100% Kelly

My little boy has been very affectionate these past few weeks, especially to me! I was actually surprised by this behavior as he usually favors his dad over me (kakaiba noh?).

Sunday night, was one of the sweetest nights of my life as he said, for the first time, the three sweetest words to me without any kind of coaxing whatsoever (with matching hug and kiss pa!):

“Luv you, mommy!”

Cry na ko nyan tuloy. Sabay sabi sa kanya, “Anak, sasabihin mo pa din sa’kin ‘yan kahit may girlfriend ka na ha.” The husband just smirked

Fellow mom and online shopping guru (i just have to say that pa talaga ) Peachy and pretty mom Jane tagged me with this question:

What do I love most about being a mom?

The baby gifts!

Kidding aside, I sometimes hear about married women wishing to go back to being single because of reasons like having more time to oneself, less worries since one doesn’t have anybody to care for, more shopping money , and so on. Sometimes, I think about these and wish I could be have these too. But then I realize that what I am now - a mom - is the greatest, most fulfilling experience a woman could ever have. The realization and true understanding of what unconditional love is is that thing a woman could experience only when she becomes a mother. And that is what I love about being one.

Found out about this exciting event while I was doing my morning read at ShopCrazy:

And then I saw it is scheduled on May 17 — the day we depart for Hongkong. A bit upsetting as I am looking forward to attending the one-day expo and listen to talks about the following topics:

• Caring for Baby’s Teeth
• Choosing a School For Your Child: Progressive vs Traditional Learning
• Training Your Yaya/Family and Yaya Partnership

I was also looking forward to visiting the booths of retailers such as David & Goliath and Aqualogic Swim, and the booths of Mompreneurs.

If you’re interested in learning more about EXPO MOM, visit their website here.

One morning while we were preparing the little boy for school:

Me: “Manu, it’s time to brush your teeth.”

Manu: {not saying anything and hiding under the bed cover and pillows}

Me: “Yaya, paki toothbrush-an si Manu.” {as I was in a hurry — which is like, every morning!}

Yaya: “Manu, brush teeth na.” {holding the toothbrush, ready to aim at the target}

Manu: “No!” {still hiding under the pillows}

And then I remembered an article that I read about getting your toddler to cooperate — provide the toddler choices, which will give him a feeling of freedom and control; rather than forcing something on him, which is more likely to be taken with resistance. Thus:

Me: “Manu, who do you want to brush your teeth? Mommy or Daddy?”

Manu: “MANU!”

Nyahahaha!

Two years old pa lang, bugoy na.

Ever since we had our little boy we’ve seen quite a few of the big event movies of the last 3 years. Previously we’d never miss those highly anticipated films that sure to be top-grossers or modern trilogies where people would be forming two long lines: one for buying the tickets and one for getting in. We miss the popcorn, soda, theater rope, and people crowding just to get into the movies. But i’m sure that pretty soon we’ll be forming in these type of lines again – this time for BIG kiddie movies!

I am an American Idol fan, and have watched every episode of each season since Season 2 – until now. In fact, it is not only this show that I’m not able to watch, but all of my other favorite shows as well. The reason? MANU. He insists on watching his own favorite shows, namely, Winnie The Pooh, Barney, Mickey’s Clubhouse (is that what it’s called?), and the mom and dad just can’t say no. We tried leaving him inside the bedroom and watch TV at the other room, but he wants to watch his shows with the both of us beside him! So now we’re now seriously considering getting laptop computers, so we could finally have time to watch the shows that we were deprived of for the past several months

I can’t believe that the GAP pants I bought for Manu last December looks a a size smaller on him three months later. I got a size 2T just so the pants wouldn’t be too big nor too exact. I was expecting that he’d outgrow them in half a year’s time but in just a couple of months? Goodness. I was totally surprised when I let him wear it during his birthday, and I couldn’t believe it was already bitin! He has just worn it like three times! I felt he had a huge growth spurt between the months of January to March because aside from the pants, I also noticed that his old (and relatively new) shirts are starting to look small on him already.

Looking at the chart, it seems that he just grew tall normally. And I thought he grew at least six inches taller compared to last year (exaggerated, i know)! I plotted his height on a boys’growth chart, and I am happy to know that he’s growing up to be the average kid:

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First it was Britney, then Lindsay, now who’s next? Looking at this disturbing trend I’m really glad that I’m raising my kid here in the Philippines surrounded by family and our unique set of values. Sure there are good addiction treatment procedures and center abroad but those are after-the-fact solutions. What we have here is a good way of prevention – family intervention. I hope they get better, though. We wouldn’t want our kids admiring such stars and all their emotional baggages.

I’ve been looking around for some party invitation ideas as early as now for our next big party. Ever since we made Manu’s 1^st birthday party invite, I’ve wanted to top it with a better format and theme. I don’t want to end up copying another invite since I want our invited guests to see it as unique and well-prepared. I was checking out a site preparing invites for the not so frequent events. If they can make nice Kentucky Derby Party Invitations (a very unusual event!) then a birthday invitation would be a cinch. I think its worth checking out some more.

It has been a long week of vacation for me (as I was already on leave since Monday) but I still haven’t gone through half of my “to-do’s” before the week ends.  I better start ticking off some of these before the little boy’s yaya goes on her vacation on Tuesday:

1. Enroll Manu at The Bridge’s Summer Camp - done 3/19
2. Go to derma for wart removal - done 3/19
3. Go to OB for regular check-up - cancelled; dra. dancel won’t resume clinic until next week
4. Attend Mark’s Hi-lo class on Tuesday and Thursday; Annies’ on Saturday - yey! was able to attend the tuesday class!  unfortunately, the thursday class was cancelled
5. Go to Tips n’ Toes for a free foot spa (courtesy of my mom;  I think I’ll also be having my manicure done too as I am already there)
6. Visit sites on my blogroll that I haven’t visited for awhile
7. Check out a website, which supposedly is the #1 online casinos reviews for gamblers, for a relative who is currently into online gambling
8. File bills and other important documents