Our little toughie

In Filipino, a pose like this is described as siga. In a way, 15-month-old Butones is siga because she gets her  way whenever it's possible. She knows limits are defined when her mother utters a firm "No!" Language-wise, her edge over us is she can understand us, but we can't understand her fluent foreign language that is accompanied with expressive eyes. Otherwise, she has the run of the upper floor of the house, the rooms all turned into her territories. Here she is outfitted in her modern cloth nappy with paw prints and a pair of "skidders," shoes with socks attached. Locale is the balcony-cum-laundry drying area where she soaks up the sun in the morning. Photo by Kimi Fernandez