Aki (playing alone with his finger puppets, in a whispery voice) – Tip toh. Tip toh. Tip toh (tip toe, tip toe, tip toe)
Me (referring to the puppets) – Who are you playing with now, Aki?
Aki – Baby Uod and Baby Doh-die! (Baby Worm and Baby Crocodile)
Can someone please help me visualize how worms and crocodiles tip toe? 😛
Halu! How are you? Me? I am not fine. Thank you. Our social calendar has been full. This weekend alone, I attended one parent teacher orientation, 2 parties and one Father’s Day lunch. The trip to this new playground and a get-together with my dormates were rescheduled. I know I should be thankful for having family and friends but I wish I have more time to sleep, watch Game of the Thrones and blog. Work has been crazy. I have been going home late lately. What is worse I am so stressed to the point that when I get home, I still can’t stop thinking of the things I was not able to do. Aki has also been crankier than usual. It all started when he got sick last last Friday. I was ready to leave for work. I was dressed already. Aki was still sleeping then so I did not wake him up to say good-bye. I was checking out my eggplant plants before I head for the gate. Then, Aki woke up crying and feverish. He asked me to stay and not to go to the office. That was what I did. I stayed with him because I needed me. Thank God for understanding bosses and dependable officemate. However, that Friday morning gave Aki the impression that if he asks me hard enough, I will not go to work which makes our morning goodbyes harder for both of us.
Anyhoot hoot. Sorry for sharing negative vibes on a Monday morning. Life is great and I really should be thankful.
Last last Saturday morning, I was laptop-ing on the bed while Aki was minding his own business on the floor. I was happy to have that short me-time since I was so tired from taking care of my sick boy the day before. Hearing “cooking cooking” got my attention. Here is what he was up to…
If you’ve been reading my blog, you probably noticed that we don’t have as many learning activities as we used to. That is because Aki comes up with his own games. The less structured our activities are, the more imaginative he gets. The fewer the toys, the more his creative juices flow.
Continue reading “Less Structure and Toys = More Imagination and Creativity”
Franco and I have an agreement that we will not be buying any toys for now for Aki. He has a lot already. Plus, the less toys that he has, the more he will be able to use his imagination. I thought that was crystal clear. Oh well, I can alway count on dear husband to break the rules. A few weeks ago, he came home with a surprise for his son – Avengers toy and cup sets from Petron.
I was irritated, yes, but Aki showed me that even highly commercialized toys can be somewhat educational.
Here is how he packed away his toys.
First, put the characters inside their respective cups.
Next, match the covers with the cups. The covers have two dots. The one with green dots goes to the Hulk cup. The one with red is Iron Man’s. Blue for Captain America and black for Thor.
Continue reading “Sorting with the Avengers”
Our favorite family bonding activity latey is playing with finger and hand puppets.I am not referring to the cute animal puppets from Ikea (Thanks, Ameronie!). Definitely not Furky, the freaky furry puppet from Blue Magic. We kept that away ever since Aki started enjoying chewing its tail.
Friends, meet TicTacToe Octupus and Baby Uod (Baby Worm)
Our usual characters are actually Baby Uod and his mommy, Mummy Uod. Last week, I thought I will give Mummy Uod a break to see how Baby Uod will interact with a new playmate.
After a minute or two of swimming in the imaginary waters and sliding down my leg.
Baby Uod: I Hamdi! (I’m hungry!)
Octopus: Oh, ok. So what do you want to eat?
Baby Uod: White rice and Egg, Fiiiis. (Fiiis = please)
And so, Baby Uod and Octupus got a table (my foot) and started eating. When out of nowhere… Continue reading “A Sad Tale of Octopus and Baby Uod”
I thought the clouds look like a dragon but Aki said he saw a lion.
PS. Do my pictures with watermarks appear pixelated in your screens? They look pixelated in my laptop but I am not sure if it is just because of my weak internet connection.
Akira, you are indeed your father’s son.
That was as of February. Fast forward to one month after, he can now say Aki Benten. When asked what his name is, sometimes he will say Aki Benten. Most of the time it’s Benten… Hiyaaaa!
My bad mommy confession is that Aki watches TV.
My worse mommy confession is that he gets to watch cartoons which have violent scenes like Benten and Power Rangers.
My worst mommy confession is that I am not feeling guilty about it. Okay, maybe I am but just a bit.
Before you throw tomatoes at me, let me be clear that in our house, he rarely watches TV. We are not subscribed to cable TV. We have the old school antena which also doubles as Aki’s make believe microphone.
Aki therefore has no interest watching TV in our house. He watches TV in my in laws house on weekdays. On weekends, he is TV free.
Now that Aki is almost 2 and a half, I’m more comfortable letting him watch TV. I know that he gets a healthy dose of active, creative and free plays. I am not bothered because I know that TV is not taking much of his time and attention. When Aki said he is Yellow Power Ranger ( he was wearing a yellow shirt that day), I made him watch this video. Now, he is always Red One.
Last month, he was obsessed with Benten. He loved wearing watches, bracelets or any thing he can put on his wrist and pretend that he is Benten. I asked our pedia if we are bad parents for letting Aki watch Benten. Doc reminded us that we also grew up watching shows that are violent in nature like Voltes V ( I am Jamie of course) and Bioman (I have always been Pink 5) and yet we grew up to be non-violent adults. Doc said what is important is the guidance of parents.
One more thing, I also think banning superhero shows and teaching Aki that all forms of hurting others is wrong would be unnatural to our family since my husband is into Brazilian jujitsu, judo, and aikido. Lately, hubby and I are trying to learn arnis. In a few years, we plan to entroll Aki in martial arts classes to bully-proof him. Actually, I have started bully-proof training him by teaching him to say “Stop it!” if some one pushes or hurts him.
I am off-topic again. Back to Benten. During the peak of Aki’s Benten obsession, I made him a Benten t-shirt.
Continue reading “His Name is Ateee Te-ten!”
Familia Kiki 