The education of LO and her Booboo

In Baguio, I have a room with a view. It is where I work (think, write, research, communicate with story sources and colleagues). In the lowlands, I face a yellow-painted wall with a calendar tacked on it. In a few days, I'll be saying a reluctant goodbye to this room which we call The Office. The LO (little one) has turned it into her office, too; it's just that her idea of one is to haul her stuff from the nursery and play behind my chair or beside my desk. I know her development as a child is on track because she talks to her bears and dinosaurs, lately a pig named Peppa. Sings to them.

Dusk hour is when I turn on the lamp light. The desk is a mess, but as I like to say (and this is borne out by research), creatives are messy.

When the YouTube is on, she knows me well enough to request "Sumi Jo, Blue Danube." Of course, my husband is impressed, so is the LO's mother Kimi--that Kai can sing the chorus part of "Ha ha, ha ha" to Ms. Jo's singing, identify some of the orchestra instruments. After the singing of the waltz, she will shrewdly request for two videos of Hooplakidz, featuring Annie and her pet dog Ben and the monkey Mango.

It has become harder to make Kai stand still, pose decently with eyes open wide for the camera. I made her stand beside a pile of The Children's Hour, all 16 volumes of them, my own childhood companions. Topping them is The College Book of English Literature. All my books I can part with, even the ones I've written, but these ones are here to stay.

LO knows I have teaching duties in the lowlands which explains my leave-taking (I will still be in Baguio on certain weekends, if my sked permits). LO is half in awe when she asks, "You're a teacher, too, like Granny Su?" (Su is Suzy, my sister, who has been a preschool teacher for two decades, maybe more. I always add that LO's Tita Ida is a teacher also which explains why she's abroad.) To LO teachers are awesome beings--of course, that's the only way she perceives them, having gone through a Musikgarten course under RL Altomonte. LO is now enrolled in a Montessori nursery. With a nun in front of the class, teachers really are learned authority figures in her eyes.

Well, I have a lot of living up to expectations to be done--those of LO's and my new students'.

Goodbye, Paddington, the bear with whom I have established a relationship that needs no words. Photos by Babeth Lolarga

Bright Hope Jolly Phonics Summer Class

Congratulations to Kai and her mother Kimi, the videographer. The Wee One went through a clingy phase nearly into her second week in summer class. But once she learned to trust her teachers and classmates, her guardians just had to wait outside the classroom at the Luke Foundation building in Baguio for one and a half hours, five times a week, for the rest of this month.

As early as summer of 2013, Kai could already recognize all alphabets, capital and small letters. But how to transition to blending consonant-vowel combinations and recognize words was a bit of a challenge. Until Kimi heard of this unique phonics class where the kid population was small. Small enough for Kai to feel right at home that she could declare with a smile one time when I picked her up, "I'm enjoying myself!" Sometimes she'd emerge from class holding hands with one of the boys until it was time for boy and mom to board their taxi.

Today, when you point to two- or three-letter words in Kai's list, she exaggerates each letter sound. She has a matching action for each letter like shaking her head left to right for the "t" sound, tapping her arms for "a", among others. Looks and sounds cute, but her Booboo is confident she's gonna pull a surprise on us by reading the headlines of her Grumpa Tats' favorite newspaper.

Thanks, Teacher Julia and all the kind staff of Bright Hope. We hope your new "graduate" doesn't need remedials when she enters preschool in June.

War Torn Mouth by Babeth Lolarga - PHILIEN Ms. JoCas

"War Torn Mouth" is a poem I wrote from the '70s. I'm still wondering how the makers of this video and song tracked it down. Perhaps from a back issue of The Literary Apprentice?Nevertheless, what a pleasant surprise to accidentally discover that this old poem is restored through song and video and that it is speaking to another generation.

Full disclosure: The makers of the song and video are all unknown to me. I want to thank them just the same.

'Staycation' is the way to go

Her list of summer activities outshines mine (I can timidly claim reading a couple of books, getting hooked on the TV series Sherlock Holmes and Game of Thrones, occasional handwritten letters, increasingly rare walks, flower appreciation, snacking at odd hours).

Kai has learned to cut and prefers to do it alone, plays catch ball with her elders, swims with abandon in a small sea of balls, gives her water toys a full bath and squeeze until sneezing point from exposure to the cold, snaps "dragons" in the garden, indulges in pretend play with her stuffed toys, joins the doggy walk morning and afternoon, sings "Letting Go" from Frozen full throttle, watches four Hoopla Kids videos on YouTube (strictly rationed, same for TV hours unlike her Booboo). Daily summer phonics class is now part of her routine.

I can add to my list the photo documentation of her summer. I still dream of going to the beach, of feeling sand under my feet or even swimming in a warm pool before monsoon season arrives. My travel is limited to Pinterest sites of dream getaways and the TLC channel.

Meanwhile, our "staycation" is going splendidly, and we feel blessed each time the sun is out. I've grown to accept that this is as good as it gets.

Enjoying each moment Photos by Babeth Lolarga