Q & A

These days, I like to play question & answer with Swe-cha during the drive home from daycare. First and foremost, this is such a happy activity because he's getting to be more and more verbal lately and I am now able to hold his attention. Secondly, it's also interesting to find out what he recalls and associates with certain things. Note, his answers are his and not taught/scripted.

Mommy: Where do gloves go ?
Swe-cha: On the hands

Mommy: Where do socks go ?
Swe-cha: On the feet

Mommy: Where do shoes go ?
Swe-cha: On the socks  (tama rin naman).

Mommy: What do you do with a bike ?
Swe-cha: Wear a helmet. On the head.

Sometimes, he'd also go off on tangents on his own...

Mommy: Where are the solar panels ?
Swe-cha: on the roof! Ladder, climbing the ladder!
Background: he was watching while the solar panels were getting installed, he saw the crew using ladders to climb to the roof.

And there are times when his answer doesn't really make sense, yung akala mo walang connection pero meron talaga ...

Mommy: What do you do in a restaurant ?
Swe-cha: (pauses and thinks) It's the Angkong
Background: we mostly do takeouts and very seldom dine in a restaurant so it wasn't a surprise that he didn't instinctively say "eat in a restaurant". As for the Angkong (grandpa) part, when my parents are visiting, Dad and I would drive to daycare together to pick up Swe-cha and we'd then drop by a local restaurant to pick up dinner. The first time that Dad went down to the restaurant, Swe-cha asked "where's the angkong?" and I said, "Angkong went to the restaurant to get our food".

How many boo-boos ?

Swe-Cha is very fascinated with band aids lately, he keeps pointing out the smallest boo-boos and would want me to cover them with a band aid.

We've been using these colored ones that I got from the dollar store a while ago in anticipation of this, medyo na excite ako in preparing band-aids, got them long before Swe-cha wanted them.

This evening, after his bath, Swe-cha asked for band-aids for his boo-boo, I asked him what color he wanted and he answered "red". E wala palang red, so I asked him if he wanted yellow instead and he confirmed "yellow please".

Afterwards, he would recite, "how many boo-boos ? one, two!" as he pointed to each boo-boo in turn.

This makes a mommy's heart full. For a 5.5 yr old child who was non-verbal until 3, he's come a long way :) 

Pang-gulo

I am a creature of habit. 

Remember those scenes you see on TV where a patron walks in to a cafe/bar/restaurant and orders his usual ? That's me.

These days, I only have to show my face at our cafeteria in the morning and they start making my usual order. I order this custom combination so much that 2 months ago, I saw that their point of sale system had a new entry just for my order - I do feel a pang of disappointment that they didn't name if after me though.

One time, the usual cashier was out and someone who usually works the salad bar took over, I told him what I had and said "there's a special menu item for my order" and he answers, "yeah, I know, she told me."

Wow. Part ng turnover training nila ang order ko?  #ikawna

This isn't the first time that a store customized this pos system for us. The first time was at DD where I order 2 egg and cheese wraps for my son every day. Yes, he is a creature of habit too (may pinagmanahan) and he loves his egg wraps. Occasionally, I would order extra and ask them not to pop them in the oven because the wraps turn hard when not eaten right away. The first few times were difficult because I had to explain in detail what I wanted - put the ingredients together and wrap them, no need to heat because I want it cold. 

After a few orders, the branches I go to now have their own custom instructions just for us. One branch has it listed as "do not make" and another has it as "assemble only". 

Anyway,... so this morning, I thought I'd change things a bit. I liked what the lady in front of me ordered so when the cook saw me, I stopped her from making my usual and instead asked for something a veggie omelet with pepper jack cheese.

Poor cook got so flustered. She walked to and stopped at different stations and to the back, looking for ingredients that were already in front of her. At one point, she mumbling "eggs, ... where did I ...." and she had them in her hand the whole time.

When it was my turn to pay, the cashier got flustered too. It took her longer than usual to punch in my order.

at this point, I see 2 possible options for me. Either I go back to my usual and never order something else so I don't mess up their flow/routines or I mix things up more often para masanay sila.

Aliw lang :)