Sport Weekend

It was an athletics packed Weekend chilling at the Mall of Asia as the boys played Tenpin bowling (yes, with the three-holed ball), then tried the climbing wall set-up for the bouldering competition. Andres can swing a six pound ball while I helped Ponso push the ball from the foul line. They had bumper bowling set-up for kids to make it easier for them to hit the pins by covering the gutters on both sides of the alley. They really had fun as my body ached running after Ponso and carrying Paco.

Sunday early evening was spent running across the UST football field in the guise of hearing Mass from the outside. The summer breeze made the early evening more cozier.

Next week, our football and baseball should be packed alongside the milk bottles.

March 10, 2009

The Jerks and the Boys

Last night, we went to My Brother’s Moustache to pick up my long overdue The Jerks Anniversary T-shirt from Chickoy. The boys were able to enjoy the Quezon City night scene as we worked the streets looking at the neon and LED lights flickering and lighting the night sky. I was so excited to play the two Lokal Brown CDs I got from Recto in the car stereo but was again overpowered by Andres’ neverending stories of his planned inventions in the future and how his class selects its leader (him being a group leader, he said). In detailed fashion, he described the step-by-step selection process and the job description of a leader. All that while I patiently waited to get my turn in the listening space and play ”Pay U” and discuss the relevance of the song in spite of its recording 15-16 years ago.

Ponso in the meantime would force himself out from the seat belt to act as an inspector as the gasoline boy fills up the gastank with 100 pesos worth of unleaded gasoline. Paco is in his slumber best wearing a new pajama as he cuddles up with his nanay in the back seat.

Only Ponso and me went down to meet up with Chickoy, and Ponso, ever observant, immediately pointed at the stage and the TV blaring and started shouting, “Music! Music!” It reminded me when we brought Andres to Mayrics one time and he went straight to the drumset and hit it with whatever stick looking gadget he found lying near the stage.

My Brother’s Moustache looked cozy enough to expose the boys to good folk and rock and roll music and its no smoking spot I think will make it bearable for the boys to enjoy the folksy ambiance and their french fries as I gargle my beer.

March 6, 2009

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

Welcome to Punk Rock Tatay

I am a father to three little boys. Andres is 7 years old and in grade school. He wants to become a Pope someday. Ponso is 2 years old and has no wants at the moment but just to live in the present wrecking anything that comes to his path. Paco is three months old and enjoys sleeping and drinking his milk.

I am a husband to a wife who normally gets crazy due to my slacker moments (she calls it straightforward laziness) creating a monstrous pile of everyday things in the corners of our home and my love for meditation which she attributes as lethargy bordering on a stroke case due to my strict meat diet backed by mind bicycling and running.

Welcome to the Pleasuredome.

February 27, 2009

learnings from my student

I need a complete overhaul in terms of relating with the boys.

I cannot keep up with their energies specially in the early evenings when I come home from school. I think they still act normal for their respective ages with Andres and Ponso relating by ganging up on each other for television control or who gets to transform the fucking Optimus Prime into a truck or a robot. Its a mystery how they always, I mean always, want to transform the fucking Optimus Prime at the same time and space. Why most of the time, I see the robot just lying down on a pile of toys while the two of them just sit down and drink their Yakults. Why can't they want to transform the Autobot at different times? I get ill-tempered with that situation and gets to release negative energies that I am sure affects the boys in a definitely negative way. I also feel bad on how I handle such situations and how I react to their antics.

Man, I was looking for some answers to this situation, meditating, and contemplating over bottles of beer while checking my students' reflection papers on their experiences being with less privileged children. One said: "At first, I got tired trying to control these children telling them the do's and dont's while they continue to disobey me. Then, I learned that what is important is to really just be with them and play with them. After that, it all became easy."

I have to read more reflection papers.

Breastfeeding Philippines

I am a Breastfeeding advocate. My friend is an active proponent of the idea that mothers should breastfeed their children at all cost and that the milk formula is the devil's way of putting humanity astray.

I have read the positive effects of natural way of nurturing children, of the natural way of feeding.

But we had limitations at home that made us succumb to the devil's food, the milk formula. After three months of maternity leave (because of the C-section operation that allow mothers a 75 day rest), its back to work and back to the chain gang.

This situation gives the impetus to resort to milk bottle formula to continue the baby's sustenance, in spite of the negative effect of cow's milk. The magic of breastfeeding cannot be matched by the formula but we did not prepare ourselves to adjust to the requirements of feeding the babies with mother's milk. We did bought two breast pump but it was sparsely used because of the stress that came with the change of schedules. No milk would come out!

Breastfeeding requires preparation, practice, and rhythm to ensure that it is incorporated with the mother's lifestyle. We tried it but we were not very successful in that field.

To learn more about breastfeeding, visit this link

http://breastfeedingphilippines.com/

Andres and Mr. James Brown

Michael Jackson died. And our Vigan tiled floor was never the same again. Andres wants to learn how to do the moonwalk ala-Michael Jackson circa early 1980s when he rocked with you with everyone in his sequined white glove and flowing dance moves. I only know how to Walk on the Moon as sung by The Police.

Andres would watch the MTV channels to catch a glimpse of MJ’s moonwalk moves then discuss the cause of his death and contribution to the world. Not wanting to remove his nascent interest in music, I would segue my Michael Jackson opinions to what I think is more essential to the music world, James Brown.

I told him of a great man named James Brown who redesigned the landscape of dance as he grooved to his soul funk groove breakout style. A good singer that bridged the color divides between black and white America of his time with his style.

I thought he just let the spirits control his body for his funky steps in an oido manner but he actually named his dance steps and even had a video clip to save it for future James Brown wannabes. I’m glad and it is not only for Andres but for me as well. I feel good!