A makeshift pool

Summer in the Philippines is blazingly hot. Sometimes temperatures reach 40 degrees. Which is why many beaches and resorts are jam-packed with tourists. Even malls are filled to the brim, with people not shopping around but just to take advantage of their free air-conditioning system. Well, our little gang here, Ryle and his cousins, are not to be outdone. They are having fun with the small, makeshift pool we bought last year. They are so fun to watch. We'll worry about our water bill later.

Lenten Procession

We were just mere spectators in tonight's Lenten procession. The last time we joined, Ryle had an asthma attack after. Maybe because of the candle fumes, dust and exhaustion. Ryle had a fun time mingling with the kids who were holding clappers called Clotarus by some or Matraka by others, not sure though which one is the right term. This as I learned replaces the suppressed bells of the church during this period of mourning. Little boys usually rattle them loud to announce the procession. It was a simple procession but attended by many. We will attend one next year, by then Ryle will be in much tougher shape. His asthma attacks has been declining. (My apologies for the not so vivid images. Either because I was a lousy shooter or my digital camera is not hi-tech enough to capture images in dark sceneries.)

Ryle's fingers got pinned.. by me!

Last night, Ryle had an accident. His ring and middle fingers got pinned by the door. The dumbest thing is that I was to blame.

He told me that he wanted to wee-wee. So I accompanied him to the bathroom and just let do his thing by the bathroom floor as always. Adjacent to the bathroom is another door going to our laundry area. I did not notice where his hands were and I wasn't looking at all when I slammed and closed the door.

That's when I heard his loudest scream he ever made as he cried in searing pain. My heart sank when I realized what I had just done. My wife quickly gathered him up, his nanny immediately took ice from the ref and I stood there continually cursing myself for being so stupid.

It was nearly an hour before his pain subsided and stopped crying. Thankfully, he was able to wiggle his fingers after, an indication that there was no fracture. It was an agony to think that I caused him such pain. And I cried with him while telling him daddy was very sorry.

That experience was one hell of a lesson in Child Rearing 101. Always make it a point to look where their hands are before closing anything be it a door, your closet or drawers.

Ryle's exam day

Today is Ryle's exam day. My wife and I, are planning to get him his first taste of school this year. We first thought of bringing him to a montessori accredited school but the lack of it in our community hindered this plan. There was one actually which we checked but it did not meet our expectations so instead we'll try the traditional school first which is just a stone's throw away from our house.

Well, as expected he passed his test with flying colors. The first test was to observe him if he can go about with others without us being there. So the examiner sent us away for a moment while he stays and he did. He even said to the teacher, "I'll wait here!"

Next he impressed them with his thorough knowledge of various animals, shapes and colors. He expressed himself articulately and he wasn't intimidated at all. He'll be in nursery this coming June. Our baby boy is n ow a school boy. (sigh)

As Ryle sees it

I was teaching our three-year-old toddler, Ryle animal body parts using plastic, miniature models of elephants, horses, hippos complete with rocks and trees.

I was asking him, "This tree cannot walk. Why?"

He stopped for awhile as if gropping for an answer.

So I continued, "Because it doesn't have...."

And he excitedly blurted, "Slippers!"


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Ryle, our three-year-old toddler is very fond of planets and the solar system. He is most familiar with the pictures of Jupiter, Saturn and Earth.

While watching a video about the solar system, our boy chanced upon a picture of a partially beaming earth in outer space.

In his enthusiastic voice, he blurted, "Earth, peak-a-boo!"

CCNP at Last!

Yesterday was a very exciting day for me. I was able to hurdle the last exam for Cisco Certified Network Professional. The exam took one hour which for me felt lasted forever maybe because I was too excited to finish the whole thing. For a while, this had me side tracked from blogging. :-)

I hope that this will open doors for better opportunities.

Ryle's computer capers

Ryle's inquisitive nature recently turned to our computer. So I installed Jumpstart Pre-school program (a very nice program for little toots his age) for him to work on. And almost instantly he was able to grasp the concept. He did take some time controlling the mouse but was able to master it after a few sessions. The only thing that he has hard time on is drag and drop control.

He loves to tinker around and click on things so I brought him to the Disney Playhouse site so he can explore some more. His instant favorites are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, BunnyTown and Handy Manny. He also loved Go Baby. It was in Go Baby where I saw him distinguished and associated different objects for every given scenario. Like objects found in the farm, in the bathroom, in space or in the beach. He's also very fond with Handy Manny's Carnival games and Pipe Puzzle.

Now we are the one controlling his time in front of the computer.