Pinay Mom on Motherhood, Etc.

I was up in the attic sorting through some of the things I had stored up there.  I was trying to make room for more of my bric-a-bracs here and I came across some “lost ramblings” (I wouldn’t call them poetry) written three years ago.  It was days after I had my D&C after my second miscarraige.  I was depressed and in grief — I had even forgotten I had written about it until I scanned this magazine I had decided to throw away.  I chanced upon the fourth one first and had to scan the magazine page to page to find the first three.. All were written on April 14, 2003.

Crossposted on Pinay New Yorker 

It was a Saturday focused on Motherhood.. (as if other Saturdays have not been…)  We left just before lunch for Splish Splash (our second time there this season) but we decided to do errands first.  Since we needed to go to Target and Home Depot to pick up a few things, we decided to go to their  branches near the water park and pick up what we needed there.

So first off, we had lunch at Boulder Creek Steak House where Angel had chicken fingers for the first time.  (I know it may seem shallow to some that I am all ga-ga over this trivial accomplishment .. but Angel doesn’t really eat much when we eat out.  He has usually stuck to french fries and the bread that they give as appetizer.)  He has also taken to picking on the steamed vegetables I’ve taken to ordering as a side dish.  I had my usual French Dunk (they do theirs with prime rib slices and provolone on ciabatta bread.)  Then we hied off to Home Depot to pick up a new light fixture for the kitchen and a ceiling fan for the dining room.  After that we went to Target to our usual sundries shopping, then a short stop at Tanger, our favorite outlet strip mall which was practically a stone’s throw away from the waterpark.

We went in for the twilight admission (hours before closing) which was really out intention because we didn’t want Angel getting overexposed to the sun again.  (Last time we were in Splish Splash, he had fever off and on for three days!)  Watching him having fun was such a joy and definitely worth the trip.  The place was crowded with excursionists and families like us who sought solace there from the heat of summer but we had so much fun just following him around and having fun with him.

When it was time to go home just before the park closed at 7PM, we had to pull Angel out of the pool and it was a tearful walk to the gate.  Those who saw him crying his heart out couldn’t help but smile in amusement as they knew he didn’t want to go home.  We promised him we would go back soon.  (It is, after all, an hour away by car only.)  Outings like that are precious indeed.  Of course we took pictures again, and several film clips to help keep the memories alive for until when Angel can watch them himself and “remember” those special days with Mom and Dad.

I had to help cook dinner (Mom had already started it with marinating the porkchops and preparing the ginisa for the string beans, and we had to do the laundry tonight.  Just finished folding, at just before 11PM.  I’m wiped out but happy, watching Angel snoring lightly beside me.

The last time Alan and I had to leave with Angel running after us, Alan promised the kid he would bring home a present if he calmed down and calm down he did.  While at Target, he was trying to choose another car when I suggested we get Angel a bubble machine instead. We got one that’s battery-operated and it’s a big hit everytime we take a bath.

Bathtime is our special time at the end of the day.  I indulge him his special fancy of bubbles and I find the sight of bubbles forming so fast and gently descending a very relaxing sight.  He and I have a fund time taking a bath in the tub, although sometimes he can get all wiggly when I start scrubbing him with his face towel, I manage to give him a rub down from head to toe.  We compromise at the end of the bath by my agreeing to leave him to play in the water until the tub is drained.  Then we change into his pajamas and Alan takes over. 

We’ve established a new bedtime routine with Angel, where Alan reads to him and lulls him to sleep.  Sometimes it even helps me to get him to leave the tub when I tell him we will read a story from one of his books soon.  Right now he fancies Elmo’s Bedtime Stories and one of the Thomas the Train books we got at Marshall’s in Pennsylvania.

He’ll be asleep soon..

It’s Angel’s precious smile like this that makes the two hour trip to Pennsylvania well worth it, along with the heat of the sun and the throng of people we waded through.  We left New York around 10AM and we headed straight for Sesame Place.  We have a season passport which meant we can keep coming back throughout the 2006 opening and no longer pay.  We had lunch in one of the restaurants on premises and then Alan and Angel hit the pools.  You could see Dads of all shapeds and sizes— Moms, too — tagging along behind their little ones.

We ended the day by watching Elmo’s World LIVE which, by itself, made the trip priceless.  Angel was beside himself dancing and giggling with Elmo and Mr. Noodles.  He’ll be dancing definitely the next time we go back there.  Maybe in a week or two again..