Back to school

My husband looked at me strangely when I shared how excited I’d be when June would come by. As excited as I would be every schoolyear for summer to arrive, I would also eventually get bored and restless with the hot days of doing too little and not being able to see my friends. Enrollment usually happens around May, and that meant the commencement of many things: preparing for a new schoolyear and who knew what it would bring? At the very least, it meant new things, i.e. new items — shopping for school supplies, new socks and shoes (sounds so mundane, but we had uniforms), school bags, sometimes a new wallet, notebooks and pens and cases. It was the newness of it all — the beginning of something — that made me look forward to school.

I graduated many, many years ago and I don’t think I’ll ever be back in school; not as a student, anyway. But I did just go through enrollment: My little Matthew is off to preschool in some three weeks!

After paying and registering, I was handed a list of items to prepare and turn over for the year: art supplies, toiletries, and even a pillow!

I want him to be excited about school, and putting aside the commercialism of the exercise, shopping for school (I think) will help signal that he is entering a whole new stage. It’s not once-a-week playschool anymore. It’s not just one-hour classes. It’s a bit of growing up, though in tiny baby steps.

The mall beckons tomorrow. I can’t wait. I hope my giddiness rubs off him in the process.

A greeting for all moms

My boy has something to say:

Feet relief

Today, I noticed that Matthew’s heels were peeking out of his old Crocs clogs.  While Armand expressed some shock that we had only bought the pair a few months ago (correction, that was many months ago), I made the impulsive quick decision of buying him a new pair.  After all,  I only buy when needed. And — how convenient — a shop was right in front of us.

It was supposed to be a quick errand: pick up a new pair with a bigger size, and go.  And then I looked, and I found: a pair for myself.  No, many pairs for myself.  I had been wanting to get myself a pair of comfortable flat shoes, and there was a pretty brown pair that caught my eye. The shoes were simple and lovely, and so, so comfortable. I finally understood the reason why  people patronized the brand — even before the cute styles came out.

And then, I saw these wedge sandals. I made my choice. Height with comfort = my kind of footwear.

Aren’t they worth the lighter, thinner wallet?

Oh, yeah, Matthew got his new pair. But not before going through several pairs too. While I was trying on shoes, he started choosing more pairs, disregarding the two-tone red-and-navy pair of clogs I had already set aside for him.  Certainly, the child takes after me. The sandals went back to the salesperson, and he walked out with some kind of hybrid sneaker. Not bad for a little kiddo.

PS – The dad decided to get a pair of loafers. Driving home, he said that his feet were rejoicing.

Sibling revelry

When talk turns to parenthood and stories about my son, I usually get asked if we are planning to have another child. I often answer that it\’s an open-ended answer — I really can\’t say yes or no at this point. But I do know that for now, we are sticking to one.

There are many good reasons to have just one child at the moment, many of them stemming from practicality reasons, but as it turns out, there are also times I realize that it can be a lonely option — for Matthew especially.  Unfortunately, we don\’t have the proximity (or the number!) that affords us to have cousins and friends of the same age around often. As it is, Matthew enjoys being with other children more than other little kids; like any other eldest or only kid, he relates to older people better.  This is something I know that school will eventually address, but for now? For now, it is up to us to fill the social gap.

What it takes is just a little effort of setting playdates. We visited family recently for a swim, and Matthew didn\’t just have an instant barkada (set of friends) that day — he was immersed immediately in a family of three little boys and a doting ate (older sister).

Now who needs to feel the pressure of adding a new member to the family, when you can easily have gleeful companionship as this? Instant siblings, anyone?

Eating with color

I’ve been having some problems in the feeding department lately. I thought it must have begun a few weeks ago when Matthew got sick with a bad cold — he lost his appetite and was allowed to have barely anything besides milk. When he got back to his happy, healthy self, I was bothered that the mealtimes had become a battlefield.

Reading up and researching, I found out that I had to get a hold of myself: eating should not be stressful because I will lose every time I try to argue with a preschooler. More reading made me realize that many three-year-olds lose interest in eating — and it was perfectly alright if handled properly.

This meant making sure that every time he does eat — or graze, at the rate we’re going — constituted of something healthy. No empty calories, no junk food. A grilled cheese sandwich instead of sugar-rich chocolate cereal, a few pieces of grapes and a melon kebab instead of a bag of chips. I have given up on real meals; besides a hearty appetite over panfried cream dory and rice, Matthew has preferred sticking his nose up over what’s served for lunch or dinner.

I tried to explain to him at one time to try to eat as many different colors of food, just to get variety into his meals. That went not too far, unfortunately.

What eventually happened was a different integration of color in food. On one shopping trip, I remembered that one of Matthew’s favorite books these days is Green Eggs and Ham. Armand even found him a video game to play, which totally makes him guffaw each time he plays it.

While doing the groceries, I picked up my key ingredient and told Matthew, “We’re going to make green eggs and ham!”

Yesterday, I reminded Matthew about his special treat. He ignored me… or so I thought. After he was done playing with his trains (which he does every morning when he wakes up), he exclaimed, “Time for green eggs and ham!”

I quickly scoured the internet for the quickest way to make them. I placed Matthew on the kitchen counter, separated the eggs, and put a few drops of green food coloring on the egg whites and told Matthew to mix them with a fork. I placed a few more drops in some water to dilute it and painted a slice of chicken ham. Then I place the greened egg whites on a pan to fry, and added the yolks (which sadly broke, but I will do it better next time!). When they were done, we cooked the ham.

A slice of raisin bread completed the meal for one happy meal.

Do you have your own Green Eggs and Ham recipe? My friend just shared another one to try for next time. Let’s see how that one fares with our little food critic.