June 18, 2006
Saturdays and sundays are my family days. Its for playing with my kids, cooking for them and helping them with assignments and other school stuff. Days to be a mommy. Well, I imagined, of course, that these days will be fun and peaceful. Ngars, I forgot two facts, one that I have four kids and two, they are the noisiest gaggle of tots ever born in the planet earth…. Buhuhuhuhuhu….
Friday night pa lang, since its movie night, we stayed up late to watch Balto (for the trillionth time). While the kids laughed over the antics of Muk and Luk, I closed my eyes so I can rest my poor eyes weary from a full day of staring at the computer. Then suddenly, my youngest (Max) jumped onto me landing sitting on my stomach. I thought I spewed all my entrails with that heavy surprise. Then he pulled my hair and asked me to play horsie-horsie. Di pa naman ako masungit kaya, pinagbigyan ang hilig. Siya, horsie horsie sa sementong pagkalamig-lamig. After that I have two big pasas on both of my knees. Mukha na nga doorknob ang tuhod ko, nalagyan pa ng mantsa. Huhuhuhuhu. After I fixed the bunso a bottle of dede and got drunk with milk and eventually fell asleep, I thought I can call it a day. But no! My eldest Ima, turned to me and asked me a barrage of questions. "Mommy, bakit mo ako gustong maging girl?" "Mommy, bakit gusto mo apat kaming anak mo?" "Mommy, bakit mo kami mahal?" "Mommy, bakit mommy ang tawag sa mommy?" "Mommy, ayaw mo ba kaming maging 12?" Haaaayyyy….I answered her as clear as possible without humiliating myself (kasi her questions were rather probing, parang reporter). Pero after an hour of question and answer session, I literally pleaded that we sleep. Mabuti pumayag.
Saturday. I woke up late of course. I heard shouting and crying from downstairs so I checked it out. The kids were fighting over something, for sure. I went down, still drowsy but I put on my "stern mom" look (imagine– myself, di pa nagsuklay, di pa nagtoothbrush at GUTOM). My two year old (max) and 3 year old (aye) were hitting each other because they both want to stay infront of the TV. The two older kids (ima and rad) were shouting because they cant see anything. I tried to be diplomatic. "Mga anak, tama na yan." They all made sumbong– all have different versions of what happened. Then the bunso clung to my legs, urging me to carry him. I picked him up and wiped his tears. Aye saw this and wailed that I carry her too. So I carried her on my other arm. The bunso found this unjust he tried to push his sister down. So they pushed each other until I had to put them both down. More crying. The older kids then started demanding choco-oatmeal (they just had a heavy breakfast). I said no. I sighed, fixed a cup of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal. The kids said, "bakit ikaw? Madaya ka mommy? Bakit ikaw lang ang pwede sa oatmeal?" How can I argue with that? So I made gawa ng 4 bowls of oatmeal. I was pretty low-energy that day so after lunch (I cooked ginataang kalabasa which took forever before I was able to convince the kids to eat), we watched "the wild" (this one also seen for the nth time) so we can have some peace in the house. So Its pretty quiet for about 2 hours. After the movie, the kids played outside the house. How wonderful. hehehehe. I was even able to read a book.
Sunday, after the usual chaos during breakfast and lunch. We started doing assignments. Mind you, I have 3 kids going to school. I have a first grader, a prep and a nursery. All of them have books and assignments. I tried to make the task as systematic as possible– starting first with the eldest. After explaining to her what she needed to do, I turned to Rad and helped him read. Aye (the nursery) started nagging me to look at her and her work with her crayons. I did and kissed her for her work. I turned again to rad but aye again insisted that I look at her artwork. Sya, sige, at may I sabi na "ang ganda, anak." I turned again to rad but after reading a sentence, Ima wailed, "mommy, patulong naman!" At the same time, Aye shouted, "mommy, mommy, ignan mo toyors ko!" I gave up. I told the kids that I can’t help them all at once. So I set a time for them, beginning 4 in the afternoon. So with that, I was studying with the kids till 10 in the evening.
Whew! So much for peace. But its kinda fun naman. The kids can really push you to your limit and as I often say, with kids like mine, anong pinagsasabi ninyong child-friendly? hehehehe. But in all honesty, I love my kids and everything they do. Their antics, the way they talk, their learning, their growth are all so precious because kids grow up so fast. One moment they are babies, the next, magiging lola na ako (que horror!). Its not easy to be a mom and it takes a lot from a woman to be a good one. Its not easy but its something that is worth undertaking. Trust me. Im four times blessed.
Of course, I can complain with the noise, the incessant play and fighting, the kalat in my house and the inevitable breaking of things but these are nothing to the completeness I feel for being a mom. Ang gulo no? Pero ganon ang nararamdaman ko.
So Saturdays and Sundays are for my kids. No intrusions to these important days, please. Of course, I still hope for the peace part. MAlay mo naman di ba? hehehee
