Would You Buy This For Your Kids?

While shopping for school snacks in SM Muntinlupa, we saw this.  Now I have nothing against cigarette smokers.  I have friends, siblings and loved ones who enjoy smoking.  But this is candy - judging from where it was displayed (the supermarket candy aisle), the target consumers were kids!  The illustration even showed an orange with a cigarette on his mouth... rotten teeth too. 

Best Cake Ever

I take all the chances I can get to rest these days.  If I see my little girls taking naps in the afternoon when I get home, I follow their lead and do the same.

Yesterday afternoon, I saw Nemo sleeping soundly on my bed.  She instantly wrapped her arm around me and continued sleeping; it must be the steady rain outside.  She loves the rhythm it brings. Pot was playing with her Dad in the living room. It was the best time to sleep.

Fighting

My little girls are on this stage when fighting becomes a habit.  They fight about mom's hugs, dad's attention, toys, paper, plastic cup color preference, plastic spoon and fork color preference, who uses the kiddie bath tub, who sings louder when Bolt's end-credits show up.  

All throughout the day, they fight.  They ran, wrestle, shout at each other and on some instances hurt each other.  Now that is my limit - they can argue (boy, you should listen to them argue, it IS funny), but they cannot hurt each other.  I have given both girls timeouts a number of times ranging from sitting in one corner (Pot cried after 2 minutes, she can't stay still) to facing the wall.

I am still finding a way to make them realize that, yes, arguing is inevitable but physically  hurting is not.  

Anyhow, I mentioned that when they argue, it is a mommy guilty treat.  What's funny about my toddlers is they fight quoting movie characters.

Last night, they were fighting about who gets to play the Jessie doll (Jessie always gets Buzz Lightyear with her) and who plays the Woody and Bullseye dolls.

      Pot:  (pulling Jessie)  This is mine!  Get your own toy.  Get outta here, Bolt!

      Nemo:  Ate, please... thith isth mine!  Portia, YOU. ARE.A.TOY!

Most of the time, the lines don't even mean anything to the argument which is why I always need to keep myself from laughing.  Keeping a straight face while letting them know that they can compromise can be quite a chore. 

Do you have creative ways of making your kids stop fighting?  Or maybe funny stories about their fights?

Fatherhood

• It is pretending the present you love most is an old toy your daughter hands over. 
• It is keeping everything in perspective and still look cool.  
• It is sitting through a six-hour Toy Story video game, one that you've finished with your daughters over and over again.  
• It is always being present in your toddler's Saturday class even when you have not slept a wink.
• It is a shelf-full of cartoon movies and children's books on the bedside table -- where your classics used to be.
• It is sleeping on an uncomfortable mattress because your daughters like staying in your bed.
• It is driving around the city to find a school that your daughter will like most.
• It is standing by for milk (dede) runs or midnight snack requests from your little girls.

It is sacrificing the things you want to allow your daughters to get theirs.

The list goes on and on.  Thank you for always making the girls happy. 

Happy Father's Day, Tag!

Who's Controlling Them?

While watching the NBA Western Conference Finals on TV, my daughter Pot looked at her father with a wondering look - "Daddy, who's controlling them?" 

We should get out more often and watch the real thing.  My daughter sees everything as video games.

Villain-Free Movies

My whole family loves the movies.  My daughters have a vast collection of DVDs – some titles bought once or twice because they get two scratched up in the hands of expert toddler-hands.  While watching Mary Poppins, my husband mentioned that most of the movies that make it big have villains equally starring the film.  Sometimes they even get to be the highlight of the film; the lead actors are there so the villains can act better.

We thought of movies that do not really bank on the good and the evil characters.  These movies do not really prolific villains.  Can you think of other movies to add to the list?

Mary Poppins

Finding Nemo

About A Boy

It is interesting to know that some will treat villain-free movies as uneventful.  These three proved otherwise.

Toddler-Given Superpowers

It’s been more than a month since our household help went home.  I cannot begin to tell you how difficult it is to maintain a house, take care of two active toddlers and have an eight-hour job.  We turn into awful, on-the-brink-of-a-nervous-breakdown parents and we feel bad afterwards.  It is exhausting!  The highest award should be given to mothers (fathers and grandparents too) who do this full-time for life.

This afternoon, tiredness got to me.  As soon as I got home, I lay down in bed right next to a napping two-year old. A few minutes that, I was awaken to see this:

It must be some kind of a superpower gift.  Maybe Nemo saw how the fatigue was getting to me… maybe she is some superpower-giving God.  Maybe now I can just beam out any dirt in the house; or zap the dirty clothes, plates, bottles and pots and it will all be spotless again.

Or maybe…

If I sing “A Spoonful of Sugar” and snap, everything else will fall into place. 

Wouldn’t that be groovy?

I bid you farewell for now.. I need to start snapping away. :)

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious With A Cause

su·per·cal·i·frag·i·lis·tic·ex·pi·al·i·do·cious [soo-per-kal-uh-fraj-uh-lis-tik-ek-spee-al-i-doh-shuhs] - adjective - used as a nonsense word by children to express approval or represent the longest word in English.

Yes, it is now a REAL word. :)  Here is a nice video of Cambodian-kids who take their knack of saying the word. 

Watch and if you have some extra to share, go to the website flashed at the end of the video.

Jeeze Madamme

I should make a big note to self - run the other way whenever I see a store inauguration.  As it is with the rest of the Filipinos, I like checking out how a new establishment looks like on the first week it opens.  Call it patriotic (NOT!) but I see this as progress to celebrate about – more business, more jobs, more income for the city.

So when a famous supermarket chain store opened recently, I took my chance to peek.  My brother and I had a number of errands to do.  We were out late and our last errand for the night was to buy batteries for the flashlight that the electrician will use to fix some faulty house wiring (as always I digress; let’s go back to the topic).

It looked like half of the city was there that night.  Lines in the check-out counters were long – people with cart-loads of groceries lining up even on 12 pcs or less basket lanes.  My head was spinning so I asked the sales personnel if I could line up to pay for two bottles of coke (and batteries, which we found out were not even available) on a shorter cart lane.  I got irritated when he pointed out that I was on the right lane – that it was for people buying 12 or less. 

I told my brother the news that we were on the right lane and people were just lining up with cart-fuls of stuff (Jeeze!); it did not cross my mind that people would hear. 

Overhearing what I said, the lady in front of me asked her household help to get baskets… She shot me this mean “if-looks-could-kill” stare and transferred her grocery items.  That fit perfectly in baskets – four of them.  So yes, she has complied with the basket policy… there were four, but what the heck!  <Insert my still laughing face here>

While she was doing all of these, she had two of her kids as witness.  I don’t know but I am just glad none of my kids were there.  I would not want them to see how silly grown-ups can be.