First day of nursery

Ninja is growing fast! He just turned 19 months last week and we have decided to send him to the nursery already, for various reasons:

- to burn his energy cuz he gets bored at home

- better send him now than later when the baby no. 2 arrives (so he doesn’t feel abandoned)

- to learn how to share and play with other kids (he is a bit too spoiled at the moment with us!)

Papi and I spent 2 hours with him the first day of nursery – we got more tired than he did. On the 2^nd day, I dropped him off and he stayed with the nana at the nursery for 2 hours. And today, the same, but the teachers sent the nana home early since he was adapting “SUPERB” !! I suppose that he did inherit some trait of his mom – extremely adaptable – (as adaptable as a roach!)

When I went to pick him up today, he didn’t seem very happy  to see me and he actually threw some temper-tantrum when I got him out of car – not sure it was because that he wanted to stay with his new friends or he was just tired. Either way, I think he really likes the nursery and he is having a lot of fun playing (yup, we are PAYING for him to “play”, welcome to 21^st century parenthood!)

mama dragón?

I really have been slacking! My last post on mamatigre was back in March! Unbelievable! What have I have been doing in the past 6 months? Sleep-deprived, over-worked, extreme mood swings…suppose that these were the reasons that I haven’t sit down and written an entry. So what’s new?? As far as mamatigre goes, I will soon be added another title “mama dragón” (dragon mom), looks like that we are going to have a “Dragongirl”. Yes, I am now 14-week pregnant and there is a big chance that it is going to be a girl. Seriously, I really don’t know how we are going to juggle with a new-born and a toddler next year but “life happens while you are busy making plans”. We shall survive somehow.

The Ninjas

I was given this CD by my good friend N before el ninja was born, the Snack Time, by Barenaked Ladies. I LOVED it! It was such a genuine and original (and Canadian) album from a hippy rock band whose members have entered the parenthood and decided to write songs for (their) kids.

One of the songs is “The Ninjas”, the deadly assassins. It’s really cute and funny. And now my ninja is big enough, he actually moves his bump and dances when the tune is on...

I woke up this morning and everything was different
Something was strange in the air
I woke up this morning and everything was different
I knew that the Ninjas had been there

I looked all around my bedroom
Underneath the dresser
Behind the bed, but nothing could be found
There was nothing left behind them
No way that I could find them
No fingerprints or crumbs on the ground.

The Ninjas are deadly and silent
They're also unspeakably violent
They speak Japanese; do whatever they please,
And sometimes they vacation in Ireland.

The Ninjas are deadly and silent
They're also unspeakably violent
They speak Japanese; do whatever they please
And if you tear off their masks they'll be smiling

The Ninjas on Youtube

first family portrait

As I am normally the one who takes the photos, we never have a decent picture of three of us. While we were in Taipei 101, we pulled a "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" and had a super "touristy" photo taken. But I must say, it didn't look that cheesy. So here we have it, our first family portrait.

Go the f*ck to sleep!

I came across this book on Amazon.com and almost bought it. But what is even better is this narration (youtube video) by Samuel L. Jackson. Think it speaks louder than the book and it speaks for both papi and me.

To my little ninja - Go the F*ck to Sleep!

Don't Carpe Diem!

It is hard. Raising kids is hard. I never found it easy and I complain a lot about motherhood. Most of the time I smile with bitterness when people ask me how it is going with motherhood. I am certainly not the type that gets stoked about being a mom. I felt guilty sometimes about my not “enjoying” as much as I “should” and my desire of wanting my old life back. Yet, not until I read this article, which echoes how I have felt, I found my comfort.

So here it is, DON’T CARPE DIEM!

What did ninja pick?

One of the things that I’d like to do when Erik turned one was “抓週” (Zhua Zhou). It is a very ancient Asian tradition – when a child celebrates his full one-year birthday, the parents lay many symbolic things before him to choose in order to detect his future ambition.

We happened to celebrate el ninja’s first year birthday in Guanziling (Taiwan) and we prepared all the “symbolic things” such as books, first-aid kit, calculator, magnifying glass, candies, car keys, tools etc.

So guess what he picked? Surprisingly, he went straight to the screwdriver – good job kid! He’s making both of his parents proud – either he will end up selling tools for his dad or fixing the bikes for his mom :)

Ho Ho Ho!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!


p.s. I love my bread!

What's in the name?

Think that his life is already complicated enough with 5 nationalities and various ethnic backgrounds…might as well keep his name simple and having a name that can be pronounced by anyone (from his Asian great grandparents to his Ecuadorian great grandma). That’s pretty much the reason we gave him a simple 4-letter name: ERIK (with only K, not C, not CK either).

Erik has various nicknames, some of them were given even before he was born. Ninja, was given by his Tio P, who has been referring him Ninja (or sometimes Samurai) since he was just an embryo. 大炮 (pronounced Da-Pao, means “big firecracker”), was given by Aunt D, because he farted a lot and aloud as a new-born.

My dear uncle J had helped to name him in Chinese, by going through his time of birth and the number of strokes of the characters. 安得樂 (pronounced An De-Le), An is derived from his paternal family name, and De-Le, his given name, means "receiving happiness". Pretty much what I want him to be – always happy and I pray to God everyday that he lives up his name for the rest of his life.