I Am Five | 2010

Five years ago, I was in the operating room of Asian Hospital in Alabang, Muntinlupa. I was in a daze because my wife is in labor and we were about to be on the receiving end of a 7-month pre-term baby who was very impatient and wants to come out early. Days and nights in the Neo-natal ICU followed. Days of visits to doctors and specialists soon came after. Followed still by a few hitches and a few glitches later on.

But five years on, we never would have imagined Jakjak to be this irresistable little huggy-bug that brings endless joy to his mum and dad (and most of everyone else that he knows).

I can still recall how he worried us when he got his first fever and could not sleep. When he had his first cold and could not breathe. When he had his first operation for hernia at 6 months old (God, that was unbearable for a parent, especially a dad). And that time when he fell from the bed when he was but 3 months old. He still worries us every now and then, it's just not as often as before. He still falls and fumbles every now and then, but it's just because he is too much of a scrambler who does not look at where he's going most of the time. And we love him to bits.

He likes presents. He likes toys. He likes pretty much whatever it is you give him (except for food during lunch and dinner). But he doesn't ask for toys that often. He asks if what he wants is expensive or not, and leaves it on the shelf if it is. He will often shout "I like that" when he sees the TV ad, but he never throws a tantrum just to get it at the toy store. In a way, I probably did that to him. I was like that when I was small, but for a different reason than what I was teaching him. Because today, I can give him the toys that he wants, but we control our buying sprees simply because he has so many toys already that he knows what to do with. And we fell it's healthy for the both of us (I did not have as much toys as Jakjak has when I was his age).

He knows his letters and his numbers. He knows his words and his vocabulary is quite big for his age. He would often ask what a word means if he hears it for the first time and will use it while talking to you until he understands how to use it. He knows how volcanoes erupt and that Saturn has rings made of gas. He knows which is a Ferrari and which is a Porsche, and he also knows which is a Mazda. He makes cake and ice cream from Play Doh. He draws helicopters, buses (with 3D wheels) and mum and dad. He makes trains out of empty boxes and water bottles and a rocket booster from cardboard and paper (decorated with green highlighter pens). He's an imaginative thinker, and he makes good use of his talents to bring love and happiness to people. And we appreciate it most, because we love this boy to the core.

Appetizer | 2010

For the longest time, Mum had been coaxing Jakjak into eating to make him, well, look healthier. He is healthy, mind you, it's just when you look at our sizes, he seems a bit underwhelming. The problem we found with Jakjak is that he eats only what he wants to eat at a certain time. He eats most of anything, in his own time. And when he wants to eat, he really wants to eat. Lately, he's been chomping his way on late night dinners and milk before going to bed (that's dinner at 11 PM!).

Of course, as with most of anything that we allow him to do, we still need to watch what he eats. The way we are now, and the problems that we have (high cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc.), we believe it prudent that Jakjak learns which foods are good for him and which are not. Thankfully, he likes what we give him (most of the time) and is easy to teach and control. We let him have his way as long as he has eaten healthy at least 70% of his total intake.

One problem that we have always assumed to be the cause of Jakjak's non-capacity to gain weight is his over-hyper-dooper-active lifestyle. When he's not sleeping, he's talking. When he's not talking, he's playing with his toys. When he's not playing with his toys, he's running around like a headless chicken trying to juggle a gazillion things at the same time.


At the very least, we are now happy with his eating habits. It took a while to get him to eat right, but a little bit of persuasion from Mum and Dad helped. We taught him how to cook (by engaging his help while Mum is cooking), we taught him how to make sandwiches (the messy kind), we had him help make pancakes (after which the kitchen looks like snow city) and just ask him to be there while we eat. Of course, now he has his own toy stove with a complete set of pans, a tea party set, an ice cream maker and a bunch of Japanese style miniature food replicas. Girl stuff? Nah, chefs are men with balls after all.

Mister Maker | 2010

One of Jakjak's favorite things to do at the moment is to "make something". He had just gotten a new Play Doh ice cream making set which he saw on the telly (it was on sale!) and was having a jolly good time pretending to serve ice cream swirls, when he finished his Cookie Crisp cereal. At the back of the box was a cut out rocket which I helped him cut and tape together. After a while, he had a great idea and put on the cut up box on his head and started mumbling airline blabber (you know, the kind that goes "we are now at 1800 feet above Singapore ..."). He had so much fun that he forgot about the ice cream maker. 

This is a pilot helmet. Really.

There seems to be something about empty boxes that call out to children. He once used a big empty computer box (one I used to carry my stuff out of my old office) as an airplane. He used a "balik-bayan" box as a hide out. He even used one of medium-sized ones to make himself a Jakjak in a box. If I had only realized that it would be this cheap to get creative playtime with him, I would have just put all those Hotwheels cars in a box (one that says "Dad's") and bought him empty cardboard boxes from the local grocery. It would have made our place look like a warehouse though, and Mum probably wouldn't approve.

This is a train. Really really.

During their free time, Mum usually home schools Jakjak with letters, numbers, words and the sort of things that you learn in school. Most of the time though, Jakjak is just playing or watching the telly. Television shows nowadays seem to have evolved, and I meant that in a good way. Back in the day, the only choice I had was Sesame Street and the News. Today, we are watching Word World, Captain Y, Mister Maker, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Dora and Diego and all the other education biased shows. Which is a relief, because those are the shows that Jakjak likes to watch (along with Flapjack and the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy). With some parental guidance, he's been learning stuff that I didn't know until I was thirteen. It's good to see him use what he has learned, and it makes him proud to see his work appreciated, which is why our kitchen has now become an art wall. We like to think of it as, free wallpaper.