She can be a F1 driver...

A friend of mine, Benedict, donated his kids' stroller. I readily accepted. I got it several weeks before we travelled to Bicol. After taking it home, I didn't know where to store it. At the same time, I wasn't sure if KT is ready to take the new challenge (her body was still fragile then).

One day, Tin was around so I decided to ask her to take KT out of the house and try the stroller at the same time. So we put KT on the stroller without a fuzz. Then I pushed the stroller with the matching sound of a car engine. Initially, I pushed the stroller slowly; then I decided to push it a little bit faster just to check if the kid will react. She didn't.. She actually smiled.

Tin was on the stroller's side checking if KT was still okay. Because of my weight, I got tired easily and took it slowly. And I stopped pushing it - KT cried. So as not to move farther, I just pushed the stroller a bit faster in a circular motion - she actually stopped complaining.

A race car driver in the making!

PS. She fells asleep in the car when we take a long drive to Sun Valley.

Merry Christmas, KT

KT's first air travel

This month, my wife and I decided to visit our parents in the province. We took our baby, KT, with us (without the nanny).

We were in the domestic airport at 5am on the 19th of December - I was incharge of the luggages and Tin was carrying the baby. Surprisingly, KT didn't complain about the noise of the vehicles going thru the airport. She would be startled from time to time, but she was looking at the people queuing up, disembarking from the cabs, etc.

After getting through the security check, I asked Tin to put KT on the stroller (courtesy of a friend of mine). I thought the baby will complain, but she didn't. The mom-baby tandem was cool to look at. While waiting for us to board the plane, she just sat there sleeping and from time to time would look at the people passing by. I am so proud of her - mana sa itay.

(Before we left Manila, I tried letting her ride the stroller just to be sure that she'll fit and she'll like it. What I and Tin noticed is she prefers the stroller to be moving. She cries when it's not. This is supportive on our previous experiences when taking her to Sun Valley and she stays in the back of the car - she simply fells to sleep.)

When we were about to board, I asked Tin to go ahead so I could take a pix of KT during her first trip to Bicol on a plane.

In the plane, I took KT from Tin since the latter had not slept for the last 2 nights (she came from a hospital duty the night before). I thouight KT would simply sleep in the flight. Nooo!!! She preferred to be carried upright so that she could check on the passengers. At first, I was worried she would cry once the plane starts to accelerate to gain more lift and the landing part; depending on the plane, this would be the noisest part of the travel (ignoring the noise coming from other passengers). Surprise, surprise! She didn't even blink!! (Am I seeing a potential that she can be a good car racer someday??)

I tried my best so that she wouldn't cry on the flight - I would raise her up during some games (Cebu Pacific does on every flight) as if she was one of the participants. And sometimes I would let her see outside the window. The good thing is that she's more responsive when we took her for travel (she's just 3.5 mos old). After the plane taxied to the tarmac of Legazpi Domestic Airport, I found her sleeping on my arms.

Me? My arms were complaining - KT is bigger for her age and I don't have that upper body strength. But it was fun joining my wife and kid for our first family trip outside the city.

Epilogue - when I went out of the airport, I looked like a christmas tree with the luggages hanging around my body! It doesn't end there... Next time, BRING THE NANNY!!!