Salamin - Growing Pains

Class Concert

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:17:46 -0600

I just want to share video clips of Aya playing the piano while practicing for her performance in their class concert. It's still a good two weeks away, but she has already memorized the notes by heart. I took her video so we can watch it together and see her mistakes. It's also a pretty good way to evaluate her performance so we can correct errors and see how else we can improve it. Well, I'm not a piano expert, so I just try to give suggestions based on what they learned in class so far. Maybe the piano experts among you could give suggestions and comments?

Without further ado, here are the videos I've uploaded to YouTube:

See the second piece here:

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Five Years Ago Today

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 22:00:00 -0600

I was browsing through our old photos, when I chanced upon a couple of photos taken almost exactly around this time, five years ago: August 16, 2002. I couldn't help but feel so nostalgic.

What were the circumstances then?

Me and Aya, when we were both five years younger.

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Practice Makes Perfect

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 13:00:41 -0600

Due to the O-bon festival/summer holidays, Aya's piano class won't meet for two consecutive weeks. But in order to make sure that the kids still get to practice their lessons even during the holidays, they were given sheets of paper where they will color objects corresponding to each day they practiced. If they have practiced for more than 4 times in a week - they will get nice stickers from the sensei.

If you think about it, there's absolutely nothing exciting about getting stickers on a piece of paper. But you know how kids are - they want to impress not only their sensei but also their classmates. So I guarantee you that Aya will definitely make sure that she gets all her stickers at the end of the holidays.

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Not So Easy

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 02:35:05 -0600

Whenever I am with Aya in Filipino gatherings, most of them would often inquire: "How old is she?" And after being told about her age, they would make the ~~dreaded~~ expected follow-up question: "So kelan nyo susundan? Wala pa ba kasunod? (So when's the next one? None yet?)"

Aya and her gummy grin at 11 weeks

Others are not so discreet and would unabashedly tell it to my face: "Sundan nyo na! (This would be literally translated, "Follow it up!" But perhaps "Make another one!" would be the more appropriate translation.)

Easier said than done, folks. We never said that we don't want more.

In those situations, I usually just whip up my standard response: "Yeah." "Uhm....?" "We're trying." "We'll wait and see."

You see, there's a bit of a story before our daughter was successfully conceived.

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Shichi-go-san

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 08:02:22 -0600

When Aya turned three, I considered bringing her to the photo studio for the traditional shichi-go-san photos - a perfect opportunity to take souvenir photos of her wearing a traditional Japanese kimono. But on the day when we finally went to Studio Alice, a photo studio near our place, it was full of people and the staff were too busy entertaining their customers. We decided to just leave and come back next time.

Days and months passed by, and I completely forgot about the shichi-go-san.

Days before Aya's 5th birthday, I realized that two years had already passed since I last thought about bringing her to the said photo studio. I didn't want to wait like we did last time, so I called the store and made an advanced reservation. A smart decision!

Well, as you can see from the pictures above, it was a rather successful photoshoot. You may view the rest of her pictures at our Flickr album.

So what is the shichi-go-san, anyway?

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Five Years of Happiness

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 11:02:40 -0600

Time flies. And as for growing children, time flies even faster. How could it have been five years already since we took home this sleeping jewel in our arms?

The day after Aya was born, Baggy and I just stared at this tiny breathing, wailing, demanding (don't you dare take your eyes off me), red and toothless thing - you mean we really have to take this home with us? As first-time parents, we were fraught with anxiety and fear.

Sleepless, countless nights followed. We lost track of time; day and night blurred into each other. Food became something we just shoved into our mouths to keep ourselves going and going and going like the Energizer rabbit. We were pushed beyond the limits we previously thought we would never dare cross.

All because of her.

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Experiencing the Magic Kingdom

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Wed, 02 May 2007 01:00:48 -0600

I grudgingly woke up this morning, stiff and sore. My arms ached. My head throbbed. I've got a stiff neck, probably from lying on the same position all night long. I was simply too exhausted the night before, after spending the whole day with my family and my sister's family at The Magic Kingdom of Tokyo Disneyland.

Mickey and Minnie at the "Huli Huli Ohana Bash Parade."

I have already lost count of how many times I have visited the place (I've also been to Disneyland in Anaheim and Disneyworld, haha. Sucker.). Every time a relative from the Philippines visits us, we make it a point to bring them to this magical world where both adults and children can enjoy themselves in the make-believe world of Disney. As they say, there is no other place where adults can feel like children again. How else to describe it? You've gotta see it to know exactly what I mean. :)

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Syamu Neko Kyodai

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 18:49:10 -0600

I woke up pretty early this morning - around 6:30 am - rarin' to get out of bed and ready to go to work. It's Friday, last day at work, and I just want to get this day done and over with as soon as possible. Can't wait to get to the weekend!

Aya performs together with the other kids in her class. She is the second one from the right in this picture.

After a few minutes, Aya got out of bed and looked for me. I thought it was unusual for her to wake up so early in the morning - usually, I have to create a grand ruckus in our bedroom just to wake her up. But today was different. She spoke hoarsely. Then when my hand touched her skin - yikes! She felt so hot. I knew instantly that she has fever. I measured her body temperature, and the thermometer gave a reading of 38.0 C.

Sigh. So much for my Friday. I sent emails to our group telling them that I won't be coming in for work. Hey, work will always be there. Right now, my daughter needs me more than my work does. But I guess, I could also view it this way: I got my weekend earlier than I thought.

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Cut!

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 08:55:06 -0600

Have you ever had your hair cut against your will? Because I have had my hair cut, oh-so-many times, by my own mother. I used to run away from her and lock myself in our bedroom, with her furiously running after me and demanding that I come right out and obey her.

Why couldn't I have long hair like the other kids in our class? Why do I have to have my hair cut above the shoulder? Why couldn't I have long, shiny braids like the girls? I thought those braids looked so cool. But my mom would have none of it. She always got her way, of course. But I vowed, once I had children of my own, to NEVER cut their hair UNLESS they want it. They should be free to do whatever they want with their hair. I wouldn't insist on having their hair cut the way I want it.

This was how I looked like, most of the time, with my hair cut short:

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Aya, the Photo(e)grapher - The Conclusion!

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 07:21:54 -0600

Many thanks to everyone who posted their answers to the questions in my previous post. Whew, I almost thought nobody would get the correct answers! Fortunately, Hazel was very persistent (aside from being the first one to post her comment, hehe)!

Here is the full view of the photo:

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Aya, the Photo(e)grapher

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 08:35:44 -0600

Ever since Aya discovered how to operate the digital camera, she has taken quite a liking to taking pictures of anything and everything. I'm so grateful that film cameras are a thing of the past (no offense to those who still own and use one!), because I don't have to worry about her using up all the film and wasting a lot of shots. Aren't you just grateful how digital cameras revolutionized the way we take photos nowadays? Even children can practice their skills on a digicam.

No, I took this photo, hehe. I just thought I'd include Aya's photo here because she looks so cute in it.

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Bayan Ko (My Country)

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 06:53:00 -0700

Finally! I was able to extract the video file of Aya's song, Bayan Ko from my old cellphone. This song was recorded last November 25, 2004. Aya was only 2 years old at that time. As to how she was able to memorize and sing this rather difficult song at such an early age...well, your guess is as good as mine! But anyway, she was only able to sing the latter half of this song.

Watch the YouTube video here!

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Ang Relos ng Lolo Ko (My Grandfather's Clock)

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 04:50:58 -0700

Aya loves to sing. She learned her very first songs from us - Bahay Kubo, Leron Leron Sinta, among others. We made it a point to teach her Filipino folksongs and lullabies which we had also learned when we were children.

We even taught her to sing "Bayan Ko" (My Country) - just the chorus, though, the one that begins with "Ibong mang may layang lumipad..." Yes, really, seriously! Quite surprisingly, she learned to sing that song when she was only about 2 years old! Unfortunately, now she has difficulty recalling some of the words in that song, probably because she has learned many other songs, most of them from the daycare where she attends. I guess we should sing that song more often so she would never forget it.

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Thinking of Sunshine, Flowers and Angels

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 19:51:04 -0700

All children go through a so-called "artist" phase. Families have their fair share of drawings on papers, cardboards, walls, refrigerators, and unfortunately, even blankets, sheets and clothes. Aya is also fond of drawing herself. Her scrawly drawings have steadily progressed from incomprehensible doodles to visibly recognizable characters.

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Rediscovering Music

nospam@example.com (kathy) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 05:17:19 -0700

When I was a small girl, we lived next door to a neighbor whose daughter knew how to play the piano. While sitting outside our house, my Dad and I would often hear that girl practice on the piano day after day. Often, he would tell me how much he wanted me to learn how to play the piano, too. Personally I really wanted to learn how to play the piano, too, but we obviously couldn't afford it. How in the world could we ever hope to pay for a teacher's fee, much less rent or buy a piano of our own? I wondered how and when I would be able to play the piano. It was a dream unfulfilled.

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