jeremy&jethro

Summer Kiss

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You know for sure, one day they'll be chasing each other, screaming bloody murder over ownership of a toy, possession of the TV remote, or playground rights.

You'll be mediating in endless arguments: "He did it!"  "No, he did it!"  "No! He did it!"  "No he did!"

You know you'll have to pull them apart mid-fight, even as they ferociously try to land those small-fisted punches.

You'll be buying two sets of toys, just to keep the peace and possibly, get out of the store with your dignity intact.

Ah yes. You know how it will all be.

But for now, this is how it is:  scampering about in their white sandos on a hot summer day, sun-shiny smiles, their little brown arms locked happily in that child-tight embrace, the wet sloppy kiss.

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Into The Blue

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He didn’t know there would be a pool.

I was afraid that he would fall face-first into the water and be traumatized.

It turns out I needn’t have worried. Jeremy started out by exploring the sides of the pool, walking in thigh-high water, sometimes slipping, but able to maintain his balance.

He’s finally grown into this pair of trunks.

Tito Jet gave him a water gun, but he didn’t quite know how to work it.  So he just shook that thing around, splashed it about, let water drip out.

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Star-Clipped

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Jethro was born with a full head of thick, glossy black hair. I remember thinking clearly, when he was first placed on my bosom, “He has such a narrow forehead.”

Turns out it wasn’t really that his forehead was narrow, it was that he had so much hair, part of his forehead was obscured. Three, four months later that hair was a shock of jet-black strands that flew wildly about, creating a halo around his head. But he looked so cute, almost like a girl.

After numerous scratches and red ears due to Jethro’s frenzied grabbing at his hair, we took to clipping the front locks away from his eyes. I had to search for very plain, navy blue hairclips. Amazing the number of pink, purple, and bright yellow barrettes out there when all you want is a plain clip.

For a trip home to my folks I packed Jethro’s usual clips way deep into our bags, too hard to dig out, so I had to buy new ones. All the souvenir shop had were pink strawberries and smiling Hello Kitty clips. Good thing I spotted these metal ones, with the yellow starfish. They were the most boyish clips there.
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Some Serious Sulking

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For the most part of the ride he sat in his Lola’s lap, ignoring me. He is a serious sulker, this Jeremy.

Backstory:  In January of this year, I had to leave Jeremy with his Lolo and Lola, because I couldn’t find a yaya for him. Jethro has Yaying, so he came back home with me and we had to leave manong behind. It wrenches my heart to do this, but I have to work and one yaya cannot take care of a baby and a toddler. But try explaining all this to Jeremy; he just knows that he was the one that got left behind.

Not that staying with the grandparents isn’t fun—Jeremy is the boss at home, hands down. It’s just that, I think when he saw me he remembered that I was gone again for some time. We last saw each other in January, and now we’re back for a Holy Week visit—it is March. 

So we sat side by side in the car in the hours-long drive to my parent’s house. Jeremy is hard to win over. I tried smiling and holding his hand, but he takes it back. He says emphatically, “No, no, no.”  I wait patiently and continue to talk quietly to him, even though he appears to be ignoring me.

After a while, his Lola hands me a bag of caramel puffs, and says with a wink, “Jeremy must be hungry.”

Aha, a break in the case. I pop open the bag and Jeremy sits up, interested. I hand him a caramel puff. He looks at it, looks at me. I smile. He looks at me, a grave, thoughtful expression on his sun-browned face. He gets the puff and puts it in his mouth, not looking at me. I eat a puff and grin at him. This time he smiles, a tiny, impish smile. Soon we are caramel puff conspirators, munching away. A few mouthfuls later, he’s warmed up enough to sit on my lap.

Surreptitiously, I tighten my hug. I lean into his shoulder and kiss the back of his neck. I always, always, always miss this boy.

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Jethro + Holy Water = Baptism

 
10AM Saturday
March 19, 2005
St. Joseph The Patriarch Parish
Mabolo, Cebu

So months of planning finally came down to this: a wide-eyed baby wiggling in barong and ecru pants, squinting and drooling in the morning sun.

Two weddings were also scheduled that day, so we blended right into the crowd of tulle-wrapped brides and pouting flower girls. We were almost late, because Jethro kept pulling off the soft-soled Italian moccasins that I was so happy to find, the last pair on sale. He looked very grown-up and curious in his barong. And he kept chewing the pretty embroidered panel in front.

We were a small group, just close friends who had time to make it to Cebu, family, and friends from work. Everybody kept saying how big Jethro is, how he looks more like a year-old baby instead of a 7-month.

Now I know that baptisms were done in a little area off the main church aisle, where there was a fount and a serious-looking statue of the patron saint. 

Jethro was quite behaved all throughout the ceremony, except for that time when he kept grabbing the paper the priest was reading the baptism rites from. The more the priest waved it out of reach, the more he kept trying to get hold of it—he thought it was some kind of game.

1  Jethro putting on his barong.
2  Ninong Jet, what an armful!
3  Face-off with Tito Alan.

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Later, at the lunch in Krua Thai, Jethro entertained his guests with sputterings, shrieks, and big grins.  We had yummy tom yung goong, noodles, fried spring rolls,  a few spicy dishes, and some of Jethro's blue-icing chocolate cake.

After a bottle and some diaper action, the newly Christian Jethro Iñigo promptly fell asleep.

More pictures here.

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