Bukol

Getting ready for bed. We had just finished brushing our teeth and washing up in the shower. Rama was hopping up and down, trying to put her pants on in the bathroom.

Bam, she bangs her head on the sink corner. I see a lump coming on. Standard procedure, we get frozen veggies from the fridge and hold it against the lump. I suppose, at this point, I was fretting.

Rama: Aw, I don't like when you're upset.
Me: Alam mo kasi, Rama, kaya ako upset, pag nasasaktan ka, nasasaktan din ako.

The wise-ass holds the pack of frozen spinach to my head.

Me: What?
Rama: Kasi nasasaktan ka, sabi mo.

She agreed to have this picture taken on the condition that I don't show it to my friends. Or if I do, to say we're only pretending that she has a bukol.

How Am I Supposed To Know?!?

Rama: How did the teachers know? (...what they know, she means)
Me: They went to school to become teachers.
Rama: How did their teachers know?

I pause, struggling a bit.

Rama: You don't know.

When You Are Alone With Your Mother...

...you find ways to amuse yourself.

Food Styling

"Show this to your friends. Tell them, it's not from a restaurant. Tell them your daughter made it."

It's true. Rama and I brainstormed this arrangement on the bus, planning what snack we would have upon getting home. The previous week, I made a similar arrangement. Nutella on crackers on a plate, with the 5 last blueberries topping the crackers on the outside. The centre cracker was missing a blueberry and Rama called me on it: Dapat yung gitna meron. So today, she brought it up again. And we re-executed. We had enough blueberrries to top all the crackers and she added "celery, so it really looks like a flower."
She ate everything, including most of the celery. (She tried the leaves, too, but didn't like that too much.)

Need? Or...

We have this little guy. It's a fun lamp, rechargeable, so we can take it around. We were playing in the closet, scaring ourselves silly.
Me: I like this red one. But we need the blue and the green, too.
Rama: What?
Me: I said, these lamps come in blue and green. We need those.
Rama: No, we don't need those. You just want it.

Birds in Flight

On our walk today, Rama and I spotted these birds in flight. Amazing how they go on a straight line.

Rama: They're going to school.

Weekend Round-up

It was a beautiful Saturday. Rama and I met up with friends in the park for an outdoor concert and after the show had brunch. We then went our separate ways; Rama and I headed over to another park, this time closer to home, where we chanced upon more performances - samba, a medieval play, clowns and other circus acts. After that, more playground time and just running around. We wanted to have cold drinks so we ducked into a nearby mall. We went in for drinks, but left with more than that for Rama - a new pair of summer sandals and a headband. I couldn't find a pair of shoes for myself, and Rama was very sympathetic. "It's ok, Mommy. You have me."
We also heard Tagalog all over the mall and this got Rama excited. "Tagalog! Tagalog! Tell them we're Tagalog, too!" So I find myself chatting up other Filipinos, sheepishly explaining that my daughter was so "sabik." They would comment, "Buti marunong pa siya mag-Tagalog." Rama would simply say, "Opo." And after that, I would find that we would converse in Tagalog, between the two of us. I pointed this out to her: "Natutuwa ako pag nag-ta-tagalog ka! Lalo pag sinasabi mo, Opo."

Rama: Opo! Opo! Opo! Opo! Opo! I want you to be happy.

'Brit' Accent

Rama: You know why Britney doesn't like it when I leave her house? Because she said I make nice princess voices. She can't talk like a princess.
Me: Really? Why, paano ba siya magsalita?

I knew the answer to this. Britney is a wild child - loud and exuberant. Always yelling, "Am I in trouble? Am I in trouble? Who's getting a time-out?" But I wanted to hear it straight from Rama. Turns out, Rama notices her lazy consonants.

Rama: She talks fast. And she doesn't say ng. She just says, 'the dollies are sleepin'... Smilin'... Runnin'... Bawan'

Will She?

Rama and I walked into a toy store today. Naturally, she was drawn to the princess costumes. I couldn't quite make out what she was saying. Possibly, she was talking to herself, as she often does. I engaged her, anyway.

Me: Pardon me?
Rama, holding a blur of pink toulle and lace and satin, which was actually a princess dress: I was just talking to myself. (Thought so). But do you want to hear what I was saying?
Me: Sure.

I bend down.

Rama, in a stage whisper: Will my mommy buy this for me kaya?

Allergic

One of the things that I had to get used to here in Canada was the paranoia about allergies. Peanuts, for instance, once an innocuous snack, are a health hazard. And it seems like every kid has an allergy of some sort - nuts, flour, pollen.

Rama, fortunately, has no allergies. But she feels a little left out. She needs her own! So here's how she figured it out: last summer, she wore flip flops that were a bit too tight, and they irritated her skin between her toes. Hence, she is "allergic to flip flops." She won't wear those.

Another time, she was having a lollipop and the hard candy cut her tongue. She thus concluded, "I'm allergic to lollipops."

Hannah Montana

Yes, Rama watches the spawn of Billy Ray Cyrus when she is at Ate Mercy's house. So she knows the words to the songs. Most of it.

Rama sings: You got the best of both world...

I sing along, correcting her in the process: You got the best of both worlds...

Rama: Mommy, do you watch Hannah Montana?
Me: Some parts.
Rama: I watched it. And it's not WORLDS. I heard it, I have no bingi.