I have recently been paying attention to my son Justin’s verbal language. As a matter of fact, I have been keeping a list of them when I thought of writing this article. At one year and three months, I realized he’s such a fine imitator of spoken words.

I think the first word he uttered was “baba,” from a TV commercial he grew very fond of. That ad showed a child with his mom in the grocery and the child pointing to the low-priced product, hence the catch phrase “baba” for “mababang presyo.”

The next word he spoke was “ate” (older sister). There are kids in the building where we live that are a lot older than my son. They are mostly girls and they usually play with him, and we often tell Justin to address them as “ate.”

Then, he was able to say “Daddy.” I wished I noted the date when this happened. To date, this remains to be one of his most repeated words. He usually calls his Daddy nonstop when he sees him out of the bathroom freshly showered. He knows his Daddy is about to leave for the office. Justin never leaves his Daddy’s side from the time his Daddy leaves the bathroom to when he’s about to head to the work place.

“Shoes” is definitely one of Justin’s frequent utterances. He goes out of the room and plays with the kids in the hallway or just have a leisurely walk or some bonding time with Mommy or Daddy or Manang, our house companion. So “shoes” are definitely one of those things he uses most frequently on a day-to-day basis, which explains his familiarity with them.

The first letter he was able to speak was “E.” Anytime he spots any letter of the alphabet anywhere, he calls it an “E.”

The first number he was able to identify and voice was “2.”

The rest of the words that he can articulate so eloquently are as follows: me, up, eyes, wow, “dede,” “tayo,” see-saw, coco (for Coco Crunch), “aw-aw,” “wee wee,” “susi,” cat, taxi, and fish. He surprised us one time when out of the blue, he uttered “kain tayo”; he never spoke those two words again; it must have been just a spur-of-the-moment thing. And the runaway winner is the five-syllable E-I-E-I-O from the classic nursery rhyme “Old McDonald Had a Farm.”

I’m looking forward to the day when Justin finally speaks the word “Mommy.” That will certainly be music to my ears. Until then, I’ll be jotting down more of what will come out of my little babe’s mouth.

I have decided to consult a cardiologist last April due to persistent chest pains. My ECG test, blood pressure and physical examination were all fine. What I had actually was muscle pain probably caused by carrying my then just 9-month-old baby boy who’s growing up pretty fast and heavy.

Since I was also quite concerned about my weight – I seemed to be losing a pound each month for the past two or three consecutive months then – I insisted to have a series of blood tests, which I had done only a month after this cardio consult.

I was only able to see the results last September – because that’s my only free time; I’ve been really busy with work and the baby – by paying my cardiologist a second visit. The good thing is I’m not diabetic. I initially feared I had problems with my blood sugar. I still need to be extra careful, though, about my sugar intake because my mom is a confirmed diabetic. Better be safe than sorry.

The alarming finding from my blood tests was actually this: my LDL (low-density lipoprotein) or bad cholesterol level was alarmingly high. From a normal range of 0-100, mine was 170. Holy cow! I mean, blame it on the cara beef.

You see, we’ve changed our family’s diet from pork-centered to cow-centered late last year on the pretext that cows are cleaner, ergo, safer and healthier to eat than those infamous pigs. What’s worst, we serve beef on the table three or four times a week, which leaves little room for fish and veggies. So more beef equals more grease, err…more bad cholesterol equals more risk of stroke and heart disease. Yikes! I’m too young for those.

So, along with the one-month cholesterol-lowering medication, I have embarked on a penitence, red meat-fasting, that is, to the extremes. I meant to pass my next round of blood tests with flying colors. I’m going to ace it this time. And I’m going to show my doctor how good a patient I am. Here’s a list of my achievements so far.

1. I have not had my fill of Jollibee cheese melt burger (good thing, this product is now phased out) and large fries for three, going four, weeks now. Come to think of it, I’ve been really fond of this combo meal for quite some time now. I think this is also a major contributor to my elevated LDL level. Thanks, but no thanks. I’m better off without you, at least for the time being.

2. I have been consuming fish after fish after fish I might soon have gills and fins appearing. FYI: Bangus belly, which I’m very fond of, is actually a good source of HDL (high-density lipoprotein) or good cholesterol, so I’m taking my sweet time gorging one belly after another as milkfish is actually my all-time favorite. I don’t really mind having paksiw na bangus three to four times a week. Yummy!

3. I have successfully avoided beef having only had one full serving of it in almost a month now. I also realized we’ve been spending more on food that does more harm than good. We’ve actually cut down on market spending because I somehow altered the whole family’s diet too, but not as extremely as I did mine. The whole family’s weekly menu now consists of one beef day, one pork day, one chicken day, and four seafoods day. There are always veggies included in the menu, by the way.

Am I being too hard on myself or what? Nah, I’m just being totally subservient to my doctor. I hope my hard work pays off. By the way, I had one sinful treat of grilled sisig last Sunday. Can’t say no to the husband. I hope that does not count.

Nanay recently suffered a mild stroke that left half her body limp. That happened a few days after I dreamt about her. In my dream, I had this terrible, poignant urge to hug her really tight, and I cried as I embraced her. I woke up wondering what that meant, not knowing that it was a foreboding of an unexpected family ordeal.

Of course, Nanay had to be hospitalized. Of course, she had to be rehabilitated. And of course, she had to be up on her feet in no time. Because in wasn’t in her nature to be helpless and hopeless. If you know her well enough, you’d never expect something like this could happen to her.

Nanay is a bouncy, dynamic, seemingly tireless woman. You cannot confine her to one place. She goes where her feet will take her, be it to the mall to try her luck in Bingo games or a few blocks away from their house to play “tong-its” with neighbors or in the wet market to check what wonders she can make with the tiny budget in her purse. Mind you, she still manages to bring home a special treat for the family. Call that “exemplary bargaining.” As of this writing, she can now stand and do some stuff on her own. She can even go to the nearby sari-sari store. That’s her. That’s my Nanay all right, already on the move, up and about in no time, ready for yet another adventure.

Nanay is the fortress of the family. She is our rock. She’s a survivor, and she’s a fighter. You cannot crush her spirit. Even when times are hard, she never gives up. She always comes to the family’s rescue when money is scarce. Her cunning salesmanship finds her vending banana cue, turon, lumpia, bopis, even Tatay’s harvests in his tiny plot just to put food on the table. Indeed, she is the life and soul of our family. I guess being a mother has a lot to do with that. When you know that other people are dependent on you for dear life and support, you have no choice but to be strong for them.

Nanay is our life-giver. Without her, none of us, her children, would have seen the light of day. Her birthing pains did not stop when we were all born. They continue to this day. But don’t get us wrong. We’re not problem kids. It’s the usual growing up phase most teenagers go through. We became involved in our own small worlds. Nanay felt alienated. We became closer to Tatay. Nanay felt less loved. We hated her smoking and her little “vices,” and we never hid that fact. Nanay started lying about them. The more we got infuriated. And the more distant we became. Until this tragedy happened.

Day 1 at the hospital. I called Nanay. She had difficulty speaking, and she was crying. Prior to that day, she didn’t want to be confined. The medical bills would be too much of a burden for her children. But she had no choice. I talked to her as calmly as I could, told her things would be fine, that she would get well, and not to think about where to get the resources for her hospitalization. Then I called my sister and relayed what just took place, and I was crying. And we were both crying over the phone.

It has been more than a month since then. Nanay is still recuperating and attending therapy sessions. Her recent blood tests were not very encouraging, but we’re not giving up. Nobody’s giving up on this fight, not us, and definitely not Nanay. We, her children, are willing to sweat it out just to see her standing tall again. That’s how much we love her. And we’re sorry she never really felt we did because we never cared to show. At least, we have this chance to make it up to her. And hopefully, she’ll see that we only have her best intentions in mind.

My son Justin turned one year old last July 7. We had a Treasure Island-inspired Jollibee birthday party set up for him, complete with party hats and balloons. It was supposed to be a children’s party, but the adults had a grand time participating in the games too! I sure had. A total of 72 well-wishers came, a few heads short than what we expected. It was nice seeing friends, former classmates, and former officemates in one happy gathering.

There was Jong Tuma-ob, our former HR supervisor at Quorum who is now H.R. Manager of Hospira Philippines; Cathy Diaz, our former Archive Supervisor at Quorum who is now wife to a very handsome French gentleman, Thierry (sorry, Kat, we failed to make it to your wedding); Jing Gapit, my first supervisor at Quorum and a close family friend to this day; Joel Bohol, my former apprentice at Quorum who is inches away from becoming a certified nurse; Resty and Ramil, former AITI officemates and godfathers to my son; Donna (and family), Ed’s former officemate and his son Liam is Ed’s godson; ADB friends (Ms. Virgie, Mona, Cecille, Guia, Sheila, Roden); Des, Ed’s former officemate at Asec, with son Joseph; Yin and There, former classmates at U.S.T. and dear dear friends; Olive and Charm, my kumares, with their respective families; former AITI officemates: Jeff and family, Badong and family, Carlo and Nelson. Who else did I miss?

Of course, Justin’s Lolo Tatay and Lola Nanay and his aunts, uncles, and another Lola, Auntie Mameng, were there to give moral support too. Ate Tin-Tin and Ate Ayie could not make it that day because of school. It would have been more fun if they were around.

I thank all of these wonderful people for gracing Justin’s first birthday. I look forward to seeing all of them again on my son’s next, err…7th birthday. For sure, that will be a blast!