Sari Saring Kwentong Liam: Simbahan

If there’s one good thing the earthquake has brought to my family, it’s that we were able to go back to church and hear mass every Sunday. Well, the earthquake was just half of it, it was also Liam’s birthday.

You see, Dino and I are not too religious. But we made it a point to go to church every Sunday to hear mass, say our thanks and ask for forgiveness. This stop lang, when we had Liam na.  We tried going back when he was 5mos, but it’s a bit difficult since he can’t understand what it is pa.

So last October, we heard mass as a family. Okey, it was just the 3 of us adults (including ate Donna) who really understood, but I think this is the best way to introduce the idea/concept to Liam. As expected, he was not super behaved.  He asked a lot of questions like what the nuns are doing, who is talking, is it finish na ba, and a lot more.

I first introduced Liam to church, the structure, earlier this year on our way to the mall.
Mommy: Liam, that’s a church, you see there’ a cross and at the window there is a big bell, blah blah blah (i went on describing the sound and what it’s for)
Liam did not say word.  Kala ko wala na intindihan.  After a few meters…
Mommy: Liam, that’s also a church
Liam: where’s the bell?
Ayun, nakikinig naman pala…

The first time we brought him to church, he kept on asking questions at the start, then he started to get bored.
Liam: mommy, are we done na? Go home na tayo?
Mommy: we can’t pa, we have to wait for the priest to finish
Liam: who is the priest?
Mommy: the one in green (habit)
After a few minutes..
Liam: mommy is the green one finish na?
Sa isip ko.. Wala namang green sa Bioman ah!?

One afternoon, ate donna gave liam choco flakes in a bowl..
Liam stood up, got a piece and went to his ate, gave her one on her hand..
Liam: you say amen
Communion ang peg..

Liam really got intruiged with the host that we take, one sunday at mass…
Liam: mommy, i want to eat host
Mommy: you can’t pa. You’re still a little boy. When you’re big na, you will have your first holy communion
I think he understood, since he did not ask me about it again.
One night when I stepped into the house coming from work, he ran to me excitedly and said…
Liam: Mommy! ate said am big boy na!! Can i eat host na!?
Toinks!!! Naintindihan nga nya sinabi ko! Hahaha

There are a lot of things pa that got his interest like the holy water and the offerings.  One way to persuade him to change and go to church is when I tell him I will let him dip his hand in the holy water which we do last (before going out ) so he’ll have something to wait for and look forward too.  Yun lang, he keeps on asking if we’re done na.

He also likes the singing part pala. He usually hums with us. There’s this responsorial psalm that caught his attention and several times he asked me to sing it for him. Kaso I forgot the line na.  So the following week, i made it a point to remember, kow ung nauna pa din ang gusto nya.

Well, hopefully soon, he will understand na din what this is all about.  Since I can’t take photos during mass (mapapagalitan ako ni Bobe), eto na lang share ko sanyo..

Photo taken at the airport.  Love the smile and the dimples… 🙂

Rant: “Putang!”

It’s been more than 2 weeks now since Liam started using this word and this really is giving me a lot to think about.  Before I proceed I just want to be clear that am not trying to be righteous here.  I myself use this word especially when am really infuriated.  Dino and I grew up in households that uses these words (bad words) freely, use it when we’re angry and irritated (but not at each other or people we love). We also use them jokingly.

Anyway, this all started when Dino got startled and he shouted “Putang..” and stopped in the middle when he realized that it was Liam who was there.  Liam quickly got it and said “Putang!”.  Shocked, Dino told him not to say it again and that it’s a bad word.  Since then, Liam  uses tries to use that word when he sees an opportunity.

Opportunity #1:
One night, he was acting up and does not want to follow, he said “Putang!”, so the topic was changed for him not to say it again..

Opportunity #2:
Lolo was playing with him and pinched him softly at the back..
Liam:  Putang! Sakit!

Opportunity #3:
Every time we’ll get mad, he will said: “Daddy said, putang!”, even if daddy did not say it..

There were already a lot of instances, and he at least say this once a day and daddy telling him not to say it anymore simply doesn’t work. I think, us telling him not to say it anymore elevates his curiosity about the term.  So I tried to brainwash him and change the word..

Liam:  Daddy said, Putang!
Mommy: No, daddy said, put a little more

This made him laugh and repeated the phrase, so I thought the deal is done.  Oh boy, am I wrong, he still uses it. So one time I threatened him with a spank in the mouth (this really scares him)..

Mommy:  Liam, stop saying that word or I will pah pah your mouth na
Liam:  Daddy says Putang… (this is his go to phrase every time we tell him not to say it anymore, as if telling us how come daddy can say it?!? tsk! tsk!)
Mommy:  I will also pah pah daddy if he says it again, do you understand?
Liam:  yes

I thought this worked since we did not hear him say it for 2 days. Then one time at the playground, kids are playing with the cement, they will put the cement on a plastic and throw it up in the air, making the cement burst in the air..
Liam:  Mommy, what are they doing
Mommy:  they are playing with the cement, but don’t do that anak, the cement will get into your eyes and it will be ouch ouch
Liam still watch them intently and suddenly shouted:  “PUTANG!”

I almost hit his mouth right there, but I don’t want to do it in public since I don’t want to embarrass him in public.  So I just give him a grin and told him that it’s not good to say that word.  (Well, wala din naman nakarinig, since other kids are busy playing and the teens are chatting)

Now, he gives interest to all our expressions na like “Grabe!” and “Shocks!”.  He will ask us if that’s a bad word or not.,, hayayayayay! me gulay!! Ano ba ito!?!? How do we explain “bad words” to a 3 year old toddler?  This also strengthen my resolve to be watchful of what I say (well, I hope this is the same with Dino.. grrr..)  Ang bilis na ng pick up nya.  Sabi nga ni lola, “Parang recorder yang anak mo e”.

Hay naku anak, when you grow older, I will not forbid you to use this words…  As long as you know what these words mean and you know the effect of using these words to others.  You need to know when to use it and to whom should you use it and make sure that if you use it, it’s ok na masabihan ka din nun. Golden rule anak, okey?

Before I end this post, I’ve been asking my colleagues (matatalino kasi talaga sila, hehe) about studies regarding this (doing the forbidden) nature and here’s a good read about Reactance and Paradoxical Inversion (or what we usually call reverse psychology).  This young, single office mates of mine are also the ones who pointed out to me just now that maybe am not consistent that’s why reverse psychology don’t work with Liam too. Or as the other one pointed out, sadyang bright ang anak ko!??! I like the latter better. 🙂

Shocked and Speechless

Last night, while playing with Liam, he stepped on my legs and he slipped intentionally…

Mommy (with a loud voice): OUCH!! Liam! Please stop stepping on mommies legs!

Liam (with a loud voice too): DON’T SHOUT!

WHOAH!!!! Did my son just scold me?  How do I react to that!?? I was caught off guard and didn’t know what to say. But Dino and the yaya were laughing at the incident, while Liam was hugging me..  Dino, realizing he needs to do something..

Daddy (changed to serious tone):  Liam, say sorry to mommy..

Liam: Sorry Mommy..

Mommy:  Sorry too, Mommy won’t shout anymore, but you have to stop stepping on us. ok?

Liam: OK..

Then we all laughed again..

Haaay.. tell me, how do you react to a 2 year old boy scolding his mommy?

This was taken while waiting for Luisa’s party to start..

Liam Says Part 3

It’s been a while since my last Liam Says post.  It’s very hard to keep track on what he says nowadays.  Napaka daldal kasi ng anak ko. hehehe.. he repeats everything he hears na..

Anyway, below are some words that he still can’t pronounce properly..

• dawala – dalawa
• tagala – talaga
• pakala – palaka
• empapaya – empanada
• Lion Ink – Lion King
• bas en bol – basketball
• buliling – Bulawin (our subd. guard)
• dawm – down
• bitiki – Butiki
• kiyaw – Square
• trangular – triangle (i love it when he says this)

He can also form sentences now.. Note on the verbs he use..

• Liam is wearing the Green Damit
• I am upping the ladder (going up the ladder)
• Liam is ahmming (eating – we usually use ahm ahm to say eat, thus the verb!

and Dino’s fave…

• put ragis – putrages (yes, you read it right!! Daddy nya may kasalanan!)

He’s also in the stage now where he likes singing and changing the lyrics..

• Itsy Bitsy Cockroach.. he uses ladybug, mantis and grasshoppers too 
• Twinkle Twinkle little daddy.. mommy.. wowo… wawa…

Aside from these songs, he also loves singing ABC, 12 buckle my shoe, happy birthday and Gangnam Style.  Once he was also singing a Maroon 5 song, kaso Ate Donna did not know the title and can’t sing it too. She told us that Liam heard it earlier. 🙂

Haay.. I’m a bad mom, can’t remember other words he can’t pronounce pa and other sentences he makes up. These above are the remarkable and memorable ones.  Note to self, always take note and always take pics!! KOW!

I Love you, anak.. mwah!

Sampumg Pakala (Palaka)

Pit Senyor!! Today is Sinulog Festival here in Cebu.  Past 3 Festivals, Dino and I have already been planning to go. But due to many reasons, we never pushed thru.   At long last, wish come true for Bobe.  He was able to get a VIP ID from our friend Chia! Yey!! Oh well, as for me and Liam, dito na lang kame sa bahay. Takot ko lang maipit at mawala anak ko. There will always be next year for that.

Making myself busy cooking and baking now, Tinola on the stove, Flan Cake in the oven. And planning to bake some Meringue Kisses later. (I have egg whites kasi from the Flan at ayaw ko na syang itapon, gaba!! Sana lang sipagin ako later. 🙂

Okey, back to my topic.  Since I wanted Liam to also learn Filipino rhymes, I taught him “Sampung Mga Daliri” that he got after showing him the actions twice.  Ate Lilia at the other hand, taught him “Sampung Palaka”. Here’s how it goes…

Sampung Palaka
Lumalangoy sa sapa
Pataas, pababa
Paikot ikot pa

Ang sabi ng Nanay
“Matulog na kayo”
Sabi ng palaka
“Ayaw ko! Ayaw ko!”

It’s just so funny whenever he’ll ask us to sing it, he will say “Sampung Pakala! ikot ikot pa!”  with matching actions! 🙂   Hay, sino ba naman di matutuwa sa batang ‘to. No wonder his Wowo and Wawa misses him so much.

Out of topic again, just want to post this pic…

See! How kulit you are, Liam. You write on your hand, then you’ll say, Yuck!! showing us your dirty hands. Buti na lang at cute ka anak! 🙂

Oh!! I almost forgot, I still have remaining Flan mixture. Maisalang na nga bago pa ko tamarin. Til my next post! 🙂

Conversations with Liam

So many posts hanging in my head.  But this one I need to do now while I have the “free” time, or else, makalimutan ko na lahat.

Anyway, if there is one thing am sure Liam got from me, it’s his being madaldal.  He’s now talking endlessly and sometimes he has words we can’t decipher.  But he has his way to explain them to us. Acting them out, getting the item he wants or translating them.  Pag di nya maexplain, better luck next time nalang.  Below are some dialogues we had with him

Dialogue 1: SM

After a week of sem-break, Liam saw me preparing his uniform for school:

Liam:  Nooooo… (putting back his uniform in the drawer)

Me: Liam, you have school today

Liam: No, no marj… S.. M… huuuuhuuuu (fake cry)

KOW!! lakwatsero na anak ko!!

diba ako ang kamukha? 😛

Dialogue 2: Umbrella

One rainy morning..

Daddy:  Liam, it’s raining outside

Liam: no jip?

Daddy: Yes, we can’t go out

Liam: no da? (no isda?)

Daddy:  Yes, we can’t go to fishes

Liam: Payong? (looks for the umbrella)

WAPAK!!  Talo ang tatay!

Hehehe.. ok ok.. si Dino na nga kamukha.. 🙂

Dialogue 3:  Liam loves Donna

While having snack in school

T’ Marj:  Liam, T’ Marj will eat your left over na

Liam: No eat Marj, Donna yan..

taken when Liam was only 2week old. Ang pilyo na no?

Dialogue 4: Necklace and US

Same day at school, Liam showed off necklace he is wearing

Liam:  Yam wer nekleys yaik wowo.. (Liam wears necklace like wowo)

after a while, Liam talked to T’ Raine…

Liam:  Waya Daddy

T’ Raine: Where is daddy?

Liam:  US

Actually daddy is in Indonesia this time, but he remembered that the week before his daddy is in the US)

Last Christmas at Tagaytay 🙂

Dialogue 5:  Bastos.. So far our favorite

Mommy:  Liam, brush teeth na

Liam: No na brush teeth

Mommy:  Yes brush na, masisira teeth mo

Liam: Sira titi mo..

hahahahhahahahha..

Oh well, what can I say we have our little gaya gaya now. We need to be double careful with our words na…

C O O L !

Liam Says Part II

Barely 2 years old and Liam’s vocabulary is expanding profoundly. Comparing it to my old list, there are lots of improved and new words. The mommy can’t catch up jotting down.  I need to post this down na before I forget his ever changing dictionary.  Yes, it changes.. kasi his speech is improving.  He learned how to say multi syllable words already.

Anyway, enough with the intro.. here’s his new dictionary:

Name:

• iyam – Liam
• maameee – Mommy (this is improved, he calls me mymy before)
• daaddeee – Daddy (also improved from Dad)
• wawa – Lola (he calls his lola wawa, I think he got it from wowo – Lolo)
• kaka – Kuya Willy (the Driver)
• maju marj – Teacher Marj (improved, he used to call her marj only and usually he pertains this to his school too)
• ispaydeman – Spiderman (another improvement, he use to call him maan before)
• ten – Ben Ten
• tan – Lucio (the pedicab driver, Donna calls him Lucio Tan, thus Liam’s version)
• ching – Monching (one of our colleague – IT rep)
• sha – Essa (colleague)
• tor – Victor (colleague)
• rel – Cyrel (colleague)
• bel – Bel (colleague)
• wudy – woody
• buz – buzz

Verbs:

• kat – cut (improved from aak)
• hayding – hiding (when he says this, Dino and I will say “nooo!” kasi this is the part where he will get all our pillows and throw it to the floor, then he will hide his head under the pillows, with his butt showing.. haha)
• wayt – write
• wiking – walking
• khun khun – sleep (improved from unk unk)
• mish – swim
• piks – fix
• yosh – ayos
• kuk – cook
• shing – sing
• ba  – laba
• pacha – plantsa
• tamp – stomp
• dyam – jump
• bay – buy
• get – get
• dyink – drink
• nom – inom
• kish – Kiss
• hak – hug (improved from aak)
• kot – ikot
• shayd – slide
• upo – upo (upo)
• shit – sit (sounds like a bad word no?!)
• pen – open
• cosh – close
• off – off
• gow – go
• topsh – stop

*he already know that green light is for go and red light is for stop.  Once the traffic light turns green, he will ask his daddy to move by saying GOOOW!!

* he also knows the difference of open and cloe

Things:

• byidge – bridge
• peydoh – Play Dough
• meni – money (when he wants to go out and ride padyak, he knows how to extend his hand upward and ask for money from me or Dino.  Liam don’t like bills, he wants coins only. 🙂 )
• cam – camera (he also calls his dad’s tripod cam but uses it as mic)
• bed – bed (he also calls pillows bed, better than when he still call his pillows unk unk)
• jeep – jeep
• bet – tablet
• chu chu ten – choo choo train
• buk – book
• wersh – flowers
• weyn – rain
• bon – ambon

Food:

• yakudo – Yakult (this one is not an improvement, he used to say this correctly but in two words “yak kult”. then he learned to put them together but with an “o” at the end. everybody laughed at  him, so it stayed with him.. hehe)
• ding – Pudding
• egmant – eggplant (improved from just “eg’
• krots – carrots
• pachay – pechay
• shroom – mushroom
• tow – tomatoe
• oyon – onion
• hatchiyi – hot chili
• pol – apple (improved from “arks” – sound of eating crunchy apple)
• weynge – Orange
• mon – watermelon and lemon
• kowp – cantalope
• klim – Ice Cream
• keyk – cake
• kat – Kit Kat
• nips – Nips and M&M’s (he calls everything M&M like candies nips even the jelly beans, pang local ang anak ko.. 🙂 )
• leyt – chocolate
• ter – water
• geti – spaghetti

Adjective/adverbs:

• mosh – small (and yes, he can identify big from small already)
• meny – many
• kabiya – kabila (other room)

Colors:

• weynge – orange
• yed – red
• bown – brown
• bet – violet
• yow – yellow

Numbers:

• wan – one
• tuu – two (improved from chu)
• tee – three
• po – four
• payb – five
• sik – six
• eben – seven
• eyt – eight
• nay – nine
• ten – ten (sometimes he pronunce this as pen.. hehehehe)

Shapes:

• sheyp – shape
• kel – circle
• gon – pentagon and hexagon
• cros – cross
• gul – triangle
• bal – oval
• kuwayre – square

Expression:

• haaay – hi
• yun oh – ayun oh!
• oh no – oh no!
• no no – no no
• kam in – Come in (when someone knocks at the door)
• shok – pasok (when someone knocks too)
• nyi – nye

Phrase:

• duwan duwan – another one
• tu tee dyam  – one, two, three, jump! (he counts before he jumps off his toy car)
• yeyaw – ayaw
• karsh ap ap byidge – Cars go up the bridge
• waya, get kabiya – toy is not here, get at the other room

Our new bed time routine now includes telling our daily stories, like what we did for the day.  His story always includes his morning routine with his dad, where they ride the jeep and go to IT Park to buy bread and pudding then they watch and feed the fishes.

Whew! Ang dami and ang hirap mag spell ng pronunciations nya.. Makes me wonder how I will spell his words out later on when I teach him to speak Chinese na.. hahaha.. Oh well.. I think I missed out a lot of words, I should update every time may maalala ako. 🙂

 

P.S. On second thought, I will just post a part III. 🙂

Liam Says…

When Liam was barely 1 yr old, we noticed that his tongue is shorter and had it checked sa Doctor. Doc says that he is tongue tied. So I was so worried then. So we had him checked with an Expert.  Doc said that Liam’s case is minor and that he’s too young for snipping. If there will be a need for snipping he suggested to do it when Liam turns 7.  This calmed me a little, but nonetheless, still worried that he will be bulol.  Pero I thought to myself, sino naman bang bata di bulol at this age diba!??

Ngayon, all worries are gone!! Pano Liam is soooo daldal na. As in! Everyday he has a new word. Kaya am writing this post baka di na namen maalala later when he gets older. Here goes…
Names:

• mymy! – Mommy (siyempre eto ang una sa list ko! ;-))
• DAD! – Dad
• ma ma – Ahma (chinese for Grandma – my mom) – sometimes he get this right. 🙂
• wowo – Lolo
• wowa – Lola
• iya – Lilia (our helper)
• nona – Donna (his yaya)
• nang nang – Ninang Tita
• gar – Edgar (our colleague)
• day – Inday (Helper who press our clothes)
• wowo – Pororo
• Kong – Crong
• dii – Eddy
• bii – Poby
• abee abee – Jollibee
• maan – Spiderman
• taad – Tad (his singing frog)

* before he calls me “meeeh”, yes, parang kambing lang.. hahaha.. then he calls his dad “baab!” Either he thinks dad and baab sounds alike or he was imitating how I call his dad (Bobe). hmmm..

Verbs:

• bat bat – bath time
• unk unk – khun khun (chinese for sleep)
• ahm ahm – eat
• ap ap – up, fly or anything that moves upward or goes up
• hwak – hawak (hold)
• wach – watch
• wuk – walk
• wok – work
• aak aak – hug
• bash – labas
• bhish – Bihis
• weyt – wait
• tatch – touch
• bush – push
• aak – cut

Food:

• munk – milk
• rays – rice
• da – isda
• beyd – bread
• iik – egg
• chis – cheese
• eys – jelly Ace
• neyts – grapes
• doysh – juice
• minsh – vitamins
• ‘arks’ – apple (sorry I don’t how to spell this out, but he makes the sound of biting a crunchy apple, he got this before he turned 1 :))

Things:

• karsh – cars
• unk unk – pillow (since he uses this for khun khun)
• buuk – Book
• wach – watch
• ish ish – toothbrush
• eyst – toothpaste
• shoys – Shoes (he got this just now, he called this shish before. And by the way, this is his first word! Lakwatsero! He got this before he is 1)
• kahks – socks
• haat – hat
• bak – Bag, bike
• tarsh – stars
• muun – moon
• maan – snowman
• bash – bus
• pha pha – padyak (bisaya for sidecar)
• aak aak – nail cutter
• aan aan – guitar or violin
• caak – clock
• iin iin – laptop (this we don’t get how he came about this)
• tatch – iTouch
• bush – balls
• awtch – hair clamp (naipit kasi sya ng hair clamp ko, since then he calls it Ouch! haha!)

Animals:

• aw aw! – Dog
• bert – Bird
• da – Fish
• ants – ants
• ssss – snake
• nars – snails
• chik chik – chicks or chicken
• rrrr – tiger
• mawsh – mouse
• aak – yak

*he also knows other animals, but can’t pronounce it yet

Adjectives/adverbs:

• bad (with matching palo) – bad
• bik – Big
• unk  cold
• haat haat – hot
• an an – on (turn on lights)
• wet – wet
• kiying – clean

Parts of the body:

• ays – eyes
• nush – nose
• eash – ears
• biit – feet

* the rest he knows when asked but can’t pronounce yet.. (may disclaimer talaga lagi ang mommy)

Colors:

• boo – blue
• bak – black
• mink – pink
• wayt – white
• bawn – brown
• giyin – green

Numbers:

• chu – Two
• pay – Five
• iit – Eight

* he also knows his alphabets but he reads it by their sounds 🙂

Expressions:

• hwak – huwag
• awtch – Ouch (whenever he gets hurt)
• aaak – yuck
• yaaan – ayan
• baay – bye
• gen – again
• aaaaaaaw – wow

phrases:

• bak aw aw big – Big Black Dog
• ahm ahm da – fish eat
• ahm ahm mawsh chiis – mouse eats cheese

He can communicate better now. With words he knew and all the gestures he makes. By the way, if you don’t listen to him, he grabs your face to look at him until he’s sure that you got what he is saying!

Naku, we need to gear up na, for sure in a few months, lang katapusang kwentuhan. Can’t wait for him to tell me about his day at school. 🙂