armistice remix goes well with these memories...

Remember waking up to the sound of the waves and having the shore just a few steps away?

Remember Kayangan Lake? Where salt and fresh waters meet and make love into the best National Park in Coron.

Remember when we had Bomol Beach all to ourselves? 


And so.

Just awhile ago I chanced upon her dancing to that Phoenix song blasting from her room, while big brother Bear was playing Minecraft and belting, "and when the lights are cutting out... and I come down in your room..." Et voila (Phoenix is a French band), a blog post is inspired.

She was in this outfit. Happy on a lazy, rainy Sunday, indeed. 

Positive weekend vibes Internet!

Steve Jobs

Dear Kids,


A man who changed the world died today. He was part Thomas Edison, part Walt Disney. But ultimately, he was the one and only Steve Jobs. You must read more about these people one day. There's a lot to be learned from their life stories. Inspiration is a powerful thing.

To rip-off today's Facebook status, in memory of the man, I say again… 

Thank you for for making computers cool; for giving us fonts; for my best running buddy, the iPod; for Pixar; for letting my kids see the world on a Mac screen; for making us learn and imagine things on the iPad and other such awesomeness I fail to mention in this rambling. 

Most of all, thank you for thinking this way… 

“It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough. It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities that yields the results that makes our hearts sing.” -Steve Jobs, 2011 iPad 2 launch

When your attention spans can handle this, please watch for more inspiration...

 


"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." -Steve Jobs, 2005 Stanford University Commencement Speech

Rest In Peace, Mr. Jobs.