31. g and i rushed out to the roof deck when we heard a helicopter passing by. g watched it cross the sky till it was so tiny. when i tried to make the helicopter sound and moved my pointer in a circular way (like it was the chopper's blade), g smiled widely and raised her pointer too!

30. g's 1st birthday!

g and i went to granny's to celebrate her birthday with gramps, lo fred, aku, akim and zacky boy. i got her one pretty yellow-flower cake and four balloons colored pink, light blue, apple green and lavander. we brought lola's misua, slurrpp! zack wanted the pink babu while g wanted the blue ba! :) the princess stared at the birthday candle--it was much more fun looking at it than blowing it, i s'pose! in the late afternoon, g distributed meadowy-bugs cupcakes to the kids in the neighborhood. i had so much fun!!!!

29. baguio city--good thing my interview with foundation staff pushed through today. that gave me time to shop like crazy for vegies and 8 kilos of strawberries!!!!!!! danz didn't spare me that reminder :) i was excited at the same time to come back home. reached cubao 11.30pm. g was sleeping soundly...she didn't have any idea about all the special days ahead of her :)

28. baguio city/benguet--soooo c-c-c-oooldd at 4am in the UP baguio dorm! levs, grexi, fram, charlotte and i started our trip for togoy-pulag of tublay town at 6.30am. from the roadside, we hiked up and down the mountains for one hour till we reached the village day care center. gosh, dad, the view around me was simply awesome from where i was. a 5-year old brought her 3-year old sister with her in the center and she took care of her while playing with the other kids the whole afternoon on the slopes. i was so afraid for her...i was imagining the younger one was g. she did tremendously well balancing herself as she walked down the slope. i could feel my heart skip many beats. but g would love to be there, am sure :)

27. last-minute rush shopping with g: her white party shoes. babyland didn't have her size. i think i need to buy the smallest size from the kids section of SM or rustan's. g's feet are so taba kasi. off to baguio again on the midnight trip...zzzz...

26. "one gift ko kay gillian eh cd... the artist? her name is NORA JONES :) love ko kayong dalawa. ps. puwede niyang ipahiram sa 'yo 'yung cd niya :)"

25. by now, g walks from one end of her crib to the other. she can also squat to pick up an object and raises herself to stand again. she still enjoys snuggling crib corners and edges.

24. while i was away, lola said g imitated almost every action she did. lola demonstrated to g how to balance a plastic cup on the head. she then placed the cup on g's head and g--presto!--balanced it by not moving at all, haha!

23. baguio city-- shopping at the public market!!!! i bought the girls 6 kilos of strawberries and two sacks of assorted veggies! goodness, i didn't almost catch my breath getting the bus conductor to assure me no one'll steal my vegies sacks from the bus compartment, haha! dad sent me off back to manila and g. g did her bounce-bounce-bounce number when she saw me!

22. baguio city--really, baguio is much sweeter-looking. i walked up and down harrison and session roads. despite the harried crowd of pedestrians, i still savored the cool weather and friendly sun. hey, i made it to the BSU on the jeep too! dad spent his gangster days along that kilometer stretch, g, nyehehe...

21. baguio city--i went off to baguio on the early 5am bus trip. i enjoyed the city much more now...it looked lovelier than when i was here few weeks ago. i rode the jeep to and from the shontoug office (via mines view) and the plaza. there is a "jillian's restaurant" diagonally across the PNR office in brgy marcoville. sync ba, dadski? :) i wish g was there with me. gramps told me to buy an igorot vest for her.

20. squirty is starting to enjoy the picture books. "home" is a fave one. today, i introduced the character mousy to her by giving her a squeaky voice. g gives me a high-pitched voice too! she can identify a ball.

19. g had me all to herself today! i had a great time feeding g three times because i got her full attention (and cooperation). that i was feeding her was probably a novel thing. i taught her the actions to the "eensy weensy spider" song and she learned so fast! hmmm, she even does the actions way ahead of the lyrics, hehe.

18. we've changed g's bath routines. she now takes her bath in the comfort room; otherwise, our room's wooden flooring would've easily turned white from g's strong kicks that send tidal waves of water from the tub to the floor!

17. g plays with her xylophone and makes music with it accidentally. she'd rather listen to the tunes i make than strike the keys with the stick. actually, she's happy just holding it!

16. fave objects in the sky: moon and airplane. fave pastime: walking barefoot inside the house on the stroller or with a diaper wrapped around her chest and under her arm. she had a ball walking around gramps' sala today!

i also found out today that i have a new saved number in my cellphone's directory: 339585555555222426247. and a dialled number: 0*63232223222623838888888588.

15. g entertains lola with all her antics! together on the sofa, g rested her head on a throw pillow as lola chanted a rhyme. but every time g hears the sound of a car passing by outside, she'd stand up and peer out. if it wasn't one of us, she'd go back to her throw pillow and 'rest' again.

14. g imitates people around her a lot of times now. once, she saw lola scratch the scotch tape roll to get the end up; g asked for the tape and scratched it too with her teeny weeny thumb! i added new actions to the song "twinkle, twinkle little star" and she imitated those as well.

13. g understands the word "give". if you tell her, "please give that to me" she'd hand it to you, sabay bawi! and matches that with a naughty smile.

12. g points to familiar places when she wants to go there. she knocks on the biggies' room, likes to peep inside a-pe's room, goes down to socialize with ate gema, ate amy, yaya tess, ate luz and zacks, goes up to the roof deck or here in my work room.

11. shucks...g kept me up wee hours of the morning. she was sleepy but couldn't sleep. it's been this way for two evenings...*yawn*...

10. baguio city--i had a great time shopping in the public market for veggies and pasalubongs! dropped by BSU for some fruit preserves and peanut butter, then got my order of strawberries and lettuce. yummmmy! can't wait to get back home to my baby and the biggies!

wow! g was sooooo excited when i called out to her and she saw me from the sala's window! she even shrieked, haha! the first i did was to hand her the everlasting. she touched it readily, then withdrew her hand, touched it again but cautiously this time, then finally decided she didn't want it at all! i thought i saw her shudder too :)

9. baguio city--as i stood along session road, daddy placed an order of everlasting flowers and a magic bracelet from baguio for g. of course, i didn't forget theeeeeee...barrel man!!! taddaaaaa!

8. "dad, mommy went up to baguio today. she's excited about going to three far-flung villages of benguet to meet the ibalois. i wonder what she'll bring home for me..."

7. g and i went to the church office this morning to book her baptismal. we also went to rockwell club to inquire about and check out their facilities. the palm grove resto overlooks the blue-tiled swimming pool. g enjoyed the view as i talked with the food & beverage lady. afterwards, we had lunch with yaya lolit at the rockwell. g looked up at all the santa clauses hanging on ropes.

6. a play-and-rest day with the biggies. g fascinated them with her physical prowess! she stayed put on the bed for many minutes as ki read the dog book to her. she can grossly turn pages and recognizes fave pics like those of patch (golden retriever puppy), yoshi (terrier) and the three sleepy puppies. when she opens to these pages, she'd shriek, laugh, point or make sounds.

5. first, g leaned against the crib board and then she moved 3 steps forward without support! hurraayyy! in addition, she practices standing up without holding on to anything and just balancing her body from an on-all-fours position. isn't she great, dad?! da stariray strikes again at lolo's birthday bash! she looked smashingly cute in her red cheongsam, but kita lampin and panty! haha!

4. when g is greeted by strangers, she responds by smiling, pointing at them, laughing or resting her head on our shoulder...nako-conscious na siya? g and i spent some time near the swimming pool inspecting the leaves, christmas light bulbs and suntan flowers.

3. all switches are fascinating to g by now. she understands that the light turns on and off when she presses the switch. by looking at danz a few times, she now understands that something'll happen when she presses the TV button. last night, she tried the electric fan. my cellphone is still the fave while the stereo's remote control comes second. i believe she has a basic grasp of causes and effects already.

2. g calls lola "amah" and her uncle BJ "e". she drinks fresh tomato juice (oohhh). she potty trains many times a day--she moves her bowels more than once due to the anti-TB meds she's taking.

1. new year and g's first one step without support!!! yup, g did that! and she can now stay standing on her own for some seconds more. she went around the neighborhood on zacky's little red wagon, sitting face-to-face with him. she cried when it was time to get down from it. g revisited the humongous fishes, lobsters and crabs at the marina resto.