Quirks

Admittedly, kids are growing up so fast, sometimes you cant really keep up. But what is really amazing is that their quirks are not ony changing but diversifying and you are kept lagging behind.

Check out my five year old MC's quirk tokens:

1. Late last year, she simply started avoiding visits to her playmates' house. She wont stay unless I stayed. Or else, screaming fits. In the end, her playmates would come to us.

2. Parallel to that, birthday celebrations; events so always looked forward to, became events to dread. As in, days before the event, she would loose sleep and would kept on asking, 'mama, I dont want to go.' To which I always reply, 'let's wait and see.' But really, she would go and would cling to me. An attempt to go home alone, without her, would mean a tantrum. Thus, it would only be the gift that would stay.

The first two's been solved since April this year. Just so. No explanations. But we are glad.

3. Then came elevators. She's been going in and out of elevators since she was a small kid. Then a few months ago, on our visit to their pedia, she wont go in the elevator. We were shocked, to say the least. She protested and wont go in. When she started to whimper, we decided to take the stairs. When we asked her why, she wont say anything. I thought it is only a phase, but nope, no more elevators since then. To the point that, she advices me not to use the elevator even if I am alone! (Binubuno pa naman ito until now)

4. She still insists on having her hair done before putting on her shirts, even if it means redoing the hair style because it gets tangled while putting on her shirts.

5. No food on her plate should be touching.

6. She insists on eating only the 'soft' french fries; she finds those soft ones by randomly pinching the fries on her plate and on the service plate. Then either she gives the hard ones to her sister or to mama and papa.

7. She always needs a new fork or a new spoon to eat different dishes.

8. She is crazy about Sportacus. She loves dancing and singing with them.

9. She used to pull her dried up lips until it bleeds. Good thing she stopped! Giving her her own lip balsam helped.

10. Her favorite word this time is 'never'. Like 'I will never play with her again, or I will never eat that again.' Which I always respond with, 'you better think about what you say, never is a long long time.'

11. Words that I told her I dont want to hear anymore: 'You are not my friend anymore.' I explained to her that this is good to say to her playmates, it hurts the feelings; plus she would not want to hear them, too.

12. Tabo is her number one po cleanser.

Three year old IC's curious list:

1. She insists on separate plates for every condiments. One for fries, another for ketchup, another one for rice, etc. When she dont get a clean one, she would proceed in wiping her plate with her table napkin. Until all the crumbs and the rest of the food are all over the table, under the table, on her chair, hanging on her clothes, smearing her face and hands, etc -- she doesnt care, as long as her plate is clean for the next dish.

2. When she is not in the mood, you could get her to be in her best behavior by dangling food. Like 'hold the hand of your partner, then you'll get gummi bears afterwards.' Or 'let your sister play with your barbies, you'll be getting a surprise snack later.' I know, not so good, but this is only an extreme measure.

3. She is so crazy about Pippi Longstockings. Her whole world revolves around Pippi -- she wont miss a day without asking about Pippi. There would even be days wherein she would slip into her Pippi costume, complete with make up. Pippi eventually became another fantasy friend. And is still an active playmate to date.

4. She just gave up her 'alat', her pet name for her pacifier, early this year. Oh, she needed the 'alat' only while sleeping, but it is really a riot act when she cant find it before going to bed.

5. She loves baby dolls and cant get enough of them. When she goes inside toy stores, her eyes lit up when she see baby dolls. Despite the fact that she's got more than two dozens of them in different sizes, colors and appearances -- she wants more.

6. She's got foot fetish. She cant take it when her feet are dirty. She would stop whatever it is she's doing; wherever she is at that time -- then she'll take off her shoes and tinker, until she's satisfied that they are clean. Even while eating!

7. While eating, she would always try to clean up the crumbs on her place by pushing them under the table.

8. While taking a shower, she needs a face towel to cover her eyes.

9. Thus, she hates showers and prefers bathing.

10. Brushing the teeth is always a big circus, everytime, everyday. Walang palya.

11. She cant take a running nose. She would always insist on having her nose wiped clean. Even if it means skipping out of her ballet class to find me, her official nose wiper.

12. Tabo is her number one po cleanser.

Are quirks inherited? If so, I needed to apologize to my nanay and tatay :-)