Month 60

Dear Lia,

Happy Birthday! My dearest darling awesome girl! I can't believe you're five years old! Five whole years since you changed my life (and Daddy's) forever. I still see myself as a young person you know, fresh out of college and all that. But having a five year old child, I can no longer deny that I am an adult. And because you clearly look up to me, as a guide and example of who you could and would be as you grow up, then I know I have to be the adult I want you to be. You are extremely intelligent and sharp as a needle, there is no getting anything past you and that is but a very small part of how awesome you are.



Two days ago, we celebrated your birthday in your school, with your classmates. It's so fun to plan a birthday party for you because you always know exactly what you want, but you don't get too bothered if the details aren't exact. Last year, you wanted a Sleeping Beauty party. This year, it was all about hearts. I don't know where this fascination with Valentine's Day comes from, especially since your Daddy and I have made it a point NOT to celebrate this day of consumerist romance. Perhaps it's because you know your birthday falls just two days after, and in anticipating your birthday, you have come to anticipate Valentines Day as well. You've been looking forward to your birthday since... well, since your last birthday and you always say, "After Halloween is Christmas, after Christmas is New Years, after New Years is Valentines, and after Valentines is MY BIRTHDAY!" Anyway, so this year your birthday was all about hearts. Pink hearts! Because that's your favorite color. So we had pink heart balloons (I inflated each one with my own breath), pink heart cupcakes (By Tita Kai), we even made pink heart shaped sandwiches for your classmates to have with their spaghetti. Just a little effort and a lot of love, that when you exclaimed to your classmates, "This is my best birthday ever!" it was all the thanks I could hope for.



You are definitely growing up, and I believe becoming more and more your best self. In school, all your classmates adore you. You are patient and considerate of others, and always well behaved. Teacher Diane told me how when your classmates get rowdy, you would remind them of the rules. If one of the kids gets upset, you would be there to comfort your classmate and help him or her feel better. To think that you are one of the smallest in class! No wonder you were awarded UN Ambassador for Peace for the second year in a row. Teacher Diane says she loves having you in her class, not just because you are good to your classmates, but also because you ask intelligent questions, and give smart answers. It really is no surprise that you got into the exclusive big school that you took the test at. Your Daddy was kidding me about letting you take the test at only one school. Mayabang daw ako. I said, why should I make you take the test at more than one? Then I would just be wasting testing fees and time. I made you take the test at the school I wanted most for you and you passed. You have proven that my confidence is well placed. You will be going to big school in June and even if this will be another level of letting go for me, I am very excited for you. Just between you and me, I think you will OWN that place. Hahaha!



It's actually rather amazing how good a good girl you are. People would ask me how I discipline you and I say, my kids are very good they don't really need disciplining. You refuse extra ice cream from Uncle Jogo (I don't think it's cause you don't want any more ice cream, I think you just don't trust him. Good instincts, Lia.) and you refuse contraband sweets from Lola Cora. If she gives you candies, you say JUST ONE! or "Lola, stop giving me sweets. Only give me healthy food!" Once I offered you chocolate cake for dessert and you said, "I shouldn't have chocolate cake because it makes me cough." (At the time, you did have a bad cough that if you ate sweets before bed time, you would wake up in the middle of the night coughing). And when I persisted and asked, are you SURE you don't want chocolate cake? You said, "Mommy, I want chocolate cake, but it's bad for me so I won't have any."  Where on earth did you get that sort of self-discipline? Even when Desi stuffed her face with cake, you didn't seem to mind. If you keep this incorruptibility up, we might allow you to have a car by the time you're twelve.



Even if you are a stickler for rules, you are by no means a serious person. You are very much a child, funny, fun-loving, playful and often silly. You like making up jokes (they're not very funny to others, but they make me laugh because I love you.), telling funny stories and inventing silly words. You make up games to play with Desi, you like to snort at Ramon to make him laugh. You always sit beside Ramon's car seat in the car and you like to entertain him on the road. Or at bedtime when we are all on the bed, you would set aside the book you are reading to play with Ramon. You like to lie down in front of him and say "Tickle me, Ramon!" And Ramon would pounce on you and you would laugh so hard! You love making people happy, and you're very good at it. Always ready to sing or dance for guests at any party, you can always be relied upon to make us proud, and there isn't a day in the past five years that you have failed to impress even we, who live with you and see you everyday.



Conversing with you is fun as well, cause you're such a little know it all. I asked you, do you want to take piano lessons, you said, "But I already know how to play the piano!" I asked, do you want to take ballet lessons? You said, "But I already know how to dance ballet!" Although, since your current ambition is to be a Ballet Teacher and I told you that to become a ballet teacher you have to take ballet school for at least 10 years, you have agreed to take ballet lessons in the summer. But I think the Mantaring Teacher genes are quite strong in you, because you like to test people about what they know. That is, you ask us questions, not because you don't know the answer, but because you want to know if we know. Like one time you asked, "Mommy, what planet is hotter than Mars?" And I said, Mercury. And you said, "Oh." (you seemed disappointed that my answer was correct.) And then you said "But what planet is not a planet?" I said, Pluto. And you said, "Yes, But what planet is the hottest, and not a planet?" The hottest planet that is not a planet? What is it? And you said, "The SUN! It's very hot and is not a planet!" Rather triumphantly. Ah my sweet adorable little nerd. We shall get you started on your Daddy's Star Wars novels soon. He has a complete collection. So you might finish them all by the time you turn 6.



My Lia Blia. My heart is bursting in love and pride for the amazingly awesome person that you are. Sweet, helpful, reasonable, considerate, obedient, generous, traits that you would be hard pressed to find in a teenager, let alone a five-year-old, and yet, here you are. I don't know if this is because of something I'm doing right. I rather tend to think that you were born so full of God's grace that He made you this way and all I can do is watch His love unfold in the light that is you. Thank you for being my daughter, thank you for being you. I love you more than words can describe. I am here for you always, even when you're fifteen, fifty or five hundred. You will always be my Lia Blia.


Love, Mommy