We always arrive 30 minutes earlier for Mikee’s Saturday “class”. This way, she has time to relax and (re)familiarize herself with the surroundings.

While we wait, I read some parenting magazines. One article catched my attention. I’m pretty sure I’ve read this before. So even before, I knew that parents are discouraged to say NO to their children but forgetful that I am, I forgot how to do this. So here I am blogging about it so in case I forget again, I know where to look.

Ok, I don’t remember all but I’ll share what I think are attainable for a mom like me who HAD the habit of saying NO to her daughter.

How to say NO to your kid/s without really saying it:

• Give the positive equivalent of what you want to say. Instead of saying, “No, you can’t eat candy till after dinner.”, say “Yes, you can have candy after dinner.”
• Give an option. When your kid plays ball inside the house where he/she is likely to break something, say “You can play ball outside or you can stay inside the house but keep the ball to your room.”
• Say how you or others feel. “If you hit her, she would be hurt and she’ll cry.” or “If you hit me, I’ll be hurt so please stop.”
• Don’t be too strict. You might be restricting your child, and saying NO too much. Kids have the right to play and be happy.

Honestly, after reading this and had the urge to say NO, I stopped to think what to tell Mikee. Yes, it isn’t instinct for me not to say NO yet. But at least now, I stop and think. I think I’m getting there.

Mikee got the sickies today. The help said Mikee took a nap right after I left for work. When she woke up, her hands and feet are warmer than usual. Plus she wanted to be carried all afternoon.

Sigh. Whenever Mikee is sick I can’t seem to sleep. Geez, looks like it’s going to be a long night. Good thing I’ll be working from home tomorrow. Hope Mikee gets well soon. She may have to skip her playschool this weekend.

Today is one hectic day. It is Mikee’s birthday. We don’t intend to celebrate it today. Instead we’ll have a simple get-together tomorrow. Guess what? We’ve done the shopping only today! Yeah, don’t you just love to cram? Hehehe. Mikee was crying when she noticed that daddy and mommy were all dressed up while she was still wearing her house clothes. She sensed that she’s not coming with us. I felt guilty. It’s her birthday, why let her cry? So we brought her with us to the grocery store. She loves running around the grocery store. Aside from buying stuff for tomorrow’s party, we canvassed for affortable indoor dog potty.

We bought a simple cake for tonight. We were planning to have a nicer cake for tomorrow but we were told that should have been pre-ordered 3 days ago. Boo!

Anyway, I’m still working at this hour while everybody’s busy at the kitchen. Geez, I can feel the pressure. Wish me luck.

Happy weekend everyone!

A nice tag from Joy and Gracie. Thanks girls.

Are you deeply in love with your spouse or boyfriend/Girlfriend? If you do, let’s try how well you remember the moment of your life with him. But before you put yourself in the hot seat please read the rules of this tag first.

RULES:
1. This tag should be passed on to your closest friends.
2. Visit the blog of the person you’ve got this tag.
3. Leave a comment on her/his tag post. Be sure to thank her/him for this tag.
4. Highlight and link all the list of people who accepted this tag by visiting their blog site.
5. There are 10 questions that you need to answer but you will be the one to write the 10th question for the next person you want to pass this tag.

Here are your questions: Be Honest and True!

1. How did you meet your husband/wife or boyfriend/girlfriend?
~ We were classmates in 5th grade. We met again in a reunion.

2. Where did you go on your first date?
~ Eastwood.

3. When was your first intimate kiss?
~ Gosh. I don’t know.

4. How many girlfriends/boyfriends he/she had in the past? Do you honestly know?
~ He had so many flings. As in so MANY. But he had 3 serious girlfriends before me.

5. What is his/her ethnicity?
~ Filipino

6. What is his/her favorite food?
~ Pizza.

7. What is he/she like if he/she is mad?
~ Very quiet. Won’t talk.

8. What are the things he/she did you thought is the most romantic thing he’d/she’d ever done?
~ Gave me flowers without any occasion.

9. Describe how he/you proposed to you.
~ Nothing fancy. At the beach. Zambales. The usual. Although I was teary eyed.

10. (My question) Is he rooting for Celtics or Lakers?
Lakers

THEY PLAYED ALONG:
1. Soujourn
2. Pinay Mom in Czech Republic
3. See Me for What You Will
4. Lainy’s Musings
5. Our Journey To Forever
6. Sheng’s Simple Thoughts…
7. Pinay WAHM
8. Me and My World
9. coicoi’s World
10. BLOGSILOG
11. A Mother’s Horizon
12. Because Life Is Fun
13. Dzoi
14. A Reality Bite
15. Thea is bloggerhappy
16.

I’m tagging Anna, Farah and Joanne.

I opened the refrigerator and I saw his mug full of ice at the freezer. Sigh.
I went down to brush my teeth and I saw his toothbrush. Sigh.
I couldn’t sleep last night, I could smell him on the pillows. Sigh.

This was my reason why I never allowed him to work abroad.
We got married so we could be together, then why live apart?
I don’t get it. I will never get it.

Well, just another lonely night and he’ll be back.
Sigh.

(Geez, I could imagine my mom and friends hitting me in the head “arte mo ha!” but I was teary-eyed last night when I realized that my work was done but I won’t be waiting for someone to arrive and to eat dinner with.)

Btw, he’s just on an off-site for 3D/2N.

I don’t know how but we will!

Prepare Mikee’s birthday party, that is. It’s just a month away. Yet, we haven’t done anything. As previously agreed upon, we will have a simple party this year (next big party is on her 7th). But still, I suspect fastfood chains are fully booked by now. If that’s the case, we’ll hold a simple get-together at home. Sorry kids no games ‘coz Mikee’s mommy doesn’t know how to host party games. Hehehe.

I’ll post an update hopefully next week. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I am so tired. While the yaya is on vacation, the routine goes like this:

I wake up in the morning to do some mommy stuff. Then while Mikee is busy watching Hi-5, I’ll start working (I am now situated just right outside the bedroom door. This so I can see Mikee while I get the most signal that I can from the router.) After Mikee has gone fully awake from jumping while watching the show, I’ll give her a bath. After which, we’ll start watching Baby Einstein. This does not only help Mikee, but me, as well. You see, just this morning, I was so stressed with the workload and the demands. Thank goodness for the classical music I was hearing. It calmed my nerves. Well, somehow.

I try to teach Mikee some things. I want to maximize the time that we’re together. I talk to her in english while we “study”. (I know the yaya talks to her in tagalog, and that the yaya and maid talk in Visaya in front of Mikee so no wonder Mikee is so confused. )

After the maid is finished with her chores, only then she’ll get Mikee from me. But I bring Mikee with me after lunch. Lately, she gets cranky after lunchtime, a clear indication that she’s sleepy. (Sometimes, I think to myself, was it because the yaya was watching TV that Mikee couldn’t sleep as early as this? She used to sleep at 5pm onwards for her nap, again at 1am and wakes up at 10am. )

I really don’t want to talk about my work. What I can say is, I’ve been struggling for my work-life balance. Yes, it’s a struggle!

After dinnertime, I give Mikee a spongebath. (She takes a bath if I have time before dinnertime) When she’s all comfy, only then that I’ll start washing the bottles.

Geez, yaya life is so hard!!!

(For the first couple of days, I wash Mikee’s clothes even if the maid was offering to wash them with our clothes. I gave up. She now washes them. After all, a supermom is a myth.)

I feel awful. My mind is filled with “what if’s” and “should have’s” What if I’ve stopped chatting with my boss for a while. That could have waited even for 5 minutes. I should have held on to Mikee while typing. It was so fast, not even a minute. Mikee was just standing beside me.

Mikee fell off our 16-step stairs yesterday. I heard several thuds while I was running when I heard her first cry. I was wondering why it won’t stop. I thought she just slipped on the way to our room. I even saw her falling down from the 3rd step down to the ground. I froze and shouted several times. But I know no one can hear me. So I ran towards her, she’s still awake and crying. Her lips and hands were bloody.

I panicked and called hubby. All I can say was that Mikee fell off the stairs. When he asked me how, I said goodbye and dropped the call. I was in so much panic that I can’t think straight.

We drove to the nearest hospital (that accepts Mikee’s health card). And informed family and friends (I don’t really remembering who I texted. I just picked people on my phonebook). At the hospital, I can’t even write her name bec I can’t remember. I was asking myself “What’s Mikee’s name?” My hands were shaking. I wasn’t crying but I was really shaking.

Since I just had my x-ray last month, my brother-in-law accompanied Mikee on the X-ray room. She was crying only then that I cried. I was praying, saying sorry for being a bad mother, and to give me another chance at motherhood.

I’m not sure if I was breathing normally for the next minutes. I sort of held my breath before the doctor said that the results are normal. Only then I remember hubby who I’m sure was driving as fast as he can to the hospital. So I texted him to drive carefully and that the results are normal. The doctor gave us a list of watch-outs. So far, Mikee had been acting normal. Dancing, running, talking and shouting. Whew!

But we plan to have her CT-scanned this weekend just to be sure. Please include her in your prayers. Thanks.

I won’t promise but I’ll try to do your tags this weekend. So just keep them coming.

Anyway, Mikee had been watching Barney, Dora, Diego, Lazy Town and Hi5 for quite sometime now. So I thought of letting her watch Baby Einstein again today.

I used to watch this while I was pregnant with her. But I somehow knew that she was sleeping. (Mothers know) When she was born, I let her listen (not really watch) it, but after 9 minutes of it, she always fell asleep. Yup, exactly 9 minutes! So at 6 months, I’ve given up on it.

So today, in my attempt to lull her to sleep, I let her watch it. Guess what? She enjoyed it and started dancing to the music. Sheeeesh…

We went to a reunion today. It was a 3-hour drive (light traffic) away from our house. And we were so tired. But I enjoyed the scenery.

It was my first time to meet most of hubby’s relatives who attended. They are relatives from the side of hubby’s grandfather. (While we see relatives from the side of the grandmother almost every week. Yes, parties are aplenty.)

Mikee had fun. She played and danced like she wasn’t woken up at four this morning. She especially liked watching the elders play and dance during the games. At 3pm, she finally doze off.

Anyway, that’s it for now. I need to check work that I left, and do some online shopping for Dansko clogs. Yes, I’d like to believe I’m good at multitasking.