Role Modelling ASABuP

The time has come when our child steps up from just silently observing to mimicking things as they happen. I first noticed this a couple of months ago when he got suspended from using the iPad. As if to win back his favorite toy, he would stay beside me near the kitchen sink every time it is my turn to wash the dishes. At first he just stood there, next days he gets to place the utensils on the rack. As days passed, he became more involved than before. His diligence earned him an hour or two of iPad time every after lunch.

He has also begun to follow some other routines. Lately, whenever he sees me preparing for work he would pace back and forth outside the toilet until I have stepped out and he checks what I would do next. When I brush my teeth, he acts it out; I apply deodorant, he raises his arm and rubs his imaginary Speed Stick. Yes, what I do, he does. (Wifey caught him several instances smelling his underarm after using my wax deodorant. She has transferred it to a higher level since then.) So I now wonder if this is the time to show more role modeling. And the answer is becoming apparent.

Yesterday was the first weekend that we got to test his new set of bike wheels. The bike’s original solid tire and five-spoke plastic wheels have finally broken apart weeks ago so I replaced it with inflatable tires with steel hub, spoke and rim. Upon seeing that his bike this time looks like a small scale of my old BMX, I looked forward to watch him pedal it around the village. But the pedalling didn’t happen—the freewheel made him to just coast and be pulled around by me. It made me feel desperate, so we made a u-turn just a few blocks after exiting our gate.

After quickly putting back the fixie cog to his bike I offered him a deal just so he will go biking again—bring his basketball along. It was our first time to bring the small Spalding ball to the village’s outdoor court so he was excited when we reached the place where he usually spends time biking. Me, not as much.

There was another father-and-son tandem when we arrived. They were playing hoops so Marcus parked his bike and started cheering again and again, “Shoot daddy, shoot! Shoot daddy, shoot!” A few awkward pauses later, I approached him and whispered, “Do you know that it’s bad to interrupt somebody’s game?” Yes, it was an alibi to save myself from embarrassment. I ordered him to continue biking. We left the place.

We went back home after almost an hour and both of us disappointed–me, that I have a son who can’t bike while he, about having a dad who can’t play basketball. So I must do something ASABuP–as soon as budget permits. The plan to get my own bike must be done. Or maybe I could start learning basketball again. Either of the two must happen soon or else we end up with a son who does nothing better than wash the dishes.

***

Mood: 2/10 Honks! (No work, will watch movie with wifey later. Just the two of us.)

The Leaky Roof and I

This must be the worst leak I can recall. Since yesterday afternoon rain continues to pour hard and our roof is taking a beating. If I recall it right, this is the most number of leaks we have seen since we lived in this house.  Other than our kitchen’s ceiling where water has been seeping through mysteriously for years already, the drippity drop—thank you Dr. Seuss for the adjective—found its way in more location of our humble place.

Thanks but no thanks to the torrential rain courtesy of typhoon Maring as last night we have to deal with a bad leak on top of our bed. It continued on that it left me and wifey no choice but to wake Marcus up just so we can move the bed away from the spot where water has invaded our comfy sleeping area. Despite the early morning chaos, it’s a consolation that Marcus finds excitement in helping us move things such as his books, stuffed toys, and pillows, while I suppress so much frustration over our predicament. It took him a while to go back to sleep with me telling stories just to steer his attention away from the dripping ceiling.

As of this morning, we have water scoops, basins, and rags in three other places of the house and with rain still pouring, we might need to empty them soon or later. Ti abi.

***

Beside stray cats, I have been a regular visitor of our roof.  But the furry felines go there to play and bum around while me, to figure out the sources of the unexplainable leak.  In fact, two weeks ago I was there. I hammered loose nails and patched suspected holes. And last night, I learned that I need to be there again.

My handy helper attempting to join me on top of our roof.

***

For the 2nd Monday in a row, Marcus’ school suspended classes along with other schools as ordered by Cavite governor, Jonvic Remulla. In the past years, there have been proposals from lawmakers and concerned parties about changing the start of school year from June to September to avoid students incurring absences just because of the rainy months. It was a plan I used to believe will work.

The weather, however, has become more unpredictable and I now think that it would take more than just following the same time kids in the US go back to school to properly address the issue of attendance during bleak weather conditions. Education authorities must sit down and get their heads together to integrate in the curriculum contingency measures such as utilizing the internet and social media to compensate anything the students miss whenever classes are suspended.

 ***

Mood: 6/10 Honks! (House is in disarray.)

Down Pothole Lane

I need Tacrine. Only about a couple of weeks of continuous rain brought about by typhoons Jolina, Kiko, and Labuyo, the once paved roads began—expectedly—to break apart. Roads that I have witnessed being layered with asphalt for months wherein every time I get stuck in traffic as a wait my turn to get past the construction team and their heavy equipment have made me wonder if these DPWH projects are now for real. These past few days I got my answer, a rather sad answer.

And yes, now I think that I need Tacrine. Why? What is Tacrine?

On top of recent controversies in the Formula world like secret Pirelli tire testing, an anti-doping body recently exposes that there are F1 drivers they suspect as taking Tacrine. According to them, Tacrine is a performance-enhancing drug that allows the race drivers to have an almost perfect memory of the twist and turns of any circuit.

Anyone who watches Formula One events would know how precise most drivers maneuver their way through race courses. Their ability to maximize apex speed while avoiding smashing—weather, track, tire, and Romain Grosjean—into barrier walls and utilize chicanes is just remarkable. Interestingly, however, other than days spent on track testing and impeccable driving skill, the anti-doping body thinks that Tacrine is also at work. But whether this suspicion is correct or not, I now find that this must be the solution to my problem—remembering the location of all potholes to and from my way to work like the back of my hand.

Now where can I get one? I badly need some to preserve my sanity and my car’s suspension system.

 ***

Mood: 4/10 Honks! (Sweaty, sleepy, annoyed.)

Motivation Be Here

The craziest month, I can recall so far, in parenting has passed and since then I have wished to get back to writing beside wanting to make August a good one, if not better, for the three of us. But my blog ideas seem to have gone down the drain along with my patience in July. (If there is such thing as writer’s block, I believe that parent’s block do exist.)

Yet then again, experience tells me that I will recover, albeit slow. I know that all it takes is some push, some motivation, and of course, some good behavior from Marcus. And so this morning, Twitter gave me that light bulb–dim but nevertheless one that I need to fill a void on my blog site–in the form of an interesting Venn diagram.

The truth is…(Photo taken from the web.)

The Venn diagram above which I saw on my timeline sparked two things. Firstly, the truth that the likelihood of one’s idea to be derived from others is so high. Case in point, me. Thank you social media.

Secondly, and shamelessly, that I can do my own Venn diagram. Well, indulge me. Blame pork. Thanks but no thanks politics.

Congress’ million-peso motivation is my blog post motivation.

***

Often times I have been tempted to write my opinions on politics. I have posted some before but the restraints I need to do so that I avoid the temptation of swearing at some people aren’t worth the effort. Maybe someday but right now I need to conserve my energy–for parenting.

***

Mood: 3/10 Honks! (Skipped running. Will surely skip badminton. Will attend a kid’s birthday party.)

Back to Basics

Let me sum up this week: back to basics. I had my old Facebook account deactivated and, after three weeks without cable TV, installed a UHF TV antenna at home. Baron, you should be a saint.

Will write more about it next time. Now off to a badminton tournament. It’s been years since I last joined one.

When the Kid Gets Tough, the Parenting Gets Going

First half of July is over. And I spent majority of its days trying to figure out how to become an effective parent. This must be the longest time I can recall that I have struggled to discipline Marcus. Had I spent the same amount of energy in badminton or gym time or running instead of parenting I know that I would have improved in those crafts significantly. There’s just so much passion, so much thinking I have done since the month started but I just seem to fail. It’s a mind game—us versus Marcus—and I am starting to believe he is winning.  But I know that, however hopeless I feel most of the time, we cannot give up. There should be something up our sleeves that should address this parenting challenging. Yes, there should be because when the kid gets tough, the parenting gets going.

***

Role reversal: he’s cop, I’m the bad guy (It’s just the two of us last weekend and we played his favorite Need for Speed game.)

Unexpected Bully

This Monday we heard a very surprising news, one so unlikely, when we picked Marcus from school. I got off from the car and approached two anxious faces–the assistant teacher and school director–looking after our kid as he does his usual end of class playtime. And my gut feel proved itself right when the school director walked with me and Marcus back to our parked car.

“Sir, I will tell you something about Marcus…he’s been acting up in class. This morning he wrote on his classmate’s school uniform. Their adviser also said that every now and then she has observed aggression since the start of school year a month ago.” Boom. The few meters to our idling car felt like a hundred. The director’s report made me walk a lot slower, it dragged me more than the weight of Marcus whom I was cuddling then. I feinted a smile to appreciate the feedback.

“What’s the news? What were you discussing with Sir Ric?” asked my wife who was waiting inside the car. “How’s school, Marcus?” she added a cliché question as Marcus settles down at the backseat. The next thing my wife heard struck her just as it did to me. To display some bullying is the least of the things we expect to hear about our son. The news was just unbelievable. There were some serious exchange on our drive back home.

Yesterday, I already talked to our son’s adviser and likewise had a chat with the director at the dreaded principal’s office. I have told them that Marcus has been made aware of what he did and that I am open to receive updates regarding his behavior in the next days. “Let’s talk again next time, but hopefully not about Marcus,” I said as I stood up to leave. The director agreed, “Yes, sir. Hope it will be about our badminton game.”

***

For the very first time, Marcus helped out in washing the dishes after lunch. He also wiped the table top. I wonder what’s up this time–must be his way of entertaining himself as it’s nine days since I had our cable TV subscription discontinued.

***

Mood: 2/10 Honks! (He just played the Christmas CD.)

Weekend at The Bellevue Resort

Location, location, location. This I am sure is what was in the minds of the people behind The Bellevue Resort. Situated in Alabang, the hotel can be accessed by almost everyone coming from any direction. The Bellevue Resort can be easily reached by guests coming from both Northbound and Soutbound of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), by people passing through the kanan service road, and even by those coming from Cavite via the Daang Hari road.

Getting around the hotel and nearby establishments is also a lot better than any, if not most, hotel in Makati. Like us who do not have the privilege of having our own chauffeur, driving to and from the hotel is not as stressful. Compared with traffic volume in the Makati commercial district, Alabang is more manageable although one must expect to get stuck especially on a payday weekend as there are two malls and several office buildings in the vicinity. Here’s a driving tip: read the hotel’s guide on the first day and familiarize yourself with the location map in one of its pages. In my regular visits to Festival Mall, I have been thinking all the while that the hotel is just right across another block but good thing there are alternative areas where anyone who is lost can safely make a turn.

What about hotel accommodation? For the price of around Php 5000 we got ourselves a room that we did not expect to be a lot better. With wifey and our five-year old boy who changes sleeping/play spot without notice, our hotel room bed was more than enough. Our room on the 8th floor of The Bellevue Resort also has several features: a long study table and a matching ergo chair; a Sony Bravia wall-mounted flat TV; a wide wardrobe section that includes a safe and an ironing set; and a bathroom with well-maintained fixtures–our son, however, still prefers the tub over the rain shower head.

Included in our 2-days 2-nights resreservation is a buffet breakfast. We already enjoyed one yesterday in Cafe D’ Asie. Breakfast is from 6-10 AM and I have just checked the display of the Philips iPod docking station below the bed lamp and it is past 6:30. It’s time to wake kiddo, make a dash from the tower wing’s elevator, through the main lobby, then to the 2nd floor of the main wing where scrumptious breakfast awaits. It’s our last day today, so I might eat more than yesterday. Well, that’s the plan but if the little brat decides to sleep longer, then wifey and I still have time to enjoy the free WI-FI.

***
Mood: 3/10! (Hope that today he will behave.)

Let’s Give Monday a Break

(Image from the web.)

I call this the Garfield effect. It is the general hatred to one poor day of the week. It is the conspiracy to collectively pounce on one day of the week, one that can’t fight back, one that has not done anything wrong other than just being the first day after the weekends. If there’s one day of the week that bears the brunt of people’s negative emotions, it is Monday. As a matter of fact, it is safe to say that at one time, almost half of the world seems to chorus “I hate Mondays” as the countdown to the end of their Sunday starts. The other half follows next.

Yes it is understandable that anyone who is spending a well-deserved time off with friends or family would feel resentment over the thought that once again their two-day weekend will be cut short by Monday—the dreaded Monday. As for the employed, it is the start of another busy work week; for students, teachers, and mothers with pre-school kids, the first day of challenging school routines.

There is so much aversion to this M in MTWTF that it is not uncommon to hear people say “four more days!” even if the day has not yet started. This sentiment is so widespread that regardless of social status and positions in the company, I have heard people heave a weary sigh as Monday nears.

But is it really Monday that we hate? Or is it the things—or people—we look forward to deal with as we make our exodus to work or school, as our shift starts, or as the school bell rings? Can’t we for once be objective when we mimic Garfield’s famous one-liner, “I hate Mondays”? Can’t we for once declare on Twitter or Facebook a rational statement such as “I hate Mondays because of (him/her/it)”?

***

Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Escribo, tengo alegre!)