A typical day.
0500: Rise and shine.
0515: 5km run around cemetery or 30 minutes of laps in the pool.
To clarify, I do not live IN a cemetery. I live NEAR a cemetery. Also, there is a pool in our apartment complex.
0545: Shower.
0600: Coffee and cook breakfast.
I am slowly mastering cooking siningag, longganisa, tocino and differing style of cooked eggs.
si-ni-ngag (hard to explain how to pronounce 'ng')
a type of fried rice.
long-ga-ni-sa
a type of filipino sausage.
to-see-no
a sweet pork dish.
0630: Read news.
0700 - 0730: A wakes up. Wash her face.
0730 - 0800: Feed. Ensure that children's programs are on the television.
0800 - 1100: Playtime. Involves chasing and being chased. Blocks and books.
Also in this time period, numerous drinks breaks, just as many toilet breaks, rummaging through the fridge and cabinets for snacks and singing and dancing.
1100: Cook lunch.
At the moment my 'specialty' is nilagang baboy. A style of stew with pork pieces and vegetables. Accompanied with patis and sili. No complaints from A yet.
pa-tis
fermented juice of some long dead fish. Really dead fish.
see-li
chilli
1130 - 1145/1200: Bath time #1.
Can sometimes be a struggle. Depends on A's mood. Has issues with water on her face. Often angrily says, "No! Not the face!"
I would describe the experience as trying to grasp a vaseline-covered-octopus. However once A is in the bathroom she is very difficult to get out. She'll turn out to be a fine woman one day. Can't make up her mind. djok djok djok.
Getting A into clothes is just as challenging. Have you ever tried to catch a greased pig? It's like that but this lil piglet has ankle-breaking jukes and jinks. I find the ambush method the best way. Just sit down and eventually A comes back. And them WHAMO! Gotcha, ya lil [censored].
1200: A now fully clothed A sits down and eats lunch.
1230: Siesta time! It's that awesome it needed an exclamation mark. Peace and quiet.
1230 - 1300: Clean up A's mess. Thirty minutes you wonder? You'd be surprised where she manages to hide her toys. I believe that Ma'am A and Sir J stopped buying DVD players after the third one stopped working.
1300: Siesta time! W00t! This time it's my turn.
1300 - 1530: Zzz...
1530: A wakes me up by
Snack time. Walk to the supermarket a few blocks away and purchase something, anything strawberry flavoured. A will proceed to eat the first few morsels and then refuse to eat the rest. I
1600: Play with the other children in the apartment's 'playground'.
Not so much a playground but an open area downstairs where the 40-odd children living in the complex play.
There is more shouting, running, tackling here than an AFL Grand Final. Only less tears.
1700: Prepare dinner.
Did I mention that I was getting good at nilaga?
1900: Ma'am A returns home. Spends time with A. I try to follow what's going on in the news with my English-Tagalog dictionary. Leaves me frustrated. Go online.
2000: Sir J returns. Feeding time. Takes a little bit longer than usual as A performs her latest dance to a commercial that she had seen earlier in the day. EVERY single time it airs! Smiles all round.
2100: Bath time #2. Refer to bath time #1.
Only this time there is a quarrel regarding the choice of night time attire. Will it be the Dora the Explorer two piece or the Disney Princess night dress?
2130: A Sits down to watch the latest episode of the latest telenovela. Will
te-le-no-ve-la
a form of entertainment where good and evil battle. Much death and drama involved.
2200 - 2230: Read several books to A. Any book. It doesn't really matter as she doesn't pay any attention to the storyline or the pacing of the story, she just seems interested in turning the page and seeing the pictures.
2230 - 2300: Convince A to close her eyes, stop moving and sleep. Sometimes involves calling my new best friend, the mumu.
moo-moo
Madonna without makeup.
2300 - 0000: Shower. Go online. Sleep.
END.
Repeat.
PJ out.
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