Go! Heaven! Go!

On Saturday, Heaven had his first public performance.

His school, ISYC, celebrated its annual grandparents' day. Students in each class performed for their Lolos and Lolas. ISYC had a cool theme of Original Pilipino Music. Songs from the 70s down to the last decade came alive as ISYC pre-schoolers jumped, jived, and wiggled to the tunes of Bongga Ka Day to Hataw Na!.

Heaven and his classmates wore jerseys, acting out the roles of cheerdancers. When it was their turn to perform, the stage went dark and behind the curtain, we could hear them being ushered to their places. And then it started; one by one, the children began to cry.

We were worried that Heaven was one of them. It was dark and an ominous curtain was in front of them. And imagine what the kids were seeing when the curtain slowly opened and the lights went glaring.

All the children had to do was to wave their pompoms. And Heaven did his part. He waved his pompoms until the music ended and curtains closed.

We were as proud as any parent could be. We were proud that he wore his jersey in time for the dance. (He did not want to at first.) We were proud that he waved his pompoms properly. (We were watching out if he would hit the classmate beside him.) We were proud that he did not cry. (He was just too sleepy after his first grand performance.)

One big cheer for the little fella!

So which one is Heaven?

Heaven turned three last July. He has been going to a toddlers' class at the Integrated School for Young Children (ISYC), a progressive preschool in Marikina.

Heaven's school is preparing for a big grandparents' day celebration. His class is performing a dance number for their Lolos and Lolas.

During a general rehearsal, one father was heard asking around: "So which one is Heaven?", looking at the toddlers performing onstage. Alarmed, our yaya approached the inquiring dad, pointed to where Heaven was, and asked sheepishly why.

Inquiring Dad quipped: "My daughter keeps on complaining how Heaven is so kulit. But look at Heaven, oh but he's so tiny!"

Apparently, Heaven's classmate everyday talks incessantly about what Heaven does in class.

Should we be alarmed? We may have to wait for the next parent-teacher conference to quiz Heaven's teachers about his classroom behavior. The last meeting we had with Heaven's teacher was full of encouraging comments about Heaven's cognitive development. The only worrisome remark was Heaven's penchant for doing things his way.

So, we started repeating stories about sharing and learning to wait, constantly reminding Heaven to be more gentle with his classmates. And the last time I checked, no toddler has been kicked out of school yet for being too independent or too expressive or too bossy.

I spy

One evening, Aires and I played "I Spy" with Heaven.

"I Spy" is a great guessing game, especially when travelling. It can be played many ways. "I spy something green." "I spy something big." "I spy the letter A."

Ours was different. When I said: "I spy Mickey Mouse." Heaven immediately responded: "I spy Donald Duck. What do you spy, Nanay?" Nanay Aires replied: "I spy Daisy Duck." To which, Heaven quickly retorted: "I spy Pete."

"Pete, who?" we asked. Pete is a Clubhouse character we are not familiar with.

Our "I Spy" became a word association game, more like "what belong together in a set?" Midway, we would change and lead him to another set. "I spy Superman" for super heroes. "I spent Agent Oso" for shows on Disney Junior. "I spy Justin" for a list of Heaven's classmates.

It went on and on. Aires suddenly shifted and said: "I spy Scotty." Without batting an eyelash, Heaven responded: "I spy James." I was dumbfounded because I could not immediately find a connection to Aires' Scotty. And Heaven beat me to it. Of course, Scotty and James were American Idol contestants.

Aires took it to another level when she said: "I spy Willing-Willie." Just to check if Heaven is exposed to TV shows other than the Disney Junior shows we allow him to watch. In a blitz, Heaven said: "I spy Babaeng Hampaslupa."

Gotcha!!!

We made quite a ruckus. Aires and I laughed our heads off. "So you are watching what you are not supposed to watch!" we told Heaven.

Heaven then said: "I spy Babaeng Hampaslupa no more!" Which was true. Babaeng Hampaslupa stopped airing many weeks ago.

When it was to sleep, I said: "I spy Heaven sleeping."

And Heaven said: "I spy wake up Heaven." Darn! This is a game I can't ever win against Heaven. I simply can't spy what goes on in his beautiful mind.