Berry unfair
10 Jan 2010 2 Comments
in Kids say the darndest things, My Sweet Ryland, That's not even funny Tags: Air Canada, Gabriel Aubry, Halle Berry, Pierre Trudeau International Airport, Storm, X-Men
I was looking at the newspaper after breakfast when my 11-year old son, Ryland said, “Oh, I know her.”
“That’s Storm from X-Men,” I said.
“Oh, no, wait. She looks different,” he said.
“She changes her hair a lot,” I said. “Sometimes it’s long, sometimes it’s short. I don’t like her white hair when she’s Storm.”
“She looks old?”
“Eh, it just doesn’t look good on her.”
I told him what the newspaper article I was reading is about. The title, “Cop feels Berry special, helps her jump queue.”
Me: Halle Berry was at a Canadian airport and she got ahead of a long line. She got special treatment just because she’s a celebrity. That’s not fair. Right?
Him: Where was she going?
Me: You see, she’s married to this French guy. He’s Canadian. Maybe they were visiting family. It says here they were at a Montreal Airport. She’s American, see. Maybe they’re going back to the U.S.
I continued reading the article.
Me: Oh, let’s see. It says here that it was an hour long line. If I was in that line I’d probably get mad if they got ahead of me.
Him: But that’s just one person.
Me: I know, but let’s say there’s about a hundred people in that line that has been waiting for an hour, and then here they come and they get to the front of the line. That’s not fair.
Him: Yeah, but that’s just one person you have to let in.
I was thinking, my son isn’t getting this? How am I going to explain this to him?
Me: You know how at Superstore when there’s a long line and I have to wait? Oh, remember that one time at Sears? I was waiting in line for a long time, and then there was this lady who tried to cut in front of me? Well, she didn’t know where the line started. But I felt that wasn’t fair. Well, I didn’t really get mad that time because she was an old lady. But you know what I mean?
Him: Wait, were they paying at the airport?
Me: No, but at the airport, they have to check your passports and your identification and your papers and all these stuff.
Him: Oh, now you tell me this. (Lightbulb moment, finally) Were they saying anything bad about them?
Me: Well, not exactly, it just says here that people saw them get ahead to the front of the line.
Him: Were the people waiting in line mad at them?
Me: Well, no. But if I was one of those people, I think I might be mad?
Him: If it was Michael Jackson, would you be mad?
I started to laugh out loud.
Me: Ha ha ha. That’s a good one, Ryland. You got me there. No, I don’t think I’d me mad. I’d probably be too excited to get mad. I might even take his pictures.
Him: But he’s dead now.
I’m shaking my head now.
Me: That’s a good one Ryland. No, I don’t think I’d be shouting unfair if I was there and if it was Michael Jackson or some other famous celebrity. You got a good point there Ryland.
How about that? He got me really good there.
To see or not two zee
05 Sep 2009 2 Comments
in Kids say the darndest things, Midlife, Raising the 3Rs, That's not even funny Tags: eye exams, eyeglasses, vision
My 11-year old son and I went to see the optometrist together a few weeks ago. He was due for his annual exam and I haven’t had an exam in like four to five years. I have been accompanying my kids to these exams since my oldest one was eight, and he’s 19 now. So that has been a long time now. And I already know the drill. The doctor will ask them to read the letters on the eye chart. And then he or she will ask them to look through this instrument that has different sets of lenses to determine the prescription strength.
On this particular visit with my 11-year old son, I let him go first. When he was finished, Dr. Opto asked me to get on the chair. She asked me to read the letters on the wall. At first the letters were big and I had no trouble reading them. As she changed the slides, the letters got smaller and it took me longer to read them. Then she made me look through the different sets of lenses and when I told her which ones gave me the best vision, she wrote down my prescription.
As we were walking out of the room to follow Dr. Opto to the lobby, my son whispered to me, “Mommy, she said letter, not number.”
“I know. Why? What did I say?” I asked him.
“You said two. It was the letter Z.”
“Yeah, I realized that after I read it. Well, it looked like a two to me when I was reading it.”
“Oh, mommy,” he said shaking his head.
Bahala ka
15 Sep 2008 8 Comments
in Kids say the darndest things, My life as a mom, Ryan in the middle, Working mom Tags: Raising children, Tagalog
Although I have gone back to work at the office, I still prepare breakfast for my three boys. Even with my limited time in the morning, I try to have something warm for them to eat. They like rice and eggs and so they have that every other day, and in between, they either have pancakes, waffles, instant noodle soup or sometimes just cereal.
The other night, I was asking my 14-year-old son what he wanted for breakfast in the morning. I noticed that lately, he didn’t want rice and egg anymore. He also didn’t like the instant noodle soup that morning because it had been sitting for about 15 minutes when I called him down for breakfast. He wanted it just out of the stove, while it’s still piping hot and before the noodles had gotten fatter. But I was running late that morning and I wanted to finish what I had to do in the kitchen before I went upstairs to blow dry my hair and get dressed for work.
Me: So what do you want for breakfast then?
Him: Cereal. (In his usual irreverent tone.)
Me: Hmph. Bahala ka.
Him: Bahalaka. What does bahalaka mean? (He said it like it’s just one word. )
Me: You’re on your own. Whatever you want to eat.
Him: Why do Filipino words always have h, l, k? It’s hard to say. And there’s always ka. Boo-lak-lak. What does that mean?
Me: Oh, you mean my beautiful flowers?
Him: Why do you even buy flowers? They just die anyway. (Ouch)
Me: To make the house look beautiful.
Him: We don’t even see them here inside.
Me: Well, so the people outside can see them.
Yeah. It’s getting colder here in Winnipeg and my beautiful flowers (bulaklak) are starting to die. He does have a point though. I spend money on those flowers every summer. They’re only good for about three to four months and then they start to wither and die around this time of the year.
A fun day of bowling
24 Aug 2008 11 Comments
in Detour, Kids say the darndest things, My life as a mom, My Sweet Ryland Tags: bowling
For school outings, my kids would usually go bowling once or twice a year. And at the end of every school year, the schools give out coupons for a free game of bowling at Rossmere Lanes. My youngest son had been asking me to go bowling since school ended. We finally decided to go last weekend. His brothers and dad didn’t want to go so it was just the two of us.
“I have a reservation for two for niceheart at 3:00 p.m,” I told the guy at the counter.
He checked his computer and then he asked,
“What shoe sizes?”
“Five and six,” I replied.
“Do you want bumpers?”
“What are those?”
“They’re railings for children under six so they won’t get the balls in the gutter.”
Okay, my son is already ten and I thought that we didn’t need those. So I told the guy, “No.”
“For how many games?” he asked.
“Oh I don’t know. It’s my first time bowling. What do you recommend?”
“A game has ten frames. And lasts about 15 minutes for two players.”
I thought for a moment and said, “Two games then.”
“You’re on Lane 6.”
So Ryland and I put on these ugly shoes.
I let him go first so I can watch him play. Because I’ve never bowled before. But I’ve seen how people do it on TV and in the movies.
Ryland was a good and patient teacher. He told me what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong. He’d even give me two thumbs up after I finished my turn even if my balls went in the gutter. I thought that I should probably have asked for those bumpers.
“Mommy, I think you should go closer to that line,” Ryland said.
“But I don’t want those people to see me,” I told him. “They might laugh at me.”
He even showed me how smaller kids do it and as a beginner he thought that I should do it this way. Spread my legs apart. And throw the ball from between my legs.
“It’s okay if you look like a fool, Mommy.”
He he he.
Although it was my first time to bowl, I had a lot of fun. Even if a lot of my balls went in the gutter. After two games, we wanted to play more. So we paid for two more games.
I was so excited when I got a spare, and then a strike.
But don’t be impressed too soon. There were only five pins and those balls were smaller than the regular ten-pin balls. They were not that heavy and they fit in my palm. They don’t have any finger holes.
We worked up a sweat. After about an hour and four games, we went to Dairy Queen and treated ourselves to these.
Banana split for me.
And strawberry milkshake for him.
He’s trying to get away
17 Jul 2008 6 Comments
in Kids say the darndest things, Raising the 3Rs Tags: chores, Raising children
It was already 7:00 p.m. I was tired and hungry and getting impatient. I’ve been telling the kids to get away from the computers and NDS game so that we could all eat supper. As usual, my middle guy was the last one to come to the kitchen.
Me: Ryan, tigilan mo na ‘yan at kakain na tayo.
Ryan: But, mommy, I don’t understand what you’re saying.
Me: What do you mean you don’t understand? Tigilan. Tigil. Stop. Stop that now. It’s time to eat.
Later on at the dinner table when we were done eating …
Me: Sino’ng maghuhugas ng pinggan?
Ryland (the youngest one): Hmmn. Let me check.
He went to see our chores list on the fridge door.
Ryland: It’s Kuya Ryan.
Ryan: Urgh! I already know that.
Me: Ilagay mo na yang pinggan mo sa lababo.
Ryan: I know. Just wait.
Me: Then how come you understand that sentence? But when I told you earlier “tigilan mo na ‘yan” you said you didn’t understand me?
Ryland: He’s just trying to get away.
Me: Exactly my point.
Ryan now has this big grin on his face.
