theo at 20 months: walking-talking

the last time i blogged about theo 'fears' were hounding me as i was quite worried of possible developmental delays since he wasn't yet walking and talking then. but as i believed, theo was only taking a slow but sure pace and he will walk and talk when he's ready... and that's what he did. at 17 months, we saw theo trying to do few small steps. days after, the few small steps became steady and confident and he was already striding inside our room but only for a short moment. it was inside the playroom in hamilo coast when jude and i confirmed to ourselves that "hey, theo is really walking now" as he crossed the big room by just using his feet.

 

now, at 20 months, theo is already unstoppable and he'd move around whenever he likes it.

 

 

 

it was only recently that we realized that theo was already talking. funny that i even expressed my worries to his pedia whom we visited for theo's booster shot one month ago. i never knew that theo's mumbling sounds already have meanings. haha. he calls inigo "ya" for kuya; "ghe" for she or sheryl, our househelp; "dhack" for duck and its sound is "dhack-dhack"; '"bibe" for baby; to name a few. now i just have to wait for him to string words together. i hope it's soon.

 

 

and what do you know... theo is one uber-jealous baby! i can't hug nor lean on his daddy when he's around or else he'll scream on top of his lungs. i also can't hug nor make lambing to inigo or he'll hit his old brother. he also has mood swings now. he's not always ready to give his smile, which was so unlikely of him. if he doesn't like to give the  kiss or embrace that our relatives are asking from him, he'll say "no!" and turn his back...   the baby has an attitude, a feisty attitude that is. :)

even his relationship with his big brother has now become 'sweet and sour'. they love to play together but give them a couple of minutes and they're already at war. it's usually because they're fighting over the same toy and this gives theo the reason to hit again his kuya for the latter is not giving in. *sigh*

 

 

it's probably because he copies everything that his kuya does that's why i find theo mature for his age. he usually doesn't want to be left behind - if inigo can do it, so can theo, too! hehe. he now wants to feed himself, read... err, pretend to read books, play with his kuya inigo's toys or games, and play with the gadgets in our house. which amazed me as he really knew how to operate them. :D

 

 

 

educating a child... how costly can it be!

it's mid-may already, four more weeks to go and inigo is going to school again. i haven't yet enrolled him since i still have two more weeks before the school's deadline and am hoping that the money we saved for his tuition which is still kept in the bank will double before the deadline... joke! :)

we will only send one kindergarten to school, mind you, and yet we can already feel the pinch of educating a child. what more if we're already sending two or three kids, or sending kids to college? i hope we're still able by then.

 

it's  just last week when i saw the facebook post of UST, my alma mater, with a schedule of tuition for the coming school year and i was  shocked that the fee for one semester now is more than php 50k while it was only php 8k during my time--almost seven times the amount my parents paid to send me to college. made a little computation and i figured that by the time inigo studies in college we need at least php 350k for one semester if the rate of tuition increase remains the same for the next twelve years. multiply the amount by eight semesters and we need to spend around php 3 million for inigo's college education alone. we're not yet even talking about the course which my son will get. the php 8k was the tuition in my college, which is AB (or liberal arts in some schools)-- one of the cheapest courses in UST. so how much do you think we should raise since inigo wants to become a pilot or an astronaut? *jitters*

jude was half-joking when he mused that his kids should become varsity members in college so we will be spared from paying for their tuition. hehe. i know it's possible but right now we're pressured to save more for their future. we realized that the pension plans we're paying for annually, which we're hoping to use for inigo and theo's college education, are not enough. they can only send the kids for two semesters and done.

***
oh by the way, it's not only inigo who's back to school this june. jude is seriously planning to enroll in a graduate course on environmental management not only to boost his credentials but also to earn a number of units in order for him to teach again (he was a former high school teacher in don bosco technical institute). so if the time comes that he quits his corporate job we don't need to worry on how we're going to fund the kids' education.

let's get fit and fab!

bad news. the results of our APE just came in this week and surprise, surprise, jude's cholesterol level is way beyond the upper limit of the normal range. (i hope jude won't kill me for telling it here, but as if it isn't obvious. hehe.) now he's in a strict no-fat, high-fiber diet. thinking of meals for him is quite a challenge since i don't want to starve my dear husband by just letting him eat veggies and oatmeal all day. though i already made some veggies recipes a staple on our table since last year like nilagang talbos ng kamote, sinabawang kalabasa at malunggay, ginisang ampalaya (yes my kids eat them! :)) but we also had guilty food trips which are usually high in fat, high in sugar, and high in sodium which is spelled as f-a-s-t-f-o-o-d m-e-al-s. now it's payback time. :(

but i know it's not yet late to change our lifestyle. we just really need to watch what we eat and get more active. i try to jog as often as i could now as time (and the kids) allow me. sometimes i tag jude along... and i tell you, it's addictive! the feeling after is so good that i want to do it again and again. though i also not to push myself too hard since am still skinny and also needs those fats! hehe.

but now that jude really needs to shed those fats that's i make jogging now part of our weekly routine. hay... am missing those pre-wedding days when we can climb and hike as long as time and budget permit. you should have seen the abs of jude then. :P

i pay it forward

there's a discussion in the forum i'm subscribed of about giving financial support to our parents as one member shared her problem to the group, which i no longer want to divulge, and received a quite substantial amount of replies and/or advices.

it struck a chord on me and made me think deeper on how should someone, especially a married person, should deal with this kind of concern. i know the bible already told us how and it's reminded to us in our wedding. but because we're only mortals and we either forget or ignore, that's why time comes when we feel we're clueless on what to do.

when i was still single i was obliged to give a part of my salary to help my parents afford our monthly expenses, especially when my ate settled down and stopped giving her contribution, which i understood. but when it's my time to settle down, my financial support also stopped. (though i was thankful that my parents small business which i partly funded was already flourishing and they no longer need my help) because for one, i had to divert my income to the family which i'll be raising with jude. except for car and some appliances which were gifted to us, jude and i had to buy and invest in a lot of things. then babies came along and we need to fed, clothe, and entertain them; hence, more money is needed. i left the workforce and it's only jude who's working for us and we need to budget his income wisely to afford everything we deem necessary. luckily his income now is quite better compared to what he had been receiving from his former office that's why we can also give a little to our own families.

another reason why i also chose to prioritize our family's (jude, me, and the kids) needs over our parents is because we also need to save for our future, including our retirement. another member of the forum said, "i want to end the cycle (of passing on the obligation to the children) with us and let not my future kids suffer the same fate as us." very well said. and i share the same reason why i asked jude to save for our retirement. i know future doesn't really guarantee that our savings would be enough to pay for our food and medicines in our old age but at least, our kids saw that we prepared for this stage as no preparations mean that we really intend to rely on them.

if there's one thing that i should do now as married child is to pay the goodness of my parents, but i know they understood that it's by paying forward and that is to secure a bright future for my own kids, and that includes parents who won't be a burden during their old age. i  know that's ingratitude in our culture, but i call it 'good parenting'.

how is theo? (theo at 16 months)

the last time i wrote about updates on theo was when he's 10 months old. shame on the mommy because the little tot is already at his 17th month and a lot of stories and updates have to be told about him! :)

since he already turned one last october 2010, theo is now officially a toddler.  and with a personality stronger than his kuya inigo, he is quite a handful at times. i sometimes refer to him as 'maton' since he seems to look like a toughie.

but toughies have all also their soft sides and it's being a mama's boy which makes theo endearing... he can already hug and kiss me! hihi. not to mention his boisterous laughs and charming smiles or grins which never fail to smitten us.

 

 

the little einstein

if there's one thing that i am very proud of about theo is that his cognitive skill is quite advanced for his age. he's already a keen observer and easily picks up what he sees around the house. i undermined this skill before and was shocked one afternoon to see him unplugging my laptop from the power outlet and  plugging instead the television as he wanted to watch playhouse disney. i think he was only 10 months old then. he also knew how to use most of the items inside our house like the comb, phone, keys, laptop even before he turned one year old.

he started early too with some antics compared to inigo. he loves me to sing nursery rhymes for him like "twinkle, twinkle..." and at 10 months he can already demonstrate some of its actions, something that inigo only started to do when he's already a toddler.

the littlest bookworm

i'm glad that i have instilled the book-reading habit to inigo as i think this has been passed now to theo since he always sees me and his older brother reading books especially before bedtime. at his age, the youngest member of our family has favorites already; probably because he likes to hear the rhymes, or probably because he likes to do the actions which i made up for every page. our reading style now is i read the book while he does the actions which he has already memorized by heart--cute! :)

the signing baby

i made sure that theo will also learn how to sign as it really served useful for us during his older brother's time. the first word he learned to sign is "milk" since it's also the first word i thought. hehe. it's followed by "eat" and "drink". now theo has more words up his sleeve such as "more", "thank you", "chicken", and "fish".

i hope he will learn more in the coming weeks... err, i hope i can teach him more words to sign. hehe.

the little headstrong

when it comes to behaviour theo is... ugh!... more terrible than his kuya inigo! theo is quite a brat. he throws tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants. and oh yes, this baby of ours hits, and he hits a lot! :S he hits when we say "no", when we say something which offends him, or when we don't give in to his whims. i hope this hitting will pass quickly as resolving this issue is not my cup of tea as it's not really much of my concern with inigo before.

the baby bull

what i love about theo is he rarely gets sick. the last time i got worried about his health is when he caught a cold virus when he's six months old. there were occasions after that when he had fever, two i think, but it quickly resolved on its own and he's well again.

i also find him sometimes in a wrestling bout with his big brother but thank God he never had bruises nor sprains. :D

the happy baby

theo remains to be a happy baby. he loves to play with his and his kuya inigo's toy, which caused the little fights sometimes, hehe. and mind you, he knows how to play with some of these toys. one time i saw him playing with inigo's toy helicopter. i asked him for it and let the tiny chopper run on our floor. the baby shook his head in disapproval and took the toy from me. he stood up and let it hover up on the air using his hand while he's making these little sounds "weez, burrrrr, shoo-shoo"--the sounds of the plane, car, and train all mixed up. hehehe. anything from a little babe is really adorable, right?

he also loves to play with his ride-on-car, which he got as a gift for his 1st birthday. but sometimes he wants to show that he can do something better and rides the twist car. it's amusing to see him driving this as he knows how to increase his speed using his feet. he's baby-no-more sometimes! :)

the tv-addict in the making

i know it isn't good for him but i can't help but let him watch the tv sometimes especially when it's his kuya inigo's viewing time since we usually stay in one room. he's an avid viewer now of playhouse disney and his current favorite is mickey mouse clubhouse. he never fails to stand up and dance when it's already the "hotdog dance" part.

he's a tv-addict in the making that's why i limit his viewing to one show a day. he tends to become so absorbed by what he's watching that he sometimes ignores my call.

do i need to say more... :D

 

development and milestones

- we went to his pediatrician for his routine check-up two weeks ago and theo was weighing 10.8 kilos. he's quite heavy i know but still far from the border of being obese. his appetite increased remarkably these past few months, which explains why he's heavy. i have already introduced formula milk for him, since i want to slowly wean him from my breastmilk, but theo, no matter what brand i offer, likes only breastmilk. hay, good luck to me!

- he's still not walking! :( my boys are late-walkers. inigo started to walk when he's already 14 1/2 months. i already expected theo to walk later than him because comparing their milestones, inigo learned to sit and stand earlier than theo. but i didn't expect that it would be this late. but we're not worried, just impatient, hehe, since we see progress on his motor skills every week. now he can already make a few steps, it's only his fear of falling that hinders him to walk further.

- his language skill also lags. i know i shouldn't compare my two boys but i can't help but always use inigo as my benchmark for milestones. inigo at theo's age now can already speak a lot of words, which are not only limited to monosyllabic. but theo's words are still limited to "bo" for ball, "boo" for book or other toys. and "eee" for jollibee or mickey. hehe. he has other words which i often hear but he uses them interchangeably so even me, his mom, can't understand him. i have already asked his pediatrician about these concerns but he was quick to reassure me that theo is fine and he just probably needs more stimulation.

i remember during inigo's time, my issue about my eldest was he isn't yet pointing with his index finger at age two, and since it's mentioned in baby books that pointing is a good sign that the kid isn't autistic i was really worried of what could have been inigo's condition. now it's my time to worry about theo. though he started to point with his index finger at nine months, my concern now is possible speech delay.

- i've already mentioned about his cognitive skill and probably because this one is quite advanced that's why the other skills lag. i also enjoy seeing theo catching up on my instructions. he knows my rules for him: don't touch the electric fan (rotor part), don't plug the electrical devices, and don't go beyond our improvised safety gate for the room. he attempts sometimes to break the rule but when he sees me glaring at him it's he who gives me the "no" sign. hehe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

hello, 2011!

i'm always giddy happy when new year comes as it's my chance again to put my plans on the table. new year also refills our hope and for 2011, i have nothing but high hopes for me and my family! :)

here's some of our plans:

own another house. on top of our wishlist for this year is purchasing a house in the metro, preferably within or near makati. in short, near jude's workplace. we're already eyeing some properties and it's up to fate which one is really for us (read: the one which the bank will approve as it's going to be loaned. hehe).  

target date of lipat-bahay: last week of march or april.

pursue our hobby. jude and i had been wanting for the longest time to climb a mountain again but pregnancy, childbirth, and child-rearing were always the reasons to abort the idea. but we promised to break the ice and try even just a day-hike. i know this plan is more feasible since i don't have to worry of leaving the kids overnight.

target date: summer

travel to at least two destinations. i said "at least" because more travel opportunities are very much welcome. :D but for now i have to be content with what we have already booked and discussed.

target date: first trip - february; 2nd trip - october, in time for our 6th wedding anniversary.

engage in a raket. this is more for myself actually as i realized that am already tired of my routines as a stay-at-home mom. :) i also have few hours now to enjoy, especially at night when the kids are already asleep, so instead of just wasting my time in front of the tv watching telenovelas or reality shows (oops... hihi) it's better for me to do something lucrative. i'm thinking of online jobs like that of a virtual assistant since i heard the pay is really good while the job is quite easy.

target date: may or june, after our moving-in

that's about it for now... i know some of them require a lot of will-power, particularly the last, that's why i pray that "procrastination" and "laziness' be strange words for me this year. :)

remembering 2010

i know this is too late (it's already february!!!) but i promised myself since the time i started this to end every year with a summary of the important events/happenings in my family. i know this would serve useful in the future... i just hope multiply still exists by then... but more importantly, am able to count all the good things God had given me and my family by doing this. :)

we started 2010 busy hunting for a place we can call our own here in makati only to decide last minute that it's not yet feasible for us budget-wise. we moved into this rented apartment march of last year and quite loved the bigger space we have.

except for the few and small trips/outings we did, nothing very significant happened in the succeeding months until august came and without a warning my father, or papa as i call him, died of cardiac arrest. this is my biggest heartbreak to date. i couldn't articulate the grief i had during those times because his passing was something we never thought of; hence, there was not even a single chance to say all the love and gratitudes we have for him. but i know he's happy now with his Creator... he should be... because my papa had always been a good husband and father and for this, we will always celebrate the life he spent with us. :)

i was already convinced that his party will be canceled since we were still mourning and my father's funeral and burial also made a dent on our savings but God heals and provides and it was 4th of october when we celebrated theo's first birthday with our families, relatives, and friends with a big party. it was my mother who told me to go on with the party since there were already major preparations made and it's also unfair for theo not to have one. lolo joe (my father's nickname) would have also wanted a party for his youngest apo as he was already excited for theo's first birthday even before he passed away.

another thing that we also thought of canceling last year is our trip to south korea but jude and i decided last-minute to push it thru since 1. he thought the trip would make me happy; and 2. rebooking the flight is as costly as the airfare we already paid last april. so off we went to seoul last november and though it was probably the most tedious and expensive trip (in our standard) we made it's also one of the best we had.

december and christmas came and we decided to spend the holiday season simply... needed to... :D but inspite of our limited resources last holiday season we still managed to enjoy the season and make some people happy. it's in 2010 that i realized that it doesn't always have to be bigtime to enjoy life and to show love. but what matters is i did something, small it may be, to seize the moment given to me. :)

thank you, 2010!