Babysitting the Two-Year Old*

My sister Mindy visited home base for two weeks. She brought her husband and their two children over. It was the first time for me to see my nephew Luciano.

Luciano is such an adorable child. Like most two-year olds, he seems to have an infinite supply of energy. He enjoyed jumping off beds and running barefoot all over the house at top speed. MacGyver watched over him one afternoon and was dead tired that evening. He told me that the way he figures, Luciano must have several guardian angels assigned to him.

Little Luciano did pause and stop once in a while... to eat his meals, to watch TV (especially if Thomas the Tank Engine was showing), to sit on his cousin GI's lap and check out airplanes and other cool stuff in the internet, and to play.

We brought out some of the old reliable toys so that he and his 4-year old sister Noelle could play with them -- a train set, two barrels of monkeys, stacking cups, a couple of toy cars, some Sesame Street toys and good old Mr. Potato Head.

Luciano liked Mr. Potato Head. There was one particular evening when I was watching over him. He had dashed off from one room to another. Naturally, I was running right after him. When he saw the Mr. Potato Head on the floor, he sat down and started playing. That gave me a brief period of rest.

Yes, Mr. Potato Head certainly comes in handy when one is watching over a child. He's always on his toes. He's got a nose to smell trouble. He has extra pairs of eyes. He'd gladly lend you an ear. And most of all, he's there to provide you with an extra set of hands.

*Technically, Luciano is not yet two years old. He will be turning two next week.

Batteries Not Included

Batteries Not Included -- 28 May 2008

Batteries not included because batteries are not needed.

I love this car set from Tomy.  It is the pull-back type which winds up and goes.  We got this set for GI when he was still very young.  It has served us well over the years.   Fortunately we still have enough tracks to enable the cars to just keep going ... and going ... and going.   

We would set up cars to go one after another.  After a while, the car which we had set off first would 'run out of steam' and the other cars would end up pushing it along the tracks.  Other times, we would set the cars off at different areas of the tracks.  The cars would sort of follow each other around and the kids would watch intently.  They would get excited when the cars approached the intersection at the same time.   They would scream out warnings as if the cars could do something about the impending collision.

We used to have four different cars which could go around the tracks.  We are now down to two decent ones.  Here is one close up.

The cars go through the Drive-thru Burger Stand.

Afterwards, they have the option of going around the tracks, or turning the corner and heading for home.

We brought out this set so that the visiting cousins could have some toys to play with. When we got the tracks set up.  GI said, "Didn't these cars and tracks used to be bigger?"   

"No son, you just used to be much smaller.  Now turn the car around again and wind it up for your cousin."   

Nothing More Than Peelings

When we were much younger, apples and oranges were not readily available. They were REALLY special treats that we had when someone gave them to Father as gifts, mostly during Christmas.

However, I vaguely recall having some oranges in the house when we received some at a time someone in the family had gotten hospitalized. I don't remember too many details about the whole thing. I don't know who got sick or when this happened, etc. (I'm not even 100% sure that this was the reason for the fruits in the house.) What I do remember is that older sister London Eye had peeled one of the oranges we had received in such a way as to make a very, very long piece. Then she ran after me shouting, 'Snake! Snake!" scaring the wits out of me.

Every time I peel fruits in that fashion, I recall how ridiculous it was for me to be scared of the orange peel. And yes, I also recall how MEAN big sisters can be at times.

As GI pointed out, it is not an orange in the picture. It is a persimmon, which Father received from family friends for his birthday.

Puzzled -- Part 4

Puzzled -- Part 4

All things in God's time.

Me and Snow White

Whenever anyone mentions Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, I can't help but smile.

During my last year in college, I was elected President of the UP Computer Society (UP CompSoc). The organization was a mixture of students from the various colleges but majority came from the College of Engineering where the tambayan (hang out) was located. Most of the members were male since there are more men at Engineering (but the female members, especially the ones from Statistics, were most welcome). There were eight of us in the Executive Committee -- the president, the vice-president, the secretary and the heads of the five committees (Finance, Information-Publications, Membership, Operations, and Technical-Academic). I was the only female in the Execom. Now add that to my fair skin and you can imagine why we were often referred to as ... Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.


And guess what? MacGyver was my Tech-Acad Committee Head. Yes, he was the techie one, even back then. Of the seven dwarfs, he was the identified Dopey. I wonder why?


No ... he didn't give me flowers. At least not back then.


Nope ... we didn't go dancing. Though he reminded me that he had once asked me to dance with him during one of our High School parties.
Anyway, the other day when I homed in on Dopey for my SMB blogpost, I was struck by the coincidence. Like father, like son. In more ways than one.

Metronomes

Meet Joe Black

Meet Joe Black -- 17 May 2008

The big news going around the Bank yesterday was about a robbery that took place at the RCBC Branch in Cabuyao, Laguna. The report was that all the employees had been shot and killed. The police are still investigating the crime. They suspect that the employees knew the killer/s which is why no one was spared.

It is really very shocking and quite disturbing. Naturally, I feel bad for the people who died. Surely none of them expected that they wouldn't be going home to their families when they left for work yesterday morning.

Quite by coincidence, I had lunch with a friend and we dropped by the bookstore before heading back to the office. I picked up a book which had piqued my interest the last time I was there. It was the story about Cassie Bernall, a 17-year old girl who was among the thirteen killed during the Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colorado in 20 April 1999.

The book is written by her mother, who recounts the story of her daughter's not-so-perfect life and alleged martyrdom. It is reported that moments before she was shot, one of the boys on that shooting spree had asked her, "Do you believe in God?" and she had answered, "Yes." The boy had asked, "Why?" but did not wait for her answer and just pulled the trigger.


There are speculations that the conversation never happened; but again, the truth still remains, she and twelve other people had gone to school on that day, not knowing it would be their last.

I think about the 9/11 World Trade Center suicide attacks in 2001 and the undersea earthquake that triggered devastating tsunamis in 26 December 2004. I recall the other disasters in the recent news which have taken so many lives -- the China earthquake last Monday and the Myanmar cyclone earlier this month.

All of these incidents involve people. All of these incidents involve death.

Yes, as Joe Black said in the movie, apparently quoting Benjamin Franklin, "In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes."

I confess, I am still working on fully conquering my fear of death. It is not as bad as before. Perhaps talking about it and reading odds and ends of books (not necessarily ABOUT death but those which discuss life, relationships, fears, God, etc.) help me along.

We do have to ask ourselves, "What is important in life?"

When I get all worked up, tense and anxious at the office, I have learned to ask myself, "What is the worse thing that can happen?" I know that I could get reprimanded, I may fail, I might even lose face. But what IS the worse thing that can happen? The worse thing that could happen is that I could get fired. (Now I can say, 'Is that all? Hogwash!') I am happy to report that I have (finally) come to realize that my job is not THE most important thing in my life.

(And I thank ALL the people who have helped me get to this state of being. It surely is a much better place.)

I bought a puzzle (several years back) of the New York skyline which still had the Twin Towers on it. I completed that puzzle to serve as a reminder for me that anybody's life, including my own, could end in an instant.

I guess I need that constant reminder to be prepared and to live each day as if it were your last.

What a Waste!

It amuses me how young children view the world at times. It is such a privilege to tune in on their thoughts. , we just shrug their comments off but if you listen, if you really listen, you may just catch some nuggets of wisdom.

Here are some classic stories very typical of my mango-loving, soda-drinking boy.

x 0 x 0 x 0 x

Precious Natural Resource -- 16 March 2008

When we arrived home at Makati the other weekend, I discovered that GI had brought home a bag full of green mangoes from Cebu Avenue. I teased him and said that he didn't even leave any mangoes for his Lolo and Lola.

He was quite defensive over the mangoes and was certain that he had done the right thing.

"WHAT?" he said. "If I left the mangoes at Cebu Avenue, they'd just sit there and turn yellow! What a waste!"

(He had the mangoes over the next few days ... just the way he likes them ... GREEN.)

x o x o x o x

Father treated out the whole family for lunch last 01 May 2008. GI ordered soda and so did RD. When RD's soda came, he quickly poured his drink into the glass that came with it. GI on the other hand, simply opened his soda and drank from the can.

"I don't want to dilute my soda. If I pour it into the glass, it would be more ice than soda. What a waste!"

Shades

Wake Up, Sleepy Head

THIS is the alarm clock which brother Slash-M hated when we were young.

It doesn't work anymore and I have absolutely NO IDEA why it I kept it all these years. Actually, I do know the answer to that. It's because I am a pack rat! Shame on me. Anyway, I took one last picture of this alarm clock then tossed it into the garbage can. Aren't you proud of me?

So why does Slash-M hate this clock?

Well, it is because this clock had its alarm set for 5:30 every day. (The knob for setting the alarm was already broken so I couldn't reset it to read 5:30 for the photo shoot.) And every school night, I would turn the alarm on, put it beside my bed, and go to sleep. Naturally, every morning at 5:30 a.m., this alarm clock would ring.

Teet-tee-teet-tee-teet! Teet-tee-teet-tee-teet!

And more often than not, this alarm clock would wake up Slash-M, who WAS (note the past tense) asleep in the next room, because I would still be in Slumber Land in spite the incessant ringing of the alarm clock right next to my ear.

He would open the door of my room, give me a rough shake, then say, "For heaven sakes, Sister, are you deaf? Wake up and turn that d__n alarm off!"

(No, he didn't really say that. He would wake me up and humph back to his room.)

He must have, at one point or another, THOUGHT about say such things considering the number of times the alarm woke him up. He would have been justified in doing so. But he never did. He is really a sweet kid brother. (Yes, I am trying to redeem myself after all these years.)

Come to think of it, I should have tossed this clock ages ago because it didn't work. It couldn't wake me up!

My Christmas Gift

MacGyver surprised me with this Christmas gift the other year. It may seem like an odd thing to give but I was touched. I was really touched.

The gift is inspired by 'The Mayonnaise Jar and Coffee' story found below. I think we had received that forwarded message some time in the middle of that year. It was one of those forwarded messages that really hit the spot. I consider it a 'diamond in the rough', I guess MacGyver felt the same way.

It was sweet of MacGyver to get the glass container, gather up pebbles and sand, buy golf balls and have family members sign one ball each. And he bought flowers, too. He knows that I get sad when I see fresh flowers wilt. Besides, plastic flowers were more practical for this gift.

So this was not an off-the-rack Christmas gift. He really put a lot of thought into it. He put much heart in it. It was his way of reminding me to focus on the important things in life and to show me that I have much to be thankful for.

I keep this on my desk at the office.


Here is the story behind the gift...


The Mayonnaise Jar and Coffee

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things -- your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions -- things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

"The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else -- the small stuff."

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you." Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18 holes. There will always be time to clean the house, and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked," he said. "It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a cup of coffee with a friend."

SMB

SMB -- 04 May 2008

No, SMB does not stand for San Miguel Beer. SMB is a standing joke between GI and myself.

A couple of weeks back, I tried to get GI out of bed. He refused to get up and lingered for a couple of minutes after waking up. Eventually he sat up. I was folding the blankets at the time when he said, "Really Mom, you should check out this pillow. Come here beside me, Mom. Put your ear against the pillow."

It was his way of saying 'lie down for a while and stay with me.'

"You almost had me there, GI" I smiled and teased him, "SMB!"

He smiled back and got up.

~~~~~~

In the evening, it is not uncommon for GI to come over and give me a good night kiss. He knows that if he gives me a kiss, I would give him a kiss back; and if he gives me a hug, I would hug him right back.

When he is in that sort of playful mood, GI would give me a good night kiss (and get a good night kiss back). Then he would give me another kiss and expect another one in return. He normally gets away with two or three kisses. Any more than that he knows that I would bonk him on the head and tease him, "SMB!"

~~~~~~

I was on the queen-sized bed with RD and MyGirl at Cebu Avenue while GI was on the single bed on the floor. His eyes twinkled as he thought up something. He called out, "Mom! Mom! This bed is more comfortable. Check it out. Come over." And he pats the space beside him and shows me that there is space.

On another occasion, his feeble attempt at getting me to stay beside him went like this, "Mom, if there isn't enough space in that bed, there is a lot of space here beside me."

~~~~~~

GI does not only try to work his charms on me, but he also practices his moves on his sister. There are nights when I shoo GI off to his bed so that MyGirl can lie down and sleep already. He would cajole her and say, "Give me a good night kiss first and then I will go."

~~~~~~

Other instances of 'SMB' include GI changing the topic in the middle of the conversation when things get too uncomfortable for him or GI trying to butter me up when he needs something.

There was a time when MacGyver and I were eating dinner and GI passed by. MacGyver mentioned that as a teenager, GI had to be more conscious of his skin and that he had better take advantage of the summer to get extra sleep. I seconded the motion and commented that he should also take care of his eyes and not spend too much time using the computer.

GI was on the spot (and he knew it). With great ease, he smoothly changed the topic by saying, "Your hair smells nice, Mom."

MacGyver was quick to recognize the ploy and pointed it out to me. (What can I say? It takes one to know one? Like father, like son? I think GI learned from the Master. Of course, the Master's charms managed to work on me, right?)

~~~~

So what does SMB stand for? It stands for 'style mo bulok' (your style is rotten) which of course is FAR from the truth. He actually is quite suave and I dread the day when he starts practicing his moves on a wider circle of people (if you know what I mean).

~~~~~~~~~~

I was trying to figure out who of the many characters out there best match GI.

Would it be Pepe Le Pew? Nah! He's forever running after the wrong species.


How about be Johnny Bravo? Nope. Although he definitely tries to impress the girls, but his style surely leaves much to be desired.


Could it be Remington Steele? He was smooth with the ladies.


What about Johnny Storm aka The Torch?

Maybe. He seemed to think that his looks and his moves would make all the pretty ladies fall in love with him.

Think! Think! Think! Who tries these kinds of stunts to steal kisses and all?

Finally it dawned on me ... who else but Dopey!


In the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, as the dwarfs set off to work, they bid Snow White good bye. Each of the dwarfs were given a good bye kiss by Snow White but Dopey went around the house and tried to steal a second kiss.

Yup! Definitely Dopey.

Puzzled -- Part 3

December 1982

January 1983

The Same Difference

We often take similar things for granted. In our subconscious mind, we either know they are the same or we know they are different, but it is very possible that we don't really KNOW at all. This post hopes to provide some light reading on similarities or difference between such things.

ALLIGATORS vs CROCODILES -- different

Alligators and crocodile belong to different families of crocodilians. Crocodiles are from the crocodylidae family, while alligators are from the alligatoridae family. (I can hear my siblings yelling, "NERD!" Hey, I had to look this up.)

A crocodile has a long, narrow, V-shaped snout while the alligator's snout is wider and U-shaped. Another physical difference between the crocodile and the alligator is that the crocodile's upper and lower jaws are nearly the same width, so the teeth are exposed all along the jaw line in an interlocking pattern, even when its mouth is closed. As compared, only the teeth of the upper jaw of an alligator is exposed when its jaws are closed.

COUGAR vs PANTHER vs PUMA -- the same

The cougar, also known as panther, puma or mountain lion, is an unspotted, large cat found in the American continents. The tip of the cougar's tail is usually darker than the rest of the animal. The throat and chest are often white. This animal is a powerful leaper and a great hunter.

OCTOPUS vs SQUID -- very different (Yet this is what caused me to write this post. At the dinner table, someone INSISTED that octopus and squid were the same. Perhaps this will help clarify things and convince her otherwise.)

Octopuses have eight arms (not tentacles), usually bearing suction cups. They have neither a protective outer shell nor any sort of internal shell or bones. The only hard part of their body is their beak, similar in shape to a parrot's beak.

Squids are distinguished by their distinct head and bilateral symmetry. This animal has a mantle with two fins, which encloses its main body mass. Squids have eight arms and two tentacles arranged in pairs. The tentacles do not grow back when they are severed.

Octopuses and squids belong to the same subclass Coleoidea but belong to different superorders. (Nerd alert! Nerd alert! Give me a break, I surfed the web for these answers to give the post more credibility.)

JAM vs JELLY -- definitely different

Jam is made with the whole fruit, cut into pieces or crushed. The fruit is then heated with water and sugar to activate the pectin in the fruit

Jelly is made by a similar process to jam, with the additional step of filtering out the fruit pulp after the initial heating. This means that jelly is made from the fruit juice and has no fruit bits.

COOKIES vs BISCUITS -- both the same and different

In the US, a 'biscuit' is a small form of bread made with baking powder or baking soda as a leavening agent rather than yeast. It is more common to call the sweet variations 'scones' while the savory ones 'biscuits.' The food chain Popeye's serves biscuits as a side dish to their chicken.

A 'cookie' on the other hand, is a small, round, flat baked good. It is more like a cake which has substituted some form of oil for water as the medium of cohesion. (Water in cakes make the batter as thin as possible, allowing bubbles to form better, resulting in a fluffier cake.) The oil used for cookies can be in the form of butter, egg yolks, vegetable oil or lard. Cookies are more dense than cakes. Cookies are most commonly baked until crisp or just long enough that they remain soft. (Think Mrs. Fields.)

However, in the UK, a biscuit is more like the American cookie. Two biscuits can have a layer of cream or icing sandwiched between for sandwich type biscuits. But apparently, the term cookie in the UK is being used to call the softer, more chewy baked product as opposed to the harder, more brittle biscuit. (Is this true, LondonEye?)

It is interesting to note that Nabisco, which is a prominent maker of cookies and crackers in the US, stands for the National Biscuit Company.

In the Philippines, if an American or British were to ask for biscuits, they would get something different altogether. They would be given SkyFlakes, Blu-Skies or Sunflower, which is something closer to a cracker.

(A cracker in American terms, by the way, refers to a flat biscuit with salty/savory flavor which has holes. Think Graham crackers or Ritz crackers. The holes are placed in the dough to stop air pockets from forming in the crackers while baking. The rule-of-thumb is that crackers are salty/savory while cookies are sweet.)

STREAM, RIVER, CREEK, BROOK -- sort of the same

A stream is a body of water with a current.

A river is a large, natural stream.

A creek is a small to medium sized natural stream.

A brook is a stream smaller than a creek. Brooks are shallow and its bed is composed solely of rocks.

Shall I stop? Me and the kids came up with lots of other things which could be compared ... watch vs clock (different since watches are worn on the body), backpack vs knapsack (same as far as we could tell), and more.

Let me conclude with something I'm sure all of you know are different.

NERD vs GEEK vs DORK -- different

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.

(For the record -- for this last one, I went through the motions of taking THE test. I scored less than 50% in all three, earning me the title of Joe Normal.)