Down the Rabbit Hole

Ten years ago, I posted about the highlights of my life in 2000–2009 . I'm doing it again just for kicks... actually, because it's always nice to reflect and realise how much has happened since. Plus, I was inspired after watching the 20th-anniversary video of Google:   Here we go... 2011. For reasons long forgotten, I ended up in the USA around Thanksgiving rather than Christmas. I visited Las Vegas  and the Grand Canyon  with family. I attended one of the best training courses at work: "Enhancing Global Rice Leadership" , whose lessons I'm still applying to this day. One of the things I had to learn was pitching ideas. Specifically, I was tasked with convincing visitors to donate. Jollibee  CEO Tony Tan Caktiong 's reaction to my pitch blew me away... it's still a highlight for me, ten years on. 2012. Lola Estay passed away this year. My research direction took a turn towards sensory evaluation ; hence, IRRI's management decided to send me

Being a first-time mom, one of the firsts for me is personally installing the Diono Radian 3QXT convertible car seat. I'm not sure if I've followed the installation instructions (in the manual and in the video resources) to a T so I had a car seat inspection appointment scheduled with AAA, my family's motor vehicle insurance provider. I now write about the experience of going through one. I think that child restraint inspections are typically conducted in person but because of COVID-19, every meeting is conducted virtually these days. For this particular session, we met using Google Meet rather than via Zoom. Before the car seat inspection, I had transferred the car seat from the right passenger seat to the middle seat in the back row. Several reasons: It is the only location in the car that will never be directly hit in the event of a collision (i.e., head-on, side, or rear-end collision).  The child passenger has no access to the vehicle's door closest to him/her. Th

This year's Christmas parties certainly is very different.  The COVID-19 pandemic is hitting California particularly hard, forcing the state to issue stay-at-home orders one more time (I actually didn't realise that we were told that the stay-at-home orders in the spring were lifted). But thanks to the wonders of technology, we were still able to see each other and have fun. The organisers of the Zoom calls used Facebook's group messaging function to announce when we'd be meeting virtually. I don't have a Facebook account anymore so I only learned of the schedules from Ate Maddie (for my dad's side of the family) and from Trisha (for my mom's side of the family). It's good that the two Zoom calls did not fall on the same day and at the same time. The best part of the Zoom calls: we got to see those based in the Philippines too! The Cuevas family Zoom call was held on December 18th. Relatives from the USA, the Philippines, and Canada were online when we

I was neck-deep in learning how to install my child's convertible car seat (a Diono Radian 3QXT ) when I heard that the Philippines has enacted Republic Act 11229, the "Child Safety in Motor Vehicles Act". This law states that children younger than 12 years old are not allowed to ride shotgun; if they are 12 years old and older, they may sit on the front passenger seat if their height is at least 150 cm or they can use the seatbelt properly. Otherwise, they must be placed in child restraints that are installed in the back seat of the motor vehicle. This law is applicable to private vehicles but not to tricycles or motorcycles. This is indeed a step forward towards transportation safety. Curious, I decided to check out how this law compares with the child restraint laws in the USA and practices in Sweden. I currently live in California and am using its child restraint law for comparison. Sweden, on the other hand, is well-known as a benchmark for best practices regarding c

The baby experts in the USA recommend that babies should have tummy time as soon as they get home from the hospital. In my son's case, he did not enjoy tummy time one bit, screaming each time I placed him on his belly. I was worried because babies are supposed to be on their bellies for a specified number of minutes per day. And my son didn't even last a few seconds before he started wailing. Luckily, I came across Janet Lansbury's book, Elevating Child Care , which advises parents to wait until the baby is developmentally ready. And so I waited... then my son flipped from his back to his belly all on his own. Aha! The people who formulated RIE were correct! For my son's next mobility milestones, therefore, I decided to skip reading about exercises to encourage my son to sit or to crawl. I'd place him on his back and let him roll or move in whatever way he wanted as long as it's safe. This meant that once he started rolling, I kept a close watch on him while he

Disclaimer: I am not a certified child passenger safety technician (CPST). If you need help in installing your car seat, contact a certified CPST. Thoughts and opinions found in this blog post are based on my experience during my installation and have not been influenced in any way by Diono or by any of its affiliates. --- Since my son is almost too big for his infant car seat, I took it upon myself to learn how to install his new convertible car seat, the Diono Radian 3QXT. I have chosen this car seat because: It is narrow, allowing three car seats to be placed side-by-side in the back seat.  It is designed to keep babies in rear-facing mode until they are 50 lbs. It can be used until the child requires booster seats (possibly up to 120 lbs.). Additional safety features (like the anti-rebound bar) provide more protection. The Diono Radian 3QXT installed in the car in rear-facing mode I installed the car seat in the Mercedes Benz C230 while my son was napping. I thought that would be

Frankly, I was looking forward to outdoor stroller walks with my son when it's already safe to go out of the house. I just bought the baby carriers just in case we need to travel by public transport and it's more convenient to carry him rather than push his stroller (particularly in train stations without lifts). However, I definitely enjoy babywearing. It's such an easy way to move around with an infant! Even a squirmy one, like my son! I am definitely a convert!  The carriers I got is the Moby Wrap while the framed carrier is the Ergobaby Omni 360. I was mulling whether the KTan is worth the investment but I backed off when I learned that it has to be bought according to the size of the user; that is, each of the baby's caregivers must have one if they are of different sizes. Case in point, Val and me. I recently discovered Konny carriers but I might not be able to use them enough because the Ergobaby is our workhorse. Anyway, after more than six months of babywearin

A few months ago, I first wrote about how my brother and I unboxed the  Graco Modes Bassinet LX , my son's travel system that is composed of an infant car seat and a stroller. Back then, I didn't write my thoughts down about the infant car seat because my son's not there yet. But now that he's used the car seat several times (mostly to the doctor's office), I think that I can write about it. Duration of use depends on the baby's growth. Based on the user's manual, the infant car seat is useable by the baby until he reaches the car seat's height and weight limits. Thus, I was fully expecting that my son wouldn't graduate from this stage for a long time. However, my son outgrew the infant insert when he turned three months. I just realised this when he started crying whenever I placed him in the car seat after adjusting his harness straps to get the right fit. So I removed the body insert. I would have loved to keep his head support too, but he still

2020 is a very turbulent year, with so many challenges for so many people. Though it is a difficult year, on this occasion, I still find reasons to be thankful. I am thankful for the gift of family. Val and I welcomed our little bundle of joy this year. Giving birth in the middle of the first surge of the pandemic with Val overseas was not the easiest but my birthing team, my parents, and my siblings have been very supportive through the challenges of raising our little boy during his first months and helping me recover from wonky postpartum hormones imbalances and baby blues. They also take over taking care of him while I sleep in during the weekend because I write during the middle of the night when everyone else at home is asleep... as a result, I only log in two to three hours of sleep during the weekdays. Because I take care of the little guy most of the time, my parents and my sister have been cutting me some slack in the house chores department (I just run the dishwasher at nigh

  Gone were the days when I can just hand my son over to my parents or to my sister so I can eat or use the bathroom. I didn't hear complaints; he was a chill baby back then. These days, however, as long as I'm within three feet of him, he's jolly; but as soon as I'm out of sight (behind a door or a wall), I start hearing him cry out in protest, especially just before nap time and when he's hungry. It's difficult to see him cry, knowing that he wants me to carry him, but I know that every baby has to go through this difficult developmental stage: when they start understanding the concept of "object permanence". This means that my son is realising that people and objects continue to exist even if they are not in the same room as him. Babies at this stage feel very vulnerable because their caretakers (their source of feelings of security and safety) left them where they don't feel safe... but the separation anxiety supposedly lasts only for a few min

I am certainly not a baby whisperer. I am definitely hacking my way every day in my parenting journey. Ever since my son has been born, he's had crying episodes that could last minutes or hours. And my instinct tells me I should respond to my child's cries; this is contrary to parenting experts' advice of waiting to see if the baby will self-soothe. After all, during the early days, a baby's only way of communicating is through crying. Note that I don't believe that babies can manipulate parents and caregivers; hence, it is always wise to respond to a baby's cries. But how do I respond if I don't know WHY he's crying? During the first few weeks, everything was guesswork. But as my son grew out of the newborn stage and into the infant stage, I started hearing nuances in his cries. At last, I think I'm getting a grasp at what he wants to say! I probably have figured out some of the cries. But he's growing mentally every single day, so what'

Time flies! Once the wee one and I graduated from the sleepless nights of the newborn stage and rolling at five months, our next challenge is his introduction to solid food. This, to me, means it's now time to diversify his diet (which up til now is 100% formula milk). Finally, his food adventure begins! As someone who is a rice sensory specialist and who was involved in a project about food choice behaviours in Bhubaneswar, Odisha , and  Metro Manila , I've been looking forward to the day when I can start introducing flavours and textures to my son and see how his food preferences develop... even if this means that I have to stretch my own preferences and eat food that I don't like to eat. There are two approaches to introducing solid food to a baby. One is the so-called "baby-led weaning", in which babies start feeding themselves with slices of food (small enough to prevent choking) from the get-go. Then there's the more traditional purée approach in which

A lot of parenting guides encourage parents to start reading to their babies as early as possible. I have always thought that it's not feasible to do so when a baby is only awake for 45 minutes. In my son's case, during that wake window, I have to fit in a lot of activities: diaper change (10 minutes) feed (15 minutes) tummy time and playtime (20 minutes) By the time I was about to start reading to my son, he's already zonked out and ready for his next nap! Note that I have not done any sleep training or nap scheduling with him. We still follow a routine of eating, playing, and sleeping but not that particular order each time; it really depends on how long his naps are.  I started inserting a short segment of reading nursery rhymes in his playtime routine when his wake window lengthened to 90 minutes. If I remember correctly, he was three or four months old when we began; this was also when I was able to include a short walk around the neighbourhood in his morning routine

I intended to take the little one on a walk around the neighbourhood at 8am one day in early September. As I was placing him in the baby carrier, I kept wondering why the sky was so dark and gloomy, given that it's supposed to be a warm sunny day. As we walked out the door, I noticed that there was ash sprinkled all over outside. It reminded me of the day Mount Pinatubo's eruption in the 1990s and the more recent eruption of Taal Volcano . And when I looked up, the sky was a deep orange hue... it was so uncanny that I decided to stop and take a photo before retreating indoors. Ahh, the 2020 California fire season had begun. And the glowing orange sky I saw that day was also seen by a lot of other people in the Bay Area. The thick smoke that made the air quality really bad that morning came from multiple fires in northern California, Oregon, and Washington being blown by the wind into the Bay Area. The fire that led to this orange sky started because of a dry lightning event in

Summer has come and gone. Autumn has finally arrived! And we still are supposed to limit our engagements to a few people at a time and in outdoor locations if possible, thanks to COVID-19 . California's new cases count has steadily decreased and the state has allowed some establishments to reopen (like gyms and salons). We are still cautious—wearing masks, observing physical distances, and working from home (if possible)—to prevent contracting the illness. Especially now because the fall season is expected to be another challenging time for hospitals regarding respiratory illnesses. One of the things I did to prepare for the fall is to get my flu shot during my last doctor's appointment. Everyone else in the family is doing this too, all to protect the youngest among us: the two young boys we've been blessed with.  Anyway, the fall heralds the arrival of cooler weather, finally! During my latest morning walk with the wee one, I had to wear a sweater already and he wore a lo

On my son's fourth-month wellness check-up, I told the pediatrician that my son has started drooling a lot. The pediatrician checked my son's gums and told me that there weren't any indications of teething yet. My baby was just acting like a typical four-month-old, according to him.  I am always comforted when the pediatrician tells me that all is well with my boy. Meanwhile, the websites I've been reading about parenting and infants say that a baby's first teeth usually come out when the baby is around six months old... and that it's a very uncomfortable time. There are tips on how to soothe a baby going through a teething period. Wanting to be prepared for when the day comes, I thought that it's high time for me to ready for this challenging stage so I got him a few teethers. These were: All About Shapes with Elmo soft book Sophie la Girafe teether Nuby keys Itzy Ritzy cactus rattle Mombella mushroom Haakaa silicone teether   All About Shapes with Elmo Thi