iñigo at mischievous three

it's an everyday challenge for us now to keep up with iñigo. it's because he's a typical three-year-old: zesty, active, curious, energetic, demanding, assertive and i hate to say this but he really is, naughty. ;-) he easily gets bored in the house so it's a must that i have some activities for him under my sleeve. his assertiveness (read: matigas ang ulo :))  is quite striking and i often find my voice on a high pitch... but he knows my rules, and these are to minimize his mess in the house as much as possible, to listen and follow mommy's orders, and not to play rough with his baby brother. he abide sometimes, but most of the time a lot of reminders and follow-ups are needed. many people though, including his teachers in school, say that he is a well-mannered boy. they have probably compared him with other kids as i have also observed that most kids of iñigo's age are already rude and extremely rowdy. am glad that iñigo is far from being as such.

he also loves his school and has shown improvement in his socialization skills since he first attended preschool as he now interacts with his classmates, with the initiative sometimes coming from him, unlike before when other kids seem to be alien for him.

...and just like the other kids, iñigo never runs out of energy and we always find him running and jumping, even inside the house. he loves to play ball games and is good at them, which only shows that his gross motor skill is already fully developed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

playing soccer on the grounds of don bosco mandaluyong

but what we really love about our eldest son is he remains a happy kid. he loves to laugh, mostly on mundane things, and crack a joke. he can be quite silly though, which jude and i just find normal for his age.

"what's so funny, iñigo?" :)

one time while we were strolling inside greenbelt 5, iñigo saw a young boy who looks exactly like russell of the movie "up". i knew it would happen since he already did it before. he called on to us and pointed to the direction of the kid and said "look dad, it's the chubby boy". it wasn't enough for him this time. he even followed the boy and chanted "chubby boy... chubby boy..." i thought i would faint because it's the daddy of the kid who took notice and glared at him. hahaha.

i still let him watch the tv but i try to limit it to 2-3 hours a day. he also knows my rule in terms of tube viewing, i.e. when the scene is becoming violent, he must turn off the tv. he faithfully abides and is more strict than us as he would remind me or jude when we're watching boxing matches or santino (may bukas pa for him) that "it's not good..." :)

quite surprisingly, iñigo is very heavy even if he looks slim to some. now weighing 18.5 kilos, he is actually at the borderline of becoming overweight.  he still has a good appetite and even hearty sometimes especially when his favorite sinigang is served. he also eats two snacks in the afternoon. growth spurt, maybe. :) am also happy that he is still fond of eating veggies, especially the fiber-rich leafy and green ones. this is something am really thankful for because i know that feeding the little ones is usually difficult.

we're also happy that he is very eager to learn. as of this date, he knows how to count one to 20 and can identify these numbers correctly... thanks to the elevators, remote controls, and other gadgets.  he also knows to tell time in hours, even before it was taught to him in school. he got the concept of time from me since i always give him deadlines and i use the clock for him for reference. he also know phonics by now. his teacher and i were really amazed that he learned it easily since he only goes to school 2-3x a week. we're expecting that he can read simple words when he turns four. though am really not in a hurry when it comes to his reading skill but if it he will show any interests to read early then why not... iñigo loves to read, i mean he loves me to read his books for him and it's a must that i read 2-3 books for him before bedtime. there are even some books that he had already memorized the lines per page. :D

he is also becoming more independent. aside from feeding and bathing himself, he also insists to put on his own clothes (except for those with buttons) and shoes and he does it right.

one of his milestones last month is sleeping at night without wearing any diaper and am proud to say that he is really good on this as he only made two accidents in our first week of trying and after, no more wet sheets! :D i look forward to the days that size XXL diapers will no longer be part of my grocery list. iñigo still refuse to use the toilet bowl when pooping. *sighs* he's still scared until now...

 

...and since we're on the topic of his fears, he is back to his old self who's scared of pools and seas. whenever when we're on the beach he just keeps himself busy by making sandcastles. but it's not only that... to our dismay, iñigo is also now afraid of riding an airplane! even a visit to disneyland would not convince him of going to hong kong if it would require him to ride a plane.

theo at 3 months

theo made his first travel on his third month. it's also during this time that he experienced his first christmas and new year celebration. he attended several parties and had been to many  places, which is unusual for babies his age. we know... :D

he's indeed a busy babe for the past month but theo, who's purely breastfed until, continuous to be healthy and happy.

 

 

development and milestones

- theo keeps on getting bigger and heavier every month. he was weighing 6.1 kilos at 10 weeks and if my guess will be right again, he'll be weighing 7 kilos already on our next visit to his pedia, which is scheduled on the 16th of this month.

- our little baby has now stronger neck muscles as he can already raise his head for a few minutes and rotate it side by side. with this and better vision, he can now look intently at anything that catches his attention. he also now swings his limbs and wiggles his body whenever he likes. it won't take long and soon we'll find him rolling. i can now hear jude saying it's time now to dismantle our bed frame again.

- i love it when he tries to engage me in a conversation with his goos and gurgles. there are even moments when he "talks" incessantly as long as he sees my face. oh my, we have another chatterbox in the house! :) his smiles and giggles are now more defined and he easily gives them away especially when i try to make him laugh.

he's talking to his daddy here

- is teething already starting for theo? it's because he drools a lot even when he's only nine weeks old. i'm sending three to four wet bibs to his hamper everyday, and that doesn't include the gauze diapers which i also use to wipe on his face. he alredy earned the monicker, "drool factory" among jude's friends because of his extraordinary salivation.

those fists are always his favorite...

- unfortunately, i think i have also passed on my allergic rhinitis to theo. december found the boys sneezing and with clogged noses. though theo's allergy to the cold weather is not as bad as his kuya's whose nose i constantly wiped with tissue for several days.  theo also had mild colds but it's more of the booger (sorry for being gross) that concerned me as it blocked his nostrils.

- theo really has a happier disposition. leave him in his crib or rocker with a toy and he's fine, for a few minutes at least. i sometimes catches him giggling over the sounds that his activity gym creates when he kicks it. the toys have more use now than during the time of iñigo who never showed any enthusiasm for this form of entertainment.

- he can now sleep 7 to 8 hours straight at night. :)

 

 

2009: a year full of blessings

year 2009 started with a bang for us when jude was formally hired by his present company january of last year. it was indeed a blessing for us because the move was a lateral promotion for him, which means his income also increased. :)

february came and the reason why God gave jude a better salary was revealead. it's this month that we learned that we were expecting another child! it was really in our plans for 2009 to give iñigo a sibling but we were a bit apprehensive as our budget then--with our old disposable income--was still tight. nevertheless, we planned and i was even wishing that the baby will arrive on the month of june but it's only after four months of trying that i was able to conceive and that was when financial blessings were already pouring in. can i say that God really works wonderfully? amen! :)

we moved to this condo unit, which is just 3 buildings away from jude's office, middle of march. i consider this as a blessing because our life before then was really... uhm... quite miserable as we're not used of waiting for jude until 2 or 3 am because of his new work schedule. i also worried about him driving late at night while he was already exhausted from work.

it was also this month that we had a cebu getaway with an overnight stay in shangri-la mactan, something we rarely do. hehe.

months of april and may went well for us. just the fact that no one in the family got sick, and that we're able to pay our bills and financial obligations brought by jude's sudden separation from P&G are enough to count as blessings.

my parents (lolo joe and lola yolly) celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in june and though we had a simple celebration it was still meaningful, at least, for me. i should also count as a blessing that at their old age my papa and mama are still healthy and fit.

july is iñigo's birth month and we made his 3rd birthday memorable for him by having it in jollibee with his favorite character, i.e. thomas the tank engine, as the theme. the little boy was really so happy and even until now, whenever we pass by that jollibee branch, he'd never fail to remind us that it's where he celebrated his birthday. :that's enough for jude (the financer) and me (the organizer) happy. D

august is daddy''s month and he really had a blast on his birthday as he celebrated it separately with his family and loved ones, and friends. and what a better gift to receive for his birthday but his regularization in the company as his 6-month probationary period already ended...

and this also came with an increase in his salary. :P

aside from it's my birth month, it was september last year when some of the worst hurricanes hit the country and/or the metro. and just by being left unscathed and unaffected by these hurricanes was already something for us as we're already waiting for the coming of our second-born. in fact, we were even in the comforts of a private room in st. lukes hospital as we thought i'd already be popping out the day ondoy wreaked havoc in metro manila.

october came and so was our dear theo! i gave birth to our second born, who's weighing 7 lbs. and 7 oz., via lamaze procedure. he's the biggest blessing we received for 2009 and one of the two special gifts jude and i ever received in our marriage.

it was on october 8th, four days after we received our wonderful advanced anniversary gift, when jude and i celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. :)

november was a very busy month for us. nothing extraordinary happened except for iñigo who we enrolled in a regular preschool and has now a teacher (a real one, haha) and classmates.

we had theo's christening last december 5th and after a week we made our second and last major travel for 2009, which was in ilocos region (la union, vigan, laoag, pagudpud). it was a vacation well-spent and all of us... i guess theo also did as he seldom cried, hehe... enjoyed it!

last year was indeed a blessed year for us. yes, we had problems and challenges we also dealt with stress--a lot actually. but we chose to look at the glass half-filled. it was on the last week of august when our house in cabuyao was ransacked and i thought i was going to give birth pre-term because it was really stressful for both me and jude. just dealing with the local police and dswd was already a headache. but now, after all the calamities that made thousands of filipinos homeless, we still realized that we are still more blessed and fortunate... we just have to appreciate more on what were given to us  than to grieve on what was taken.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!