Raising Boys

New phone June 15, 2005

I received a new mobile phone from the office yesterday. It’s a Nokia camera phone. I did nothing but play with it all day.

I took pictures of myself, my son, Max, and (can you believe it?) the view from our kitchen.

I even took a view of our mango tree but I think I accidentally deleted that one. It’s not that I had nothing important to do today; it’s just that I did not feel like like doing any of it.

Maybe tomorrow, I will be able to rouse my mind from the stupor it is in.

Unforgettable party June 12, 2005

It was Dylan’s birthday yesterday and he invited some friends over. His cousins also came. He told me he had a swell time. I could not say the same thing for myself.

I was so busy preparing for his party that I forgot to eat anything all day. In the morning, his dad and I had to get his cake from Goldilocks in SM because the bakeshop does not deliver anymore to its branch in Lapu-Lapu City. Plus, we did last minute purchases at the grocery. It was lunchtime when we got back from SM and we had to work double time to get everything ready by 2 p.m. My mother came to help.

Everything was going smoothly until my other son decided it was time he got some attention for himself, too. So he asked for water and when my mother gave him some, he bit down hard on the glass and took off a piece of it and he cut his tongue in the process.

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Dylan’s tales June 10, 2005

Dylan is starting his own blog. Daddy created it for him. The blog will be the repository of my son’s tales and experiences.

His dad and I will be transferring entries in his journal, a class requirement, to his blog “Aliens, tsinelasay, and other tales“. I posted the first entry from a story he told me last month. I was able to record his tale in my notebook because it so happened that he told me this story while I was taking down notes from a book that I was reading for an online course.

Home at last

Came back yesterday from my Manila trip. I really want to write about my trip but I’m tired so that will have to wait another day.

My sons were so happy to see me. Lennon developed a slight fever at the mere thought of another separation. He fell asleep beside me when I took a nap shortly after I arrived. He held on to my shirt all day.

Dylan’s first question when he arrived from school was if I was home already. He grumbled and protested when his dad told him that I had to stay a few days more in Manila.

Lost in Manila June 8, 2005

So obviously, I did not change my mind and am now here in Manila. I was last here 10 years ago and the changes to the metropolis since then seem overwhelming. I had quite forgotten how big this place is: wide roads, huge buildings, gargantuan malls.

It was a long ride from the airport to the Parc Chateau Condominium in Ortigas Center in Pasig City, where I’m staying, and I passed by Makati City on the way there. The financial district’s skyscrapers dot the skyline and everything else seems small in comparison. The flowing stairway of water at the entrace to The Peninsula was eye-catching. So was everything else, I guess.

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Headed for the capital June 7, 2005

I’m supposed to be in Manila later today. That is, if I don’t change my mind. I just might decide to go home instead of boarding a plane at the airport.

The thing is, I have not prepared for my two-day sojourn in the capital. I have not packed any clothes or given any thought to where I’m supposed to go once I’m there. I guess I still have until 10 a.m. to resolve all this or it will be too late.

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