23 September 2018

A Decade of Wisdom

I called her from the bedroom where I was putting her baby sister to sleep. She was in her study table – drawing or might be writing songs and proses, her newly-found interest that keeps her occupied during her free time. She was quite in a hurry, her face was that of shock and worry. In short, exaggeratedly rushing. I told her to change that face and calm down. My tone was on gentle default when I called her since I was lulling the tiny one. So to see her theatrical reaction just made me want to shift to my inner green beast immediately. I did my best to pull out my Mary Poppins demeanor and told her to buy veggies for sinigang that I'd cook for lunch. After she listed it down and got the money, she took off her unicorn headband and got a simpler one (she said she doesn't want attention), a coin purse and her gray uggs. Do you see the irony? It appears in her every moment.


My firstborn, the child I delivered in the midst of personal crisis, has a rather odd combination of complex qualities. No thanks to her emotional, frank, inquisitive, logical, evasive and lazy genes. She did not come from a mediocre family, that is why. Both sides have each quality in its superlative. It's amusing to see a bit of me in her, though. Like, when someone pronounces a word wrongly, that's me right there with the sharp tone and poker face! But when she does it the way I do at her age and stage in life, I cringe. No way my gradeschooler would sound so disrespectful and obnoxious. When it happens, I quickly jump in. I don't want her to grow up thinking she knows better than everyone else. See the difficulty of trying to balance everything in parenting? If you think sleepless nights of having a newborn is exhausting, wait till you reach the double digits. May this serve as a warning, haha. 

Oh, please don't think our days are full of agony and sermons. She is, after all, her father's replica. From the iconic big ears down to his silly jokes, she is as annoyingly adorable as the OG! I mean, I usually don't like it when she bursts out with dragging punchlines out of nowhere but I miss it when she doesn't. That's the effect my husband has on me, too. And when those moments happen, I seize and try to encapsulate it in my mental jars of memories and reveries, in the fear of forgetting how totally happy we are. 

So ya, handling her brand of charm and crazy makes me realize that I can face whatever the universe throws at me with a heart as strong as horses (My Little Pony mom here). As my first girl gets older year after year, just as what her name means, my wisdom goes along with it, too. I learn a lot from my experiences with mothering her and I think I have to thank her for that. 

4 comments:

  1. Sophia is blessed to having you as her Mother :) I wished my Mother would have been there for me to teach me those things. God bless you more, Ms.D :)

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  2. I look up to you to you in raising my kids. I became a mother at an early age, now I have to wonderful kids. I hope I can be a good mother like you. :)

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  3. I salute you Ms. D. for raising amazing kid like ate sophia.

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  4. So touching Ms. Denise! You're such an inspiration to us and with this one, your daughter is blessed and proud also for being your princess!.. God Bless and More power!

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