A whole new world..

THIS is it. They say that the easiest part of child rearing is the first year. The rest is an adventure of a lifetime that sometimes puts you on a roller coaster ride.

Post here your Valentine’s Day greetings

After being so busy with my new business for weeks, finally I found time to be with my child and did nothing but play. One of his favorite games was peek-a-boo. Well, that was before. Now, he discovered something new.

First, he learned one of the basics of acrobats: split and “tumbling”. At one year and nine months, he can do it perfectly, almost like a gymnast at the Olympics. I wonder where he learned these tricks. I can’t remember letting him watch an acrobatic performance on tv nor I have been watching any when I was pregnant with him. Oh well, natural talent perhaps?

Second, he wanted me to participate in his newfound game by doing the same thing: “tumbling”. The first few “show” I did was fine but when he had to cry and beg me to do it every time he does it, that’s another story. I’m not the same lass 10 or 15 years ago who bravely competed even with boys in the neighborhood. I am a bit heavier now and my bones are not as good as before when I can still bend my body fully to reach for the tsinelas in a bending game. But maybe, I can still do it with a little more practice. Anyway, our tumbling session ended when I offered him his ‘dede’ before we went to sleep.

I thought his discovery was over. I was wrong. The next day, he discovered something new: climbing on top of a box. It’s not so high though and it is located beside the dresser. He would go up and hold either his stuff toy, a broom (which was placed near the box), or any of his balls. He has seven kinds of ball with different sizes, textures and colors. If he is with a stuff toy, he would sit down on the box and embrace the toy like what I usually do to him. If he is with a broom, he would go down and broom the floor. If he holds a ball, he would try to shoot the ball to the ring, which is about a meter and a half away from the box. When he shoots it successfully, he would clap his hands and say, “Yehey!!”

As I looked at him doing all these, I realized he has grown up. He has widened his interest from a mere rattle and crib toys to more sophisticated games like identifying the right shapes and color and putting these in the correct hole. He has also learned to love books. This is one thing I missed when I was his age. I envy him as he learned how to recognize an airplane, ball, car, horse, boat, fish, telephone, dinosaur, pumpkins and other pictures on his books. At one time, he did it with sounds and actions.

“Horse. Tigidigtigidig!” He did it while stomping his feet, as if riding a horse.

“Car. Brrrommmbrommmm!”

And while he pointed out the picture of a telephone, he put his right hand on his ear and said, “Heyoww?”

His books are in a small bookshelf that is almost as tall as him. As he was walking around the room and looking for something to discover, he picked out all the books as he climbed up the shelf instead. Up there, he looked around to see what he could do next and picked out one book, and browsed through it like a nerd.

After few minutes, he discovered that the switch of the room light) was just within reach and so he switched it on and off and… That’s when I stopped him, I just might have to buy a new bulb sooner if keeps at it. Hehehe.

As I picked up his books and placed it on the shelf again, it dawned on me that I am in a new world now. The shelf that used to be filled with books of Fulghum, Bach, Kiyosaki and others are now replaced with “Ang Prinsipeng Ayaw Maligo”, “Ang pagong at ang Matsing”, “My First Bible”, “Story of Moses”, “Story of Jesus”, “Jonah and the Whale” and many other children’s books. Not only that. When I am so busy doing something on the computer, a little boy would sneak in and insist that he should be on my lap and he would want to press the keypads too. Sometimes, he would search for his Baby Einstein and Listen and Learn Videos and give it to me, as if telling me that he wants to view it. The helpless mother in me would of course stop everything I am doing and let him sit on the computer chair so he can view his educational videos.

Haaay.. It’s as if only yesterday when the world I knew was only between me and my husband. Now, an angel came and introduced us to a whole new world. It is a place where only love, joy and peace abide. And I’m glad I’m here.