TV and gadgets

I have tried my best to not expose Alon to television and gadgets too young.  I was hoping to keep him screen-free until two years old but by the time he was one and a half, he was watching some television with us.  Mostly Masterchef Australia.  It was never interesting enough to keep him attentive for more than five minutes though.  So I'm still generally satisfied with his amount of exposure.

I'm not against gadgets and screens per se but I hope to raise him more interested in activities and people than screens.  Neither Jan or I are techies anyway.  It has been working so far.  He prefers playing with his friends over watching television.  He likes playing with his toys and still can be cajoled into reading books.

Lately, I have allowed him to watch some movies and play with the iPod/iPhone.  The main reason why this happened is because I've gotten so huge that I can no longer keep up in running after him.  He's also gotten a bit demanding, asking me to carry or play with him more.  I really wish I could but I'm a glutinous blob now and most of my movement is through waddling and rolling.  I need more breaks now and somehow gadgets and TV helps me have it.

He never watches or plays unsupervised though.  I make it a point that I explain what we see or ask him about what he's seen.  There are times he would be so engaged that he would not respond but I try as much as possible to make sure he doesn't get into such a deep stupor. 

He's seen quite a few movies already and it's interesting the things he's picked up from the shows.

Frozen. Olaf the Snowman is his favorite.  Because of Olaf, he started eating carrots (because of the carrot nose), so hurray for that!

Cars. He absolutely loves it.  He's known about Mater since Christmas since we gave him some small toy cars which included Mater and Lightning McQueen.  He learned about traffic lights from the movie.  Now, he likes waiting for traffic lights when we are on the road.

Despicable Me 2. Minions. Nuff said.
 
It was also only recently that I allowed him to watch or play educational games on the iPod/iPhone.  He likes watching songs and playing. He seemed to have lost interest in it lately though.  He hasn't asked to play "Puzzingo" in the past couple of days.

I got a new iPad mini.  I was looking through some videos and he wanted to watch with me.  I ended up showing him a video of a catterpillar transforming into a butterfly.  It was not a kiddie video, but I was doing a commentary during the transformation.  Much to my delight, when the video finished, he wanted to see it again.

Right now, I'm quite happy with our progress with the gadgets.  He still prefers physical play and that's what matters to me.  I put a time limit when he can watch and play with gadgets.  He'd put a bit of a tantrum when we end but he can be easily distracted to pay attention to something else.  At the same time, I get a chance to breathe for a while.

Let's see how it goes when I have a second baby to manage.  I wonder if I can keep the new one screen free for long.  Hah.

Katy

Last Sunday, I was finally able to watch Katy at Meralco Theater by my lonesome.  I've been wanting to for years already but never really had the opportunity or time to do so.

It was awesome! The cast received a standing ovation at the end.  And from what I heard along the corridors, they were receiving standing ovations every night during their CCP run.  It was a good ensemble with Isay Alvarez leading the cast.

I would say that I was most moved by Tirso Cruz III's performance.  He played the role of Katy's strict but loving father.  His comic timing was on point, not something you would think would come easily to a known dramatic actor.  But his dramatic skill was also used well during Tatay's final scene with Tale, his pet name for Katy.  After he told Tale something like, "Hay naku, Tale, kahit gaano ka pa ka-gaga (?) tandaan mo na mahal na mahal kita." I laughed and then started getting teary-eyed.  I could feel Tatay's love for Tale.  The sudden softness of his usually-scolding voice, the gentle embrace of a despairing Tale.  The scene got blurry as my tears started to fall.  Beautiful, beautiful performance by Tirso. :)

There were a lot of other enjoyable scenes in the play.  What stuck with me the most though was the theater at the time of Japanese occupation.  There they were trying their best to fight a revolution on stage.  It was something I was always fascinated with, the theater as battle ground for ideology and conviction.   I was wondering if this was the inspiration for PETA (Philippine Educational Theater Association) during Martial Law. 

Based on this review from the run last January, the set was uninspired.  However, they may have done much improvement since then since the set felt more "organic" than what was being described in the review.  There were still some lull in some scenes but overall, it actually felt quite grand.

I also absolutely LOVED the live orchestra.  It has been a while since I've watched a play with live orchestra.  I don't even remember if Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah used live or canned music.  Rock of Ages definitely had canned music.  It was awesome to see the musicians in the background, somethings part of the scene, sometimes a musical shadow.

Every Filipino musical lover should make it a point to see Katy at least once. :)