My Chichi Learns How to Text!!!

that moment when your 6-year old daughter learns how to send a text message... and this is how you found out.

Nguso Kung Nguso...

last night chichi borrowed my phone to play games. a little after that i saw her squinting at the phone's screen with her lips pointed at their highest peak, in what i thought was utter concentration at something that she was trying to view at a certain angle.

i asked her, "chichi, anu bang tintitingnan mo't hirap na hirap ka dyan, kung makanguso ka pa", to which she answered in her bulol pang tagalog "nagkukuha akong picture ko"

and when i saw her self-portrait shot... all i could say, "oh my..."

sigh... please baby... don't try to grow up too fast....

Better Late Than on the 24th!

yup, sa wakas... naitayo na rin namin ang aming kwismas twee!!! (huh? bakit natumba ba??? - Kuya Josel)

we were hoping to put it up earlier this year while gradually adding up wrapped gifts at its feet until christmas eve. but then for some unhappy reasons... we ended up doing it exactly just seven days before christmas eve.

oh well... the important thing is that chichi still enjoyed helping out with the (simple) decorations and of course, the pleasure of crowning the tree with the star is all hers.

Chichi Singing Faithfully

i was going through my phone's voice memos, and i found this voice record of chichi that she recorded on August 11th of last year. i remember there had been a time when she was sooooo fond of singing Journey's Faithfully just because i had it on my phone's ipod and she used to hear it a lot. but she was only singing the chorus, though. and she used to record her voice from my phone whenever she did. i'm posting it here coz i found it so funny that she corrected herself a few times to say the word "forever" right.





this voice memo was recorded two weeks after the first one above. this wasn't the second time she sang it, she sang the darn song everyday. and she had like, i think about twenty-five voice records of this song on my phone, but this one is the only version she recorded where she sang the chorus and the adlib together. she was out of tune but she sounded so sweet.

Chichi's Dance Class

this is a part of a dance choreography that chichi is learning from her dance class. 

Chichi and Her Tooth (teeth) Story

when chichi was born they (the doctors) at the hospital immediately let me breastfeed her right after she came out (of course they cleaned her first, then they gave her to me to feed). the moment she latched on to me i already felt pain. but hey, she's my first child, and that was my first time to breastfeed, so naturally i thought the pain was normal. a few minutes after feeding, the doctors took her from me for a physical check, while i went to sleep (it was 2 in the morning then, i think, and i was toooooooooo tired). i remember i haven't dozed off too long when alan came in to my room and started to shake me excitedly. he asked me if i knew that our daughter had teeth. i was too sleepy and bangenge that my only reply was, "talaga? di nga?" then i prompty went back to sleep.

the next morning, i was breastfeeding chichi and was feeling the pain in my nipples again when i remembered the dream (or so i thought) i had of alan telling me that our daughter has teeth. so i unlatched my daughter from my breasts and opened her mouth. and voila!

chichi's gums approximately seven hours after she was born

wow!!! so it was true then! and that was why it hurt like hell? hehe..

chichi's gums on her second day

on the second day of breastfeeding, the pain was already starting to take its toll on my nipples. i almost gave up breastfeeding altogether, but the doctors and the nurses in the hospital in which i gave birth support breastfeeding so much that they were giving me different options to lessen the pain. upon the nurse's suggestion, i used some sort of a silicone cap (probably the same material they used for baby bottle teethings) over my breast, cupped over my nipples. so that whenever she breastfeeds, she was biting on the silicone instead of my skin. but it worried me that chichi wasn't that much of a latcher, and everytime she sucks, the cap falls loose from my skin and she sucks in air, too, along with the milk. so at the end of the day, i stopped using the silicone cup altogether.

on the third day, chichi's two prenatal teeth have fully erupted from her gums

on the third day, my daughter's two lower incisors have pushed out fully and were already causing my nipples to bleed while she's feeding! but my doctor and my mother insisted that i kept on breastfeeding her. she also said that no matter how sore i became, no matter how many times my nipples bleed, she told me they will always heal by themselves in a matter of hours. i didn't believe her. but i listened to her. and besides, the nurse suggested that i apply some sort of cream (i think it was lanolin) to my sore nipples to help with the pain. so that's what i did.

i continued to breastfeed my daughter until she was eight months old. i took her to work with me, and i breastfed her at feeding times. whenever we went out i'd go to a corner and breastfeed her when she's hungry (breastfeeding meant there's really no specific feeding time) it's a good thing that here in france, breastfeeding in public is not considered indecent... but you should still try to do it as decently as possible, though (",)

in the beginning we considered to have the teeth pulled out. but the doctors and eventually, her dentist (she had to regularly see a dentist to check if the teeth were wobbly and to determine if they were choking hazard) decided that they were sturdy enough to be left alone, unless they start wobbling. and later on they also determined that her prenatal teeth were also her baby teeth. so if we decided to pull them out, she'd have had two holes in her gums until her permanent teeth grow out, which, the dentist said, won't, until she's atleast 6 (at the earliest) or 7  years old.

turns out he was wrong. well, atleast in my daughter's case.

this morning, she was standing in front of the mirror while she was waiting for me to get all my stuff ready (i was going to drop her to school on my way to work). then she came up behind me and opened her mouth to show me her gums. at five years old, chichi's first permanent tooth erupted atleast a year sooner than they're normally supposed to come out.

chichi's first permanent lower incisor growing out behind her prenatal teeth

oh well... guess we'll have to set an appointment with the dentist soon.

like Nanay, like Chichi

Chichi's Recital In School

Unsafe Drinking Water in Manila

.... atleast for Chichi.

chichi confined in the hospital for a night after days of drinking from local bottled water. arte ng sikmura mo chi!

Ma Petite Princesse

She's a bundle of sweetness,

brightness and fun; The beauty of springtime,
the warmth of the sun.

She is innocence coveredin mud, sand and soot;
She's Motherhood dragging
a doll by the foot


She's a composite
picture of giggles and tears;of tantrums, excitement,of amusement and tears.



A bundle of mischiefand often a tease;
A creature of moods
not easy to please.

She'll capture your heart
with her pixie-like grin;Or chatter and beg
till your patience wears thin.


But obedient, naughty,
mischievous or coy;
She's Red's little darling
And Alan's pride and joy.

Our Home-Made Video for Chichi

Our Home-Made Video for Chichi