Andrea

My current obsession lately has been the fact that Andrea has yet to learn her ABC’s. Her lola, my MIL, gave her a collection of foam letters and my mother in law would try to teach her the names of the letters every once in a while. Andrea barely cooperates though and is more focused on throwing the letters away.

I have also started singing the ABC to her every morning when we go to my grandmother’s house. I sing it complete with the signs and Andrea would just ignore me. This afternoon, after a tiring day spent in the hospital and the car shop, I was focused on having Andrea at least say one letter.

I started with the letter A. She said that very easily…Then I went on the the letter B….she said B…then she said B again…then she said it twice…and then she started talking about babies and Jabibee..hmmm my child has my short attention span I guess. I was trying to move on to the letter C when she started saying “Eysh”….I barely understood what she was talking about so I asked again…she pointed to the monitor of the computer where a giant logo with the letter H (and 2 other letters) can be seen.

I was stunned. Could she possibly visually identify and orally express the letter H? Ruy brought her to the screen and asked her “Where’s the letter H?” and she happily pointed to the correct letter.

I felt as if my heart was about to burst with joy. I am an OA mom I know but I can’t get over the fact that Andrea now knows 2 letters (A and H).

She then looked at me and tried to motion/sign the letter H with her hands while saying “Eych”. 

I don’t know why it’s the letters A and H she remembers most…she seems to have skipped a few letters in between but that’s okay we have a few months left. My goal is for her to be able to sing the entire ABC song before Christmas and for her to be able to correctly identify all the letters by the time she’s 2.

Wish me luck!

(my MIL was so proud…hahaha…hats off to her, she has been the one tirelessly teaching Andrea so many things)

Guess what? She did it again today!!! Wooohooo.

I’m so excited…my goal is to be diaper free during day time by age 2 (that’s 8 months away so that should be doable right?).  It’s a bit harder asking her to pee on the potty though. She seems to refuse doing this now. I don’t know if this is normal or not but hey…I’m not complaining. One out of 2 is not bad right?

You cannot believe how happy I am!!

I put my foot down yesterday and insisted that they (they being the people I leave Andrea with) try to potty train Andrea effective immediately. Jen says it’s too early and that I’m evil…I’m not denying that there is some evil in me but let me explain my reason for wanting to potty train her already.

When I would give Andrea a bath, she would often times stop and say “Uh-oh” and then a few seconds after start peeing. I took this as a sign that she can already identify the urge and is ready to start her potty training.

I know that this is going to be a very long process so my baby steps were:

1. Show her the potty

2. Have her wear underwear without diapers.  (so when she ever pees, she feels the underwear become wet and she becomes uncomfortable)

3.  Observe when she feels the urge and have her sit on the potty.

We started doing this this morning….and guess what? She pooped for the first time on her potty!!

I feel so happy!! OH MY GOD!! My baby’s growing up!! 

As Mariah and David cook oh so beautifully sang…Andrea will always be my baby…no matter how big her muscles get…hehehe

 The first time we ever put her hair in pig tails.

Sporting an afro.

Looking like a big girl…

There, I feel recharged already. Time to go back to work.

Tita Helena, you don’t visit me at all. =(

A tag from Van.

The rules are simple. At the end of the post, the player tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leave a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

I was in High School. Can you believe that? I was a senior and was feeling so grown up.

2. What are the 5 things on my to-do list today?

Buy Olive Oil (which I forgot from my grocery yesterday)

Edit the QA form which I created last Friday for our new product (can you believe this actually exites me?)

Write emails which aren’t very nice….these I’m not looking forward to.

Edit my homework for my LTM course

Check Output of my Team…

3. Snacks I enjoy:

Wasabi Chips from Oishi…yum. If I’m feeling cheap then I like the Cheese Filled Pillows from Oishi as well.

4. Places where I lived:

God…New Manila,Greenhills and of course the happiest place on earth .MARIKINA CITY!

5. Things I’d do if I were a billionaire:

Buy Educational plans for all my nephews and my sisters. Pay for our mortgage in full. Double our life and health insurances. General Health Checkup for Everyone in my family.

Greece for Ruy and myself.

Double my maid’s salary.

Save.

6. People I want to know more about:

My team. I am so lucky to have the chance to work with wonderful and interesting people. I would love to get to know them more.

I’m tagging: Litzie, and Jen

Andrea spent time with my mother today and it’s hilarious how stressed out my mom was. She seriously goes crazy at every little movement of Andrea. She practically has a heart attack every time Andrea starts running. I think I’m going to have to buy wrinkle cream for my mom…hahaha

This is simply because I can’t get enough of my little girl.

Here she is pointing at the little kitten down the street. The kitten which she is trying to step on may I add!

Here she is so pleased with herself at being able to grab the necklace of her lola.

And here with some playmates.

In one of the rare pictures where she actually looks like me. That’s our house in the background by the way. (You might have to click on the picture to actually see her face)

The dress she is wearing belonged to my sister by the way. Can you believe that dress is already around 8 years old? Unbelievable isn’t it? I love the dress because it really looks like a baby’s dress. It doesn’t look like a baby trying to look grown-up. I have a thing against that right now.  Andrea’s growing too fast and the last thing I need is to speed the rate of her development by dressing her in clothes which make her look older.

As I have told Jen, if I could I would make her wear diapers till she’s in middle school….hehehe…

Oh, and look! No frowning pictures today. Isn’t that a miracle in itself?

I am very very weak.

Yes I admit I am. 5 minutes after posting that I will not give in to temptations, I am now on my way to National bookstore to look for more books to add to my collection. Ruy and I are voracious readers and so our room is half filled with books.

I deeply believe in the value of reading and so I try to read to Andrea every single day. This is why I find myself buying stuff for her and for me whenever I go to National Bookstore. This of course adds to the cost of my purchase, after all children’s books are soooo expensive now!

I think the cost is worth the value it brings though.

The only person in the world who can match the love I feel for Andrea. =)

And lastly, because he gave me this

The best baby in the world!!

He gets excited over the smallest things Andrea does!

Because he is trying to make himself better every day for Andrea

Number 2 reason:

He watches Barney with Andrea despite hating Barney. He also has learned to sing most Barney songs. =)

In honor of Father’s Day, I shall be posting one reason every day till Father’s day.

1. Cause he dances the bone dance with Andrea.

Here’s the most fun and the most challenging part of our furniture/appliance shopping:

I am feeling so much like a stage mom. I can’t help but gush over every little thing Andrea does. Then I realized, why should I even try to stop myself from gushing? She’s my daughter, it’s my job to gush…hehehe

1 - She saw an image of the Sto. Nino…she said “Hi” and then she suddenly put her hands together in prayer and then bowed her head

2 - We were saying goodbye to Ruy in the morning and she knows that every morning we pass by Jollibee. She told Ruy “Bye, Mama Eya Bee” …translation “Bye, Mommy and Andrea are going to Jollibee”….sooo cute.

 3 - She was playing with the landphone and she kept on saying “Hello” so I got my cellphone and pretended to call her. I said “Hello, Can I please speak with Andrea?”…she looked at me and said “I’m Eya”…that’s with matching patting her tummy.

 Aaaaaaaaaahhhh, I’m so gigil. Hahaha

When I think about how much I love Andrea, I realize just how much my mom must love me…..I’ve always known this in theory…but now I feel it.

I am using my blog as a diary of sorts. I need to document things here so that I can look at them in the future and know when something happened, this is why I’ll be writing a whole lot of Andrea’s milestones here.

I’ve written about her words in the past and now I will add to that list

1. nana - for banana
2. mah ki - for monkey
3. mama/mimi/mami - for mommy
4. dada - for daddy
5. nyinyi - for Nyingnying (my sister)
6. Bapi -for my Aunt (whom we call Abap)
7. Nyanya - for Nanay (my grandmother)
8. Wowa - for wowa
9. Wowo - for wowo
10. Ttay - for tatay
11. ahma - for grandma
12. ahney - for Barney
13. yanzee - for chimpanzee
14. mik - for milk
15. dh gee - for doggie
16. Umbehla - for umbrella
17. Dowa - for Dora
18. No, no, no - for No
19. Haaaay - for Hi
20. Mu - for moon
21. Mayi - for Mary
22. Cahb - for Crab
23. Faweh - for Flower
24. Buk - for Book
25. Andea - for Andrea
26. Baboh - for bubbles
27. Mo - for more
28. No Mo - for No More
29. Bah - for Bath
30. Bo - for ball
31. Babol - for Basketball
32. Digdig - for Tigidig (she says this when she rides on Ruy’s tummy pretending that Ruy’s a horse…hahaha)
33. Moo (sound of the cow)
34. Qack Qack (sound of the duck — this is accompanied by the arm movement of course!)
35. Ming Ming (sound of the cat)
36. Ahf - (sound of the dog)
37. tik tok - for tik tok (sound of the clock)
38. teet - for tweet tweet (sound of the bird)

I had the best 5-day-Mother’s-Day-Celebration ever in the history of the world. It’s not because of the extravagance or the expense, but how perfectly it fit me.

Thursday was perfect cause I got to do something I’ve been meaning to do for months and haven’t gotten around to doing so which is visit my doctor. I also got to spend practically a whole day with my family which made it doubly fun.

Friday was amazing. It was perfect cause I got to go on a road trip with two of my favorite people. I’m sensitive when it comes to road trips, I can’t just go with anyone. But this trip was just perfect. The food was awesome, the company great, I felt taken cared off and pampered.

Saturday was the day Ruy insisted on celebrating Mother’s day together without Andrea. I said “What for? We celebrated already yesterday” and he said that was with Andrea, now it’s our turn. It was perfect cause it made me feel that I wasn’t just a mother, that I was a wife too. It reminded me of an often neglected role in my life.

This was the same day Ruy pointed out that I kept on buying the same kinds of shades and asked me to try on some other kind. It was beautiful. He insisted on buying it for me (I wouldn’t let him, don’t underestimate my pulling powers). It was perfect cause I realized that after 8 years together he still notices these details. Details which I myself overlook. It was perfect cause I can see that he knows me well enough to know what fits me and what I’d like.

Sunday was spent with my inlaws having the yummiest lunch ever. It was perfect cause I’m beginning to feel more and more like family.

Monday was spent sleeping the whole day suffering from migraine. It was perfect because I got to take care of myself. I got to experience not being responsible for anything and still the world continued to revolve. I realized I don’t need to worry about everything. I needed to worry about myself.

Mother’s day this year was perfect. Thursday was spent being a sister and a daughter, Friday a mother, Saturday a wife, Sunday an inlaw and Monday being myself. It was beautiful, it was complete, it was perfect.

Yes  I think it’s time I confess to the fact that I, Olivia, have the  My Daughter Has More Clothes Than I Do Syndrome. I don’t know how it started, I guess it started long before giving birth. I gave myself a certain budget to buy myself a bag, and I ended up spending 60% of that budget on baby clothes. Yes, that’s considering I didn’t even know the gender of my baby at that time.

The symptoms got progressively worse as the clothes of baby become cuter. It reached a point where I could go to a mall and not even pass by the ladies section but go only straight to the babies section.

I realized how badly I was inflicted last night. I was going around for over an hour trying to find shoes for myself (trust me, I badly need them) when I ended up with a shirt for Andrea.

Here are Andrea’s clothes for this week:

This does not include the dress her Ninang Carmi got for her. And remember, that’s just for this week. Ayayay!

Imagine this….having migraine and then having to wake up in the middle of the night because a certain baby (who shall remain nameless) was tugging at your big toe because she was somehow able to reach it from her crib. You somehow manage to wake up and pacify her and lull her back to sleep.

Two hours after, she’s screaming Mama, Mama, Mami again. And of course you’re up…migraines and all.

Then you go to work, you are in a room working under 4 industrial lights and having two glaring computer screens open and taunting you with their light.

AAAAARRRRRGGGH. With the number of pills I’m popping now I am going to need to undergo drug rehab very soon.

Ruy and I are beyond excited. Andrea uttered her first phrase today!!! Wooohooo…I have chills just thinking about it. =)

So here’s what happened. Andrea was swimming in her little wading pool while I watched and Ruy blew bubbles. Ruy stopped and put the bubble container on the window sill to play with Andrea. Andrea suddenly put her hand up and she suddenly said “No moh ba boh”(no more bubble)…and then pointed at the bubble container.

We were so thrilled (and slightly shocked) and so we needed to verify if she really understood what she was saying so we asked “No more what?” and she once again said “Ba boh!” ….

Okay, that’s it. I just needed to document this milestone….Here’s to more verbal diatribes with Andrea…I’m sure the time will come when I’d wish that Andrea would stop talking, meanwhile I’m so thrilled with her voice. =)

A friend asked me earlier if I would ever forgive Ruy if he cheated on me…I said no.

He asked “Not even for Andrea?” to which I replied “Especially because of Andrea”

I know this doesn’t make sense to most people, but I would like to put out a positive message to Andrea in terms of being a person. It’s about valuing yourself enough to know how you should be treated. It’s about telling Andrea that she shouldn’t allow people to do that to her as well.

Ruy and I try, as much as possible, to spend time with Andrea during weekends. We try to find things she would enjoy doing as well as things she would learn from. Last weekend, as I’ve already told most of you, we went to a mall with a huge castle which acts like a trampoline while this weekend she went swimming!!! It’s her first time and she took to it like a fish takes to water. It’s very refreshing to see that she was able to get rid of her fear of water. I’m really looking forward to her swimming lessons which will start next week. I’ll tell you more about that another time!

This never fails to cheer me up

Andrea’s memory is AMAZING. How do kids remember all these things? My goodness, compared to them I’m like a rock….meaning I don’t absorb anything at all. I forget my keys, my wallet, my laptop, my bills…EVERYTHING. Whereas Andrea can still trace where she saw Barney in the mall weeks ago. Amazing isn’t it?  I wish I can sharpen my memory and bring it back up to that level.

Andrea is not a baby anymore….huhuhu. I’ve finally admitted this to myself.  I realized this when we went to this place with this giant inflatable castle. Ruy took her inside and she was so afraid because of the movement. I decided to take her around the inflatable castle and show her everything. When she still seemed afraid, I decided to take her out already. I put her down while I got our shoes then she suddenly ran back to the castle and she walked all over on her own. No more fear this time.

She’s becoming so independent already.

She can also say the following:

nana - for banana

mah ki - for monkey

mama/mimi/mami - for mommy

dada - for daddy

nyinyi - for Nyingnying (my sister)

Bapi -for my Aunt (whom we call Abap)

Nyanya - for Nanay (my grandmother)

ahney - for Barney

yanzee - for chimpanzee

mik - for milk

dh gee - for doggie

tik tok - for tik tok (sound of the clock)

teet - for tweet tweet (sound of the bird)

She can also make the sounds of the ff: dog, cat, bird, snake. =) Amazing how fast these kids learn things.

I’m selos-jealous yet again.  It’s a Philippine Holiday and since I chose to be on French Holiday then I am at work. I left for work just as Ruy and Andrea were in the garden playing. Huhuhu…I so want to be playing with Andrea right now. I do think I had a whole lot of Andrea over the weekend, but then you can never have enough of a good thing right?

Thank goodness I love my work (I might have to rethink this statement soon) and so going to work is not as difficult as it probably is for most moms.

I had grand plans for Andrea’s pictures. I wanted to hang her pictures up in big frames but I am not so knowledgeable when it comes to using air tools. If I were, I would have gotten around to fixing our office as well. I wanted to hang all our pictures and create a big collage.  Unfortunately, our jurassic equipment scares the living day lights out of me.  So here I am, 4 months after my grand plan and still nothing has happened. Ay Caramba

Why are all these young stars going to alcohol rehab? I suppose that’s better than them not exerting any effort in becoming clean, but I am worried at the message this is putting across to kids.It seems to be fashionable for young people now. I’m also so annoyed at all these stars who have DUI charges. Why don’t they just get drivers? Why do they insist on driving for themselves? They can definitely afford hiring drivers right?

I’m really worried about these things that Andrea’s going to be exposed to soon..sigh.

Andrea will kill me when she grows up and sees all the things I’m doing to her now.

Hello every one, I’m back!!! Here’s the continuation of Andrea’s Birthday Celebration:

After Andrea’s time with the animals, we brought her to the mall for a little bit of gift shopping. Part of our plan was to give Andrea toys she really wants to play with. We took her to the toy store, observed which toys she’s drawn to, then allow her to play with the toys for an extended period of time. Here’s the loot we came up with.

Not included in the picture are her other gifts. Bubbles, toy cell phone, sound maker, dora flash cards, some books, etc. Her favorite is that little horsie though. She can’t get enough of it.

Andrea’s officially a toddler now and I’m still shocked at how quickly time has passed. How did we spend her special day?

When she woke up, Ruy and I sang ‘Happy Birthday Andrea’ so loudly. She loves this…imagine a song with her name on it? She kept on clapping and Ruy and I would start all over.

I then fed her, then walked with her all over the subdivision. Then I gave her a bath and dressed her up.

When I see this picture I’m still awed at how independent Andrea has become. Here she is, walking and trying to get Ruy to go to another place as something interesting caught her eye.

Look at Ruy and Andrea getting surly because it was taking me so long to buy the tickets.

When we first entered the park, Andrea was a bit overwhelmed by all the sensory stimulation and the number of people. She was clinging to Ruy during the first part of the tour.

This was very quickly replaced by interest, wonder and awe.

More stories and pictures later. I have to go to work now!!

I am not a cat person.  I’ve had dogs for as long as I can remember. I’ve always been the bane of any cat’s existence because of this mindset.  Seeing these beautiful cat furniture almost makes me want to own a cat.  This is saying a lot coming from me…trust me.

It reminds me of a conversation I had with Ruy just recently. He thinks Andrea should have a pet soon…I beg to disagree. I’m sure this scenario is familiar with a lot of parents out there.

- Dad wants a pet

- Mom says no

- Dad claims to want a pet for the baby.

- Baby and Dad guilt trips Mom into buying a pet.

- Mom gives in because she doesn’t want to seem selfish

- Dad and kid cleans up  and takes care of the pet…for 3 days.

- Mom is left with the task of caring for the pet from that point on.

HELP ME GOD! 

My baby is a snob. She rarely smiles and her resting face is a frown. She’s actually very much like me so I’m not surprised.  That’s why I love this picture with her practically squealing in delight while playing peek-a-boo

Warning: This post is chockful of pictures.

We had a looong day with Andrea last Saturday as we wanted to celebrate her last month of being a baby. Next month she will officially be a toddler. (huhuhu)

We started by having an early lunch in Chocolate Kiss.

Andrea was a handful during lunch just like she usually is but it was so much fun. She was trying to talk to the ladies sitting beside us and the cook who was preparing our dishes. 

The food in chocolate kiss was really good. Andrea really enjoyed their menu…literally!

I wanted Andrea to run around in UP but unfortunately our Yaya forgot to pack her shoes. So here’s Andrea while our small family trekked to Robinson’s Big R for some shoe shopping.

After an hour of looking for shoes. We had to go to the ground floor to buy some stuff from CD-R King. While waiting outside, Andrea ran into her Kuya Gabby. They enjoyed some kiddie rides together

Andrea seemed to enjoy this ride and so Ruy decided to take us all to Time Zone. I personally didn’t think Andrea would enjoy that…but oh boy did she love it there!

(yes I know her shoes and socks don’t match. What can I do? Those are her new shoes by the way)

We ended up winning enough to get Andrea a beach ball with some bells inside which she adored!!

We went home were Andrea walked and played all over the garden.

After all the playing around. It was time to blow the candles on the cake.

It was a long day for an 11 month old baby so this is how she looked at the end of the day.

Good times…=) (She slept for almost 11 hours straight that night)

Yes, I look like crap in this picture. I don’t care though. This is the best picture in the whole wide world!!

I know I know I’ve been gushing about Andrea but I really want to document everything that’s happening to her just so I can look at it next year and remember all these wonderful times.

Since the last time I posted, here are Andrea’s new tricks:

- Correctly points at the following in a book: Baby, Lady Bug, Colors Blue, Green, Yellow and Red

- Touches the correct body parts when you sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes…except for the shoulders which she somehow can’t reach.

- Kisses (in her own way, which usually means putting her face near you and with her mouth open…teaching your cheeks)

-Embraces

- Follows simple instructions like: Say Bye, Say Hi, Look up, Jump, Kick, Spank, Hug, Kiss, Dance

- Can correctly find the following: All our maids at home, Nani (my grandmother), Gramma (my mother), Lola (my mother in law), Papa (my dad), Kuya Gabby (her cousin), Barney and Doggie, her balloon and lastly the moon.

- Her spoken vocab consists of: di-bug (lady bug), bu (blue), e-low (yellow), dadi or dada (for Daddy), la yu (for love you)

Wow….now I’m sad…she’s really not a baby any more.

I almost died last night.

Andrea and I were reading a book together when she pointed to a yellow flag and said “e-low”. I felt my chest bursting with pride (knowing full well it could be a fluke) and I was just so happy.  A few pages down she saw a yellow triangle and she once again said “e-low”.

OH MY GOD!!

I was so excited but I had no one to tell.

wooohoo

Here are pictures to document Andrea’s reaction to her new toy.

So there she is obediently holding on to the handles. This went on for around 30 seconds. Then she discovered that there were toys in front. Sooo…

She let’s go and walks to the front of the walker to play with the toys. Completely going against the point of this contraption.

Just this morning, not only did she not hold on to this toy and walked without it. She also attempted to carry the entire thing…my goodness.

Having Andrea around makes chores feel good. We had to go to the grocery and buy  gifts for people.

It still shocks me when I see how much of a big girl Andrea has become.

Ruy and I shared chili dogs from DQ while Andrea took delight with her new discovery — glass windows.

What is it about Barney that drives kids crazy? I don’t get it cause Ruy and I both can’t stand Barney yet Andrea is cuckoo over Barney.

Andrea was in Megamall (for the first time ever) yesterday and she saw this Barney toy that was so much taller than she was. She ran to that Barney, hugged the doll, bit the snout…shouted (in glee).

I am at a loss. What is it? I really don’t get it.

Andrea’s still not calling us. =(

She knows who we are but she never calls us. She doesn’t say mama or papa…I don’t understand.

According to the Babycenter .com development chart, she’s supposed to be doing this already. The thing is, she only talks when she’s mad. Otherwise she’s perfectly happy just sitting and playing and shouting.

I know I shouldn’t worry but I think it’s part of my job description as a mother to worry.  

One trick I’ve been dying to teach Andrea is that of kissing. There’s just that image in my head of a baby puckering her lips and planting a wet kiss on your cheeks that really drives me nuts.

I’ve been trying to teach Andrea how to do this and so far this is what we’ve accomplished.

1. I pucker my lips, I kiss her on the cheeks and then I ask her to kiss me. She laughs and crawls away.

2. I pucker my lips, I kiss her on the cheeks and then I ask her to kiss me. She sticks her tongue out at me and laughs.

3. I pucker my lips, I kiss her on the cheeks and then I ask her to kiss me. She  makes the kissing sounds I make.

4. I pucker my lips, I kiss her on the cheeks and then I ask her to kiss me. She moves her lips closer to my cheeks and then she bites me.

5. I pucker my lips, I kiss her on the cheeks and then I ask her to kiss me.  Just today, she held my cheeks with both hands and moved her lips to my cheeks.

I feel kilig!! Isn’t that so exciting? (This didn’t happen in one day, it took me a week to get her to do that and I’m not even sure if she’ll do it again.)

I’m still going to bug her about this cause I want her to make the kissing sounds while kissing…hehehe =) I’m a demanding mommy.

I sometimes find it funny just how biased my relatives are when it comes to Andrea. In their heart of hearts I’m pretty sure they believe that there is no smarter baby in this world. Seriously, I think they think that.

It’s quite funny cause every time they see me they talk about how smart Andrea is by giving me evidences which support their argument.

I take this all with a grain of salt because I’m aware of the tendency of love to blind us all. I would then point out things which are proofs that Andrea is a normal baby. For example “Well this baby learned how to do the close-open at 4 months…Andrea’s 9 months and she still doesn’t do that”…here’s where it gets interesting…they tell me it’s cause Andrea has a strong personality and doesn’t want to follow….but if she wants to follow she can.

Isn’t that funny?  Ah…unconditional love and admiration like only grandparents can give

Last night, before going to bed. I lay Andrea down and we sang head, shoulder’s, knees and toes. I held each of her body part while singing the song. After my song number she was giggling so I did it again (see Marj, I’m taking a chapter from your book).

I decided to ask her after my song. Andrea where’s your head?

Imagine my shock when she held her head with both hands.

I screamed and called out to Ruy and told him “Look! Look at what she’s doing!”

We weren’t sure if she just touched her head accidentally so we asked again. And she held her head again.

We were still doubtful so we decided to ask “Where’s your tongue?” and she immediately stuck out her tongue. We then asked again “Where’s your head?” and she held her head.

It was a proud moment for myself I’m telling you. I felt like I was about to burst with pride.

I think I’ll faint when Andrea graduates from pre-school.

Addendum:

This morning, her yaya asked her to wipe her mouth. She got the bib and wiped around her mouth. Then she held the bib. I guess she realized that it looked like her bandanna so she put it on top of her head and looked around as if waiting for us to clap. (Everyone claps and shouts whenever she does her tricks)…

My grandmother bathe all 4 of her children.

My grandmother bathe all 6 of her grandchildren at one point or another.

It warmed my heart watching her bathe Andrea, as if she is formally a part of our traditions, our life our family.

Andrea scheming…trying to figure out how she can get her hands on the fire…

Andrea playing peek-a-boo

Andrea turned 10 months yesterday and so I bought her a cake and took her picture as what I do every month. I’ll be posting the photos later or maybe tomorrow. I left the camera in my car.

Here are the things Andrea can do at 10 months:

- Wave goodbye on demand (When I say “Say bye Andrea”)

- When people ask her where here tongue is she sticks it out.

- Try to smile her way out of trouble. When I tell her “Andrea No!” she stops what she’s doing, but doesn’t remove her hand from what she’s touching. She slowly looks at me, then smiles at me…tsk tsk tsk

- Initiates peek-a-boo. She stands on her crib, then gently folds her knee so I can only see her hand. I will then say “Oh no, where’s Andrea?” then she’ll pop-up (almost jumping) and I’ll say “Peek-a-boo”. Occassionaly you can hear her say “pee-boo” . Sometimes she gets so excited, she forgets that she has to hide first when she plays peek-a-boo so she just keeps on jumping.

- She has repeatedly taken 6 independent steps. No holding, no cruising, just her standing up in the middle of the bed and walking towards me.

- Has become more social specially with other kids. She keeps on going near other kids wherever we are and it sometimes irritates the bigger kids. Oh well

- Has become adamant in showing us what she wants. When she points to the door, her whole body goes with her point. When you try to give her milk and it’s not time she pushes your hand away. When someone she doesn’t like tries to get her, she pushes their hand (sometimes even spanks them) while clinging to whoever’s holding her.

- Has become KSP. When it’s afternoon and the people around her are doing other things, she calls them (by shouting)  and then smiles. She needs attention…oh no

I’m overwhelmed at how much she seems like a big girl now. It’s annoying…I want my baby again…hehehe

Yup, it’s getting harder and harder to leave Andrea.

She’s still quite clingy to me although considerably less now that she’s not sick anymore.  She also understands that after I give her a bath in the morning, I will leave soon after. She makes it difficult for me to do so by refusing to be put down after her bath.

When I do eventually get to leave her, she looks at me with this pleading and disappointed look on her face. As if telling me “Why are you doing this to me?” ….

Sucks big time I’m telling you.

Unlike other people, spring cleaning doesn’t come to mind when I think of spring. Instead, I have visions of men in tights using their stick to hit a ball….hahaha.

When I was a kid, my friend Brian would always excitedly tell me about how he and his dad would try to catch as many of the Yankees game as possible. What’s possible would depend on how many New York Yankees Spring Training tickets as these things get sold out so quickly, Brian usually ends up just being able to watch 2 at most.  The best seat they ever got were Tier Boxes which aren’t really that great but for him they were AWESOME.

His enthuiasm was so infectious I ended up wanting to go and watch myself…despite not knowing anything about baseball.

I realized I want to have something like this with Andrea. Something she’ll get insanely excited about every year and something she’ll be able to tell her children about when she grows up. Any ideas?

After almost a week of being with an extremely grumpy baby, the nice-r Andrea is back. Poor baby must have really felt bad because of her colds.

She’s now playful and sociable (well as sociable as Andrea can be at least). Thank goodness!! She was so cranky for the past couple of days it was giving me premature wrinkles. You know how when kids get sick they always look for their moms? Well Andrea definitely lived up to that statement. She wouldn’t let go of me…it was insane.

Now she’s a little bit more willing to be put down and to interact with others.

Heaven.

Andrea’s errr feisty personality is really beginning to show. She has shown, in more ways than one, that she’s not one baby to mess with.

Situation #1: We were in a shop when she spotted a 1 yr and 3 month old baby (6 months older than her). Andrea ran towards the baby, stopped a few inches in front of the baby and held the baby’s face. The baby screamed and ran away. Andrea ran after her and once again tried holding her. This is a milestone. First act of terrorizing another human being: Dec. 24, 2007

Situation #2:  Andrea is at the stage of being extremely clingy to me. She would cry whenever people would even attempt to pry her from me. When I start walking towards the crib or her stroller she suddenly holds on tight. One of our maids decided to trick Andrea by quickly grabbing her from behind. When she did this, Andrea hit her on the face and then tried to bite her. WOW!!  So kidnappers beware, Andrea knows self-defense.

Situation #3: I have an annoying habit of cleaning Andrea incessantly. Whenever I’m carrying her, I’m poking at her nose, her ears, etc. I just need to make sure Andrea looks presentable. Andrea usually is okay with this but sometimes she finds me annoying. This morning I was trying to clean her nose so I was pinching her nose and suddenly she grabs my nose and does the same. Okay Andrea, I get it…Don’t do unto others.

My friend Vicki has two kids both of whom look exactly like her husband. She would jokingly ask her husband “Are you sure I’m the mother?”

I kinda feel that way about Andrea when I look at her. She looks so much like Ruy and it’s completely crazy. I would often call her Ruy Jr as some of you already know.

I am beginning to see bits and pieces of myself lately though. If you would look at her first picture 4 posts down, it looks a bit like my baby pictures…but then when you look at the rest of her pictures it’s all Ruy…hahaha. 

Of all the things Andrea could get from me, why did she have to pick my attitude…why?

That’s what you can call Andrea and myself. We’ve been so grumpy lately as we’re both sick. I don’t know how Ruy can stand it actually but he is somehow able to manage it. 

Andrea is being absolutely horrible. She barely sleeps and just keeps on crying. I keep on telling her “Honey I can’t give you what you want cause you don’t even know what you want.”  She’s extremely cranky and we’re basically tip toeing around her right now.

It’s so tough cause we can’t give her anything because of the drug recalls in the US several of our doctors have already warned us against it so I’d rather not risk letting Andrea take anything.

I hope she gets better soon…a cranky baby leads to a cranky Mommy…poor Ruy

First Ruy caught colds. Then Andrea had her vaccination which caused her immune system to go down which means she got Ruy’s colds. Now my throat is starting to itch and I’m feeling a bit weak…I’m pretty sure I’m coming down with something as well.

I feel bad cause I feel like my family’s unhealthy. Ruy and I have already agreed to stop eating junk food starting January 1 but I’m beginning to wonder if we might possibly need some nutritional supplements as well.

I don’t know why but I feel like it’s a failure on my part when my family’s sick. =(

Hey everyone. Happy Christmas!! How was your Christmas? Was it Naughty or Nice?

We had a crazy Christmas as Andrea had to go to the hospital for 2 hours on Christmas eve. Everything’s okay though so we’re so grateful for that.

Thanks to everyone who gave Andrea gifts. She enjoyed eating them all.

But more than enjoying the gifts, what Andrea really enjoyed the most are… the wrappers!!

So what about you guys? How were your Christmases?

I went home pretty late 2 days ago. Andrea was sound asleep and I gently layed her down her crib being very careful not to wake her up.

Ruy was not at home and so I was the only one there to take care of Andrea. 

30 minutes after, Andrea started fidgetting and I knew she was already hungry. I gave her her bottle and then left. That’s usually how it works with us.  Andrea holds the bottle and then  slowly goes back to sleep.

I checked on her 15 minutes after and I saw the bottle with the nipple unscrewed. The bottle was at her foot, the nipple elsewhere and milk spilled all over her bedding. I was at a loss as to what I should do. Andrea was still sleeping soundly seemingly unaware of the mess she has created. Moving her would of course wake her up, while not moving her could bring her pneumonia and ant bites.

I couldn’t call the yaya cause she was sleeping in the room downstairs while we were on the 2nd floor. I got a washcloth, and wiped Andrea’s entire body, before changing her pjs. At this point Andrea was wide-awake and quite happy to be on “Mom and Dad’s” bed. I couldn’t change the beddings of her crib as I had nowhere to leave her. I couldn’t leave her on the bed when she’s happily standing up and running around the bed. I had no choice but to let her sleep on our bed….of course sleep came 2 hours after this entire incident.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t sleep because I was feeling paranoid. I half expect Andrea to roll off the bed or Andrea to wake up while I was asleep and crawl off the bed. These thoughts were very powerful instruments in suppressing sleep.

Here’s an early Christmas Greeting from my small family:

ENJOY!!  

Christmas Message

Every day of the week I leave Andrea at my grandmother’s house. She’s there with her yaya, my grandmother, my grandmother’s sister and another maid. 

I have mentioned time and again just how grateful I am to have this kind of support stemming from my family and Ruy’s family. I have peace of mind knowing that Andrea’s well taken cared off ALL THE TIME. There are just some things people do that annoy me and I just have to share this with you all.

 Andrea’s seperation anxiety is reaching it’s peak now. So much so that she would hold on to me even when she’s drinking milk in her crib as long as she sees me dressed up already.  All books advise moms to tell their babies that their leaving to make the children feel that they are not being abandoned. I try to do this with Andrea when she’s awake.

Andrea was tearing up when I was about to leave so I said goodbye properly and then left. I then heard my grandaunt say “Wala na si Mommy mo…ano…wala na”…in a taunting voice.

I don’t get it! What was the point of that? I didn’t react today as Andrea doesn’t understand it all…but I’m not going to allow that when Andrea already understands what’s being said. The last thing I need is for my daughter to feel a complex just because I go to work.  I never felt that with my mother despite the fact that she worked practically 7 days a week and I don’t want Andrea to have any issues. Aaaargghh now the question is how do I teach an old dog new tricks?

My little girl who has more attitude than hair. =)

 INSTRUCTION:
1. Posts 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5 key words given below.
2. Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances (if not, your current blog buddies will do) so that you get to know them each a little bit better.
3. Don’t forget to read the archived post and leave comments.

Link 1 must be about FAMILY : not so little
Link 2 must be about FRIEND : porto
Link 3 must be about YOURSELF : too old
Link 4 must be about YOUR LOVE : significant other’s tag
Link 5 can be ANYTHING YOU LIKE : andrea’s walk to remember

Please feel free to snag this as well

Ruy and I both work long hours which means that time with Andrea is a rare commodity.  I am always fearful of Andrea not knowing us enough or feeling like we’re not there. That’s why I really look forward to the times when we can play and enjoy each other’s company. It melts my heart when I see that Andrea not only recognizes us but actually prefers us over other people. It feels like we’re doing something right somehow when these things happen.

“I was born standing up, and talking back…”

 This seems to be true with Andrea. She wouldn’t stop walking and moving around and standing and pushing herself to her limit. Much to the chagrin of my entire family’s sensitive nervous system.  Today, while asking to be carried she decided to climb up her playpen. She was able to hoist herself halfway up the net of the crib before gravity grabbed hold of her. Can you imagine a small baby doing this?

I almost screamed.

Andrea turned 9 yesterday and we’re beyond shocked at how fast everything’s going. Here’s a picture of her trying to grab her cake.

Her personality is really showing. It’s obvious that she’s extremely strong willed and I’m happy about that. I don’t want a pushover for a daughter. I’m sure this will come and bite me in the ass someday (when she’s a teenager and would refuse to follow me probably) but I’m still sooo happy that Andrea’s what she is.