I've now kept notebooks both in the car and at home handy when I feel recording the Gremlin's statements. I've decided to do this when I realized I cannot remember every detail how my Gremlin's communication development is. Also, since he is away from his grannies, aunts, uncles and cousins, letting them read how he is, somehow give them views on how gremly he is! 

5th February 2010
Dark rain clouds were looming.Again, he is particular he wakes up in the morning because the "sun is out"


Gremlin: I never see the sun again. The sun is playing hide and seek with the clouds. I'm going to open the window to blow the clouds.
(Opened the window and his mouth blowing wind)
But how can I blow the clouds, the clouds dont go.
But how can I blow more more harder. The rain clouds are coming.


(he always uses 'never' when he would mean 'Dont')



7th February 2010
At McDonalds, Al Rigga


Me: Do you want ice cream Kalel?
Gremlin: Yes mama, I looovvvve McDonalds!
(Oh well, maybe he saw a cartoon character with that intonation of prolonging 'love')

11th February 2010

Gremlin: What's the matter papa?
(matter pronounced as 'manner'. He had got used to this phrase and sometimes says it as 'What's wrong, papa?')

12th February 2010

Gremlin: Mama, why is the sun going down?
Me: Please talk to the sun and ask him
The dad (diverting the topic): But why are you bangad Kalel?
Gremlin: Wait a minute papa, the sun is telling, I talk to the sun.

12th February 2010
Kalel pee-d in his pants at Ikea play area. In the car going home:


Gremlin: Sorry mama... (repeating it all throughout sweetly). 
Me: It's ok but I'm not happy!
Gremlin: How am I going to make mama happy?
Me: You dont pee on your pants and you massage me!
Gremlin: But how am I going to massage mama?

26th February 2010
The dad and I were wrestling at opposite sides of the toilet door, I was inside and wont let him in. The Gremlin saw and asked his dad


Gremlin: What's wrong papa?
The Dad: It's mama
Gremlin: Mama! Dont hurt papa, stop hurting papa, or else!
(By now I managed to lock the door, the Gremlin came knocking)
Mama, why hurting papa?

26th February 2010
The Gremlin was on his usual blabbering. I thought to stop him talking so I decided to start a topic that's alien so he cannot say anything. I started:


Me: The name of the planet we live is Earth
Gremlin: And I will ride a space ship to outer space!
(Oh, oh, loser me, I forgot he's watching Little Einsteins and all those kiddie channels)

27th February 2010
After two days of sandstorms, it suddenly thundered and rained here in the desert. Water accumulated along the deeper parts of the streets.


Gremlin: And there's a river there! And how am I going to go down the river?

Missing report 1:
At the mall, I entered a shop as his dad waits for the Gremlin to follow. Not seeing me, my three-year old Gremlin stopped two strangers- Arab ladies pushing an old lady's wheelchair and asked them "Excuse me, where's mama?"

Missing report 2:
It was my turn to keep an eye on Gremlin inside Carrefour at Mall of the Emirates last night. I didn't bother until I realized I am not hearing his blabbers. Would you get worried where to start looking for your kid in a vast and crowded place? I didnt fret though. I though I'll just track a noisy boy. True enough, after circling seven of the shelf lines, I heard his nosiy chanting voice coming from the next shelf. I found him and when he saw me, he gleefully said, "Mama! I found you!".

Well at least he didnt go to customer service, the public address phone could have went as: "A Gremly boy is here looking for his missing parents!"

Tarabitab 1:

Uncle Perton to distract the pakialamerong Gremlin: "You are sooo cute!"
Gremlin: "Nooo uncle Perton, I am not so cute, I am very very nice!"

Tarabitab 2:

I punished (raised his arms for sometime) the Gremlin for splattering paint on his clothes and not using his painting vest. Crying and frustrated,he went to his dad, said:

"I am really, really sad papa. I'll never be happy again!"

LOLz!

Nag-iinit na ako! At pinipilit pa ako ng asawa ko!

Hep, hep, hep! Bago lumayo ang imagination ninyo - pinipilit po akong ubusin yung red wine sa jigger glass =)

Aint it funny? A husband teaching the wife to wine? But yes I guess I need to appreciate wine, or liquor now, so we could at least advance on our social life. I am now browsing "how to enjoy wine", and "what's nice with wine". Can someone please tell me?

I have never liked alcohol no matter I tried to sneak from my dad's wine or share what friends are having. In our recent company party at Atlantis, booze was overflowing and all I did was pretend holding my glass of red wine.  

From my Bahrain trip, I bought four liquor bottles (maximum allowable) from Duty Free. My husband upon seeing them smirked they are for ladies -- Bailey's, Smirnoff and red wine. I'd self-declare achievement if I get to 'enjoy' at least 300 ml from all four bottles =)

Tweeting @ Twitter is an easy and organized tool of recording our kid/s stories, I realised.

For the 'un-tweeted' notes about my Gremlin, I have yet to gather all my scribbles and blog them here. And that's a struggle I guess!

I dont worry if only me, his dad, his grannies and his aunts and uncles are the only interested people to read the long tweets, I'm simply happy I am able to keep a journal of my son's pagka-bangad, pagkalambing, pagkatuso, pagkatarabitab, pagkamagulo.

• Agent Oso teaches directions to the gremlin, To each of his hands, "right hand" and "left hand". "Oso will later turn that to the right!" Jan 30th, 2010 
• Leaves us ahead in the dining table, the gremlin said: "I am finished eating and drinking!" Jan 30th, 2010
• We need to watch more of his kiddie shows to know where he is picking his structures when he only talks to us "Papa is right over there!" Jan 28th, 2010
• Brought a covered box, said "Mama, I brought you some..." waiting for me to guess, opened the box and said "I brought you some cars!" Jan 28th, 2010
• Today's interest: turning his books into "camping" sites, imitating Handy Manny Jan 28th, 2010
• Gremlin insistently pulling his dad: "Papa, come here, let's teach you the numbers!" Jan 27th, 2010
• Dad: "Where's the arrow Kalel?". Gremlin: "There!" Dad: "What's the color". Gremlin, confused which one: "I dont know, I'll tell you later!" Jan 27th, 2010 
• Dragged me to the weigh scale, Gremlin: "Mama you stand here, I tell you the number" =) Jan 27th, 2010 
• Last weekend, my Gremlin pooped in the mall toilet with me inside. I had to close my eyes though! He used not to poop if somebody's around. Jan 26th, 2010 
• Forgot to put the Gremlin's night nappies and he woke up, straight to the toilet, pee-d, then back to sleep. Got to start trusting him! Jan 26th, 2010 
• The dad scolded the unruly boy. Gremlin opens door: "I want to go out see mama. I want to tell mama I'm crying". To me: "Mama, papa is mad". Jan 26th, 2010 
• Me:"Be @ the beach 4 p.m. so you dont get darker". Gremlin pointing to his feet: "It's dark mama, I've got to wash it" (to lighten the skin) Jan 25th, 2010 
• Hotel Ibis @ Al Rigga: "It's close this building, see. They're gonna clean up the mess. And cars are gonna pass here going to the parking" Jan 24th, 2010 
• "I love popcorns!" came the Gremlin, as I was buying. I mean, this was the first time I bought him though his aunt bistang been giving him. Jan 23rd, 2010
• After food @ Burger King, came a gremly fart. He smiled and said: "It sounds like it's in my pupu in my pants" Jan 22nd, 2010 
• "I use big spoon when I grow up". The Gremlin has his own dedicated small spoon, that is. Jan 22nd, 2010 
• Gremlin: "When the thunder, it rains. And it's not raining there, it's the sun" Jan 22nd, 2010
• Me: "Kalel you got to sleep more". Gremlin: "It's finished, it's not night time, the sun is out" Jan 22nd, 2010
• Gremly pronunciation: "Mama, I am doing samping (something) here" Jan 20th, 2010
• "I want to give mama zero kiss ". He meant curling the lips to shape as "O". Jan 20th, 2010

Tweeting a Gremlin's mini story in just 160 characters is always a challenge. I'm hopeful I'll improve soon =)

• At last, not just cooking pots, milk cans and plastic bins for his drums. My gremlin's noisily hitting his baby shop AED32 drum set ... Jan 20th, 2010 
• Oh how, oh how, the little gremlin snores! Jan 19th, 2010 
• "I dont have another map to me" referring to Dora's map (pronouncing it as 'mep') . (Posting the first of his sentence structures =) ) Jan 19th, 2010 
• His dad promised the Gremlin ice cream if he naps, so he slumbered. First thing after he awoke, Gremlin said "Papa we go eat ice cream". Jan 19th, 2010
• "Can I please have the french fries?", then, "I want to sawsaw it" ~ the Gremlin at Candice's despidida dinner at Al Safadi =) Jan 16th, 2010
• The dad: "Kalel you go pupu, or else we dont go JBR!" Gremlin: "Stop talking about pupu, papa!" Jan 14th, 2010
• "One cheetos, two cheetos" then, he said" The next Cheetos is falling down!" as he missed. He halfed a piece and said "One half cheetos!" Jan 13th, 2010 
• Kalel's now watching Samurai Jack. His dad decided to promote him to a li'l degree of violence =) to stimulate his mind of what is bad. Jan 12th, 2010 
• Over the phone "Mama I am still making my high castle!". Yesterday he asked me after Barney "How am I going to build my high castle mama?" Jan 12th, 2010
• Gremlin's still building his car wash stations, one "automatic car wash station", and the other a "manual car wash station" Jan 12th, 2010
• Kalel: "I am REALLY sad mama", asked him why, "because I'm not happy!". His dad: "Ok, be happy now so we go out". Kalel "I am happy!" Jan 12th, 2010
• "I ate chocolate w/ uncle Perton mama! If you are mad, I will push you!" Oh no, baliktad yata! Perton's giggling "why did you tell kalel?" Jan 11th, 2010
• "Mama, that's ok" Gremlin said as I scold his uncle Perton "Uncle, you're bad, it's night time and you're letting Kalel eat chocolate!" Jan 11th, 2010 
• Just got a-so-many smack kisses from the Gremlin. I said just three, he said "I want one hundred!" Jan 19th, 2010
• After cleaning the gremlin's teeth, he pointed mine & said: "Your teeth are yellow mama, you eating chocolates, eww!" telling me these back! Jan 7th, 2010 
• Composer gremlin ~ he's fond of substituting words for familiar tunes, and he insists his lyrics too! Jan 7th, 2010
• I thought it sweet of him, his eyes still closed while I prepare, he said "Mama, you are going to office?" Jan 6th, 2010
• Disturbed my sleeping gremlin this morning, he said "eeeiii, I cannot open my eyes!". I said "Dont wake up, sleep again!" Jan 6th, 2010 
• I stayed late in the office, Kalel and his dad came to fetch me. Kalel blurted "To came back to the Showtime!" And here's my hearty Hahaha! Jan 6th, 2010 
• Gremliness: "It's noisy papa!" (pressing on the same piano key so long). "Juryn is crying, I want to say louder!" (gremlin talaga!) Jan 6th, 2010
• "How am I going to be like that papa?" the Gremlin just said. Huh, what is he saying? Jan 1st, 2010

My Gremlin joins the recent evolution of Igorot affection.

"Mama, we bought you some flowers!" the Gremlin said when he met me with a hug on Valentines Day.

According to his dad,the Gremlin chose the stem of red rose and exclaimed "Mama will love it!". Of couse I did. I actually expected it, having been a routine from my husband. I have an Ikea glass vase where I gather these flowers I receive to dry.

Of flower giving, two particular occassions were pretty special because I received them not at home, and both were in my previous job, thirty kilometers away from my husband.

Aint they cute, standing like the thumb and ring fingers? It's mama and papa I am featuring here. Oh, Mama is used to our teasing, she's meaning to  wring my neck now, lol.

"That pink flower is not having hiccups!"

The gremlin said of the shrubs whose flowers he always see of the same size.

When he started having his hiccups, he was so annoyed and scared. We pacified him explaining hiccups help him grow.

He's always excited of growing tall so we seize the opportunity to tell him "that's why you need to eat your vegetables and fruits. And you need to sleep well."

And he blabbers his endless growing tall wants:

"When I grow tall, I will seat on that chair" (not on his car seat, associated for babies)

"When I grow tall, I will use the big spoon" (he's got his medium sized spoon)

He is growing taller indeed, some 102 cm now, a little boy, a naughty and sweet gremlin =)

"I'm mad Kalel, you're not suppose to play when we're crossing the road!".

"Dont worry mama, when we go home, I majaj (massage) you so you become happy mama!", replied my three years seven months old Gremlin. Offering a massage is always his way to appease us.

Poor gremlin, I am having pre-mentrual mood swings. All he heard from me tonight is "I'm mad!".

When I say I'm mad, he'd run to his dad, "Mama is mad". The dad would say, "Go say sorry then hug and kiss mama". When I dont budge, he'd say "go massage  mama". And he learned to be sweet. The irony though is after I hug him back, he goes back misbehaving, so the cycle goes round and round! 

By misbehaving I usually mean anything that I am not willing enough to play physically with him! (Bad momma!):

- He loves asking I hold both his arms, I spin around on my feet, spinning him flying around on air.
- One hand hangs to his dad's arm, the other to mine, he pulls his feet up, and we carry him as we walk.
- He insists we put our arms up sidewards on the streets pretending we are airplanes (imagine people thinking we are out of our minds?)
- Walking along, he goes in my front, blocking my way until I carry him (he's 16 kilograms!) until we reach our destination
- At home, as am selfishly busy with my laptop, he pulls my hand (he wont stop until I go), and says "Come mama, can you come see what I made?" or "Come mama, let's play that"
- At home, while I exhaustedly lounge on the coach, he either pushes himself at my back saying "Mama, can you give me more space, my head dont fit", or he steps/ walks through whole of my body as I shriek in little pain, or he asks we play 'pipini' (Baguio term for lying on the back, folding the legs to let a kid sit on the feet as the feet is lifted up then down)
- While I'm in a conversation with another person, he asks a question, or shows off what he built/made. He expects an answer or a complement, but not getting one from me, he pulls my head if he can, keeps repeating what he is saying and shrieks until I answer.

Now here we are at home, he just massaged me, 'karate sort of'. And to teach him and test his patience, I kept saying I'm not happy so he wont stop. I also asked him to count one to a hundred and to sing the alphabet all the more prolonging his 'majaj'.

(The naughtiest Gremlin is the sweetest after all!)

Let alone my showing I lack knowledge, this post is for finance starters like me (I call myself one, am always a starter =)) !

Tasking is usually heard of from the Planning/ Budgeting and Forecasting peeps. It refers to either (1) the target reduction in budgeted costs that is called for from the budget holders, or (2) the target addition/ increase to budgeted revenue that the sales management is asked to achieve. Budgets are built in detail but below the detail total is a "task" in value of how much further cost reduction, or further sales increase is expected. (said these in my words though, anyone who can say it more concisely?)

Twenty months since I first heard the term, I havent had the luck when I searched it's meaning online. Just recently, my manager asked the budgeting peeps it's meaning. My lesson? Hindi ako nag-iisa!

=)    (Tag- Tasking meaning in budgets)