Speak Aloud 3

For awhile there, I though my son is L-deficient. He can clearly let out the words light and towel but not ball, which he pronounces like boy.

I know I shouldn't worry myself but I did. I've asked my mother, who's really no expert but who's once been a teacher, about this but she just casually dismissed my concern with a shrug while saying Matt's still too young, anyway.

I tried coaching him again a week ago and completely forgot all about it.

Couple of days ago, I was rewarded with the chance of hearing my son say pillow and ball. He was enunciating the L clearly. Grin, grin.

Speak Aloud 2

My son is building his vocabulary. Slowly and surely. And it's something I'm more than happy about. Because I can easily understand his needs and wants. When before I’d depend more on instinct and little cues as guides, now I have dear Matt as the guide. He can now tell us what he really wants and needs. With him pointing and saying things at the same time, I can almost always guess what he wants or needs. By just istening carefully. And with the help of some context clues (when the blabbering seems incoherent).

I'm just as amazed at how he (or the kid his age) picks up some words he heard an adult (or adults) utter and mutters it to himself (sort of trying if he can do/say what the adults said, mimicking). Sometimes, hearing him say them is sooo funny.

I listed (again!) few words and phrases from his vocabulary because this is one development of my baby that I want documented. Wala lang, but for reason only a mother might find amusing. Whatever.

And with great pride (mother's pride!), I'm noting his improvement. Like, when before he’d refer to the light as gigi, now he can clearly pronounce the word. And more. He can even count one to ten with some help (but he can clearly enunciate the words). And sing Rain, Rain Go Away (with only rain and again as lyrics). Also My Jesus is Alive (with only the word alive, while omitting the rest).

Some words (at the left side are my son's way of saying them):

Alive - alive

Atta-min – vitamin

Bata, kid – child

Bite - bite

Cod - cold

Cuckoo – cockroach

Cup - cup

Dadee - thunder

Dagan - run

Dap - drop

Dive - drive

E-off - to turn off

E-on - to turn on

Fog - frog

Jejzh - Jesus

Kha-dick - candlestick

Khai (ing) – cry, crying

Khai-m - climb

Ki-ckon - aircon

Kit - kiss

Lod - Lord

Mi-root - remote (for TV, aircon etc..)

Olen - orange

Poohn - spoon

Tek - text (SMS on phone)

Wally - water

Weed - read

Wen - rain

More phrases:

Hi/Hello, (name) - Hi Mama, Hello Mama, Hello Pit (fish)

Mownin - Good morning

Take a bath – take a bath

or he can put two word together like: cry cat (when hearing a cat/s wail); nanay book (a reading material he's seen nanay read).

Mimicking Mama

Trust a kid to make you drop your jaw all the way to the ground. In a heady rush of emotions such as gladness, surprise and a little annoyance. All at once. Am I making some sense here?


This morning, I was teaching Matt the concept and relationship of “dropping” and “picking-up” using his toys as props. Knowing that kids his age love repetition of movement and sound, I repeated the process of dropping and picking up so many times using different toys each time.


No sooner had I turned my back than I heard soft thuds. Someone was obviously dropping something on our rubber-matted floor. And you guess right, darling tot was the culprit. He was learning so fast he was already copying Mama’s example. I was glad that my son picked up the idea so fast but I was not too happy seeing him holding ..surprise,surprise, my phone!


On the second thought, is that funny rascal giving me the you-mess-with-my-toys-and-I’ll-go-mess-with-yours message?

pulling no more

Gone are the days when I'd see newly-laundered clothes haphazardly thrown on the floor. Among the litter toys and books and what-not.

I still wake up to a very cluttered room, thanks to kiddo Matt. But now, the clutter mainly consists of toys, toys and more toys. Occasionally, I'd see a book or two joining the pile but I think that's alright.

Darling son has obviously outgrown the stage when there is a strong urge to pull things out randomly. And this is something I'm so happy about. In the past few weeks, I've observed him opening cabinet doors without pulling out the clothes. As of late, I haven't even seen him pull the telephone cord out of its socket which used to be his favorite past time.


Now, he's more keen on dumping the contents out of his toy basket unto the floor. But rascal that he is, I wonder when he'll ever outgrow pulling my hair to get my attention, or to provoke me. Tongue in cheek. :-)

Surviving Canines and Pre-Molars

The past few days had been difficult. Matt was having on-and-off low grade fever without any other symptom. Even the lab results were all not conclusive, said the pedia. We -my mother and I- suspected that this must be caused by the pre-molars and canines breaking out to the surface of his gums, although the pedia didn't think so. Still active and impish, yet he was crankier and grumpier than usual. Needless to say, everyone in the house was affected by all these. My mother was more than her worrywart self, she was fussing and fretting the whole time. I turned out to be another version of my mother, maybe a degree worse. I was worried sick, anxious, frantic and all. So sooo frayed at the edges, in fact. I'm just too glad that that's like water under the bridge. Matt is okay now.

And during those stressful times, I found these few things helpful:

Stickbreads. Because teething babies usually have the urge to bite more, these small little sticks are perfect for Matt to gnaw on. It’s harder than the usual munchies but it serves the same purpose as that of a teething toy (which I’m not so comfortable). It's also recommended for mommies, to bite as hard and as much to channel some frustration and anxiety. Haha. Ah great things really come in small package, literally. And I’ve been lucky to find the perfect size in a Pan de Pugon outlet.

Gum massages. Matt loves this alot he can keep still for as long as you want him to (and as long as you rythmically thrust a pointer on his gums). I've seen dear son do this all by himself too. Word of caution: Just be careful not to give your kid the message that Mama's finger is a teether.

Touch therapy. Cuddles. Hugs. Licks. Kisses. Coupled with I-love-yous. And all the sweet soothing words you can imagine. Although I cannot explain this scientifically, I do believe there’s magic in touch and tender words. And the benefits go both ways, to the giver and the receiver. Magic, really.

Relative Freedom - For Matt. Not that I'm not giving him his freedom all the time because I really do. But in those difficult times, although closely supervised, I've given him the liberty to do what he wanted to do, without intervening. He's got all the free pass he could get on just about anything. That's tough to explain, alright. It's like I just wait for him to tell me what he wanted to do (or me reading the signs). I've held myself from suggesting or from influencing him on what to do or play. Like if he'd get a book, then maybe he wanted to read. So I take the cue and that's the only time I handed more books or read to him. I didn't even give him solid food unless he'd tell me so. I just let him play or run around.

Chinese Teething Powder. I bought this last year from a Chinese store which sells (authentic ?) Chinese products downtown. Recommended by the people who have tried it with their own kids, or nieces and nephews or grandkids and who go out to say it’s effective. Before trying it with Matt, I've tried it with myself first just so I'd know what it's like. I would dab a little of this on his gums to alleviate his unease, but only as last recourse. But if you’re not comfy with stuff like this, don’t.

Sleep. I find it good for me and my son to get well-rested and refreshed. And whenever I can, I sleep because it keeps me all ready with all the motherly duties waiting ahead of me. And its proven to help me get through any stressful day.

health check

Thursday got me rushing out of our office doors in an untimely exit. I just had a call from my mother saying Matt's getting the F again. He's been hitting a low-grade F reading on the thermometer since Monday night, but I thought he's already ok.

So I made a mad dash to the doors. Had to bring him to the lab for some tests.

Although I doubted it, I've always hoped that blood extraction could be done in a jiffy. It's not about the noise of Matt's wails or the gawking we'd get from strangers (I really really do not care about this because my utmost concern will always be of my son). It was the sight of those copious tears, twas simply heartbreaking. So was his futile attempts to break out from my tight embrace and his incessant "done na" cries. *Sniff* I could only imagine his fear and feelings of betrayal. *Sniff, sniff* I would readily have given anything and everything to spare my son that ordeal.

After the CBC translation and check-up, which activated his tear glands again, we headed straight home, even without the urine test, to get dear tot back to his comfort zone, alleviate his stress and eventually calm him down.

Later that night, with the urine sample in hand, I with my father went back to the hosp. And moments later, with the antibiotic prescription given by the ER physician (but which I had second thoughts of giving to Matt), we were on our way back home.