Thursday, January 20, 2011

I am Afraid, Mama!

Dear MC,

Do you know, it is okay to be afraid. It is okay to feel the butterfly in your stomache. It is okay to sweat. It is okay to accept that you are afraid of something.

But the best thing to do when you are afraid is what you have always done -- tell us, let us know, speak about it. Let us know that you are afraid. Let us know why you are afraid. Let us know what you think about it.

It is also good that you always come to us when you are afraid. Talking about it would make the fear a little smaller. Together, we might even have the chance to push it completely away. When  talking about it wont help, let's hold hands, give you a hug; we could cuddle together and crush the fear away.

It is also okay to cry, we would understand. When the tears have dried up, we could again talk about it. We could cuddle again and again. That would help, as always.

Or we could take a stroll to free our minds. We could play. There are a lot of things that we could do together to overcome your fear. But first things first, keep on talking about it.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Who's going next?

Swamped with the thoughts of sickness and death the last weeks, six-year-old IC still cant get over it. She started analyzing and asking questions; most of which we tried very hard to answer.

Such as this: 'Mama, my sister (who is more than a year older than her) would be the first one to go, right? Because she is older than me.'

I think she came to this conclusion because we also told her that Opa is gone because he was sick and he is already too old to really cope up with all the medicine and the attention.

MC, who's sitting beside her butted out, 'of course not!'

I tried to reassure both of them by saying: ' We would never know when it is our time to go. But this I want you to know: if you eat the right food, have enough exercise or do sports, and always are careful wherever you go and whatever you do and always pray and be grateful for what you have -- then you would have a longer life.'

That seemed to settle them down.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The Best in Math

'Mama, dont you know that my teacher told me today that I am the best in Math?' IC, who's in grade one, casually said last week.

'And dont you know that my seatmates would always look into my Math workbooks because they wanted to know the right answers?' she added with a little confusion.

Shrugging her shoulders, 'well you know, mama, I love Math. It is easy and fun.'

I told her it is good that she loves Math. And I told her to recall why she is loving Math now.

Because...
She was learning the numbers when her big sister was doing it as a homework already.
She was solving Math problems with the help of her big sister and doing it as a game.
She was always sitting down with her sister when a tutor comes to teach.
She has already finished half of her Math book for grade one.
She is interested and is always ready to learn.

We have also tried to keep her interest by playing games with her that involves numbers. And not to forget, we praise all her efforts!

Naturally, she is also starting to be proud of what she can. And that's another inspiration for her to learn more. We are so proud of her.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

To-Do List Before and After Welcoming 2011

I stopped creating a New Year's Resolution way, way back. Simply because I noticed that my list are almost the same -- exercise more, eat less.

I also noticed that although I dont list these things down, I tend to automatically tick them off in my head. So I am sharing my New Year's to do list. And I am proud to say, these things are already done and is being done!

- I have started the tradition and wish this to be a ritual for my girls and I, cleaning and tidying up before the New Year arrives.

- Having fresh linens, sheets and towels; that means letting the washing machine work overtime!

- Clean and sort out the medicine cabinets; and those in the ref, too.

- Check and refill the kitchen supplies. Make sure that there are enough sugar, rice, flour, egg and salt. A hint of superstition as in the Philippines, we make sure that all supplies are filled as an empty cupboard is a bad start.

- Clean the ref and check the frozen items in the freezer.

- Clear and sort out the items in storeroom. This time I will throw the old boxes and exchange them with the sturdy ones and really label them!

- Try to clear up and work on my paperworks and computer files.

- With the kids, sort out their toys and clothes--  their favorite ones would stay, those who could be sold via ebay and the rest to charity.

- Sort out our clothes into three boxes -- to keep, to ebay, to charity.

And then relax in a warm tub with a good book; while enjoying my bath, my husband would usually give me a glass of wine for my hard work :-D