it's about time

Most of the time, I am at a lost on how to go about taking care of three little boys who have different worlds of their own. My wife often tells me of my unconscious detachment with the boys making their activities bug me from whatever I am doing when we are in the same time and place. The secret, she said, lies in actually BEING with them and making them the priority whenever I am with the boys. To play, laugh, tell and listen to their stories.

I normally have little problem with 7 year old Andres when he tells his stories, unless I am chatting with someone and Andres forgets the rule of manners (which he usually does because of his natural talkativeness and excitement) and gets into his act of butting in and telling his own stories and questions for the day that would waylay whatever topic I am discussing with someone. Andres is very inquisitive and people say that he thinks advance for his age. He gets interested with the high tech gadgetry and toys but it does not diminish his passion for history and the humanities, of stories about great civilization and the development of nations. He can gaze and look at the world atlas for hours and ask about countries and their peoples.

Ponso, the two year old monster, is a major struggle due to his age (I hope), so they say. The terrible two and, will it be a monstrous three? People get attracted to him for reason I cannot comprehend. They really thinks he is cute, especially when he starts off with his singing then it progresses to the more naughty tricks like throwing things, do whatever I think is dangerous, and shout his lungs out when in a happy mood. And he usually gets away with that just because he started out cute! He can sing the ABC over and over again but speaks cryptic most of the time.

Paco, at three months old, is a bundle of joy. He thinks his mother is a walking milk dispenser.

I hope to get the parenting groove real soon. After 9 years of marriage and three punk rock boys, it’s about time.

March 2, 2009