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.