nephew

james

James is my 6-year old adorable and quickwitted nephew who taught me how to play beyblade, Wii, and Xbox. He also wanted to teach me how to play Bakugan but I kept giving excuses. :p

In any case, below are some of his cute funny moments:

Credit Card
James: Mom, can I borrow your credit card?
Mom: Why James? What do you need it for?
James: I want to buy toys for free.
Mom: What do you mean for free?
James: Because if you use a credit card, you don’t spend money. You just swipe the card! You should use it more often Mom.

Can you believe it? He already had that concept at such a young age. omg!
Note: It was later on explained to him that the credit card is paid through the bank.

Phone
James: Hey Tita, why are you always using your phone?
Tita (TheCuriousMe): Because you’re always using my laptop James. I’m using my phone to surf the internet, chat, browse facebook, listen to music, watch videos, and write articles for my site.
James: Is it a phone laptop?
Me (TheCuriousMe): Yes James.

James stopped talking and was in deep thought for a moment. Then he suddenly grab his Nintendo DS and dash off to the bathroom. Maybe to internalize how “phone laptop” works. I’m sure he will figure it out when he’s few years older.

School
Me: James, will you be in Grade 5 next school year?
James: No, I will be in Grade 2.
(Note: He’s currently in Grade 1.)

Me: How come? Can’t you choose? What if you want to be in Grade 6?
James: That can’t be. I need to pass through grade by grade.
(Note: His expression is really serious and he sounds like we are discussing a very crucial topic)

I just smiled. Another lesson from James eh? To sum it up, we can never climb Mount Everest in just one day. We can never move a mountain with one push. There’s no shortcut. It should be taken one step at a time. Aja!

Moreover, one thing that he can’t live without is Pinky! It’s a pink stuff toy that was bought before he was born. His Mom thought she will give birth to a baby girl but it turned out that it’s a boy! Sans James and Pinky are like twins, simply inseparable!

That’s my nephew, James. Isn’t he adorable?

beyblade tournament

Finally, it’s the day of the tournament. My nephew (James) woke up so early and I can hear him running around the house while chattering endlessly. He kept reminding us that the tournament is at noon and we should not be late. James’ parents were a bit anxious because he is a pampered kid and he is not yet comfortable in graciously accepting defeat.

The moment has come… together with his Grandma, Dad, and his Mom, we all went to give him moral support. James’ parents kept emphasizing that he can’t always win and losing is part of the game. As we gather in his school’s gymnasium, the venue of the tournament, the participants’ were all bubbly and the energy level is extremely high. I felt like I’m watching a game in the Olympics.

The game started. James needs to win three rounds in order to qualify for the finals. From the looks of it, we’re more nervous than him. After a few minutes, the first round is over. We all heaved a sigh of relief when he won the first round. Another competitor was selected and he’s ready for the second round. We were all crossing our fingers for him.

During second round, James’ beyblade kept on bouncing out from the stadium (that also happened when we were having beyblade battle and he said it’s not counted). After the second round ended, my nephew went to our area silently crying. He lost. Reason? His beyblade kept bouncing out from the stadium. (Whoa! I should have won in our beyblade battle then. :p )

Sigh. My heart bleeds for my nephew. It’s my first time to see him cry. Geez. His Mom was hugging him and whispering to him that he did well on the first round and what matters most is joining the tournament. My nephew was nursing a broken heart when we left him at the tournament venue. Later, when we went to fetch him after his class, he loudly blurted out “I’m over myself now” while giggling! O_O Whew! He recovered fast than most of us could! :p

Life bites sometimes to keep us grounded. Aja!

beyblade battle

My nephew was bugging me to have a battle with him few days before the beyblade tournament in their school. I’ve already turned him down a dozen times because I don’t have the slightest idea on how to play but this time, I gave in.

Before the battle, my nephew patiently taught me the basics. It’s kinda cute because we had to chant “3 2 1, let it rip!” before launching. Ha! I can really feel his love for the game. I wonder how long will it last? 😉

After a few minutes, we started the battle in the “stadium”. His beyblade kept on jumping out of the stadium. According to James, by rule, it doesn’t count (note: with “his” rule,I don’t get to add points to my score) and it needs to relaunched.

I did pretty good for a first timer because he nearly lost. -_- He gave me encouraging words like “you did pretty good Tita, you’ll win next time”. A motivator in the making eh? We called it a day and I went back to my Korean Comedy Series and he went back to his Wii game.

Before getting engrossed to my fave series, I wished him good luck on his beyblade tournament. Guess what he replied? “I don’t need any luck.” I nearly fainted because he said it like a grown up and with gusto. He even asked all of us to watch him and be his cheering squad.

Let the tournament begin!

Wii & Xbox

Playing “screen” games is not my cup of tea, whether it’s a gameboy, brick game, computer game, Nintendo DS, family computer, etc… The reason? My eyes can’t stand looking at the screen while playing. It turns bloody red and a bit painful!

I’m more into games that interacts with REAL people like basketball, volleyball, badminton, sigking badu*, sigking aparador*, chinese garter*, patintero*, langit lupa*, tumbang preso*, pinoy henyo*, you name it. Hmmm… I did play virtual game like Farmville and Cafe World for a few months but I eventually stopped. (Click here to read related blog entry – Fv or FT?)

Moving forward… my handsome nephew, James, seemed tired of playing alone so he kept sending me feelers that he wanted to give me free Wii and Xbox lessons. Isn’t he adorable? After his consistent subtle bugging, I finally gave in. He first taught me how to play Super Mario and other kiddie stuff games using Wii…. I surely did poorly.

He obliged when I mentioned that I prefer playing sports and he picked table tennis and bowling. Surprisingly, I won the table tennis match and three (3) point short to winning the bowling tournament. Ha!

James doesn’t like losing and he eventually shifted to his game of expertise. Darn! O_O Although, he was extremely happy when he beats me from one game to the other, he still comforted because I pretended to be so sad whenever I lose. He is truly a charmer!

Enter Xbox.

I was completely awed with Xbox! It’s like swimming without water, doing skateboard without being scared of falling and getting a bruise afterwards, and so on and so forth. It’s like doing the real thing in a safer method. Pardon my naivety. -_-

It’s funny because James was acting like a grown up when he was teaching me how to play Xbox. His favorite lines? “Tita (Tagalog term for Aunt), just do what I say. When I say jump, you jump. When I say swim, you swim.” O_O I pretended to do the wrong thing and the he would say, “Tita, what are you doing? Follow me okay?”… It’s hilarious! 😀

Whether Wii or Xbox, James and I surely had a blast and formed a strong bond.

Hmmmm…. I still prefer Xbox though. Ha!

Legend:
* Traditional Filipino games.

uriel nathan

My four year old adorable nephew, Uriel Nathan, was asking his Dad (my brother) to help him pack plenty of clothes (and he really emphasized on the word PLENTY) and bring him over to his Lolo and Lala’s place; he wants to join them in their overseas trip.

I nearly fainted when my brother asked if its still feasible for my nephew to join his Lolo, Lala and Tita in their overseas trip. I told my brother that everything was already booked and it would be tough re arranging the booking because of time constraints.

A kid travelling without his parents is also an important factor that needs to be looked into. So my brother and I agreed that they will just travel together once my youngest nephew gets his passport.

My brother was a bit apprehensive on how to explain to him. We were all astonished when he did not throw a fit instead he seem to understand the situation.

He’s like a grown up man trapped in a kid’s body. His maturity level is absolutely outstanding to the point of surpassing some of the older people I know.

Funny thing is, Uriel ,as we fondly call him, can’t seem to stay put in their house. He gladly stayed behind when they visited his Lolo, Lala and Tita after the group arrived from the overseas trip.

Uriel even accompanied his Lala to run some errands and check out some shopping malls in the National Capital Region and Southern part of Luzon (Philippines).

In his young age, he is really living his life to the fullest!

It’s amusing to see myself in him when I was about his age. I also used to tag along with my Lola (grandmother) wherever she went. I’m born to be a wanderer and it looks like my nephew is following my footsteps.

Way to go Uriel Nathan!

Lessons Learned:
Live and enjoy life!