And this was something he learned a few weeks back.
Me: No note? No certificate, nothing from the teacher? [The school only holds the Recognition Program at the end of the school year]
Son: No....just my name on the bulletin board. Ah...yes, I forgot, there is a note. [goes to his room to get something, comes back to our room to hand it...crumpled piece of crap...like garbage]
Me: What's this?
Son: My certificate
Me: Crumpled?!
Son: I'm sorry...[does that sorry face of his, one that melts my heart instantly].....but you love me anyway.... because I did well. [gave me a kiss and a hug]
I frankly did not know whether to be amused or to be angry.
Amused because -- to his credit, he really did well. And I think he did well without my help but with my constant nagging. :D
My son isn't a consistent Top 10 placer. He slips out and slides into the list... back and forth, back and forth. But I do know that he did very well on his own, for this quarter, as I tried to encourage him to be self-reliant. And that means doing his homework all his own, without any help from me. I was just there to nag... and help him establish a study routine, of course.
I am greatly amused because... for all the nagging that I did (and I tell you, I drove myself deaf too!) something good came out of it. There are days when it seems frustrating to me, as if my son never listens or nothing gets registered in that brain of his. So I keep saying the same thing, over and over, like a broken record. I nag. But, my god, now I know there's a result! And I hope he'll appreciate this when he grows up.
What doesn't work, for now though, is my nagging for him to be neat and orderly. My 9-year old is someone I could not call masinop.
masinop = neat
neat adj.
1 clean and in order: maayos, malinis at maayos
2 able to and willing to keep things in or- der: mapag-ayos, masinop, maimis
3 well-formed: maayos, nasa ayos, hustung-husto ang ayos
And he knows that. That's something that gets to me very badly (Me --- a typical Virgo who likes things neat and orderly). And that's also something we fight about all the time.
And that's why I didn't know if I should be amused or angry knowing that an important piece of paper he handed me is now a piece of garbage. :D
And so...once again, I have something to add to his scrapbook --- a compilation of all his achievements in school since he started going to one in the year 2000; be it a perfect score, a simple recognition from a subject teacher, a certificate from winning a contest or the bigger stuff - awards and scholastic recognitions.
Which, to be honest, is also actually a collection of either teared, stained, crumpled or folded certificates.
My Mommy personality is going, "Yey!"
My Virgo personality is going mad.
The craziest part is the boy knows how to work me with his charms.
