Baby Spice

When I was pregnant with Charly, we lived within a block of New Bombay Foods (one of my favorite Indian restaurants!) in Salcedo Village. I craved the paneer and the chicken tikka massala and the kebabs which I always asked the owners to make extra spicy. Those dishes, plus the warm roti or nan, and I was one happy preggy mommy-to-be. Never mind the fact that my OB always warned me that spicy foods meant even more hyperacidity. I figured my bottle of Maalox and Tums were already my best friends, what's one more spicy dish.

They say that the baby becomes pre-disposed to whatever the pregnant mom eats.

This must be true, because Charly LOVES spicy food.

We had our usual family Sunday lunch at People's Palace this weekend and it warmed my heart to see Charly eating the spicy Thai fishcakes, the red prawn and pumpkin curry, and even chewing on fresh peppercorns like a pro.

I'm proud to say my baby is not a wimp when it comes to spicy food!

My Baby likes Rock

They say Mozart is brain food for babies. Dutifully, the hubby and I loaded up her iPod with everything Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi...till even I was getting classical overload.

But now that she's requesting for songs on demand (thank you to iPod for the repeat play function!), she is asking for John Mayer, Billy Joel, and Bob Marley. Sometimes old-school rap. Miles Davis is her favorite going-to-sleep music (yes, she knows her jazz). She's developed a liking for Elton John ever since she saw him banging on the keyboards with Kermit and the gang in an old Muppet Show episode. And although I've played the Blue Danube more than Bennie & the Jets, guess which song she requests by name.

Yes, just like most kids she loves the gang from Hi-Five and Barney songs but it warms my heart (and my ears) to know she's got an ear for good music too.

Maybe Mozart wired her brain early on to make that distinction. Thank God she doesn't like those songs they play on Pinoy noontime shows. I would rather hear Bennie & The Jets for the nth time than have my baby requesting for yet another round of the Papaya Song. I would rather see her bobbing her little head to Chaka Khan (yes, she's loved "I'm Every Woman" since catching me watching "Bridget Jones's Diary") than breaking into inane dance moves after hearing the Ocho-Ocho.

Thanks, Mozart.

The Post That Started the Mommylogues

Since Charly was born in 2006, I have regularly sent out what I called "the Charly diaries" to our close friends, relatives and Charly's godparents. Partly to keep in touch. But mainly as an outlet for my proud mommy moments while trying to make sense of and celebrating the new mommyhood that still continues to amaze me.

When Charly turned two this January, I sent out my usual update. I was surprised at the emotional response I got. Some got teary eyed, others laughed out loud, most told me I should blog.

I always wanted to start one, and now have finally gotten around to it.

To my dear friends who have been a part of Charly's life, and who continue to do so in so many ways, this one is for you - the post that started the mommylogues.


"Last month, Charly turned two.

When people used to ask me how old my baby was I would say 13 months, 15 months, 22 months...now it's a solid number. Two. It sounds like a little kid. And, indeed, that's what she is. A little kid. To me, she's the cutest, most sensitive, smartest, wittiest little girl I've ever met. And extremely adorable to boot. Hey, I'm her mom :)

The past 2 years have just flown by. When she could barely support her head I used to dream of the day she could walk...then before I knew it she was crawling! Then I didn't want her to start walking...I knew the days of hugging a baby that didn't want to jump around would be limited.
All too soon, they were over. Soon, she started toddling. Before I knew it, she was walking in the mall holding my hand and shopping with me.
Not too long after that, she knew how to walk to Fully Booked once we got to the 4th level of Powerplant running like a maniac to the children's books section. One time, she ran off while I was at Our Home and made a beeline for BioResearch pet shop (much like her dad, she loves all kinds of animals and fish).

Before she turned 2, she couldn't sleep on her own. She had to be either rocked or patted. Just into the new year, she started saying 'sleep' and walked to her room and lay down on her own, even if David or I were not with her. Yes, she still wants to be cuddled and there are times she insists I make her my live teddy bear and hug her to sleep, but she is now also big girl enough to sleep on her own, in her own room. In a bed, not a crib. She outgrew her crib shortly after she turned one year old.

She sings. A lot. I can't believe I now know each word to the theme song of Thomas & Friends. Not only that I have sung it more than a dozen times in a row, just because she likes to sing the refrain with me. She can't pronounce a good "r" so it ends up sounds like "Thomas and his fwweeendss". But yes, I sing with her. David too. To think that in the past, we never would have been caught singing at karaoke when sober. Now we have a repertoire of Disney Playhouse songs that spans Thomas, Jojo and even Sagwa.

She's a lefty. And incredibly creative. We bought her a series of mini masters board books (each one featuring an impressionist painter). It still blows my mind when she grabs one of the books and says 'matisse, matisse'...she can recognize paintings now. She will tell you if the painting is a matisse, van gogh, monet, or degas. Down to seurrat, cassat, and renoir. Maybe a visit to the Louvre or the Musee Orsay is now in order :)

Thanks to David, she loves insects and bugs and isnt grossed out on them the way I am. She even knows a yellow jacket from a wasp.

On her 2nd birthday, we took her to see Disney on Ice. I expected some howling or being bored. She was totally engrossed and really loved seeing all the Disney characters!

Everytime I leave home, it breaks my heart to see her lower lip jutt out in a pout. I wake up at least half hour early in the mornings just to catch her waking up.

Which brings me to an epiphany now :) Just as Charly has grown and changed, so have we. I used to think you could prepare for parenthood, in truth it happens in a flash and without warning your life does an amazing 180 degree turn. Yes, it's true new moms are sleep deprived, sometimes seemingly robbed of short-term memory, extremely challenged in keeping their clothes neat (ever tried carrying a baby who is trying to jump down, demanding for her milk bottle, while juggling a diaper bag on one hip? Huh. Let's see you keep your shirts unrumpled :), are ever rarely on time or make it to all their social commitments (hard to make it to that all girls coffee date on time when you are on your way out and the baby has just pooed), and yes miss their friends a great deal because even if we've morphed into mom, we are still after all the same person despite the extra pounds and lack of makeup :)What being a mom - and I don't mean just giving birth to a baby - teaches you is the most amazing of all discoveries. That love is in the little moments, that you shouldn't sweat the small stuff because what is in front of you is the biggest, most amazing thing that you could ever experience. Sleep deprivation used to drive me crazy, cranky and just not myself. Now, hell who cares if I've slept only 3 hours in a night or that I've waken up for the nth time because of bad baby dreams...all it takes is for Charly to pat my cheek with her little hand and give me a kiss and go back to sleep (snoring, most times) and I see the person I have changed into. Someone more patient, a total sucker for my baby :)And incredibly, mom in every sense of the word :)

I never ever thought I'd be 'mom'.

It's been 2 years and I've loved every moment of it.

To all of you who have shared with me in bringing up Charly from little baby to little girl, I love you guys. Thank you for sharing in Charly's growing up, and indeed in my changing into 'mom' :)

God bless you all."

David and Liz
January 19, 2008