This morning's Facebook status:

Conversations with my daughter are almost always sprinkled with her exclaiming (with those animated, beautiful eyes of hers), "Mommy I took so much after you!" And this is from all sorts of things, from outlook in life, to fashion sense, to socio-political view, to artistic elitism, to shoe choice, etc. My dear Jackie, Mommy's wish for you, among so many others, is that you would not have the sadnesses she's had, and that you would not make the wrong choices she's made. (teary-eyed, sniff sniff)

Mommy matters

I bought my daughter her second pair of gladiator sandals last Saturday. She loved them, of course--she seems to love everything I get for her. And she wore the new pink-and-brown semi-jumpsuit I got for her last week. I told her, "you're so pretty!" and she said, "you too, mommy!"

Asus. hee.

So, anyway, we spent one-fourth of Sunday afternoon singing to Miley's "Party in the USA" at our favorite Starbucks. In as much as I want her to be all Broadway-ish and pop-free--I stuffed her mp3 player with Broadway and musical tunes--I am aware that my daughter is a kid and that she does, and would eventually, hear pop all over and would pick out ones that she likes, no matter how I try to "educate" her on what's good music and what's not. This is not to say that pop is bad, per se, though the kiddie pop nowadays can be irritatingly, well, pop (yeah, yeah, too many pops right there). And "Party in the USA" is quite catchy and "sing-able", I have to admit. So, I guess that's not too bad.

I'm debating with myself whether or not to teach her Tori Amos, Aimee Mann and the other angry female musicians (when she gets older, of course). I wouldn't trade them for Rihanna, et al, but I'm not altogether sure if my daughter would benefit from all that "angriness."

But, let's see. Jackie's only 10, anyway. Let the kids have fun. Miley could only do so much damage.

I hope.

Happy Birthday, Jacqueline Louise!

Today being her birthday, Jackie took my hand and led me to the mall's toy section so she could choose which doll to buy.

Which to choose?

It proved to be a difficult task.

But she soon (or not so soon) found one, and was happy. She and I then went to the shoes section to shop for sandals. She said she wanted ones with heels. I obliged, bought her a pink pair and, eating the words I wrote on a previous blog entry, bought my daughter gold gladiator sandals.

All the while, Kim was having the time of his life tackling Countersrike at Netopia. Hence, the huge grin.

It's been a wonderful day.
Though I still can't believe my daughter is now nine years old.

Jackie and Math

This is Jackie, hard at work on her Math assignment.

Me: (speechless)

Conversation #1:

Jackie: (voice quivering) Why is everyone forcing me to study?

Me: Baby, you need to study because it's exam week. Do you want to get low scores in your exams?

Jackie: I hate, hate school. All my classmates do. Mommy, who invented school ba?

Me: (speechless)

Jackie: I wish nobody invented school. It's so boring. No kid likes school, you know.

Me: Listen, baby. You need to go to school so you'll learn. If you don't go to school, you won't be able to find a job when you grow up. Sige ka.

Jackie: Oh, that's okay. Then I'll have lots of time to read.

Me: (speechless)

Conversation #2:

Me: What subjects for tomorrow?

Jackie: (sighing) Sibika and, ugh, Math! I hate those two subjects! Who invented Math, Mommy?

Me: I don't know, Baby. The Chinese, I think? But I'm not really sure. Go and practice your subtraction.

Jackie: It's so hard, all those carry-carry and borrow-borrow. I think I like addition more than subtraction.

Me: (sighing) Me, too. But go ahead, study your Math, baby. You have to study. Oh, and yeah, there's one more thing I need to tell you about studying. If you don't study, you'll get really low scores and really low grades. And then you'll be stuck in grade 3. Next year, all your other classmates will be in grade 4 and you'll still be in grade 3. Do you want that?

Jackie: (eyes widening) Oh! Oh! Ok. I better study, then.

Me: (relieved) Good girl! Go ahead, now.

Jackie: (after some moments of deep thought) But, Mommy, how come I won 2nd place in the spelling bee even if I didn't study?

Me: (speechless)

c")