fiesta2006 004Ahh…ok…I’d now like go back to my favorite topic on this blog: Raine.

To those who do not know yet, Raine is my son, turning 4 on December 29, the love of my life and the center of my current universe…well besides the blogosphere and God of course, if I might mention. ;-)

Raine and I went home in April. Raine on April 1st and I followed I think a week (or was it a few days?) later. I can still clearly remember calling Raine daily when I was staying at A’s house and my mother shouting from the other end of the line (i think it was on the third day) that I should go home because Raine is constantly asking for me and (like he is always) getting impatient because it is taking mommy unbearably long to come home. That was enough to make me pack and go, pronto.

So this month (November) is the 8th month that we’ve been here. Wow, was that eight months only?! Certainly felt like eight years. Really. :-D

Eight years and I’ve only proven one thing. Raine and I are CRAZY about each other. Each one of us can’t live long enough without the other. Hmm, that sound’s like the perfect couple behavior. Only that we are a mother-and-son and so I meant that in a totally different context. Heh.

When I was contemplating on going home, my reason first and foremost is for Raine to grow up sorrounded by numerous family members (lolos & lolas, aunts & uncles, various cousins), neighbors that he could interact with, other kids and people that can he play with to his heart’s content.

So as to substitute for the fact that the two of us alone is not a normal family set-up. On top of Raine’s growing “abnormal” attachment to me that he doesn’t want me shared with anybody else in the world, even with my long time friends who come visit. 

Well, I thought that was abnormal because he himself should be able to trust and be comfortable with other persons as well (friends and family) aside from just me.

Well, we’ve pretty much achieved the scenario I wanted: Raine being pampered and looked-after by the most-spoiling people in the world (my relatives and current neighbors), so I need not worry if I leave the house and him behind because he is with people I can trust.

(It’s not that I didn’t trust the ex-yayas. But it’s better leaving a kid with one or two other person(s) present in the house - instead of a yaya alone - so that facts can easily be validated, in case something not good happens while I wasn’t looking.) ;-)

More or less, I’ve found the balance that I’ve been looking for. Well not with a house-husband but a batallion of relatives that Raine can turn to when I’ve turned into an ogre that he abhors. He he.

Thus, Raine had a picnic when we came home, and i bet he still is inspite of the typhoons we survived. 

8 months is a long time and Raine has changed a lot, for the better, i would like to think. Ha ha!

  • Speaks 75% bicol- 25% tagalog, he sounds more bicol but really funny with the kind of words he came up with. i.e. magandahon: should be magayonon (superlative of maganda in bicol), rurubain: root word is giba (talalog for destroy or put down), apparently giba is ruba here. in talalog the right word should be gigibain (for going to destroy) but raine’s version is rurubain. And many other similar distortions. At the moment I am the only one speaking to him in straight tagalog/filipino and so imagine my surprise when he replies in straight bicol. kainis!
  • Eats more rice and fish. He particularly loves eating rice with sabaw (soup) of anything nilaga, sinigang or adobo. For a toddler who preferred noodles, potato and anything fried when he was just starting to eat solid food: this is a breakthrough that I am not responsible for (but the people in my household).
  • Less TV time and more outdoor activities. His social manners have certainly improved. Well, improved for a kid who just bites and slaps another kid that overlaps into his imaginary space boundary. At least now he doesn’t physically hurt other kids, not intentionally (unlike other kids here that I’ve seen!)
  • Less clingy and I can now talk to other people with some peace and order. Except for the slight hiccup after the typhoon (which has gotten better), I can easily take off and go.
  • He has learned to make lambing and do anything rough with his Titos (my 3 brothers), one of them (the eldest, yung sunod sakin), he actually calls Papa and the two others (the twins) just Tito+name.
  • Raine has learned to BURP and FART out loud. Like a man. This is something he wouldn’t get from me, however barako i can be. He he. That’s what I thank my brothers for, however much they’d give me headaches and highblood, OK lang, as long as they’ll be a good manly example and father figures to Raine.

At the moment, Raine thinks that his father his dead (courtesy of my mother’s concocted story that his father died kasi nalunod sa imburnal. imagine? YUCKS!) so he unhesitantly bought the idea na si Papa G. (my bro) na ang papa niya.

Yeah I know that’s me being bad for allowing that, but someday i will sit down with Raine and tell him the truth and nothing but the truth. Kaso, sa truth na yan, 25% (o 10 na lang yata) ang magagandang facts na baka ikatuwa pa ni Raine. That’s why I’m postponing the idea, plus - kasi malay mo matisod ko na yung “mamang totoo at tama” na matagal na palang naghahanap sa akin (ilusyon ko, kaya di ako makita!). When that happens, burado na tuluyan talaga si mr. kups-x sa buhay ni Raine - whoever he will be, he will be Raine’s father. Forever.

Hayy…I love my life right now so the unworthy males can just bugger off, I’m not in for the lousy sex either. bwahaha!!! :-P