Flower Girl: The Preparation

When Bea was told that she was going to be a flower girl at ninong’s wedding, she was so excited, even though she didn’t exactly understand what that means. She even told her teacher and classmates about it, and they were very happy for her too!

We told her what she was supposed to do: walk along the aisle slowly while throwing flower petals paving the way for the bride. We practiced THE WALK. We reminded her again and again that her pacing should be slow, but sometime’s she’d forget and break into a hop/run, then we’d have to remind her again.

Flower Girl

Bea was asked by her godfather to be a flower girl at his wedding. Everyone in our family is of course super happy! hehehe... Here's a pic taken while she was having her fitting... cutie huh?
I'm so proud and happy for her, i never had the chance to be a flower girl, or a bridesmaid. The only participation I've ever had in a wedding was being a bride. =)

I'm sure everything will go well on the day itself...

Biking At The Quezon City Memorial Circle

Bea has been asking (pleading) us to buy her a bike. Blame in on the other kids on our block, they all have their "grown up"bikes... with 2 wheels plus trainer wheels. This has been her Christmas wish... and later on her birthday wish. Hubby had a deal with her, if she stops sucking her thumb while sleeping, he will buy her a bike. Their agreed deadline is her 4th birthday, however that day came and went with her still sucking her thumb to put her to sleep. =)

To keep her from being sad, we decided to go to the park, not only for some fresh air, but also for for Bea to try riding a bike on her own. (we were just trying to see if she can reach the pedals and actually operate the bike on her own. we rented a small bike with side car for her and a big one for hubby and me. This is my first time to ride with hubby... and it was quiet a fun experience! even hubby had a great time! Bea was so proud that she is riding a "grown up" bike at last, although still with the help of her nanny. =)

She's 4!

How time flies! the little girl turned four years old last month! it seemed only yesterday when she was still trying to learn to walk and talk... now she's running all over the place, with her volume turned all the way up! (learning to control her volume is still a work in progress.)

this year, she chose a minnie mouse theme for her birthday. =)

Diva In Training

My Little School Girl

Photohunt : Sports

Last year we attended a birthday party which had a sports theme. Little Bea came in a tennis outfit. Isn't she a cutie? As you can see, weapon of choice is not really a tennis racket.. but a little red balloon. hahaha!

There games and surprises, and even the then-2 year old Bea was able to win some prizes. Sure she was the youngest and smallest among the participants.. but that didn't sway her. She sure has some spunk in her!

We definitely had a great time that day! =)


PhotoHunt

Bea and Typhoon Ondoy

Last September 26, 2009 (Typhoon Ondoy) was Bea’s first experience with flooding. In her almost 4 years of existence, she has never encountered a flood. Actually, the same goes for me… I’ve lived in Marikina almost all my life…and in my 30 plus years of roaming this earth… no flood at all.

That fateful Saturday, we were supposed to go somewhere in Manila. When we were about to get in the car, we noticed the streets were already a bit flooded. My father had to device a way for us to get in the car without getting wet. The whole thing was such a production number! My sister first had to get her car out of the garage so that hubby can pull in the garage. Bea’s lolo took pieces of wood that we could step on just so our feet wouldn’t get wet. We were able to get in the car successfully dry. We were on our way soon enough. All this time, the rain continued to pour. As in! Steady, heavy downpour.

When we reached the Batasan Bridge in San Mateo Rizal, we realized it would be too dangerous to push through with our plan to leave for Manila. One side of the bride is closed off since it was flooded already. We decided to just go home, fearing we might get stranded if we continue.

Bea would’ve been terribly disappointed if we went home immediately… she already got all excited. Getting on the car and going out with mommy and daddy is such a major happening for her… I guess that’s usually the case of kids with working parents. Anyhoo…I decided to drop by Puregold before going home, just so Bea can roam around a bit and maybe even buy a toy of her choosing. Bea and daddy went in while I waited in the car with the nanny. When they got back, the little one was beaming, she charmed her way into daddy’s heart once again. Daddy bought a plastic cooking set for her. =) Then we went on our way home.

When we turned to the street leading to the entrance of our subdivision, we were surprised to see that the water has risen already! Hubby decided to park the car near the church since it was on higher grounds. We walked to our house. The flood waters reached up to our calves. Hubby carried little Bea, while I carried other stuff that we had in the car. (bags, books, laptop etc). We had to walk slowly since it was hard to wade through the waters… plus the rains continued to pour heavily.

Inside our home, water reached up to our ankles only. Ninang A and Lolo R were busy trying to stop the water from coming in… and trying to get everything to a higher surface.

When there was nothing left to do… they turned their attention to Bea, who was perched on the sofa. We didn’t allow her to go down and wade through the still clear rain water in the house for obvious reasons. Typical toddler, she also wanted to wade with us. She tried everything to be able to get down from her safe spot. She’d purposely drop stuff in the water and try to get them, “accidentally” getting wet in the process. =) At last, I decided to let her down and experience how it is to wade through flood waters. =) After all this is a first for us! We will surely talk about how our house got flooded in for years to come… why deprive her of the experience? She happily splashed around, walking to and fro, relishing the experience…good thing daddy was not in the room. He would definitely be against this! Hehehe…Only when Bea started to act like she was about to dive in did I stop her and ask yaya R to clean her up. Lolo kept on telling her that it was a swimming pool… that’s why she wanted to dive in… hay!

Anyway, never in my wildest imagination, thought that Typhoon Ondoy was the disaster it would turn out to be. I was just amazed that this happened to us for the very first time. And I was also concerned about its effect to Bea, I didn’t want her to be traumatized or something… so I tried to make it a fun thing for her. The atmosphere at home was relaxed and casual. No panic at all. I even made paper boats for her to play with and set adrift in our sala. =)

The waters continued to rise as the rain just wouldn’t let up. The Nangka River soon overflowed and what was once clear rain water in our home turned into murky, mud water.

Soon Bea was marooned on the sofa. She couldn’t go down, and it was pretty heavy to carry her around all the time. So I placed her there and gave her stuff to be busy with. I gave her art paper, glue, scissors and bond paper. She happily cut and glued the afternoon away, bursting into impromptu, made up songs…I think it’s safe to say she’s not traumatized at all. =)

As it grew dark, we gathered around in the sala and talked, as if it was the most natural thing in the world… talking while knee-deep in mud. =) Bea made us laugh when she shared with us her contingency plans. She said “lipat na tayo bahay mommy sa malaking malaking bahay para wala tubig” (let’s transfer to a bigger house mommy, to a big, big house so that the flood won’t reach us) then I asked her where she intended to go. She promptly replied “Maureen”. Maureen is our next door neighbor whose house had a second floor. I really found amusing that in her young mind she was able to assess our situation and come up with a plausible solution. What a bright baby!

Thankfully, we were able to survive unscathed. Some belongings got ruined, but generally, we’re now ok. Hopefully things go back to normal soon, especially for our fellow Marikeños badly hit by Typhoon Ondoy.

My Budding Artist

The little girl swears that she has drawn a car on a sunny day, with little droplets of rain. There's daddy, mommy and little bea in the car... i lovingly clapped and applauded her artistry.... all the while looking at what looked like an anteater. hehehe... good thing she has a great imagination unlike me!

Sharing A Piece of History With The Little One

Bea doesn’t know who Corazon Aquino is. She doesn’t know who Ninoy is… or what EDSA people power meant. She is too young to understand that the freedom and democracy she is now enjoying are fruits of the noble sacrifices of these gallant people. Children are very bright though. She knows that there is something wrong. That there is a serious atmosphere in our home and in the TV programs that she often watches. She sees Kris Aquino crying on TV and she somberly says “wawa naman Kris, wala na mommy nya”. When we ask where Kris’ mom has gone, she promptly replies “sleep na”.

But how do I tell a 3 year old? How do I tell her that we should look up to Ninoy and Cory with gratitude and respect. How do I tell her that this couple gave up their cherished private lives to fight for a people, most of whom, back then, seemed to have accepted their fate, doomed forever to be under the dictatorship, with their human rights trampled on by everyone who was in power. How do I tell my little girl that being a Filipino is special and something to be proud of?

For now, I think I may have to be content with the fact that she has learned to say Tita Cory’s name. She likes to jump around shouting in a sing-song voice “Cory, Cory ko..ko..ko..!” She has also mastered flashing the laban sign. The sign that has been the symbol of our struggle for freedom and democracy. She now knows that yellow means Tita Cory. Her lola Linda would’ve been so proud of our little Cory-ista!

In time, when she fully understands, I will tell her our history. I will tell her what we had to go through to get back the freedom that was taken from us by a dictatorship. Sure she may have questions by then, like how come nothing much has changed since then? Why are we still poor and struggling as a nation? Why is there still so much hate and segregation in our society? Hmmm…. I’ll just have to cross that bridge when I get there…

I Am My Daddy's Daughter

Little girl has been making a fuss in the morning... she just hates it when we have to leave for work... leaving her...

so she thought of the next best thing. she donned her daddy's office uniform... probably asking to be taken along... daddy's officemates won't be able to tell the difference. She'll blend right in!

*wink*

Cooking It Up With Daddy

Sunday is a special day for every family. for us especially since this is the only day we are together, since hubby has work even on a saturday. every sunday, as a treat to us, hubby handles the cooking for lunch. =) last sunday, i requested for chicken sinigang.

Bea is at that stage where she is interested in everything grown ups are doing. she just loves being assigned a task. her fave assignment nowadays is preparing our iced tea. "Pimpla Iced Tea Bea" (Timpla Iced Tea si Bea) she was thrilled when we propped her on a chair and allowed her to "prepare" daddy's ingredients.

Here she is "cooking"...and another one with daddy in the background doing the real cooking:

By the way, the chicken sinigang turned out really yummy!

Palm Sunday 2009

On Palm Sunday Christians celebrate the Triumphal Entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, the week before his death and resurrection. For many Christian churches, Palm Sunday, often referred to as "Passion Sunday," marks the beginning of Holy Week, which concludes on Easter Sunday.

The Bible reveals that when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowds greeted him with waving palm branches, and by covering his path with palm branches. Immediately following this great time of celebration in the ministry of Jesus, he begins his journey to the cross.

The biblical account of Palm Sunday can be found in Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-44; and John 12:12-19.

Last Sunday, we heard mass at the St. Andrew Church in Makati, on our way to the car show in Manila. We told Bea what Palm Sunday was about. She had a grand time shaking the palm leaves. I don't think she understands fully though...

LO Share: Bea's First Haircut

LO Share : Bea's 3rd Birthday

cinderella finally owns her first pair of slippers

ever since bea learned how to walk, we made her wear sandals. at that time, since her feet were so tiny, slippers don't fit her well. even sandals were too big for her, but at least there were straps and so they stayed in place. lately though, we noticed that some of her toes didn't look so well, in fact they were dark and they had a weird shape... probably because of being enclosed in her sandals. (by sandals, i mean the sandals with crocs design)

that is why we decided to buy regular slippers for her. as expected she was really excited to try them on! it took a while for her to get used to the concept of this kind of slippers, it's different from the slip on sandals that she is used to. she often stumbled. she had a hard time putting them on, and an even harder time keeping them on.

then was then, now she wears her pink slippers with the confidence of an old timer. she walks, jumps, and runs in them. success!

she now has her eyes on my heeled shoes... and the adventure continues...

our morning ritual

poor bea has got the sniffles. blame it on the weird weather that we've been having. this is too bad because we had to break our regular morning routine for fear of aggravating her condition... you see, for a while now, we have this sort of morning ritual. bea is in that stage where whenever her daddy and i leave for the office, she insists on coming along, to the point of crying! so we decided that every morning we will let her ride in the car with us and we'd go around a couple of blocks in our subdivision, by the time we get to the guard house her nanny would be waiting for her. she'd willingly get off the car waving enthusiastically at us... that's enough to make her day.

we'd pass by some chicken and bea would wave at them and say "bye bye iken" (chicken), then we'd pass by a cat and she'd say "bye bye cat". then she'd proceed to quiz us, "anto?", "nyan?" (ano to? ano yan?) pointing at anything that catches her fancy. the funny thing is that she actually remembers where everyone is supposed to be because one time when we passed by the vacant lot where we usually some chicken,but at that time there weren't any since it was raining... bea said "no-no iken, mo mor" (no chicken, no more) hahaha... sharp memory!
the short trip we take every day is meant to make our bea happy, but guess what, it makes our day too!

Another Sleepless Night With My Baby

we finally decided to call it a night... at two a.m., i lied down next to little bea to get some shut eye, but bea kept on tossing and turning, and kicking and slapping, kept of trying to sit up and crawl over to daddy's side. if i stop her, she'd cry. she wants to drink water, daddy gave her some, it appeased her only for a moment, then she vomitted it. she had a hard time going back to sleep. she was also running a low fever... 37.9 so i gave her tempra. she fell asleep after a while, only to wake up again after two hours. argh!

today i wake up at the sound of bea and her daddy fighting. she won't sleep again. she has feeding problems already, please don't tell me she's developed sleeping problems as well.

i hope it's just a phase.

Bea's First Haircut

our little bea had her first haircut last thurday, May 31. we have been wanting to do this for a long time but i was having second thoughts... it's easier to tie her hair back if it's long. but it's getting so long and curly (just like mommy and daddy!)

i was on leave still from work, daddy wanted to have a haircut so i decided to tag along with bea and her yaya. we had only one place to go to, tito ziffred's parlor. he is the official hair expert of the osana's.. =) i was supposed to hold her while in the chair, but i also wanted to take good pictures of the event, i was afraid hubby will not do a good job. hehehe... i just feel it is a milestone for her! so daddy held her while they sat on the chair. little bea was such a good girl during the whole thing. she only held on tightly to daddy while mommy snapped away with my camera phone! the only time she panicked was when the hairdryer was turned on (for only a few seconds) to dry her hair.