coffee break ver. 1.24

This weeks question by Jan: How has the internet made wonders to your social life?

I have actually made some good friends over the internet. This is through the following:

• weddingsatwork@yahoogroups.com -- while I was preparing for my wedding
• newlywedsatwork@yahoogroups.com -- when I was already married
• pinoyexchange -- even when I was single
• blogging -- since I started blogging, my online universe has expanded. I came to know other parents and other medical bloggers, as well as some gems from entrecard!

I have kept in touch with old friends, some long lost, through --

• friendster
• facebook
• my batch's yahoogroups
• my HS batch website
• emails

I have kept in touch with relatives who are abroad through the same means. I can also share photos with them digitally! I can choose to communicate with them live via webcam, if I so choose.

I have even started a small online business and came to know a lot of people!

Internet is wonderful! I love it and I'm thankful that we already have it.

My Baby Loves Me

My little boy is now 33 months old. He is still learning to talk, so I have yet to hear the words "I love you, mommy" from his lips. Yet, I know that he loves me.

• When I get home and call out his name, he rushes to tell grandma "mommy, mommy" and attempts to get out of the room to see me.
• He gives me the sweetest smile, complete with dimples.
• He tries his best to comply whenever I give him simple commands like "Give mommy the cup".
• He sang "Happy Birthday Mommy" with gusto, albeit a little off key, the day before my birthday (with Daddy's prodding).
• He greeted me "Happy Mommy Day" last mother's day.
• He sleeps better when I'm beside him.
• Oh yeah, his first word was "mama"! I was so happy!
  

My little boy, Mommy loves you too. :)

PPBC 4: My Kid/s Love Me: Let Me Count The Ways (Sticky till June 24, 2008)

We're parents and we know how much we love our children. We try to shower them with all the advantages, we try to send them to send them to the best schools, to give them everything they need, to provide all their necessities. We hug them, we kiss them, but we also discipline them. We worry about them. We're now on the 4th edition of the Pinoy Parenting Blog Carnival and we want to know:

How do your children show you (and your spouse) that they love you?

To submit your entry, please either leave your link as a comment on this post or send me your entry to ethanmama[at]gmail[com]. Deadline is on June 24, 2008.

Guidelines to the PPBC and archives to the previous editions are here.

This post will be kept "sticky" until June 24, 2008, the deadline :).

World Class Profession

I was tagged by Eds. :) Thanks sis! I also got the same tag from Pat which I opted to post on my other blog.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Copy and paste everything to a new post and Add your name next to your profession (or profession-to-be for undergrads) in the list. Make sure your name is linked to your blog/webbie.
Tip: For easier capture of links, paste into your blog using the “Visual” (for WP) and Compose (for Blogger) modes (not Edit HMTL or HTML).

2. If your profession is not in the list then simply add it to the correct alphabetical place. For example, if you want to add PLUMBER then it should be placed in between ONCOLOGIST and QUEEN.

3. Tag as many people as you can and witness how your technorati will explode!

4. Don’t forget to link back. In your case, link back to http://www.tsinay.com.

THE WORLD CLASS PROFESSIONS

Accountant - Eds

Blogger - Mary, Michelle

Doctor - Joey

Nurse - Mckhoii, Aggietha

Stay-at-Home-Mom - Mai, Aggie , Alpha

Technology Consultant - Thea

I'm tagging Jan, Meng, Lissa, Jacque

Your Firsts

Most of our 'firsts' made some sort of impact on us ... they have become the fabric of our lives ... so, dig back and remember.

Tribute To Hubby On Father's Day

I got these questions from n@w, one of my mailing lists and I just could not resist :). Anybody may snag these questions if they want to. Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there!

1. How long were you together before you got hitched?
5 years

2. What made you fall in love with hubby from the start?

I love talking with him! We share a lot of ideas. And although we may not agree on some things, we can discuss about it and not end up at each other's throat! And he makes me laugh. It doesn't hurt that I like the way he looks too!

3. What's the best gift you ever received from him?

Materially, I guess my engagement ring. I didn't expect one and actually told him not to bother with getting one and just use the extra money for our wedding budget. But he still did and I love it! Although I guess that was actually my mother-in-law's idea because she was the one who had the ring made. :)

But the BEST gift I received from him is actually his love. The small gestures that made me realize that hey, this guy really loves me. No grand gestures for him, just small everyday gestures that show how he loves me and now, our son.

4. What is hubby's best traits? Worst traits?

Best traits: When he's doing something, he is very focused on the job. He's very loving, very understanding, and in his own way, he is very sweet.
Oh, and he's very handy around the house too!

Worst traits: When he's very focused on something, he tends to forget about other stuff. This sometimes drives me crazy.

5. Is he the spoiler or the disciplinarian?

Both, I guess. Materially though, he tends to spend more for my son's toys.

6. Was there ever an instance where Daddy made one major funny booboo/moment with regards to parenting? (Yung tipong tawang tawa kayo pareho sa blooper niya.)

There were several. That includes several suddenly-peeing-in-daddy's face moments :)

7. What traits/mannerism/character did your child/children inherent from hubby?
Late to bed, late to rise. They're both night persons.

8. Let's say you and your child/children are talking about daddy, what do you want to tell your kids about their dad that they don't know?

I do not thing there's anything about Daddy that E does not know. Daddy does not really keep secrets from him :)

9. What is one thing Daddy cannot live without (materially)?

His car, maybe?

10. If hubby can read this, what's your message for him?

Dear, it's been a wonderful three and a half years of marital bliss. My life has changed for the better since you came along. I am truly looking forward to growing old with you.

I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by Lissa! :) Thanks sis! I posted this on my new blog.


--------- START HERE -------------
Instructions:
1. Copy and paste this tag from "Start Here" to "End Here". (don't forget the image)
2. Place your blog's name with your URL at the end of the tag. If you have more that one blog, please add them too! Just make sure that you post this tag in all of your blogs.
3. Tag 5 blogs that is not yet in this post (just to avoid duplications ^_^ )
4. This is the twist... Go to the 5 blogs that you tagged and comment on any of their posts. Why? So that search engines can crawl to your site. ^_^
5. Return to the Momhood Moments blog and leave a comment saying that you joined the tag together with the URL of the tag.
I'll be checking on it and add you in the master list.Momhood Moments
Tags You List:1. Momhood Moments 2. Business Mars 3. Concealed Mind 4. Once in a Lifetime 5. The Sweet Life 6. Tsinay...Between Cultures 7. YOU'RE NEXT!!! =)

--------- END HERE -------------

Tagging: Leah, Mari, Happy, Issa, Eds.

Different Parenting Styles for Different Generations?

Being both Chinese and Filipino, I am bombarded on both sides on advices on parenting. It just gets to be plain confusing at times! I'm sure it was even more confusing during my mother's time, when she had no option but to listen. Nowadays, we have more information sources, including the internet, so we can make researches about what's right and what's not.

Anyway, here goes.

Things my parents did that I would definitely still follow:

• Teach kids the love and respect for one another, for the elders and for other people in general. I think this transcends cultures and generations. But I guess Asians are stricter when it comes to this. I find it shocking for people to show disrespect, especially for elders. Remember, we are all going to grow old someday.
  
• Taught the value of money. All the money we got from Chinese New Year (ang paos) were in my mother's safekeeping. She then helped us open bank accounts. She didn't want us to spend all that money. That all worked out for the best.
  
• Send kids to a good school which puts a premium on values formation. The school should be a partner of parents not only in teaching academics, but also in instilling the right values. It helps a lot if the values of the parents and the school are in sync, because both complement each other. That's what happened to us, hence I believe that we have a strong moral backbone. And I want that for my kid/s.
  
• Let my kids learn Chinese. And Filipino and English, of course. More languages is always an advantage, but it's especially good to know the language of your forebears. If my kid/s want to learn more languages, GREAT!
  
• Limit TV time. We grew up knowing that on school days, we were only allowed about 30 minutes of TV time (that was the time of Voltes V and Mazinger Z, when news came on, we have to stop TV). Eventually, we did not watch TV during school days unless there was really something special on. TV was for weekends. It helped that the TV was in my parent's room, which was off limits when they were not around. :)
  
• Let kids study on their own with minimal supervision. My mom never really had to tutor us. We had the initiative to study on our own. And we got decent grades. I really could not understand why almost all students need tutors nowadays. I really hope I get to achieve this and not eat my words later.
  
• My mom is a working mom but I never felt neglected during my growing up years. I would like to achieve the same thing.
  

Things I did differently:

• I breastfed. For 1 year and 10 1/2 months. I will continue to do so for any future kids I might have. I was a bottle fed baby, as were my siblings. I do not blame my mother, though, because that was the orientation during the seventies, that bottlefeeding is somehow better. Even dolls come with feeding bottles. It really seemed natural at the time. But I've since learned that breast is best.
  
• I co-sleep. We slept in cribs when we were younger. Nothing wrong in that. I thought I would do that too and bought a crib. But since my son got sick and we both found comfort in co-sleeping, it stuck!
  
• I did not force toilet training at an early age. This one I am at two minds about. When you do readings, you will find that some people advocate early toilet learning. Others would want to wait for signs of readiness. I really do not know if I'm doing the right thing. As of now, it feels as if my son will be in diapers forever, but of course I know that's not the case.
  

Things I would do differently:

• Allow my kids to voice their own views and opinions. My parents are the products of a more authoritarian parent age. Although they were already more open minded than their own parents, there are times when they do the parent card and want us to do things just because they said so or they want it that way. Frankly, for a small child, that is still okay, even good. But not for a mother in her late thirties! I sometimes feel that I am quite overruled in my decisions. But I know they only have my best interests at heart. For my kids, however, I'd prefer that they voice out their own views, opinions and concerns, and I'll listen. I may not agree, but I will listen and we can discuss the matter.
  
• Teach my son/s to cook, launder, sew and other women's jobs. Let my husband teach my daughter/s to do repairs, change a flat tire and other men's jobs. In my parent's time, and even up to now, some jobs are classified as men's jobs and some as women's jobs. So, my mother never taught my brothers to cook and even discourage them to hold a needle and thread, since in the Chinese culture, it is considered unseemly for men to sew. I do think that times are changing and everybody should know a little bit of everything, so that we do not have to be too reliant on other people. Also, some men are very good in what are considered traditional women's jobs, while some women are very good in what are considered men's jobs.
  
• Teach my kids to invest at an early age. Well, investing is always difficult. But starting to invest at an earlier age would mean a lot more time to be more aggressive, and a lot of time to recover from mistakes. I want to teach my kid/s more about financial literacy. Of course, investing was trickier during my parent's time. Now there are many options for investing, and with the advent of the internet, it is much simpler.
  

This is all I can think of for now. I'm sure there are lots more. My conclusion is that there are a lot of good in what our parents taught us and I am eternally grateful. But times are a-changing and we need to be able to adjust to the times. During our parents' childhood, not everybody has a TV. Now we have TVs, playstations, etc. It's different raising a kid then and now but we have to rise to the challenge as parents.
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This is my entry to the 3rd edition of the Pinoy Parenting Blog Carnival, which I am hosting at my other blog, The Working Mom.

The Chinese Zodiac

Chinese are very big on Zodiac signs -- the Chinese Zodiac, that is. This is also true of overseas Chinese like Tsinoys and Tsinays. We use as a basis for choosing auspicious dates for weddings.

Do you know your Chinese Zodiac sign? You might want to check out your sign.

Here's mine:

Lets101 Quizzes - Fun Quizzes

My Son is Going To Learn Chinese

I promised myself that my children are going to know how to speak and write Chinese, aside from English and Filipino. I feel sad whenever I know of friends who can no longer speak Chinese. It's part of our heritage. Although strictly speaking, we're now citizens of the Philippines and should speak Filipino, we should never forget where we came from. Besides, another language is always an advantage.

Between Cultures

The Chinese Filipino is a subculture...never fully Pinoy, never fully Chinese. We have our own unique set of traditions modified from those set by our forefathers. We embrace both cultures and try to INTEGRATE.