the last month

this could be my last monthly birthday celebration. in a month i will be celebrating my first birthday! where did all 11 of 'em months go?! time sure swiftly passes by. i am indeed growing up!

today we had one of my faves, dadi's spaghetti-ala-jollibee, paired with dad's homemade "asado" siopao (i know, weird combo, haha). and the monthly cake for today was a carrot cake that mom brought home from albertson's after work.



let's look at some of my milestones, shall we? starting with that of babycenter's checklist...

on the mastered skills (most kids can do), i got 4 out of 4. and i have discussed each of them on my previous monlthly updates. they are: saying "mama" and "dada" to the correct parent; playing patty-cake and peek-a-boo; standing alone; and cruising.

off to the emerging skills (half of kids can do). i am a 1(and a half, haha) out of 2. first on the list is that of understanding "no" and simple instructions. and i tell yah, my parents have mastered different ways of saying "NO". i know what "NO" means. however, curiosity more often beats the wit out of me and i would carry on, until the "NO" becomes a hard one, and loud at that, and until my parents forcefully pull me away from what it is that i am on to. and like what i've told you before, when they say no, expect wet raspberries from me after.

i can also comprehend a lot of simple instructions and try to follow as much. that's how i learned most of my tricks and skills. you'd often hear my parents telling me to "get that ball" or "get that something", "say" this and that, "stand-up", "walk", "stay still", "dance", "clap", "kiss elmo", "hug mingming", and so on and so forth. being a good dotta, i would obediently comply.

putting objects into a container gave me the half point. yes i would sometimes put stuff in, but expect that to come out right away :) i am the great mess-maker remember?

lastly, the advanced skills (a few kids can do). i scored 2 out of 2.

i can definitely say some words besides "mama" and "dada". i say "dede" a lot and often, it means milk. heehee. in addition, from one of mom's plurk and facebook's status, she mentioned about how i can mimick some animal sounds such as that of a cow and a rooster. when you utter anything that has "cow" on it, i'd say "mmmmm... mmmmm". and if you ask me what a rooster says, i'd blurt "kakl-doo-doo" out! this one's harder though so i don't say it often. here's the only video that shows me saying "mmm..mmm". and that's it. i am not as pa-bida as mom =). i also call noggin's moose a. moose "mmmmm", and when moose would say "it's puzzle time!", i would simultaneously say "aaaah". i am such a talker. i say a lot of words and stories that only i can understand though, heehee. like this one.

second on the list is that of stooping from standing position. i definitely do that! what i would often do though is stand on all fours (feet, not knees, and hands glued on the ground) and admire the view upside down. haha. i get fascinated at how everything looks that way.

other significant milestones not listed above and highlights for this month follow...

1. i didn't gain weight this month. so i a still sitting at 20.6lbs. i actually lost a little bit of weight when i got the sickies but gained that little back. i am about 29 inches long.

2. since i learned how to walk, there's no stopping me from walking here, there and everywhere. i can walk across my play pen now (and you know how big that area is from some pictures shared before right?). once out from it, i woud immediately stand up and start walking in our living room, our kitchen and dining, and upstairs too. sure, i look like a drunken master when i walk, and i might have fallen gazillions of times already (specially when i get too giddy and try to walk much faster), but i can do it more gracefully now (both balancing while walking, and diving down). my mom lost count of my steps by the way and stopped counting as soon as she realized that i can now really walk. i still crawl when i am "nagiinarte" or when i really want something in a jiffy! madaya! hehehe


i got tons of "walking" videos as well. sharing a few below. others can be found here, here, here and here. and i'm pretty sure you've read mom's mommy moments' entry regarding my first steps.



3. i climb the stairs on my feet now. i still need my hands to support me of course, but i guess my strides are longer now that i can use my feet to do one stair step at a time. no more knees! i can also do this fast! so please install the gates now dad and mom. you know that in just a matter of seconds i can climb up to the 4th step don't you? here's a moving proof.

4. no additional tooth has sprouted. but i am becoming annoyed of the serious brushing that my parents are doing. brushing has become like nappy changing for mom and dad -- an almost impossible challenge!

5. i am getting into serious dancing now. i have been accumulating a lot of steps. i sway, body or head or both, i "kembot", i stomp my feet, i go up and down with my knees, i clap and wave my hands, i arm/hand-roll, i move my head forward and back ala-aiza seguerra. i don't do all these at the same time. but any music - sound from a musical toy, a commercial jingle, or a simple song from dad - will put me on the groove even if i am seated. wanna see one or two of these steps? view this and this.

6. i've been loving all the tv commercials lately. i started with car commercials. now, any will do. if you want me to stay quiet and glued on tv, just play any tv ads. i easily get hypnotized by them!

7. i switched to an older babies' formula since the start of the month. i am now drinking enfamil next step. and whaddayaknow?! it's mmm-mmm good! i can take in about 30oz of that in a day!

8. i officially hate sleeping. i like it better when i am awake and can play with my parents and my toys. i fight off sleep by blabbering and talking to myself. it's a helluva challenge for my parents to put me to bed at night time and even during naps. tsk tsk.

9. i still love food. i take spoonfuls of food even if i haven't swallowed most of the 1st batch yet. and if that happens, everything will come out. yep, i now know how to spit them all out (often, these are chicken or pork pieces devoured of their yummy juices, heehee).

10. i've learned that i love the water. from the pool, that is. i did my first parent-baby swimming lessons from ymca this month. you've read about this on my previous posts anyway so i don't need to elaborate.

11. i had been a great travel companion. be it from just biking, to my first "long" drive ever! that is if you call an almost 3hr road trip a long drive. mom just equipped herself with toys - variety of toys, snacks, songs, stories and what-have-yous to keep me entertained. we'll see how i'd do on a really longer one. mom will share her stories as soon as she gets all our ponderosa trip pics uploaded. there are just tons of 'em!

there ya go! my next monthly update will be from the 1st bday party. wowza! my parents are currently preparing for it already and they finally have a theme in mind. for sure, my mom will tell you all about the preps on her blog. and before i go, let me share some snaps taken from our backyard this afternoon of my 11th month bday.


and then some pics taken indoors...


** there are more pics here. and you can view my month 10 to 11 pics here. also some month 10 to 11 videos that are still incomplete. uh-huh, i have accumulated that much this month

bike (trailer) ride anyone?

it has been about two summers ago since my parents rode their bikes. since they wanted to reunite with their bikes and take advantage of what remains of this short summer, they got me a trailer. that way, i can join in the fun!

today, we did a soft trial run with it. we only circled the 'hood and avoided major roads hence no need for gears such as helmets and the likes. and boy was it F.U.N! it was way more exciting when it was attached to dad's bike rather than just being pushed when jogging. hayluveeet!

here are some of the snaps taken by my mom while single-handedly (literally) driving her bike. she somehow managed to maneuver with just one hand on the handle bar and one hand taking pics and videos of me.

if these aren't enough, go ahead and click here and a couple of videos here and here
one saturday morning, we'll do some serious biking at ann morrison park, by the greenbelt. uh-huh, expect loads of pictures after! teehee!

roseola infantum

i have ro-se-o-... what?!!

ah, just read about it from my mom's blog! this is too big a word for me to comprehend =)

7 steps!

not two, not three... but seven little steps!!!... all by myself!

my mom was busy counting these steps while she was watching me very bravely attempting to walk by myself. hence, she failed to capture it on vid. teehee. but here's a video of me showcasing this milestone, finally caught on cam earlier today! mom will also be sharing this on her mommy moments entry for july 24. so you can watch out for that too (will update this blog with a link to her entry too :D).

swimming lessons week 1

my parents are no great swimmers. they actually are frightened by just the thought of drowning in the open sea and yeah, even the deep end of the pool. hence, they wanted to make sure that i won't inherit that same fear so they had me starting early by enrolling me at YMCA's parent-and-baby swimming lessons. a 2-day 30-min session in july that runs for 3 weeks.

the goal of the class is to make us babies acclimated to the pool, plus the nurturing and bonding between parents and their respective babies. we took the 5:30pm MW sessions so on these days you'd see mom literally running from work an hour and a half earlier than her usual bye-bye time.

on the first day, it was a full class. about 9 babies all in all. while one parent was with the baby in the class, one doting parent (and grannies and aunts, etc etc, were) is at the edge of the pool taking snaps of their babies. too bad we didn't bring our camera since we were not sure if we'll have time for that or we'll have someone take pictures of me (coz dad was also in his class at that same time). tsk tsk. should mom have known...

it was a fun class. there were playing and singing. and if only mom brushed up on her nursery rhymes, she would've been able to sing "ring around the rosy" with everyone. teehee. to mom's surprise, i enjoyed the water! i didn't show any signs of disappointment or disliking of the pool. we even stayed for about 20minutes more just to practice "kicking" on my tummy that i learned that day.

on day 2, we used the cooler lap pool since some baby threw up on the heated rec pool. so it was a cold swim that day! i almost cried when i instantly felt the water, but lit up when mom moved me and when i saw the water toys! our teacher brought 'em toys today. after the singing and wading, she had us use one toy to learn the "big reach". what we did was throw the toy as far as i could and "swim" for it (that's kicking on my tummy with mom's help of course) while my mom says "big reach" until i get near the toy and grab it. (the pic on the right is not my class. it's the class before mine)


this time i had pictures. but nah, not during the class. these were taken during my "practice" time.

a video of my practice "kicks" can be viewed here
can't wait for next week's class!

the 4th of july

since it's my first ever fourth of july, my parents decided to bring me where the action is. they wanted me to see the extravagant fireworks up close. so we went to boise depot and found a really nice spot (thanks to tito dennis and tita ria) where dad found a cool niche to do some fireworks photo shoot, while mom and i were enjoying the view. luckily, i didn't get scared of the "ka-booms" and the "ka-bangs". i was just loving the "lights" show high above the clouds! :)

here are some of our pictures! enjoy!

can't view the slideshow? just go to our flickr online album

2 more months!

i am now 10 months old! yep, just two months shy from my 1st birthday! i don't feel the party planning pressure from my parents yet. boise isn't a busy city ya know. plus the party isn't going be something really grande. well, maybe next month (they're both known to be good procrastinators anyway, teehee).

this afternoon, we went to our subdivision park so that i could try the slide and then do a little bit of a photo shoot in the park. here are few of 'em shots:


and and here's a video of me almost falling out of the slide

dad prepared one of my favorites -- pancit bihon!-- just for today and of course it wouldn't be complete without my monthly cake (with my favorite fruit for it's icing design) topped with 10 little candles.



before the day ended, we took a few more snaps on our lone red swivel chair (sofa in the living room is gone. my folks were able to sell it during our garage sale. it's due to be upgraded soon anyway).


the rest of my 10th month bday pics are here

now, let's all visit babycenter's 10-month old milestones first and see how i par.

i definitely have mastered all 3 from the all-kids-can-do list: waving goodbye; picking things up with pincer grasp; and crawling well, with belly off the ground. and i'll take bets on any race since i crawl really fast now! see?!

on the emerging skills i do say "mama" and "dada" to the correct parent. not very often though since i don't normally call them that. i use some gestures to indicate my wants and needs and also to tell mom or dad or anyone that i disapprove of some things. most often though, i would just cry or shout.

i've done one out of two on the advanced skills. that of standing alone for seconds. i can get myself up without any support and balance by myself. and i can actually do this a lot longer now. a video here to see what i mean.. putting object into a container is a skill i have yet to be taught though. i always make a mess by getting everything out of hampers, bags, boxes, cabinets and shelves, but i couldn't tidy up by putting them back in, heehee. wanna see how?

other 10 month updates:

-- i now weigh 20.4lbs (if only i were a year old, i would've been allowed to use a front-facing carseat) and 28.5inches long

-- i have 4 teeth now! 2 on top and 2 below. brushing seriously!

-- i tried walking by myself! i did 2 steps and dived on the 3rd =). i keep on attempting to perfect this skill by myself so you'd often see me diving down my mat. mom had no luck capturing this on cam yet. teehee. my parents had been making my play area free from sharp and hard obstructions to make walking safer for me.

-- i use almost anything to help me cruise and walk. be it a pair of hands, the furniture, the sofa, my fence, the kitchen cabinets, and yep, even the rolling fruit basket. that's why my mom calls me a "pusher". i push everything from hampers, to my toys, to anything! here i am walking careof dad, walking using the fence, and pushing the hamper and my toy.

-- i am becoming more and more of a helluva talkative baby! of course, none of the words can be understood by anyone but i am composing "sentences" now, "paragraphs" or "stories" if you would. specially when i'm fighting off sleep, i would talk and "sing" to myself as loudly as i could. again, yet to be captured on cam.

-- i've tried "swimming" for the first time this month. i am preparing for the swimming class on the big pool come july ya know.

-- i still eat a lot. my favorites so far include fruits like watermelon, melon and banana. and lately i am loving it when there's chicken on my food =). arrowroot biscuits are getting to be my fave on-the-go snack, specially now that it's summer when we're always out, basking under the sun. here i am taking big bites from this banana. unfortunately for my parents, my board books are included in my favorites. teehee.


-- and i am doing quite a number of cool tricks and collecting lots of funny antics and "gaya,gaya,puto,maya" moments now:

1. i now know how to do the "mano po"

2. i can do the high five but i would sometimes confuse it with "mano po"

3. i give dad and mom kisses. but i've been doing this eversince.

4. i wave hi and bye for real.

5. i know how to drive away "strangers". if someone else wants to carry me besides my mom or dad, i can twist my body and shield one arm from them which directly tells them that i don't know you. heehee

6. when my parents would say "asus, asus", i would fake "coughing". there's also a forceful grunt that i would do that would really make my face all red. heehee. and i'm proud to say that i just learned to do this by myself. =). if you can't picture it, just watch this video.

here's another one

7. i raspberry in disapproval

8. when you say no, i would move my head from side to side, as if i am agreeing to disagree with you. but expect a #7 at the end =)

9. i blurt contagious laughter and giggles out

10. i dance, wiggle, sway and stomp my feet to the music. becomings of a good dancer eh?! video links here and here.

11. i clap whenever you say "clap" or "good job". video of my "keyboard recital" here with clapping at the end.

i have lotsa tricks rolled up my sleeves and they sure are making my folks laugh their heads off. if they could only capture all of my antics, my mom would be really happy. heehee. i'll update you with more of these next month, meanwhile enjoy my month 9 to 10 pictures!

the first steps

'the first "two" steps' is more apt i think. and yes indeed, just two.

this afternoon, i just started to get bored cruising and crawling and thought that it would get me faster to that toy, that was about two feet away from me, if i'd walk by myself. and walk, i did! i took two heedless and unmeasured but brave steps, little ones but really fast, that made me dive on my third step.

did it hurt?! nah! i even tried to do it again. and i still fell, face down, on the third step. this won't stop me though from doing it again and again until i perfect the skill. i get a lot of encouragement from my parents too so i know i can do it, someday. my parents will surely be happy once i start walking on my own!

let's go "swimming"

... and when i say "swimming", i mean dipping and wading in water =)

it was my first time to "swim" on my baby-small inflatable pool today. it was just too hot outside that my mom thought that it would be a great idea for me to dip in my pool. i had this pool for about a month now but it was only today that it was finally inflated and put into use.

they actually bought this together with other swimming stuff for me (read: swim suits, sunblock, salbabida, etc) as soon as they found out that YMCA offers parent-and-baby swimming lessons. the class is more of a parent-baby bonding/nurturing class rather than the "real" swimming lessons. so my mom's all the more excited that she had ourselves immediately enrolled for the july class which starts monday after labor day.

more pics here and a bonus video here =)
so how was my first time "swimming"? i initially didn't like it. i was almost crying and wanted my dad to carry me back. well, it was a whole new experience for me, ya know! but as soon as i learned how to wade and play with my water toys, i got the hang of it and enjoyed myself. we'll see how i'll do once we're in the real big pool. mom's crossing her fingers this early, heehee.