missin' lolo dadi

mom just brought him this morning to the airport to board his plane (or planes) to go back to lola mami in thailand. we sure are missing him. i am fortunate enough to have experienced being with him physically even for a short while.

lolo dadi paid us a visit before and after his cincinnati conference. he does this yearly so i'm happy that i'll get to see him every year. i just hope lola mami could go with him everytime.

when he was here, we were almost always out. lolo dadi, together with dad and mom, pigged out and tried restaurants that they haven't set foot on before like famous daves and the new brazilian resto called tucanos. they went on a shopping spree too. while i had been nothing but a happy baby. i didn't pose any problems with all our lakwatsa since i like going out and seeing a bunch of crowd.

but what i loved the most was every bit of time that i was able to spend with him, moments of playtime and chats with him. he almost always never failed to make me smile and giggle. we really thank God for technology! at least i can still see my lolo dadi and lola mami every week through skype.

sharing some of my pics with lolo dadi...

playtime with lolo dadi .. and here's a video too

pigging out with lolo dadimore lolo dadi pictures here.

carrots made me gag!

...well at least during the first time that may parents introduced pureed carrots to me last saturday. it really tastes weird! very much different from my milk and cereals!

it smells yucky mom! and gah! it doesn't taste like chicken
eeeeeeewwwww! i just want to chew the spoon
see?! mukhasim right? i did puke, but nothing came out. it just made my eyes misty. i finished the bowl though. fine, call me PG! the red orange mess i made though is hideous. mom really thanks God for Oxyclean to get rid of the stains!

don't fail to watch this video of my first ever encounter with veggies. you're not human if you don't find it funny. haha. you'll see how i reacted at each spoonful and the gagging that unfortunately wasn't caught on still. but even if this video is worthy of AFV, please don't make fun of me ok?

ps. i like carrots now... how about peas? hmmm... we'll find out next week.

may talukap ako!

... and this is a very big of a deal for mom coz she doesn't have these pretty little creases. when i was in her tummy, she actually prayed for me to inherit dad's eyes, one of dad's best assets according to her. when i was born however, i only had a pair of slits. so they knew right there and then that i'd have her eyes. she's happy though, since everything else on my face seem to be from dad, so these eyes are her only stronghold for that "pinagbiyak na bunga" effect. good enough to make everyone comment that i'm a carbon copy of my mom. so far, she's been getting affirmations from almost everyone who see me now.

a day before my 5th month birthday though, she noticed these folds. she initially thought that they were just temporarily here as an aftermath of sleep. but these folds remained until the present day so i guess they're gonna be here for good.


mom's just so happy that aside from the thicker and longer lashes that she also lacks, i also have what they call talukap. i am pretty, really pretty. well, that's how dad and mom see me. yep, pretty much loving their own,haha.

the 5-month update

it's that time of the month again... my monthly celebration! today, on my 5th month, mom skipped work to be able to spend more time with dad and me. as always, my parents prepared great food for the occasion. dad cooked fried chicken pancit canton and made some puto (his first attempt). mom,on the other hand,made an egg pie.

more january 30 pics here
lolo dadi's short visit made this month's celebration extra special too! he'll be here until monday, will go to cincinnati on tuesday and then will be back again on feb 15 til the 18th before he goes back to my lola mami in thailand. i know! such a short trip!


@ 5 months, i now weigh 15lbs. i measure 25 inches from head to feet. yeah, i can now reach the bottom of my exersaucer! woohoo! with my chunky legs, i had to switch to size 3 diapers. blame it on that yummy rice cereals which mom or dad makes perfectly well. i take about 1-2tbsp of which 2x a day. (i wonder when i'd switch to those colorful veggies... which reminds me that we're still on our search for that perfect high chair). my parents now seriously complain at how heavy i've become whenever they're carrying me. fine dad, let's try that sling!

i am loving it when i am playing with my parents and my toys when sitting up unsupportedly. i feel tall whenever i do that. i can see my toys and aim at them better when i am seated up. oh, and i now have preferences for toys. show me everything i'll have and i'll pick mr. giraffe first, then elmo-the-teether. (i can't pick elmo-the-live, he's huge!)


one happy baby is how my mom describes me now. coz i really am! i now laugh a big girl's laugh! specially when it's playtime. i just wish it's playtime all the time! i also give out generous giggles when someone's making funny faces and sounds. and i specially like it when we're dancing or in kulitan-mode. it may take a while for me to smile at anyone i just met though.

i love waking up to my dad and mom's faces too. i just couldn't help but smile when it's their faces that i see the moment i wake up. on weekends though, when i wake up a little later than usual, i would often play and talk with myself and wait for my parents to come and pick me up. and this part's been my parents' favorite! when they would come for me. coz as soon as i see them, i'd be wiggling with delight, and i just couldn't help but giggle with glee! mom's just soooo happy that she's my momma when i do this.

i also am now a very talkative baby. i'm all the more joel daldal. i can entertain myself (and apparently, others like my parents' families back home most specially during our weekly skyping/YMing sessions with them, when they can see me and hear me, live) by just plain babbling. my mom had one of my long-playing babbling recorded on her phone and she listens to my voice when she wants a booster at work. however, when my parents ask me to repeat some words after them, i just don't. but i do watch their lips intently when they form shapes. the bet is also on as to what i'd say first, whether it's mami or dadi/dada.

when they call my name, i look into their direction. but then, i also look when they call me any other names. hahahaha. but when they say "up, up, up!" i would try to pull myself forward. if they hold my hands when they do this, i will go from lying to sitting to standing position. when i'm lazy though, i'd just sit still. haha. but i do love it when i'm standing up. i'd bounce and kick my legs giddily as if i'm walking when i'm on a stance. this makes my mom think that i'd probably prefer walking over crawling. well, we'll find out in a few months time i guess.

alrighty then! see you for another round of updates in a month! ;)
meanwhile, please do enjoy the rest of my month 5 (pics taken from jan 1-29) here.

my ABC's

when dad saw the yourbabycanread infomercial from the telly, he immediately told mom about it. then mom saw the infomercial herself with all the parents' testimonials which made both of them long for their products. the said products can apparently make a baby, who has yet to learn how to talk, be able to read. yes, you read it right? R-E-A-D! and my parents saw the videos of these babies and kids reading (or acting out what they've read), with their very own eyes. my folks (specially my mom) dream big ya know, so they want the same for me.

BUT, and a big BUT at that, the set is very expensive! hence, dad decided that he'll be the one to teach me how to read using his own methods. and we started by learning the alphabet. so, he got me a set of alphabet flash cards, with big letters, small letters and pictures. each day, we'll learn two letters in order. the next day, we'll review those two letters, and start with two more, and so on and so forth. so i get to see 4 colorful flash cards daily.

here's the letter j
oh, so that's how a jet looks like!
but... let me taste 'em flash cards... yummm!
they actually aren't sure if i really am going to learn my abc's as fast as those babies on the infomercial, or if i'll possess the same interest as they do. nevertheless, it's fun doing this with dad! a bonding moment indeed!

well, i don't mind that much. i just know that they're happy doing a lot of activities with me. as long as they keep singing the alphabet song to me (which never fails to amuse me... yeah, even if i'm in the middle of a crying spill, when i hear them sing the song, i would really stop and listen), i'd be one really happy baby!

playtime is funtime!

everyone loves playtime! even the adults do!

i have whole lotsa toys (i even have plenty of 'em that are still in their boxes). and like any other home with kids, toys have been everywhere around the house. i do get to play with them everyday. my parents think that i'm just chewing on them like you would a teether though,haha.

but i would never ever trade the best playtime i have to any other toy in the whole wide universe! and that is my playtime with dad and mom. i just love our kulitan and gigilan together! they are my favorite playmates! they actually think that i like to be brutally tickled, and boy i do! and i know how happy they are when we really play interactively. here are some videos of my favorites...

dad kissing my feet... watch me pushing my feet towards him, haha

playing with the rattle ball and dad... yes, go ahead, you can laugh with me! it's that contagious! hahahahahah (watch all 3 parts here).

how about you? what's your fave?

milk + rice cereals = one PG happy joel!

that's rice cereals! you read it right. yes, my first ever attempt to take in something solid. my first time to try solid food. and it all began this very same day.

dad's the one who's really excited to give me solids already. he thought that since i love watching them eat, solid food and i will have nothing but a love-love relationship. so they wouldn't have any problems feeding me. they of course followed my pedia's recommendations.

i really didn't know what that spoon is for. yeah, i always see mom and dad use it, and whenever they eat, i really watch them with envy and pananakam. but when that spoon first touched my lips, i really didn't know what to expect. initially, my worried mom thought that i wouldn't eat it. (video of my very first encounter with a spoon)


when i was able to taste it, oh heaven! i couln't stop! i wanted to gobble everything and wipe that bowl clean! i wanted to grab the spoon and put everything in my mouth. though i'm still learning the art of swallowing and how my tongue should help in the process, i still enjoyed every spoonful of that rice cereal and milk concoction!

i may have been one dirty baby afterwards, but this was nothing (even with my oc dad who's always wiping me with a damp cloth) compared to the PG happy baby that this first experience made. uh-huh, another one of those memorable and well-documented milestone.

can't hardly wait for tomorrow's meal! weehee!

** here are the videos of my "katakawan" and "PG-ness" >>> part2, part3, part4