'Noy

Noynoy!!!

He says the name with jubilance. He recognizes his face. He knows the iconic yellow ribbon. He flashes the Laban sign.

And he’s not even two years old.

Amidst the election frenzy, when we were learning about yellows, oranges, greens, ribbons, check marks, and shaded circles, Heaven was fast learning about his own environment.

A neighbour put up a Noynoy banner and Heaven sees this every single day when he goes out to play.

When we first heard Heaven chant, “Noynoy! Noynoy!”, we were pleasantly surprised at how quickly he picked up a name that his yaya taught him to say. Little did we realize that the name came with a face.

So when Heaven saw two Sundays ago photos of President-elect Benigno Cojuangco Aquino III splashed on the newspaper’s front page, he chanted once again, “Noynoy! Noynoy!”

Before Heaven turns 2, Noynoy will be sworn into office as the 15th leader of this republic. And P.Noy will be Heaven’s president during his crucial, formative years.

In the next six years, Heaven will learn most of the basic skills he will need to survive and be competitive. In the next six years, Heaven will have the building blocks of his personality. In the next six years, Heaven will show glimpses of what kind of a person he will be when he votes for the 18th President of the Republic of the Philippines (if Charter Change doesn’t happen).

As parents and as Filipinos, we hope that the next six years will be a time of great learning for Heaven and the rest of the 2 million babies born each year.

We hope that like Heaven, we can still say “Noynoy” with jubilance, six years hence.

Bumps and bubbles

"Ninong... Untog... Ouch.... Iyak... Huhuhu... Heaven...."

During breakfast today, I asked Heaven about the visit of his Ninong Archie yesterday. "What did you do? Did you play with Ninong?" After hearing the cue that was "Ninong", he launched into his "I'm-gonna-tell-on-you" mode and complained about the accidental butting of heads that occured when Ninong apparently tried to kiss Heaven hello.

That was exactly what he did a few weeks ago after the two of us spent playtime at Gymboree. When Nanay came, he said: "Ouch... Head..." and touched the sore part. I was flabbergasted because I swore he did not bump his head while he was under my care. Nanay, of course, was furious at me. I swore on my deathbed that he did not bump his head, except maybe when he accidentally slipped and fell on my feet. But he stood up as if nothing happened and, there he was, telling on me and making me look like a really lousy caretaker in the eyes of his Nanay.

Even Heaven's pediatrician was amazed at his vocabulary and communication skills.

Just before Heaven goes to sleep and as soon as he wakes up in the morning, Heaven rattles on with seemingly unrelated words: "borrow, Amen, sibuyas, bawang." It took us a few days before we realized that he was enumerating new entries in his speaking vocabulary.

His newest acquisition is "bubbles" -- referring to the bubble blower toy that we recently bought. What is equally amazing is his ability to relate the word with an image. We were checking out the Toys R'Us catalogue and he suddenly blurted out "bubbles" and pointed to the photo of a small bubble container--- exactly what we bought for him.

Come playtime with bubbles, Heaven goes non-stop. "Bubbles-bubbles-bubbles-bubbles." Chasing every bubble that he can pop within reach.

Heaven is sound asleep as I write this entry. He may actually be dreaming now of bubbles, headbutts, and bumps.

Indeed, it is fun to talk to Heaven. Just don't ask him what Tatay wants. Because Nanay taught him an answer that would have CBCP bishops froth bubbles in their mouths.