WTF??!!

What can be worse than coming home to see your daughter with a wound on her nose?! Her yaya said she fell down while playing with some kids in our street. She wasn't supposed to do that in the first place! How can I let this go when my daughter's nose is just screaming with this freaking wound:

I get it that she's very active now and that these things are bound to happen but this is why I hired a yaya diba? It's very upsetting to see something like this when I don't even want mosquitos to touch her skin. I'm just freaking out now.

Zoe's tell-tale

I picked Dan up from the gym yesterday on my way home and he told me a story about Zoe's latest funny encounter with her yaya. Yaya Arlyn was organizing the milk bottles in our room when Zoe marched in and took one of the used bottles. Her yaya asked her to give her back the bottle, to which Zoe replied 'no' while shaking her head. So Arlyn tried to get the bottle from her by holding her arm and they literally tugged each other since Zoe's quite strong, what with her big arms and hands. My mom heard the commotion and checked what it was and saw Zoe and her yaya arguing. When Zoe saw my mom, she immediately went to her and started mumbling things and re-enacted the 'arm tugging'.

When Dan came home from work, Zoe did the same thing; mumbled things at him and re-enacted the arm tugging. This made my mom and my sister laugh hysterically because apparently, Zoe knows how to make sumbong na.

Lessons for mommy

I have always known that there's so much more to parenting than providing the basic necessities in life. I've read numerous of books and articles to prepare me for motherhood but raising a kid needs a whole lot more than black and white literature (though they certainly help, promise!).


Zoe's at a stage where she's testing boundaries and exploring her skills and environment. I'm admittedly scarce in patience and there are a lot of times when my little bag just runs out. I always need to step back and take a breather whenever Zoe pushes things to the limit (which is just about the normal course for her age). With this, I'm really thankful that I have found a book which helps me in disciplining Zoe. 'Discipline without shouting or spanking' is such a great help in making me understand where my toddler is coming from and get some suggestions in teaching a child good behaviors. There are still frustrating times as expected but I love and appreciate how Zoe and I teach each other things about life. It's true that in parenting, the CHILD is the TEACHER. No matter how challenging things may get sometimes, I will always hold on to my goal of raising Zoe to be the best person that she can be through God's guidance and my husband's help.

Smart Parenting Article: 'How your life changed when you had a baby'

I got a message again from one of the writers of Smart Parenting online who is currently gathering replies for an article that she's working on. The topic of the article is 'How your life changed when you had a baby.' Here is my answer:

Hi Mommy Jazz,

 Thank you for giving me the privilege to share my experience in having a baby. Here's my response to that:

 Before I had Zoe, I was probably one of the most selfish and self-centered people in the world, only concerned with make up and shopping. I also used to think that kids and babies disliked me because I never really knew how to play with them. When I gave birth to Zoe, everything was suddenly about her. My usual make up and clothes cart are now filled with Baby Gap and other baby stuff. I also got surprised on how innate it was for me to play and entertain Zoe! I never thought I would enjoy playing peekaboo for an hour straight or get LSS with the Backyardigans theme song. I love that Zoe and I teach each other things; I teach her to be a loving and polite girl while she teaches me to be a good and patient mom. My life has always been fun and colorful but it's now made perfect with Zoe. I completely devote myself to raising her in the best way I can.

 Vanessa Manila-Dy, 29 from Antipolo
Mom of Zoe Alexa Dy, 15 months
Corporate Trainer


Whether this gets included in the final article to be published or not, I'm still thankful to be have been chosen (for the 2nd time) to contribute to the article. Hopefully in the future, I'd be invited naman to send in a full article :P