About a Boy

Encounters

2009-07-09T15:44:00.003+04:00

We chose to move to this new place because we know Miguel will be able to meet and interact with other kids here. Although he hasn't made any permanent friends yet, he has met and played with several kids already.

Yesterday afternoon I brought him to the playground as usual. There he met a 4-year old Indian boy named Mahasi who was riding his bike. Miguel likes bike and though he has a toddler bike already, he still prefers the real bike. And so he asked me if he can ride the boy's bike. I told him he should ask the boy if he will share and so the conversation began...

A conversation which left me almost peeing in my pants and which made me realize I should always bring a cam so I can record these priceless moments.

I couldn't recall exactly how the conversation went but I was just to happy that they actually carried on a full coversation about bikes and slides and whatever.

Some of Miguel's lines...

"Can I ride your bike?" (tumatama na pronouns nya, yehey)
"I just want to see myself" (kasi hinihiram nya yung broken side mirror ng bike)
"Yes, I want to play with you"

When they both started playing on the slide, Mahasi recalled a story when he was a little boy. He said he fell off that slide and hurt his head and blood came out. I butt in and asked, did you cry, did it hurt? To which he answered, yes I did! I asked, did you go to the doctor? He said, no I just washed with water and then no more. Miguel joined in and asked "you washed with water and then it jai (dry)"? Mahasi said, no I did not die! and Miguel looked at me and said quite exasperatedly, mommy jai (dry) not die! hahahaha...

I'm poor at storytelling. I really wish I captured it on video!

No Updates

2009-07-09T15:02:00.003+04:00

Two weeks of no blog update. Several reasons...

Moving to a new apartment is something I don't want to do in the near future unless utterly necessary. It took all our efforts packing and preparing for days so we could proceed to relocate on June 26, thus, no blog update.

Despite days of preparation we still had to wake up really early on June 26 to prepare for the move and as we were tuned in to CBS Evening News (i think it was), Michael Jackson was reported dead, so I was glued to the tv, thus no blog udpate.

First few days at the new apartment were spent doing further cleaning and organizing (I even had to scrub the ceramic tile several times to make sure it's disinfected). Thus, no blog update.

It took one full week before our internet was reconnected, thus, no blog update.

The routine changed. Whereas before, Miguel and I were usually stuck at home from morning till afternoon, mornings now are usually spent either at the pool or at the gym (with Miguel "working out", not me!) and late afternoons are dedicated to the playground. Thus, no blog update.

I've been Michael Jackson-ized since watching his memorial on Tuesday, thus internet time is dedicated to searching for his famed songs, videos and stories (can't stop listening to Man In The Mirror and Heal The World). Thus, no blog update.

Anyway, I'm trying to regain the appetite to blog. Hope to get there soon.

Weekend Snapshot: Goal

2009-06-14T15:04:00.006+04:00

This is the height chart in Ikea's playroom.

Miguel has been wanting to get his chance to play inside the play area with other kids. But he's still too small to be accepted. We're taking advantage of this obsession to encourage him to eat well, saying he'll grow tall fast if he eats his veggies and soon he'll be allowed to play inside. So far, it's working. :)

Recently, we noticed he looks taller so we thought of measuring his height against this chart.

A few centimeters more and he'll be in. :)

More snapshots here.

A Whole New World

2009-06-14T11:18:00.010+04:00

For a year Miguel and I have been stuck in the house almost everyday. We've rarely been out on weekdays except for a few ocassions when we visited a nearby mall. I'm not really fond of riding a cab. This apartment has no playground or a venue to meet with other kids. We feel Miguel has been deprived of outdoor activities so much. So we agreed to move to a better location when our lease ends and the rent becomes affordable.

Few months ago, we started scanning the properties section of the paper to see how the rental prices are going. Fortunately, rental rates are on a downward trend, thus we have more options. After a few phone calls, couple of site visits and a lot of discussions, we chose a one-bedroom apartment that's much smaller than our current one.

Incidentally, we don't need a really big apartment, it's this that matters more to us:

a playground, an open space, barbeque pits, adult and kiddie pool, gym and multipurpose hall conveniently situated in the courtyard, all available for the exclusive use of residents

Just looking at the photos already gives me a sense of freedom. Here at least, we don't need to go far just to enjoy a few minutes of outdoor activities. It's truly a whole new world for Miguel.

On a totally different subject, I chanced upon this ancestry dna site the other day and find it interesting. If you happen to want to know more about your heritage, check out this site and learn how dna testing can help you with your quest. :)

Mommy Moments: Outdoor Fun

2009-06-11T16:48:00.007+04:00

Since Fridays are always busy around here, I usually get to post my Mommy Moments entries one or two days late, if at all. For a change, I am posting this week's entry one day earlier. :)

If there is anything we love most about Dubai, it's their parks. During cooler months, we spend almost every weekend visiting the different parks. We'd bring a ball or a shovel and Miguel would tirelessly climb, run, roll, slide and get down & dirty.

Here are some photos:

at Zabeel Park

at Mamzar Beach Park

enjoying the beach at Mamzar

at the lawns of Grand Hyatt Dubai

at the Creek

inside the tunnel at Dubai Creek Park

up on the spiral ladder at Dubai Creek Park

Join us here for more mommy moments.

On To Phrases

2009-06-11T15:16:00.005+04:00

We're reading short phrases now.

It's only been four months since we started with the YBCR video and already we're down to the fourth dvd. Technically, this is the last in the series because the fifth one is just a review dvd. We're not supposed to proceed to dvd 4 until the end of this month but the impatient Miguel wanted to watch the "green" one already.

I'm very happy with how this program is working for him. In the beginning, I actually focused on getting him to watch regularly and insisted he reads the flashcards. Later on, I don't exert any effort at all and we're not even watching the videos or reading the cards regularly and yet he continues to learn new words--and he learns really fast. I've stopped counting but I can guess he knows about 70 to 80 words already.

I know some parents would say there is no point in rushing the kids to read and that is exactly what I thought when I first saw this program. No doubt, kids will learn how to read in time. But what convinced me to introduce early reading to Miguel is the fact that it doesn't only teach reading, it promotes better comprehension (which is the whole point of reading!).

To this day, I'm still not sure if Miguel will actually "love" reading someday. Parents are quick to conclude their kids love to read based on several ocassions when they spend more than a minute turning the pages of a book. I am guilty of that. I think I might have said in the past how Miguel adores books when in fact he adores anything he can chew or tear--books, shoes, hairbrush included.

Recently, he's showing signs of interest in independent reading. He points to billboards and posters whenever we're out and would say "mommy, that's S" (the only letter he can recognize). Of course, he's right cause he's pointing to the word 'sale' hehe. It's already a given fact that he likes to listen to stories--either read or told. Even when he's all sleepy, he would insist we read a poem or I tell him about Joseph the Dreamer or The Night Before Christmas, and with droopy eyes, exerting every ounce of effort to control himself, he would resist falling asleep until the long story ends.

Guilt-free Fried Chicken

2009-06-09T13:28:00.005+04:00

What kids don't like fried chicken? I bet every mommy of a toddler or preschooler could swear by the motto "when all else fails, serve fried chicken." I am one of them. I serve fried chicken once a week, depending on what's in my cupboard. I know fried isn't really the best way to cook chicken for a toddler but I guess it isn't bad that you indulge them in ocassional treats such as this one.

To eliminate the guilt of serving fried, I skip those ready mixes which usually contain artificial ingredients and msg and use all-natural ingredients for marinade instead. Luckily, I have this fried chicken recipe which I got from Guiada DiLaurenti of Food Network a year ago which I am sharing below.

Pollo Frito

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo chicken parts
equal parts lemon juice & olive oil (I use 1/3 cup each for 1/2 kilo chicken)
salt and pepper
flour

Procedure:
Mix lemon juice, olive oil and salt
Marinate chicken for at least 2 hours
Drain marinade. Dry chicken with paper towel
Mix pepper and flour
Dredge chicken in flour and fry in olive oil, over low heat, for 20-30 minutes.

Serve with steamed vegetables.

Drug Concern

2009-06-09T11:06:00.005+04:00

I was browsing the paper today while having my usual morning coffee and an article caught my attention. Perhaps I'm not reading the paper or watching the news often enough cause until today I didn't realize that drugs is also a major concern in this country. I'm not even sure there are drug rehab centers around.

According to the report there has been an increase of 19% in drug-related cases and arrests this year from last year's record. Dubai is also said to be in a strategic location between countries that manufacture these drugs and those that host them, thus, making it a good place for trafficking. It's a good thing that concerned government agencies have proven techniques and skilled people to handle smuggling cases and in fact, have recently uncovered the largest trafficking operation in the country.

It's saddening to know that no place or country is spared from drug-related concerns and that it still remains a major challenge for parents of teeners to keep them away from this evil thing. I hate to even think that my boy will someday go out and be exposed to a world full of wickedness. And since we cannot shelter him forever, we are making sure he grows up in a loving, positive family environment as this will build a strong character foundation he will need to resist worldly temptations.

Over the Top

2009-06-08T15:23:00.005+04:00

Thanks Kero for this wonderful award. Surely, my blog isn't exceptional but I bet it's our common interest with boys--specifically our little boys, that made you pass this on to me. I'm grateful. :)

1. To receive this award your blog must be exceptional in design and content; presenting us with new knowledge, a sense of style, or at times just giving us a smile!

2. Each recipient of the award will acknowledge (through a linkback) the person who honored them with the award.

Now passing this on to annaville, jona and janis.

I hope to blog about my disastrous chocolate muffin but first I will start looking for diet supplement because if I keep baking this way, I will end up eating all these cakes.

Weekend Snapshot: The Summer Cut

2009-06-07T14:41:00.006+04:00

It's almost the peak of summer in Dubai and what better way to gear up than to get the perfect haircut. Here's my boy's summer look (with matching bright, sunshiny yellow shirt).

More snapshots here.

Surprising Dubai

2009-06-07T13:42:00.003+04:00

Thus goes the tagline of the 2009 Dubai Summer Surprises.

But this post is not a sequel to my previous one.

This morning I was carefully reviewing my monthly budget sheet--something I haven't done in a long, long while and is probably the reason why I'm almost always going beyond my weekly grocery budget. Anyway, that budget sheet was developed when we first came here, almost a year ago and was based on our needs that time. Obviously, I have a more concrete idea now of what our basic needs actually are, therefore, the budget sheet needs to be revised accordingly.

And so I went on and on reviewing every item on several grocery receipts I was able to keep and when finally I was satisfied my new shopping list is correct, I tallied the new budget and was delighted to learn I can actually bring it down by Dhs70-100 per week! (note to self: skip the chocolates/chips section and I'll save an extra 15 and will definitely not need to look for the best fat burners in the future!).

I was so happy with my accomplishment that I even bragged about it to Nico saying that my new budget scheme translates to this amount of savings per month. I was one proud wife (smug, smug!).

Moments later, a piece of paper was slipped through our door. The monthly water and electric bill is here. I was so surprised, no, aghast to see the amount in bold characters--Dhs779.18. One month water and electric bill for a family of two and a bit is Dhs779?! Our previous months' average was around Dhs250 and it's gone up by 300%! I called Nico immediately to rant and to insist they had it wrong. He checked our account online and texted me the sad news. The readings are correct.

Unfortunately, skyrocketing electric bill is one unpleasant surprise during summer in Dubai! :(

Dubai Summer Surprises 2009

2009-06-04T11:19:00.004+04:00

In a week's time 2009 Dubai Summer Surprises will officially start. It's Dubai's way of attracting tourists and encouraging residents to stay in the country even during the summer months when most people prefer to leave to "cool down."

DSS organizers have lined-up different acitivities that will run during this two-month period. There will be family-friendly entertainment, competitions and workshops. Malls will have weekly thematic activities and shops will offer sale promotion, of course--electronic shops will run raffle promos and give away meal vouchers (not sure though if they'll offer wholesale tvs) and fashion & retail stores will slash down tag prices.

This last one spells temptation for me. :))

Miguel right this moment

2009-06-02T16:07:00.001+04:00

..sleeping oh so soundly.
woke up suddenly, sat up on the bed
and started to sing...

"oh the grand old duke of york
had thousand men
he marched them up to the top of the hill
and marched them down again."

went back to sleep. hehehe :)

Howdy Barney

2009-06-02T15:12:00.004+04:00

This purple fellow once dominated this house. Every morning of everyday, Miguel would insist on watching the same Barney episode over and over again. My ears were almost bleeding from hearing his voice--voice that is too irritatingly sweet for a supposedly fearsome creature! I almost hated Barney. Don't get me wrong, though. I love the songs in the show, especially those included in the Beach Party episode. In fact, I almost memorized all of them. His voice just irritates me sometimes, hehe.

Just when I thought I couldn't bear to watch it one more time, Miguel agreed to switch to a new episode--Howdy, friends. Here, kids are pretending to be cowboys and cowgirls and Barney came and transported them to a real barn. He dressed them up in real cowboy gear, with hats, boots, and riding breeches and had them meet Riders in the Sky. The second time we watched it, I started to like the songs, I even searched for their lyrics in the net, hehehe. There's Old Dan Tucker, My Jeans are Always Blue, Get Along Little Doggie, Turkey in the Straw and the Yodel song. This last one is the hardest to learn yet it's the one that Miguel likes me to sing. Oh the challenges of being a mommy.

Anyway, if you happen to be looking for a good Barney cd from among the "sale" stack in SM, try getting a copy of Howdy, Friends. That's where I got my copy. Sulit ang 75 pesos. :)

Very Hot Bath

2009-06-02T14:52:00.004+04:00

There's no denying it anymore. Summer has set in on this part of the world. I only need to wash my hands in the delta fauctes to know that the temperature outside is rising above the 40 level already. The water is extremely hot my hands are so dry from frequent washing. The timba is on good use again.

As I've frequently heard of the dangers of hot bath especially to kids, I make sure to store water in the pail everyday to cool it down in time for Miguel's bath. Hot bath is the major cause of scalding and overheating, and although I take every precaution to make sure Miguel doesn't get into any bath related accidents, taking frequent hot baths can also dry his skin so yes, 'tis the season to bring out the timba! :)

Easy Spaghetti Bolognese

2009-06-01T16:01:00.003+04:00

It's not only once that I mentioned here how lousy I am when it comes to cooking so probably you wouldn't believe when I say this recipe turned out really good, hehehe :) Just the same, I'm posting it here for Leah's sake, in case you run out of easy to prepare dinner menu.

I remember ate apple once cooked pasta that I really liked and she mentioned adding Cheez Whiz to it and since Cheez Whiz was on buy one-take one last Friday at Hyperpanda, I decided to experiment and whip up my own version of Spaghetti Bolognese.

Here are the ingredients (don't expect accurate measurement from me, just tantya ok?)

about 200g minced beef
butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 med onion, chopped
either Hunts or Ragu or Dolmio spaghetti sauce (I used to make spag sauce from scratch but I learned my lesson well)..you can choose from either Roasted Garlic & Onion, Mushroom, Chunky Mushroom or plain Bolognese...all available at the supermarket :)
few drops Worcestershire sauce
a pinch of sugar
salt & pepper to taste
Cheez Whiz (microwave to melt)
Pasta (cooked according to instructions)

Here's how:

Saute garlic and onion in butter. Add minced beef and saute until no longer pink. Add a dash of pepper and worcestershire sauce. Cook a few minutes. Add spaghetti sauce and simmer a few minutes. Add cheez whiz and adjust taste by adding sugar and/or salt. Toss in pasta, enjoy! :)

It's not something that merits the frontline of a cookbook, but it's an easy recipe that even an amateur can follow. I served it for dinner last night and the proof that it's really good? Miguel kept saying "mommy it's yummy" the whole time. I couldn't be more flattered. :)

Happy June

2009-06-01T12:49:00.003+04:00

I woke up this morning with great anticipation. It's the first of June! We're looking forward to two major changes that hopefully will happen this month.

The first one is moving to a new apartment. Although our current lease is not due to expire till middle of July, we've already started looking for a new place to rent. Call it over-excitement but last Saturday we went for viewing already. :) Our major criterion is that it should be somewhere with a community, a place where Miguel can meet and interact with other kids. We really like one particular place already and we went there last weekend. The one-bedroom flat is just the perfect size for us, the courtyard is really nice, there's even a kiddie pool, a playground and a gym equipped with a wide range of exercise machines (like threadmills, ellipticals and bikes). However the going rate is a little over our set budget and since we still cannot sign up before mid-June at least, we went to look for other options. But we still ended up wanting that same place. I just wish there will still be a flat available when we're ready to sign.

The second one, of course, is the much anticipated letter from CIC. It's been almost 4 months since we last heard from them and from the last letter we received, they mentioned it will take them about that long to review our documents. Some say, though, that the process can be delayed sometimes, but we're still hoping there will be an update this month. We'll see.

So those our my reasons for getting excited about June. Apart from the fact that it's the middle of the year already and in 6 months' time, we'll be heading home! :)

My Little Scientist

2009-05-31T15:22:00.005+04:00

I'm supposed to write about birth announcements, but since neither I nor anybody I know is having a baby soon, let me just tell you something about my baby. :)

Miguel loves to watch Peep and the Big Wide World. It's a cartoon that stars three kinds of bird--Peep the chick, Chirp the robin and Quack the duck. Initially I wanted to limit his tv viewing to Handy Manny and Postman Pat. Later on, I needed to have time to do some stuff and tv is my only ally, so I let him. Nevertheless, just like in most of Miguel's activities, I try to engage myself as much as possible in them. So whenever he watches cartoons, I sit and watch with him. I make sure that he's not just staring at fast-moving, colorful pictures, that he understands the story as well.

Eventually I started to like the Peep show. The stories stimulate the child's curiosity and the big bonus is that they feature real-kid experiment at the end of each episode. It shows kids studying what will happen to ice when they use it to draw on the ground on a warm summer day, or why an empty bottle floats in water, that kind of stuff. Not surprisingly, this show is supported by Discovery Kids.

Today as I was giving Miguel a bath, he requested again to go "babad" in the pail. So I let him stay and have a bubble bath minus the bubbles as it tends to dry his skin. I filled the pail halfway with water and in he went. I busied myself with wiping the mirror as he played when suddenly I saw him standing up and sitting down in the pail several times while muttering "when you stand, it's half, when you sit down, it's full." I was amazed. I asked him what he was doing and he gladly repeated it for me saying "look mommy, when you stand the water is half, when you sit the water is full."

I could swear he hasn't seen that exact experiment in the show and I didn't teach him either. Today it's the law of water displacement, who can tell what he'll discover tomorrow. My boy is starting to appreciate Physics. :)

I seriously need a new PC

2009-05-31T15:05:00.003+04:00

Not necessarily the rackmount lcd type. Just the regular pc will do. Just now it took me more than 30 minutes to reboot. I was planning to upload some photos and when I attached the usb cable, my pc stopped working. I had to turn the power off and restart and wait forever to get all the data loaded before I could start working again!

We made some troubleshooting already, blaming Miguel's 2 years worth of unprinted photos saved in this pc as the reason for the very slow response. We even bought a new writer so we can save the photos in cd's as we thought the pc's writer's not working anymore. The photos are gone, most of the documents have been archived. But still the pc is as slow as eeyore. :( It's a three year-old Acer and it's been heavily used since. I guess it really needs replacing.

Baking Adventure: Muffins

2009-05-31T10:28:00.003+04:00

I hope I won't need to resort to lipofuze when I'm done with my newest venture--baking.

I've always loved cakes and cookies and muffins but I've also thought of baking as such an enormous task. The list of ingredients alone overwhelms me besides having to distinguish among raw sugar, soft sugar, light or dark brown sugar, plain or self-raising flour apart from familiarising with baking jargon as "creaming, sifting and folding". I often end up satisfying my craving with store-bought cakes.

When we went grocery shopping last Friday, I still wasn't decided whether to make a carrot cake or a banana & walnut muffin. I bought a muffin pan, and the rest of their combined ingredients. Today I decided to take the baking challenge. With Miguel's help (more like distraction) I set to bake following the recipe for banana and walnut bread, but since I didn't have a cake pan, I used the muffin pan instead. Another challenge was that I didn't have measuring cups on hand so I had to make a guess with the measurement. Amazingly for a first timer, it turned out pretty good. A bit crunchy on the outside, moist on the inside. Miguel liked it and had it for breakfast and mid-morning snack.

The process wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I enjoyed it, in fact and would definitely do more bakings in the coming weeks. The only downside about this new hobby is that I get to eat most of my product since Miguel is not a big eater and Nico's not so much into sweets. For the sweet-tooth in me, that's good news but not for that part that's dying to shed off some flabs.

Mommy Moments: Haircut

2009-05-30T17:25:00.004+04:00

Hooray! I have time to post my entry for this week's Mommy Moments earlier than usual. :) And before my PC's computer memory bugs down (i feel it's gonna happen soon), let me share with you Miguel's photos when he was getting his very first haircut.

Much as we'd like to go for a haircut before he turned one, we couldn't. The oldies believe, for whatever reason, that babies shouldn't get a haircut before they turned 1. And since we didn't want to argue, we complied, afterall there was nothing to lose anyway, except that Miguel had to endure itchy neck and cheeks due to the curly waves that kept tickling him.

I expected the process to be an ordeal and I was prepared for it. I prepared lengthy stories and lots of nursery rhymes to sing to keep him occupied, besides the tv screen in front of him and several different toys that the friendly staff kept offering. It was funny that at one point he was smiling, laughing even, and then crying the next moment.

The succeeding haircut sessions weren't easy as well. In fact it was only very recently that he realized there was nothing to be scared about getting a haircut. At least he's not crying anymore. :)

more mommy moments here.

Around this House

2009-05-27T14:02:00.003+04:00

I feel guilty for not being able to update this blog for more than a week now. Well, for one there is nothing really interesting to blog about and I am just so lazy to snag tags when my internet connection is really slow.

So what got me writing now?

These:

I realized that my long overdue goal of having Miguel's photos printed has materialized. In fact, I've also started scrapping them and have made about 10 pages in the past week. I struggle, of course, in creating nice layouts since I am far from being creative and I'm only making use of my existing materials. Scrapbooking materials are oh so expensive!

I've also started cooking flavored instead of plain rice. I realized that with a little effort with rice, I can make everyday meal extraordinary. I even got Miguel to eat rice!

I've been wanting to learn how to bake and I think I will start soon. I found a simple cupcake recipe and I just need to get a muffin pan and I'll be on my way to eating freshly baked mini cakes.

These and the usual stuff are what's occupying my time these days. Searching for new recipes to try already takes most of my afternoon. Either the internet connection is slow or our PC is about to crash.

Mommy Moments: Grandparents

2009-05-24T14:36:00.003+04:00

It's grandparent's day at Mommy Moments.

This is Miguel bonding with Tatang (my FIL) when he was about 7 months old. Having been introduced to solid food barely a month before, you could tell he really enjoys munching on these biscuits which come as a big treat. Can you get any messier?! :)

more mommy moments here.

Mommy Moments: Silly Moments

2009-05-16T14:06:00.005+04:00

Miguel's silliest moments are best captured and appreciated in videos. Just the other day he was playing with Nico and as usual he requested to "watch himself" on tv. Nico focused the camera on him and attached it to our tv so he can watch himself do silly stuff. That's how vain and crazy my son is. After a few funny gestures, he sobered up, took his piano and sat down. It was an innocent act that made us laugh so hard because after a few moments of preparing to play his masterpiece on the piano, he played with his foot! The fact that he was serious and wasn't attempting to be funny made it even more hilarious! He likes to sing "do-a-dee, a female dee" (can't pronounce r yet hehe) while playing the piano. At paulit-ulit yan, puro do-a-dee lang.

Like most kids, he likes to make funny faces and grouchy faces, too. Since this is supposed to be a photo sharing, and since it'll probably take forever to load a video, i'll leave you with these photos:

i think he's making an oink sound here

here he's dancing to the tune of "shinanong" while sitting on a flat-bed trolley--sya ang nagimbento ng sayaw pati title :)

more mommy moments here.

Panic! Panic!

2009-05-13T17:29:00.004+04:00

On Wednesday afternoon a week ago, I asked Nico and Miguel to buy bottled water at the grocery store in the next building. When they came back, they rang the doorbell incessantly. I thought it was just Miguel who usually plays with the doorbell so I wasn't in a hurry to open the door. When I finally did, I was told this story.

On their way back to our building, Miguel said "Oh smoke!", and when Nico looked up he saw thick, black smoke oozing out of the second floor parking of our building. They rushed to find the building administrator who happened to be idly chatting with another guy at the lobby and told him there was fire. After leading him to the site, they rushed to our apartment, we packed all our documents and went out of the building.

Less than ten minutes later, it was safe to go back. The fire has been put out, thanks to Miguel! Apparently, there was an electric spark that hit one of the cars and burned it, thus causing the fire. The weird thing is, the fire alarm did not go off. If not for my boy, it would have been worse.

The following day, the fire alarm rang several times and we found out they were testing it. At 1am on Monday, I was awakened by the fire alarm. Initially I thought it could just be defective cause who will be testing it at 1 in the morning? Still, I woke up Nico and he checked. The hallway was deserted, the alarm stopped, we went back to sleep. After two minutes it sounded off again so Nico called the building admin to check. I heard three words that made me nervous--"we should go!". Good thing we had some sort of a practice days before, all the documents were in one bag already. Nico grabbed the bag, I picked up Miguel and we headed out of the house. This time the hallway was full of people heading towards the emergency exit. Of course, we couldn't use the lift!

When we finally reached the ground floor, most people were out of the building, there were a couple of police cars and firetrucks. We couldn't see any blaze, though and even when we asked the building admin afterwards where the fire was or what caused it, they didn't give any clear answer. We were just assured that it's safe to go back. We didn't insist. It's pointless to demand an explanation from them, anyway. We're just thankful everyone's safe.

Though both incidents were minor, I still feel paranoid to this day. It seems July is so far away. I can't wait to move out.