Random Big Boy Updates

He’s getting better at ruining a what could had been a great group picture.

Proof that I have a big boy: We don’t bring a diaper bag anymore. We used to bring 101 items whenever we go out. Now, on days when I am not feeling lazy, I bring 5 things – foldable fan, water, extra shirt, towel/lampin for his back, and a damp towel. When my bag is small or is already full, I leave the water and the fan. Still using wipes? Try bringing a damp towel sometime. It is cheaper, earth-friendly and better at wiping sticky hands and faces. The capsule which often comes with a towel in it, is widely available.

Aki is taking his big boyhood to heart. Whenever we enter any building that has guards, he always go to the queue for males and does not move until the guard has inspected him.

Dragons are his current obsession. He even saw a dragon up high in the sky lately.

One of the stories that my mom always tells about my childhood is how embarrassed she was when she apologized to the parents of a kid I slapped on the face. Now, I understand how truly embarrassing that is. My neighbor and sister in law, Mae, was telling me how Aki misbehaved in their house. It was one offense after another. It felt like a never ending “but wait there’s more” tale.  Mae was not upset at all. She just wanted to let me know what happened. The next day, I made Aki write an apology letter.

This is not the first time that we apologized. The first incident happened with a stranger sometime in March. Aki and I were in Ceelin’s, a bakery in BF. I was waiting for my relatives. Aki went up to me and said that the other kid in the store was not dancing the Gangnam dance properly. Instead of arms forming an X, the kid’s hands were together. Aki was obviously bothered. I just told him that it is okay and let the kid be. While I was looking out the window, Aki approached the kid and tried to teach him the correct position of the arms. The kid, who was probably less than 2 years old, did not mind Aki and turned around. Then, it looked like Aki tried to slap the kid’s back. The kid cried. Oooooooooooooh shooot! From my angle, Aki did not mean any harm. He just wanted to call the kid’s attention again. Of course, that was not how the other kid’s family saw it. From the kid’s family, I mean mommy, daddy, lolo, lola, tito, tita and cousins, basing on their gasps and piercing looks, they thought Aki was their little prince’s first bully. I really could not blame them. I’d feel the same way if I were in their shoes.  I did not dare explain to them Aki’s side. The grandma looked really upset. I needed reinforcements but hubby stayed in the house because of our LQ and my relatives were nowhere to be found. My brain froze for half a second. Then, I quickly apologized to the mom, removed Aki from the scene and spoke to Aki in private about what happened.  He was also in shock because he did not mean to make the boy cry but he was also still upset that the boy was not doing the dance right. Even though there was nowhere for us to go, we left. About an hour after, we saw the kid again in church. Aki was in a better mood. So were the boy’s parents. The scary lola was not around anymore. We went to the parents and apologized again. This time, it was Aki who personally said “I’m sorry po.” The mom who looked surprised by the gesture, replied, “Aaaaw. It’s okay. (looking at me) Ganun naman talaga ang mga bata, diba? (looking at Aki) What is your name?”.

So all is well in the end but Aki, if you are reading this, you still owe me big time!!

Let’s move on to happier, less traumatizing thoughts, shall we?

These are Aki’s toy bins. As you can see, his play things are one armed superheroes, lost household items, and parts of a now unrecognizable broken toy. Sometimes, I want to purge his toys but Aki insists in keeping all of them. And maybe because of the weird nature of his toys, Aki is forced to use his imagination more.

Here are some of his latest inventions

Bom-B (I came up with the spelling but the name was given by Aki), the water machine. The blue thing is part of a golf set. The golf clubs and balls are all missing in action. He also used his samurai, ping pong racket ( the partner of which is also missing) and the launcher of his rocket pig toy.

Aki calls this next invention the powerful gun. He used the corner of his soccer goal, a dissected magnifying glass and a crayon. This limited edition gun comes with replaceable covers – the  blue dragon cover (part of his samurai toy set) and the yellow triceratops cover (I don’t know which toy is this one is from).

Halloween costume  – check! Here is Aki proudly showing off the rocket costume he made using his toy bin and GI Joe mask.

And here he is flying around the moon.

When he went back to earth, he immediately showed me picture of him in the moon. Can you see the craters of the moon in his imaginary picture?

Family days ( weekends ) are more special now thanks to this owl that I got from Uniwide.  Have you also noticed a significant increase in the flies in your house? I learned recently, thanks bebe, that flies don’t like  lit candles. For that reason, we have candelight breakfast, lunch and dinner nowadays.  On weekends, after meals, we sing happy family day to us.. (in the tune of happy birthday) and let Aki blow out the candle.

Speaking of meals, I thought making Aki eat breakfast early would be a challenge. He’s used to having his first meal around 9AM. Now that his classes start earlier, he should be ready to leave the house by 7:30AM. While there are occasional drama, most of the time, he is a hearty eater lately. He eats breakfast at 6:30. All by himself. At the family table. Hooray! (I give Ate the evil eye whenever I see her spood feed Aki at the living room floor while the kid is playing. I think the many helpers chose to spoon feed to avoid the hassle of cleaning up).  Aki eats another meal of rice and ulam come 10AM. Then, lunch at 12ish at my mother-in-law. He eats 4 rice meals everyday. And since he has been eating well, he has not been getting sick  unlike last year. I also need to buy more sandos because he looks like an overstuffed sausage in his pambahay clothes.

Academic-wise, I think we are doing okay. Aki still hates writing but has greatly improved since we started practicing last May. He always insists on having dots to trace but I noticed that his handwriting is better when there are no guides. Surprisingly, we may have will issues with writing but reading is a totally different story. We started our reading lessons just last weekend. I am amazed with how Aki welcomes his new lessons. He even challenges himself and asks me to cover letters so he can spell some words by himself. We are starting with the Dolch Pre-primer Sight Words as recommended in my Look Who’s Talking book. More about our lessons in a separate post.

It is almost weekend! Advance Happy Family Day!