I spent the whole day bonding with my family yesterday. Also, I spent the whole day running around, watching over my son. We went to this island. The family just grew tired of making rounds at local resorts, so we decided to hit the islands. And boy, what a day that was!
As soon as the boat hit the sand, there goes my energetic son, instantly soaking in the warm water of the beach. So even if I haven’t yet applied our sunblock, I went in soaking in the water with my little tyrant, throwing out my bag by the shore. Hastily inflating his floaters and life jacket…he does not know how to swim you know. So as the ever protective mother, I got him settled with a life jacket and donut floater. Even if I did not plan to soak myself dry in seawater, or even stay out in the sun for bloody hours, I was there, watching and wishing for my little tyrant would quickly grow tired of the waters.
The gods must have been listening to my plead. Not that my son decided to rest even for a bit. It rained, which kept me cool…and wet…and still running after my naughty son. Soaked with rainwater and saltwater, yeah, everything’s good I guess. I got him hitched in a boat ride that my sisters and I paddled through the water. Boy I never flexed so many muscles for so long, so we eventually gave up and delivered my little tyrant, who was still enjoying the ride and refused to go back to shore, to land. So there goes a long tantrum episode. The little one cried and shouted his lungs out just to make his point. Well, I can’t go back to the boat. I can’t paddle no more. As a mother, tantrums are something that irritates me most. But years of practice taught me to just don’t make a big deal out of it. Just let him be. As I have expected, he grew tired and decided to shut up after a few minutes of motherly neglect.
After mother-and-son had a feast at lunch, we were back to our levelheaded selves. Bad moods were miraculously driven away. So we were up to a hike. Mother-and-son climbed our way up in the island mountain. On our way up, he throws me all the trivial “why” questions he can think off, making me grow tired physically and mentally. Keeping up with his antics is a sure challenge. Sweating and tired, we also talked and sang our way on top of the mountain to keep him motivated to climb (we are talking about more than a hundred steps up the mountain). As we reached the top of the island mountain, we were greeted by such a magnificent nature view. Then suddenly, the boy commented “Ganda Mama!” (This is beautiful mama). I was surprised to know that my son can now appreciate things like that. And yes, he hiked his own steps on top without my help. As we traced our way back to shore, the little tyrant was still on his own two feet. Still on his “bakit ganito-bakit ganyan” (just some old kid “why” questions) mode, we counted our steps and sang some silly songs to keep him from asking me a piggy back ride.
On our way home, we asked for our motor boat to go around the surrounding islands, or islets? The little tyrant was still surprisingly awake and still paying attention to all the activities around him. I know he is sleepy but he is a kid. He has a lot of energy to expend. We all were once like that and I seem to kind of miss that.
More than the views or the adventurous activities we did at the beach, what I appreciated most is surviving the day with my son. Not that I was the perfect mother but I do realize that we needed this time. He is growing up too fast. Even if he lives with me, seems like I don’t pay much attention to the changes in his personality. So spending a day with him is a real discovery. I want to do this more often. Trips like that make me realize that all the things I was looking for were right in front of me. This little tyrant with a beaming smile, or smirk I suppose, brings but a handful of the love, adventure and mystery that would keep my mind occupied for all my life.
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