Sunrise, sunset

Jared wearing anti-glare glasses that make him look mature

Kai online with Satchi as saling aso

Max as Binibining Palitaw

They were the little boy and little girls I carried. And now they are testing the video and audio of their respective home computers as they attend the orientation week of their schools. Except for Machiko Susi, a.k.a. Max, who's still on an extended summer from the University of the Philippines Integrated School. Which is why she's holding up a plate of palitaw that she had prepared under the supervision of her Wowa Pinky Lolarga Susi and yaya Sherilyn.

My family is agreed that Jared Susi (first photo) looks like an ultra-young executive as he meets his classmates onscreen. Kai has a photo bomber in Satchi, the golden retriever, who's peeking through the window, curious about the girl's activity.

As I write this, I hear Kai and classmates saying "Hello" and "Hi" to one another at their post-recess resumption of classes. Kai is a wee shy about speaking up so she just types her remarks.

Earlier today, she kicked me awake at 7:30 a.m. for not rising earlier to help her prepare for breakfast and home school. I was just coming out of a dream where I saw photographers Ev Espiritu and Wig Tysmans in a bus headed for interior Cordillera. As I tried to sort out the dream's message, Rolly took over the morning supervisory duties--seeing to Kai's full breakfast and getting her ready for online class.

I hear the teacher asking "Are you ready now?" And the pupils answering, "We are ready!" I think there's something to this home schooling thingy--grandparents like me being passive/active listeners and ready to assist these young souls whom we are privileged to shepherd.

Dreaming of when it's over

Kai and Satchi

"What will this bleak time be called when it's all over?" ~ Tweet from Pamela Colloff

I'm afraid my grandchild Kai has recently developed some kind of insomnia. Every night it takes her later and later to fall asleep, and it's usually after midnight. No, she doesn't take an afternoon siesta. I'm beginning to worry that she's suffering from some anxiety that makes nodding off difficult for her.

She's active the whole day--playing with the dog Satchi, feeding her, giving her vitamin, chatting on FB Messenger with her cousin Machiko Susi in Antipolo, playing pretend with her miniature figurines and dolls, an hour of Netflix cartoons. You'd think that's already a full day for a child.

Yesterday she carefully wrote on two postcards and told her pen pals about how bored she was. And I quote: " Extreeeeeemely bored! Satchi is bored too waiting for me to go outside and play. Sometimes I am able to see a very pretty butterfly. Oh! And to go to parties!"

We are family even though some members aren't with me

The house is unusually quiet, almost empty, except for Mom, me, the help and two sleeping dogs. Four siblings, two daughters, a nephew and a niece left for Boracay before dawn. My grandchild is with the other set of grandparents in Taguig and will not be back till evening.

So the silence and isolation do not feel like they're a physical pain, I've volunteered to be Mom's secretary for the day. Responsibilities involve answering her Facebook correspondence and uploading family photos for her. Every time there's a comment or a "Like," she dictates her reply/reaction.

It's a far cry from the day my balikbayan brother arrived with his family when everyone was talking at the same time and wanting to be heard.

Consider this a pause. When the clan returns and resumes where we left off at the end of the week, I will miss the rare silence. Meanwhile, I'm allowing myself the pleasure of looking at these dear ones' faces that underscore how absence makes the heart wonder!

Almost complete and happy to be together

It's easy to coax a smile from cousins Machiko and Kai when they know they're off for a ride away from the home's confines.         Photos by Babeth Lolarga

Guess who came to visit on a Saturday?

Today's another Saturday so the oldies but goodies of Pasig eagerly await the visit of the young and the fearless. 

The latest member of the latter batch is Jared Franco Jorge Susi whom I love to refer to as Jar-jar (his mom who fully breastfeeds him is nicknamed Jaja, while the father, in his childhood, we used to call Pao-pao). Repetition of syllables can be musical to the human ear apart from being easy to remember.

My sister, Mamita Gigi, cradles Jar-jar

Max on her great grandma's rocking chair

Jar-jar's older cousin Machiko, who turns a happy two at the end of this month, we've come to know as Max. She must be the smartest kid on her block in Antipolo, quite ready for pre-school (she's into watercolor painting already) and like my own darling in Baguio, Kai a.k.a. Butones Fernandez, can memorize tunes. Butones is into body parts, "My toes, my knees, my shoulder, my head," and its Filipino version.  Max likes to up the ante; she can sing out "Raindrops keep falling on my head," the theme song from my fave flick from the '70s, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in her signature voice that is a cross between mezzo-soprano and alto range. Max also likes to play dress-up, quite an advanced form of play.

So I and my older siblings are about to quote JC (Jesus Christ) in calling out to these Antipolo-based innocents so they may lighten and brighten this particular Booboo's working Saturday: "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children."

Pensive Kai

In all her recent photos taken by her mother, Kai/Butones has this pensive expression. It makes me curious what is going on in a small child's mind or how the synapses of thought are clicking in there. 

I got a recent dispatch that when her elders in Baguio asked her, "What's your name?", her prompt answer was "Booboo." Booboo is how I want her to call me so when we're together, I point to myself and ask her, "What's MY name?" It's her cue to answer "Booboo." But when she just looks at me, I point to myself and say, "Booboo! I'm the Booboo!." 

Oh, I must reword things into "What's YOUR name?" while pointing at her. That way, she can identify herself as Kai. Now how to teach her to say her alias "Butones" without confusing it with "button", a word she can already say to mean her navel or belly button.

How deep do toddlers think? Or is she just a cucumber cool kid?

Does this expression fall under pensive or not too thrilled about pigtails?

The expression on cousin Machiko Susi's face shows what a strong opinion  or personality that kid has on certain matters. Passive Butones seems she's willing to go along to avoid any conflict. Photos by Kimi Fernandez