Certified Doglovers
(My youngest son with a friend’s dog.)
I grew up having a dog at home…mostly gifts from Dad’s or Mom’s friends which I would take care of as much as I could. (I was a normal student and kid back in those days hehe). I’d feed them, give them a bath and play around with them when I can. I still remember most of the dogs I had and my favorite would always be a bulldog I named Caster.
I’m not surprised that my kids have taken the same liking to dogs as I did. They know a dog breed just by looking which amazed most of the owners of those they identify. Like the one below…while on our way home my daughter bursted out “Mom, it’s an Akita Inu!” The owner smiled and asked us if we were Japanese. 
I explained to him that my kids like learning about dogs and that they knew them from pictures and films. Since then he would let us stroke and play a bit with C (his dog) everytime we chance upon them by the playground. He even let me took a photo of C one snowy day.
(An akita inu around our neighborhood that we often say hello to.)
Given the chance I’d get us a dog to take care of…it would be nice to have one that would grow old with us as the kids do. Their loyalty has long been tested, remember Hachiko? I know too that the kids would learn a lot about discipline having a dog around. Plus, walking dogs is a nice exercise for hubby and I. Living in an apartment is not an appropriate setup for a dog and 3 kids so might as well wait until we get a bigger place…for the meantime, we would just play with friends’ dogs and our kois at home.
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Water attraction
Water attracts kids and they are the happiest being near or being in it. The lake, garden fountains, wall fountains, water installations, table top water fountains and even aquariums make them stare and they giggle when thry get wet with splashed water. Well, it’s how things are with my kids.
I can attest that other kids are like that too. For example, when I accompanied my son’s class to the Schönbrunn Zoo we passed by a fountain (left photo) at the garden…one of the kids asked for her photo to be taken where the fountain would be at the background. (Can’t post photo of her as I don’t want the parents to question me.)
We visited the sea lions and during the feeding time too. Aside from feeding them, the trainers would throw fishes for the sea lions to follow, water would splash but the kids wouldn’t mind getting wet, they were deliberately making themselves wet.
I bet they had great fun but I’m not sure if the parents didn’t get angry when they got colds and a runny nose.
Sometime last year I went with my daughter’s class to the ZOOM Kindermuseum which presents the element water. The museum aims to let children know the importance of water in our lives…there were a lot of installation showcased for the kids to understand how water works.
Above, you can see how attentive the kids were during a water experiment. There were aquariums in the museum too and the kids were fascinated with those, especially to aquariums that doesn’t contain fish but other interesting materials. There were also water pumps much to the kids’ delights.
(Little boy was too busy looking at the water flowing basin that he doesn’t want to turn around for a photo.)
Kids are happy around water and I’m glad the city government installed a water playground across our place. My kids would surely have fun come summer.
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He sang
Aside from books, the little boy loves microphones. He would often burst out into a song while playing or doing his krizzy-krazzy sketches. It doesn’t matter which language, he often does mondegreens especially for japanese songs…
When we read a book, he would hold it and sit on my lap. He would repeat the words exactly how I pronounce and stress them. One time while searching for a page he wanted to read, he hit me with his elbow.
He quickly said “ay sorry!” and I just smiled…then I can’t help but laugh when he started out to a song:
“Ay sorry sorry, hingkaman sampalong…”
Even hubby guffawed hearing him sing. The lyrics should have been “Ay sari sari, singkamas at talong,” which is a Filipino song about vegetables that goes like this when translated: “differently…turnips and eggplants.”
With a kid like this, I won’t need an anti wrinkle serum when I’m older. I only use my muscle for smiling and laughing so no need to worry about wrinkles. Right?
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Daniel doodles
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10 years and counting
(photo from Cupcakes by MommyVanj)
I was chatting with a friend one lovely afternoon when she suddenly blurted out, “Ang tagal nyo na…” (You’ve been together for so long.) I absent-mindedly ask “Who? H?” We both ended up laughing. “Why, is there somebody else?” was the reply and we had more laughs.
It has been more than 10 years that I’ve known hubby…we’d be celebrating our tenth year as husband and wife 6 months from now. In between almost 10 years we had our quarrels, some petty and some grave enough that I won’t talk to him for 3 days.
I would share more about our life together on this blog but I have to go sleep now. I was actually looking for wedding anniversary presents for couples when I thought of writing this piece. I think the cupcakes above are wonderful ideas to give as personalized items. (If you’re the one baking them.) Any ideas? I’ll really appreciate your input. Thanks!
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Playground
The kids and I used to spend our free time at this playground. I would read a book and later take photos while they enjoy the slide, and everything in the swing set.
I once wrote that boredom is not in the dictionary of Viennese children. Child-development and well-being is very much a key concern in this city. Aside from lots of art, music, dance and sports development programs, play is an everyday routine. The city sees to it that every neighborhood has a play area. At times…more than one. In our area alone, there is a playground just a minute’s walk from the door of the building. Another is on the opposite side where we just cross the pedestrian lane (that’s where the photos were taken). Walk on the other cluster of buildings and there’d be open grounds, swing sets complete with slides, seesaw, swings and mini-walls to climb on. There’d also be a big sandbox in which sand are replaced on certain periods of the year.
Rides (animals and vehicles) are also prolific, not just in the malls but also on the streets. Also, family fun parks have been sprouting in each district which spells F-U-N for the kids.
Anyway, the swing set was removed and only the sandbox along with the elephant rides were left. This saddened the kids of course, had we a yard to place suchswing sets I’d make sure I’d buy them one, that with just like the photos here, a climbing wall, a rotating seat, slide, swing and bars. These are what makes playing enjoyable after all!
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There are construction jobs going on as of press time…particularly on this lot. As mentioned the swing set has been removed a year ago following a toddler’s accident. (It does happen.) For which I wouldn’t know who to blame, the kid for being very active or the mom who didn’t keep a good eye on him.
I saw a water installation in the works but it’s too early to tell if there’s gonna be a pond…I hope not because they’re putting it on the kids’ favorite spot to slide down when the snow gets thick! Should they decide on a pond, it would surely be lovely in the summer but a nuisance in the winter.
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Them enjoying the swing set which will now only be remembered in this photo.
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