Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails
That’s what little boys are made of !

When I found out the first time that I was pregnant that I was going to have a boy, I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew that raising a boy is (relatively) easy only because it’s familiar. I was the only girl in my family, and the only girl cousin in my mom’s sides. I grew up a bugoy and a cowboy. I had a lot of fun playing with paper boats in canal water, making mud pies and being dugyot. I never outgrew being a tomboy much to my mom’s dismay haha. Nope, not even enrollment in an exclusive all girls catholic high school so that I could learn “social skills” did it, I just found friends who found my constant ka dugyotan a source of joy and amusement.

david’s first take of cake at his first birthday

now one of our favorite activities is baking together 🙂

And yes, dugyot pa rin ako today and it has definitely rubbed off on David. The freedom of growing up a tomboy meant that playtimew ith David can be as dirty and rough as he wants it to be. It has translated to going through sando after sando because his ability to get dirty multiplies exponentially via the hour.

A typical day of playing. By the end of the day he would have gone through AT LEAST two sweaty stinky shirts!

It’s going through paints and crayons and modelling clay and taking a nap on top of an unmade bed. It’s drawing from an imaginary bottomless well of patience while still allowing him to raise hell…only carefully. For I see that when he’s down and dirty, he’s also exploring and learning. Now why should I stop him from doing those?

“Sige lang ng sige”

That’s why Breeze’s new campaign resonates with me. Being a Sige Lang parent encapsulates my play and parenting philosophy (if I can ever call what I’m doing a philosophy) Kebs lang kung dugyot! When an afternoon calls for multiple art projects and a good game of habulan there is no saying no to an eager 4 year-old. Taking a break with an ice cream cone even though 80 percent of the ice cream ends up on his shirt is not a problem — he is like me after all. Sige lang!

most of the ice cream ended up on his shirt (and mine)

“Sige lang David!! “Let’s go Mama!!

Now this little dude right here, just started his solids. His first meal was a small bowl of squash! I foresee another little messy boy to clean up after! Yay! God bless my little boys’ mess!