sofia and everything she does at 18months

my little girl has become more active, more talkative and now comprehends most of what you tell her to do. with the things she is able to do at 18 months, i can say she is more advanced than what most kids can do at her age. as a record of her milestones and my way of showing off her abilities, here's the list of the many things she does at 18 months:

1. she says please when asking for milk, she wants to go upstairs, wants to go to the store or to lola and lolo, or when she wants to drink water or apple juice.

2. she says thank you to you when you give her something or you do her a favor.

3. she inivites you to play with her. she drags you to sit down on the floor and play stacking with her.

4. she can now easily identify drawings, pictures and actual objects. her ninang glaiza recently gave her 4 volumes of My First Words Vocabulary and she can identify name 80% percent of the pictures there.

5. she can recite her full name-- Sofia Isobelle Dubduban Celades

6. she knows everyone around her and calls them by their names.

7. she is almost potty-trained. she pees whenever she is in the comfort room and poos automatically when she squats on the floor.

8. she is good at playing with the ipad. she locates her specific folder on the ipad even when we tried to transfer it on a different placement. ahuhhh she knows how to play her games too.

9. she drinks her water and juice on a glass, with her own self holding it.

10. she can express her wants and thoughts up to a maximum of 5 words.

and oh... did i mention, sofia is still on breastfeeding :)

all we ever do is say goodbye

my husband left this morning to perform the job he does best, seafaring. it's another 10 weeks or so of long distance love affair, regular emails and long distance calls just to listen to the voice of his dearest sofia. the very same reason i appreciate the separation (sometimes), it is the fondness of the heart and even more.

with his new rank now, edgar gets to have the opportunity to be with the family every 10 weeks. that as much as i welcome him every 10 weeks now, i also get to say goodbye every 2 and a half months.. actually even more, if you include the seminars and trainings he attends while on vacation. isn't that such a tear in the heart? you might think i have gotten used to the feeling, honestly no. in fact, it has become more and more difficult for me. as we add years to the relationship, the attachment grows even more, thus the anxiety every time. the loneliness is felt more and the thought of not having a partner in the household is just disheartening.

just as edgar and i, this world too confronts us with a lot of goodbyes. as the carpenters' song had it, the trouble with hello is goodbye. because yes, a farewell follows every greeting we do. with some happening just moments after, or others wait long and nurtures a good relationship before parting ways. and no, i am not saying here just the goodbyes in falling apart, but in whatever form, circumstance or quality. may it the friend you had in school, the high school sweetheart you first fell in love with, the girl right next to you that you talked with while you were on queue, or even the customer care specialist who entertained while you were ranting on a credit card complaint.

in this ever changing world, permanence can only be found in the dictionary. because somewhere, somehow, and sometime, it ends. but the beauty of it all, it may have had its goodbye, yet it has evolved and grown into something new, deeper, meaningful and beautiful. so be not afraid, brace yourself... because in this life, all we ever do is say goodbye.