Notes to my Sea

Today, is the first day you officially called me dada. I would have preferred daddy, but that is okay. You can call me dada for as long as you need to. We will work on the second syllable as we go along. 15 months into your new life, and you certainly are growing into your name, Sea (se-ya), unique enough to be creative, but not too much to be strange. I explain to people that your name is just "Lea" spelled with an "s", this explanation seems to work mostly. Remember this, you will need it all throughout your life, I'm afraid.

Your first favorite song is "Skip to my Lou". You dance to it even when you are sick and weak from having just vomited. You are quite the dancer. I keep trying to get a video of you, but my phone camera is proving too much of a distraction for you that you stop dancing once you notice it. I have a video of you dancing from before you could even walk but trust me, you have progressed far from that one step to quite a routine -- choreography courtesy of Barney and Friends, among others.

You like sleeping between me and your mom. One strange habit your mom doesn't quite like, once you are done breastfeeding, you turn over to me and hug me until you fall asleep. I guess you developed the habit from when I would cradle you to sleep and then let you sleep on my chest. You are a little too big for that now. So now you just hug me with both your arms and legs. Your mom tells me that when I'm away on my occasional business trips, you find it very hard to sleep.

I got you vaccinated. You didn't like it, but the DOH recommended it, so I got you all of it. And sadly, this is not the last time that I will do things you don't like -- for your own good. Such is life.

You like cabs and fx rides, you are okay with buses and tricycles, but just abhor jeepneys. It shows in your face to the amusement of fellow passengers. And I am sorry that you have to endure those short trips from SM to the tricyle terminal. I am sorry that your dada is not a rich man. But I promise you, I am trying. I am doing everything to give you all that I can. All that I have, all that I am, is yours. That is all I can promise for now. I hope, in the end, all that will be enough.

When you were about 4 months old.