Best friends, worst enemies

To my surprise, A, who just started her first grade, actually enjoys writing (journals). She’s always been quite creative and loves doing arts. When I picked her up from Kid’s Corner this afternoon, she showed me this beautiful drawing she made for her brother. And N was somewhat indifferent. I was a bit disappointed with his reaction. She kept wanting to show her affection to him but he just shrugged it off. “I don’t like people give me so much love,” he said, “I feel uncomfortable.” Shy? Or growing up? Maybe a bit of both. Thinking back that the other day I had to toss them out of the car because of a silly quarrel between the two, perhaps it is truly as what they say, they are “best friends and worst enemies.”

Smart but bad?

Ninja: I wish I could live in the White House..
Me: Why?
Ninja: Because it has a hundred rooms.
Me: But why do you need so many rooms? There's only one Erik. What are you going to do with so many rooms?
Ninja: Then why do they have so many rooms?
Me: Because they have a lot of guests and they need to accommodate them.
Ninja: How come we never get invited?
Me: (pause and thinking) because they only invite important people. Because the POTUS is an important person.
Ninja: How can I become important? I need to work hard?
Me; Yes. You need to be smart and work hard because the POTUS only works with smart people.
Ninja: But what if you are smart but bad?
(wow, right on!)
Me: Then that is not good. It is more important to be good than be smart. And being good sometimes is hard than being smart...

...pretty deep for a bath time conversation.

ninja making a wish on his 7th birthday

Octopus

Ninja: I wish I could be an octopus
Me: Octopus? Why?
Ninja: Because octopus has 3 hearts so if someone shoots you, you still have 2 hearts and you are still alive.

Not sure if I should be happy about his knowledge about octopus or concerned about his thoughts on mortality.

Stay like this

Ninja: I wish I could stay like this.
Me: Like this? Like what?
Ninja: I want to stay like this so I can hug you and kiss you.
Me: What do you mean?
Ninja: Daddy said when I am a teenager I cannot hug and kiss you and that is part of life.
Me: That's not what Daddy meant. You can always hug and kiss mami and daddy.
Ninja: Even when you are mad at me?
Me: Yes. We will always be happy to be hugged and kissed by you.

Oh my ninja, you are always going to be the sweet child of mine...

ninja entrepreneur

ninja's first sales order

We got so many lemons and oranges from the backyard. Ninja had a blast harvesting them over the weekend. I don't think that we need to go to the farmer's market for a while. 

My entrepreneur ninja came home today with a "sales order". Apparently, he was offering the oranges and lemons to his little friends - 3 (lemons/oranges) for 5 dollars. 

Me: Wow! That was pretty cool that you got an order from your friends already. But 3 for 5 dollars. That's pretty seep. You are not going to sell a lot because they can get them cheaper at the supermarket. You should sell them like 3 for 1 dollar. 

Ninja: But I want to get more money. 

Me: Why do you want to get more money? 

Ninja: So I can buy one of those things flying in the air to go places. 

Me: You meant helicopter? 

Ninja: Yes, a helicopter! So I can go places super fast, not in car. 

Me: (speechless) OMG, speaking of jet-setting life!

spring break

spring break starts now!

<the day after my birthday>

I sent off the kids and papi just a little after 6am at LAX. Was going straight to the office then I figured that I should probably get a coffee so that I wouldn't doze off driving. So here I was, sitting in the empty office 6:30am and my spring break had officially started.

<a day later>

I was such a strange yet familiar feeling when I woke up this morning - for the first time in who-knows-how-many years, I have all the house to myself, all the TIME for myself. And it was only 6am.

I truly believe that we (all the moms, tiger moms or not) need it from time to time - a break that completely disconnects us from being a mom, being a wife/partner, a break where we are just being with ourselves like back in our single days, a break where we go to work at a normal time (not after dropping-off-the-kids time) and come home when the day is done (not because we have to pick up the kids), a break where our priorities are ourselves and no one else.

It was an idea that I had mulled over for a while. I couldn't quite make up my mind because of guilt - guilt of being a bad mom because I needed a break from my kids, guilt of being a bad wife because I needed a break from my husband. But then I owned up to it, a few days before we had to set off to UIO. And I knew it was for the better, not only for me but my family too.

<last day of my spring break>

I have done quite a bit over the last week - gone to the office everyday, gone for a walk everyday, finished reading two books, most importantly I have caught up on everything I have missed so much - sleep, walk, and life. I feel well rested and enriched physically, intellectually, and spiritually.

I must give credits to papi who has been extremely supportive. Thank you papi for being you and letting me have my ultimate spring break.

MLK

ninja's kick

(dated January 16, 2017)

Ninja: I like Martin Luther King.
Me: You know who he was and what he did?
Ninja: Yes. He made black people and white people go to the same school, drink from the same water fountain, same restaurant, same everything. I like what he did. But some bad  guy didn't like what he did and shot him. I don't like that. That is not nice. I am going to kick him in the face and kick him in the pants (doing his TKD kicks).
Me: lol...

I am learning a thing or two about MLK from Ninja.