The other day before Justin went to summer class, he asked me this question.

Justin: Mommy, what is a “bruha”?

Mommy: “Bruha” is the Tagalog word for “witch.” When Mommy is mad, she becomes a “bruha.”

Later that night when I was giving him a shower and I was getting short-tempered because of his delaying tactics, he looked at my face and asked.

Justin: Are you going to be a “bruha,” Mommy?

Mommy: (Laughing now). Yes, so you better hurry!

After Justin finished his second bottle of milk yesterday morning, he hurriedly went to the bathroom because he needed to pee. He asked me these questions afterwards.

Justin: Mommy, why does the milk I drink become my pee, and why does the food I eat become my poop?

I didn’t have a ready answer to his questions, so I just told him instead that “Those are very intelligent questions, baby!” I was laughing silently and pondering the answers to the same questions in case he asks them again.

What would you tell your kids if they ask you these questions?

The latest hit song of Sexbomb, the popular all-female dance group in the Philippines, is called “Bilog na Hugis Itlog.” This song gives instructions on how voters will fill out their ballots during the May 2010 automated national and local elections.

The song goes like this:

May bilog, may bilog na hugis itlog
May bilog, may bilog na hugis itlog
Ang kailangan sa bilog
ay simpleng-simple lang
Itiman, i-shade loob ng bilog
Hanapin ang bilog sa tapat ng pangalan
ng kandidatong napupusuan
Ang bilog, ang bilog
sa tapat ng pangalan
‘Yan ang dapat nating markahan

Upon hearing “May bilog, may bilog na hugis itlog” (Translation: “There’s a circle, there’s a circle, that is egg-shaped”), my son was quick to respond.

Justin: Mommy, they’re wrong.

Mommy: Why, baby?

Justin: Egg is not circle-shaped; it’s oblong.

How can I argue with someone who is telling the truth?

Our son Justin is being taught to speak in English in school. To facilitate that process, we (hubby and I) would speak to him in English, too, at home. When our son’s in a good mood, he’ll be saying things in English non-stop. Sometimes, he speaks good English like when he says, “Thank you for helping” or “I’m covering my mouth.”

He also has his bloopers, too, which is understandable given that he’s only 3 ½ years old and English is his second language. A few weeks ago, Justin asked me to buy him a toy camera. I bought him a cheap one because I know his fascination for that toy won’t last long. Using his new toy, he pretends to be taking a snap of things in the house. He then pretended to take a picture of his Dad who’s busy using the laptop at that time, so I asked him.

Mommy: What are you doing, Justin?

Justin: I’m picturing Daddy.

My 3-year-and-5-month-old son is now adept at using both our desktop and laptop in playing online games, watching his favorite YouTube videos, etc. He prefers using the laptop, though, because he says everything is so much faster there. That’s because our poor desktop is now 5 years old and running on very low memory.

At exactly 5pm from Mondays to Fridays, Justin takes over mommy’s place in front of our laptop. There are days, however, when he would insist that it’s his turn to use our laptop already when I wasn't done with work yet, such as what happened last week when he woke up from his afternoon nap crying.

Justin: Mommy, I want to use the laptop.

Mommy: You can’t, baby, mommy’s still working.

This conversation went on for a few more minutes until I got fed up with his whining and decided to use our desktop to give way to my overly demanding son.

Mommy: Justin, that’s mommy and daddy’s laptop. It’s not yours.

Justin: You buy your own laptop, mommy!

I was flabbergasted.

One time, Justin’s lolo (grandfather) took out two big tilapia (St. Peter’s fish) out of the freezer for thawing, put them on a plate, and placed the plate on one of the lower refrigerator shelves.

Now, it’s Justin’s habit to open the refrigerator from time to time to check out new food additions inside. When he saw the big tilapia, he said out loud: “Look, Mommy, look, shark!"

I woke up one day finding my son’s mini toy cars neatly parked on my dish rack.


Perhaps, my son thought since dish rack can organize our dishes, it can do wonders for his toys, too.

During one of the scenes from the primetime telenovela that Justin and I were watching, an actress was crying. Curious, Justin asked me.

Justin: Bakit sya cry, mommy? Spank sya ng daddy nya? (Why is she crying, mommy? Did her daddy spank her?)

At 2 years and 8 months old, Justin can already count from one to 30. He has a funny way of saying 30, though.

Justin: ...twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, twenty-ten.

Whenever Justin eats cookies or chips, we usually ask him to get his Winnie the Pooh feeding bowl where we put these finger foods. That has become a habit for quite some time now.

We went to the playground the other day and Justin got envious of a playmate who was having her midmorning snack while playing. I asked his yaya (nanny) to get him something to eat. His yaya then proceeded to unwrap Justin’s food and when he was asked to get some, he said, “Saan ang tasa?” (Where’s the bowl?) [Note: For some reasons, we taught him to call his bowl “tasa,” instead of “mangkok” (the Filipino term for “bowl”).]

Justin is so used to eating from his bowl that he asked for it even if he was outside our house. He thinks that's the normal thing to do.

Justin can now recite numbers 1 to 20 in the blink of an eye. He can only identify numbers 1 to 8, however. Last night, while going through his Brainy Baby book on numbers, I asked him a question.

Mommy: “Baby, where is number 6?”

Justin’s eyes were actually fixed on numbers 9 and 10 at that time. He then turned the book upside down.

Justin: “Number 6, Mommy” (while pointing to the inverted number 9).

Justin always associates cakes with birthdays. Yesterday, Justin’s grandparents brought him a few slices of Red Ribbon’s S’mores Chocolate Cake. When he saw the cake, he immediately sang:

Happy birthday, Justin
Happy birthday, Justin
Happy birthday, happy birthday
Happy birthday, Justin!

Justin loves calling his lolo and lola (grandfather and grandmother whom he fondly calls Tatay and Nanay) using my cell phone.

When he’s about to end the conversation, he would say the following repeatedly as his closing spiel: “Bye. Take care. Good night. I love you.”

After saying “I love you,” he would hug the cell phone he’s holding as if embracing the person he’s talking to.

I would often comment how good-looking my son Justin is whenever I comb his hair. One time after giving him his bath, I started combing his hair and, as a force of habit, told him, “Justin, pogi” (Justin, handsome baby).

"Pogi" is the Filipino masculine term for comely or beautiful.

After I was done fixing his hair, I started combing my hair, too. When Justin saw me doing it, he said, “Mommy, pogi” (Mommy, handsome).

Justin does not particularly like monggo (mung beans). How do I know? Two weeks ago, our lunch consisted of ginisang monggo (mung beans soup) and fried fish. Justin’s nanny mixed some monggo beans with rice for his meal. He only ate two teaspoonfuls of rice and nothing more. This was what he said to his nanny:

Justin: “Kawawa, Justin, kawawa!” (Poor boy, Justin, poor boy!)

Fresh from crying, my son Justin felt the tears in his eyes. He pointed to his tears with his finger, signaling me to wipe them. He actually doesn’t know the correct term for “tears,” but he knows what “drool” is because that’s something mommy usually wipes off his mouth.

Justin: (pointing his finger to his tears) Mommy, laway (Mommy, drool).

Mommy: Not laway, baby, luha (Not drool, baby. They’re called “tears.")

My son Justin, 2 years and 4 months old tomorrow, has a hard time pronouncing the letter “h.” Every time he says a word with “h” in it, that letter doesn’t get sounded. For instance, he says “ya-oo” for “yahoo,” “ouse” for “house,” “anger” for “hanger.”

Because of the rains, hubby and I were not able to take our son Justin to the mall last weekend. Justin actually looks forward to this weekly treat. This was the conversation we had a few days ago when we’re about to go down the building to see his Daddy off to work.

Justin: C’mon, let’s go!

Mommy: Where are we going, baby?

Justin: Mall.

Justin upon seeing Mommy putting on a sanitary pad:

"Diaper, Mommy?"

Justin is having a particularly hard time knowing when to use the Tagalog pronoun “kita” (you). He knows what “akin” (mine) and “sa iyo” (yours) mean, but not “kita.”

When he wants Mommy to carry him, he’ll say: “Mommy, carry kita” (Mommy, I’ll carry you) when what he really meant to say is “Mommy, carry me.”