Wordless Wednesday: Strut the street

My Storyteller

Sharing a video of the Little Spanish Pinay reading for her dear mami at night.  I seriously died of cuteness overload here.   It's a good thing that I am trying to watch my diet these days (since we are still camped out at my inlaw's house and they seem to see me like some anorexic 16yr-old that they never stop stuffing food in my mouth) because I can really eat her up and swallow her whole!

Wordless Wednesday: If there's something strange, in your neighborhood, who you gonna call?

We got a menacing ghost in swimsuit in our household

And she got very, very upset when mami, the ghostbuster trapped her

She promised a revenge!

Diaper-less, yaya-less, bra-less

3 protagonists on this post: diaper, yaya and bra - er, the lack of them actually.  They're like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Let me start with the good.  Diaper-less.  We are diaper-less for the entire day! The only time Little Spanish Pinay wears diaper is at night.  A couple of weeks ago, I have embraced the fear of not putting on her diaper even when we are going out.  We've had a couple of accidents here and there but these past few days, we are accident-free the whole day.  There are even mornings that she'd wake up to a clean diaper.  She's starting to hold her pee during the night pretty well, ladies and gents!

So there goes the good part.

Yaya-less.  LSP's yaya left us.  She has found another job by the south of Spain and she was really happy about it.  I too am honestly happy for her and since hubby and I already planned for LSP to go to the daycare soon, this has saved us from giving her the "bad news" that we'll not need her service anymore... BUT not this soon.  She told me the news Monday of the past week and her last day would be Friday of the same week.  Hubby and I immediately had to revisit our plan.  We decided to ask the daycare if LSP can start by July instead of September.  The daycare gladly accommodated our request.  Now, the only problem was the last 3 weeks of June without yaya.  Hubby took a 2-week vacation so he can take care of LSP while I work and then I took the last week of June (plus 1st and 2nd of July) so I can take care of her while hubby goes back to work.

Not really that bad as I believe it's also a good timing. I've been getting worked up with how yaya's been a bit lazy around the house and was actually looking forward to becoming yaya-less but I've had dilemmas as I feel bad letting her go... knowing that it'll be (and it has been) difficult for her to find a job where we live.  This was his only source of income.  But fate fixed my dilemma and even gave a better opportunity for LSP's now-ex-yaya.

Bra-less.  With all the ruckus and changes going on, lately my head does not start to kick even until late afternoon.  One time, I forgot to put my bra on upon leaving the house.  I'm not used to going out the house without wearing my bra, ok?  Now, I know am not blessed (at all) in that area so they're not really an attention grabber but... I am quite blessed in the "tip of the iceberg" area so without my bra on, they are always looking like I am cold, if you get the drift.  When I realized I this, I felt so uncomfortable I started walking like I hunchback with my arms crossed like a mummy and eyeballs going from left to right.  But later on, I realized people could just care less. In a country where topless and nudists are quite a common scenarios in the beach,  seeing nipples behind a bra-less shirt is as normal as seeing a bus in the street.  So I straightened my back, relaxed my arms, put my chin up high and strut me self.  Man, that was liberating!   The ugly part in here is the part where I seem to be running around like a headless chicken lately... see, I barely have time for blogging not even to remember to put everything I need to put on befoer going out the house.  Anyhoo... what is going out bra-less compared to going out with chocolate in my crotch? 

ta-tah for now!

Wordless Wednesday: Chica mayor!

 

Wordless Wednesday: It never gets done

After cleaning the living room, I proceeded to the messier kitchen... A few minutes after, I went back to the living room to take a peak on what the Little Spanish Pinay is busy with.... I'm back to zero.

Wordless Wednesday: Swimming like Papi

Look mami! I'm swimming just like how papi does!

Those were her own words (translated in English)

Wordless Wednesday: I'm going to pAAAaaaaaaiiiiIIIIint!

Next phase: Daycare?

So we have decided to send Little Spanish Pinay to daycare.  Not for her to learn how to socialize but because she's such an active, happy, eager to learn toddler.  My idea of homeschooling her for at least her 3rd yr is unfortunately really hard to do.  Honestly? I feel defeated that I simply can't do it all.  I've been trying but, the hard truth is?  I am not a supermom.  But I'm over that.  I've come to accept that there can be other people who can share and help her learn new things, explore, discover and just play around with and enjoy things with. 

So, with a bit of a heavy heart and a growing knot in my stomach, hubby and I started looking around for a good daycare.  We have visited 3 so far and the last one we have visited, has been my favorite. It did seem like it's LSP's favorite too.  She liked the place at once, moved around and played with the toys.  She talked to the director of the daycare with enthusiasm (she is usually shy at the beginning and wouldn't talk), she ran around the center, went up the slide, slid down her own, squeealed and yelled with excitement.

The daycare has a blog as well  where parents can see the activities the kids have been doing.  As I was reading the blog and looking at the picture, my stomach started getting knotty again and my throat, lumpy.  I'm such a wuss.  It's like all of a sudden my baby has become a real full-time grown child - and it feels like this has just happened overnight. I know I've been talking about LSP as a toddler, etc but because technically she's already a toddler ever since she entered 1 - it's just how toddlers are called when they enter one and start toddling.  BUT this time? it's like she's really developed her wings and would start to fly away from her nest and will just come back whenever.  Ok, it's not whenever, whenever coz she's coming back on schedule but you know what I mean.

She won't start till September coz that's the start of the school year here so I still have about 3 months to enjoy more time in a day with her.  I've already asked for a week's vacation on the first week of September so I can also adjust well but it seems like it is going to be a little bit complicated with work.  We'll see.  Maybe heaven will pity me and make my bosses agree on giving me a week vacation leave.  But I am not putting my hopes too high.

I just have too many what-ifs and worries (hello! what's new?).  I'm not really used to having her away from me for more than 2 hours in a day.  Whenever she feels uncomfortable, mami comes to the rescue with a hug, a kiss and the power of boobies.  She has never, ever taken her nap without nursing first.  How is she going to take her nap in the daycare?

I know, she's going to adjust and will enjoy her time with other kids playing and learning with her. 

Maybe she will adjust better than I would. 

Tell me I am over-dramatizing things?

The one where she wants me to be far from her

A couple of weeks ago (or maybe that's 3 weeks ago already), we have celebrated Little Spanish Pinay's second year birthday. It is only now, it sinked to me that my baby is not a baby anymore.  She's in her halfway towards leaving toddlerhood.  Although she's still afflicted with mamtis, she's showing interest on independence more and more. 

Yesterday, when we were in the park, she wanted to go to the slide alone.  While this is not the first time, it's quite different this time though.  She wanted us to be far away from the slide.

The picture above is how far she asked us to stay away from the slide.  She kept pushing us and telling us LSP sola! LSP sola! (LSP on her own! LSP on her own!).  If we ever move one step closer, she'd scream and would run towards us to push us even farther.  She was asking me, her mami whom she has been sooooo clingy with, to step back and just let her be.  I've my mouth agape.

While my heart was thumpity-thumping nervously watching her go up and down the slide, it swells with pride at the same time

Now, we are eyeing for her to join a daycare.  Originally, I wanted her to stay with me till about 3yrs old and just go straight to pre-school.  In a perfect world of mine even, I was imagining her to stay with me at home till about 7yrs then she'll go straight to grade school.  But with my full-time day job, I can't focus on her and spend more time with her. 

She's a child with big appetite for learning and discovering.  She has a huge reserve of energy that needs to be channeled to different activities otherwise it just gets wasted then she gets bored then she gets fuzzy.

I cannot say I am ready for this.  About 4 months ago,  out Little Spanish Pinay felt for the first time how is it to be in a daycare.  She entered the area, without looking back, followed the care giver everywhere she went, went to the explore the toys by herself, observed the different kids in the daycare, etc.  She didn't show any sign of anxiety - just pure curiosity.  She did have a serious face all through out though.  She was very attentive with everything around her.  She seemed to be ready for a real daycare.  But not me.  She's growing and I must too... so we'll see how the search for a daycare will be and how will I adapt to the new schedule.  This will mean I'd have to organize myself in the morning so my work and schedule may fit to the hours that she'll have to be in the daycare. 

We'll see, we'll see.  I hope everything works out well.

We Now Conjugate Verbs!

A little Spanish lesson, here we go:

Saber means to know in english.  In Spanish, verb conjugation is a bit more complicated than English as each subject has a different verb conjugation.  Let's see below:

Yo (I)  se (know)

Tu (You) sabes (know)

El/Ella (He/she/it) sabe (knows)

Nosotros (We) sabemos (know)

Ellos/Ellas (They) saben (know)

Vosotros/Vosotras (You-all) sabeis (know)

See what I mean? That's 6 (Spanish) vs 2 (English).  But wait, the complication doesn't just end there. The ver saber is an irregular verb because it doesn't completely follow the general rule for verb conjugation.  What general rule?  I won't discuss all the rule but only for the verbs that end in -er (e.g. comer) since this is the one that plays important rule in this particular story of ours :)

The verbs(regular) ending in -er are conjugated for each subject by changing the -er part to the following:

Yo como (I eat) - here the -er was taken and exchanged with o. i.e. comer =  comer  = com + o = como

Tu comes (You eat) - here the -er exchanged with -es. i.e. comer = comer = com + es = comes

get the gist? So we move along to the rest of the subjects:

El/Ella come (He/She/It eats) - er changed to e

Nosotros comemos (We eat) - er changed to emos

Ellos/Ellas comen (They) - er changed to en

Vosotros/Vosotras comeis (You-all) - er changed to

I tell you, verb conjugation is my weakness in Spanish.  So what do you do with the irregular verb? Memorize them! So, you just have to remember that saber for the subject  Yo (I) is se and that you should not apply the rule for the verb that ends in -er even if the verb saber ends with -er.  Capiche?

So yesterday, Little Spanish Pinay and I were playing dress up.  She was rummaging through her drawer, picking up things like socks, shirts, dress and telling me if I like each of it and if I say yes, she'd try to put it on me or just throw it up in the air. Yes, the room ended up like a jungle after.

She saw one of her clown socks I made for her past 2nd year birthday celebration and asked me if I like it.  I answered with a resounding YES! but then this time she said she wants to put it on her foot.  She told me to put it on her.  I told her she should put it on herself because she can.  The conversation goes like this:

Mami: Ikaw na magsuot, kaya mo yan.  Ponlo tu, que ya sabes. (Put it on by yourself, you already know how to.)

LSP:  nooooo! mami!

Mami: Sige na anak, kaya mo yan.  Venga, ponlo tu que ya sabes. (Come on, put it on by yourself as you already know how to)

LSP: noooooo! no sabo!

Mami: *blank face* (after a few seconds) *eyes wide, mouth open* (after another couple of seconds) *shrieks with excitement*

Ok, before spanish philologists out there would condemn me, I KNOW that sabo is incorrect. But what actually excites me is the fact that our LSP has just shown that she conjugated a verb deliberately!

She does say No lo se (I don't know it) or simply no se (I don't know) but because surely she has heard someone said it this way.  At this point, we can say that she has learned her verbs by just repeating what other people around her say.  BUT yesterday, she has clearly shown that her mind tried to consciously conjugate the verb based on the pattern that her mind is learning (see the rule above on the verb comer)

Of course I had to correct her because the right verb would be se and not sabo.  But I was nonetheless ecstatic about it.  It's just sooo amazing and sometimes mind-boggling how a mind of a child develops and much more if the development thrives right before your very eyes.

.... the joy of parenthood :)

Wordless Wednesday: What Having a Toddler Means

Poor TV rack...

Wordless Wednesday: The Acrobat Show

Wordless Wednesday: The art of weighing your kid

Product Review and Give Away: Copy-Kids

Little Spanish Pinay's nanny made an interesting comment before they went out for a walk this morning.  She said: "I can never understand those moms I see in the park." She said this with a strong ridicule in her voice. Surprised, I asked why.  She said: "Those moms that follow their kids everywhere carrying spoon with food and pleading for them to eat.  They tick me off. Can't they just leave their child alone and let them play?"  I kind of hesitated whether to respond something or not but I felt that I should in defense of moms.  I gues it is easy for other people to judge what moms do for their kids but if they only know how to widen their understanding about different situations, then there'll be no room for a bit harsh comments like this.

If I am a mom of a picky-eater or a no-eater, I know for sure I'd do ANYTHING just for my child to eat something except push or force them to eat.  If  following them everywhere she goes in a playground with the food in my hand would make them eat even just a little bit, I'd do it.  If cutting vegetables into interesting shapes would make her eat them, I'd do it.  If singing and dancing in front of her while she eats will make her eat her portion, I'd do it.  ANYTHING.  That is, any trick I can get my hands on.  No forcing as I don't want her to relate eating as a negative experience - that'll just make things all the worse. Eating should always be fun!  I've heard of advices on just letting the kid and have them just come to you when they feel hungry because they would anyways.  While this is true, there are still cases of kids that can even pass hunger by just drinking water or juice.   With a little more effort, we as parents can do certain things to encourage our kids not just to eat but to eat healthy and if there is something I can do, I'll do it. 

Fortunately, I don't really catergorize Little Spanish Pinay as a picky-eater - she does eat a good variety of food.  But I still would love her to learn to eat more varieties of vegetables and fruits. Most especially, I'd like her to learn to eat fresh apples, grapes, oranges, baby carrots (she eats cooked carrots), etc.   No matter how we tried, she never liked apples.  It would also make me a happy mom is she eats a little bit bigger of a portion.  Right now, I do not worry much (like my level of worry is about 6 out of 10 being 10 as the highest) because she still nurses and I know that the breastmilk gives a very good compliment for her current diet.  But the moment she stops nursing though and the amount of food she takes daily would still be like how it is now, I definitely would start to worry more.

One day though, while we are in a play date, my friend's daughter D (4months younger than LSP) started to eat her snack.  She was eating grapes.  I was amazed because she eats it like them alone (peeled and seedless) without fuss.  LSP was never really fond of grapes but when she saw D eating grapes, she started telling me she wants grapes too.  My friend gave her grapes from D's plate.  LSP put one in her mouth, made a face but chewed and swallowed and asked for more!  I was ecstatic (but enbarrassed at the same time because LSP is robbing some snacks from her playmate).  My friend gave some more grapes to LSP and she happily ate more!   I realized that kids seeing other kids eat healthy food is contagious because kids love to copy!  Especially toddlers.   I thought back then that if I can only borrow my friend's daughter every meal time, it would be really great.  But of course, that can't happen.

Until I've discovered Copy-Kids Eat Fruit and Vegetables DVD.  So, all you moms (and dads) out there especially those with picky eaters, read on! It is a compilation of videos of kids eating different fruits and vegetables.  It is a genious idea, really.  When I got a copy, I immediately watched it and was so engrosed with the cute toddlers in each video catergory.  The videos are unscripted.  They're just like normal home-videos of kids taken by parents but with high quality.  It's like that part of Modern Family where each member is interviewed minus the script.  I love the spontaneity and quirkiness of the kids, they literally made me laugh out loud everytime.  Side note:  I definitely love kids and watching the video, made me dream all the more of having my own daycare. 

 Additional bonus is an interview with renowned pediatrician Dr. Jay Goron, MD, FAAP, author of Good Food Today, Great Kids Tomorrow.  He answered each interview question with short but very informative statements.  Nothing boring.  I popped in the DVD, watched it for myself and finished the whole 115 minutes in one sitting! The Outtakes (spoofs) video will also make you laugh and want to pro-create again because of these kids' cuteness LOL.  I did! Made me want to eat those kids in the video. My husband kept asking me what was I laughing about.  I made him keep guessing :-D He couldn't come over to see because he was working haha! (Of course later on I told him what was I laughing about.. I am not super evil).

The following day I tried it on Little Spanish Pinay.  To be honest? I was kind of hesitant about it.  I have a fierce child and when she says she doesn't like something?  There is no way in the world you can convince her to say otherwise.  So ok, we started the "trial" video watching.  I peeled carrots, cut them in small portions (I didn't have baby carrots so I just used the normal ones... next time I promise to buy baby carrots). and put them in a small plastic bowl.  When she saw the kids, her face lit up (she loves kids).  The DVD menu is composed of different fuits and vegetables.  I clicked on carrots. With a super animated voice, I started telling her look how Mattea is eating carrots. She loves to repeat the names of teach kid being shown in the video.  Then I told her, oh wow, LSP has carrots too... look!  She smiled, picked one carrot, the continued watching with an amused smile on her face.

OK, so the result?  She started eating the raw carrots!  Not just once, but she repeated when she was done with the first one.  I was ecstatic.  Later on in the evening, I tried another fruit.  I only have plum in my ref (as well as pear and bananas but she does eat both so I had to try plum without pealing them), so I washed one, and put it in a small bowl.  Plum is not included in the list of fruits in the video but I figured if she sees the kids eating, she'll want to eat too so whatever she'd have in hands might do.  I was right.  She ate the whole thing.  Peel included!

Funny thing is that she not only copied the "eating" but also some cuteness that the kids in the video do.  This Kid Audrey is too darn cute.  In one of the videos, she was covering both of her eyes and then counting silently like as if she's playing hide and seek.  Later at night, when I was putting LSP down to sleep, she started doing what Audrey was doing.  It is amazing how kids copy!
Copy-Kids has given me a sample of their DVD for review but the opinion and review in this article are all mine and very honest and from real experience ;-)

Wait, Copy-Kids has been kind enough to give another copy of their DVD to one of you! Enter to win!!!

Wordless Wednesday: As Big As I am!

Wordless Wednesday: Nursing a Boo Boo

Our Little Sevillana

Little Spanish Pinay is a fusion of different cultures.  Being Spanish, she's half Galician and half Andalucian.  Hubby's mom is from Galicia (where we currently live now - north of Spain) while hubby's dad is from Andalucia which is in the south of Spain.   Andalucia is divided into 8 provinces: Almeria, Cadiz, Cordoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaen, Malaga and Sevilla.  Sevillana is how women from Sevilla are called as well as a typical dance that is similar to Flamenco.

Having said all these, our Little Spanish Pinay seems to have inherited a good amount of Sevillan blood from her abuelo.  Look at her moves below:

Check out up to 05 seconds.  After that, I just ruined her concentration so you can stop the video :-D .  I was so ecstatic about how she danced that I couldn't help but yelled in excitement.  Obviously, she thought mami is crazy and lost her concentration so she started doing something else.  All my pleading for her to dance again were in vain!  I really can't get enough of this vidceo and can just play it all day long. Yeah, call that pride of a doting mami.

She got the modern moves too - which is how she dances most of the times.  Check out her video below:

this always cracks me up everytime I watch this video

Both videos were taken when LSP was just a bit more than 1 yr old.  I was trying to clean up some files on my mobile phone and saw these videos.

Weekend was quiet for us except for me working a little bit on some database maintenance.  LSP was also a little bit sick so we missed the swimmming lesson.  But we all got a nice rest so, yay! :)

How did weekend treat you?

Wordless Wednesday: Whatever!

whatever, mami, whatever.

Nossa, Nossa

Our household was invaded by this veritable international hit song Ai Se Eu Te Pego by Michel Telo.  It was even more popularized by Real Madrid Cristinao Ronaldo by dancing to celebrate his first goal against Malaga CF.

orginal performance by Michel Telo who's kinda cute ;-)

Cristiano and Marcelo Vieira dancing Ai Seu Te Pego

Frankly, I haven't really paid much attention to the song until yesterday when I was in the bathroom and I heard my hubby and our little one singing this song together.  They sounded so cute and when I tried to join them, I died of envy because I couldn't follow the song :(  Aside from the fact that it's in portuguese, it's not really one of the songs that is frequently heard in my household these days. 

See how cute she sings:

It took a while before I was able to get her sing again while I record a video.  She gets too conscious in front of camera.

Singing songs has been our favorite bonding activity.  Not that I sing well.  I love music a lot but music hasn't reciprocated the same love towards me and I don't think it ever will.  But it's ok. I  am happy with our one-way relationship.  On the other hand, hubby sings really well.  That's how he conquered this simple lady, in fact.  He practically virtually serenaded me with his songs :) Maybe hubby will let me upload one of his recorded songs to me here... we'll see.  I do hope that Little Spanish Pinay will get his genes when it comes to singing.

Since I didn't want to be an outsider on the next Nossa, Nossa showdown of my mag-ama (father and daughter),  I tried to learn the song.... and now I am infected by the Ai Se EuTe Pego fever!