I couldn't be any prouder as a parent based on our weekend.

I took the kids and myself to our annual eye check up: Gerard's second and Aubrey's first. Aubrey was a bit difficult to examine, but doctor got a decent look at her, and said everything looks good based on that. We will try again next year!

Gerard did very well. At first, he was hesitant to have his eyes photographed by an assistant. So doctor took him in right away as they had techniques for younger patients. He had to show doctor which directions the hands were pointing. That was cute. 

Later that afternoon, Gerard and I had dental appointments. He did very, very well. Our dentist was very glad to have a patient like him at that age -- she said that he was very cooperative and he was. He let her clean his teeth without a fuss. It helped a whole lot that I had him sit in the corner and watch me while I was being worked on. 

I forget which doctor it was now who commented that he had very good speech at his age. We try not to speak in baby tongue to either child. It works.

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Lately, we've been having to correct Gerard in saying his name. He switches speaking in 1st and 3rd persons, and when he does 3rd, he tends to say his name as "Jard" or "Jad." i.e. "Jard want that" -- to which we ask immediately: "what's your name?" He would then respond with, "Gerard. Not Jid." Cute! But now he's been playing games with us. He tells us his name is Jid. 

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This morning, Aubrey was crying her usual for her morning milk. I tried to calm her down by saying "come on, girl!" while her papa got up to prepare a bottle. She eventually stopped crying and started to mimic me with her own version of "come on, girl!" I love her. 

our trash can says a lot about something

It has come to my attention that our bathroom trash can fills up on the same day of any given week. 

This only tells me one thing: we lead very routine lives. The kids' diaper changes are always on-point, as is all our bathroom activities. Nothing is out of step here, folks. All of these happen at a certain time throughout the day everyday.

So opposite of how I envisioned my future to be only 10 years ago!! 

Our Halloween!

We had a typical Halloween weekend, but some moments are absolutely worth sharing!

On Friday, I brought Gerard to work with me, while Aubrey spent a "lady day" with Grandma. We were having a Halloween party at work, and I thought Gerard would enjoy being in his costume and seeing my colleagues in theirs. I rented Thomas & Friends DVD's to keep him occupied at my desk but that didn't work well because after the first disc, he didn't want to watch any of it at all. So some of my kind co-workers brought him around to collect candy.

By the time our party started, he got sleepy (it was already past his usual naptime). He wasn't impressed with anything, and he eventually fell asleep in his "uncle" Joe's arms and then I took over carrying him. Then we had an afternoon merienda in which he enjoyed some porridge and beer (Sprite).

Aubrey, from what Grandma says, had a great time herself. She is always ever the social bee that wants to be out and seeing people! She supposedly picked up a new habit of bending sideways and popping up her head while she accompanied Grandma to work for a couple of hours.

On Saturday, Grandma and I took the kids to California Academy of Sciences in their costumes (by the way, Gerard was Indiana Jones and Aubrey was Cinderella). Aubrey was so excited that she was basically jumping in her stroller and screaming with joy. I had the parental task of chasing Gerard around who was also hyper and ran in every direction without a drop.

On Sunday, we realized there was a mouse problem in the house so we had to stay put and clean up a little while papa did some groceries. But by afternoon, we packed up and heard mass at St. Dominic's Church, then trick or treated in the area on Fillmore Street. There wasn't a mass of kids, but enough kids were out getting candy from businesses that were still open.

It was a very exhausting weekend for me, but I'm so happy both kids got a great Halloween experience.

Bilingual?

We have our disagreement about whether or not teaching another language to our kids are beneficial or not. I say it is. We don't directly teach or speak in that other language (Tagalog -- national language of the Philippines), but they hear grandparents do.

Today I got surprised by Gerard with it. He looked out the window to see if it was his papa driving up. When it wasn't, he said "hindi pa." When I asked him what that meant, he said "not yet." And he's right. I didn't know he knew the phrase, and what it meant in English. I never taught him that phrase, but he's likely heard it. So yes, I do think my argument stands correct: toddlers that know another language mean their brains are processing different things at once, thus, exercising their thinking pattern which benefits their own thinking processes later in life.

Halloween costumes

It's almost Halloween!!

Our two kids already have had their costumes. If you're a parent who claims their little baby or pre-pre-school toddler already knows what Halloween is, I hope you aren't fluffing your dear little one. Let's be real: at their age, they really don't know what Halloween is about yet. So instead of buying commercial costumes that they'll only wear once, we always play thrifty with these.

For his first Halloween at 6 months old, we took an existing skeleton onesie Gerard received from his Godmother and put it on him along with some pants and a zipped hoodie. He has a picture of this costume with a stuffed bunny in the background. He went as Donnie Darko. We spent zero dollars on the creative idea.

In his second Halloween at 18 months, his other Godmother lent him a human guitar costume that she originally bought for her unborn child at the time. She thought Gerard would be so cute in it (yes he was) and it was just the right fit for him. He really was a cute human guitar. And now, that costume will be used again by his Godmother's baby so the purchase was not a complete waste (plus it was on sale). We also spent zero dollars.

This year, with 2 kids -- it's Aubrey's first Halloween at 10 months old and Gerard's third -- we did buy costumes except we made sure they were clothing they could wear beyond Halloween. Gerard is going as Indiana Jones. His dad bought a safari-type outfit that he can wear in any situation, and he now has a cute cowboy hat that he loves (he pretends to be Woody from Toy Story with it). The hat, though not quite the same as Indy's hat, will work just fine with his outfit. Aubrey will be going as a 49ers Cheerleader, also an outfit she can wear now that football season* is starting.

The reasons behind these costumes were purely to ensure that their costumes don't go to waste after a one-time wear, and the fact that they really wouldn't understand what the dressing up is all about. I sometimes don't understand why parents even dish out $ on costumes that will be worn once with no one to pass it down to. Yes, sure, hopefully they find someone to sell it to. Or perhaps they are rich enough to just hold on to the costume for memories. But we prefer to let our dollar stretch, as we see no financial advantage to buying mass-produced commercial costumes. Maybe when the kids hit the age of 4 or 5, and they begin to expect that Halloween is about dressing up and getting candy, we'll just have to deal with their costume-wants then. Right now, we parents have complete control and creative direction and we've been having fun at it.


*FYI: We really don't care about football. But we recognize our hometeam, so GO NINERS!

This would have been better written if I had access to this blog earlier today. But well, it was busy at work and I don't blog at work.

As a fairly new mom, I fully understand that now is not the time to think about reactivating my old social life (which really wasn't even that social) due to several factors: I have 2 young kids, most of my friends have moved/settled down, and I can't afford to be out often. But as every mother in my position knows, we all need a little R&R, be it a couple of hours of alone time or just be out of the house not doing anything for parenthood. As it is, I *hate* leaving my kids and I want to do everything with them, but I need to let go for a couple of hours to do them a favor. Being a parent is stressful, and a stressful parent doesn't do a good job.

Just because mom (or dad) wants to go out and do something that connects to the younger self they once were, doesn't mean she regrets her new role! It would be great to watch a movie at the theater every other month. It would be nice to have dinner without worrying if the kids are eating enough. It would be nice to get back to the hobby I put on the shelf as my firstborn came into my life. It would be nice to just take a walk without a diaper bag too. Although I love taking the kids out, I think including them in every bit of my activities doesn't do them any good. And I really wish mothers weren't looked down on for this. We are a new generation of moms, and most of us had mothers who grew up in a totally different world... not to say that their advice doesn't apply anymore (there are staple advices that should always be passed on!) but we also believe that it's OK to leave the kids and do something that still connects us to who we were before the kids!

For me: playing music is what my 20s were dedicated to. I needed a break from it, found parenthood, so I put it all away for a time. But now I am feeling that as soon as my youngest child is at a more independent age, I would love to pick up music again. I just don't want my parents and in-laws to think that I'm abandoning my priorities, because that is absolutely not the case. I just want to be able to have my own thing again, as that would let my kids see a side of me that I hope intrigues them because it is the one thing I did before that I gave up temporarily for them.

She wants beer now??

Earlier tonight at the dinner table, Gerard was chanting "more beer!" in reference to wanting more of the diet Cherry 7up his dad "rewarded" him with for every bite of dinner he took.

On the other end of the table, Aubrey was getting annoyed and fussy (little did we know it's because she had a soiled diaper), and out of nowhere, she shouted "Mo beh" which made her grandma and myself turn and laugh at her. Aubrey then sported a face that seemed to say "what? what did I do?" She looked at me and grandma, stayed quiet and went back to her fussing.

It was classic. I am so glad I can blog about this.