John Gabriel, my third son, celebrates his 6th birthday today (Feb. 10).
Gabby as we fondly call him is a “guapo (goodlooking) toddler. Endowed with great talents in his studies as a pre-schooler, he is also skilled in fixing things around the house. He would normally fix his broken toys without help from his siblings or parents.
What makes Gabby so special to me is that he was just a newborn baby when his Ate Jo-Anne, then three and a half years of age, died. My fond memories of her include seeing her attend to baby Gabby despite the fact that she was not feeling well. When she died, I almost lost my resolve in life that I kind of take for granted the other kids for a while. Since Gabby was the baby at that time, I remember being left by her mom to take care of him whenever she would have to do some things outside the house. Since Gabby was such a “good” boy, I did not have a hard time taking care of him as I would just put a toy or two and his feeding bottle inside his crib and I would not be bothered by him for hours unless he is already wet and requiring to have a diaper change.
Gabby has since become a symbolic “pet” of her Ate Jo-Anne, even showing a lot of her resemblance in looks. As he grew older, Gabby is a typical toddler who would somet
imes be so naughty, sweet and playful. Since he is so “suplado” or discriminating, we would tease him to be a “bakla” or sissy or girl-like. Although I have no doubt that he is not to grow up as gay, we just took fun teasing him for his not-so-ordinary tendencies, like refusing to drink in a glass used by a sibling, refusing food given by a neighbor, or simply being too talkative.I am a little bit sad that on this day, he is quite sick of fever. But I am also happy at the thought that my son is now six years old, and soon will also grow up to be an adolescent. My prayer is that may God be with him all the days of his life, grow in HIS grace and wisdom, and lead a very successful life.
