Archive for the ‘Motherhood’ Category

If you’ve been following me for years, like waaaayyy back in ’97, you’ve practically watched my son grow into a Teenager. Chances are, I’ve watched your kids grow as well. I suddenly feel all nostalgic. Anyhoooo, part of his growth that you’ve witnessed is his art work. I can’t even count how many times I’m raved what a great artist he is and how many artwork of his that I’ve posted throughout the years. They’re not limited to drawings either. My son can do digital better than anyone. Well, maybe I’m exaggerating but what I mean it, he’s really good. He once drew Popeye in Photoshop just using the draw tool then printed it and when his cousins saw it they all wanted one. These days he’s into creating videos and video games. I won’t even attempt to look into his computer to check out his files coz I know he’s got folders and folders of them. He has a YouTube account where he uploads the videos though. I’ll share some of the videos sometime. Right now, here are some recent and not-so recent drawings all over his room.

As you can see, he’s into Sonic these days. He’s also into Halo and he has drawings of that too which I’ll post sometime. When he was in grade school, except for that one week when he brought home 3 tickets in a span of one week for talking too much, he never really got in trouble for the usual stuff that kids gets in trouble with at school. Yah know like bullying, picking a fight, or being a distraction to other kids. Every time I had a meeting with any of his Teachers, his trouble was mostly because he liked to draw a lot. It sounds strange, doesn’t it? See, he would always rush his work so he could have that extra quite time to do whatever and in his case, to draw. So every time we’d talk to him about focusing on the task at hand, I always had this pain in my stomach. It always bothered me so much telling my son to ease up on something he’s obviously so passionate about so he could concentrate on other things.

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Just like  telephone batteries that need charging after spending away from its base for a while, Emma needed charging after our walk yesterday. Well, I walked while she skipped, A LOT. She’s always a ball of energy when we go for our mid-afternoon walks. When I tell her to slow down and wait for me, she says, “C’mon Mommy” while gesturing with her hands for me to walk faster. As soon as we got back in the house, she flung her sneakers and socks into the floor then slumped herself into her chair in the corner.

I asked her to smile for the camera and she obliged so overall the day was good. the next time we go for our walk, I’ll try to remember to bring the video cam so I could record her skipping that way I’ll have proof that she is indeed Miss Skip-A-Lot!

2 years ago, when my son was Mario for Halloween, was the time we told him to be his last year of wearing a Halloween costume and trick-or-treating. I mean he could still accompany his sister and be part of the merriment of it all but we figured it was time to let the little ones take first dibs on houses with candies and chocolates wearing their cute or scary costumes. But then last year, we decided, OK, 1 more year. So my talented and artistic husband turned our son into a zombie.

Hubs did the makeup really well and my son gamely played his character too when I took the pictures. This year he could walk along with his sister and father while they go around the neighborhood trick-or-treating. I’ll be left at home giving out candies. He’s really not happy about not wearing anything for Halloween. I am kinda feeling guilty about that but yah know, we figured there has to be a cut off limit for kids. Like when you tell tell them Santa is actually Dad, and Easter Bunny is just someone in a Bunny costume scaring little kids in the mall, unintentionally of course, so the parents can have pictures of their children with the Easter Bunny. I am proud to say I never subjected my children to that commercialism, Heh! We didn’t tell him all of that about Easter Bunny of course. Just that he’s not real, short gist of it all. We try not to be too cynical all the time. 

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Whenever my husband enjoys our dinner immensely he would say,

“damn that was disgusting I ate all of it”

Sometimes that involves second and third helpings.

Early on, my son would react coz he didn’t get the irony between the empty plate and the word disgusting. It was kinda cute how he would defend me by firmly saying the food is not disgusting and I’m the best cook in the world although it usually takes him 2 hours to finish his dinner. He just doesn’t like it when someone says something bad about my cooking. Father or not.

Anyhooo, last week I made some broiled chicken pieces where the skin got a little bit burnt. Just a little of course, yah know, broiler effect which my husband likes apparently.

My husband told our son after thanking me for a delicious dinner,

“Caine, I hope you find a wife that cooks just as good as your mother.”

And I said oh so surely…

“I hope so coz I’m certainly not cooking for you all your life.”

Of course that was a big fat lie.

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My husband and the son left to go fishing 30 minutes ago so here I was thinking the hubs might be sneaking out to smoke ashton cigars but I guess not. They just got back a  couple of minutes ago. Just in time for me to pop a few kernels of popcorn in my mouth. The girl and I thought we could have a popcorn night without the boys but that’s out of the window coz I just lost my share. My son asked if there were more. Since I’m such a good mother and I know how much he loves popcorn as much as I love pork I gave him my bowl.

He was grateful so I took the opportunity to remind him that I am willing to sacrifice a bowl of popcorn for my first born son but he shouldn’t expect me to sacrifice my life for him. Hubby said it sounded good enough.

My son on the other hand mumbled a few words amidst chewing MY popcorn so I really didn’t understand what he said. Ah yah know, motherhood. It has its perks once in a while .

He can by doing a few household chores of course. Like doing the dishes, sweeping the floor, cleaning his room, and mowing at least half of the lawn. I’m sure my husband and I are not the only parents in the world who’ve taught their children the value of responsibilities. You want something, work for it. Santa Ain’t Real!!!

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Usually on the weekends I would tackle loads of laundry and sweep the floor. Because we have laminate floor in the living room, hallway, and bedrooms, I actually have to sweep everyday. With carpet, I could get away with vacuuming every 2-3 days but it’s a totally different ballgame now.

Anyhoooo, the surprise, oh yeah, that. Well this weekend, I did more than loads of laundry and swept the floor. I also steamed-mopped the kitchen floor, cleaned the whole bathroom and after putting the folded clothes away, I organized my husband’s side of the closet. I know, washing, drying and folding clothes then putting ‘em away in one day is like a miracle around here. Then you add steam-mopping, sweeping and organizing a part of the closet, boy oh boy, that’s like miracles to the 20th power. Granted that was only 3 loads of laundry and I still have 2 loads sitting in my couch that need to be put away, but trust me that what I’ve accomplished last Saturday was a miracle. No, really, it was.

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Years ago I learned what the “Burnt Toast” philosophy is when Teri Hatcher was promoting her book, “Burnt Toast: And Other Philosophies of Life”. The realization was loud and clear that YES, I do burn some toasts and because I hate wasting anything, I’d brush that black stuff out, spread either butter or jam, then eat it while the rest of the family gets the best toasts. I am not really sure where Teri said this (might be on Oprah), but I completely agreed with her that yah know, we should stop that. Why can’t we have the best toast just like everybody else? It’s of course a metaphor for pretty much every “martyr” acts we do for our loved one’s sake. And Mothers are usually the ones in the forefront. We’re not gullible, we’re just instinctively nurturers.

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