The Month of June

June is always set as a month to celebrate for us. Sweetie and Miggy's birthdays fall on the same month, so it's a month-long "cheat day" for us, haha. Oh! And we also celebrate Anakin's gotcha day.

I realized I haven't been posting my monthly one second a everyday videos, so I'm going to back-track and upload the months I skipped (March to May). Here's the one for the month of June -

The biggest highlight of the month was a day trip to Tagaytay. It's been three years since we went and we feel very lucky because the weather was good and there was barely any traffic (despite typhoon Francisco*).

Here's what I also accomplished for the month:

• Completed two sewing projects - a bag and a couple of Yoda-inspired coasters
• Finished doctor check-ups
• Went shopping with Architect Ed and cleared the rest of Mom's jungle
• Tomato plants started growing fruit! Also got to sprout orange seeds! 
• Survived the month without getting sick!
• Re-opened my kitchen and cooked Spanish adobo

It doesn't seem much, but when you're operating on a limited capacity reaching 1,000 steps per day is already an achievement. :)

*Thank you to my Papa Lolo for watching us when we traveled! He has the same name as the typhoon, so I felt he helped give us a reprieve so we can go out. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

  

6 Years Ago at the Height of the Pandemic

By July 2020, we had gone through different versions of the "circuit breaker". We were stuck in Singapore and continued to work from home. It was the busiest time for our team and I had to find ways to shake off the stress. 

Our usual stress busters which included going to the mall, dining out, and walking around were limited. Like everybody else, I turned to home hobbies. 

I tried making Dalgona Coffee -

Baking -

I even tried making Filipino bread, like pandesal -

Cooked our own food -

Of course, I also tried my hand at growing veggies!

One thing I wished we had back then? Miggy. We were separated for almost two years. 

And, it would have helped also to have a pet. My plants though served the gap.

My respiratory therapist told me earlier to be careful. COVID-19 cases are increasing again. That's why I still wear a mask when we go out. My cardiologist has reminded me to stay away from trouble. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Gaming vs. No Gaming for Children

When I was growing up, there wasn't as many ways to play games. Popular back then were cartridge gaming consoles (Atari, Sega, Nintendo), Game & Watch, and computer games existed (Pacman!). Access was limited. You can only play if you owned a console or if your neighbor/playmate has one. 

I had one Game & Watch and I was gifted a Pacman watch (much to my parents' dismay). I only got to play Pacman when Kuya would lend me his computer. I was never allowed to play Atari/Sega/Nintendo (I wasn't really allowed to go out, periodt). I was busy learning crafts, so that was what distracted me. My parents wanted me to focus on my studies, so all my "game time/play time" was done away from any type of screen. 

Did I want to play on consoles? Of course, I did. All my classmates seemed to have access to it, but I guess I got content with my Game & Watch and Pacman watch. I did not get addicted to it because I was busy with crafting. I got addicted to Candy Crush a few years ago, but I eventually deleted it because I was losing sleep over it and it ate up my crafting budget. The only game I play now is Pokemon Go and I just play a few minutes a day. 

This is what I had when I was a child.

My son, Miggy, didn't have any gaming consoles as well growing up. We played Plants vs. Zombies as a family when we each have our computers in one room. We all outgrew it and I allowed Miggy to play games on his computer. There were times when I had to intervene when I'd see danger lurking. I also removed his computer physically when he got into gaming too much and it affected his studies. We noticed some changes in his behavior that's why we had to take drastic measures. 

Sweetie got this for me for my birthday.

I guess I got to experience the extremes of how gaming affects a person. What we all learned is it's important to supervise and check what your child is doing and reinforce their values. Miggy eventually finished his studies and I don't bother his computer time anymore. Both he and Jay play games I'm not interested in, but we all still play Pokemon Go together as a family. 

It's probably harder for parents now to track what their child is doing. A mobile phone is very powerful compared to the XT computer I had growing up. Miggy was way more knowledgeable than me when it came to computers when he was a teen, so it was already hard back then. We were lucky because Sweetie's a comsci graduate, so I leaned heavily on him to decipher managing Miggy's online time. The best thing I think we did was to be joined on the hip as a family. 

Good luck dear parents with younglings. 

P.S. The funny things is I bought myself my own Nintendo Switch. I used it a few times... it's still pretty brand new. I also had a Gameboy which I eventually gave to Miggy. 

#BeKind #StaySafe