Family Bytes

Summer in the Philippines is blazingly hot. Sometimes temperatures reach 40 degrees. Which is why many beaches and resorts are jam-packed with tourists. Even malls are filled to the brim, with people not shopping around but just to take advantage of their free air-conditioning system. Well, our little gang here, Ryle and his cousins, are not to be outdone. They are having fun with the small, makeshift pool we bought last year. They are so fun to watch. We'll worry about our water bill later.

   

 

Ryle's Tito Ninong Ronald and Tita Mai gave him a gift set of educational VCDs. Included in the videos were Math, Sounds, Colors and the Solar System. At first we thought that he will never be interested in such videos because of the manner they were presented. The videos were made way back circa 1990, so they lack the hi-tech graphics, animations and vivid colors and just came with simple narration. But then, Ryle was curiously stuck on the TV when we tried playing them. The video that caught his attention the most is the Solar System. He was very attentive to it. And instantly he was glued and played the video over and over.

That's when we decided to buy him science and astronomy books to boost his interest. And before long, he was able to enumerate the names of the planets from Mercury to the now demoted Pluto . He was able to distinguished the planets upon seeing them especially Jupiter and of course Saturn, his favorite because of the rings. He was able to identify sunspots, satellites, astronauts, space suits, rocket ship, orbits, constellation, craters, telescope and even Galileo. My wife pushed it further by letting him identify some of the prominent moons of Jupiter: Ganimede, Calisto, Io, Europa.

Because of that I was inspired to make him a Solar System Model made out of styrofoam balls which I painstakingly painted. He was so loving it naming the planets.

We were just mere spectators in tonight's Lenten procession. The last time we joined, Ryle had an asthma attack after. Maybe because of the candle fumes, dust and exhaustion. Ryle had a fun time mingling with the kids who were holding clappers called Clotarus by some or Matraka by others, not sure though which one is the right term. This as I learned replaces the suppressed bells of the church during this period of mourning. Little boys usually rattle them loud to announce the procession. It was a simple procession but attended by many. We will attend one next year, by then Ryle will be in much tougher shape. His asthma attacks has been declining. (My apologies for the not so vivid images. Either because I was a lousy shooter or my digital camera is not hi-tech enough to capture images in dark sceneries.)

Last night, Ryle had an accident. His ring and middle fingers got pinned by the door. The dumbest thing is that I was to blame.

He told me that he wanted to wee-wee. So I accompanied him to the bathroom and just let do his thing by the bathroom floor as always. Adjacent to the bathroom is another door going to our laundry area. I did not notice where his hands were and I wasn't looking at all when I slammed and closed the door.

That's when I heard his loudest scream he ever made as he cried in searing pain. My heart sank when I realized what I had just done. My wife quickly gathered him up, his nanny immediately took ice from the ref and I stood there continually cursing myself for being so stupid.

It was nearly an hour before his pain subsided and stopped crying. Thankfully, he was able to wiggle his fingers after, an indication that there was no fracture. It was an agony to think that I caused him such pain. And I cried with him while telling him daddy was very sorry.

That experience was one hell of a lesson in Child Rearing 101. Always make it a point to look where their hands are before closing anything be it a door, your closet or drawers.