First haircut!

Alon's hair before the cut

Last Sunday, Alon had his first haircut. We were supposed to go to a kiddie barber shop but when we found out how much it cost, the kuripot in me just turned around and never looked back. Haha!

Lolo actually volunteered for the job when he found out that we were planning to have Alon's hair cut.  He seemd excited to have been finally granted the privelege.  He already had his razor ready when we visited Pasig.

We started but Alon did not like the sound of the razor and ended up crying. We decided to wait until he fell asleep first.

I actually missed the second attempt for the haircut since I fell asleep.  I got a bit annoyed at that but good thing my son woke up again because of the razor. I had the chance to experence his haircut with him.

Lolo ended up using the traditional scissors cutting Alon's hair. I wsd carrying Alon when he was having the haircut so I was all covered with hair.

It was not the best of haircuts. It was not even at all, especially at the back. Some parts had his scalp exposed, the parts that went through the razor. 

The crazy back of his head. :P

Howrver if you are facing him, you would not even notice anything wrong at the back.  Despite that, I'm still happy how it turned out. My little baby is now a boy.  A handsome one at that! 

Not bad from the front.

Moments with Alon: Post 1

Alon was nursing. I was gently touching him but bordering on a tickle (nursing moms would know this is a risk but hey, I live dangerously. :p). He was laughing (while on the breast). Probably found it fun so he kept leading my fingers to his ticklish areas. Even before I touch him, he wad already giggling. We were having much fun.

I watched a short segment on Top Chef. When I looked down, he was already asleep. 

I don't know but I found this really funny. :)

Community feeding

It really does take a village to raise a child, or in my case, breastfeed my son.

I only had a week to work at increasing my stock of breastmilk for Alon before I departed for a short eight day mission to Zamboanga (short because most of my colleagues have been here for three weeks).  I was only able to stock four days worth of milk which was my main concern when I left for the field.

I did buy several kinds of milk and milk substitutes like Dutch Mill, Chamyto, fresh milk, soya milk and chocolate milk.  According to Jan, he seems to like Chamyto but only in small doses.  All the other milk, he would refuse to take.

We were lucky to have a kind neighbor who was also breastfeeding her seven month old girl and was stay at home so did not really need her expressed milk.  Our yaya was able to solicit her extra milk for Alon so we were able to extend his stock to six days.  She was gone for the weekend though, so I was in a bit of dilemma.

A colleague was actually willing to transport the milk when he would depart Thursday but the rains cancelled the flights in Zambo so they had to travel all the way to Pagadian to take a flight to Manila.  That plan had to be scrapped.

I was able to convince another colleague flying back to Manila on Saturday to be Alon's milk man.  I was so happy when he said yes.  There were initial concerns that the flight might not push through since it was raining again this morning and Manila was also experiencing its own showers.  But God was good and Jan managed to get the milk from him at the airport.

Alon has enough milk again to last him until I return on Monday. Yey!  Yey to the fact that my son will still be fed and Yey to the fact that Monday is coming soon. :)

New words, new words!

Since Thursday, Alon learned a few more words.

"bak" - bike
"kay" - sakay (ride)

of which he used together.  His first sentence was, "bak, kay."  Mommy jaw drop moment there.

"wa-aw" - wow

"buhk" - book

"lohloh" - lolo.  We're trying to teach him "lola" because Lola = Santa Claus. No such luck yet.

I left for Zamboanga, and tonight's phone call revealed that he has two new words again.

"eh-yo" - hello
"leeh-goh" - ligo  (bath)

What a chatty kid we have!

While we were on the phone, I quoted an excerpt from his book. "Click-clack-moo, click-clack-moo, clickety-clack-moo."  Jan said Alon got the book and handed it to him.  Another mommy jaw drop moment. :)

Nights like this :)

I arrived to a little celebration of Alon's condo Bestie, Anton, who turned one last September 14. While I was enjoying pansit, Alon was with Yaya Jeana riding Zohan's bike. He quite enjoyed the ride and was crying when we had to return it to the owner. When We finally went up to our unit. I asked him if he could say "bike" and he said "bak."  Yaya and Nanay were both surprised and pleased. :).

When Tatay arrived a little later, he took Alon for a walk along the corridor. We played hide and seek and habulan. I taught him to turn. He did! He did three turns, got dizzy and fell down. He was dazed but after he recovered, he did it again a couple of times. Turns, dizzy, fall.  He enjoyed it. Crazy kid!

Afterwards, we saw a grasshopper by the exit door of our wing. He kept staring and looking at it. Everytime we tried to leave, he would insist going back.

When Tatay and Nanay finally decided to return to the unit, it was time for dinner.  He had his plain taho and frozen apple-banana-pear smoothie. Then he took his bath.

Boy, bath was a riot.  I was able to give Alon a bath, but it seemed I was as wet as my ward. He was splashing the water with such buoyant, effervescent gusto that I had to join in. I was drenched but we both enjoyed. :)

Every night may not be as crazy and fun as tonight but I hope Tatay, Nanay and Alon continue to create exciting memories together. :)

Baby babble

Alon started to talk at eleven months. His first word was "lat" (light). I actually though his first word was "cat" since while we were in the playground, he pointed to a cat and said "aat" but then he also pointed to a slide and said "aat." So no, cat was not his first word then.

He was pretty consistent with "lat" until he learned other words.  Right now, I don't hear him saying "lat" but would excitedly look or point in the light's direction when asked "where is the light."

At almost 15 months, he's already got quite a vocabulary. "Boh" for ball, "buh" for balloon, "bahbuh" for bubbles, "buhbay" (bye), "Kah" (car), " kahw" (cow), "down", "tatay," "nanay," "bana" (banana), la na" (no more), "wotah" (water), "dede" and "duhtee" (dirty).

He uses "nyum" for eat because when we feed him, we'd go "nyum-nyum-nyum!"

There are a few random words that I am still trying to figure out like "ikay" and "iko".  Absolutely no idea as he just points at any random thing saying those words.

His favorite word lately is "no."  Often times used in triplicate, sometimes with no context. Often with a head shake. I sometimes wonder if this is an early "terrible twos."  Hahaha! Thank God there are no tantrums that go with it. Yet.

Whatever it is, I'm glad that Alon seems to be developing well. I'm looking forward to his future quips and hope to God I can keep a straight face if he tries to be a smart-ass. Which on current circumstances is highly likely. 

Oh dear.