4 posts tagged “adrian”

One reason we choose to go home every late April to early May is so that our vacation coincides with Adrian's birthday.  It is of course a very significant day for both families (Adrian being the first apo), and i also think it's important for him to grow up identifying himself as a Filipino whose roots belong in the Philippines. 

Last year's birthday was a fairly grandiose bash, as we combined our homecoming, Adrian's dedication, and his first birthday party in a single affair.  Extended families to the first degree on both sides were invited; catering was done by a Spanish restaurant, a litson was ordered, and a photo booth was hired for entertainment and souvenirs. 

This year's birthday party, while slightly muted, still contained elements of the same.  Unfortunately not all family members were able to attend and there was no entertainment aside from conversation and (for the kids) tv, but the food was still outsourced, complete with litson.

Long ago Gianina and i decided that we would always need to spend time with just each other, which led to the birth of our Thursday date nights.  Perhaps the peak of this principle would be our "vacations within the vacation," i.e. last year's trip to Bohol and this year's trip to Palawan (more on this later).  Consequently, Adrian is left to the tender minstrations of my family. 

The mini-vacations naturally contain a mixed bag of emotions.  On one hand Gianina and i are happy to be "honeymooning," but on the other we worry that Adrian will cry nonstop, will get sick, will learn to drive and get in an accident, etc.  Last year's reunion after coming back from Bohol was somewhat heartbreaking when he did not seem interested in letting us carry him after four days of separation (we suspected that our tans made us look like strangers). 

It seems that this year's FDU (fear, doubt, and uncertainty) were all in vain.  Apparently when he woke up the morning that we left, asked for "Mama?" and my mom explained that she was in "the office," it was good enough for him, as he did not pine for his mother at all (which he usually does, even when she's standing just ten feet away from him) and proceeded to enjoy himself with his grandparents.  To him, that was probably as much a vacation as it was for us - finally he was free from all the restrictions foisted upon him by his unreasonable parents, free to roam and commit as much mayhem as possible without fear of reprisal or timeout. 

On our return, he immediately smiled and hugged both of us.  No harm done. 

I do have the sneaking suspicion that his grandparents spoiled him silly.  I've noticed that he seems a little whinier than before, especially when he doesn't get his way. 

One of the things we set out to do when we had a child was to minimize the amount of television he was exposed to.  Alas, with the 37-inch (yes, i know it's not that big) tv set taking center stage in our living room and not much else to do (especially in the wintertime), we've caved in and let him watch some tv. 

At least we try to make him watch educational programs.  The one in particular that he's been watching since he was just over a year old is called Signing Time.  In a nutshell, a nice lady named Rachel Coleman teaches your little ones American Sign Language set to music and cute graphics.  Adrian's always been mesmerized by this, and when he started talking he would often come up to us and say "Baby... sign!" 

It's like a drug!  These days he looks for it almost constantly (or whenever we're in the vicinity of the tv).  He even picks up the DVD and tries to shove it in the player.  One perk at least is that it keeps him occupied for a few minutes when Gianina and i get exhausted from trying to keep up with him.  It actually helped keep him still on the long flight to Arizona in November... here's hoping it gets us through the flight to Manila two months from now. 

I swear, though...  if this woman showed up at our doorstep, my son would leave us in a heartbeat. 

Signing Time Pic

This week Adrian got hit with Hand, Foot & Mouth disease (not to be confused with FMD, which hits swine), and it has not been fun.

The mouth sores are the worst.  I can see white areas on his tongue (sometimes they look suspiciously like thrush, but only when he's had a drink of milk) and they apparently hurt like the devil, because whenever he attempts to eat or drink, he starts crying.  He tries his best to soldier on, slowly drinking from his bottle with tears in his eyes, but it breaks my heart every time because i know he's hungry and thirsty and has no choice but to be a brave little boy and take the pain. 

The feedings are not the end of it.  When he tries to sleep, he wakes up every half-hour from the pain.  We now have him on a rotating schedule of Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, and Mylanta (to coat his mouth) and "work" in shifts so that one of us is always awake to rock him back to sleep when he wakes up in the middle of the night. 

I realize that in the Philippines he would probably already be in the hospital right now, hooked up to IV fluids.  He'd also have one or two katulongs plus family on rotation to keep him company.  Unfortunately in this country that would be considered a waste of healthcare dollars; also, there's no one for Gianina and i to depend on but ourselves.  So for now our household consists of one sick boy and two zombie parents. 

It's ironic that i can save lives with what i know, but do precious little to ease my son's pain.  Until the virus burns itself out, all we can do is grit our teeth, hunker down, and do our best to keep him comfortable.