Thursday, January 31, 2002
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Wednesday, January 30, 2002
height: 38 inches. grew up by one inch since dec 2nd, 2001 ...
height: 38 inches. grew up by one inch since dec 2nd, 2001 ...

Monday, January 28, 2002
temmie at lunch. took blazer off, to hang. thought she would stay to play. didn't say goodbye to her.. nor to daddy... ...

Sunday, January 27, 2002
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Saturday, January 26, 2002

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Friday, January 25, 2002
played with temmie tonight.. don't want her to go home to sleep... ...

Thursday, January 24, 2002
Happy Birthday to you! happy birthday!!!! ...

Wednesday, January 23, 2002
please, please, please
no, no, no... ...

Tuesday, January 22, 2002
loves lego island adventure ...

Monday, January 21, 2002
daddy worked overtime tonight. got home almost two am na. as usual gising ka pa. nagsumbong kay daddy, sat next to him in the futon and said so many things, includes words: mommy (lots of time), brmmmm...., no (lots of times) .... kasi naman takbo ng takbo ano... i guess you are pretending that you are a car and thats why you are running around and around. ...

Sunday, January 20, 2002
early birthday party .. not next week na ...

Saturday, January 19, 2002
galit sa daddy, out the room, moved to other bed, ok na, ... happy na ...

Friday, January 18, 2002
repeats more words today...

red lego right nostril victoria hospital

at home, mom thought mayroon ulit sinusubo..a sked what, sabi LEGO, staring seriously at mom, repeated three times... ...

Thursday, January 17, 2002
i bumped into you sa kitchen kasi nasa likod pala kita. i said "sorry" you said "its okay" ... bago iyon ha. last night i noticed i understand some of your words sa iyong kwento while trying to get to sleep. the other night one hour na di ka pa makatulog. basta salita ka lang ng salita... may 20 times siguro you said "yes" "no" (yes pronounced as yet) ... then "stop" "no... no... no" paulit ulit din ... very expressive pa face mo while saying all these and everytime you are telling a story. you love reading hop on pop, go dogs go, cat in the hat, there's a wocket in my pocket... mostly by dr. seuss.

so i used 2 rolls of film (24 shots each) ... yes, 2 rolls... i know dan would say i should have waited till next week when it's exactly his birthday but mommy can't wait ... i really want to take his pictures today, i don't know why. i guess deep inside i don't want him to turn three... so soon, so i am taking his pictures while he's still two. and so what... so i'd take his pictures again on his birthday :)

i guess no more sears portrait studio pictures for now. i'll just enlarge the favorite photo at this time. ang likot naman din kasi. maybe when he's going to school na. those pictures taken at school :)

cold ... pointing outside and shaking like its really cold .. does the same drinking cola ...

Wednesday, January 16, 2002
lots of snow today... daddy was going to work ayaw mo siyang umalis. you were mad. when he got home, ni ayaw mo siyang pumunta sa kitchen to eat. sabi mo "where you go?" ... then later, when he went back to get food, umiyak ka na! super lambing sa daddy. ...

Tuesday, January 15, 2002
u woke up around 10:30, i was just back from temmie's. natulog tayo ulit sa futon, parang noong baby ka. mabigat ka na and i think baka mangawit ka, but i couldn't move you nor my arm afraid you'll wake up. i missed this morning cuddling we have when you were a baby. ang lalim pa nga ng tulog mo. maybe familiar feeling kasi, familiar cushion, familiar heart beat. lullaby for you to sleep. ...

Monday, January 14, 2002
went to temmie's sunday night, called ace on phone.. temmie asked "how are you?" baby replied "fine"... 1st time ko narinig iyon ha.
Sunday night, hair cut... cried at first then quiet the whole time. mabilis nga natapos eh... after, he even said "thank you" to daddy... nagmamature na ...

tonight i was dusting. saw you get a tissue and started dusting wherever i dust. great helper! my little ace! ...

Sunday, January 13, 2002
Winnipeg Free Press
One child, lots of love
Sunday, January 13th, 2002
By Barbara Kingsley

IT took Heather Buchman 38 years to fill up nine plump photo albums that document her life. Her beloved two-year-old only son Frank? He has 13 albums, all fatter than phone books.

Never mind about the 20-tape-plus video collection.

"You don't want to miss anything," Heather says.

There are more and more families nowadays like the Buchmans: Only-child parents capable of showering a young charge with undiluted love and attention.

There is just one crib, one school uniform and one college admissions deadline. No siblings, and no sibling rivalry. The demands are fewer. The stakes? Pretty high; there's just one chance to get parenthood right.

Only-child families are the fastest-growing family unit. In much of North America, the proportion of only children has doubled in the past 25 years --from 9.6 per cent of all families in the 1970s to an estimate of more than 20 per cent today.

The demographic changes are wiping away old stereotypes of spoiled, selfish children of eccentric parents. Only children tend to be confident and motivated, if somewhat risk-averse. Also, parents are finding raising an only child may mean less work, but just as much worry. A one-child family has obvious benefits for couples not so eager to jump headfirst into the world of Beauty and the Beast, Barney and Chuck E. Cheese. Only children are more toteable and fit more neatly into work schedules, travel plans and clean houses.

For some, secondary infertility or problem pregnancies force families to live within the limits of their reproductive capacity.

Buchman, 38, and an only child herself, planned to have more kids, but she became so ill with her first pregnancy that she had to be admitted to hospital for four months and fed through a tube. ("It was like being seasick 24 hours a day.") Her obstetrician told her she'd be crazy to have another. Now, Buchman celebrates her one child and her ability to give young Frank all her attention. Frank blends into the family lifestyle, trekking with his parents to numerous art shows and openings. (Heather's husband Doug is a watercolour artist.)

"I know my son," Heather says. "I know everything about him."

For others, divorce or thriving careers may push off child production.

Kathy Hill, of Aliso Viejo, Calif., thought she'd have three kids. But she and her husband Ken married and started a family in their mid-30s. Years went by and they realized they didn't want another child. So Ken is fulfilling his dream of coaching his six-year-old Karson's baseball team and cheering his soccer and basketball games. Both parents have full-time jobs and couldn't imagine having another child.

"I'm not the kind of mother who wants 500 kids around the house," says Hill, who works as an administrative assistant for a Newport Beach architectural firm and does all the cooking and cleaning in the household. "I'm a pretty anal person. The house has to be spotless, everything has to be neat."

'Only child'

Once she brought Karson to his soccer game and started removing the items from his little backpack: water, Gatorade, small fan. "God," one mother sitting nearby groaned, "you can tell he's an only child."

"What can I say, he's my only one," says Hill, laughing. "I can spoil him and give him nicer things. It's a lot of money to raise a kid these days."

In China, adults who endured years of hardship are fretting about the long-term effects of China's 1979 "one-child, one family" policy, which has since been relaxed. They worry that scores of pampered "little emperors" will be forced to take enormous, fragile egos into an increasingly competitive marketplace. However, numerous studies in that country have shown virtually no difference in temperament or behaviour between only children and those with siblings, says Susan Newman, a social psychologist and longtime researcher of only children.

"The difference," Newman says, "is how they're parented."

Parenting style may be key, but only children do tend to share certain traits from spending so much time in the company of adults.

Only children tend to be verbal at a young age, says Carl Pickhardt, a psychologist and author of books on the family, including Keys to Parenting the Only Child, (Barrons, 1997).

Often only children compare themselves to adults, which makes for high achievement but often impossibly high expectations. "When they are put on an equal standing with adults, they also put equal standards on themselves. They think they should be equal to adults and they can't because they're children," Pickhardt says.

An only child may hear the words, "be careful" more than other kids, which can make them less likely to take risks. Only children tend to be closer to their parents. They fear anything that unsettles the family unit. "Divorce really clobbers only children," Pickhardt says.

But their tendency to hang around with adults means only children are more comfortable around them. That means parents shouldn't be too surprised to hear their child call the kindergarten teacher by her first name.

Underconfidence is rarely an issue with the only child.

For parents of only children, OnlyChild.com -- the "Dear Abby" for the single-child set -- publishes a Seven Common Sins of Only Child Parenting. It even sells a laminated 11-by-14-inch poster. One of the most common sins, says Carolyn White, editor of the Only Child quarterly newsletter, is overprotectiveness.

Don't be involved in everything your kid does, White says. She says parents can tend to overcompensate and build their world around their one child. She says it's important to not "devote your entire existence to this person who will suck every bit of blood out of you they can."

Newman, the New York-based psychologist and author of Parenting an Only Child (Random House, 1990, 2001) says the "parents who do the best jobs" have interests other than their child. And when they do, it makes separation, such as going to college, "a lot less traumatic."

White says the parent's relationship with an only child is "deeper and more complex. You know everything about each other . . . but it is also richer."

Beware of overindulgence, high expectations
OVERINDULGENCE:

Your child doesn't need everything and actually doesn't want everything. Learn to withhold. Replace material things with more spiritual ones like caring for a pet or helping others in the neighbourhood, making an art project, doing something special together like creating a family scrapbook. Maintain a safe distance from Toys 'R' Us.

Overcompensation:
Unfortunately, many of us are drowning in guilt for having one child. So you overcompensate. When your child interrupts you for attention, you give it to him. When your child cries, you jump. Practice the following phrases: "I'm busy now, you will have to wait." Or, "This is your time to play by yourself and it's mom and/or dad's time to read the newspaper. I/we will be happy to play with you later (specify a time)."

Treating your child like an adult:
You make your child your confidant, a bosom buddy. Your child isn't your peer or sidekick and you aren't his or hers. This is a particularly difficult sin for single parents to avoid. Don't talk to your child about problems in your marriage. Don't make your child take sides. If you are single don't discuss your dates other than to say, "I had a good time. I ate pasta for dinner."

Overpraising:
What's the quickest way to make sure that your only child is entitled? Praise him or her for everything, whether it's done well or not. To avoid this sin, be judicious and realistic when you praise. Make sure that there is something to praise.

Overprotection:
Your child needs to learn that failure is part of life but not the end of it. It's difficult for all parents to see their child in pain, but we grow through pain. So a certain amount of disappointment is important to your child's psychological and social well being. Once children understand that failure won't destroy them, they are more likely to take risks.

Expecting perfection:
Don't ask for the moon. Don't live through your child. Don't examine every aspect of his or her behaviour, accomplishments or lack of them. You aren't perfect, so why should your child be? Put your microscope away; your child isn't a specimen.

Failing to make rules and implement them:
Your child is cute. Your child is strong and cunning. Your child knows just how to get to you. It's important for our children to respect us. They don't need to stand when you enter the room, but they should know that when you say something you mean it. You are not to be trifled with!

-- The Orange County Register
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Saturday, January 12, 2002
napagalitan ni mommy kasi ginagaya ang daddy na naglalagay ng juice sa baunan for work. problem is, tupperware with fruits ang kinuha today, kahapon naman, apple juice box na brick ang lalagyan ng juice through the small hole for the straw!
after a few minutes, i went in to check on you, you were crying. then hugged mommy. i asked you to place your hand on your heart and to repeat after mommy... mommy, i promise, not to tapon-tapon juice... ok ... then repeated it to daddy too. question is, naintindihan mo kaya iyon? hope so... ...

Friday, January 11, 2002
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Thursday, January 10, 2002
my theory about the rashes, which are back this morning, the bubblebath! or lycra or latex from the gloves yesterday

oh, no! something seems wrong... don't know what... di ko masyadong pinapansin kasi mukhang kunwari lang... then sat down and took off his slippers, "oh, no!" "oh, no!" looking at the nunal under his foot :)
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Wednesday, January 09, 2002
saw you using the bottle brush i left under the sink, cleaning our window... then noticed may gloves pala ang kamay... then pati pala ang foot! at night ang haba ng kwento before sleeping... conversation pa nga, nagsasagutan, may car palaging involved kasi may brmmm... brrmmmm... even you face, full of expression... we just wish we can understand! ...

Tuesday, January 08, 2002
mali pala... woke up around 12:30 a.m., at first gumagalaw everytime may noise from daddy moving outside. then 12:30 loud noise from the kitchen sink! umupo bigla, eyes wideopen smiling eyes ... huh? daddy? daddy?! then ran outside... ayon... two oclock na naman natulog! ...

Monday, January 07, 2002
happy birthday tita se!

nagsetup ng picnic beside the futon... very organized pa. may napkin pa where he placed all his timbits na dala ni temmie... growth spurt siguro... lakas kumain today! pero 15 minutes lang ang nap .. 11:15 pa lang tulog na! hope this continues para mas maaga na gising niya and tulog. to prepare for preschool din ...

Sunday, January 06, 2002
volume control sa pc... mickey mouse preschool ... enjoys the car, and honking at goofy and donald... spiderman slipper... nadulas tuloy! ...

Saturday, January 05, 2002
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Friday, January 04, 2002
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Thursday, January 03, 2002
when you woke up this morning as usual good morning... then we snuggled sa futon... i will miss this when you grow up at di mo na type maki snuggle with mommy ... i will miss our "nose, nose"... when our nose touch and we move our head side to side... i will miss my little boy... you will turn three in 20 days... ...

Wednesday, January 02, 2002
Happy Birthday, Daddy! ...