Liam on the lead

It has been a awhile since I went out with the kids and their mom to the mall. I realized that the roles of the two kids has tilted a bit. I noticed that Liam has a more assertive and confident role while Kenzo is still unsure and socially maladjusted. Liam accompanies his brother to the CR, around the stores independently away from me.

Liam has gotten more confident while Kenzo is still learning and following his younger brother’s lead, this is disappointing seeing him mature very slowly. Kenzo still whines about almost anything while his mom and Liam caters to his need.

I know people adapt slowly and I am in a way like Kenzo. It is very difficult for him (and me) to come out of our comfortable shell but to survive we need to learn how and learn it sooner than later.

Liam’s money

Few months ago I was pleasantly surprised when Liam brought home a stash of coins. I asked where he got it. He said he rented out his fan during their field demo activity.

Liam brought to school a portable battery operated fan. Field activity is humid and hot, when his classmates saw his fan they wanted to borrow but he rented it out. 10 Pesos for 10 minutes and inspite of the high price his classmates took the bait and paid him for it.

Real talk: Money is important, the narrative is to make it as not that important and other things like kindness, humility to be more valuable. I agree other things like kindness are important but they are not more important than money. I think what is the best route is to be rich and be kind, fair etc.

So Liam perhaps has this natural instinct to capitalism. He saw the opportunity to earn and made the most out of it. At home you can pay him to do the chores, like 5 pesos to bring his clothes up etc.. his mom pays him to pluck white hair. He also keeps an ATM toy with money in it. as per his last count it was about 3K already.

Again, money is very important and also it would be nice to still be a good human being while he is chasing money.

A slice of an athlete’s life.

After joining Football, I also enrolled them at a basketball camp. We had a wild schedule and we enjoyed it. Though towards the end Liam started to complain about little pain and feeling fatigued. The schedule every weekends will be 8 to 10 am Football, 4 to 6pm basketball and in between will be rest, study and meals. Our Saturday and Sunday will start at 7am and end at 7pm all of those things above cramped together. It was fun but I think Liam is the most affected, his frail body started to get some little pains from the sked.

I hope them to be sporty so they can build confidence (this will benefit Kenzo more), learn new skill, be sociable (again, for Ken), pry them away from gadgets and be fit.

After 2 grueling months of this sked, the basketball camp sadly stopped. I think they did not get the needed number of enrollees to continue. They are now just on football.

Football

In a snap Kenzo tagged Liam along to join a football camp. Last summer I asked them if they want to learn football and they said no. At around September we went to King’s Alley in Vermosa and joined. They immediately enjoyed it. I also enjoyed it because Vermosa is a great place where I can walk around, the place is safe, windy and the other parents are accomodating and nice.

I get to shoot two birds with one stone because I can do some walking and they play. We can both enjoy the activity. Football is also a great way to go outdoors and be under the sun.

after each training, we go home in a lighter mood due to the endorphins, inspite of the sweat and fatigue we are mostly happy.

It is now January and they are still at it and I think they might be liking it more than basketball.

School of Hard Knocks

Life is hard. Adult life is extra hard.

I told the boys earlier that when they become adults they can not walk into Nike and ask for a new shoes, because your old shoes does not fit anymore, once they become adults that cant happen anymore. Unlike now that they can ask for new shoes or food and they only thing it takes is ask for it.

They are things that they have to do that they are not happy doing, it is not fun, they dont like, hated etc just to survive. If things dont go their way they cant just cry and expect mommy to always help them. Life is hard and sadly that is how it is and how it is going to be.

Right now the tough things that they are required to do is study, be a nice kids and a bit of sports. When they become an adult things will be harder and fun things to do will be lesser.

Right now the boys are stuck inside the house playing online games. Food, gadgets, clothes, stuff just fall on their lap by just asking for it. I Hate to be the bearer of bad news but it aint going to remain that way forever.

Popular

Liam has become very popular at school because of his personality and friendliness. Even as a young kid he has this charm where other kids and grownups were drawn to him like a magnet. He can make friends and is willing to converse with anyone.

Mum bring Liam to school every morning and she realized that once Liam enter the school gate and when his classmates saw him they all shout in unison calling his name as if an actor just entered. Liam also talked to each one of the kids, gave them each a high five. Even kids from other grades know him and talks to him. He make jokes and make them laugh. He can freely talk and joke with his teachers, older kids, adults and kids his age. Even in his school bus he told me yesterday that he talked to grade 11 kids about basketball. football and World Cup. He just have that personality to reach out and curiosity to about others.

We are pleasantly happy that he is like this, a happy kid. hopefully, the horrors of our domestic life wont dampen his spirit. Our household is like a gateway to hell and we all know that this can leave an emotional scar. Hoping that he stays the same.

His time to shine

Liam was often at the backseat when it comes to grades. It is not that he dont do well but Kenzo just outshine him. Thankfully, Liam has sprung some great news last week. His grades for the 1Q was released and he was outstanding. His grades are just great, all in the 90s and many are in high 90s including Math. I remember Ken used to churn out grades like this but sadly not anymore.

Liam now is flying high while Ken is in the dumps. I know I must not do it but I now compare and often paint Ken as a bad example. “Liam, dont be like him.” I dont mean to say it but life’s frustrations, my sadness, my difficulties and unhappiness made me tip over to anger when things dont go my way.

Inspite of the Bad news about Ken’s grades, at least, Liam has some good things to prep us up.

Great and Bad grades

We got a letter from school last week informing us that Ken was considered to be one of the honor students. It was for the last school year. Ken never got low grades since pre-school and the only difficulty he has was in religion, because I cant teach it. Mostly his grades was in the 90s. It was a very plesant surprise that he was considered for it and was a great news. It felt great to know that and proud of his achievement.

But sadly, his grades this 1Qrt was atrocious for his standards, and I guess for my standards too. He now has mostly low 80s and lowest I have seen was 79 in AP. It was the 1st time I saw his grades plummet like this. If great grades was a happy news his grades now was very frustrating.

The sad part in all of this is the disappointment I felt. I now nag him for playing video games, not reading, watching Tiktok etc. I also lost confidence in him to make daily decision and often caught myself calling him”stupid”. Calling your kid names like that will scar him. I regret it but life’s frustrations and my own emotional baggage cant stop it. I often hope I dont say it but it just freely spew it in times of anger and impatience.

I hope the emotional burden will lessen, so I can be a bit nicer dad.

Liam’s 8th.

Sadly we spent it in quarantine. We all got mild Covid while Liam celebrate his birthday 2 weeks ago. It is still a party, though there are no visitor or anything but we still have special food to celebrate with.

Liam is still a young boy.Unlike Ken who is fastly maturing to a young teen. Liam is still with a young boy’s curiosity, wonder, adventure and fun. He also sometimes invents a word like is new favorite KUMALALA. It does not mean anything, he just love saying and playing with that word.

Happy Brithday, Kumalala!

Ruins everything

Oct 12, Kenzo’s birthday. We are all supposed to go the mall to eat out. Uncle Geff is going to pick us all up, yes including me, but Kenzo dont want me to go because I ‘ruin the vibe’. It is possibly true. I am pessimistic, stressed out, impatient and not really someone you want to come.

I do ruin the vibe especially when I am with their mom. It is just a fatal mixture that everytime we see each other. There is seldom a day we spent together that there is no commotion, bad words, shouting and stress. There is always toxicity and hate.

If I am Kenzo I also dont want myself to come too. He made a good call, there to be honest.

Anyway, It his birthday and I cant believe he is about to be a teen soon. Happy Birthday!