kaiandumphaland

2010-03-16T21:56:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody...! It has been quite a while since I blog and thousands of events and happenings had occured with us. Kai now is a "Big Brother" with arrival of Keani. Another Umpha's peotege'...I am starting on it! He is with me three day a week and not like Kai who was with me five day a week in his early three years. By the way Kai is in first grade now...he Graduated in kindergarten as head of the class...reading third grader's books. Valedictorian...! Umpha was so proud!

BUMPS AND CRASHES

2007-11-29T15:01:00.000-08:00

Wednesday was just another day for us with Kai. Every time he came, even when the door is not locked, he will always ring the bell. Umma and I always greet him with a question;"who is there?" and when he shows up..."Oh it is Kai-Kai." We are both corrected about latter. "Just one "Kai," not "Kai-Kai"...I am a big boy now, Kai-Kai is when I was a baby."

He started his morning with one egg cheese omelet, sliced persimmons and chocolate milk. As the day progressed, he was all over the house playing and for quite a while rode his tricycle round and round the house. Only couple of times he will holler, "Umpha help!" that is when he got stuck in some corner and can't maneuver.

He is still the "kiti-kiti" boy. He seems not to be contend in one place and when he is, he had to do some tinkering of whatever on hand. Even when watching TV,she just can't be in one place but his eyes was on the screen. His favorite, "Tom and Jerry" is still number one for him. He really enjoyed them even if they are re-runs and had seen the several times. Another is "Spongebob Square head." He tends to like those of the rated for seven years old. He does not go very much for "Dora" and Diego anymore .

He tends to run from one place to another. He bumped the side of his head in the kitchen counter and got a red ear. The big disaster was while watching TV, he leaned on the board where I have my keyboard and everything just fall down. This gave him a scare, cried and saying "I am sorry" profusely. I think that he got scared that I will get mad at him, He start calling Umma to the rescue. After telling him that it will be all right and I will fix his mess, he stopped crying. My observation, as long as he was told that it is okay, he will stop crying.

Until Tisha came to pick him, we are both playing games in the computer. He likes to start the game. He knows where the "Start" and he choose what phase of the game to be played...but he will let me do the hitting of the balls..."because it is hard." I saved the Yahoo promo of "The Return of Superman." It is a game with camera and you have to photograph Superman while flying the skies of different cities. He enjoys that.

He can read quite a bit now...but get frustrated trying to write his name. "All I can write is I."

I told him that he will learn it just like learning going to the bathroom to pee and poo.

We haven't done any painting lately. I am just waiting for him to get inspired.

When we are going to the car, he noticed Lulu, the little girl across the street. They waved to each other before I can strapped him on his car seat.

CHEAP CAR

2007-11-22T19:37:00.001-08:00

"CHEAP CAR" ... HIS FAVORITE

His passion with cars is endless! But, in spite of the many toy cars he possess, the one above is his very favorite. I took the picture sometimes ago so he can see them later in years or in case the car is lost. Lo! and behold! we can not find this car last Tuesday...it is still missing. for some reason he misplaced them while here in the house. He was so upset Tuesday and won't go home till he got his car. Until yesterday we are looking for it ...turning everything upside down to find it. I think it will show up sometimes and I am sure that he will be happy when it appears. I have not seen the car with him last Tuesday...he had a bunch of them on the inside of a skull mask and he just started to look for the "cheap car when he was about to go home.

I guess like Linus of Peanuts cartoon having his blanket for security, Kai has his "cheap car."

Correction:

The "cheap car" is not missing after all. Tisha got it somewhere in her house. What was missing is another red car...Huh...still missing.

PUPPY LOVE AT PRESCHOOL

2007-11-22T19:01:00.000-08:00

Tuesdays and Thursday is Kai attend Pre-School.

I am glad that Kai is not a shy kid. Going to school is a treat for him. The very first day he was able to find himself a girlfriend. I have not seen the girls but according to Tisha, she is a cute and pretty. I guess pretty girls won't get passed by with Kai. We found out that she is from Chile...or the parents are from South America. Her name is Emilia. Gosh! I did not get my first "puppy love" until I was in first grade.

When Tisha told me to asked Kai about her and I did, Kai gave me a coy smile and told me that he like her and she likes him. In school they are always together and Kai share his lunch with her.

I think this is funny....

When asked what they do in school; "Eat and play"

Later when asked what he learned in shool; "Everthing!" (emphasis)

The other day Tisha was telling us that Kai and his classmates went on a field trip to a Pizza house. They were shown the process of making the pizza, and the was treated with individual (small) pizza. But the best thing that happened there was Kai gave Emilia a kiss. Huh....an early starter? Also noted that he ate quite a bit of the pizza...he such a picky eater that Umma and I have to cajole him during our lunch time. Before it will take some time for him to chew his food, as late of last Wednesday, we noticed that there was a change. I made him some julienned hot dog and called it "spaghetti hot dog," some fried shoestring potatoes and cut -up persimmons which he was reluctant to eat but when he did, he liked it and ate half of the fruit. He finished what he had on his plate downed with chocolate milk.

ACTING OUT...POSES

2007-07-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

Hollywood here we come...!

Just for fun...I thought it would be nice to see how Kai would respond to me coaching him to pose in different situations. He really did very well...I think. The camera has been part of his life since his birth. He is not camera shy. He likes to peek at the viewer of the camera after ever shot. So, one day, as if we had nothing to amuse ourselves, I asked him to pose for me. You be the judge of the results....

"I am a handsome boy"

"I am cold"

"I am tired and sleepy"

"Mmm...That is delicious"

"I am thinking..."

"I have an idea!"

"Ay dios ko*! I am scared!"

"You stink!" "baho-baho"**

"I am mad!"

* "ay dios ko" is the equivalent of "Oh my God."

**"baho-baho" literally means "stink in tagalog.

He learned these words when he was almost three years old by hearing me saying them...

4th of JULY CHURCH FAIR

2007-07-22T18:25:00.000-07:00

The 4th of July was celebrated two days in advance for Kai. We brought him to a church fair...with hot dog, hamburgers and ice cream. What he enjoyed most was the games for kids especially when he found out that they were giving away "small" treats (treasures). He was able to collect quite a few of them.

He was suppose to throw the rings a bit further away...but he was allowed to do it his way and he really was able to hit the target. I like most of his stances when throwing the rings and I am glad that I was able to capture that in the picture.

"Are you kidding...? I can hammer that nail down to the board." Of course with the help of that good old lady and was given a treat too!

Kai has always been a car buff...he has grown up with too many toy cars and he has one special one that he calls "my little red cheap car." Posing here was really a big treat for him. His comment, "Neat car!"

ANYWAY...

2007-05-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

Today was all fun and games for us...Umma went to Simi Valley last weekend to visit her brother. I did not go and stayed with Nalie.

She called me Saturday that she is going to bring home a couple of parakeets. When she came back Sunday evening, she had three parakeets, a male and two females, This was the big surprise for Kai-Kai. This boy loves animals and this includes birds. I was thinking of getting him some ducklings but with the on going bird virus, I decided to be on the safe side.

Anyway, he was so excited about the birds and he took ownership of them right away..."they are mine!" We painted too today...he surprised me when he brought a container of paint and told me...Umpha. this is red. I told him that I have to see...the Crayola Tempera containers are yellow opaque plastic and the colors are written on the bottoms. He showed me the word "red"...there, Umpha, it is red. Not much of a production but I thought I'd just let him play with colors. This was after we were outside. Umma started picking some snails and he played with them...putting them in a row and let them, as he put it, "march in the parade." Before that we are all watching "Dora" then "Diego." He was with Umma lying and he was all over her, trying to put his legs on her neck...wrestling. Umma asked him if he does the same with his Mommie..."no she will get mad."

I decided to take some pictures while we were outside in the backyard. Here are the results..

"ANYWAY"

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of being selfish, and having ulterior motives,

Be kind anyway.

What you spend years building someone may try to destroy overnight; Build anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway.

If you find happiness, they may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.

You see in the final analysis, it is between you and God:

It was never between you and them...Anyway.

REGULAR UNDERWEAR

2007-05-09T20:00:00.000-07:00

Kai was so proud showing his underwear when they arrived this morning. When I came to the living room, the first thing he did was to show me his underwear. He had been wearing the pull-ups after he graduated from diapers and it was only lately that Tisha started him with the regular "carsonsillo." I think he's got that "free" feeling between his legs and he keeps his hands most of time touching himself...feeling his butt like being assured that it is there. Boy was he very proud about it...and as a matter of fact, when they arrived at the park this morning, he went to the middle of a group of children and pulled his pants down to show everybody. Umma told him that he is not suppose to do that...well, he is learning.

I wrapped some shrimp with wanton wrappers like the Thai Shrimp recipe I had, also cut a few strips of the wrapper, made a slit in the middle and run one end inside the slit to make a ribbon like "crisp." He was all set to do some cooking when they came back. That was his lunch with some rice (he asked for it) and watermelon strips. Every time I try to make his lunch an experience and with fun. This way he can learn to eat almost everything without a fuss. When we were in the yard, I put a piece of loquat in his mouth and told him that it is sweet ... he ate it and even had a seconds.

We did some collage today...as it will turn out to be dyphtic, a two section art piece when it will hung. He did a demo for Mike and Tisha and even gave his dad a brush and wanted him to join him gluing the tissue paper.

After lunch he got his baseball cap and pulled my hand to go with him to the backyard. With Kai, you are not sure what he intends to do. He wants to do some fishing. I changed the water in the bucket and he played there for awhile. He went inside and when he came back, he got my pruning saw...and would like to cut some wood...of course he can not cut them but was happy that he made some marks. Since the weather is a bit warmer, I let him help me water the plants and he filled the fish pond with water.

Tisha and Mike came together to pick him. Tisha, made him sign his name on the card for Umma.

Today, I must have heard "UMPHA" a hundred times and he even called his dad Umpha when he was giving him a brush.

SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH CHEESE

2007-05-03T18:57:00.000-07:00

I planned to blog yesterday but Umma wanted to see a horror movie. When we came back I don't have the urge to blog so I just played some games on the computer.

Kai did not hesitate to end his morning at the park because Umma told him that he will have to help Umpha to cook his lunch. He brought me some flowers that he picked in the curb with Umma. He appreciates even a dandelion. He loves most if the dandelions have started to seed and the fuzzy top can be blown away.

He was excited to start cooking. He climbed the highchair next to the stove all set for his culinary adventure.I let him cracked the egg and showed him how to scramble. I let him put it in the pan and gave him a spatula to stir. I was not intending to add some cheese but he asked for it..."I love cheese!" "Yummy." Earlier, I made his French fries and a couple of bacon rashers. The ruse helped ...he ate the whole thing! He wanted some punch to go with it. He saw some crispy anchovies in a bowl..."Oh small fishes" He ate some of that too. Later for dessert he had some tiny wafer sandwiches with chocolate cream and some yogurt ice cream.

I tuned in the TV for Tom and Jerry..."It is Tom and Jerry" "YUPPIE!" He loves that cartoon! Of course he was all over the place like on a scavenger hunt and found a packet of Swiss chard seeds. He knows what it is! He asked me to go outside in the backyard so he can "plant some seeds." I let him put the seeds in a container pot. It is amazing that he knows that it had to be watered. He got one of the spray plastic bottle with water and started to spray the soil. At his very early age, he has seen me with my plants, and I have given him a small shovel for digging...and I think the instinct made him want to do some planting. He even commented about some "plants are growing now" thinking that they were the ones he planted last week. I am glad that he is really showing interest in the plants, the bugs, the worms and the snails.

We spent most of the afternoon outside and when Tisha came, he was with his fishing pole, trying to catch some floating plastic fishes with magnet from a bucket of water. Earlier, he went to bathroom to pee. I help him put up his and while we were back in the yard, he called me..."Umpha you forgot to zip my pants."

IT MUST WEDNESDAY...

2007-04-25T19:10:00.000-07:00

GROCERY SHOPPING WITH KAI...

Kai and Tisha arrived on time as usual. I was kidding Kai because he had his head sideways and asked him it his neck is broken. This was just him acting a bit silly. He then started to go to the bedroom to see Umma. I put my projects on hold today...I have been re-tiling the breakfast room area for the last three days, it is almost done except some little touches here and there. We asked him if he saw his picture in the paper. He knows that his picture was in the Sunday edition. Asked him who is that boy...he answered; "Kai-Kai." I think that as the time goes by and I will be doing his exposures in the papers, he will be jaded about it and will consider his appearances as the usual thing.

Nothing unusual happen the early morning. He and Umma went to the park and came back just in time for lunch. We had dungenees crabs, I made some shoestring potatoes and fried three rashers of bacon just in case. He ate all the bacon and of course he ate some crabs too. It takes time for him to chew his food. He is like a chipmunk that hoard its food in the mouth...to make him eat a bit faster, I told him that I am going shopping and asked him if he would like to with me. He said, "Yes!" I had to tell him again to hurry and finish his food so he can go with me. I left the dinning table and sort of waited for him. Later I found out the he did put the remaining bacon in his mouth and told Umma..."I am finished!"

Went to bathroom to pee...and got a small "treasure"a lollipop whistle. He likes it but had to wipe his hands many times because..."it is sticky!" While we were getting out from the car, again, "my hands is sticky!" I told him to lick his hands because we don't have any wet towel and he answered, "No! we have to use WIPES." I just found out that whenever his hand got dirty in the park, Umma uses "WIPES." When he was able to figure out how the whistle works, we told him to use it to wake his Mommy...He said, "No! if I wake her, she will be cranky!" I think the remark is so funny.

He really likes shopping! We went to Henry's to buy some honeydew melons and his favorite macadamia nuts which are on the last day of sales today. After that we went to Vien Dong supermarket. He really got excited seeing all the live crabs, swimming tilapias, and the live frogs plus all the other dead fish on the shelves. I showed him some baby octopus and big ones too. He also looked at the different shrimps. At the meat section, I showed him the chicken and duck's feet. He made a comment when he saw a dressed duck..."that is a dead duck." This gives me a shock! I am not sure how he was able to tell that it was a dead duck. He really knows his fruits and vegetables. As we pass by, I will ask him what it is and he can tell if it is an apple, banana, avocado, celery and potatoes etc. I bought some blue crabs, a catfish, some mackerel for "tinapa" (will cure it by smoking). I had the butcher quartered me some pork spareribs and artichokes for the weekend.

He was really very vocal in both of the stores...and loud too! I had to tell him that the china man would not like him to talk loud. We were able to deter him from going back to see the live frogs. While on the way to the cashier, we passed by the cookie section. I showed him some packages, he looked at one and dumped it with the rest of our purchases. I had to retrieve it and put it back on the shelf. I got him some small individual fruit flavored pudding. He ate five of the when we arrived home. He carried the rest home with him (it must have suited his taste).

When we reached home he stayed close to me while I was preparing to season the fish, and I started boiling some water for the crabs. Naturally he would like to help me cook! I washed the crabs and told him that he can help me cook it but he would have to wait for the water to boil. He positioned himself on the highchair next to the stove. When the water was boiling, I had a tong for him to grab the crab and let him dump it in the water. While the crab is cooking and turning red...he noticed that and asked me why is it getting red. I had to explain to him that it is cooking..."Oh!" I seasoned the rest of the fish and placed them in plastic bags for later. I had to explain to him that that will be for later...he wants to help cook the fish too.

They were outside looking for some bugs and snails when Tisha came. I was on the computer when they were ready to go home. He came to me and told me; "I have to kiss and hug you, I am going home...carry me please." He always has a long face when it is time to go home...We must be doing something pleasant for him! Till next Wednesday Kai-Kai.

CHILLY AND WINDY...NO PARK TODAY

2007-04-18T19:19:00.001-07:00

The weather predicted that there will be sun but chilly...true! The temperature was 58 but windy.They did not go to the park. Instead we blew some bubbles just outside the house. It seems that he really enjoyed that activity. As he was running around trying the catch the bubbles with his wand.

He decided that he would like some shrimp crackers. He asked me to cook some. I let him drop the chips into the oil and this really made him happy..."watch Umpha they are growing up!" I expect that this was just a whim that I did not let him cook a lot. Of course, I was right and there were some leftover in a plastic bag for me to finish.

I prepared some French fries and Umma heated one of those bread turnover with Swiss cheese and ham. He likes it, gobbling with a big bites of the ozzing cheese and hamc and the soft bread casing. He was able to finish half of the turnover and the French fries and half of asian pear which he calls "white apple" with his leftover chocolate milk from breakfast.

The whole time we are watching "Tom and Jerry," he was noshing. He still loves that cartoon! Between commercial he will go and look for something else to eat. He found chocolate pudding and had me open it. He ate the whole cup. He found my cherry hard candies and started to eat them too. I think he ate three of them. We shared...he will open it and give it to me. What I noticed is that he was able to tell what flavor it is..."Umpha it is cherry."

I discourage him not to paint today. He decided late...almost about the time Tisha will come and pick him up. So he was on and off on my lap in front of the computer and I let him work on the games. I had been teaching him where to aim, where is "start" and other words associated with the game.

As usual, I carried him to the car, put his seat belt and said good-bye. I kissed him but he wanted to be hugged and more kisses, puckering his lips and said "I will mss you Umpha." That is our Kai-Kai!

NAPLES

2007-04-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

I am not inspired to write more about "MEMORIES after WWI." I will resume that sometimes, but for the meantime I will write my memories about Naples. We lived there for three wonderful years and thought I had to write something about it.

Little did I know when I was a little boy that my life would become so linked with the Neapolitans. That I would return not only once to see the chestnut trees shimmering in the terraces of vineyards in Capri and Ischia, the ruins of Pompeii, but several times, and that my first born son will see his first daylight near the bays of Naples.

When I was young I fell in love with the spiritual traditions of the Italian primitive painters. My love was the undulating landscapes of Tuscany and Umbria, for places like Sienna and Assisi. Of course we always think things were better when we are young and artlessly in love. The love turns into sort of a marriage. This is what happened to me in regard to Naples over the years. With marriage, the established and permanent relationship which is a bond to go on, the love is still there, probably more solid, but it goes with knowledge and spirit of criticism.

Living in Naples presented a veritable crescendo of beauty, of the picturesque, up-to date spirit required in a foreigner. Then, too the Northern Italians differ greatly from their Southern brothers; the change from former habits are less profound, less adaptability, and in consequence, there is less grumbling, fault finding and dissatisfaction. When I felt the charm of Naples, I knew that I had learned to love it for itself. It does not matter from what point of view, unpleasant feature are overlooked, and being an enthusiast, it no longer existed.

The Neapolitans are among the most colorful people of Italy. The term Neapolitan usually included the people from the neighboring towns of Naples. Although each little town has a varied dialect for the born Italians of the region to know instantly from which speaker comes--are object of continual abuse from the Northern Italians. According to the latter they are lazy, treacherous, deceitful, violent, cheats and illiterates. That frequently declare that if all that portion of Italy's south of Rome could be wiped out, it could be an excellent thing for Italy.

The Neapolitan, shrugs his shoulders and smiles at this abuse, he is willing to admit that he is lazy, but insist that he is brighter, and certainly they are wonderfully quick. The Northern Italian declares that the Neapolitan are idle, shiftless and unwilling to work. Speaking of their evident poverty, one is told that this is largely their fault, that they will not work continuously, but merely a few days, and then live idleness until the money they earned is gone.

But they are happy go lucky people. They eat little, and that little is cheaply procured, they are usually warm enough without fires, the bright sunshine is sufficient, and they lounge about happy and contented. They can lead to prayers and curses even upon objects of their veneration. Yet Neapolitans, especially the lower classes, are undoubtedly religious, and far more reverent than their northern brothers. They frequent the opera, even the poorest find means for this, and they cheat the foreigners because fate sent them to their path.

Dinning is an adventure experience for foreigners in Naples. If one wishes to dine on fish fresh from the water, clams, mussels, oysters, and other shell fish are plentiful, along with the calamari, considered such a delicacy, but which foreigners art apt to find rubbery and tasteless. Spaghetti cooked with vongole (clams) is delicious. Along the waterfront are restaurants where it is delightful to dine or lunch, for all have exquisite views of the bay and islands. Many of these restaurants are directly over the water, but above it. In the old portion of Naples, all kinds of cooked food are on sale. Laid out on trays or cooking in great kettles; cakes, and heaps of macaroni or spaghetti, it must be confessed that it is often appetizing looking, although only the brave, thinking how it must be prepared, in the manner of which it is offered for sale, would care to taste it. The Neapolitans patronize these cooked food largely, it saves them so much trouble, they are so picturesque, but also so dirty.

Naples is such a center of delightful excursions that limited time there is tantalizing. The Hydrofoil sail from Naples to Caori nad Ischia, stopping if one choose at Sorento, may be taken. Those who suffer from seasickness should be very sure that the sea is calm. Small ripples in the bay near Naples often means great waves when the boats arrive in Capri, and even if one does not suffer from the dreaded mal-de-mer, the Blue Grotto cannot be visited if the sea is rough. The assent to Mt. Vesuvius, when possible means a day upon the condition of the funicular, in most occasion always under repair. Pompeii takes another day. Pictures give but little ideas of the wonderful spot, the beauty of its situation, and the exquisite views on every side. Everyone should see the old portion of Naples, and best way to do this is on foot. Few foreigner would care to walk along the narrow street, for one is close to people and homes, usually without sidewalks. When the beautiful blue bay with its island lies spread out before you, in spite of all the rhapsodies, the poems have been written about the bay of Naples it is difficult to find anyone will not declare the reality surpasses the description.

I believe you will never understand Italy unless you understand the Neapolitans, Naples with its harmonious music, the soft musical dialect and its melodramas, lovesick couples preparing to throw themselves over the cliffs or shoot themselves. You become amused and later tolerate the lenghtly conversations by means of pantomime--- a shrug of the shoulder, the lifting of an eyebrow, a motion of the hands, that all have significance. You no longer object to those who are quick as a flash at discovering the foreigner, and devote themselves entirely to him. When once again, the time to leave, probably the familiar Neapolitan folk song, Santa Lucia, may be heard with soft accompaniment of guitars and mandolins. I gaze back upon the hills half encircling the bay, and finally resolve to see Naples again before dying.

EASTER...2007

2007-04-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

ADVENTURE TO A KOREAN TOFU HOUSE (RESTAURANT)

The other day on Umma's daily walk, she found a wallet between cars parked on the curve. Driver license, credit card, $40.00 cash and some personal things. She was able to trace the owner which turned out to be part owner of the Tofu House Restaurant on Convoy Street. He was a young Korean man...just 4 years resident of San Diego. He was so grateful that he invited us to their place of business. Easter Sunday and no place to go we went there and had our lunch...the fun began. My sinuses were unclogged! I am glad that I can tolerate eating spicy food since I had my gastro-intestinal line treated in the Navy Hospital...I think they call it H-pyloric, a procedure where they pump your stomach with antibiotics. That was a long time ago...I was still working then at the Museum of Man. I can eat anything and not worry about having heartburn or having to take Zantas or other medicines.

This is Mok and Cora in his restaurant, "Tofu House"

Umagi (Eels)

Korean BBQ and Kimchi

Boiling Korean Soup

I had eaten Korean dishes and liked their food. I love kimchi...but Umma does not like anything spicy hot...that I never even suggested to her eating in such place. The soup she had is not spicy.It was served to us really boiling hot. We are not big eaters to start with, but Mok brought us three main dishes and an array of Korean pickles and of course some kimchi. I ordered eels and she order some beef...and Mok brought us another dish of Korean BBQ spareribs.

We had fun just looking at the food because the boiling soups of seafood was just enough to satisfy us. Most of the food was "doggie" bagged later. This means we are going to have them at least for three days...ah! we are going Korean for a while.

Easter Sunday, 2007

KAI'S ART AMONG THE PROFESSIONALS

2007-04-07T20:36:00.000-07:00

I was at the art show today to act as a docent. I had the chance to look at the other pieces there and found out that the entries this year were not just local established artists of San Diego but with an array of regional artist. Georgia, Illinois and few from different counties of California. I think my protege' made it good on his first Juried show. This will really look good on his resume' for a four years old artist.

Kai had quite a lot of "treasures" hauled when he went home Wednesday. Umma and I went to the Navy Exchange Tuesday to check out food processors. We found one that I liked and also bought a smoothie maker. We seldom visit the Navy Exchange because The Marine Corp Exchange is closer for us. It only takes about seven minutes drive. Anyway, the Navy Exchange is a huge two story complex and they have every thing you can think of. We generally shop at the Exchange because there is no tax attached to what you buy there. Close to the household department was the "knick-knacks," things for house decors and we saw some "Finding Nemo" items that we thought would be nice for his new bedroom...we even bought a lighted pseudo-aquarium with dolphins, angel fishes, other variety of fishes in simulated swimming when lighted. Umma and I can tell that he liked it because he just couldn't put it down; inspecting both sides, probably trying to figure out how the thing works. I got him a towel with the same theme and another one with a huge SPIDER MAN on it. Early in the morning after his breakfast treat of peanut butter sandwich and his chocolate milk, he got some marshmallow "chicks" and "bunny rabbits." He also got a stuffed bunny rabbit on a pole. HAPPY EASTER KAI!

PAINTING WAS HUNG..AND GOT PAID

2007-04-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

This was the painting I was doing last week...it was delivered and it is hanging now in the happy owner's home. The whole family was satisfied and very proud of the painting, telling me that every one of them who has viewed it has been delighted and that they have had many compliments. We did not set a price but I told them that a large sized canvas usually costs $1,000.00. I have my resume' inside an envelope attached at the back...I do this now for future source of provenance for them. This way they come to know what and where my art works has gone. Initially they were planing to buy a $85.00 print. I told them that it is not worth it...get anything that is original and in the long run it will be better for investment rather than have a piece that looks like it came from Walmart.

BLOWING BUBBLES

2007-03-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

Every time I look at the picture above makes me grin like crazy...

I sent this to the Tribune and hoped that they would publish it in the Passages section they have every Sunday. Tisha had it printed on a mouse pad and gave it to me as one of her Christmas gift. I am not going to use it as a pad...it is classic!

Today, I was able to finish the big painting I am doing on commission. All I have to do is put the hanging wire, my signature and it can be delivered Saturday.

I have my day cut out for tomorrow. I will be working in the yard and plant some tomatoes...I still have to fertilize the flowering plants in the front yard. The weather seems to be erratic at times but it is not getting any colder at night than last month. I am glad that the snails did not come out from hibernation in force like last year. Kai had his share of snail hunting last year.

THE LAST OF KAI'S BIRTHDAY BASH...

2007-03-28T21:35:00.000-07:00

I have to start all over again...! Earlier, I completed my blog for the evening, but my fingers must had punched something and the blog was gone...! I tried to recover it but to no avail they were gone somewhere in the nook and crannies of the computer. BUMMER! I am just learning how to post pictures. I think this was the cause. I have a lot of pictures to post on the earlier entries that I think will be interesting to the family circle. They are old pictures of the Morales and the Ramos.

Okay here we go again...Wednesday, and this is the day Kai comes to the house. I decided that we are going to have another "private" lunch party complete with a birthday cake and candles. I think this will be fun for Kai. Since Mike had a short day at work he was able to come and join us.

My day started with having breakfast with Kai. We had some Panetone (Italian sweet Bread) and grapes. I had my morning coffee and he had his chocolate milk. We didn't do much today. For the first time we watched Tom and Jerry this early and we found out that they have new series. Played LUXOR, computer games and just hung around till time for me to prepare the lasagna.

Mike and Tisha came before 12 and the lasagna is not ready yet...just about but not that ready ready. I cut it into individual portions and microwaved it for a minute and presto! we started our lunch. Kai had his shrimps and turkey breast. I had some French fried onions with the green beans and he ate some of them. He said he made a wish before blowing his candles. I commented that the cake is part Jewish because the candles are Chanakah candles that Umma gets from the grocery store free. Well, it serves the purpose...

The "treasure" for today was magnetic construction kit. Mike said that the chemistry students used them for their projects. They consisted of several plastic slender tubes with small magnets embedded on both ends and can be connected with a small metal balls. If you are creative, you can create structures of all shapes.

Earlier, Tisha told Umma that she is having discomfort in her ears. Umma told her that she will irrigate it after lunch and while doing this, Kai commented that " Umma is a doctor." I guessed he deduced that only doctors uses syringes and since Umma is using one, she must be a doctor. When asked if he wants his ears done..."Oh no, I have no ear wax...they are clean."

I think he felt that his stay today with Umpha and Umma was too short. He usually stays past three o'clock, but they are going home by one-thirty. "I want to stay"....! He was very reluctant to move his"tushie." Reluctant but resigned, he even gave Umma a hug and kiss twice. He came to me and indicated that he want to be carried to the car. He is getting heavy! That's another day with Kai!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAI

2007-03-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

I WANT THE PARTY BACK!

Last Sunday we had an early birthday party at the park for Kai-Kai. I can't believe that he is four years old now. The weather was nice and it seems that everybody enjoyed the gathering. We had an extra guest other than the family. Joyce and Stewart, our neighbor and the "other grandpa and grandma" adopted by Kai.

I made him the traditional pancit (for long life), but this time I used Vietnamese rice noodles with all the trimmings. Umma bought a turkey...defrosted it and carved the meat. The breast part was used as kabob with spicy tandoori and peanut sauce. Tisha set-up the table with "Bob the Builder" theme. Very creative! The plastic hard hats were used as containers for finger foods, the utensils were in the miniature galvanized pails. She had her tier-cup cakes with Kai's initials with tiny whirrlers... some ice cream too. As party favors, chocolate Kisses, mini Reeses and a picture of Kai with a thank you note for attending his birthday party.

The best part was the "treasures" opening. He got a scooter and a helmet to go with it. The other grandpa and grandma gave him a Casio piano player. There was oodles of "treasures" for him to open with his dad...I can't just remember all of them. Umma gave him a collections of Disney books with backpack...He is really into books. Sometime last month, I told Tisha that I am going to buy him a bedroom set. She already had something in mind as to what to get him...from the Internet. Umma decided that she will get the mattress. I guess, soon he will be sleeping on a regular bed.

One day, he told his Umma, "I don't wet my bed anymore" "I close my birdie."

The worst part of the party was when we started to dismantle the tents and securing the leftover food, Kai went "ballistic." "I want the party back!" He was really crying...he just wouldn't buy any explanation. I think he enjoyed the company of his cousins Eric and Lauren very much. They had been playing with him all the time, playing catch football...so did some of the rest of the family.

Tomorrow, his day to be with us, we are going to have another lunch party! It will be just Mike, Tisha and Kai-Kai. There is another "treasure" that Umma have for him. This time we are going to have a regular cake. I am serving lasagna and will BBQ some shrimps for him. We will see how it will turn out.

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY...!

2007-03-03T19:39:00.000-08:00

My birthday actually started with the reception at St. Mark Art Festival...The painting I entered won "first place." Entering just one and being accepted and winning a (big money) prize, I had my fifteen minutes of fame again. Winning was just a part of being "high" but, being with Kai in the same show was the whipped cream on top. Once in Virginia, I was in a show with Rodin when he was four and a half years old. He got the "best in show" and "first prize" the same evening. I did not win anything but got in the show.

This will be a big start for Kai's resume'. I don't want to look ahead for his future in arts, like I said before, "I don't consider it as a talent yet" but the juror did not agree with me. She accepted Kai's painting not knowing that he is just almost four years old. "Oh my God, Oh my God!' was her comment. Kai's painting was hung among the well seasoned painters in the community...and this makes me very proud of my protege'.

We had dinner at the VIP all you can eat restaurant...They were waiting for us and Kai handed me a card with "Happy Birthady Umpha." When we were entering, he noticed a cute little girl. We had our food and while eating, he kept looking where the girl was seated and finally blurted out that, "I like that girl," I'll marry her!" This make everybody laugh and Mike almost fell down from his chair. All the time while we were there, he kept looking at the girl and when the family passed by from the ice cream dispenser, he really turned his head to follow the girl with his eyes...I have no idea where he get the notion of getting married. I did not teach him that! It was a very nice and very amussing evening. We all laughed from Kai's antics.

So before we left, I brought him to the table of the girls' family, I told the parents that my grandson is in love with their daughter and would like to marry her. The little girl was not too shy, her name is Diana. Kai told them his name and how old he is. He said goodbye and the little girl sort of waved her hand too. I bet the parents were amused.

Tisha called as soon as they were at home. Kai wanted to go back to the restaurant because he was still hungry. He ate a lot, but the purpose of going back to the place was because the little girl was still there. He is starting very early...! I told Tisha that his behavior did not come from me but probably came from his great grandpa who was always a ladies man all his life. I am sure that he will be a very good looking guy when he grows up and I am sure that he will be a ladies man of his own...even the mother of the little girl commented that he is a good looking boy. I don't think he will have any trouble with the mothers in the future.

AT SEVENTY-FOUR: SOME THOUGHTS FOR KAI

When I was a little kid, adults used to bore me with their tedious diatribes about how hard things when they were growing up: what with walking miles to go to school; every morning...both ways...yadda. yadda. yadda.

I remember promising myself that when I grow up there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they got it. I don't think I am guilty about it.

But now that...

I am over the ripe age of seniority, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. They got it so easy! I mean compared to my childhood, they live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it but the kids today don't know how good they've got it.

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We actually had to write somebody a letter...with a pen! And then we had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napster! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it!! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#%! it all up!

And talk about hardship? you coldn't just download porn! You had to steal it from your brother or bribe some homeless dude to but a copy of "Nudist" magazine at the liquor store. Those were the options!

We didn't have craps like Call Waitng! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

We din't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you didn't have any idea who it was! It could be your mom, the school, your bookie, a collection agent, you just had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! My time, we didn't even have the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and asteroids and the graphics were really outrageous!

At the movie theater there was no such thing as stadium seating. All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!!

There was no cable television, as a matter of fact television came to me in the late fifties. So, imagine...black and white on a small screen, no channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change channel and there was no Cartoon Network either You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Imagine no "Tom and Jerry" every day!

And we didn't have Microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove or go build a fire...imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove like an idiot.

That's exactly I am talking about! By the time you read this there will be more innovations that will make your life easier. So don't complain...when you read this , you will realize that you got it too easy. Don't get spoiled.

LET ME DO IT...!

2007-03-01T16:04:00.000-08:00

Kai's at the stage where he wants to be useful! I was peeling a cucumber for lunch, he watched me doing it and then blurted out; "let me cook it for you" "let me help." I had to explain to him that the cucumber does not need cooking.

Every time they come back from the park...he asks his Umma for the key to the door. He would like to put the key in the keyhole and he would like to open the door by himself. I do hope that he will be doing that when he is old enough to do things by himself. He is very keen of cooking...will he be cooking like Umpha too?

The rain that visited us the last few days made the ground to welcome all kinds of bugs and worms. When they came back from the park, he was excited to show me that he caught three rolly-pollies. They were placed in a small plastic sauce container. At one time he spilled them and was having a hard time trying to find them. He came to me and asked for a flashlight. When I asked him why he needed a flashlight..."I have to find my rolly-polly." He found two of them and was not happy about it. To appease him, I went outside, upturned the flower pots to look for some bugs, I did not find any rolly-polly, instead three black bugs and three worms. This made him happy and he quit complaining that he lost his previous finds. I used to be squimish picking up bugs and worms. Now, I am doing it because of Kai.

The computer was on the blink for one day and I asked Tisha to see what is wrong. She spent most of the morning trying to restore my Internet connection. She found out that I might had clicked on "do not allow" which affected the Internet function and it was "blocked."During this time Kai was in the bedroom with Umma watching "Little Einsteins." When he saw his Mommie, "you come back!" He thought his mother was gone and came back and it was time for him to go home. He was almost ready to gather his cars, but was told that it was not time yet. Mommie will go shopping first. He was happy that he was not going home yet. So, we had our routine. We just play around, laid down to watch "Tom and Jerry," ate some Oreo...we had different Oreo. It came in small packages with two compartments. One for the cookies, which are "sticks" and the other compartment is for the cream. You have to dip the cookie stick in the cream before eating them. He likes that. He finished two packages by the time Tisha came back from shopping and it was time to go home...no problem!

SOME TRIVIAS OF THE WEEK

2007-02-23T19:18:00.000-08:00

Another Wednesday

It was a nice and adventurous journey last Wednesday for us with Kai. He was so energetic the whole day. He caught a ladybug and was so excited about it. At the park he shared the bug with his other "Grandpa Stu and Grandma Joyce." It was the first thing that he showed me when they arrived home. "Umpha I need a glass to put my ladybug! Ever since he started picking bugs, spiders etc., we always provide him with a jar.

The day went fast...

I prepared some potato fries to go with julienne cut Polish Sausage. He as at the table when I remember that the other day I had bought some small anchovies that I intended to deep fry them crispy for him. I showed him the "small fish" and he got excited. "Let's cook it..I like small crispy fish!" Since the oil was still hot there was no problem. Except that he wants to help cook it. "Let me help you." "I am a big boy now." After I had seasoned and floured the anchovies, he wants to sit on the high chair and to help me drop the fish into the hot oil. I usually drop the whole thing into the oil all at once. Since he was helping me...he was dropping one fish at the time, I have to watch him carefully so he won't get burned. He was very careful! He knows that the oil is hot and it will ouch him. He did not bother with the crab I am eating but concentrated with the "crispy small fish." "look Umpha. I ate the head...I like it...it is crispy." He ate the sausages and fries too with a chocolate bon-bon with nuts inside...he thought it was macadamia nut. I said to Umma..."his Mom will have an attack of hemorrhoid if she saw what her son is eating... crispy anchovies."

While we were in the living room, I noticed that he was holding his crotch all the time. I asked him it he wants to go pee..."not yet" that was the answer. About fifteen minutes passed by when he announced that he is going to pee. He dashed to the toilet, lowered his pants and pee. When he was done, I said pull your pants up. "You do it my hands is dirty." "I have to wash my hands" A rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" was in the air once more until he was done washing.

He played with Nallie for a while. He gathered all of Nallie's toys and would throw them..."fetch Nallie." Nallie got tired after a while and wouldn't fetch anymore. So what's next...? I went to the living room thinking that he would follow me...No way Jose! The first I heard was a very loud and long "UMPHAAAAAA! When I came to see him, he had a red paint container in his hands. "It's time to paint!" "I need some papers" I love red paint, it my favorite color." I pulled out one of the Masonite board and we did some painting. He started to like to mix paints. This was where I have to control him...telling him that mixing all colors will become black and since we already have black paint in the container we don't need to do that. He is still very fussy having paint on his hands. I wonder when he goes to kindergarten and they have finger painting...will he do it. His teacher, whoever it might be will have to be told about it...or else the teacher will hear "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" the whole day. So we painted until his Mom came.

We did not have any trouble when it was time to go home. He first went to the dinning room, picked up the box of FERRERO ROCHER, opened and it took one and told his Mommie that he will take it home with him. By the way, he opened that box all by himself. When I gave him the box, he looked at it and tried to open it. He knows that the gold band had to be removed first..."wait I will get a scissor." I finally persuaded him that I will show him how to open it without a scissor. I showed him the open end of the band and I started to pull it. "give it, I will do it! I am a big boy now!" So he opened it all by himself, helped himself to one of the bon-bon, opened the wrapper and started eating it. He was sort of surprised when he saw the nut, actually a filbert and not a macadamia as he thought.

That was our Wednesday with him.

THE YEAR 4705 BEGINS

2007-02-18T16:18:00.000-08:00

Today is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar. The year 4705, the year of the pig, Feb. 18, 2007.

Yes, it is a Piggy Year...legend has it that in ancient times Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the person born in each year's year would have some of that animal's personality. Those born in pig years tend to have excellent manners, make and keep friends, work hard, and appreciate luxury. They are very loving and make loyal partners.

Fireworks and Family Feast.

Although we have Chinese genes from my mother side, we only share the celebration at times with my gingered-shaped footed Lola Ayo. This would be the time for me to get "lucky money" in red envelopes. Red symbolizes fire, which according to legends can drive away bad luck. The fireworks that shower the festivities are rooted in a similar ancient custom. Long ago in the Philippines, the Chinese community will lit bamboo stalks, believing that the crackling flames would frighten evil spirits.

Lola Ayo would have all or as many relatives as she can gather to celebrate the New Year with her. Food would be plenty; roast pig, Peking Ducks, pickled duck eggs, and sea foods, all kinds of noodles and of course my favorite "moon cakes" and "tikoy" (glutinous rice flour cake cooked under a slow fire, stirring the concoction continuously until the desired consistency). At night there will be firecrackers. I remember that she would be in a red Chinese gown as the custom calls. Most of the women and little girls guest wore red too.

Umma and I usually go downtown during this time to watch the Dragon parade...but we just went shopping instead. We are still looking for some unusual sea creature, knick-knacks, for Kai-Kai's room. We found a nice clock with dolphins to go on his desk.

I DON'T HAVE IT ANYMORE

2007-02-16T20:23:00.000-08:00

Like an uninvited guest..with the hot towel compress, it was gone ! The stye did not stay long for another day. I am glad that I don't have to resort to the other remedies I had listed the other day.

MANILA MASSACRE BEFORE THE LIBERATION

2007-02-16T19:43:00.000-08:00

Earlier on February 4, 1945, General MacArthur had announced the imminent recapture of Manila while his staff planned a victory parade. A stiffening resistance of the Japanese army was reported to further advance to the city.

The Manila massacre was just a piece of news for me then. I have not seen the actual event. We were in Pasig with my grandparents and other relatives. It was a blessing in disguise that my father was with the guerrilla forces. He came back just in time for us to evacuate. Manila was not declared by the Japanese General Yamashita as what MacArthur did on the onset of War. If the family was in Manila during that time, I wouldn't be writing here now. There would be no Umpha for my Kai-Kai. The Manila massacre, February 1945 was the atrocities conducted against Filipino civilians in Manila. The death toll was at least 100,000 people.

Subjected to incessant pounding - and facing certain death the beleaguered Japanese troops took out their anger and frustration on the civilians caught in cross fire, committing multiple acts of severe brutality, which later would be known as the Manila Massacre. Violent mutilations, rapes, and massacres on the populace accompanied the battle for control of the city, which now lay practically in ruins.

The massacre was at its worst in the Battle of Manila. The Manila massacre is one of the several major war crimes committed by the Imperial Japanese Army from the annexation of Manchuria in 1931 to the end of World War II in 1945. It was a major event in Japanese war crimes, where over 15 million Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Indonesian, Burmese, Indochinese civilians, Pacific Islanders and Allied POW's were killed.

WORLD WAR II and JAPANESE OCCUPATION

2007-02-15T18:33:00.000-08:00

I had been putting off writing about the time of my youth during the war...this will be a bit long as I am sure that there will be a lot of events that evolved during that time. As a starter, I am going to relate here some facts;

Almost 9 years old and was third grade in the primary school. When Japan launched a surprise attack on the Philippines on December 8, 1941, just ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Aerial bombardment was followed by landing of ground troops on Luzon. The defending Philippine and United States troops were under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. Under the pressure of superior numbers, the defending forces withdrew to Bataan and to the Island of Corregidor at the entrance to Manila Bay. Manila, declared an open city to prevent its destruction was occupied by the Japanese on January 2, 1942. The Philippine defense continued until the final surrender of the United States-Philippine forces on Bataan Peninsula in April 1942 and Corregidor in May. Most of the 80,000 prisoners of war captured by the Japanese at Bataan were forced to undertake the infamous Bataan Death March to a prison camp 105 kilometers to the north. It is estimated tat about 10,000 Filipinos and 1,2oo Americans died before reaching the destination. The president of the Philippine was Manuel L. Quezon (the first president of the Commonwealth) (During the commonwealth years, the Philippines sent one elected Resident Commissioner to the United States House of Representative - Pedro Guevara, cousin of my maternal grandmother). Quezon and Osmena (vice president) had accompanied the troops to Corregidor and later left for the United States, where they set up a government in exile. MacArthur was ordered to Australia, where he started to plan for a return to the Philippines.

The Japanese military authorities immediately began organizing a new government structure in the Philippines and established the Philippine Executive Commission. They initially organized a Council of States which they directed civil affairs until October 1943, when they declared the Philippines an independent republic. The Japanese sponsored republic headed by President Jose P. Laurel proved to be unpopular.

Japanese occupation of the Philippines was opposed by large scale underground and guerrilla activity. The Philippine Army continued to fight the Japanese in a guerrilla war and was considered an auxiliary unit of the United States Army. Their effectiveness was such that by the end of the war, Japan controlled only twelve of the fifty-eight provinces. The major element in the resistance in Central Luzon area was furnished by the HUKBALAHAP ("People's Army Against the Japanese"), which armed some 30,000 people and extended their controlled over much of Luzon.

MacArthur's Allied forces landed on Leyte on October 20, 1944. Landing in other parts of the country followed, and the Allies pushed toward Manila. Fighting continued until Japan's surrender on September 2, 1945. The Philippine suffered great loss of life and tremendous physical destruction by the time the war was over. An estimated 1 million Filipinos had been killed and Manila was extremely damaged as the Japanese did not declare it an open city as the Americans had done in 1942.

The above scenario was to give you an insight of how the war was in the Philippines during my youth. I can think facetiously now all the events of those years. At the onset of the war, people "evacuated"...moving from one place to another, mostly in the country side. When Manila was declared an open city they all returned to the capital thinking that it was the safest place.

We stayed put in Manila, the dress shop was closed and became a "grocery and eatery" for a while. Relatives from the suburb stayed in our house...but eventually moved back to the country side.

I did go to school for a while...I can't seem to remember why suddenly I was not there anymore. My days were spent mostly gallivanting, playing or helping my mother in the house or in the store. My father was usually not home, he was with the guerrilla forces somewhere in Laguna province. When he came home he brought us staples that were hard to get in those day and a bag ("bayong," a large native woven shopping bag) full of money. The Philippine pesos was not in circulation anymore. We used Japanese-issued money for all our daily transactions. I can't remember what was the rate of exchange then but I remember that you needed a lot of money to buy anything those days. As far as I can remember we were not very hard up for food. We still ate regularly...breakfast, merienda (snack), lunch, another merienda and dinner. Some people during the war had to resort of eating just sweet potatoes, cassava roots or if they have rice to cook, it was always with an additives of either sweet potatoes or corn, even grated coconuts. The food on our table was always sumptuous because my mother still could buy big fish, chicken, pork and beef... cooked them with gusto! There were a lot of improvisations of our cuisine those days. I always tagged along with my mother whenever she went to the market. She was always on the lookout for something that she could use to feed us. This was true with spices that were hard to come by. Some of the vegetables came from my garden. Even as young as I was I tended a garden in our backyard. I think we bought cabbages, snow peas, green beans and other vegetables that grew in Baguio (low temperature mountain province) from the wet market in Paco. Although everything was scarce, we didn't resort of to eating fresh cows hide (cooked until soft), Or "sisid rice", (word "sisid" literally meant to dive under water). This rice was salvaged from a sunken Japanese cargo ship that carried tons of rice. It was discovered by Filipino sea divers, who brought the sacks of rice afloat and experimented cooking them...it was sold to the public and became staples for some. I just couldn't imagine how it tasted! That rice was discovered after the ship has been in the sea water for a while.

The war did not affect me until the liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese. I saw the devastation of Manila first hand when my mother and I went to our house. The streets were like those that you can see in war movies...the bombing left dead Japanese soldiers scattered, some of them charred or sort of mummified , I guess from the heat of the burning city. I don't remember seeing any Filipinos among the dead.

My brother Renato was born September 16, 1941. He was the one who was affected during the war. There was a shortage of milk or no milk at all. I used to feed him "um" (rice soup scooped from the cooking rice before it dries up...we usually put more water to the rice so we can have extra "soup." We feed him hard boiled egg yolks too. He suffered malnutrition...but he survived the ordeal. He is living in Texas right now.

Teodolfo was born May 7, 1943. There are four boys and a girl in our family. When my mother announced that she was pregnant...I vividly remember what I said. "AGAIN!" This was because there will be an addition to my ward. In spite of having a maid in the house, it was my duty to take care of my three brothers...Wilfrido, Renato, and now Teodolfo. I think after Teodolfo arrived, Renato was more or less had been taken care of "Inday," our live-in maid. Most of my personal activities had been once more curtailed short again. The dress shop was opened again and my mother was always busy with her business. My father was not always home, maybe, and I am sure that his business with the guerrillas also included his womanizing in the country side.

After the liberation from the Japanese, we established our residence in Mandaluyong. My mother still did her dress making business but with a different perspective. There were a lot of materials floating around like parachute nylons.

She bought them and they were made into blouses and children's dresses. It had been quite an enterprise because she sold them to the Aguinaldo Department Store in Escolta, Manila. So our house was sort of a factory and at the same time my father opened his clinic there too.

It was time for me to go back to school. Since records can not be verified because they were all burned, my father enrolled me as a six grader. Remember...I haven't been to school for quite a while. Every night my mother had to tutor me in my spelling and reading. I was able to hack it and was ready for high school when I graduated...not with flying colors but I graduated. By the way schooling in the Philippines is from grade six you go four years high school...a mere ten years of prep for college. English is still the medium of studies. It used to be that the Philippines was the third country in the world that speaks English...I haven't checked it out lately. With the nationalization movement going on for a while now in the country, and from what I have seen from the younger generation there, the rung might have been lowered. But still when you are in the Philippines today, you can be understood if you speak English. With the migrations and the work forces in different countries, one can encounter who speak, even haltingly some other languages. You will always find a Filipino in every corner of the world.

NEVER HAD ONE

2007-02-14T19:23:00.000-08:00

For the first time in my life I caught a "stye" on the corner of my eye. I was preparing preparing lunch when I felt something itchy on the corner of my eye. I thought I had an attack of my allergy...I took one Claritin right away. When Umma and Kai came back from the park, I told Umma about it and she immediately said it is a "stye" or what we call "koliti" in the Philippines. Told me to put a hot compress right away. I had been doing that and it seems to help abate the itching. This caught me in surprise because I never had this before. In the Philippines...old wives tales tell you that you get "koliti" if you peeked on someone laviciously...LOL Very funny indeed. According to the website, it is a common infection of the hair follicle of an eyelash. It appears due to the debilitated condition of the system.

Home Remedies For Treatment of Eye Stye:

Rub a clove spice in water and apply it over the stye to relief pain.

Use a grated potato as poultice to reduce swelling in inflamed eyes.

Slit an aloe leaf lengthwise and place the pulpy side on the sore eye.

Boil 1 teaspoon of coriander seeds with a cupful of water like an herbal

tea preparation to wash eyes 3-4 time a day.

Boil 1 teaspoon of turmeric in 2 cups of water until it reduces in half.

Cool and strain 4-5 times through a fine muslin. Apply as eye drops

3-4 times a day.

Take one cup of water. Dissolve 2-3 granules of alum in it,

use as eyewash.

Guava leaves, warmed and place on a damp cloth, and then use

as compress on the eyelids.

Boil a handful of acacia leaves into two cups of water to make a

decoction and apply it as compress on the eyelid.

Eye Stye Tips

As preventive measure, never put your hand in your infected eye because your hands are full of germs, and allow the eyes stye to rupture on its own. Never ever "pop" a stye like a pimple because it might cause an infection to spread or transfer from one eye to another. Many eye infections are contagious and an eye stye does require a high standard of hygiene.

HAPPY VALENTNE UMPHA...

As usual on Wednesday, I lit up the fire place for Kai. It is not to cold, about 56 degrees outside but I know he will expect me to have the fire ready when he opened the door. I have some twisted papers for him to throw into the fire. "it is a big "fi-e'er." That's what he calls them when the paper get burned into flame. He enjoys doing that. I think he thinks that he is helping Umpha build a fire.

We had some deep fried Tilapia with black bean and tofu sauce for lunch. I bought four fish at the market today, fried them all but used only one with the sauce. I prepared some smoked beef polish sausage, cut in strips, pickled sugar beets and frozen persimmons...these were eaten later because he preferred to eat the fried fish instead. "its crispy...I like crispy fish!"

After lunch, he wanted to watch TV with Umpha. "Umpha come and sit with me. let's watch Tom and Jerry." It seems that this will be a regular routine for us. I have to share in his exuberance; the giggles and laughs of the antics of the two characters we are watching. An hour later Umma and him went next door to give his Valentine presents to the two little girls across the street.

He wanted to paint today...so he got his colors and pulled some papers and started to pour paint on the paper. I let him finished three pieces, mostly reds and a touch of blues and purples. I think he has changed his color preference. "red is my favorite color." That was what he had been muttering repeatedly

while pouring the red paint. So..."pop-pul" is out!

HAPPY VALENTINE UMPHA...!

He gave me 2 KITKATS, 2 HERSHEY'S, 2 REESE'S and 6 KISSES for Valentine.

I think he should have his own computer when he moves to his new room. He saw the game I was playing..."LUXOR" and asked to sit on my lap so he can play it. With my help with the mouse, he was was enjoying the game. He does not like to go to the dining room for lunch. He was begging "not yet please...please Umpha." "let's play the bug." I was really caught off guard when he used the word "please." Of course I was able to pacify him, explaining that we are going to be back after we eat..."we will eat first and then we will beat the bugs." "we will eat first so you can be very strong." That did it!

He will get a regular bed which will be our birthady gift for him. He likes to have a sea creatures for decoration. We are in the market for some sea creatures that he will like. I found some ceramic mobiles of fish and seahorse. He imediately fell in love with it and showed his delights.

I have to think of some ploy, something to tell him when it is time for him to go home. Today was not so bad...even though there was a resistance, he was distracted with the "treasures" he got today. The "Treasure Monster" was a big help to cool him and I was able to carry him to the car without too much of a fuss. I think when I told him that he can come back again also did it. He needed that reassurance. I can see in the future...he will be showing up at the door whenever he feels to do so and I will be very grateful about that. We will see about that...who knows?

FROM THE MOUTH OF AN ALMOST FOUR YEARS OLD

2007-02-09T16:26:00.000-08:00

RANDOM PHRASES FROM KAI;

There are times that he really amazes me! Occasionally he will blurt-out some phrases that I don't expect coming from him. I know that he is very retentive, but remembering them even a week passed or so, is something.

I have jotted down some of them and will share them with you;

1.) "I am happy in Umpha house"

This came around when he was ready to go home. There are times that he just does not want to go with Tisha when she comes to pick him up. This is not new...this has been a problem for quite a while. He just likes to prolong his stay in Umpha's house. Thinking about it...I too did not want to go home when I was with my grandparents. What can I say ..."like Umpha, like grandson."

2.) "I am back"

Three Wednesdays ago, this was the phrase that came from him. I guess this means that after a week of his absence, he is back to his Umpha's house.

3.) "I like that. It is delicious"

Anything that you let him try for the first time...when he likes, that will be what he will be saying and he will ask for more.

4.) "I live in San Diego, Africa"

Ask him where he lives and that will be the answer. I guess he got the idea that Africa must be a nice place because of all the animals that live there. Lately we are trying to correct him to include their house numbers and omit the Africa and say California instead.

5.) "Ay Caramba"

This must had came from "Diego Go Diego" toon that he likes to watch. They interchange the dialogues in Spanish and English.

6.) "Ay Diyos Ko"

He learned this from me. It means "Oh My God" in Tagalog. This is one of the first Tagalog he has learned before he was three years old.

7.) "Takaw and Kalawakaw and OA (overacting)"

There are times that he will sing and Umma will say you are "kalawakaw" meaning he is out of tune; anyway he loves to sing. "Takaw" means eating a lot. There are times that when he does not like anything, he will make faces, sometimes will have his eyes half-closed with his head up. With the posing and attitude we call him "OA." Now when we ask him , "who is takaw and kalawakaw and OA...he will say; "Kai Van Patten.'

8.) "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

This is a very important song for him. Every time he goes to the bathroom to pee, even though he has not touched himself, "I have to wash my hands." Tisha taught him the song...to use as a "timer." He knows that after the song he is done washing and ready for a towel. He does not want to have a dirty hand. Whenever I am with him, I always have a damp hand towel so he can wipe his hands.

9.) "Umpha will spank her on the cheek"

There is a little girl about his age in the neighborhood and at times they play together. Her name is Lulu. We uses her as a ruse so he will eat. We tell him that Lulu will come over and eat everything. "No it's mine." "Umpha will spank her in the cheek." Of course he will eat with the "OA" posing. This mostly happens when we are introducing him to something new or that hasn't tasted before.

10.) "I have to find some treasures"

He was promised that he will get a treasure if he doesn't wet his diaper but tells us when he wants to pee or poo. He is very good in my opinion in telling us that he needs to use the bathroom. He knows that Umma keeps the "treasure" in the storeroom, he will go there and will try to find any. There are times that he will open the door and when asked what are he is doing there..."I have to find a treasure" that is what he will tell you. He is not very choosy...last Wednesday, Umma gave him a "Crayola" portable radio with head phone. He exclaimed; "WOW! I like it. We have to get some batteries. I will get my screwdriver." The funny thing is he was so anxious to open the battery case using his screw driver. "I can do it, I am strong." So I let him; sort of guided him to open the case and he was happy that he was able to open it...with Umpha's help.

11.)"Oh! I forgot"

He was reluctant to go home the other Wednesday (nothing unusual)..so I asked for a hug...he hugged me and kissed me...resigned to go home and I told him "how about Umma?" He turned around and said, "Oh I forgot." Umma got her hug and kiss too.

12.) "Umphaaaaaaaa! come and watch "Tom and Jerry" with me. He wants me to lie down with him under the blanket, sitting side by side we watched his favorite show together.

13.) "I sit on your head...I am your hat."

While we were watching TV and as usual laying under the blanket...he stood up and sat on my forehead. That was his comment.

14.) "I have to plant some seeds"

We have been eating cherimoya from the garden. He loved it after he tasted it...but was so fascinated with the seeds. He remembers that I let him plant some wax gourd seeds before and he remembers that they grew. After lunch, we went out in the the backyard and he planted some seeds. Maybe he will be a gardener too like Umpha.

There must be some more phrases that may be included here...at the moment this will do for now. I haven't started the "WWII YEARS" memories...it might be on the next blog.

HOW OLD ARE YOU UMPHA?

2007-02-05T18:30:00.000-08:00

Let me think for a minute...I was born before:

television
penicillin
polio vacines
xerox
frozen foods
yogurts
Pizza hut, McDonalds, Taco Bell
instant coffee
contact lenses
jet airplanes
frisbees
skateboards
hang gliders
the pill

There were no:

credit cards
stereo
FM radios
electric typewriters
digital cameras
personal computers
CDs and DVDs
videos
laser beams
ball point pens
pelt tip pen
acrylic paints
Men had not invented:
panty hose
air conditioners
dishwashers
clothes dryers and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air.
man hadn't walked on the moon.
every family had a mother and a father
until i was 24, i called every man older than me, "sir."

We were before:
gay-rights
computer dating
dual careers
daycare centers
group theraphy
our lives were governed by the ten commandments, good judgement, and common sense.
we were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and stand up and take responsibilities for our actions.
serving the country was a privilege, living in this country was a bigger privilege.
having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with you family.
draft dodgers were people who closed their doors when evening breeze started.
time-sharing meant time with the family spent together in the evenings and weekends - not purchasing a condominiums by the seaside.
we listened to big bands and radio shows.
if you saw anything with "made in japan" on it, it was junk.
the term "making out" refered to how you did on your school exam.
we had 5 &10 stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.
you could buy a chevy for $600.00...but not all could afford one, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.

In my days:

"coke" was a cold drink.
"grass" or "weeds" were mowed.
"pot was something your mother cooked your meals in.
"rock music" was your mother's lullaby.
"aids" were helpers in the hospitals or in the schools.
"chips" meant a piece of wood.
"hardware" was found in hardware stores.
"software" wasn't even a word.
"briefcase" was what the lawyer put his papers in and carried to court.
"web" meant to be a spiders home.
"links" meant the connection of two chains.
"dashboard" meant the front section of a car where the odometer was.
"address book" was usually a small black book with handwritten addresses.
how about that? our generation invented all of those things that we have today. i wonder what will be next from your generation.
and we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby.

I am almost 74 years old next month!

MORALES/TOLENTINO

2007-02-01T19:02:00.000-08:00

MORALES HISTORIOGRAPHY

I wished that I was more receptive and more inquisitive when my father was telling the story of why we have the surname Morales. The story goes that our supposed family name should be Tolentino. His great grandfather had to change it because he was a hot item for the Spaniards in those days. He was a rebel, opposed to the Spaniards domination of the people and the country. In those days, anyone that was opposed to the government were "persona non grata." If caught, one ended up on the other end of the firing squad. To elude the Spaniards he changed his surname to Morales; the surname of his godfather from another province. He was able to live a long and fruitful life, thus, the Morales became one of the Tagalog tribe. There are few Tagalog Morales and most of them are related to us. The others, you will find them in the provinces of Pampanga, Pangasinan, and in the Visayan islands.

Originally the Tolentino, Spanish/Italian and Jews came from Italy. It is a habitational name from the city of Tolentino in Macerata province of Italy. It was adapted as a given name in Spain because of its association with St. Nicholas of Tolentino (c. 1245-1305).

Well, what is in a name? The surname Morales appears to be patronymical and locational in origin and believed to be associated with the Spanish and Portuguese meaning,"the son of Moral (right and proper); one who came from Morales (mulberry tree), the name of two towns in Spain; dweller near a mulberry or blackberry bush."

With the almost four hundred years of the Spanish in the Philippines, Spanish surnames were sure to appear in the church's registries.

In the Philippines, it is not common to have a middle name per se'. One always carries the surname of one's mother next to his name. Jose Ramos Morales, indicates that my mother's surname is Ramos. I think it is changing now, as I have seen some of the Filipino names, specially those that have been born outside the Philippines. My name was also the first name of my father. I think he gave the name Flordeliza for my sister, Wilfrido and Renato for my brothers. The younger ones were chosen by my parents. Practically all the names of my cousins on my father side were "mandated" by my grandfather. He was the name giver! Except for the younger ones who came later after he died.

MINI-JUNGLE CHORES DONE

2007-01-23T18:56:00.001-08:00

Saturday, Hilary Clinton announced her candidacy for President of the United States...I think she will win! It is about time for America to have a woman president. Other countries have had their share of women as presidents. The Philippines already had two.

The last two days, I had been working in my mini-jungle. Finally today I was able to finish trimming the trees that were affected by the cold onslaught. Today the weather was very pleasant, the sun was bright and shining but also cool enough to gather some sweats. We have been eating some cherimoya and still have a dozen more on the tree. I had to cut most of the guava trees branches and hoping that by springtime it will bushy again. I am trying to make them grow lower. I am not expecting abundant fruits from them but that is alright...we always have plenty of fruits and most of them end up as candied and dried, then go to the freezer...for later use as for my chutney preserves.

Kai will be here tomorrow! Macadamia nuts, his favorite nuts are on hand. Umma said while we are having our dinner that she will prepare some oatmeal for him and cherimoya later. I am not sure what to prepare for him for lunch yet.

This is all I am going to blog here tonight. I am going back to some of the "UMPHA TELL ME YOUR MEMORIES" to edit and add some more items that just came to mind this weekend.

For some reason "Publish Post" has an error and can't publish the blog. I will just save this as "Draft' and will try again. They must had been doing some maintenance.

I am trying again to publish this blog....

WEEKEND OF BLAHHH...AND STILL BRRRR!

2007-01-19T16:11:00.000-08:00

It is still cold outside...at least I am sure that my plants are going to make it this Spring...only the leaves got hit and they are dry dry-crisp right now. I have a big job tomorrow trimming.

Wednesday morning when Kai and Tisha arrived, I had been stoking the fireplace. I know that Kai would love to see the fire since we hadn't had the fireplace lit since the same time last year. I had some twisted newspapers for him to throw in the fire. I have to hold him while he aims at the fire. Sometimes he missed, but there was Umpha to the rescue.

Every time he comes on Wednesday, I expect him to have his "Turtle" backpack. In this he carries his favorite toys, or any toys of the day that he favors, but mostly his cars that he is very much attached to.

I was told that he cried real hard in the park when his playmates decided to go home earlier. He does not want them to go home. Umma had to explain to him the the situation and was able to calm him down. I think he is beginning to get attached to other kids, because he is practically by himself with Tisha all day. With the cold weather, Tisha can't bring him to the park as often as he would like.

My time with him is usually after lunch...we play or watch TV together. He still likes to jump all over me, riding on my back or when we are laying down just, sort of play house under the blanket. He bumped my head last week, hard that he felt it too. "it is ouch!" That was what he said. Pretending I have an "ouch" too, I told him that he gave me a "bokul-bokul" on my forehead ("bokul" in Tagalog is bump - "bokul-bokul" is bumpy). So he kissed my forehead and I kissed his so the "ouch" will be gone. Last Wednesday, he bumped me but very gently and said; "I "bokul-bokul" you Umpha." He kissed my forehead and said; "it's gone now." He remembers the words and even told Tisha when I put him on his car seat...very retentive boy. Once in a while I will tease him. I will pretend that I burned my fingers or I hurt my elbow...he will be to the rescue! He will kiss the supposedly hurting area so the "ouch will be gone."

There are more questions from the "UMPHA TELL ME YOUR MEMORIES" that I can answer, but won't do it on this entry. I think most of the questions will be related mostly during and after WWII and my years in the US Navy. I am still gathering my thoughts lately. I think this will be interesting to recall them and let Kai learn them later. I am sure that Tisha does not even know about some of my experiences from back then.

Lately we have been going to the Marine Corp Base, Miramar for movies at the Bob Hope Theater. The movies that they show there are newly released that one can see in the local movie houses, for $7.50, senior discount rate. At the base we pay only a $1.00...isn't it a bargain? We saw "DeJa Vu" last night which was shown before but we missed the earlier date showing. Next week, I would like to see "Apocalypto." The base was formerly, a Navy Air Force Base, but gave it to the Marines to use. They have an outside Airplane Museum open to the public for free. Once we brought Kai there with us to see the different Marine airplanes...he really enjoyed that one because he really could get close to the "very big airplane." The second time he was with us and passing the Airplane Museum (which is visible from the road to the base), when he saw the airplanes, he commented: "we have to go there again." We did not go there again but went to the Exchange...which we seldom use because sometimes it is cheaper in the local stores. We buy only big things to save paying the tax. Everything at the Exchange does not required any taxes.

This week I had been making some "Hopia," A Chinese version of a round turn-over. There are two layers of dough to be prepared, placed on top of the other, rolled and shaped as that of the puff-pastry method. The filling is peeled mung beans, boiled and mashed, I add vanilla extract - not normally in the recipe, sugar is added to make a paste like consistency...this takes me two days to cook because I don't want a quick cooking time...afraid to burn it. This paste is wrapped in the dough, shaped into rounds, brushed with egg yolks and baked for 25 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheits. I made four dozens and most of them were frozen. They sell for $1.50 each at the oriental store. While in the mood of baking I made extra dough for "empanadas." We had some left-over Italian sausage (without the casings) in tomato sauce...added some diced carrots, garbanzo beans and white raisins, simmered to reduce the sauce and was wrapped like a turn-over. This is for snacking!

This year we were really sated to the gills with persimmons. I had found a recipe for cake and have made them twice now. I have some in the freezer of the persimmons for later use. Twice we went to the Escondido "roadside market" to buy them. We discovered that place while we are driving on the way to the Valley View Casino. Mind you, we don't gamble! We went there to see the place and also the case maybe, was we that had a free lunch coupon to be redeemed there. For a regular price of $12.50, the buffet lunch is worth the long drive there. Of course our lunch was free. Their spread is very sumptuous - you name it and they have it. They have ethnic food like Vietnamese and Mexican. Desserts must be a hundred or so that one can choose. I gorged myself with king crabs from Alaska and prime roast beef. Ah! crabs that is one of Kai's favorite food.

UMPHA TELL ME YOUR MEMORIES - ADDENDUMS.

2007-01-15T19:17:00.000-08:00

IS IT COLD ?...BRRRR! TEMPERATURE NEAR 35 DEGREES FARENHEITS

The news carriers brought nothing but cold news everywhere in the country! A massive winter storm moved eastward across the central US bringing snow, sleet, ice and flash floods, killing at least 25 people and like Oklahoma, was declared an emergency. More than 100,000 people without power on Sunday.

In spite of the blankets that I placed on top of my papaya trees, the leaves suffered some damages from the night frosts. My guava trees are affected and so are parts of my cherimoya trees. They will survive! It is only the outside leaves that were affected.

In the state of Missouri the weather claimed 8 lives. 300.000 people lost power. In Kansas, 5 people were reported killed in weather related accidents and one person was poisoned by carbon monoxide exposure. Texas, to the south, has more than 6 inches of rain caused flash flooding with dramatic high water rescues. Floodings are reported in Arkansas and Louisiana...18 inches snow in Colorado.

A record-braking cold weather even hit the Pacific Coast state of California, where mild temperatures usually prevail all year. In central Los Angeles, the thermometer dropped to (36 Fahrenheit) this morning; a record-setting temperature not felt in the city for 75 years...icicles hanging off tangerine trees in the Central Valley near Fresno, a rare sight in the state. California oranges, lemons and other produce worth as much as half a billion dollars were likely ruined. This will be expensive for the consumers for this produce.

So far, there is no major disaster here in San Diego, but this weather will give a us something to ponder...Wearing socks is not enough! I can feel the draft here in the TV room. Before I go to bed, I turn on the electric blanket to high and turn it off when I am inside the blanket.

SOME MORE MEMORIES:

I can't remember any popular hit songs from my youth. I love music but music doesn't love me. My sister while in high school, she played different string instruments except the viola and violin. She belonged to the "Centro Escolar Rondalla Ensemble." Her main instrument was what they call "Laud," almost similar to a guitar but with a longer handle. She plays the piano too. I think in my heart I would have liked to learn how to play music. I just did not have time those days. Later, my brother Wilfrido started to tinker with the piano and this brought him to other countries playing. He is living in Lanzarote, Canary Island today after several stints in Germany. The last time we visited him, he and his wife now run a restaurant and his synthesizer is still there with him.

HIT SONGS AT THAT TIME:

The Philippines was not by-passed by American recording artists of the time. I had the chance to attend to most of them...not because I particularly liked the artists but because they were "pro bono." I hung around with radio stations' announcers and staffs, that I just got to tag along for the rides. My sister was a radio soap opera villain in those days; "Ang Sepulturero sa Lumang Simbahan," (The Grave Taker of the Old Church). In those days, I even had an autograph book with signatures of those artists that I can't remember who they are now. American actors like Charles Heston, Tyrone Powers, Burt Reynolds, the former husband of Dinah Shore (I can't recall the name) were all in that book. I have no idea where that autograph book is now. It was not important for me because I was never star-strucked in the first place. We visited local movie studios too.

TELL ABOUT A STRANGE PERSON THAT LIVED IN YOUR TOWN.

Anybody that was from different countries were strange to us. Every Indian looking person is a "Bombay." There were several male Indians peddlers those days. They carried big bundles of blankets, mosquito nets, towels and other materials and they peddle them house to house. They are the "monsters" of the children because mothers threatened the misbehaving children that they are going to give them to the "Bombay," and they will be wrapped inside the bundles that they usually carry on their heads. I found out later that they are not "Bombay" but Singh, a minority tribe in India. The Chinese are a different story...I think they were prejudiced and abused by the Filipinos the most in those days. They are mostly poor immigrants from rural China. They are the most industrious people and patience was their virtue. Practically every corner of the street block, you would see a "China man Store." They sold everything! You name it and they had it. There is limerick about them; "Inchek beho,' tulo laway, sago uhog" literally translated as "Stinking chink, saliva drooling, nose dripping." Bad...bad ...bad! These are the poor China men that immigrated to make better life for their families in rural China. Some of those that didn't have stores, plied the streets selling hot tofu curds with hot syrups, or bought empty bottles to recycle them. Some have restaurants and bake shops. There are also shops that manufacture tin wares. I like the "apaw" (crispy rice bars) factories. You can have a big bagful of trimmings for one centavo (2 cents)....it was really a lot. The Chinese have been a big influence in the country.

There were some rich ones that immigrated in the Philippines. They left China because the empire fell down. One of those was my grandmother's cousin's clan, the "Qou Ong Hin." They have an edifice in Manila...I do not really know what was their business...but they are rich! She had a "ginger foot," bounded with strips of cloth when she was born, to resemble lotus roots, and a sign of nobility in China those days. She waddled like a duck when she walked. I loved that woman! I think I had a special place in her heart. She was always glad to see me.

I have another grandmother of Chinese descent, "Lola Edang," the wife of the first Filipino Commissioner of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Pedro Guevara. She lived in Washington DC during those days, and only during her late years came back to the Philippines. She enthralled us with her accounts of her stay in Washington DC...because she had the chance to hob-nob with the elites and nobilities during those days. One particular case was an event that she attended with the ladies in their regalas, the gowns are with trains and they let them down to sweep the floor. The Filipina formal attire those day have long trains, but they have a way of holding them on their waist..."When I saw the trains are sweeping the floor, I let mine go too! Besides, I have a longer train than most of them." We all clapped our hand to give her kudos and for her spunk.

There are also Japanese people there. Most of them have "soda parlors." I don't think I had any contact with any of them. Later when the war broke-out, we found that the Japanese that were there were sent to the Philippines as spies and map makers, which was usefull for the Japanese army invasion of the Philippines.

Weird person...there is "Kandepa," the town lunatic. She was harmless, but for the kids, she is a "persona non grata." Some of them even wet their pants when she was close enough.

UMPHA TELL ME YOUR MEMORIES IV

2007-01-13T15:22:00.000-08:00

I AM ALMOST DONE:

This blog is getting to be fun...even before I go to sleep, I try to recall those years gone by. Memories of my childhood vividly comes to life again. While laying down to take a nap "schools" have come to mind. Since I don't really nap anymore these days (just lay down to rest), with closed eyes, the old scenarios of yesteryear became real again.

THE SCHOOLS;

I had mentioned about my first encounter with schools...and will not repeat those moments here. The schools I attended:

Paco Catholic School

Paco Elementary School

Lucban Elementary School

Mandaluyong Elementary School

Centro Escolar University High School (for Boys)

Philippine Dental College

I was grade three when WWII broke...transferred to Lucban Elementary for the 4th grade. I can't remember what happen then because suddenly I was not in school anymore but enjoyed the free roaming and gallivanting time in the city with friends. After the war, we lived in Mandaluyong; a suburb of Manila. Then and there started a nightmare for me. My father enrolled me in school as grade six...with the rational that I had to recover the lost years of not going to school and also not being left behind by my same age contemporaries.

The medium of studies in the Philippines is English. We were still a Commonwealth and will not have our Independence from United States till later. We don't have the same system like here in America. Primary to Elementary is six years, no junior high school. From six grade you go to regular high school. The hours are long, not like here.

The subjects that we have to study in elementary were;

LANGUAGE - learning the basics of the English language, the subjects and predicates of a sentence. How to use adjectives, adverbs, verbs etc.

READING - we are assigned to read books and learn comprehensions.

SPELLING - of course this is words of the English language

ARITHMETIC - numbers all the way.

HISTORY - those days, American history

TAGALOG - the national language of the Philippines

HEALTH SCIENCE - good manners and right conduct

INDUSTRIAL ART FOR BOYS AND HOME ECONOMIC FOR GIRLS - boys learn how to make usable things for the house and girls are taught the basics of cooking and sewing.

In High school "Language" became "English," "Arithmetic" became "Mathematics." Industrial Arts became PMT or Preparatory Military Training. The girls still have Home Economics. "History" was about the"Modern Times and the Living Past." "Spanish" is added with the "Tagalog." In high school, we have several teachers that specialize in each subject.

Sports that are played in school were basketball and sometime softball.

Extracurricular activities were rehearsals for plays or musicals...sometimes an operetta for the school anniversaries. I can't remember any field trips at all.

Everything was focused on study, study and study by the book.

There are no "bullies" in the school. If there was one, I had not met any. Most of the kids were well behaved or at the very least they will deal not only with their parents but the principal as well.

In primary and elementary, since both are public schools; don't require uniforms.

In high school, khaki pants and white shirts was the uniform of the day in school. The girls in high school wore a specially designed white inform with pink pippings on the sailor collar and a pink tie.

I am not good in math. It just won't stick in my head how those "X's," " Y's" and other symbols work together and finding the sum of "Z." I barely passed that subject even when I was in college taking physics and calculus. That's for sure I was not to be an Einstein.

I love to read. After school in high school, I didn't go home right away but would stop by at the USIS library. I discovered this to be a better library than the local one we had. The books gave me the chance to fantasize about different places, and gave me the chance to learn earlier about many things that school never taught us. We always had a newspaper everyday. My father liked to read detective and western novels in paperbacks. We had quite a collection of them and I eventually started reading them. His favorites were Zane Grey's books. He read other books...I read "Forever Amber," the "Decameron's" and "Don Juan"(thought it was very racy then), "The Three Musketeers," "Count of Monte Cristo," "Madame Bovary" to mention a few. I have a collection of comic books, "Captain America," "Plastic man," "Batman and Robin," "Superman," the "Submarine man," and other superheroes of the comic world...amazing that few of these heroes still exist today.

Centro Escolar University before the war was exclusively for girls. My father enrolled me there when they opened their doors for the boys. At that time I hated being a high school student there. I was ashamed to tell people where I went to school...because when I told them, they would give this look that would say: that's a girl school. I had no choice but finished my high school there, being one of the boys who graduated there first. I guess, because I hated that school, I did not excel academically in high school...but did graduate. As time passed by, I was able to have my AA degree (pre-med) there too. This was different. I was able to pick up pieces here and there and did well. I excelled in subjects like anatomy (I was given the nickname of "Mr. Grey" the author of the textbook we were using). I had two semesters of "body anatomy' and later took "head and shoulder" when I shifted to dentistry. I was good in Chemistry, Psychology, Physiology but not in Trigonometry and Calculus...my menaces. In dental school, I made the best tooth replicas from soaps...that was my first sculpting class.

I always looked forward to holidays and the school breaks when my time was my own and wouldn't belong to school for a while. I spent the weekends roller skating at the Rizal Memorial Stadium and sometimes we'd go to Quezon City public park for this...roller skating the whole afternoon.

GIRLFRIENDS:

My first girlfriend (puppy love) was when I was in grade two. There was this classmate that lived somewhere on the other side of the railroad tracks that I mentioned previously where we'd wait for the train. We walked to school together and went back home together too. She would be upset if going home, I will be with other boys instead and she made sure to tell my mother when she passed our house. I wonder what happened to here...huh! I did not have any girlfriend in high school, although some of my friends started to "bloom." I was a late bloomer and did not have a girlfriend until I was in college...her name was Alice. I was never serious in getting involved like most of my friends. I don't know why in those days, but thinking about it now, I am sure that I wanted to do something with my life before getting serious and get tied up in matrimony.

I had a riff with my father...I quit school and traveled. I lived with my maternal grandparents for a while. I went to Guam and worked at the Air Force Base for three years. Back to Manila, I was uneasy and decided to joined the US Navy in Sangley Point. It was tough joining...your are given written test exams that I found out later were very biased...I found out as a culture shock that those American "kids" in my company were dumb as could be. Out of 37 who took the exam, I was one of the five that was accepted that day. Sometime, I will relate some of my experiences while in the Navy.

OUR HOUSEHOLD:

My mother ran a dress shop and my father went to their dental office (shared with his eldest brother, my grandfather was deceased then). Even though we always had a maid, my mother did the cooking. She would send the maid to the market with a list of what to buy for the days' meal. We were taught to clean house, do our beds and sometimes even iron our favorite clothes to wear on a certain occasion. Being the eldest of a sister and four brothers, the burden of taking care of them was put on my shoulders. My brothers were practically my wards. It was not always a happy home. My father was a womanizer "par excellence." Thou at times I urged my mother to get rid of him...divorce was not common and the church does not sanction that. So, here we are "other woman" after another, my mother will ask me to come with her and together we will confront the "other woman." My mother had cracked many faces of those women with her shoes (similar to the wedgies in fashion lately, but the shoe was entirely made of wood and they were heavy)....the affair would end but would resume with other women as time passed by. I know that I have other siblings somewhere as the result of his womanizing. In spite of that, I think it was a normal Filipino household.

The chapter of my child is almost done now. I will come and edit them once in a while when something comes to mind. I am sure that there are some events that I have missed but it will come eventually and I will log them here.

KAI CAME INTO OUR LIFE WITH A REASON

2007-01-12T21:29:00.000-08:00

REASON, SEASON and LIFETIME

I am writing this because I am sure that Kai will actually read this blog some day. His response will be interesting but I am not sure if someday he will be able to tell me personally. I think it will be interesting...After he finishes reading this, he will know the reason.

Kai came into our life for a reason, a season of a life time. And we know which one it is, we knew what to do with him. I believe that when someone like Kai is in your life for a REASON, it is to meet a need we have expressed. Kai has come to assist us through a life. He may seem like godsend and he is. He is here for the reason we need him to be. Then, without wrongdoing on our part or at an inconvenient time, he will grow to be his own and we must realize that our needs have been fulfilled, the work is done. The prayers we sent up have been answered and now it is time to move on.

Kai came into our life for a REASON because his turn has come to share, grow and learn. He brought us an experience of peace or to make us laugh. He taught us something we have never done. He gives us unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, it is real. But I am sure that only for a SEASON.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Our job is to accept the lesson, love him and put what we learned to use all of the time in our relationship with him and in all areas of his life. It is said that love is blind but with Kai it is clairvoyant.

Thank you for being part of our life, whether you are a reason, a season or a lifetime.

UMPHA TELL ME YOUR MEMORIES III

2007-01-11T12:26:00.000-08:00

What a balmy day in San Diego again today...It looks like Mother Nature in her fickle mind does not know what to give us. In spite of that, I think we are very lucky as not to have snow-bound highways and communities like they have in Colorado and elsewhere in the East Coast. It was predicted that it will rain today and tomorrow but we will have some sun for the playoff of the Chargers and the Patriots Sunday. Not that I care, I am not a sport enthusiast. Putting the Chargers' loss in perspective...once again, San Diego sports fans have had their hearts broken by a local professional team. But let's keep our perspective - this was not a lost opportunity to find a cure for cancer, not a lost of opportunity to feed the hungry children of the world. It was after all, just a game - a game owned, coached and played, for the most part, by millionaires. The reality is that whether won or lost, the outcome would not have changed our lives in any significant way.

The memories I am going to write here will the continuation of my childhood. I find this enjoyable...remembering those yesteryear's of my life. We didn't have television, just a radio. Although we always had bicycles that my father used, I never did learn how to ride a bike...sound funny? It did not matter to me those days. As we lived on the main street of the city where buses and the electric tram came and went, plus the horse drawn "caromatas" and "calesas." Going places was not a problem. We walked! I started riding the electric trams and buses when I was seven years old. My father would deposit me on the bus or train and away I went to visit my grandparents in Pasig. It was a big fuss about that because some people thought I was too young for that adventure. As I grew older and bolder, I used to ride the trams without paying my fares...When I'd see the conductor coming, I go to the other side of the car thus avoiding to pay. I could jump from the train while it is moving. I could ride the bus all by myself and go to Tanza, Cavite to visit my paternal relatives there...and that was a long ride. Yes! We lived close to the main train station...When I was a bit older, there was always three of us that went together. We would wait somewhere far from the station but close enough that we knew the train would slow down going to the station. The trains that we targeted are the ones that came from the provinces and carried cargos of sugarcane, coconuts and other commodities on the open cabooses to be sold in the city. We would all jump up on the train and get what ever they have... just enough sugarcane for us to munch and coconuts to crack...to pass the day.

The first movie that I remember seeing was a Shirley Temple classic. I don't remember the title but those days Shirley Temple was very "big." When I became a little bit older, I was allowed to see movies on the weekend. I enjoyed the "Mark of Zorro." My friends and I fashioned swords from split bamboo poles and did a mock sword fight in the street. I remember at one time, a group of kids from another district came to our district and a sword fight was arranged. It was a sight to behold...at least no one was injured. The cartoons of those days were "Mickey Mouse," "Betty Boop," "Felix the Cat" and some others that are very classics if you happen to see them on TV.

MY TOYS:

I didn't have too many toys. The one toy that sticks in my mind was a scow boat that when a short stub of a candle is placed somewhere in the boat, it would activate the propeller and run on water. We made our own toys...Milk cans were saved to make cars and boats that you could pull with a string. We made kites from bamboo sticks and Japanese tissue papers. We folded newspapers into a boat and let then float in the gutter or in the river if we had the chance to be near one. As a child we were not allowed to play with regular cards...that is a no-no! Gamblers had bad reputations and especially my grandmother, opposed the idea that we played with regular cards. So we saved and hoarded bubble gun cards (they were like those that we have today with mostly comic characters on it) The game "Pitik" was the game to win or loose your cards. Two guys would bet on each others' cards by placing two cards on top of one's thumb and the next finger, flick the card in air, and then wait till it hits the ground. Two cards with either both of the face side or the back side lands at the same time...you win. "Tunbang Preso" (topple the prisoner) is another game where a can is utilized. The can was placed on a certain spot on the ground and with the approved distance of the players one would try to topple the can by throwing a flat stone directly to the can. This was always played by several kids at the time and the "it" preselected by the means of "jack and poy" (like scissor and stone game). The "it" was responsible for placing the can in its place when toppled. A good "pamato" (a flat stone the size of one's fist) was a must and we were always on the lookout for such stones. "Tatsing" is game similar to (spelunker). Sea shells was also a big part of some of our games. We collected soda pop caps for this game. We played hide and seek at night. This gave one a big chance to hide himself in the dark and avoid being the "it." A bicycle wheel rim without the spokes was very much coveted. You could have the envy of the other kids in the block while rolling it on the curb with a long strong wire curve at the end to maneuver. These are mostly boys games. The girls have their own games. We amused ourselves with simple things. Going to the mountains or hillsides to climb trees and pick guavas, tamarinds and berries. We'd always carry a packet of salt when we'd go fruit picking. The fruits always tasted better with a dash of salt. We went to farms that just harvested the crops...whatever was left we picked. The sweet potato farms after harvest a week or so were the best and when it rained, sprouts would come out and you could be sure that there would be a sweet potato for you to dig and cook on an open fire. We went fishing with just a bamboo pole and a safety pin. Catching frogs in the rice field brough us some frog legs "Tinola" with green papaya for dinner. I don't think I can cut the head of a frog these days. It was easy then without any qualms ...that's the only way to remove the skin.

MY PETS:

When we were staying in Makati; the dress shop across the tram station, we had a white mongrel named, of course "White." I had been bitten by a dog behind the knee when I was young and I think this gave me a phobia and didn't care for any dog that much. I had to have rabies shots because in the Philippines a dog is a dog and very seldom pampered like here...One could not be sure if the dog that bit me was rabid or not, so I had to have the shots . I think they were several shots that I had to take. By the way, the dog was killed. It is amazing that the pot bellied pigs have been a rage here recently. I had one when I was young. Her name was "He-Chang." It was black and she knew her name. She was a good pet...but ended up being slaughtered and up on the dinner table.

HOLIDAYS AND SPECIAL CELEBRATIONS:

CHRISTMAS - Being brought up as Catholic, I think now, Christmas was celebrated in the Philippines as part of the church's ploy to ensure the validity of the religion. The church knew that the Filipino people love "pomps and pageantry" and they used that to their advantage. Nevertheless, Christmas was not like Christmas as we have today. There was not much commercialism then. The Filipino houses had their "Parols" (lanterns made of bamboo sticks and colored tissue paper) that were hung on the window. They almost looked like the "pinatas" of the Mexicans, but they are in the shape of stars to symbolize the Star of Bethlehem. This was one project in schools that all the students in the Industrial Art class would do. Gifts were not as lavish as we have now. Christmas trees were seldom seen in the house during that celebration. Pine tress grow in the mountains of Baguio, the summer capital of the Island. The fun of the holiday begins on the first day of Christmas with the "Misa de Galo.'' People will brave the morning chills going to church when the cocks are starting to crow for the start of nine days novena before Christmas day. The funnest thing here were the food stalls that would line the street of the nearby church. They catered early breakfast treats, like "Bibingka," rice cake cooked in a terracotta dish, lined with banana leaves with charcoal embers glowing on top and below the dish. "Puto Bonbong," a combination of purple rice and sweet sticky rice, milled and ground, dried to remove most of the moisture, placed in a small bamboo, and steamed on a special cooker until done. Both of them are accompanied by freshly grated coconut, brown sugar and sesame seed. The drink is always "Salabat"or a sweet, piping hot ginger tea. There are other goodies to be bought and expected that one will buy something to go, for the people that did not go to church. Christmas Eve is the "Noche Buena" when a feast of after the midnight mass was celebrated. Hot chocolate (a real one from the trees - no Nestle; "Hamon de Punda, " similar to the Virginia Smithfield ham but this one is from China; whole stuffed boneless chicken with force-meat; beef rolls with Chorizo, the Bilbao and other things. Dessert is always "Leche Flan" and "Halaya," purple yam cake. Oranges, apples, grapes and the assorted nuts are imported. ..these items will come from my "step-grandmother" second wife of my paternal grandfather. She maintained a stall in "Divisoria," wet market in Manila. There were always chestnuts served. "Tikoy" (mooncakes made of sticky rice) came from the Chinese where my father bought his gold and other dental needs.

Gift giving was not the norm back then. A child or a kid could go visit their Godfather or Godmother and expect to be handed a few coins. I never did go to any of them. I guess I was a rebel and nonconformist then as of today that I thought doing that was stupid or like an imposition.

NEW YEAR:

This is the time I liked the most. We could buy fire crackers and meet the New Year with a bang. As a kid with my friends we'd scour for a fat bamboo pole and make it into a cannon. The concept was like the old cannons that has been used in the olden days. We'd make a hole somewhere below between the segments of the bamboo tube ,which was propped on something sturdy, put kerosene inside, do some hard blowing and light it from the hole. KABOOM!!!

FOURTH OF JULY:

Since the Philippines was still a Commonwealth, we celebrated the 4th of July with lots of firework displays. The ones I have seen in the States are not as good as what I experienced back then. Of course there was a parade too.

MOTHER'S DAY:

There was no card to give...Mothers were honored by the children by pinning a corsage on their chest. Pink flower (Kadena de Amor) if one's mother was alive and white flower if deceased. Father's day was not celebrated then.

EASTER:

No egg hunts, no Easter eggs and no chocolate Easter bunnies. The celebration is again another church affair centered on the Resurrection of Christ. We were told that when we hear the church bells ringing, we have to jump to grow tall...another one of those old wives myths!

MEMORIAL DAY:

As far as Memorial Day, I can relate this to the "ALL SOULS DAY" and "ALL SAINTS DAY." "TODOS DE LOS SANTOS" is a big event in the Philippines. Like in Mexico, people start to clean the graveyards, white wash the tombs to honor and remember the dead. We have a special cemetery in Manila that the Chinese -Filipino use. There you can see elaborate mausoleums and tombs. Some of these are big, complete with all the accouterments of a house. During the celebration, people will bring food, candles, mahjong sets and tables to play. The locals in the regular cemeteries will bring flowers and candles. They will stay all day and through the night in vigil. This is the time to visit friends and at times, it was the time for lovers to elope...especially those where the family does not approve of the woman or the man to be the right person to be included as family. "TODOS LOS SANTOS" is the time to raid somebody's chicken coop and steal one of the their chickens. I did not steal a chicken but I must admit I was accomplished in stealing a duck. We cooked the duck and ate it. This is equivalent of trick or treat but the trick was done without the knowledge of the victim. Also at this time a group of children will serenade houses; expecting some coin handouts. If the owner of the house did not give them anything, the children would have a song that will depict the owner as a very stingy person for all the neighbors to hear.

There is no; Armistice Day, Labor Day, and we didn't have Thanksgiving day too. There are only a few Holidays that we celebrated those days. I guess that was different among the Americans that lived in the Philippines at that time.

IT IS WEDNESDAY...!

2007-01-10T18:34:00.000-08:00

Today is the day for Kai to spend the day with us...

The first thing that he noticed was the absence of the Christmas tree. He commented that he wants Christmas to come back. Some explanation later, that Christmas and Santa Claus went home to North Pole and will be back sometime later satisfied his laments. This was a repeat of the Halloween celebration.

Umma had to go to a meeting with her former classmates to proofread the souvenir book of their reunion. This left Kai and I to make the day worthwhile. I intended to bring him to the park, but the weather was not really that good for strolling and playing outside. We stayed home and I spent the day mostly interacting with him. He brought with him his magic writing pad and spent a bit of time writing his name and drawing. I left him by himself for a while to cook the Italian sausages that Umma bought but he came to the kitchen and asked to be put up the counter. "I want to watch you cook" that was what he told me. He was sitting besides the microwave oven and I asked him what button is for popcorn. We had a new microwave oven, different from the previous one we had...he was able to pinpoint on the spot where it is. I was thinking that since it is a new one and different he will hesitate and look where it is. No way Jose! He got it in a Jimminie-cricket.

He continuously ate the whole day. After Tisha left Umma gave him rice crackers (ate two of them) with chocolate milk. He saw the shoe string potato in the can (Pik-Nik) and he asked me to open and started diving into it. Lunch time, I made him french fries, ham and apple slices...finished that. This was the time when we were in the TV room, watching "Charlotte's Web" on HBO. After that we switched channels from "Cartoon Cartoon," "Diego Go Diego," "Blue," "Tom and Jerry," back to HBO "Family" and then watched "Batman," the animated version. While I was sitting next to the computer, he would come behind the chair, climb on my back and we ended playing piggyback ...my poor back! We lay down, covered ourselves with blanket and play "house." Umma came home and we are eating the "pastillas" (milk candy) I made. At first I let him taste it. "I like it" he said, so he ended eating five of them. Before that he saw my Butterfinger bars, took one and let me open it. He ate half and gave me the rest. All this eating was washed down with water or milk and the yogurt drink.

Tisha came about three. Kai was not ready to go home. He tried to ignore his mother and not even looking at her. When Tisha went to the living room, Umma hug him and told him that it is time to go home and will see you next week. He hug and kissed Umma and said; "I miss you Umma, Umpha." He really look sad. I can say that it was worth being with him for the day...we are sure that he enjoys being with us. As usual he wants me to carry him to the car. He kissed and hugged me...but with a complaint about my moustache that he calls "sharps."

One more thing...while sitting on my lap in front of the computer, he reached for my medicine, opened the cap, took one caplet. I asked him what is he doing...answered me that "you have to take your medicine. I have to put it in your mouth." So I took it since I haven't taken my daily dose of my maintainace pill for hypertension. This is one thing that I am sure he will not take and think that it is candy...he was taught at the early age what are medicines. He has a favorite medicine for his "boo-boos''..."the white one"...that is either the "Katialis" (a cure all compound from the Philippines) or Neosporin. He does not like the "Skin Shield," colloid based antiseptic because it stings. Of course, Band Aids have to be administered too...big or small, does not matter.

He saw some loose coins on the table next to us. "Umpha, money"! He took it , got down from my lap and went to the living room where his "alligator" bank was and deposited it. This always happens every time he see loose coins laying around. Sometimes I wonder how some kids came to swallow coins....??? Not Kai, "I have to save it."

UMPHA TELL ME YOUR MEMORIES II

2007-01-09T19:14:00.000-08:00

This afternoon I scanned all the questions and found out that the idea of answering them here will be better since there are questions that do not apply to me. Coming from the tropics, there are many questions that will be left blank...example: we don't have snow in the tropics, so I can't have my first "snowman." What is the norm and standard here in the United States will be not be the same as in the Philippines. What I am going to do here is try to tell you as much as I can about me while in growing up.

SCHOOLS:

I think I was about five years old when I had my first experience of what a school is. In those days there is no such thing as preschool yet. At this time we are still living in Pasig. I remember that my mother planted some papaya trees on the side of the house. In front of that house was a very tall "rimas' tree (bread fruit). Another tree besides that was a "dalungian" (another type of bread fruit but with seeds). The first one is good cooked in heavy raw sugar ("panocha"), candied and air-dried. The latter was picked young and cooked with pork and shrimps as a vegetable dish, but when they are very mature, the seeds are boiled with salt and can be eaten as a snack....Back to schooling, five days a week, with some of the neighborhood children of the same age we attended a "one room" school which also served as a "capilla" (Chapel). We walked all the way rain or shine to that place. There were times that the unpredicted rain would drop down on us on our way home. We would scurry to any house with banana plants and would ask the owner if we could have some fronds to cover our heads...and soon we were on our way home. This is one of those fun moments because we would remove our wooden shoes, walk bare footed and no puddles along the way were missed. The chapel is made out of quarried stone, looks old and does not have good lighting . There we are taught the "ABC's"; which I already knew and practice writing. What came to stick in my mind was the little brown seed (ipil-ipil) from the acacia pods that we used to create an art piece.

By the time I was six years old we relocated to Manila with the insistence of my paternal grandfather. My parents were able to get a house in the heart of the city; the district of Paco. There my mom opened a dress shop. I was sent to a Catholic school this time. I can still remember those "huge" Belgian nuns. Those days everything looked very huge to me....funny isn't it? This was my first school encounter. Since I know how to read and write at that time, I took the tasks of whatever my teacher would give us nonchalantly. My papers always came back with big red "A's." By the time the school year was ending, every afternoon, I was sent to another building with a lot of other students from different grades. There we are sealed and our names are called. I was told that when my name comes up, I will stand and go the the Mother Superior who was seated on the center stage. I have no idea what was happening. After several days of this happening, I asked my father about it; every time I went to the Mother Superior, she would pinch my left chest. It was not until later that evening, I made my father very proud of me. The Mother Superior had pinned a medal on my chest shirt...with the announcement for, "HIGHEST IN EXCELLENCE" award. How naive I was them and took it like as if it does not matter! The medal was treasured but was burned and melted among the ruins of our house in Paco.

I think it was a hard time for the family. The only income we had in the house was coming from the dress shop. My father was going to school to be a dentist like his father. I am sure now that money was short and why I was enrolled in the public school. It didn't matter to me school is school. I was always at the top of the class and I had no idea of the difference. I was in third grade when WWII broke out. My sister started going to school too. She would come out earlier than me and she would wait for me in the playground, then we would go home together. School in the Philippines was a whole day affair. We have one centavo, equivalent to two cents American money as our allowance. We'd go back to our house to eat lunch, and then back to school again until about 4:00 o'clock. Bullying is unheard of in our school those days. We can play with the neighbor children until supper time. If we have assignments, it was mostly reading. By the way, my father graduated from Philippine Dental College and came out as the "topnotcher" in the board exam among hundreds of examinees.

By the time I was in fourth grade the school system in the Philippines included Japanese language. We are taught the basics. Every morning there was an assembly in the playground for the singing of the Japanese national anthem followed by calisthenics. I can't remember what happened...suddenly I was not in the school anymore but had more free time to play and gallivant with some of my two other contemporaries. We went to the beach, and went to other districts in the city which was a very daring thing to do because the young inhabitants of any districts were very territorial. One can be beaten by just your presence in their places. We were able to avoid that and were never beaten at all. Since our house is situated along the national highway, I considered myself not belonging to any "gangs." Most of the "gangs" are those that lived on different district side streets of the city. My friends and I avoided those places. We spent our time mostly at the beach, which is not quite near to Paco, so we just ambled and walked to get there. On the way we always visited the Paco Cemetery...a remains of the Spanish era...played hide and seek among the dilapidated tombs and crypts. The beach does not have sands but boulders all along the boulevard that leads to the Manila Hotel, to the Port of Manila and the walled city (Intramuros). We'd catch small crabs (talangka) in the crevices of the boulders or dig with our foot while in the water for some clams to eat. I can say now that it was a very simple way to spend time and have fun at the same time. We did not ask for anything else. I still remember faces of my friends then but can't remember their names.

I was in Pasig, in my grandparents' house when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor because it was the town fiesta...I remember that people started to "evacuate" some place they think the war will not reach them. I found this very funny today because in their simple minds, they tried to save themselves of what they did not know. So, another adventure in my life was evolving. This will be elaborated more when I start the blog of my youth during the war.

When Manila was declared an "open city, meaning that it could not be bombed by the Americans, our relatives from Pasig "evacuated" and ended up in our house. The dress shop was closed then and our front where the shop was became a store for everything. It is more like a grocery store. Since we are close to the train station where unloading of commodities from the provinces occurred, we catered to the vendors or as we called them "viajeos" and the store evolved into an eatery. We sold coconut, and "maruya" banana and sweet potato fritters. Yes we fried coconut wedges which were called "kastaniyog." I helped my mom with cooking and did some buying in the market or in some speciality places where I can get steamed rice cakes...We have to resolve to eating rice cake because there was a scarcity of wheat flour to make bread. Remember, this was during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. Every thing specially rice was hard to come by. We are lucky that my father can bicycle his way to Cavite, where they have some rice field and he will come back with half a sack of rice once a week. That was a long way to cycle back and forth but it was done. The amazing thing was that the sack of rice was able to pass by any Japanese sentries along the way. It was said that his uncle, the patriarch of the Arayata family (he is related to the mother of my father) possessed a power coming from an amulet he owned and with prayers and probably some chants and drawings written on a piece of paper, he would put that inside the sack to be "invisible" from eyes of the Japanese. Sometimes you have to believe on those (amulets) "anting-anting." At present I have a few pieces of the amulet that my father have. I collected and saved them after he died in Canada. It is now encased inside a skull and is a piece of art that has been displayed in an art show as part of my "Amulet Keeper" series. Anything like the rice was usually confiscated by the Japanese for their own consumption. One had to be careful in every way. The Japanese soldiers had their ways of intimidating the occupied people. One had to bow to any Japanese soldier you meet or you will be slapped and there would be nothing you could do about it. At least there was not many soldiers in Manila. Their barracks were mostly in the suburbs. The best part of this war for me was the experience of just being there during the time. Last week on the History Channel, they were showing "Dogfights." For those who do not know what a "Dogfight" is, it is a battle of two planes (Japanese and American) in the air. It was a deja vu for me. I have seen many "Dogfights" in those days..and the American planes always downed the Japanese planes! My grandfather's house had an "air raid shelter." They dug a big "hole" for the family to fit in just in case there is an air raid. It was under the big mango tree and the dirt that was taken was put on top as the roof....How naive can you get! Bombs can penetrate that....thank God nothing disastrous happened. We all survived the war. All of our family members were together when the Americans liberated the Philippines except my father who was with the guerrillas somewhere in the province. All American soldiers back then were called "Joe." I don't know why...! I think "GI Joe" was coined in the Philippines and remained as the basic handle for them throughout the world.

My mother and I went to Manila to see what was left of our house. We poked everywhere...nothing was spared. I remember my mother saw her wedding gown intact among the ashes of the armoire, but it deteriorated when touched. In the kitchen area the gas range was a heap of a blob. The gas range was my mother's pride and joy. We are the only one in the block that had one...a four burner stove and an oven. My mom loved to cook. One of the baked good I still remember was
"Araro" (arrowroot flour cookies) that melted in your mouth. What I really like to remember about that range was it was fueled by natural gas, we have a "contador" (meter counter box) but the difference here is that we had to put some coins in a provision box with a slot...I think a ten centavos would last for quite a while. Then every month a collector would come and collect those coins. I don't think my siblings had any idea about this. Most of then were not born yet and Wilfrido was still very young then.

The big green "prasco" bottles where she keep olive oil, vinegar, soy sauce and fish sauce became like blobs of emeralds among the ashes. Manila was burned down! One could walk the streets and see dead and burned Japanese soldiers. Funny that I am able to recall them now and to think that it did not give me any aftermath trauma. I guess when a child is gradually introduced to war and its atrocities, one can be tough and will be able to face the future. That's how I feel. I was watching a movie on the UCSD channel. It was a Japanese film about a Japanese soldier's hardship during the war in the Philippines in 1943. The film was made in Japan. I have heard about it... that the Japanese soldiers became cannibals, eating their soldiers that died to survive, but the movie was the one that gave credence to the fact. It was a good black and white movie with emphasis to one soldier that wouldn't eat any of his comrades. Yes, war is HELL!

UMPHA TELL ME YOUR MEMORIES I

2007-01-08T21:20:00.000-08:00

GOING BACK TO 1933...THAT IS A LONG TIME AGO

Last year, Tisha gave me a calendar with questions on every page. I had set it aside because I am sure that it will be such an undertaking on my part to try to remember and answer all the questions. The pages are 5"x31/2" and if I am going to write my answers the page will not be enough. A whole year of questions! I decided that the "blog" format will do justice and I can save it on CD for later reading and enlightenment of Kai...so here we are...

WHAT IS YOUR DAY AND DATE OF BIRTH?

I was born Friday, March 3, 1933. The 62th day of the year in Georgian calendar. There are 303 days remaining. I was born at my grandparent's house in Makati, Rizal, a suburb of Manila (now part of Metro Manila) If I remember my Mom told me that I was born at night. I was delivered with the help of a midwife and those days they don't have to licensed. I still remember the house because most of my early formative years were spent there. I still remember that the house is by the Pasig river. The house is typical Filipino house with nipa (coconut palm frond leaves) thatch roof, the flooring is of bamboo slats but the walls are of wood sidings. Typical of houses then, it is above the ground and the front door entrance has a veranda attached to a concrete wide stairs with big terracotta flower pots (no plastic pots then) of hydrangeas and assortments of other flowering plants.

I am a Pisces...with the traditional traits, IMAGINATIVE and SENSITIVE, COMPASSIONATE and KIND, SELFLESS and UNWORLDLY, INTUITIVE and SYNPHATETIC. On the dark side, ESCAPIST and IDEALISTIC, SECRETIVE and VAGUE, WEAK-WILLED and EASILY LED. According to my mom, someone (like a

horoscope reader) told them that I will be ARTISTIC in all the things I will do in the future

NAME YOUR BROTHER AND SISTER AND THEIR DTAES OF BIRTH:

Flordeliza............................................April 30, 1934

Wilfrido...............................................May 9, 1938

Renato..................................................September 16, 1941

Teodolfo...............................................May 7. 1943

Redentor...............................................September 2, 1945

WHAT IS YOUR MOTHERS' FULL NAME?

Matilde Esteban Ramos

WHAT IS YOUR MOTHERS' DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH?

April 10, 1908

Jolo, Mandaluyong, Rizal, Philippines

WHAT IS YOUR FATHERS' DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH?

July 11, 1908

Pila, Laguna, Philippines

TELL A FAMILY NICKNAME THAT YOU HAD:

"Pit"/ "Pit oko, malaki olo"/"Totoy"

"Pit"...a short version of Pepito.

"Pit oko, malki olo"...because I have a big head.

"Totoy "...as a mother's child.

TELL OF ANY NICKNAMES IN YOUR FAMILY:

"Tambuli" for my father.

"Tindeng," "Matte' " for my mother.

"Leleng" for my sister Flordeliza.

"Dadong" and "Bardongis" for Wilfrido

"Negro," "Tato" for my brother Renato.

"Hapon" for my brother Teodolfo.

"Bulilit" for my brother Redentor.

WHAT DID YOUR FATHER DO FOR A LIVING:

Dentist

NAME THE TOWNS YOU LIVED IN BEFORE YOU WERE 20:

Makati, Rizal, Pasig, Rizal, Paco, Manila, Mandaluyong, Rizal.

TELL A FOND MEMORIES OF YOUR GRANPA:

Mother's side;

He loves to go to cockfights and he will let me come along...not to watch the actual cockfights but to eat some goodies at the food stalls there. Every time I visited him at work at the Bureau of Internal Revenue, I can be assured that there will be some money in my pocket. He was a god fisherman. He make his own fish net using a handmade bamboo shuttles. I wished I had learned how to do that! He will wake up very early, their house, the kitchen was practically hanging on the river bank. He will throw his net and catch some fish for my grandmother to cook for lunch and dinner. At times he will just do some deep diving in the river and when he comes afloat he will have some fishes betwen his fingers...throw them on the banks and div again until he caught just enough for day's consumptions.

Father's side;

He is a Medical-Dental officer in the Red Cross. He will come and visit us with his full uniforms...high boots and all that uniform brass which impressed me. He wears a well trimmed moustached. He very seldom visit us but when he comes, my mother will be cooking his favorites. He loves my mother's cooking. Also that there will be some money that he will give me and my sister.

TELL A FOND MEMORIES OF YOUR GRANDMA:

On my father side I did not have the chance to meet my grandma. She died before I was born. My Grandfather re-married but I can't remember having any relationship that bonded me to her. On the other hand, I practically grew up and had my formative years with my maternal Grandmother. She is a devout Catholic. A very fastidious woman. She never succumb to wearing the western style clothes but always with along skirts. On ordinary day and in the house she will be wearing a "kimona" a short blouse on top of the skirt. The skirt is on top of another long undergarment "nagwas" which have embroidered hems... going to church and in some other occasion, she will be wearing the Filipina dress of "Baro at Saya" complete" with the "alampay." The 'Baro" which serves as the blouse is made of sago-stiffened abaca fibers, woven loosely like a compacted net. The butterfly sleeve and the shawl "alampay" is always with embroideries. These blouses comes on different colors to match the skirt... yet she was a very simple woman. She married my grandfather when she was sixteen years old. My mother was the oldest of the eight children's. She is very loving and I was pampered because I think I was the first grandson. What can I say...?

TELL ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE AUNT AND UNCLES:

All of my maternal aunts and uncles treated me very well...spoiled me, the same reason as my grandparents because I was the first in the family. So they were all favorites in my early years. It is different with my paternal side of the family. It was only my uncles that I can relate to. My paternal aunts, in the language of today, had ATTITUDES! They are convent-bred Spanish speaking brats...very snooty in my book.

DID ANY RELATIVES LIVE WITH YOU?

Yes, during the early days of the war...a couple of my fathers classmate...one was fro Guam.

DID YOU HAVE ANY IMMAGINARY FRIENDS?

I can't remember. I was kept preoccupied that I did not have a chance to have an imaginary friend.

WHEN YOU NEEDED PUNISHMENT AS A CHILD, WHICH PARENT CORRECTED YOU?

My father...I think he got the idea of child punishment from his father, who is a very strict disciplinarian...QUICK WITH THE BELT.

TELL ABOUT THE NAUGHTIEST THING YOU EVER DID.

Gave a kitten some sleeping pills.

DID YOUR MOTHER WORK OUTSIDE THE HOME?

My mother was a home-working housewife. She is a "modiste" (a dress maker). I still can envision the first dress shop in Makati. It is near the tram station. When we moved in Manila, the dress shop was bigger with about six ladies that work for her. We have a mannequin we call "Bosya" and a Shirley Temple replica for children's clothes. We always have a dress shop right where we lived. It was a two story; we have the living quarters upstairs. During her days, she was a very successful dress shop owner that catered to women of all walks of life. It was an era when dresses were made to fit someone. There was no "off the rack" items yet in those days.

WHAT DID YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTER FIGHT ABOUT THE MOST?

There was no problem here. I can't recall any fights...just teasing most of the time. Child psychologist nowadays might find this wierd...but we survived without any serious fights at all.

Okay, I basically answered all the relevant questions from the January pages. I was surprise of myself that I was able to remember things that from many years past. I might go back to add some more details here and there to complete the scenario...till then.

FALLACIES OF CHRISTMAS SYMBOLISMS

2007-01-05T19:14:00.000-08:00

"DECEMBER 25TH...THE ACTUAL BIRTH OF JESUS...?"

It is claimed that the day celebrated as Christmas (December 25) is the actual birthday of Jesus. The status here is very undetermined! The biblical narrative of Jesus' birth gives no date for the event, though it more likely occurred in the Spring than Winter. Saint Luke tells us that shepherds were "abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night" - shepherds guarded their flocks day and night only at lambing time, in the spring; in winter the animals were kept in corrals unwatched.

It is important to note that for two centuries after Christ's birth, no one knew, and few people cared, exactly when he was born. Birthdays were unimportant; death days counted. Besides Christ was divine and his natural birth was deliberately played down. In fact, the church even announced at one point that it was sinful to contemplate observing Christ's birthday "as though He were a king Pharaoh."

The idea of celebrating the Nativity on December 25 was first suggested early in the fourth century CE, a clever move on the part of the church fathers who wished to eclipse the December festivities of the rival pagan religion, Mithraism, which threatened the existence of Christianity.

On December 25 (the date of the winter solstice) pagan Romans, still in the majority, celebrated Natalis Solis Invincti, "Birthday of the Invincible Sun God," Mithra's. The Mithra's cult originated in Persia and rooted itself in the Roman world in the first century BBE, but by early 300s CE the rising religion of Christianity was posing a formidable challenge to the sun worshipers, especially after the Edict of Milan issued by the Roman emperor Constantine I in 313 CE allowed Christians to practice their faith in the Roman Empire.

In those tenuous early days of Christianity, however, Church fathers debated strategies for supplanting the Mithras cult with their own religion. Since it was well known that Roman Patricians and plebeians alike enjoyed festivals of protracted nature, Christians recognized that they needed an alternative to the December celebration in which all participants - Mithraist, Christians and those in between - could take part with pride. Accordingly, the church officially recognized Christ birth, and to offer head-on competition to the sun worshipers' popular feast, the church located the Nativity on December 25. The mode of observance would be characteristically prayerful: a Mass. In fact, Christ's Mass. As on theologian wrote in 320 CE:

We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun but of him who made it.

Although centuries later, social scientist would write of the psychological power of the group celebrations - the unification of ranks, the solidification of ranks, the solidification of collective identity, the reinforcement of common objectives - the principle had long been intuitively obvious. Christianity took permanent hold in the Western world in 337 CE when Constantine I was baptized in his deathbed, uniting for the first time the Crown and the Church.

"IMMACULATE CONCEPTION"

The term "immaculate conception" is often used generally to denote the conception of a child by a woman who has not engaged in sexual intercourse, and specially to the conception of Jesus by the Virgin Mary, Both usages are incorrect.

"Immaculate Conception" refers to neither the conception of Jesus nor the virgin birth. It is a specific doctrine of Roman Catholicism decreeing that the Virgin Mary was preserved free from original sin by Devine grace from the moment of her conception. Although dogma had been argued since the twelfth century, it was not made official until 1854 by Pope Pius IX. Since then December 8 has been observed as a Roman Catholic feast commemoration of the Immaculate Conception.

"THE THREE WISE MEN"

The Christmas Holiday is almost over in our house. The tree, outside lights and house decoration will be stored in the loft in the garage and will be gone by Sunday. I grew up with the Filipino tradition that Christmas ends after the celebration of the "Three Kings" (January 6th). As claimed: The Bible says that the three wise men travelled from afar on camels to visit the infant Jesus as he laid in the manger. I recently found out that this is a false claim. As originally claimed; as Santa Claus and his reindeer are secular celebration of Christmas, so the three wise men and the creche are to the religious celebration. Even most of the non-religious (or non-Christian) among us recognize the symbolism of the nativity scene: it depicts the biblical account of the three wise men from the east who rode atop camels and followed a star to Bethlehem, bearing gifts for the newborn Christ child who lays in the manger.

The truth is, the Bible contains virtually none of those details. They have all been added over the years from sources outside the Bible.

Mathew 2:1 tells us:

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem...

That's it. Mathew doesn't say how many wise men came from the east, doesn't mention their names, and doesn't provide any details about how they made their journey. It has generally assumed that the wise men (or magi) were three because Mathew 2:1 makes three gifts: "...they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh," The number of wise men is not specified in the Bible, however, and some Eastern religions have claimed up to twelve of them made the journey to Bethlehem. The names Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar, do not come from the Bible and does not appear in Christian literature until over five hundred years after the birth of Jesus. Nothing in the Bible says the wise men rode camels (or any other animals); they have made their journey from the east on foot for all we know. And despite the familiar lyrics of the Christmas carol "We Three Kings," no biblical source depicts the three wise men as kings. (They were most likely learned men, perhaps astrologers.)

The wise men came "into the house," not the stable, and they saw a "young child." not a newborn. This passage indicates that the wise men didn't arrive until quite some times after the birth of Jesus. (According to Luke 2, it was shepherds not wise men, who visited the infant Jesus in the manger.)

To sum it up: we know from the Bible that wise men came from the east, that they followed the star to Bethlehem to find the Christ child, and that they brought him gold and frankincense and myrrh. We must look to sources external to the Bible to find the origins of any of the familiar details however.

2007 - THE NEW BEGINNING

2007-01-04T16:35:00.000-08:00

This will be the first "blog" since April of 2006. The nine months that have elapsed have brought many surprises from Kai. He is really a "big boy" now and not a "baby" anymore. The quotations words are from him as he describes himself nowadays. Of course he will be four years old in the next couple of months. I look at him and I see a lot of changes, especially how he carries himself. There are several surprises under his sleeves for me to ponder...he can associate things; say words that I don't expect coming from a three years old boy. He caught me one day by saying "I don't think so!" when I was teasing him. He is still learning, but he knows a lot that he can now refute whatever you have said wrong. When asked what is his name, he no longer say Kai-Kai but will say his complete name...Kai Michael Van Patten. He is not very compulsive in washing his hands all the time. He does it after each visit to the potty chair even after not touching his "birdie." Tisha taught him to sing "Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star" every time he washes his hands. He know that after the song is finished he is done with the washing. He also sings "Jingle Bells."

He comes to Umpha's house every Wednesday. As a routine, and if the weather is not bad, he and Umma go to the park. He socializes and plays with the kids there. He is good in sharing whatever toys he brings with him. It makes his adopted "other grandpa and grandma" (Stewart and Joyce, one of our neighbors who takes a walk everyday there), happy to see him and they are always looking forward to seeing him. As soon as he sees them he will holler to them and he will say I need a hug and a kiss. He still takes the old stroller and gets pushed by Umma around the block to see and check out the places in the neighborhood that interest him. There was once some ducks in one of the houses that they passed by and he liked to see them. One day, the ducks were gone and he was very disappointed. He has this very retentive mind that he knows the street very well because he knows where to turn when he was asked. I am sure that he will miss the Christmas decoration in the neighborhood like he missed the the Halloween decorations. "Come back Halloween" that was his lament after that holiday. Sometimes, Umma will bring him to the house across the street to play with Lulu and Genny. We at times do some painting. He will get the paint and will start to open them...or will get hold of his felt-tip pens and he will ask for papers. I am not pushing him to paint very much lately, I thought we will wait till springtime when the weather is nice so we can paint outside or in the garage. I have some fairly big Masonite board that I salvaged from the Museum of Man, already primed with different colors. I am thinking that I will show him how to use a roller to go with his big brushes. By the time he is almost five years old, I am sure that he will have a big portfolio to be shown at the Gallery 21 in Spanish Village.

Tisha conditioned him for the custom of "trick or treating" at Halloween. The three of them were regaled in the Pirates of the Caribbean theme. It was a real treat for him because his candy bag was full after several houses in the neighborhood and needed help to carry it.

Just for fun and I am sure he will appreciate it, I bought some lobster for him for Christmas dinner at our house.

"That is the biggest ham I ever see!" that was his reaction when he saw the ham we had. I guess he was anxious to open his "treasures" (that is the term he uses whenever we give him something). After the Christmas Eve dinner, presents are opened with great anticipation from Kai. It was a delight to see his reactions with each and every package he opened. Can you imagine that a three year old boy would react with "WOW!" ? He is very adept in ripping up the wrappers to see what he got inside. One of the presents we bought for him was a synthesizer piano...Tisha caught his little "tushy" swinging with the music in her digital camera...Boy! he sure can move his butt! He might become a good dancer in the future. The funny thing about the Christmas presents was after he was done and inspected his "loots," he proceeded to the front door and announced, "we have to go to other houses." We all concluded that he thinks it is like Halloween and will get more presents if we visit other houses. After, Tisha told him that it is only during the Halloween that he can do that and he will get other present from relatives later. I am sure that this gives him a bit of confusion but he was able to not pursue the matter and went back to his "loots." They spent Christmas day with the Van Pattens and other relative in Mike's sisters' house. Among his "loots" are two pirate ships.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAI-KAI

2006-03-27T18:53:00.000-08:00

THREE YEARS OLD

We had an early celebration of Kai's birthday yesterday in the park. Like any three year old, I don't think he really knew that the day was for him. Since Lindbergh Park is his daily turf five days a week, I think the event was highlighted in his mind that people who were familiar to him were present. There was his cousin Lauren who played with him, and the rest of the Van Patten clan. Rodin and Julie brought him a tricycle and a kite and he was able to fly that before opening the other presents. Judy his Grammy was telling me that while they are trying to fly the kite, she was amazed that Kai-Kai started giving her a countdown. As she was waiting for the next breeze to come...here is Kai counting one, two, three, and continuing to count, "four, five, six..." until she was able to launch the kite. He loved his birthday (cup) cake! He just couldn't wait to lick the icing. By the way, his cake was make of assembled cupcakes in a tier having the number three-candle on the top of the tier. Each of the cupcakes had letter spelling "HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAI." I made three-noodles (rice-flour, wheat-flour and tapioca-flour) "pancit" to signify his third year in this world, with chicken, pork and shrimp and ordered a quarter of roast pig. Initially, I liked to have bought a piglet; we call it "de leche" in the Philippines, but all the places I called said they can't provide me with my order...So I ended up with a ten pound side of a roasted pig. The theme of his party was "FINDING NEMO." I have to compliment Tisha for all the detailed plannings she made. I think it has to do with the genes...and WE HAD A PARTY!

He got too many toys...and the things he got that day will be another addition to his collections. I think when he outgrows all of those, I will collect them and put them together as a sculpture...this way he can always have them even when he is a grown man. When he arrived today, Umma had a gift bag for him with two cars, a shirt and a learning book for telling time. We really did not intend to get him more toys to clutter their house. Last week after the CPR certificate renewal at the concourse downtown, we stopped at the Discovery Store in Horton Plaza and got him an Ant Farm. After surfing the internet for the farm, I came across the new space age innovation of an Ant Farm that was based on technology used in the shuttle experiment by NASA. It is a replica of what the astronauts brought with them in Space Shuttle. "Space Age Ant Gel Habitat" that's what they call it. It's neat. Very different from the old ones with sand. Rather than using sand or soil, it utilizes a special gel; serves as food and water as well. The live ants had to be ordered separately and it took ten days before it arrived with the mail. By chance, it came today, in time for his actual birthday. The harvester ants are "big" compared to the ants that he knew crawling in the park...yet he still wants to use his "fying glass" to look at them. They are digging tunnels now. I would imagine by tomorrow morning when he arrives, there will be several tunnels in progress.

This is amazing...This year marks a half century since Milton Levine, now 92 years old, began selling his Uncle Milton Ant Farm - a sand filled, clear plastic box through which ant voyeurs could watch the insects tunnel and eat, and later die. Things come and go, but the Ant Farm is very much like Barbie or GI Joe or Hot Wheels that have managed to survived. The novelty is in creating a whole world that Kai can see...as curious as he is, he just loves it!

YOUNGEST ARTIST

2006-03-19T20:01:00.000-08:00

A de KOONING IN THE MAKING?

At age 2, he's the youngest artist ever to have a one "man" show at the Mixed Media Gallery in San Diego, says Gallery artist Erin Harold. Kai Van Patten was given some crayons at 8 months of age and has been drawing ever since. He graduated to brushes at the age of two. Of course, Kai had some helpful tips from his grandpa, multimedia artist Jose R. Morales Jr.

Galley show proves toddler has art talent

About 35 of Kai's abstract pieces, some on large canvases, were in the two-weeks "Almost Three" show that Closed Wednesday. Kai Learned the names of colors ("pupol" is his favorite) as he progressed. Morales says he can't consider Kai a talent yet, but it's a start. Several of Kai's artworks were sold.

by: Diane Bell

The San Diego Union Tribune

Saturday, March 18, 2006

I sent several press releases before Kai-Kai's show. The Reader and the Asian Journal were the only ones that picked up the press release. I guess, some of the publications were skeptical that an almost three years old boy can produce some valid art pieces. I also sent a press release to one of the cultural writers of the Union Tribune, but she didn't even acknowledge my email. The decision to email Diane Bell all of the data, pictures of Kai at work, his calling card and the invitation was at the last moment, because the show was already in progress. Diane replied to my email and asked a few questions. Her column comes on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Tuesday was gone, Thursday was gone and no write-up. Friday, while Tisha was having lunch she told me that there is a message from Diane Bell, and how she left her phone number...That was two days after I had dismantled the show."Too late!", that was what I said. I really did not plan to call her, but I guess she decided to call the Gallery and was able to talk to Erin Harold, one of the artists there, because Saturday, lo and behold, there was the write up about Kai's show!

It was a very nice feeling to see the name of my protege' in a major paper beat his uncle on this matter. Rodin did not get in the paper until he was 4 1/2 years of age, but it was for an art exhibition where he won two awards, a first prize and the "Best in Show" the same evening. Kai will be going in that direction in the near future...I have something on my mind about that...it will be a surprise.

I immediately emailed Tisha and Mike, Judy and Dick, Carole Beth and a few of the people that I know who read the newspaper, but at times will not read Diane Bell's column. I got an email from art professor Anita Brenolf...congratulating both of us. Stephanie, from next door was not able to attend the opening but had to reread the paper because she is one of those who skipped Diane Bell's column. Stuart and Joyce, who bought "Green Fantasies" don't subscribe, but they were going to buy a paper when I told them about it.

Recently there was an article in the paper about parents and grandparents being braggarts. Well...well...! I am not doing it too the extremes, but yes! My Kai-Kai made it in the newspaper and he is not even three years old. How about that???

WE TOOK A NAP TOGETHER

2006-03-09T20:01:00.000-08:00

The weather was a little bit balmy this afternoon that Kai and I stayed indoors just playing around. The other day I made the mistake of imitating him sliding on the little slide toy that Jay gave him. I will put my foot on each steps counting one, two. three and pretend to slide. That was what he wants me to do. Later on I laid down on the couch and just watched him doing his things on the other side of the room. I noticed he seems to be tired or rather bored, so I asked him to lay down with me. He snuggled besides me and very unusual, he was not too "itchy" and "antsy" because he was just content to lay down there with me. Finally, I noticed that he was not moving at all but snoring. His snoring is not so loud but I can hear the sound. That was almost two o'clock and he slept till five, only after waking him gently. Mike came and left us to take this afternoon nap. Umma brought us a blanket. Of course, I was sort of cat-napping the last three hours. I was on my side, my head propped on the pillows, holding him on my side because he was on the outer part of the sofa. By he time I was able to wake him I had cramps on my legs and the right side of my body. I was looking at him closely on and off and thought about those early days when he was sound asleep in my arms in the sofa, little dinky baby almost just an arm length, and now he is over thirty inches long alongside me. He is really growing fast...in a couple of weeks he will be three years old. While looking at him, I thought, I better start doing a sculpture of him before it is too late for me to capture that impish face, his mischievous attitude and all the things he is now. I have to get some clay this weekend!

When Mike came to pick him up we are having muffin snacks. I was giving him some chocolate milk to wash it down, he took a couple of sip and asked, "red juice please." We are talking practically about the weather because he looked towards the window and said, "it is getting dark." I said, "yes, almost night, no more sun." And this was how he greeted Mike..."getting dark."

"MEMOS FROM KAI - KAI"

One evening last week, after framing some of his art pieces, as usual I sit in front of the computer and was thinking of what to do. I decided to think of the "dont's" about Kai. He is going to be three years old and sooner than you can wink your eyes, he will no longer be a baby. Since then, I had been adding , revising and editing what I had started. I thought that this would be nice to print this and give it to the relatives on his birthday. I decided to "Blog" it instead.

Don't spoil me. I know quite well that I ought not to have all that I ask for, I am only testing you.

Don't be afraid to be firm with me. I prefer it. It makes me feel more secure.

Don't let me form bad habits. I have to rely on you to detect them in early stages.

Don't make me feel smaller than I am. It only makes me stupidly "big."

Don't correct me in front of people if you can help it. I'll take much more notice if you talk quietly with me in private.

Don't make me feel that my mistakes are sins. It upsets my sense of values.

Don't protect me from consequences. I need to learn the painful way sometimes.

Don't nag. If you do, I shall protect myself by appearing deaf.

Don't take too much notice of my small ailments. Sometimes they get me the attention I need.

Don't forget that I can't explain myself as well as I would like. This is why I am not always accurate.

Don't be inconsistent. That completely confuses me and make me lose faith in you.

Don't make rash promises. Remember I feel badly let down when promises are broken.

Don't tell me that my fears are silly. They are terribly real and you can do much to reassure me if you try to understand.

Don't put me off when I ask questions. If you do, you will find that I stop asking and will find information somewhere.

Don't ever think it is beneath your dignity to apologize to me. An honest apology makes me feel surprisingly warm toward you.

Don't forget I love experimenting. I couldn't get on without it, so please put up with it.

Don't forget how quickly I am growing up. It must be difficult to keep pace with me, but please do try.

Don't forget that I can't thrive without lots of understanding love, but I don't need to tell you do I?

A HIT!

2006-03-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

ALMOST THREE...the exhibition opening

I haven't entered anything here since February 13th. Most of the evenings have been spent framing Kai's pieces. There is no way I can do the things I would like to do if Kai-Kai is around. He will be all over the place and will even offer to help Umpha.

Anyway, the show was a big hit! Who would think that an almost three years old boy could sell his art work...YES! Kai-Kai did it!

I was ecstatic about the end result of the show. The first hour of the opening, a painting ("GREEN FANTASIES") was sold. It was bought by the elderly couple that knew him since he was three months old. They are neighbors, a few houses from our place. Everyday Stuart and Joyce do their walking in the park. Basically, they have seen Kai grew up and Kai at the same time knew them to call the other "Umpha" and other "Umma." There were some invited people that did not show-up for one reason or another, but what surprised me was that the people from the Commission of Art and Culture came. I haven't seen Felicia Shaw, Program Director and Teresa Holm, Contract Manager, for some umpteen years even though we communicate by emails. Ana Cabato, Executive Director of PASACAT came in spite that she was not dolled-up as usual because she was to have a facial appointment later. Nabuko Naga Ewing, a very fastidious Japanese friend of mine came with a friend. Dick and Judy Van Patten (Kai's paternal grandparents) came tagging along with Valerie (Kai's great-grandma) and Carole Beth Sterling (Kai's great-aunt). I can see that they are very happy sharing the oeuvres of Kai and probably awed of what Kai-Kai had done. I am glad that I was able to take as many pictures as I could while Kai and I have our painting sessions. This gives the validity that he really is doing the pieces. We don't paint everyday, but considering Kai's attitude toward the activity, he will want to paint everyday. In forty-five minutes session, he can really produce a lot of good pieces as long as I watch him not to over paint them...that is the secret!

This is my curatorial statement:

ALMOST THREE...A Boy's Adventure with Colors

This exhibition is about Kai...almost three years old. He was given a crayon when he was eight months old and was shown how to use them. The colors fascinated him and from that time on "pupol" became his favorite color. He learned the names of different colors as he progressed. From crayons he started to use washable colored pens incorporating with crayons and sometimes pencils. By doing this, he learned that pens, crayons and pencils are only used on papers. By the time he was two years old, he was shown how to use brushes. This started him using gouache and water. The result was this exhibition.

As the curator of the exhibition as well as his "Umpha" (grandpa). the idea of the exhibition is something like a time capsule in the making. I cannot consider this as a talent yet...it is an expression of a little boy with too much time on his hands at the moment. Maybe, as he grows older or becomes a man of his own, he will have a better understanding of what this is all about. For the meantime, I am preserving his artistic achievement as a little boy even when he can not say purple.

We still have until the 15th of this month to share the show to others who were not able to come to the opening. For the meantime since we have had our fifteen minutes of fame together, we are back to our daily routine...looking for snails and digging for worms.

OUR VALENTINE GREETINGS...

2006-02-13T18:46:00.001-08:00

SOME TRIVIA...

VALENTINE'S DAYS GOES BACK TO ANCIENT ROME

Valentine's day, like many holidays, is based on ancient rituals that have been changed to fit the christian tradition.

It is thought that the idea of a lover's holiday started with the Roman celebration honoring Juno, the goddess of women and marriage. February 14 was also the time of Lupercallia, a Roman celebration of spring and fertility.

By about A.D. 270, the church celebrated Valentine's Day in honor of St. Valentinus. Legends says that he died for love, but not his own. He was sentenced to death because he performed forbidden marriage ceremonies for soldiers. The day of the execution, he sent a note to a young daughter of his jailer --- a leaf with the pinpricked message. "From your Valentine."

The first known card was a note written in the 1400s, but it was not till the mid-1600s that cards were common. Men made cards with handwritten notes and elaborate decorations, but left them unsigned.

Printed cards were made by the 1800s; and best known in America were made by Esther A. Howland, who started her New England Valentine Co. in1849.

Times changed and Valentines went from lacy decorations of love to brightly colored cards to almost anything the maker can think of. For Kai and I, we have the digital camera, cyber-technology and patience for me to get the pose I want from him. I think we both did our best. There are moments that he will be distracted, but most of the time he will pose for me. The hardest part is to have him hold the cut-out heart corrugated cardboard with his face showing from the heart shaped hole. I just had to be quick to the "draw" of the shutter, or else it will end up just the top of his head or something else. Of course...he would like to preview every shot. He sat on my lap to look at the downloaded pictures in full view in the computer monitor. We sent the first batch to his "Mommie." After that his pictures was shared with other relatives and friends. So this Valentine's day we did our share of the Pagan celebration according to the Christian tradition..."HAPPY VALENTINE!"

FUN...FUN...CLEAN/DIRTY FUN...

2006-02-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

We had been painting...I set up a place in the living room for our painting session. He was very delighted to see the brushes and paints and can't hardly wait to open the paint containers himself. Kai still has the touch and attitude about doing his art works. I wish I knew how to insert some pictures here, because there are a couple of shots that are really something to behold. I took fourteen pictures, at least eight of them are exceptionally good. I was able to get him in all of his "seriousness," without him conscious that I am taking his pictures...he don't care! He is painting! This is the first time that I took notice how long he will stay painting. Those other times, we just stop when he is ready to stop or I tried to get him to stop. This time, it took 45 minutes...I have to stop him because the brushes were getting muddy, his hands getting paint (I had a wet rag to constantly wipe them), his nose and cheeks were with red paint, not to mention my pants too.

As always, the last resort for our daily routine is to hunt for some snails...we are lucky!...We found eight of them and a big fat slug. The slug fascinated him...this is his first encounter with a slug. He was not so sure what to do with it. Handling it gave him the "eeeu" feeling. He got a stick and started poking the poor slug. All of the snails ended under my foot one at a time..."step on it Umpha!"

We went in, washed our hands, we had tapioca pudding while he was watching TV on my lap. Ate some cookies and bacon and some "i-kim." That was our day together..."bye Umpha...see you later!"

NO..."YO-HO-HO...A PIRATE LIFE FOR ME!"

2006-02-07T20:19:00.000-08:00

AFTER DISNEYLAND

I know how exhausting it probably was for Tisha and Mike, but they arrived with their first experience of how it was to tread the pavements of Disneyland with Kai. I can say, "been there and done that!"

Well, no "Oh Oh Oh...Pirate a me!" What came out from his singing was, "It's a Small World After All!" He had been singing that tune the whole day. I am not surprised...he sure has a way of doing things his way.

He did mentioned the "snow monster" that he saw while riding through the Matterhorn mountain...also the bugs and I think he still likes Mickey and Pluto and Goofy, because he talks a lot about them. Maybe next year if they go there again it will be a different story. He will be a little older and will be able to grasp the idea of having fun at the theme park.

There is nothing unusual that happened today, it was like any other day. It was just a routine for all of us. We sat at the computer and I downloaded some Disney characters that delight him. Not much TV, a couple of "Tom and Jerry" and "Super Dog." He does not like the other featured shows..."not that one!" he will say. Before Mike came, Kai wanted to go outside. I opened the front door and we were about to step out. He stood there for a while and said, "It's cold, I go get my jacket." He hasn't been on Jay's truck in a while, so I hauled him up and he played, poking the holes (for attachment of the camper shell). Later on he decided that he would like to be up in the tree which is just in front of us in the curb. He just sat there wedged between the "Y" trunk of the tree, looking up in the sky and saying, "up, up in the sky." I guess he meant that he is up in the sky...and he was happy. By the time Mike arrived he asked to be down and we waited just a while in front of Jay's house. He saw Mike's truck and he was running toward the truck saying "there's Daddy, there's Daddy!" Mike had to stop just as he was entering the driveway because Kai was running ahead of me and I was behind him trying to catch him. I left the two of them outside and went in to heat Mike's lunch. He had a chocolate pudding while Mike is eating. Time to go home...he was scooped up by Mike...I said good bye, he wants a hug, but he ended up in my arms while we are hugging...so hug some more and kissed. I carried him to the the truck. Another "bye bye" and away they go.

HERE COMES....MICKEY!

2006-02-03T19:36:00.000-08:00

ON TO DISNEYLAND

This will be the first long trip for Kai this weekend. Tisha and Mike will bring him to Disneyland. Tisha has been giving him the hype about Disneyland. Here, the last two weeks Kai and I download in the computer all sites related to the amusement park. Umma cuts from the newspaper and magazines every advertisements of Disneyland. I think he knows the Castle even with his eyes are closed. When I say, "Here comes...." Kai will follow ..."Mic--keey." It is so cute the way he says it and I wish that I can emulate that on the keyboard. There will be some big stories when they come back. They are going to stay there til Monday morning, so we won't see Kai til Tuesday.

Over the almost three years he has come here, Kai has undergone many changes...(not only his diapers)...I was looking at his early pictures which Tisha put it in betwen the frogs for my monitor wallpaper (screensaver); his hair, his looks, and how he had grown since. But one thing is constant, and that is his "ram-boy" character. He is very sure of his every step toward being a boy. I hope that as he grows, they will be better as each year comes by, be finer with his attempts, grander with each gesture. We don't know exactly when he's going to stun us again, but I bet the next time it happens he'll be ready to release the dragon's breath to consume everyone with awe.

There was a news from Hong Kong about Disneyland...

Angry families stormed fences at Hong Kong Disneyland and tossed their children over the gates Thursday, after the theme park sold out for an eighth consecutive day. The uproar outside Disney's theme park followed similar chaos on Wednesday when hundreds of disgruntled visitors, many having made the trip from mainland China, were furious that their Lunar vacation to Hong Kong was ruined. Poor people! I am sure that this will not happen in Anahiem

He is really becoming curious about everything and really knows a lot of thing for his age. I guess because he is very observant to all what is happening in his surroundings. Today, he found my big ball hammer and he told me, "Umpha big hammer." I let him handle my smaller hammer before and here he is comparing that to the big one. As always when he see me in the kitchen, he would like to be up on the counter to watch what I am doing. This morning, I was making my second cup of morning coffee. He was up there and the way it looked, he was supervising me. "Umpha, put sugar, Umpha, put cream." I let him stir it, telling him "be careful it is hot!" For him anything that is smoking is hot. But what got me to be amazed was when he pointed to the bottle of honey. "Umpha, put honey." I haven't introduced him nor have given him any honey. How did he know that's honey...I have to ask Tisha about it. I only use the honey in the evening when I make myself some tea.

He is getting very attached to Umma. I guess because she is the one that goes with him in the park everyday. Whenever, here in the house he does not see Umma for a while he will ask me where Umma is. If I tell him to look for her, he will run as usual from one room to another to find her..."There you are!" But if the bedroom door is closed he will come back to me and will say, "Umma sleep."

We don't watch too much TV, except "Tom and Jerry," "Dora" sometimes but he prefers "Diego," "Sponge Bob Square Pants," and Super-dog," He does not want anything from PBS. You will hear a big...NO...NO...NO! Not that one!

OLD FOLKS...

2006-02-02T21:17:00.000-08:00

I have to Blog this before I forget. I have a meeting to attend this evening so Umma took over as Kai's company before Mike arrive to get him. I left them with Kai playing with the PVC pipes that Mike gave me. If I let him have his way, he will drag all of them to play with...so I just let him have three of them. He was using them as "telescopes" in spite that two of them were triple his size in length. Tara, the girl next door came home with her grandmother from school...and he knows the old lady from occasional encounters. She said hello to Kai and talked to his Umma. Suddenly, Kai address Tara's grandmother, called her Umma, and asked "where is Umpha?" She was delighted that Kai called her Umma after it was explained to her what it means. She has been widowed about four years ago and was taken aback of the question. She told him that he died a long time ago. Nowaday, everybody who looks older, especially grey haired is either an Umpha or an Umma for him. Gosh! I thought I had the monopoly of that title!

After lunch, he was gone and when I found him, he was with Umma in the bedroom. Umma is cutting his fingernails. Every week Umma cuts his nails. He calls the dirt "bugs in nail." Later Umma was telling me that each finger after it has been cut, he will say, "thank you Umma." So that was ten thank yous from his ten little fingers.

For the last two days, I have been "his artist in residence." He asked me to "make" (draw) different color cars. Colors were designated to the owner of each of the vehicles. "Daddy's car...green," "Mommies car purple," "Umma's car blue," "Umpha's car red," "Uncle's car black," and even included a garbage truck, a school bus and Joe fixing his car. Today, he discovered on top of the dinning table some crayons I just bought to use in my en caustic project. I just let him use it, but decided that we have to "make" bugs and different colored snakes. That was what we are doing until he decided to go outside. When I opened the front door, he stood there for a while, came back and said, "It's cold! I get my jacket." After I zipped the front, he wanted his hood on his head. This is funny...sometimes ago, he never wanted anything put on his head. Now whenever the jacket has a hood, it has to go where it belongs.

I was resting when they left. Umma was telling me that Mike had to swoop him up because he is not ready to go home. When you are enjoying what you are doing, let it ride...

DON'T UNDERESTIMATE KAI...

2006-02-01T20:27:00.000-08:00

He was mad at me when I was about to leave for the store this morning. He was complaining that I am taking Umma's car. He was pacified by Umma, telling him that I will buy gas. When I came back they were gone to the park...later when they came back, he told me about a bad boy in the park. I found out that there were some kids from the day care in the park, and looks like there was a "meanie" there that told him to go away. It was no big deal for him because Umma was there. But, he remembers! That was the first thing he told me when they came back..."Bad Boy!"

He had been eating good lately and when I say eat...it is continuous eating. Thank God that he is so active that everything that does go in his mouth must had be used up for all the energies spent. Lately he will ask for jello or tapioca pudding just before they leave for home. He loves ice cream ("i-kim") too. He will eat bacon all the time if you let him. It does not need cajoling at all. I made him french toast for his breakfast this morning. Umma asked him what he wants to eat for lunch and without hesitation told her, "small hot dog." He is learning to eat by himself using a small fork. I wonder how many almost three years old boy eats with a fork...I am sure some parents will not even allow their kids to handle one..."might get poked." Tomorrow, I will introduce to him some silver dollar pancakes. This was one of Tisha's favorite when she was at the same age. I will let him watch me doing it because this will give him the incentive to eat it.

We played in the backyard for awhile, I persuaded him to come inside by telling him that "Tom and Jerry" will be on and I will give him some "MMs" (rationed by fives at a time). We have a game that I will ask him to lay down with Umpha and come inside "Umpha's house" (inside the blanket). He did stay for a while and then became "itchy." He started to squeeze my face to be "broken" so he can fix it again. He was all over me. He will stand up and with arms and hands up the air, he will pretend dive towards me. I have to put a pillow across my chest as a buffer. I have no idea where he picked that up!

That is what we are doing when Tisha came. He was handed a bag of plastic glow in the dark bugs. He was excited and had me..."Open please...Umpha." Forgetting to hug his Mom as he always do. Although the creatures are creamy opaque and not in their true colors he was able to identify each of them except one...a centipede. I had to tell him what it is. Actually we haven't encountered any centipede in the yard yet. We moved to the dinning room where Tisha was eating and as usual he sat on the opposite direction of his Mommie.

He started to take out each of the bugs from the plastic bag and started telling his Mom the name of them. He recited each name, "bumble bee," "beetle." "cockroach," 'lady bug" (the bigger one of the two was the mommie and the smaller one was the baby), "scorpion," etc. It was very funny when it came to the centipede. I guess it hadn't registered yet the name "centipede." What came out of his mouth was, "long-long-long bug." Tisha and I really got a kick out of it. For me it was really amazing that in spite of him forgetting the name, he was able to concoct an alternative name that suited the bug. He is really doing fine in sentence constructions. I noticed that he is learning to reason, assess a situation, and at times can solve some simple problems he gets in...or the latter, needs a..."Umpha help!" Oh yes, he gets confused between "outside" and "inside." We are working on it!

STOP IT! STOP IT ! PUT IT BACK...PUT IT BACK!

2006-01-30T21:22:00.000-08:00

I woke up about 3:30 last night and still had a hard time going back to sleep. I was able to doze off at about 5:30 and as everyday and like an alarm clock I am awake at seven. An hour before Kai arrived I had read part of the newspaper, ate a small breakfast with my coffee and lately, since it is a bit chilly in the morning, I have the fire going on by the time they arrive. Kai loves to watch the fire. Before going to the park, we are in the living room, and I lied down on the sofa. Kai joined me...of course he will not stay put but he was all over me. I decided to make a joke, nibbling his nose, his ears and other parts of his body. I will pretend I am chewing and say I ate your nose...its good! Since one of his latest additions to his vocabulary is "stop it'" I was not surprised when that was the first thing that came out his mouth. He then followed that with ..."put it back, put it back!" This was a surprise to me...I thought that was very funny and so we just did that game til they are ready to go to the park. The whole day was just a routine.

KUNG HEI FAT CHOI

2006-01-28T20:30:00.000-08:00

YEAR OF THE FIRE DOG

I was not planning to Blog tonight, but remembered that the Chinese New Year started today and I would like to share this with Kai-Kai. He will find out later in life that there is Chinese blood in his genetic make up...this comes from his great- grandmother on my side. It may be not much, but I think the genetic make up is important to one's being. I will deal with that later on.

The Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival, is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It consists of a period of celebrations starting on New Year's Day on the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar; which falls today, January 29 in the Western calendar. The Chinese New Year period ends with the lantern Festival on the fifteenth day.

Celebrated internationally in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese, Chinese New Year is a major holiday for the Chinese diaspora, a significant segment of which has immersed and integrated itself well within the Philippine society. This year is the Year of the Fire Dog.

Based on tradition, the Year of the Dog is the year for reflection and to assess ones values. In the face of disturbances, the fire dog is known to be always on the lookout, protecting the surroundings. Following this characteristic of the dog, the year is expected to see benevolent and idealistic deeds and various unusual changes coming into being. The Fire Dog speaks of a character that is dramatic, ferocious, alluring, motivated by strength of mind and self-confident.

Chinese New Year celebrations involve being with one's family from the reunion dinner on New Year's Eve to the celebration of New Year's Day, when red envelopes know as ang paw are given to unmarried members of the family. My grandmother had a cousin, born in Shanghai, China. Her family migrated in the Philippines, grew up, got married and died of old age. My grandmother and her were the same age, but she comes from the old world of that era. She walks like a waddling duck because her feet had been bounded with strips of cloth from the day she was born...you have to see some pictures of the old Imperial Chinese Era. The ladies of that time have "ginger" like feet. I liked her and considered her as one of my favorite relatives. Talking about accents, she speak Filipino with a Chinese accent. She always have good foods to serve you. I still remember that she called me "Paquito" instead of "Pepito" (a diminutive for Pepe, my dad's nickname, from Jose'). On the Chinese New Year then, I always came to visit her as a boy. To think about it now, the reason was there will be good food, especially the tikoy, steamed glutinous rice cakes and moon cakes...and most important was the red envelope with a few coins inside. I am glad that I can write this now and very grateful for the technologies of these days that I can reminisce my past to be recorded easily today.

I am sure that there will be celebrations here in San Diego. The Chinese, Vietnamese and other ethnic Asians will honor the occasion. May this day be a renewed beginning for us a we continue to hope and pray for a better future and more lasting peace on earth.

KUNG HEI FAT CHOI! A blessed New Year to Kai-Kai!

THE COMEBACK...

2006-01-27T20:20:00.000-08:00

THE COMEBACK...

I was just about to settle down to take a break after Tisha and Kai left. The doorbell started to ring incessantly...when I opened the door there was Kai at the door. I thought they were gone, but Tisha said he wanted to come back. I thought he wanted some more of his toys to bring home. No, he would like to say "bye Umpha" and would like to hug me again. We have done this already before they started to leave. He might had been confused and forgotten that he did say good bye to me and that we had hugged and kissed. This boy hugged and kissed like the Eastern Europeans and "more". He will hug you, kiss one cheek and then the other...the "more" is he will kiss you last on the lips. I hope that he will grow to do that and not get embarrassed doing it. One of the first things I noticed about Americans when I first arrived here (1957)..."they are a bunch of cold people!" They are not very tactile people. I remember one time, sitting next to a shipmate, and I accidentally touched his knee. Boy did he jumped! At the time I did not know what happened. It was later that I realized the faux pas I had made. Same same sex holding hands, or placing an arm on one's shoulders while walking is looked upon with disdain and considered taboo. Not in the Philippines nor most of the Oriental countries....and they are not "gays." I remember the snide remarks of my shipmates when they saw these things in the orient. There has been a big change throughout the years. I allude this change to the "flower child" and the "hippie culture" generation. The "baby boomers" followed through and I hope it will stay. There is always an emphasis for growing boys to be tough. Sports and all that are "macho things" and a must for growing boys. It still prevails, because I have seen it happening everywhere. "Boys Don't Cry!" I would love to see Kai grow to be strong but sensitive. Men cry too!

What still puzzles me is why when people hug they pat each others shoulder. I have to do a research on that one...

HIGH PITCH VOICE...

Like any day, Kai and I spent a couple of hours outside, but mostly in the backyard. With his bamboo stick, we started to hunt for his favorite preys...snails and worms. From the last rain we had, some small snails started to show up. I have a very good bait that I spread wherever they are present. I guess, they are pretty good as eradicated because we were not able to find a live one. He is however, satisfied with the dead one or just the shell. He will still place them next to my foot..."Step on it Umpha!" He will inspect the crushed shell and will announce if there is an "eeew" (his word for something slimy, icky, or just something that has been smashed). This is true when he finds Nalie's pooh in the yard. He is very careful not to step on it.

No rocks, stone and flower pots were missed being up-turned again today. He knows that you can find a lot of bugs, like roly-polies, spiders and especially worms. He has been chanting..."have to find worms," " have to find worms" over and over while I am turning the rocks. He get so excited when there is a worm. He can see even the smallest worm there is. With a high-pitch voice, he will say over and over, "There Umpha!" "Worm" "I found it!" He will pick the worm up, look at it closely and put it back on the ground. I will tell him that we have to put back the stone or flower pot because that is his house and we will come back later to visit the worm later. He is good at understanding this and so we go to another place to hunt. The only way I can persuade him to go inside is to tell him that we have to wash our hands because we are going to have some bribe "MM's." Besides, Tisha arrived and we didn't know it. Like always, he was so excited to see his Mommie.

See you Monday...

BEFORE HE WAS "ONE"

2006-01-25T22:08:00.000-08:00

PET NAMES BEFORE KAI WAS EVEN ONE YEAR OLD

During our lunch time today, I had been looking at Kai-Kai closely. He sure has grown. During the start of his first year with us, he had accumulated several pet names:

Kai-Kai..................doubling his name.

Ram-Boy................being born an Aries (the RAM).

Stink-Bahoo.........."bahoo" is Tagalog for stink.

Pig-Pen.................his ability to attract lint on his hair, between his toes and dirt in his fingernails.

Fish-Lips...............protruding his lips.

Bah-Boy.................when he is naughty.

Booh-Booh............early pet name after a big teddy bear.

Bubble-Mouth.......making bubbles from his saliva.

Booger-Boy............he used to have boogers in his nose all the time.

Monkey-Monkey....being fussy.

Kai Kai has stuck! He identifies himself as Kai-Kai.

Now that he is almost three, he is able to master a lot of things. He now tries to make conversation with you...Basically we understand each other...but at times it will take me a while to really understand him. He is patient about it! He will repeat what he said, if I asked him to say it again. He is learning to shake hands now, but needs a bit more practice. He is learning to say "almost three" when asked "how old are you?" You ask him to go to a certain room in the house...like when he is looking for a certain toy. Tell him, it is in the bedroom and he will go there. He knows where the kitchen is because that is where we cook meat, chicken fish and shrimps. He really knows the house because I think that he considers the house as "Kai-Kai House." What I love most that he has been doing lately is whenever Umma and him start to leave the house he will always look for me to say, "Bye Umpha..see you yeter." Going home with his Mom or Dad, he will do the same but he would also like to be hugged and kissed.

It used to be that on the stroller he rides going to the park had a radio that is on all the time while they are walking. This also helps to make him sleepy on the way home. Nowadays, it has been shut off because he talks a lot now while they are walking. Besides he does not take naps anymore...I think he hates it!

Umma fed him earlier, but he joined us for company. Of course he will have a bit of rice or whatever of something he likes. Since we know he had already eaten a lot, we did not expect that he will eat anything else. I got some "MM" and told him "That is for your dessert." He was happy about it but I know that he was watching me when and where I got the "MMs." When he had consumed the chocolate, he got down from his chair and went straight to the cupboard. He climbed the step ladder, opened the door and started to scrutinized the contents of the cupboard. I am sure that he is looking for the "MMs." I had the inkling that he would do this, so I hid the bag behind the shelf and so it wouldn't be visible for him to see. He however spotted the jello cups and excitedly said.."jeyo Umpha...(that means he would like to have some) I fed him...and he ate the whole thing!

We did not paint today. I have to do some business at the bank. Maybe tomorrow.

"THERE'S WALDO, I FOUND HIM!"

2006-01-24T20:30:00.000-08:00

The last two days have just been routine for the three of us here in the house. As usual, they go to the park and the best thing about it is that Kai has been socializing with the other kids there. Today according to Umma, he even took a piggy-back ride with a girl. This is a good sign. I would rather he be an extrovert than an introverted guy.

It must have been really chilly this morning. He wanted to go out into the backyard, but asked me for his jacket...He said, "It's cold!" I put his jacket and after I zipped it, he put on the hood. So, here we go again poking crevices, turning the flower pots and stones to look for spiders and snails. We did not find any spider at all. As far as snails, there are no live ones. I think he does not have the concept about the difference between a live one and a dead one. Every time we come across an empty shell, he will place it next to my foot so I can step on it. He will inspect the crushed shell meticulously, I guess to see that there is nothing moving anymore.

I asked Mike to take some pictures of his paintings for a press release. I have not framed them yet for the his show. They are rolled up and when Kai saw me, it immediately got his attention. He knew very well what I had. "Painting Umpha!"

I sensed that he would like to paint... so I told him...tomorrow we will paint. "Okay." He is getting very good in understanding things I tell him...especially the word "tomorrow." He did not pursue but just went back to watching his favorite "Tom and Jerry." We haven't painted for quite a while. I have a bit of his oeuvres for the show. Usually we paint at the side of the house where he can make a mess without any worry that Umma will complain. It could be messy because I always have a basin of water to clean his brushes and his hands. He does not want to work with paint on his hands.The water when used with the gouache gives a very nice texture and at the same time gives it a different "washed" look...the colors are not too opaque. I am going to spread some brown paper in the living room so we can paint tomorrow. Maybe he will have some masterpieces that I can include in his show.

In spite that I said it was a bit chilly... he grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the garage. When I opened the door, he saw that the light was not on. He asked me to carry him, "Up Umpha." We are still next to the door, but he started to bend himself toward the open hutch. I realized that he was looking for the light switch. I would never think that he knew that the switch was there, it is not visible because it is inside the shelves, behind some plates. He was trying to reach it. This is the first time for him to do this. This is another one of his observations. He must have been observing me that whenever I go to the garage, I put my hand inside the shelf to switch on the light. So we went to the garage and I said, "Now, what are we going to do here?" He said; "get i-kim!" At least this was after lunch...and I guess, he wanted some desserts. So both of us had some "i-kim" (ice cream).

We have a "Find Waldo" book that he really likes. We've had that book for a while and today when I asked him to find Waldo, he had his little finger running slowly all over the people in the book and yes! He was able to find him! He remembers how I used to do it...because I can't always remember where Waldo is all the time. I will run my finger on the page and that is what he did today. He was so delighted in his accomplishment and gleefully would announce "there I found him!"

HE IS GETTING THERE

2006-01-20T22:14:00.000-08:00

Good news from Umma when they arrived from the park. Kai played with a boy his age today. Umma was telling me that the two of them were climbing the slides together, playing with the sand and running all over the place. Kai just called him "boy." Whenever he wanted the boy, he would say, "come on boy." Of course the boy has a name, but who cares? For Kai that boy is a "boy." Everyday before they leave the house he will run up to me and will say, "Bye Umpha...see you later." When they come home..."anybody home?" is what you can hear from him. He will come and look for me, and as always will be running towards me, wedging himself between my leg, hugging me, then start talking in his funny way of expressing himself. I asked him what he did in the park. He said ..."the boy is coming." I guess this is the way he was trying to tell me that there was a boy there with him in the park. I am glad that he is starting to get sociable now. He will need this skill before going to preschool.

The afternoon was a bit chilly so we just stayed mostly inside. He wanted to cross the street when he noticed Joe was there still fixing his car. He just said "Hi" to Joe and proceeded to go in the house straight to the back door to see the rabbit. We drew some and cut some snowflakes on the computer. Dr. John Conrad sent me a site: http://snowflakes.lookandfeel.com/ where you can cut your own snowflakes, submit it and save with your name on it. I always register the flakes in his name. He loves watching me cutting the snowflakes. As they are getting ready to go home, he stopped to show his Mom the patterns of the rug in the hallway. There are circle patterns that he must have associated with the snowflakes. He told his Mommie..."snowflakes." Isn't it something? I can't believe that he will associate the circle with designs as such.

Won't see him til Monday... with Kai, you never know what will be next week!

BOREDOM

2006-01-18T18:57:00.000-08:00

POOR FRANKIE

While we are outside in the backyard doing things that we usually do...like looking for snails, bugs and spiders, I noticed the little boy next door was also in their backyard...but alone. It has been a habit of Kai to peek between the fence boards to see what is happening or just to be nosey. I joined him and peeked too. Frankie, that is his name, was hitting the tether ball with a baseball bat. He looked bored...just hitting the ball repeatedly without any emotion...He is bored! I feel sad for him.

I had a falling out with his parents...I guess they just took for granted that whatever they do to us as neighbors will be alright. I guess they never really got to know me. The situation was not done once, but happened twice since they moved next door. The last episode was when my big pine bonsai's limbs hung extended over into their property. They decided to cut them...I had no qualms about it. However, the last straw that got my dander was after they cut it, they dumped them on my side of the fence. When I saw this...my blood pressure rose so much that I felt hot! I picked up the branches and hurled them randomly onto their driveway. Since I was alone with Kai at that time, both of us marched next door, pushed the door bell incessantly and when Helen (the wife) came out to check...the first word that came out from my mouth was..."God-dam you and your husband. if you cut it, throw it yourself but not in my yard!" "This is not the first time you have done this and if you ever do this again you are going to hear from my lawyer!" "I want to be a good neighbor, but it won't be hard to be a very bad one." She just stood there frozen and was still standing that way when Kai and I left. I think Kai and I made our point that day. Her husband came home from work during his lunch break and apologized. Since then, we just ignore them, they know for sure that this is one "flip" who will not kow-tow to anybody of their kind.

Anyway, Kai and I enjoyed our afternoon in the backyard today. While we are there I came to think how lucky we are. I got him and he got me. While watching him, I was reflecting...what if I was younger when he came to us? I don't think it would be as enjoyable and meaningful than the present. If I am younger and not retired yet from the Navy, I would miss out on a lot of things about him. We can't be together like this at all. I missed out a lot when Rodin and Tisha were growing up. I have to be in the ship which sometimes would be gone for six month deployments. I don't have any guilt about it. It's the reality of our life then! I know that their Mom will be their even though she had to work too. Tisha was taken cared of by my mom, her "Babba." That was a big help. Rodin grew up very independent.

We know very well by now that Kai is a very active little fellow. He needs all kind of activities to sustain him for the day. At times, at the middle of the day, he can tire me down so much that I would like to be curled up anywhere and take a nap right then and there...He won't let me close my eyes or else you will hear..."wake up!" Other than that, you will hear at the end of whatever sentence he will utter..."Umpha...umpha...umpha." This is a sure wake-up call!

Mike...you will have to give him all the time you can spare and be patient about it!!!

STILL CHRISTMAS ON HIS MIND

2006-01-17T18:29:00.000-08:00

What happen to the tree...? Umpha!

As soon after Kai had said goodbye to Tisha, he got into the colored pencils and asked me to draw a snowman, Santa Claus, Christmas tree with lights, a star and reindeer. He will still ask where are those creatures, and we have had to tell him that they went home to the North Pole. The Christmas tree went to the garbage truck. So, part of the early morning we ended drawing fish, shrimps, crabs and a lobster. After his last request of a dinosaur we had his breakfast. He only conceded to come with me in the kitchen when I told him that he needed to help me stir the chocolate milk. He likes doing that and he does not spill it. Afterwards he started spooning the milk to himself.

Bad Dog!

Umma went to her early aerobics and when she came back she noticed that the legs of the toy turtle has been chewed by Nalie. She showed it to Kai. Umma had a good laugh when Kai said aloud, "Bad dog." Earlier, Kai picked up the other half of a plastic Easter egg and showed it to me. This is where he keeps him M & Ms. His little finger was poking through a hole. He asked me, "Umpha what happen?" I told him that, "Bad dog ate it!" He remembers when the turtle was shown to him and Umma told him that Nalie ate it...and repeated the phrase right away.

Ouch! Put Medicine!

I had a fire going on in the fireplace this morning. It was a bit chilly the night before. We did not venture outside at all today...He did with Umma after she came back from aerobics. Since before Christmas I had been lightning the fire place which Kai enjoys very much. He just loves to watch it. He knows that it is "fire" and it is "hot." I played a joke on him pretending to catch the glowing fire in my hands..."No...no...no...Umpha you ouch." He then grabbed my hands and started giving them a few kisses. "Now it's better, no more ouch!" I had a cut in my index finger from one of my plant leaves. I put some Neosporin and a band aid on it. I didn't want it to get wet either, so I put on a rubber finger cot. He noticed that and asked me what happen...When I told him that I have an "ouch" there, he immediately wanted to "open," meaning removing the cot and the bandage..."Put medicine!" Whenever he get little scratches, bug bites etc. I always tell him that I will put medicine so it will be better. This is one situation that tops the saying; "imitation is the best compliment!"

I see you Umpha!

Since his head is tall enough to see above the dresser now, he can reach anything there that catches his fancy. Yesterday, he noticed the small flashlights and he wanted them. There was a small purple one that he said is Kai-Kai flashlight and he gave me the bigger one..."Umpha flashlight." I asked him to go with me in the bathroom and close the door...told him it's dark here. We ended up flashing the light at each other and this was a real treat for him. Today, it was the same thing as he remember that it was fun for him.

Catfish Nuggets...Huh good!

We had catfish nuggets for lunch today. I had some in sour-miso soup and crisp fried the rest. We are not expecting him to join us because he had eaten quite a bit of everything that was put in his mouth from his breakfast time to the time they came back from the park. He however did join us...When i asked him if he likes to eat fish, he said..."Yes." I fed him a small piece initially...reaction? "Huh good."

He ate the small pieces I put on his plate by himself. In between I will give him some rice and a sip of my juice. He had his share of catfish today and I gave him some light meringue cookie for dessert. Back to the TV room and we watched "Tom and Jerry."

I GOT A BOY HERE IN MY HANDS

2006-01-16T21:14:00.000-08:00

Antics and Mischiefs

I can define Kai-Kai as "really a boy!"

From the very beginning he started to walk, he was always into everything! He was always interested in everything that was around him. I remember that he used to have his little hands inside the waist of his pants and walked with a swagger like cowboy. When our neighbor saw him, her comment was, "Man, that is really a man thing." Funny thing is that the swagger walk became a "penguin walk." We still stomp our feet like the Germans when we march. He knows that the dumbbells are for exercise..."one two...one two."

He was introduced to worms, rolly-pollies, spiders and snails in the backyard. Today that was what we are doing in the backyard. He remembers that to look for worms, he has to upturn stones and sometimes tilt the flower pots. He knows that he will be lucky to find them there. Some parents will be squeamish about this. I know Tisha won't pick up a worm or a snail! I provide him with a stick to explore the crevices, nooks and crannies in the yard. We have no luck for spiders today. Today, he was near the fence and lifted a five gallon water bottle aside and he was able to find a worm. He was so excited. "Umpha...Umpha worm!" Poor worm! It was picked and poked! Later we hunted for some snails. Since it is getting cold nowadays, the snails are coming out, but they are small ones. One thing he learned from Umpha is we have to step on them. He use to do that himself, but not lately. He will pick the snail and place it next to my foot. "Umpha step!" He will not do this anymore because he does not want an "eeew" on his foot. He always inspects the soles of his shoes to see if they are dirty and when they are..."Umpha clean." Lately he has started to use the doormat before entering the house. Washing his hands after we have been exploring outside is no problem...of course he loves water.

He love girls! He played with the two small girls across the street and he even remembers the name of one of the girls...Lulu. It was only lately that he can relate to the boys in the park...but cautiously. This is one thing that his Umma who mostly accompanies him in the park is working on. A few weeks back, the park caretaker noticed that and he commented, "So you don't talk to strangers huh." Probably in due time he will be able to be more sociable. He is only comfortable with the people he knows. I would like him to learn to shake hands when introduced to someone...like his uncle would do when he was a small boy in Italy. Rodin would extend his hand whenever introduced to somebody.

I was doing something today and I noticed that he is wiping the floor with a paper towel. I asked him what is he doing and he answered me..."I'm cleaning house." I left him alone, but Umma came later and said, "Look what your grandson is doing!" The paper towel was un-rolled all over the dinning room. He was laughing while I tried to roll the paper back on to the tube. He tried to catch the end of the roll and I think that was some fun for him...That's my boy!!!

"RAISING CAIN"

2006-01-15T18:58:00.000-08:00

"BOYS NEED TO BE BOYS"

I learned something new today which re-enforced some of my old know how about boys. Some of the lessons came as I watched "Raising Cain," a program that was recently aired on PBS. The shows title comes from the 1999 best selling book by Don Kindlon and Michael Thompson; who also host this compelling and insightful documentary.

Thompson covers, as best he can in two hours, the spectrum of boys' emotional development, from birth to adolescence.

There are eye opening moments along the way, beginning with a segment on the difference between boys and girls as an infants. There are mothers in the room, playing with babies, then turning their backs on them to see how the babies respond. The girls amuse themselves, but the boys become agitated and cry.

Narrating these scenes, Thompson says boys need a lot of things, and we're unaware of most of them. He points out that, over the past 30 yeas, the focus has been on girls; making things more equal in the classroom and on the athletic field.

"At the end of 30 years, girls are out performing boys in school." "Girls are kicking butt," Thompson says. "Boys are standing still."

One of the problems is our approach to boys. That's clear as I watched an elementary school teacher work with her class. Everyday she sat with each student, as they dictated stories to her. The goal was to build literacy by encouraging them to write and use their imaginations. But when one of the boy's stories includes the death of a horse, the girls say they don't like it. They don't like the violence. They'd rather the horse "fainted. " The expression on the boy's face said it all.

Thompson makes a point that might startle you as it did me. What we perceive as violent thoughts in a boy's head makes us nervous and must be discouraged. But what is really being discouraged is the boy's interest in writing and perhaps in reading. Thompson says we have to stop thinking that a boy's natural desire to rough-house and to create scary stories, means he will become a serial killer and therefore must be stifled.

Kai hasn't been given a toy gun...but he has played with airplanes, even before he turned two years old. He fashioned airplanes out of two combs. He had inserted a stick in the windows of his toy cars and pretended that they were airplanes flying in the sky. The example is not the same as in the documentary, but I think it is a classic example of a boy exhibiting what it means to be a boy. I guess, that simply means we need to have a better understanding of what makes a boy a boy and relax.

There was a boy named Kevin in the movie. The concept became clear when he was featured. In his classroom, he is antsy and unfocused. Kevin was used in the movie to hammer home the point that boys are more physical and need more recess time to burn off energy. When they don't have those outlets, they become "problems" in the classroom and end up on medication. But Kevin was not one of these "problems", because he has a male teacher who understand boys. When Kevin gets rowdy, his teacher sends him to walk through the halls to burn off his excess energy.

As the program continues, Thompson introduced us to boys without fathers. Boys whose voices are filled with sadness and anger over their loss. And one whose dad has stayed in his life despite divorce and how much of a difference that has made. We met boys whose mentors may be all that is keeping them from, joining the gangs. Boys who talk eloquently about what it likes to be "different." Boys whose aggression is their way of of coping with fears they don't dare discuss, and boys in solid families whose parents know that their sons may look like grown ups but still need nurturing and guidance.

When the movie ended, I began to reflect on the relationship I had with my dad. He was reared by a very strict Spanish father of the old school. "Centuron" or the belt is always a quick draw. At an early age, I dreaded the time when he came home from his dental office. Boys will be boys, and I was not any different from getting myself into mischief. It stopped after my other brothers came into our family. I can't blame him. He was just following what he had learned from my grandfather. The very first time my dad visited us, he complimented me for doing a good job with Rodin and Tisha.

It is true, boys will be boys. And "Raising Cain" will help us see what that really means.

"THE LAST TWO WEEKS GONE"

2006-01-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

After New Years, the computer seemed to have a mind of it's own and decided to shut down. It was Tisha and Mike to the rescue. They found out that my hard drive was the problem. It seems that it had been collecting moisture from where it was positioned...near the window. Now, it is under the table just below my knee behind a curtain. At the least they were able to save the things I have, except the
"20 odd pages journal" that I had mentioned previously. I tried to find it last night but to no avail the file is gone. Who knows it might be somewhere hidden and I am hoping to locate it. I am still trying to get myself acquainted to the lay-out of the system.

"I'll fix it..."

Kai has been fixing things that have been broken lately!

I have no idea how it started, but anytime or anything that you tell him that it is broken, he will immediately tell you..."I'll fix it!" I will make faces and tell him my face is broken...he will run his little hands on my face and will say , "Umpha. it's fixed!" This gave me an idea...Once in a while he will be on what I call a "snitch," and will cry if he does not get his way. As soon as he starts to cry, I will tell him that his face will be broken...!!! He will touch his face gently, run it all over his chin and the tantrum will abruptly stop...because he will fix his face. Now, he does not have any those moments of "snitches."

Today while we are outside, he noticed Joe across the street fixing his car. He asked me... "Umpha, what happen?" I told him that Joe's car is broken..."I'll fix!"

So we crossed the street and watched Joe tapping a screw driver on the water pump. He tapped something too and lo and behold Joe's car is fixed. He remembered that Joe has a rabbit and a German shepherd, so we went to the back yard to visit them. He played ball with the dog and fed the rabbit with some grass

I provided him. I have to cajole him going home or else we are going to be there for a while.

"Gifts from Newark"

There was a package by the front door from Umma's sister. I have an inkling that it must be something for Kai. It does not have Kai's name on the package, instead the address was "care of Corazon Morales." I called Kai to open it, since he had too much practice during Christmas. It did not take him long to rip the wrapping. When he saw what was inside...his first word was..."WOW!" It was a electric car...his favorite toy. The other one in the package was M & M dispenser; a blue M & M on a motorcycle, complete with a red helmet. I just couldn't believe that he was able to figure out how the chocolate will come out. He was able to discern that by pushing the leg it will give him the chocolate. Now we got to have a supply of "MM." One thing I can say about him...he does not pig-out, a couple will satisfy him and then he goes to another activity.

Christmas is still on his mind. He still ask what happened to the tree and where is Santa. I told him that the tree went to the garbage truck and Umma told him that Santa and the Snowman went home to North Pole because Christmas is finished. I think it will take time for him to grasp the idea.

"Squid"

Kai will eat anything that is familiar to him. I introduced him to shrimps and when I did I told him "we are going to cook shrimp and after we are going to eat them." I had him seated on the counter and he watched Umpha cook the shrimps. He loves them! This is the same with crabs...I bought some live dungeons crab one day...Introduced him to the wriggling crabs in my hand and told him the same thing with the shrimps. He watched the crabs in boiling water and he noticed that they are turning red...very good observation! To this date, he has so far graduated to eating Alaskan King crabs. I was not so sure what will be his reaction with the squids. He knows squids from pictures in his books and can identify them as such. It turns out that he outdid his Mommie. Tisha won't eat them. I have a way of cooking squid that they will not turn rubbery. The secret is when the squid turn opaque while cooking, remove from heat, they are done and ready to eat. When cut into small pieces, Kai loves them.

"Camaya"

Some kids grew up with just a handful of pictures or none at all when they were young. I grew up with one of those rectangular cameras that when you open it there is some kind of black accordion that holds the lens. I was blessed by having a Dad that likes to take pictures of me when I was growing up. I am glad that my Mom was able to save some of them before our house was burned during the liberation of Manila (World War II). With Kai, he got his share of fame very early. His picture was taken even when he was still in his Mommie's tummy. The day he was born, he had his pictures taken within a minute of his arrival to this world. I have no idea how many pictures Tisha & Mike have in their collection, but I can boast that I have more than a thousand in mine. Kai knows what a camera is and

what it can do. Whenever I take a picture of him, he would like to see it...Thanks to digital invention! I found a toy camera in my studio while cleaning and I gave it to him. As soon as I gave it to him, he started inspecting how it work. Oh yes! He was able to find the shutter. One day while he was with Umma at the park, he took pictures of Gerry the maintenance man of the park and of the older couple who have known him since he was three months old. He calls them "other Umpha and other Umma" which delights the couple.

"Learning Tagalog"

Lately in the news, Bush has advocated for the American people to follow suit among the Europeans who speak at least two foreign languages. As a Filipino, it was easy for me to grasp any languages. I grew up in a Spanish speaking household by my father's side. I never mastered the Spanish language because I fee indifferent to my aunts who I think are snooty. In those days, colonial mentality still predominantly existed. Spanish language was considered the language of people who are on the top of the totem pole and who look down at the masses. I hated that even when equal opportunity was not in existence yet. Mind you I was very young then. My Dad communicated with my Grandfather in Spanish. My Mom who has more Chinese blood in her vein, speaks Tagalog and English when appropriate. Our household practically spoke "taglish" (Tagalog-Spanish) We always have reading materials; daily newspaper in English. I might have an accent or at times lose my "p's" and "f's," maybe my "v's," but, what the heck! I can speak a few languages other than that I was born with and could be understood by the foreign listeners. I know some Chinese words from my maternal grandmother. Japanese was taught in school during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. I learned Italian while living in Italy during my stint in the Navy. There are times here in the house with Kai, Umma and I speak Tagalog. Kai is very receptive...like a sponge. Like a parrot, he repeats what he hears.

One day, while playing with the water in the bucket, he wet his pants and both of his shirt sleeves. I made an exclamation remark in Tagalog..."ay dios ko!"

look what have you done! He caught the "ay dios ko." and has been using it as one of his version of "oh my gosh." He learned the "oh my gosh" from the TV series of Dora. I think the "hey man" came from the same show. In retrospect, I hope that he will learn other languages when he grows up.

A REFLECTION...THE START OF THE SECOND YEAR

2005-12-28T19:23:00.000-08:00

A REFLECTION...THE START OF THE SECOND YEAR

I am going back and retracing the events of the second year of Kai-Kai with us.

We had been away from Kai-Kai for three weeks...Manila was hot and humid when we arrived there and still hot and humid when we left. In crossing the International Date Line there was still at least 16 hours difference plus the times spent between flights. The most important thing was we celebrated the 95th birthday of his great-great Umma. Tisha sent her a card with Kai's picture and I noticed that my Mom put it in her handbag which she has with her at all times.

As usual, I waited outside for Tisha to pull in the driveway. As I was coming toward the car, Kai spotted me and I can see that he is straining his head to have a good look as to who was coming toward the car. I can detect that he recognized me though he did not smile; he immediately came to me from his Mom and put his head on my shoulder. His eyes wide open, looking around, maybe tiring to tell himself that: "I had been here before." "This place look familiar." He was in a certain mood that morning. It became obivious when Umma greeted him; "Hello Kai-Kai..did you miss us?" His response was some combination of a grunt and a whine, which could be interpreted as: "Where have you been?" He would not let Umma hold him but clung onto me.

The rest of the morning we were together by ourselves, me holding his little hand as we started exploring his old "turf." We walked in circle, going from one cupboard door to another in the kitchen. We went outside for a while, changed his diaper, fed him with banana, cheerios and milk. By the time Umma came back from her Monday shopping, he was asleep in his swing. That was the first time for a long time that he slept in my arms. I just cradled him in my arms and we dance and I sing..."Sleep Little Boy To Become A Big Boy" (my own composition) Umma came back, him sound asleep with Nalie by his side watching him.

The year seems to have gone too fast...Kai-Kai has grown! I would say he has absorbed so many things that a boy his age could accomplished...probably more than one would expect. He has learned to make conversation; although at times he reverts to his 'gibberish" way of expressing the things that he would like to say. Of course, Umpha understands him! He is making very good progress. The "r's," the "s'es" and "l's" are getting pronounced. He started to put words together like "Up, up away!" or "Up, up in the sky" when he wants to express something way beyond his reach. It amazes me how he will put a couple of words together to get to the point of what he wants to say. This year, he was on a dinosaur craze. I think he knows more about those creatures than I do or his Umma combined. Of course, the real love for cars is still very strong! You won't find him without his favorite car in his hands. When we are outside in the backyard and he will be engaged in another thing, he will give me his cars to put in my pocket. Halloween and Christmas has been a learning process with him. He associated the pumpkins, monsters and ghosts wrappings with chocolates inside...and with "Happy Halloween." Of course let us not forget the "purple spider" balloon that we visited practically everyday in the neighborhood...the same neighbor that has the Snowman and Santa Claus right now that he still wants to visit. The lights and the tree are also his favorite. He learned how to sing "Twinkle, twinkle little star" but with added words in the rendition, of..."Up, up in the sky."

I have to start sorting his "paintings" to be framed for the show in March. This will be something I am looking forward to and with a little apprehension; wondering how he will act during the reception. But, I can assure you that the show will be great for a boy with too much time on his hands.

I have written a journal of his first year with us...mostly our daily routines. It was 20 pages in all and I thought I lost it among my files...found it and re-read it just now. It was really a journey for us together! I wonder if Tisha would let me include that in his time capsule??? I will have to have either Tisha or Rodin transfer it to a disc. After all this years with the computer, I haven't done that!

A SEASON OF CONTRAST

2005-12-25T19:25:00.000-08:00

A SEASON OF CONTRAST

Let's get this out of the way right from the top. Christmas has pagan roots!

All those Christmas trees we bring home have no connection to Mathew or Luke. Same with Yule logs and old Saint Nick, which trace to Old World pagan traditions. The Puritans were so appalled at the season's rites they did not even celebrate Christmas.

You may have heard this before, so excuse me for bringing it up. But the fact keeps eluding those in contemporary America who see secularism's attack on Christmas as something akin to a broadside on every doctrines of the faith.

I understand their point. We shouldn't ignore the spiritual reason for the season. But they seem to forget the season is not all about purity on earth. Instead, it offers a wonderful metaphor for Christian living. If you look closely, Christmas is about the sacred and the secular living alongside each other.

Go back to the original stories. We have the babe whom the world so rejects that his parents can't find a place to sleep.What more do we need? Can't we realize that Christmas has always been about the contrast between Christ child and the world around him?

Well, the First Amendment of the U.S Constitution protects religious free speech. Evidently what some people have forgotten is that free speech requires the tolerance of people hearing speech they don't like. The religious tradition of America is tolerance - and what Christians wants is for the same sense of tolerance that has always been extended to religionist of small or minor populations to be extended to religionist of the overwhelming majority of the U.S population--Christian.

"Merry Christmas" has been hurled as an insult. A Christmas tree is not put up as an affront. People who say they are offended by the greeting or the tree should should realize that when they take offense, they indicate hostility or animosity towards Christians.

'TIS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS...

2005-12-24T21:37:00.000-08:00

'TIS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS...

Ever since, it has been a tradition in our house that we celebrate Christmas Eve attending church service, have our Christmas Eve dinner and then open our gifts. 2005 is no different except that this year, the prince of the family celebrated the tradition with us for the first time. When they arrived, right away Kai was all over the house. It surprised me that he picked up the snowman that I made for him I mentioned in one of my previous blogs, showed it to everybody and then put it back next to the tree. He seems very excited because I think this is the first time that he came to Umpha's and Umma's house in the evening. With all the lights, the candles aglow, it must had had some effect on him. I have a place setting for him at our table. He opted just to be himself and do his own thing. He is more interested with the candles and started to blow them out. My mistake! I taught him how to blow a candle. He knows that it it "fire" and it is "hot," and not to touch them. At least he ate at their house before coming here.

I think it is a universal tradition that the youngest member of the family should open the first gift. I handed him a box and told him to open it...Boy did he dive in doing the opening right away. I found out later that he had an opening rehearsal today at their house. He really tore-open the wrappers...and when he saw the batman figure on the box...his first word was "oh no...! Telling him to go on and look what was inside, he was very delighted to see that it was a pair of shoes that lights up. Immediately he wanted to put them on...stumping the soles for the red lights. Umma gave him a collections of cars, and a Christmas story pillow which was welcomed with reservation. His uncle and Julie gave him books...not too interesting than the cars.

He was a great help! He wanted to open every package there is.

This Christmas seems to be different from other Christmas! We have Kai with us and he made the difference. His presence made it very special in may ways! I wish you many, many more Christmas to come Kai!!!

UMPHA...UMPHA! I AM STUCKED...!

2005-12-20T20:02:00.000-08:00

UMPHA...UMPHA! I AM STUCKED...!

Kai loves to play with water. In the backyard I have several five gallons pails recycled from paint containers. I use them when mixing fertilizer. For some reason Kai will collect stones and pebbles and throw them inside the pail. At times he will find a stick or a bamboo pole; anything that he can use to stir the water that was left in the pail. Today, like anytime that we are in the backyard, he was able to find a tin can and a plastic coke bottle. I let him do his thing because I don't think there will be any harm at all. Besides he enjoys what he his doing and I change the water often so he can play with clean water. I can also trim the dead leaves and sweep at the same time. I keep an eye on him once in a while...but suddenly I heard: "Umpha...Umpha! I am stucked!" I saw him sitting with his pants down, trying to pull it off, but his shoes were in the way. That was what got "stucked..." "What are you doing?" I asked. Upon inspection, I saw that the one of the pants' leg was wet. He will scoop the water and will transfer the water to the bottle then pour it to the pail again. I imagine he missed the bottle and the water went to his pants. He knows how to pull his pants down... uh...uh.! Tisha was telling me that he usually undress naked. One time here in the house, he got his arm out from the neckline of his shirt trying to take off the shirt..."it is hot!" That was what he said to me when I came to the rescue. It is amazing how he was able to analyze the situation of being stucked. He uses that word when he can't get anything from his toy box or just like today, his two play cars were on top of each other and when he tried to get one... the word just came out. He knows the word "broke" and "fix." He has always been in the stage of tinkering; pushing buttons, opening and closing all that will interest him ever since I can remember. He really started early trying to find out how things work. I guess it started when I taught him how to operate the light switches in the house...with the "yaets" (light) and "dak" switching the lights on and off in the house. He still does those things once in a while except that the words sound more precise.."light" and "dark." I think it is a good sign because his mind is working. This afternoon got a hold of the Polaroid camera. For sure he knows what it is. He knows that it is for taking pictures. Could you imagine that he as able to open the camera and shot a couple of pictures? At first I am not paying attention when he gave me a Polaroids picture. I thought it was one of my missed-shots, but when he gave me the second one, I saw that he was carrying the camera. I have to run after him to get the camera because he was on his way to the backyard when I told him to give it to me. Boy Oh Boy!... he was really fast!

His obsession to look at the inflated Snowman is still going. I told Mike that I have to go to that yard sometime in the evening and put a hole in it (just kidding). We spent about half an hour just sitting on the curb looking at the Snowman and Santa Claus balloon. It is about six houses down the street...and this is where he would like to go as soon as I loosen his seat belt. "go...go...snowman!" "come on umpha." I will have to distract him or tell him that they are still asleep. I made a twelve inch high snowman last night hoping that he will give me peace...I was wrong! He does not like anything that resembles a doll. That is a "no" - "no." I am not sure what he gets from just looking. When I told him to go near the Snowman and touch it, he will say no. The only way I can persuade him to go home is by telling him that Santa Claus will read book to the Snowman because the Snowman will go "nite-nite" and the door will be closed. I will ask him to say "see you later Snowman."

We did not watch much TV today. We read books and when Mike came, he greeted his Daddy. While Mike was eating he sat opposite him and saw that Mike is drinking Coke. I know that he would like to have some, so I poured a little bit in a glass and gave it to him. He showed his appreciation by his smacking his lips with a sound of "mm-mm." He actually just took a couple of sips and then went to the living room. That was when he started to untangle his toy cars and started riding them in the house. Finally he got the other one and he wants me to ride it. He even asked Mike to ride it too. I told him that Daddy is eating...we can go to the living room. He decided that he want to do it outside. "Open door..." Umpha carried the two cars and we played there til Mike was ready to bring him home. Mike had to catch and grab him because he is not ready yet. Bye..bye Umpha...see you later...

TIS THE SEASON...

2005-12-12T20:02:00.000-08:00

"TIS THE SEASON"

"We wish you a merry holiday, we wish you a merry holiday." No, that doesn't do it. "I'm dreaming of a white holiday, with every white holiday I write." Nope... nope, that doesn't get me there. "The first holiday the angels sang." No. Can't have angels. I guess I will just have to reveal my bigotry. Merry Christmas, Kai-Kai!

Yes, "Ti's the season"...but I can't understand what all the fuss is about over specific religious greetings. Each morning since Kai learned to say "Merry Christmas," we have greeted each other with that phrase. Then I will ask him about the snowman in their front yard and the day is centered around "Christmas." I hope Kai-Kai will have a "Merry Christmas" all thru his life according to all of the great American traditions. Let the tactics of the Grinch's, the Scrooges, the white witches and their relatives be gone by then, so he can keep and enjoy Christmas - its date, its name and its best traditions, then honor the rights of anyone who has and celebrates other holidays without interference. Let no one tamper with it or usurp it. Instead in the spirit of the season, let anyone who wants to join in this joyous occasion do so and have a great time.

Today, I put up the Christmas tree with him around. He was with me the other day when I was untangling the lights and I showed him where to press for music. He remembered. As soon as he saw the the lights on he started to look for the "music." I haven't bought a tree for awhile now. I always construct one from the cypress and pine trees that I have in the front yard. He started right away to touch the balls, in spite that I told him..."just look and don't touch." He broke one of the balls..."See...what happen?" I guess he understood me then; that if he touch, it will break. I was able to do the hanging with him just looking, and he kept busy with other things with Umma.
Something funny happened while I am doing the tree. I went out to get some bricks to stabilized the tree. As usual, he is on my tail. I went in and he was left outside. I had my ladder propped against the pine tree...suddenly we heard..."Umpha help!...Umpha help.! He was on top of the fifth rung of the ladder. I guess he decided to get down but does not know how. Umma was the one who took him down. That's Kai-Kai...!
He is getting to be very adventurous! There is nothing he will not try. I have to keep a keen eye on the things he picks up...like hammers, pliers, screwdrivers. He knows the functions of those tools by watching me and he will imitate.
I made a mistake of giving him a paper ball. They are made in China and when I was a kid we used to play with them. They are made of colored paper, and a hole where one can blow to inflate it. I think he does not have the concept that it is not like the balls he's used to playing with. He started to bounced it, didn't work and finally started to kick it and it collapsed. He got frustrated and made a fuss. I am sure that it will not work, and decided to get it from him...was he mad!...and started crying. I just let him cry and finally I carried him outside in the backyard for a while. He calmed down and collected himself. I noticed that he was his self again after while as if nothing happened. We went to the kitchen and I sat him on the sink counter. He looked at the sink light ..."no light." I switched the light on and he is happy. He opened the cupboard, picked up his mug, and indicated that he wants some juice. After that he noticed his toothbrush and wants them (he has two). So we both start brushing our teeth. By the time they are ready to go home, he still wants to bring his toothbrush home with him, but Tisha was able to get it from him.
I guess this is what some child rearing experts will say..."you have to have a boundary." I am sure that Kai-Kai is learning that. It is still a long way but I will keep on trying. I am using some key words, magic words that I hope will help him understand that it is not always his way. He is a very smart boy and can learn things quick!

UMPHA SLEEP...

2005-12-07T20:25:00.000-08:00

After lunch, I felt sleepy and decided to lie down. While I am settling down under the blanket, I asked Kai to lay down with Umpha..."NO" was his answer. He started to gather some of his toy cars and left looking for Umma. I really dozed off because I did not wake up until 3:30pm. I did not even hear when Tisha came, ate her lunch and both of them left for the day. He and Umma stayed in the living room the whole time. Umma told him not to bother me because I am asleep. He is getting good about this. When Umma closes the bedroom door, I will notice that he will not go there and will tell me..."Umma sleep!" This boy has not taken a nap for quite awhile now. He has been on the go all the time. It seems that when he takes a nap he will miss something.

I have not mastered the Adobe Photo shop yet! But I'm trying... and did try again to make a Christmas card with Kai's mug shot incorporated with some of his favorite characters like Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Taz and Daffy Duck. I think it came out nice except that it needs some clean-up. The Adobe Photo shop won' t respond to what I want...it is something to do with the "fixed pixels that won't blend." So the heck with it! Kai being like a "kiti=kiti" (mosquito larva), always on the move, is hard to get him to pose. But he likes to see his face in the "cameya" after each shot. I was trying to have him posed with the "parols" (lanterns) I made for the PASACAT dance group for their Christmas Festival...no way Jose! I only took a couple and quit. At least with the digital camera, I can always delete the shots that at times are just part of his head, sometimes his face turned around, or the back of his head, etc.

Now that Christmas is coming, his daily trip to the park and the neighborhood gives him a chance to see the early declarations. He came the other day telling me

"snowman...snowman." Oh yes, he is learning to say Merry Christmas...I have to decipher yet how it sound before writing it down...but he is getting there. I have not put any Christmas decoration yet. We will see what will happen. This is one learning situation here for him...DON'T TOUCH! Last year I remember that he was so fascinated with the ornaments and almost toppled down the tree.

"UMPHA...UMPHA...UP PLEASE...GO ...GO!

2005-12-06T19:52:00.000-08:00

I haven't had the chance to "blog" the last two weeks. Had been busy moving out of my downtown studio. Since the place is just a stones throw from the PETCO STADIUM, the area has been going through an urban renewal. They are going to rebuild the place as a high-rise structure. Can't blame the people who owns the place...they have to conform with the rest and also their is big money to gain. So, practically every day, I have been loading my van and hauling the accumulated stuffs I had there for the last fifteen years. Kai-Kai has been good about it. Whenever I leave the house, all I have to say is that I am going to get gas. He will be content with Umma. It is funny how he has been able to formulate the idea that he has to stay home while I am gone. I think he knows that I am coming back and we can be together again. He knows the gas station. I often get gas when we are driving and I will tell him. "Stay here, Umpha will get gas."

Tisha related to us that one evening, they heard him crying from his monitor. When Tisha came to his room..he said: "monster...grabbing!" It gave Tisha an eerie feeling and he ended sleeping with them that night. One thing that I will not do is encourage him to believe in monsters and such. He knows the word monster but here in the house it is all for fun. We still have some Halloween chocolate with Frankenstein, ghosts etc., and he knows that inside the wrappers is chocolate. I can remember the days when I was just about maybe three and my sister two, we are scared seeing the bearded "bombay" (found out later that they are Sheiks from India.) Those days in the Philippines anybody that comes from India was called "Bombay." The scary part of it is they carry a big bundle on top of their turban which contained bed sheets, blankets and mosquito nets. They peddled them house to house to the locals. Parents who want their children to behave scared to them point of wetting their pants that they will give them to the "Bombay," and they will put them inside the bundle and carry them away. There was also a "crazy " woman in our town, sort of homeless, demented sort, dirty but harmless. All the children were scared of her. I remember my sister wet her pants when she saw her approaching us. You should she my Mom! She shooed away that woman with a broom. Her name is "Kadepa." I am positive that we never scared Tisha and Rodin when they are growing up.

In case of Kai-Kai, I think he was dreaming, got the image from somewhere in the TV. Just wondering, could it be the start of being a "Calvin" syndrome? I have two comic books of Calvin and Hobbs. In one of them was a situation where he and Hobbs concocted the idea that there is a monster under the bed...bedlam and chaos began...Hope not!

He is scribbling again. I found some cards from my junk from the studio and gave them to him. He was happy to get it and right away got some pens and start

doing his "personal" art. We have been doing his toy computer and still are learning the ABC's. Lately, it is getting cold and he always comes with a hooded jacket. It is funny because he used to hate having something on his head. I gave him a black knit cap and right away he put it on. That reminds me, I have to ask Tisha to bring it back with him sometime. I have a red one which I was wearing when I gave him the black one and he immediately named it; "umpha hat." He will not wear it at all but will try to put it on my head.

I guess, I had mentioned that one of his favorite food is shrimp. I found some shrimp-fry (tiny shrimps) that my Mom use to cook for us with pure coconut milk until the cream comes out and stir it until crisp from the coconut oil. That was a nostalgic time...but, I cook them differently. The shrimp-fries are seasoned and coated with corn starch, deep fried in hot oil until crisp. Now, this is one of his favorite..."baby shrimp," that's what he calls them. Since they are not uniformly sized, he will look for different sizes and will call them. "Daddy shrimp" or "Mommy shrimp." Today, I have to go to the Vietnamese market to buy some more because he is done with the first batch I cooked. Of course he eats them with rice too!

Today, and like any other day, we bide our time while waiting for Tisha and Mike to pick him up. A couple of hours was spent outside. After "the end" (he knows the words) of his favorite cartoon, you can be sure that he will ask me to: "up please Umpha," " go...go away," which means that he want to be carried and we are going outside. At times he will gather some of his cars take my hand and indicate that we have to go. I noticed today that he can open the latch on the backdoor to the yard. He is really growing! So far the front door is still safe, but I think he is working on it. A very imaginative mind! He is starting to formulate words and associate them with the things he likes to express. One of the things that I think is funny is when he wants a package to be opened, he will say,"open door." Anything that is dirty or "eecky," he will say, "eeeew." One thing that I can say, he won't mind you if you clean his face, cut his finger nails (Umma usually does it) because there are bugs there or to clean his nose if I told him he got a "booger." Of course he will dig dirt, pick up stones and pebbles, check the empty shells of the snails or just sit on the pavement.

Tomorrow is another day I will hear; " "Umpha...Umpha...go...go!"

GIVING THANKS

2005-11-24T22:15:00.000-08:00

GIVING THANKS

Today is about being grateful for what we have.

It's interesting how over time, a national holiday can gradually evolve into a personal one. Take this one we celebrate today. A national holiday that was originally set aside to mark a historical event important in the life of this country - namely a feast thrown by the first group of immigrants to give thanks for their safe arrival and having survived in the New World - serves what is arguably a more valuable purpose: It allows each of us, to take a moment out of our busy lives and bow our heads and give thanks for our blessings. Whether those blessing are big and small, this is the time to acknowledge and appreciate them.

Personally. This is the second year...simply acknowledging how lucky we are to have Kai in our lives.

I won't see him til Monday. This will give me the chance to finish the Christmas lanterns (parols) for the dance group. Also it might give me a chance to go to my studio and pick-up a few things. This will also be a respite from hearing "UMPHA" a hundred times! He is so active that every move he makes must be monitored..If is is quiet, I have to look what he is doing. There are times that he will wander to the bedroom and look for umma or inspect the plastic bag that hangs on the door knob. He knows that there is something there to nibble. I think he will be a "chocoholic" like me. He loves those small "halloween" chocolate eggs. The thing is that he is never a pig about it. A couple of bites will satisfy him, and he will even share them with me. He knows where all his favorite snacks are stored. We have a cupboard that is a bit high for him to reach, but he can open the doors...that is where the pudding and jello are stored, so he calls for help. Who else to the rescue? Umpha of course! As far as regular eating, he love rice, fish and shrimp and of course noodles. He eats oranges and guava and once in a while will eat prepared fruits from the jar.

I think he is resigned to the fact that when Mommie or Daddy arrive and have finished their lunch, it is time to get "yedi" (ready) to go home...that is if he is in the right mood. But before going home he has to gather some of his favorite toys of the day. Cars are still his passion. He carries with him everyday a frog backpack loaded with some of his favorites. He knows that this is the time to say "bye..bye Umpha," "see you yeter" (later).

What is Kaiandumphaland?

2005-11-17T22:09:00.000-08:00

What is "KAIANDUMPHALAND"...?
This is a nurturing place for a little boy to learn in his formative years the things that he will carry on in later life. This is the place where he will learned that the word "NO" has an alternative "YES."
He had learned things like when it is hot...you don't touch. He knows that there is a boundary when we are outside...not to pass the curb because there are cars coming. It is amazing how he can maneuver himself in the backyard without getting "bung" (that is our word for being hurt). My mini jungles have many steps and walkways paved with broken pieces of cement slabs. There are times when we are together, he will be gone and I will find that he has climbed some steps to reach some "geen" apples or behind the bushes looking for snails.

I am the first grandson of my grandparents. I was always in my grandparent's house. My grandmother on my mother side had her last child a few months before I came. Unfortunately the child died and I became the surrogate child for her. Because my sister came just eight months after me, it was a big help for both of them. I am very close to my grandparents in my mother side. As a matter of fact I call my grandmother "Inay" (Filipino word for mother) and whenever somebody asked my grandmother who am I, she will say that I am her youngest son. I learned a lot from my grandmother and I was as close to my grandfather ("itay" Filipino word for father) as to her. I don't think I was spoiled by them...they taught me a lot of things. I can still envision the "katon" board (ABC's) where I learned my letters. Today I am taking the opportunity to do the same with Kai.

Kai being very active from the very start, I called him "kiti-kiti" (larvae of the mosquitoes) because there is a never ending action going on. Very active! True to his astrological sign: "RAM," I am afraid that I have a little RAMBO on my hands. Today, just before Mike arrived to pick him up, he wants me to ride one of his cars and him on the other one..."come on umpha...ride." Could you imagine me on that little car!?! I have to fake it by crouching on all fours to manuever the little car. I am glad that it is in the house and not outdoors. What will the neighbors think!!!

It was funny for us yesterday because for the first time in a while, he had a nap. As usual, he was with umma for his daily park visit. They came back early and he was sleeping in his stroller...and it was not even ten o"clock yet. He slept about forty minutes...Boy was he mad when he woke up! Like he missed something. We usually drive around the block so I can get him to sleep. At times we go to Montgomery Field and watch the small plane takes off. On the way home, he will be conked-out.

We have not gone driving for a while now. He does not want to go home if he is awake. "go...go umpha" that is what he will say. He calls my van "umpha truck." He knows everybody car and van in the area. Umma car in the garage! He can tell you if that is a school bus, city bus, taxi , fire truck, police car or just big trucks. But his favorite truck is the garbage truck. The drivers know him well.
Every Wednesday, when he hears the garbage trunk..."garbage truck coming-coming umpha...go...go!" Here we go rushing to go outside and try to catch the garbage trunk pick-up the trash.

He is very appreciative when you give him anything that is new. Today, he was satisfied and very happy with little pieces of sawn tree branches that were left on the ground when a ficus tree was trimmed next door. He collected them and them brought home. He also found and brought home with him a plastic shell sand mold from the park. "Umpha geen shell" showing me his new found toy. Since I have a lot of shells...I told him to wait and I will show him something. I brought a cookie tin full of shells...Reaction: "Wow! meni-meni shells!" He started to pick and inspect each one and when he came to and old calcified larger shell. He called it: '
"dinosaur shell." Lately everything that looks old and ragged, he will classify them as part of the dinosaur family. Even the lava rocks that is in their aquarium has been classified as such. That's the mind of a creative little boy!

Forgotten...

2005-11-16T22:56:00.000-08:00

I was so excited last night while doing my first blog that I forgot to write down my user name and password. I have to recover them...thanks for the "help support" that I am on my way now. It is getting late, so I will be posting tomorrow evening some of the thoughts I had in mind that I did not post on my first blog.

KAIANDUMPHALAND

2005-11-15T19:11:00.000-08:00

I guess, it is about time to share with you all the things that Kai and his "umpha" are doing nowadays.

He has been my pride and joy since he was three months old, when every morning, his Mom (Tisha, my daughter) began to drop him off at our house. This is five days a week from eight a.m. to three p.m. When you ask him where is Kai's house...he will raise his two hands indicating our house...and will say "here." When we drive to their street he will indicate whose house we just passed by. He knows very well where Mommie and Daddy lives and that is "mommie house."

Everyday seems to be a different adventure for both of us. We have spent time at the Zoo to see his favorite "ephant," lions, monkeys, bears, tortoise, etc. He can name all the animal habitats in the Zoo. We have visited museums in Balboa Park. Although he knows his routine, like going to the nearby park with "umma." everyday. A couple of hours is spent climbing the slides, just romping around chasing balls, even chasing the plastic bag that flies in the air...or just hugging a tree. At home, we read books, play with his collections of cars or the "meni-meni" animals. He knows his ABC's and can read choice words, counts from one to ten. We spend a lot of time in the backyard; my "mini jungle" where he knows what a guava, a lemon or calamansi is and I let him pick and smell the flowers. We search for "pider," "nail" and bugs. He was introduced to butterflies, dragonflies and birds that come to visit the backyard. I let him have a small spade so he can dig dirt...He has a small watering container and will help "umpha" water the plants. Of course, he will need a change of pants and shoes later on!

He is very choosy about what he wants to watch on Television. He loves "Little Einsteins," "House of Mouse," "Super Dog," "Tom and Jerry," and would rather watch "Sponge Bob," and some of the TV7 cartoons than "Dora." Since he was introduced to the families of dinosaurs, whenever a Dinosaur cartoon is on, you can be sure that he will stay put and watch it. Anything that has an animal in the show, he will watch it or else he will grab the remote and give it to me to change the channel.

When he was eight months old I gave him a crayons and showed him how they work.

I framed his first scribble and now have it on display. His favorite color is "pupol" (purple), but ask him what color is in your hand and he will tell you if it is "yed," "yeyoo," "geen," "bouoo," etc. Now, he has an array of collection in his portfolio. From crayons to colored washable felt tip pens and pencils he graduated from them and went to gouache and water. He has created beautiful arts ready for framing...but I don't consider his achievements as a talent yet...it is just a "thing" to do by a boy who has a lot of time in his hands. This is one way I can teach him that pens, pencils and crayons are for papers and not on the walls or on anything else. I also would like to think that what we are doing with art is some sort of a time-capsule for him. It will be something for him to see when he is older and appreciate the arts. Next year in March, before his third birthday, I have reserved a gallery space for his one-boy show - "ALMOST THREE." I think this will be fun, but I am not sure how he will react! We will see. For the meantime back to the easel and drawing board. We are going to create some more arts!