faith, love, God, among other things

marriage, love, faith, God ... how do you explain these to a 5 year old? i honestly don't know. but my daughter asks about these things already. its hard as it is molding her into the best person that she can be. and giving her the "right" answers to her gazillion of simple questions would also depend on it.

it seems so sweet when she asked me to "marry her", but it breaks my heart to "turn her down". but still, i had to be firm and explain that i cannot marry her because i am already married to daddy... and so and so... and i would go ballistic when she would look at me and say, "but i want you to love me more". what am i supposed to think?!

faith? whats is it? it's something you believe in but cannot see. like what?

God? who is God? He is the daddy of Jesus. oh, He lives in the clouds? yes. He is also around us. where, i cannot see Him. who is Joseph?

so God is like a superhero? yes. wow, thats cool!

she once suddenly asked: "why is superman wearing a panty?"

there was a time when we were at my mom's house when i told her that we will have snack at our own house since there is no food there (forgot to explain that they havent gone to the market/grocery yet). she then asked, they are not blessed?

oh my gosh. i really have to think of the words i use. i just want to introduce the kids to God even this early. i want them to realize that we are blessed to have shelter, food and even books and toys. i don't mean for them to think that others are not blessedjust because they don't have food. so how do i explain this?

about sharing. we always tell her that sharing is good. so what will i do or say when she gives her baon to her busmates and nothing left for her? she also got the cookie i was eating so her busmates could eat it because her friends "like it" and that "sharing is good?". i told her that she should eat it first and think of herself first before other people. even that seems not so good. hay!

money. i remind her that she needs to study hard, work hard so she'll have money. and she said that i should work hard so i can give HER money.

yes, these are all funny and cute. smart too. but i still need to choose my words and just trust that she would become the best person that we want her to be.

conversations with raya

some conversations with raya for the past months...

• [saw raya touching her breasts and i asked why] raya: because i want it big! (feb 2011)
• raya: mommy, you're harry potter and i'm ben ten and daddy is shrek (may 2011)
• raya: mommy, i want to go to disneyland. (june 2011)
• raya: mommy, i have an idea. after i finish eating, you can go home by yourself and i will stay with grammy, papi, kuya and ninang who are my family, then i'll wait for you here. (june 2011)
• raya: where did you go?    ME: i met up with tito rodel (bil).    raya: mommy, i told you, tell me when you will go to tito rodel!    ME: why?    raya: because i want to play with him.... [then she recalled something that they played months ago about jumping and her tito rodel catching her]
• raya: where are you going?    ME: i'm going to buy shoes.   raya: for me?!?! (with a big and excited smile).   ME: i'll check.   raya: i want pink shoes with light! pleeease!! (june 2011)
• [raya drew a picture of 2 people] ME: wow! this is me and you.   raya: no, that's me and daddy! (june 2011)
• raya: mommy, can i have a dog? (june 2011)
• ME: raya, mommy will go out tonight ok?   raya: are you going to the laundry shop?   ME: no. i'll have a date tonight with daddy.   raya: a date? whats that?   ME: its daddy and mommy time together.    raya: oh, i want to have a date too.  (july 2011)
• raya: mommy, when daddy don't have meeting, can he bring me to school? (july 2011)
• raya: teacher said i can't drink water because we need to save water everyday (july 2011)
• raya: mommy, kuya watched smurfs the movie.    ME: ok, we could watch it too over the weekend.   raya: no, not with you. daddy only. (august 2011)
• raya: mommy, can you buy me boots? so that i can wear it when its raining. (sept 2011)
• raya: mommy, will you marry me?    ME: but i am married to daddy. only mommies and daddies get married.    raya: but i want you to marry me.   ME: why?   raya:  so that you will love me...

the last one, gelio and i kept on explaining to her about marriage and love. hay, ang hirap! :) i just hope and wish that we don't love her less just because "i can't marry her".

separation anxiety

right before my second daughter robin was born, we bought my first born raya a bed of her own. she was excited of course. happy that she now have her "own" bed. but she slept on it only for a few nights. then went back to sleeping with us after that.  

that bed was just right beside our bed in the room. so it's like 1 whole big bed. when robin was about 6 months old, she used raya's bed up until last week. the kids sleeps like crazy. they move a lot, talk, kick us, roll over and they like to have lots of pillows. its funny. but its getting uncomfortable already especially since they're getting big every day, kick getting harder and it really disturbs our sleep :) 

i think it is time.

so what i did was to put raya's bed in another corner of the room.  i told her to start sleeping there. i put some pillows with nice bedsheets and superhero blanket. we even encouraged her to put stickers on the wall on the side of her bed. i also helped her make a collage of her pictures. now its her corner.

i watch her read a book in her own bed. i was there on my bed on the other side of the room when it hit me. my first born, raya, is now getting big :'( time flies. i was the one pushing hubby to let raya "separate" from us. ako pala ang di pa ready. i wanted to back away from the plan of slowly letting them on their own. we plan on letting them sleep in their own room. but i know it is time. this is another first for me and once again, i didn't know how it is until i am right in that situation. 

in a few months, robin will also have her own bed. up until now, she still is so clingy to me. im used to it. i try to let her be close to her aunts and grammy. i think its going to take a long time before she lets go. and i know, i'll have a hard time too.

and this is just one of the many letting go situations.