Posted by Mommy Woobie on July 16th, 2008 in Baby Basics, Baby Quirks, Family Quirks, Mommy Thoughts
When AJ was born and up to his first year, friends and relatives constantly sent us baby clothes , which were necessary during that time as babies get dirty a lot during the day. My big mistake was storing them and thinking “these can’t be worn daily, they’re too nice!”
And so, to the cabinets and big luggage they went. Until one day, I realized that he will never be able to wear them if I kept them too long.
It’s no wonder that some of the ‘hand-me-down’ clothes we get from friends look like they have never been used. Most probably, those moms kept their baby’s good clothes inside a cabinet ’til they forgot about them. Today, I made my baby wear his Church clothes even when it’s not going-out time. They are shrinking before my very eyes and they have never been worn!
Posted by Mommy Woobie on July 13th, 2008 in Baby Basics, Baby Quirks
Have you ever gone to a store in a mall and thought that not a single clothing item there will fit your baby? This is particularly true when you don’t have your baby with you when you go there. More than once, mothers have blamed salesladies for telling them that the item they bought will fit their 2 year old or 3 year old baby. Is this kid clothes phenomenon common among the awkward ages of 2 and 3? I could think of another age with the same thing occurring again: 6-7 years of age.
The best tip I received from other moms is to find a brand that has perfectly fitted sizes, relative to your child’s size of course. I found myself getting to know baby clothing brands that don’t have exact sizes for 2 or 3 year olds, and also some baby brands that fit perfectly. A nice way to start being brand loyal eh?
Salesladies would ask moms “is your baby fat?” and “is your baby tall for his age?”. While my son is average in size, from a doting mom’s perspective, he could be fat to others and thin to some, which makes the whole buying kid clothes thing a little more difficult.
It’s a good thing that babies grow up so fast that we won’t even have to worry about toddler sizes for long. Soon, we are going to have to worry about bigger kid clothes, and that’s another story.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on July 9th, 2008 in Baby Quirks, Family Quirks, Kids' Imagination, Proud Mommy
My resignation in the office is now finalized and I am a free woman. Unemployed, but free. Poor? Hmm… that would depend on how people will define being poor. I”m rich in love and overwhelming excitement about being able to spend more time with my family, particularly during the most exciting holidays of the year. Money poor? Let’s see what tomorrow brings!
We are well into the second half of this year, and so far, this has been the best year of my life. The second part of the year has always excited me, but now that I have AJ, my excitement meter is almost bursting. First there’s Halloween, then Christmas and then New Year. This year is the first year that my son can fully participate in the activities connected with these holidays; because he’s bigger now and can fit into the halloween costumes I’ll make him wear.
The things I must plan for include the birthdays of the most important men in my life; and these entail one major restaurant theme party and one major open house party at home. These event planning things go right up my alley, but my major dilemma is getting the men involved to participate. I may have to bribe them into doing the stuff that I want them to do, like dress up like comic book characters in tandem, i.e. father and son (Superman and Superboy). I used to never understand how stage mothers feel, but now I do! And, hopefully, the little pinoy devil will feel like a star so much that I can continue being one.
One how-to tip on getting the men excited about holiday events and parties told me to center the craft activities around things they like. During Halloween they can cut-out and color the bat and spiderweb decorations together, while I cook the pastries. For Christmas, they can do the tree. My men love to over-think things and I might just get red bats and a multicolored Christmas tree! AJ in particular colors like a crazed house painter, but his color schemes match so well, you can even call them art!
Posted by Mommy Woobie on July 5th, 2008 in Baby Quirks, Family Quirks, Kids' Imagination, Mommy Thoughts, Proud Mommy
The little Pinoy devil strikes again!
Here’s the deal. AJ loves TV and he is the master remote holder at home. We even have a theory that he’s learning a lot how to count via remote control handling, as he can easily find the channel he wants just by pressing buttons. Or, when he misplaces the TV remote control, via changing the channels on the TV itself. He utters words that ’sound like’ numbers as he goes from one channel to the next. And, he even prefers one language for the TV.
Yep. He configures the television himself, usually while he watches. He adjusts the color and the language right before he watches his favorite programs at Cartoon Channel or Karaoke Channel. He almost always manages to find the configuration he wants, with German as his language of choice.
The only trouble is, because he is Television Dictator at home, I and Daddy can no longer follow our favorite programs and have relied on torrents to watch our favorite series, such as House and Lost. One time, the hubby told me all about home theater seating and how it would be nice if we can all relax watching a big screen television. However, I pointedly reminded him that our son will hog that TV the same way.
But still, it would be nice to watch television in style, even if we have no choice but to watch ONLY Tom&Jerry and Dora the Explorer.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on June 26th, 2008 in Baby Basics, Baby Quirks, Family Quirks, Kids' Imagination, Mom Entrepreneur, Proud Mommy
Back in nostalgia lane. I can’t help but compare how much my childhood differs from AJ’s. In our village now, I don’t see many kids playing tag or hide-and-seek. There’s a park, sure, but with the way things are right now in the Philippines, it’s a risk to let children play on their own in parks. Right now, it’s so hot inside the house. I want my son to be friends with other kids in the neighborhood like I used to in La Union.
We used to draw circles on the pavement and shoot stuff inside those circles. We’d ask some cranky old neighbor to share his Hibiscus flowers so we can mash and mix them with soap, for bubble blowing. More importantly, we’d go catching dragonflies and then let them go when we got bored.
Maybe progress now means having your child inside the house all the time playing video games on an expensive gadget and watching DVDs, but I can’t help but realize just how my son is missing out on all the fun of outdoor playing.
My resolution now is to earn enough from my freelancing so that I may be able to buy swing sets for AJ on Christmas. Since a second baby isn’t possible now, I’ll just be his playmate ’til he gets tired of playing with someone who says “No, too dangerous!” all the time.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on June 19th, 2008 in Baby Quirks, Family Quirks, Kids' Imagination, Mommy Thoughts
Recently, several costume play events took place in Manila, including Toycon etc. Browsing through photos showing kids in cosplay, I’m conflicted whether to encourage the same with AJ. There are mini Mario Bros and babies in Ironman masks. The ever-present justice league costumes will remain the cosplay favorites for kids. Video game character costumes are the most difficult to assemble, though it’s easy enough to buy some online with the major costume producers finally realizing that modern cosplaying geeks love Tekken and Streetfighter characters. But enough of this, I want my son to consider sports, not video games!
Can two geeks spawn a social-worthy athlete? Can two nerdy parents who spent most of their childhood reading dictionaries and encyclopedias spawn a child that will be more interested in sports? I seriously doubt it, but I’ll try my best.
Some baby costumes and halloween costumes are just too cute! Throw in a homemade headgear, and voila, our son will be cosplay worthy and he may even win an award (with mom’s prodding of course). Sometimes, though, I wonder if the old adage about “living your dream through your kids” was true. Maybe my goal isn’t really to make my son live a life that is far from mine, but I hope his interest diversifies.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on June 18th, 2008 in Baby Quirks, Kids' Imagination, Proud Mommy
For as long as I can remember, parents have been pushing ponies as the single most cute animal in the world to their kids. Lately, the hubby and I have been bouncing the LTP (little pinoy devil) on our knees to …
1. reduce the energy he could use to climb the television and other dangerous places, and
2. because he loves it.
One time, while he was channel surfing (he utters the numbers of the channels while he surfs, by the way), he saw a horse and he started jumping around… then approached me while i was working and bounced himself on my knee. It hurts to say the least.
Now maybe the pony stories should stop. After all, there aren’t really ponies available in the general stores are there? Or I and hubby could just buy saddles so that it won’t hurt so much.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on May 29th, 2008 in Baby Basics, Baby Quirks, Kids' Imagination, Mommy Alert
Moms are funny. Last week I had a chance to go to the mall for some alone time, and because I am a mom, I immediately went to the baby section. I see some brand names have gone on sale and moms are all over the counters. Not just clothes, but cribs, strollers and such. Sometimes I wonder if moms buy brand name baby products because of the security of tenacity. “Oh this is Branded, it’s like the Rolex of all stroller brands, it will NOT break under my son while we’re in a mall.”
Well, the argument is that better brands create more sturdy things, which justifies the high price. But there’s a conspiracy theory in my mind. What if the price is expensive because most of their money went into advertising?
Of course any mom will feel guilty at not providing the BEST to her child, so when salesmen approach and tell her that the more expensive brand is much more sturdy, she will buy it!
How the marketing people exploit the Mom-hood of girls eh?
Posted by Mommy Woobie on May 23rd, 2008 in Baby Basics, Baby Quirks, Kids' Imagination
Baby tastes vary as they grow up. I realize that their needs for mental stimulation get tougher and tougher as they grow. You know what elese? Their television show choices also vary.
Let me describe a typical AJ day. He wakes up, goes around the house, going through most ‘toy’ boxes and collects his favorite toys from those boxes. he spends time mulling over one, considers it deeply (his head tilted to one side in intense concentrations) and deems it unworthy for playtime so he puts it back (or leaves it on the floor, depends if I’m looking). With an armful of toys he waddles over to his favorite empty box and shoots all his toys inside. He then climbs inside the box and stays there for a good 2 hours just playing.
I don’t know where he got the habit to stay in a confined place to play. I call it “slumming”. Maybe he sees kids doing it on the streets during the rare times we walk around the more congested area of our city.
Today, however, he rejected every toy he held with a barely concealed ‘tsk’. It thrilled me that he wants other toys to play with but the frugal mom inside me is worried. There are some toys that we just bought, and they became favorites for a day or two, then set aside now.
Must do retail therapy for AJ, I tell myself, while opening a browser window to Buy.com’s weekly sale. Then I opened another browser and looked for parental support at Minti. After all, maybe this is just a phase. Maybe the hundreds of toys we bought for him before will still be loved after a while.
Posted by Mommy Woobie on May 7th, 2008 in Baby Basics, Baby Quirks, Family Quirks
When people told me about this child’s phenomenon called “terrible twos” I always thought it can’t be that bad. I was wrong. This is the time when the baby seems almost grown up, with the same disposition as his future self: sometimes moody, sometimes super happy, very hungry for attention and sometimes too selfish to care about your feelings.
The main difference is, of course, at two years old he cannot express himself well. You, the parent, have to guess what his cries mean, taking into consideration the time of the day, the habits, the toys that he likes… etc.
About television. This is the time when I really wish we allotted enough money to buy an lcd mount, one we can hang where he could not reach. Sometimes, even when we are busy, he won’t keep still watching television. I already taught him how to change channels using the remote control, but then he insists on manually changing channels, the results of which include the channel changer on the television being so worn that we may have to change it. Of course, for 1/4 the price of a regular television set! If it gets too worn to use, we might have to buy a new television unnecessarily.
Now, how to explain that to a moody two-year-old…
