On To Paragraphs

Miguel's favorite activities include singing and reading rhymes. Months ago we realized he's already become an expert at filling the blanks. I would sing a song or read a poem, carefully leaving out some keywords for him to give and he's always done so every single time.

The other night as I was fixing our room (trying so very hard to make it look like one of those luxury hotel rooms!) I was mindlessly reciting a poem from one of his books, more like the "last-song-syndrome" but mine is a poem, hehe. :) Mind you, this poem isn't the nursery rhyme type where half of the words are just repeated. It's a 3-paragraph poem with four lines each. Anyway, as I was reciting the second paragraph I honestly forgot the second line, so I stopped.

He provided it for me!

I was so surprised to learn that he actually memorized an entire line. And being the stage-mommy that I am, I decided to take it further. I urged him to recite the poem from the beginning, giving only the first one or two words of each line as a prompt. And oh yes, he did it very well.

Imagine how much of what kind of information his brain can absorb. We have to be very, very careful. We need to stop watching re-runs of Friends. :D

Btw, the poem's entitled "Bed In Summer" by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Mommy Moments: Bonding Time

In the interest of being a real-time blogger, I am posting my Mommy Moments entry today, exactly on the date it's scheduled, yey! :)

Chris' chosen theme for the week is Bonding Time. I thought it's a pretty easy subject for me since Miguel and I have never really separated since day 1. We're stuck together like magnets to steel, hehe. :)

Our bonding activities, of course, have already evolved--from breastfeeding to bedtime stories, now he's leading it to a new high. Literally.

Since he's really active now, we make sure to bring him to the park on weekends so he can run around and stretch his muscles. But if you think he'd let me out of his sight once he's in the park, you're quite wrong. Slides and see-saw gigs are more fun if mommy joins in. And he doesn't even have to force me. :)

Six Weird Things About Me

Thanks Jona for this tag and sorry that I'm posting it just now. Have to really think what weird things I can share. :) Anyway, here goes:

RULES: People who get tagged need to write a blog post of 6 weird things about them as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 or more people you know to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

1. I cook new dishes better the first time. The more frequent I cook a dish, the lousier the result gets.
2. I can't read a map.
3. I like the smell of grass.
4. My hair looks better when NOT washed, u-huh!
5. Fashion is not for me.
6. I am fickle-minded.

Sharing this tag to Sheryll, Jown, Rock, May, Janis and Nol.

And now that one tag is done, let me get back to searching for the meaning of mesothelioma lawyer.

Mommy Moments: Feeding Time

Grateful to Chris for letting me join last week's Mommy Moments despite the super late post. :)

First time to breastfeed, couldn't help but giggle at the weird feeling, hehe :) I exclusively breastfed Miguel for 11 months until he decided he was ready for the bottle. He's 2 now and is still bottlefeeding. I'm not ready to wean him from the bottle just yet as he still is a picky eater (and I, a lousy cook) and we greatly depend on his milk for good nutrition. He drinks from a beaker, yes, but he will never drink Pediasure from it. He'll say "drink old milk" (pertaining to our regular milk) whenever he wants to drink from a cup. Guess, he's associated Pediasure with the bottle.

Still on Motoring

Millisecond, in Dubai, is defined as the time that elapse between a green light and a honk of a horn. Seriously.

People here drive like crazy. I'll bet you Nico's entire month's salary that you can expect to hear horns blowing as soon as the light turns green. As if by reflex, they automatically honk their horns if, in one thousandth of a second, you don't move your car forward. Crazy.

And not only that. Since we came here, I always tell Nico that never a day goes by without me hearing that screeching sound, the kind that wheels make whenever a tragic crash is about to happen.

And recently, my attention was drawn to the motorbikes that rule the road. I'm not talking about the kind that teeners use to show off their biking skills. What dominate the roads of Dubai are Harley-Davidson bikes. The big, bulky bikes that carry riders who resemble famous wrestlers. I bet motorcycle accident attorneys would have booming career in Dubai soon.

As one friend so aptly put it--people here drive like they're being chased by Satan. :)

Stereotyping Pinoys

Nico and I have recently developed this habit of spotting pinoy-owned cars on the street. It's entertaining and it helps while away time while stuck in traffic. Pinoys, particularly the male population, have a fascination with jazzing up their ride so it's become our habit to look for these accessories and automotive performance parts that are added to the vehicle.

Just yesterday in a barely moving traffic, we saw an uber high spoiler attached to a Honda Civic and immediately Nico guessed a pinoy owns the car. It took us a few minutes to get past it and confirm that the one driving it is, indeed, a pinoy. Clueless as I am about cars and stuff, I asked him why people do that--you know, add an extremely big spoiler to their car which makes it look more weird than cool. And I was enlightened. Spoilers are supposed to make the car go faster. And then he quickly added his own opinion that yes, gigantic spoilers would have worked in Manila but definitely not here, where Porsches and Ferraris and Lamborghinis are all over the place. Surely, not even a giant spoiler can make a Honda Civic go faster than these cars! :))

A few kilometres away and several minutes later, we saw a big muffler on a white Mazda. I guessed the driver was pinoy and I was right. Nico guessed it too but not because of the muffler but because of the big Oakley emblem attached to the rear, hehehe. :)

And as if it was our lucky day, we spotted another car that's pinoy-owned. This time it does have a reasonably-sized spoiler (but you could still say it was an added accessory and not originally part of the car). What gave it away was the big accessory attached to the top of the back of the car, something like a hood. See, I couldn't even explain what it was, much less tell you what it is for. It looks really weird with a spoiler and a hood to match. :)

Anyway, I just thought of sharing thin fun bit with you. I am still proudly pinoy. I can assure you these cars are still more tasteful than the one we saw with a fake D&G upholstery--such an eyesore!

Love Ya Award

Thanks to Chris for this wonderful award.

These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who can choose eight more and include this text into the body of their award.

Now passing this on to Nol, Janis, Jacque, Nice, Jown, Carla, Apols & Rocks. :)

The (Halted) Wedding Date

I caught the last part of this movie on tv the other night and I thought it's another one of those feel-good movies I can watch during my spare time. And since I am so unwilling to part with my 45 dirhams for a DVD (couldn't find a pirated one, hehe), I followed Nico's advise and downloaded it instead from mininova.

After long hours of download, I was finally ready to watch it last night. It didn't even get past the part where wedding invitations are shown when the video stopped working! The audio is clear but the images are stuck. Kainis, bitin. I thought it must be the cd so I tried copying it again in another one. Same thing happened. So it's not the cd afterall. Maybe the writer's giving up on me. Maybe the laptop needs replacement.

Ready For Summer

Isn't this the coolest pair of shades? :) Nico saw it at Toys R Us last Friday and we couldn't stop laughing when Miguel tried it on. Perfect round shades that compliment his round face, hehehe! We just had to buy it. :)

Weekend Snapshot: One Fine Day

The day was nice, the weather perfect. So we grabbed our gear and headed to the park.

More snapshots here.

Saturday In The Park

After several busy weekends, we were finally able to go back to the park yesterday. We could feel the winter's lovely cold slowly fading away so we wanted to make sure we optimize the remaining days of nice weather by spending more time on outdoor activities.

I was surprised to find out that Miguel's previous reservation has vanished. Whereas before it would take a lot of encouragement before he'd try the different playground facilities, yesterday he headed straight to the slide, climbed the spiral ladder, and tried the monkey bar. We brought his bike and he rode on that too. He couldn't seem to decide which one to try first. I realize that I need to save up for sports gifts for when he grows a bit older as he is also crazy about scooters.

We had junk for lunch--fried chicken, fries & buns, it was the only resto at the park. Miguel was so fascinated with the birds so I thought of taking him to the creekside to feed the bird with the uneaten turkey sandwich I brought supposedly for his snacks. He was tamed at first, staying by my side while we try to get the birds to swoop and pick the pieces we were throwing. Minutes later, he had kicked off his shoes and gone to the water! And as if getting his pants wet was not enough, he actually sat on the water, thus soaking his nappy with water and sand! At this point, the (killjoy) daddy said we've had enough and asked me to get Miguel out of the water. He threw fits of course but was eventually pacified with a promise that next weekend will be spent at the beach. :)

Mommy Moments: Preggy Days

Thank you Chris for hosting this meme. It keeps my blog alive, hehehe. I am so lazy to post some real updates these days. :)

I'm on my 27th week here. And below is Miguel's 3d ultrasound pic. :)

Dubai Shopping Frenzy

Dubai is indeed one big shopping mall! Everywhere you go, you'd see red banners that shout one and the same word: SALE!

We were at this mall last weekend for our grocery shopping, and as usual, Carrefour was jampacked. I couldn't even wiggle my cart without hitting another person's toe, hehehe. But these past days, it wasn't just Carrefour that's overflowing with shoppers; the entire mall is. And DSF is to blame. Aside from the usual items selling for 50-70% off the original price, there are booths that give away free samples, promotional pens and beauty items.

I got a GAP shirt for Miguel at 29 from its original price of 65. And two pairs of shorts for 19 from 45. Nico's got a pair of slacks for 39 from 179. Not bad ei? :) I'm sure after the DSF is over, stores will start running clearance sale and end of season sale. They never run out of reason to go on sale. And rightfully so. Dubai malls have a reputation to maintain. In here, everyday seems like a shopping holiday. :)

Mommy Moments: First Smile

Pardon me, but I really can't recall the time when Miguel showed his first "real smile." He's always been a happy boy and is always smiling a lot so I can't remember the first time. Add to that the fact that my camera date isn't properly set-up. This photo's taken when he was a few days old. :)

Weekend Snapshot: Waterplay

...and it's not even summer yet! :)

more snapshots here.

He Scored 8!

The results were supposed to come out on the 28th. We were too excited (and anxious) on that day only to be told that they were experiencing some delays and that the results weren't in yet. What a spoiler.

Anyway, last Saturday he got a text saying the results are ready for collection. So we headed straight to British Council and while I asked him not to reveal his score by the expression on his face, I knew he did well when I saw him suppressing a smile.

It was better than what he expected, and definitely better than what we hoped for. We are so thankful. He is so proud. Hehehe :)

I'm talking about Nico's IELTS result, by the way. His overall band score is 8 (out of 9). Naks! :)