Archives for March 2011

Toddler Conversations Series #2

My toddlers are growing up in lightning speed.  From mumbling a couple of syllables to echoing new words, now they are able to communicate their needs and wants… and plenty of other things that make us laugh.

May.14.2011
Mama: What do you want for dinner? Do you want chicken, fish or vegetables?
Jade: I want vegetables?
Mama: What vegetable do you want?
Jakei: Uhm…chicken.
Jade: That’s not a vegetable.
Jakei: Uhm..’bout fish.
Jade: That’s not a vegetable again.
Mama: So, what vegetable do you want to eat?
Jade: Uhm, how about fruits?
Wah!!!!
May.06.2011
Mama to Jade: What’s your name?
Jade: Jasmine Adrienne Joson Espino. But you can call me Jade.
Mama to Jakei: How about you? What’s your name?
Jakei:  Ja-mine A-enne Toton E-pino. JAKEI!
April.19.2011
Jakei woke up before his sister did during naptime this afternoon.  In want of a playmate,  he kept on embracing his sister and poking her feet.   Jade wakes up annoyed and exclaims, “Jakei, I’m still sleeping do not wake me up!!! I’m still sleepy!”  She then plops back down on her pillow to resume her nap.  My naughty little boy would not be hindered and instead of leaving his sister to rest, sits by her side and shouts, “Wake up!!!”
April.15.2011
Yesterday, Jakei and I were naming different colors.  He’s only able to correctly identify a few colors but often recites the colors he already knows.   This includes red, yellow, green, and Barney.  ^_^
March.28.2011
It’s now 9:30pm and the little ones have been asleep for almost an hour. Jade, who usually sleeps fitfully, awoke with a start and began shouting,  “I can’t! I can’t! I can’t do it by myself!”.  She sits, turns to me, and says,  “Mama, I need help. I can’t do it.”
I leave the computer table and go to her and ask, “What is it, Jade? What is it that you can’t do?”
Jade then lays her head on her pillow and says, “I can’t go to sleep.  I can’t!”   Handing me her Dora pillow she mutters, “Here, Mama, sleep on Dora.”  Afterwhich she dozes off and goes back to dreamland.

March.27.2011
Jade found a marble inside her cousin’s toy wagon and promptly showed it to her Papa.
Jade: “Papa, what’s this?
Papa: “It’s a marble.”
Jade: “What’s inside the marble?”
Papa: “Hmmm…is that a leaf?”
Jade: “No.”
Papa: “Is it a flower?”
Jade: “No.”
Papa: “What is it?”
Jade: “It’s a chrysalis!”

February.22.2011
Thinking that Jade was ready for a little tongue twister, I tried to teach her Peter Piper during bathtime tonight.
Mama:  “Peter Piper…”
Jade:    “Peter Piper.”
Mama:  “picked a peck…”
Jade:    “picked a peck”
Mama:  “of pickled pepper.”
Jade:    “pickled pepper.”
Mama:  “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper.”
Jade:    “Peter Piper pickled pepper.”
Mama:  “Anak, it goes like this:  Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper.  If Peter  Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper, where is the peck of pickled pepper Peter  Piper picked?”
Jade:    “On the table.”

February.22.2011
During lunch today, we had soy sauce and calamansi for our dipping sauce.  Jade was asking for both so I decided to take it as an opportunity to introduce different tastes.  I gave her a little of both and added sugar as well.  Here’s how the lesson went:
Mama: “This is calamansi. It’s sour. It’s maasim.”
Jade(tastes the calamansi):   “Calmansi.  Sssour.  Hmm..asim!”
Mama:  “This is soy sauce. It’s salty.  And this is sugar; it’s sweet.”
Jade continues to taste each one alternately.  She then asks for some more soy sauce.
Jade:   “Mama, I want more soy sauce please.”
Mama: “Tell me first how soy sauce tastes.”
Jade:   “It’s delicious.”
Mama: “Is it sour, salty, or sweet?”
Jade:   “It’s yummy!”
We definitely need another lesson on tastes. ^_^

February.21.2011
At dinner this evening, Jade asked her Papa if he was a giant.  This triggered a memory of a conversation we had a few weeks ago:
Mama:   “Sleep na, my baby. Close your eyes.”
Jade:     “But I’m not a baby. I’m a little girl!”
Mama:   “Ok. Sleep my little girl.”
Jade:     “Mama, are you a girl?”
Mama:   “Yes, I am. Go to sleep na, Jade.”
Jade:     “I’m a girl. Mama’s a girl.”
“And Jakei’s a boy.”
“And Papa’s a giant.”

February.20.2011

I just handed Jade a cupcake, and here’s what my little girl said:     “Wow! This is going to be great! It’s strawberry! It’s delicious!”

Toddlers are so easily pleased! With the way she reacted, you’d think she won the lottery.

February.20.2011
“once upon a time…
there was jade and jakei…
it was a sunny day…
then they were walking…
on the green grass…
…then they were taking a nap.”

Ok, so there’s really nothing special about this story – except that it was a bedtime story told by my 2-year-old daughter last night. And for this mom, it is the best story ever!

January.27.2011
(They say kids grow up too fast…I had no idea it’d be this fast.)
Jade suddenly embraces Mama and says
Jade:  “I love you, Mama!”
Mama: “Ohhh…I love my baby…”
Jade squiggles out of my embrace and exclaims
Jade: “But I’m not a baby anymore. I’m a little girl!  And Jakei’s a little boy.”

Toddler Conversations Series #1

 

******

Waking up from naptime one afternoon and seeing Jakei sleeping on Mama’s tummy,  Jade pats her brother on the back and exclaims, “Jakei is sleeping.”  But then continues patting her brother’s back oblivious to my reprimand.  Naturally, Jakei wakes up and sits drowsily.  Jade cups his sleepy face in her hands, places her face an inch away from his, and exclaims, “Jakei are you awake?!  Are you awake Jakei? YES!  You’re awake Jakei.”

 ******


At breakfast one weekday morning, Jade watches Mama prepare her choco drink.

Jade:  Mama, what’s that?

Mama: It’s Milo.  It’s Mama’s hot chocolate.  (hands an empty sachet of Milo to Jade)

Jade: (after scrutinizing the sachet for a few seconds)  Mama, look it’s Milo!  Can you say that – Milo?  MIIII – LO!


******

One Tuesday afternoon, after a long weekend bonding with Papa, Jakei wakes from his nap and realizes that Papa is not in the room.

Jakei:  Papa…Papa…Papa…

Jade:  Papa’s in the office.

Jakei:  Papa…Papa…

Jade:  Papa’s not here.

Jakei:  Papa…Papa…(on the verge of tears)

Jade:  Jakei, don’t cry.  Papa’s in the office.  He’ll be home later.


******

As Mama was scrubbing the ink stains from Jade’s hands during bathtime:

Mama:  Your hands are so dirty, anak.  Look at that.  What ‘re on your hands?

Jade:  Colors.

Mama: Hay, they’re so DIRty.

Jade:  But I’m just working, Mama.

(Note to Mama:  Painting, drawing, scribbling, and all other fun messy activities are part of a toddlers’ day.  So, credit dirty hands to work-related accidents.)


 ***05.19.2010 ***

At bedtime tonight, Jade, who was still trying her very best NOT to fall asleep, took a peek inside Jakei’s playpen. When she saw Jakei sleeping, she turned to me and said, “Jakei sleeping”. Then she promptly turned around again and yelled at Jakei, “Jakei! Wake Up! Wake Up! Wake Up, Jakei!”


  ***04.11.2010***

Jade watched the Good Friday procession from or second floor window. She kept saying “Jesus” throughout the procession. Two days after, she would still ask to be carried so she could look at Jesus outside the window. I finally told her, “Jade, Jesus is not outside. Jesus is in your heart.” Upon hearing this, Jade sat on the floor, lifted her shirt, frantically looking for Jesus, while saying, “Jesus, Jesus, heart. lubdup, lubdup. Jesus

Our Calamity Kit

 With devastating earthquakes occuring one after another in various parts of the world,  we are in constant fear of the said “big one” here in our country.  Our house lies a few meters away from an active faultline, so we take earthquake preparedness seriously.

 

As a family, we have discussed where we are to meet in case we are separated during any calamity.  For those of us who are always at home, we have set a location in the house where we are to congregate when an earthquake strikes.  We have also prepared emergency boxes for each family.  Our calamity kit includes:

  • Food
    • 2 foil packs of formula milk
    • 4 tetra packs of natural fruit juice
    • biscuits/crackers/oatmeal cookies
    • 2 cans of pineapple tidbits
    • 2 cans of vienna sausage
    • 2 cans of tuna
    • 6 sachets of nesvita
    • water
  • Clothing
    • one set of clothes for each person
    • jackets for the toddlers
    • 2 packs 4-pc diapers for the toddlers
    • face towels
  • Medicines & First Aid
    • paracetamol
    • antibiotic
    • hydrasec & erceflora (for diarrhea)
    • antihistamine & anti-allergy
    • betadine & hydrogen peroxide
    • bandages/band-aids/sterile gauze
  • Emergency Essentials
    • batteries
    • flashlight
    • swiss knife

 

 I’ve just recently read “Preparing for Disasters”, an article on survival written by Erika Sauler, and have now found out that we lack a few more essentials.  We need a quick trip to the mall to purchase these items:

  • chocolate bars – these are great sources of energy
  • honey – it serves a dual purpose of providing nutrition and disinfecting wounds
  • condoms – they apparently can be used to transport water and keep electronic gadgets secure
  • crank radio – an AM frequency radio that does not need batteries
  • signalling devices – mirror and whistle
  • duct tape – it sticks to most surfaces, is waterproof, and can also be used to seal the house in case of radioactive fallout

 

 From the same article, I also learned that Betadine can be used to purify water for drinking.  You’d only need 4 drops of the iodine solution for every liter of water.  You then have to wait for 30 minutes for the organisms to be killed before the water is safe enough for drinking.  They have stated though that this is not advisable for pregnant women.

There are a lot more survival tips in the article  and I recommend you go over it.  It just might save your life when disaster strikes.

A Busy Mom’s Online Marketplace

Laptop computers are not part of our family essentials so getting a new one was out of the question when my current one started breaking down. My laptop’s space bar has been covered with scotch tape to keep it in its place for as long as I can remember. Then one of my toddlers accidentally yanked off the space bar while she was “helping” Mama with her work. A tiny part of the space bar key broke off and couldn’t be repaired. In that same week, my other toddler intentionally pounded on the keyboard causing the spacebar to completely break off from the keyboard. This all happened barely a month after my husband bought the laptop and since then, my laptop has been adorned with scotch tape.

I don’t really mind buying a secondhand laptop but as I was my toddlers’ 24/7-momslave-yaya-cook-nurse-teacher-playmate-etcetera, trips to the mall to canvass for one were out of the question. I considered buying from an online marketplace, especially since you can use something like eBay coupons to get second-hand or refurbished laptops at a further discount. But I didn’t have much luck finding a functional yet affordable pre-loved laptop that caught my eye. So months passed and the keyboard remained as it was – scotch-tape decorated and hanging by a thread.

This morning though, while searching for a learning toy for my toddlers, I chanced upon a buy & sell online site that had the perfect laptop for me. I checked the site to search for educational toys for my little ones but found a lot more than that. It tends to offer everything and anything you might ever need such as books, TV, κινητά τηλέφωνα, Samsung ηλεκτρικές σ&upsi… For that and for saving me through all the trouble of having to endure traffic and big crowds, websites like AyosDito and eshop.gr could soon become my new favorite marketplace. Plus, if the kids don’t like what I get them, I can just send them straight back to the shop for a refund, without ever having to leave my house since there are so many courier options available on sites like Fast Courier Australia!

After going over the many laptops that were for sale, I finally found one that was to my liking and that fit our budget. This Dell Inspiron Dual Core seems fine with me and the price is well within our range. There were other options on there – a friend got shown a link to a Macbook that, other than a broken screen, was working fine. Thankfully they live near a place that can fix up a Cracked Macbook Screen with no problems, so they snapped it up. Me, I’m sticking to the Dell. Considering the specifications and the price, I really wouldn’t mind buying this even if it has been previously owned, as it will more than do what I need it to do. Although my husband gave me tips to buy cheap laptops, I shall still leave the final decision to him. He is, after all, the techie guy in the family and would know best if it is truly a good buy. For now, I shall continue to shop for my toddlers’ toys, clothes and other stuff in my new online shopping haven. This is, after all, my forte.

Mommy Moments: White

 The theme for Mommy Moments this week is WHITE.   Unlike last week’s theme which was not a favorite in the family,  white is something we have in abundance.  I think all of us do!

I chose four of the cutest pictures of my toddlers in white.

The little ones racing towards Mama in their matching white and blue onesies

all ready for lunch with their white bibs on… but lunch isn’t ready yet

busy sorting the coins and chips in their overused white sandos

Little Jade using a white crayon on her black book

playing with the white cones in their comfy white shirts

 

See other mommies’ WHITES at mommy moments