DARTH SPIDER

My wife hollered that there was a spider crawling on our bed. I quickly grabbed hold of the nearest object I could get my hands on which happened to be my child's Jedi Light Saber toy (from the movie Star Wars). Retracting the plastic saber blade, I whacked at the more-than-normal-sized spider and killed it after two strikes. Seeing this whole episode transpire before his eyes, Nicolas was amazed at my ability in wielding his Jedi Light Saber. "Whoa, wow!" he exclaimed. But then he backtracked on his initial admiration and strongly remarked, "But Dad, you can't kill spiders. Spiders are good."

Grasping for a justified answer, I replied, "Yup, you are right. We should not kill good spiders. But that one," as I pointed to the dead spider, "That spider was an evil one. I had no choice."

FRENCH WATER

Nicolas asked why soft drinks are not good for children. I told him that there are alternative healthier drinks children can take like orange juice or apple juice. I then asked him, "What do you think is the healthiest and purest drink you can have?" Nicolas thought for a bit. "It starts with the letter 'W'.", I added as I gave him a clue. Nicolas then answered, "Wine."

FALSE HOPE

Over lunch, Savion informed me that his Lolo (Grandfather) promised being around for another 15 years, making it to age 85. This made Savion think of aging and death, consequently asking, "Daddy, until when will you be around with us." Sidetracking the question, I mimicked a very old man walking with a cane, speaking as if all my teeth were gone - "Mmmmh, Ay ammmhhh showww owwld my shhon." (translation: "Mmmm, I am so old my son.") Savion laughed hard.

Afterwards, as Savion sat in the rear seat of the vehicle I was driving, he again asked the same question hoping to get a response this time. I went on with my old man mimicry. Savion smiled and laughed again. Then after a few moments, he turned serious. Looking thru the rear view mirror, I saw Savion lean forward and assuredly remark, "Don't worry Daddy, I'll work hard."

As I fought back a tear or two, unable to utter a word, I just thought to myself how my son will be taking care of me during my twilight years. I felt much relief and gratitude.

Then Savion leaned forward and belatedly asked, "By the way Dad, how much are false teeth anyway?"

TEARS FROM FEARS

At "Grandparent's Day" at school, Savion was asked to read the 1st Reading during the celebration of mass. Savion read with much confidence and success. Afterwards, he shared to me what he experienced - "I was very nervous. The crowd was bigger than any from the recitals (violin recitals). The tears were about to get out of my eyes. But, I held them back. Whew!"

GMAIL KIDS

For the past couple of weeks, Savion had been asking, "Are we going to be included in the final video?" Today, his question was answered as Savion & Nicolas make GMail history through the Gmail Video - "Gmail: A Behind The Scenes Video." Entries came from more than 65 countries submitting more than 1,100 videos.

View the final Gmail video:

See Savion & Nicolas at 0:32

View the original video entry - "Gmail Strut":

HUSBAND & WIFE

Nicolas had a puzzled look when he heard my wife say the word "husband" when I was introduced to an acquaintance. Nicolas wanted the words "husband and wife" explained to him as it was the first time he encountered these words. Since we were hurrying to get him to school, I offered the quick explanation via the "For example, you are married to your classmate Sophia. Then you are the husband and Sophia is your wife." Satisfied, he nodded his head.

We found out later how Nicolas explained the new words he learned. He went on to say, "Teacher, I am married to Sophia. I am the husband. She is my LIFE."

ART DICAPRIO

Nicolas proudly showed off his artwork and proclaimed, "When I grow up, I'm going to be an artist." I asked, "Ah, like your Tita Pam and Tito John?". Nicolas politely responded, "Yah... but more like Jack."

Check links for artists,
Jose "John" Santos and Pamela "Pam" Yan-Santos
http://thebostongallery.com/home.aspx
http://www.artsentralasia.com/docs/artists/jose_john_santos_iii.html

COLORLESS TOYS

On November 9, 1936, German Jews were ordered to move out of their houses and leave Germany. They could only take with them what they could carry. The Jewish children brought out all their toys and left them at the sidewalks fronting their homes. A young boy excitedly looked at all the toys and wondered what he could take home to play with. He did not have any toys because his family was poor. His aunt would however tell him, "No. Those are not ours. Leave them as they are." The young boy understood what his aunt meant.

In that German town, no child ever played with those toys again. The toys became a reminder of the Jewish children's joy left behind and lost forever.

Story shared in 1996 by John Surmann, the young boy.

GOOGLE CHEESE

My friend's daughter 9-year old Isabelle turns on the computer, then gets a puzzled look on her face. "Dad, Mozzarella Firefox doesn't work." Her dad goes, "Sweetheart, you said Mozzarella." She does a double-take, then guffaws "Hahahaha, I said Mozzarella...! Mozzarella Firefox...! hahaha...!!...sigh..."

TOUGH HEELS

Nicolas remarked that he did not want to transfer to another school next year. I told him that his girl classmates will all be going to all-girls schools. I kidded him that he can join them as long as he wears a skirt as his school uniform. He reacted by saying, "Nah. I don't want to be a girl." And added, "I hate high heels."

HEAVEN & FIRE

Nicolas quote: "I don't want to die alone and go up to heaven. I want to die with my whole family."

- o -

During bedtime, the kids played a role-playing game of fireman. They used jackets and caps and got up from bed 7 times and pretended to put out fires around the house. Both kids experienced the hardship of getting up, putting on the jackets and caps and rushing to the pretend-fires every time the pretend-fire alarm went off. At the post-play discussion on the lives of firemen, 7-year old Savion asked, "What will happen if the fireman doesn't get up when the alarm goes off?" I answered that the fireman will probably get FIRED and probably lose his job. I explained that it was part of their job to get up and do their duties no matter how tired they were. Most workers who don't do their jobs usually get fired. The kids acknowledged that indeed, firemen are heroes. And after a few more questions, 4-year old Nicolas then asked, "Why do they BURN the fireman when he doesn't get up?"

NOW

I started jotting down short notes on my small notebook (the one with the paper with lines kept together by a white coil spring) sometime in 1996. And on April 8, 1996 I started jotting down these notes on my computer. The entry: "April 8, '96 Monday Back in shop. A lollipop. U2's "Stay" song." Nothing interesting there. Just things I considered as gifts or blessings or just something I wanted to remember. And everyday for the next decade I jotted down notes I felt was important to me for the day. I still used a notebook to jot down on the fly daily stuff since it is hard to remember at day’s end all the things that happened during the day. Then I ended up using a Palm II. Then I lost, on a system crash, a week’s worth of files. I went back to my small coil-held notebook for the next couple of years. Then a cell phone feature arrives, “Notes”. I have used this ever since to jot down my daily “ipisnippets”. IPIS for Insignificant Pieces of Information and Stories. SNIPPETS for snippets. By the way, Ipis means cockroach too. We don’t care for them yet they disrupt our lives once they make themselves aware to us. And as I heard somewhere, they’re the only creatures that will survive a nuclear holocaust. I’m blogging now to hopefully make my ipisnippets survive from system crashes and other modern digital disasters via the protection of Google Inc. Almighty.

NOW, I commit to “posting” / jotting down snippets, that I hope will, at the minimum, elicit a smile from my dearly beloved. I am particularly inclined to post children quips because these are the purest, funniest and loveliest. I will be sharing my children’s quips from this day onward. Occasionally, I will pull snippets from my decade worth of files where nephews’, nieces’, friend’s children’s quips, quotes, questions and stories have been graciously shared to me. I was planning to share these quips still years from now when the children are all grown up. But I guess NOW is the time to celebrate their youth. It is time to appreciate them today.

A wise philosopher once said, “To be truly a man (woman) we have to go back to our child’s heart.” Children’s thoughts, insights, questions and quotes will help us rediscover ours. From their purity we will rediscover and then recover.