Happy baby

Today, Heaven is nine months old. Another quarter to go and we will be celebrating his first birthday.

Last Friday, he went for his monthly check up. His pediatrician, Dra. Mian Silvestre, noted how happy Heaven as a child is. He is always ready with a smile, his eyes twinkling, his dimples captivating.

We heard mass today. Heaven was his usual happy self, smiling at other mass goers, playing peek-a-boo with a kind woman behind us. After the mass, children --- babies and teens alike rushed to meet the priest. The priest laid his hand on each child, giving his blessings.

I carried Heaven and greeted the priest. I did not see it but Heaven was apparently all smiles that the priest spent a few more seconds longer with Heaven. He said: “Bless you, my little angel.”

Indeed, Heaven is an angel to all of us. Indeed, we are blessed. Our constant prayer is for Heaven to grow up a happy person.

Heaven's time

Heaven's sleep time is at 8 pm. He wakes up at 1 am, groping for his Nanay. He helps himself to a feeding and then falls asleep again. He stirs at around 5 am and demands to be fed. He is fully awake at 6 am. Tatay gives him his dose of vitamin C and iron. Then off to his daily grind he goes.

He gets his power breakfast at 6:30 --- a serving of mashed potatoes and carrots and blended boiled salmon. His favorite, though, is banana. He eats five to six times a day. He feasts on mashed and blended broccoli, celery, squash, chayote, brown rice, boiled beef, with beef broth on the side. On a good day, he sleeps about 1 hour in the morning, and two hours in the afternoon. He gets cranky around 5 pm. Expressed breast milk keeps him happy for a while as he waits for his Nanay to go home.

After a good feed, he grimaces and goes berserk as he makes his dump. He gets to do this twice a day.

He guffaws. He grunts. He whines. He snickers.

He can roll. He can sit. He can crawl. He can stand with a little help.

He does his razzing sound with gusto. He yelps in glee. He always has a ready smile. A happy child he visibly is. He likes being read to and croons with you if he hears you sing a song. He loves going on a road trip and hates staying in his playpen.

Heaven is almost nine months now. He is healthy and has never been terribly sick. He has almost completed his vaccine shots. He is well on his way to catching up with other kids who went the full term.

Indeed, time flies fast. But every second with Heaven is time well spent.

As high as it goes, slash, as low as it goes

I got sick this week… again.

On Easter Sunday night, aching joints got me a bit worried. I dismissed the pain at first because I was still proud of what I did the day before.

On the morning of Black Saturday, I finally forced myself to do a bit of a cardio workout, jogging around the UP oval in a slow pace. I used to do five laps around UP. My objective was to complete one lap without stopping or without resorting to walking. I went home with a big grin, thumping my chest and telling Aires that I did it. I finally did it.

But come Sunday, it did me in. My legs felt heavy and I started walking with a slight limp. Still, I thought, no pain, no gain.

To my horror, I got feverish shortly after midnight. I did not tell Aires that I was sick. There went my chest-thumping. But call it female instinct, Aires woke up asking if I were sick. I defeatedly said yes. I was absent from work for two days. But because I had tons of reports to do, I gulped as many pills I could to get myself back to at least 80% working condition.

I did a presentation to my colleagues, peppered with horrific coughing. They took pity and did not ask hard questions.

Last night was terrible. I could not get a good rest because I was barking all night long. I finally went to see a doctor today and found out that my pharynx and tonsils were already swollen. But the worst thing of it all, my blood pressure was measured at 130/100.

I did not feel that I had high blood pressure at all. I would have not known anyway how it actually feels. I never had it.

And so, Google it, I did. And here’s a wake-up call for me. “Unless it becomes severe, hypertension isn’t an illness or disease you can feel. You’re not sick. Instead, it’s a condition of risk. It’s like driving 90 miles per hour wherever you go. You’re fine, your car is fine, everything is great --- until you crash.”

I do not even know what the paired numbers mean. Google, again. “The two numbers are as high as the pressure goes when your heart pumps during a heartbeat, then as low as it goes between heartbeats. In short, the numbers mean ‘as high as it goes, slash, as low as it goes’.”

One way to interpret these numbers is to get their sum. “A sum between 221 and 230 is elevated but doesn’t require medications in most. Sample BP in this range are 145/85 and 130/100. If you’re at increased risk from atherosclerosis (obese, smoker, abnormal cholesterol, family history of heart disease), you should be treated. Some physicians now call the 211-230 range “pre-hypertension”: You’re heading towards genuine high blood pressure.”

Mine is 230. Obese? Getting there. Smoker? Nope. Abnormal cholesterol? Don’t know yet. Family history of heart disease? Yes. Age? 36. Candidate? Likely.

I jogged. It was a high high for me. I got sick. I plunged to a low low.

Not a waste of time

On Palm Sunday, we went on a road trip from Antipolo, Rizal to Paete, Laguna. We meant Aires, Heaven, Lola Lily, and me in one car; and Aires’ brother Kuya Archie, his wife Ate Lyn, her cousin Daniel, and their daughter Raniel in another.

We left Marikina at around 6:45 am after fetching fresh-from-the-oven Pan de Amerikana pan de sal. We took the Marcos Highway route going to Boso-Boso. After the busy intersection near Cogeo village, it was scot-free from then on. We rolled down the car windows and finally had fresh air.

We wove through the paved road, enjoying Sierra Madre, the mountain range covering much of central eastern Luzon. Our first stop was the Santa Anunciata Parish in Boso-boso, a century-old church built by Jesuits. We reached the village at around half-past-seven. The Holy Mass was scheduled at nine. So we had our own breakfast picnic by the church. Our picnic found us spreading our bounty on top of the car.

The mass started later than we expected. Churchgoers were asked to line up outside the historic church, re-enacting Christ’s triumphant entry to Jerusalem. The Church was jampacked, so noted the visiting priest.

In his homily, he lamented that Christ died because the Jews believed that his was a life that could be wasted. He applied the concept of wasting in how Filipinos practice their faith. “We are a nation of short-cuts. We think that completing a whole mass is a waste of our time so we leave after receiving communion. We do not fulfill the observance of Holy Week because it is a waste of our energies.”

And so he enjoined all who dared to listen not to look at our faith as a waste of our precious time. And so he took his time and finished the mass shortly before 11 am.

That kept me thinking also whether going on a road trip to Paete is a waste of time and energy. But when we got out of Boso-boso and unto the swerve-and-swell of the highway, I left behind the “short-cut-waste-not” mindset and enjoyed the long drive, passing thru Baras, Rizal.

After an hour of up’s-and-down’s, of loops-and-bends, of motor bikers on a thrill ride, of birds chirping in trees and on electricity wires, we reached Tanay, Rizal. Here, we planned to eat at Basnig sa Kamalig, but we didn’t know where it is. Aires and I did a little online research and saw rave reviews of Basnig sa Kamalig. We asked a tricycle driver and he gladly pointed us to our way. “Just turn right and cross the bridge.” So we turned right and crossed the bridge. And there was Kamalig!

Famished and thirsty, we all excitedly got off our cars. And so did about 20 other people who got off from three other vehicles. “We have company,” I thought. Better order quickly so we would not have to wait long to satisfy our growling stomachs.

Inside the restaurant, I had a funny feeling that something was amiss but we were all dying to have a hearty lunch so we ordered bulalo, chopsuey, bicol express, kinilaw and lots of ice cubes. The funny feeling didn’t leave me so I went out of the restaurant and gave it a second look. The sign read “Saro-saro sa Kamalig”. I crossed the street and asked a young man where is Basnig sa Kamalig. He grinned and said: “It’s on the other side of the town.”

So after almost two hours of breathtaking scenery, we landed where we should not be. Is it a waste of our time after all?

The restaurant was not as fancy as we imagined it to be. It looked like your typical roadside beer joint. But the food was great, especially the bulalo. It was a feast. Likewise for the flies that also wanted to partake of our festive banquet.

By the time we gulped the last of our ice-cold drinks, it was already past two o’clock. Our next stop was the town of Paete in Laguna where we planned to have merienda at Exotic Restaurant, known for its weird array of frogs, snakes, and stingrays.

Another hour or so after, we found ourselves buying stuff from a Paete handicraft and woodcraft store. We were tempted to go and see Caliraya Lake which we learned is just 30 minutes away from Paete, but we finally decided that would be another road trip for the family.

We spent a restful merienda at Exotica where we had Halo-halo and Fried Frogs --- not the best combination but we were still full from our Kamalig fare. We left Exotica at around 5:30 pm. The sun was getting ready to go down.

We decided to take the busier route via Morong-Teresa-Antipolo. If anything happens, we thought, it would be easier to fix stuff in this populous area.

We got home at eight --- tired but satisfied nonetheless. It was not a waste of time after all.

To belong, to decide, to believe

I have many friends but I keep a select few.

I will do the work just don’t bug me about it.

I want to be assured always that I am loved.

My officemates and I took a personality type test called the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior(FIRO-B) invented by William Schultz in 1958. We were given a questionnaire that asks about how we relate with other people. The results looked at three categories: inclusion, control, and affection.

“Inclusion” refers to the degree to which a person associates with others in a social setting. “Control” talks about the extent to which a person assumes responsibility, makes decisions or dominates people. “Affection” means the degree to which a person is comfortable sharing his or her thoughts and feeling with others. For each category, two scores appear ranging from 0 to 9. One score refers to an expressed need. Another score refers to a want.

For inclusion, I got a paired score of 7-1. This may be interpreted to mean that I often express the need to be with friends but if I have my way I may opt to be just in the privacy of my own home. For this test, I got the label: Now You See Him, Now You Don’t. My Ateneo friends are surely nodding their heads now.

For control, I scored 6-2, clinching for me the label: Self-Confident. A self-confident person is someone who can do the job really well but prefers not to be bugged about it. Tell me what you want and I will deliver. Just don’t pester me about my progress from time to time. That pretty much sums up how I work. I will get the job done. I will make it happen. Just let me do it my way.

For affection, I got a high score of 7-6, an optimist. Not the one who always see things in the positive light. An optimist, according to Schultz, is someone who expresses the need to be loved and desires this very much. At home, this means that I always need to hear the words, “I love you.” At work, this means that I always need to be told, “Great job!”

I am totally amazed at how my seemingly innocent responses to the questionnaire get to paint a complete picture of my personality. It also helps to know what the scores tell about my colleagues. Today, we see one another in a different light. So instead of getting bothered by a reaction from a colleague, I get to count from one to ten and understand why.

We may all be different but we all want to belong, to decide for our own, and to believe that we have value in this world. It's a bit a shame that I have to take a questionnaire just to be reminded of this.