Raising Boys

That math contest again February 12, 2007

My 8-year-old son Dylan hates Math contests or he hates the intense reviews that accompany them and complains at how he has the bad luck of again being chosen to represent the second grade in the competition.

The dislike probably stems from that time in first grade when he was among three pupils picked as contestants for the Math Teachers Association of the Philippines (MTAP) contest and had to cram for the elimination exams.

They reviewed like crazy for two days–from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., it was enough to make a 7-year-old cry. One of the contestants, not my son, did cry, probably because he looked out the window while solving around a hundred review problems and saw that it was getting very dark.
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Some fun in the sun April 17, 2006

One hot, lazy Saturday, we made our way to the beach for some fun and sun, and boy, did we get both in abundance. My sons couldn’t wait to jump into the sea when we arrived and it was not even 8 a.m. yet.

No amount of remonstration could get them to break their communion with the sea and when they finally stopped, some six hours later, no SPF lotion–even at a high of 50 and applied at least four times–could stop Lennon’s sunburn and no amount of rest alleviated Dylan’s dizziness and nausea. Serves them both right.

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Everyday love February 14, 2006

I’m not big on flowers. They wither. You enjoy them for one or two days and then disappointingly they shrivel and leave this mess of dried leaves and petals.

But my husband brought me flowers–chrysanthemums–for Valentine’s Day today and they’re among the most beautiful things I’ve ever been given in my lifetime.

This gift of flowers and because it is Valentine’s Day made me think about the song “This Everyday Love” by Rascal Flatts, who sang about “ordinary plain and simple” love. This is exactly the love that my husband and I share–it’s “typical” and “nothing too peculiar”.
Further goes the song:

Wouldn’t change one single thing about it
No, it’s run-of-the-mill, still I can’t live without it

Neither would I. Neither can I.

Lennon turns three February 5, 2006

Lennon turned three years old on January 23 and we held a party for him the day before, a Sunday, because it wouldn’t be as much fun if we hold it on a school day.

Incidentally, January 22 was also the Pacquiao-Morales fight, which Pacquiao won by technical knockout on the 10th round. I’m not a fan of boxing, it’s such a cruel sport, but I watched the Pacquiao-Morales rematch because anything that has reached a level of page 1 newsworthiness deserves some attention.

But more than anything, I remembered that the fight also happened on Lennon’s birthday party because when I husband and I went to the Goldilocks branch in Mandaue City (unfortunately they don’t deliver to the Lapu-Lapu City branch anymore) to get my son’s birthday cake, the same time that the fight started its delayed airing on television, the street was eerily deserted. To think that I pass this road six days a week to work and it’s always full of vehicles.

But back to my son’s birthday party, fortunately Lennon did not consider it a day for troublemaking–unlike a previous birthday when he bit so hard on the glass when he drank from it that he took off a piece and it consequently sliced his tongue–so it went smoothly.
We had roasted pork (a whole pig), there was much to celebrate with my son turning 3 not less among them his being able to speak at last, and balloons, upon special request of the celebrant.

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Dylan tries table tennis November 3, 2005

My husband and I do not get time off work even during holidays so there was no trick or treating for my kids during Halloween. As a compromise, though, we brought Dylan and Lennon with us to the office on November 1 and Dylan got to play table tennis for the first time with his uncle.

It was more of a hit-and-pick kind of thing for Dylan but his Uncle Michael was very patient and taught him some of the basics of the game. Dylan was so taken in by the game that he asked me to buy him a pingpong table. Below is a picture of Dylan taken by his dad during the game.

Know your age in dog years October 30, 2005

Want to know what the moon’s phase was when you were born? Try this birthday calculator. You just enter your birthdate and it will tell what day you were born, how many days, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds old you are, your birthstone, your birth tree and of course the shape of the moon on that day.

The moon was waxing crescent on the day of my birth, according to the calculator, which also said I am 4.89706457925636 dog years old as of 12:35 p.m. today.