1 Chapter 1 - The Baby
"Granny, I want to drink milk. I want it lukewarm, not hot nor cold." This is a request from a three year old baby girl.
It was still 4:30 in the morning when this little girl woke up and requested for her milk. Since she slept beside her mother, the latter stood up while still groggy of drowsiness to get a glass of milk for her. However, the child started to fret when she saw that her mother would be the one to get it for her.
"I want granny to prepare it for me. Not you... I won't drink it even if you have it for me."
Just to avoid disturbing the other family members who are still sleeping, the demand of the fretful little girl won the approval of her grandmother and her mother. Her granny prepared and served her a glass of lukewarm milk that she drank all the way down and went back to sleep.
Adrianne May is the name of this three years old baby girl. She has a curly auburn hair, chinky deep set blue eyes, fair complexion, with a pointed nose, and a little bit chubby. At her young age she talked like an adult. She is the only child of Pearl Ace May Solis, a lady who did not want to get married.
Pearl Ace May Solis is Splash at home as her parents and siblings called her for her nickname. To her colleagues, friends, and acquaintances, she is Peace, for short.
In this story, let us call her Peace or Splash, baby Arm for her baby and granny Reyna for her mother.
Peace was 28 years old, an employee, only daughter with her seven brothers, six of them were older than her while the 7th was younger than her. With a father with tall genes in height, she, too, was lucky to stand five feet and seven inches. Unlike her mother, whom baby Arm called granny, whose height is five flat. To describe her more, she has a chinky deep set black eyes, not so thick yet not so thin eyebrows, long black straight hair, tan complexion, but a snubbish nose that fits to her facial feature. To top it all, she is neither bad looking nor good looking. When applied with a simple make up it improved her facial feature a lot. Her body structure is not difficult to fit any fashionable attire, whether casual, , formal, executive, sports, uniform, trendy, swim suit, futuristic, military, and cocktail attires would certainly attract anyone's eyes to have a stiff neck caused by following her graceful gait. It was no wonder that she won as Ms. Junior during the Junior and Senior Promenade when she was still in secondary school level.
That was her physical appearance. As to her personality, she is an understanding, benevolent, friendly, modest, witty, loyal, responsible, God-fearing child. But there were rare times that she was rebellious and disobedient especially if it hinders her plan in life of becoming an independent individual.
At eighteen, she was already a government employee. A year after, that was at her nineteenth birthday, she had become a regular permanent government employee. Her parents had never expected her to be a good provider with her family like when her mother was hospitalized, she paid the excess cash amount of her mother's health insurance. During Christmas holidays, she surprised them with abundant food preparation for the whole family. To top it all, she was generous when it comes to her parents' needs... Sometimes... even for their wants.
When she was twenty five years old, her mother insinuated that her age was already at marriageable stage. At first, she would just play deaf and dumb. She never reacted nor replied to such innuendo. When she was twenty six years old the same hints was suggested to her by her mother.
"Mother, I don't want to get married." She frankly told not only her mother but also her father.
"You don't want a child?" Her mother replied back.
"What for? I have my nieces and nephews, anyway!" She mused aloud.
"Splash, it is far different if the child is your own. You are not growing any younger. Put that in your mind." Her father butt in reasonably.
Months after such conversation, the same topic was again brought out by Splash's parents. At this point, she did not argue with them.
" Alright, you won. But, I only want a child of my own. I don't want a husband." She blatantly told them through chatting.
"How could that be? How would you be able to have a child without a husband or even a boyfriend?" Her mother chatted back.
"Mother, with advanced technology, Impossible has become possible nowadays!" She remarked.
"You are a human being, not a pig nor a cow! Be prudent as one of God's children." Her mother quipped.
The issue on marrying Splash off was the priority of her parents. So, the persistence of her parents to convince her to get married was never forgotten.
When she was twenty nine years old she gave birth to a mestiza infant whom she registered with a name of Adrianne May Solis. Now that Baby Arm is three years old, her mother who was Peace to her office mates was already thirty two years old who aroused curiosity of everybody as to how come she became a mother without a boyfriend at all.
"Don't tell me she is the second Virgin Mary?!" An outburst from one of the meddlers among her office mates expressed.
Splash had never been affected by the gossips about her that cropped up. She remained composed and concentrated on her job as she had already a child whom she devotedly loved and cared. Despite their curiosity of her child's father, still she was so proud of her. Not to mention that her mother was overwhelmed with happiness taking care of her Baby whenever she was in her work. The seed Donor of Baby Arm was still questionable as she turned out to be half Caucasian and half Filipino.
Before going to her work, Splash would never skip kissing her Baby whether the latter was asleep or awake. In the afternoon, upon her arrival she would also see to it that she had time to be her daughter's tutor aside from her mother who was not only taking care of her child but also tutoring her as she was a retired teacher and was once a proprietor of a small but prestigious pre school in their hometown. As a result, at a very young age, she can speak eloquently and fluently. She was likewise familiar with the different letter sounds that may result to her speedy learning and reading skill. From her infancy, never would Splash baby talked to her including her parents and her siblings. This baby girl is also very fond listening to music and watching dancers dancing in television show and even from a video clip.
In short, Adrianne May's upbringing cannot be questioned by anyone. Her daily routine was not only devoted to milk/food intake, crying, taking a bath, and cooing. Even from infancy she had started to have a lesson on Visual descrimination, sound descrimination, and five senses differentiation. Despite her obvious half-Caucasian, she was not only taught to speak and understand English language but she was as well taught with the Filipino language plus the dialect of her mother. She was also exposed to simple Arithmetic, counting and identifying the numerals.
Because Splash' income was only in a minimum rate, she planned to enroll her child in a public school. This plan was the reason why her mother and her, had to tutor her from her early age. She knew that she cannot afford to send her to a private school. So, for them, as long as the child is being taught at their home, every child would never be a non- reader and so her mother and her, believed that they would have no problem at all, should her child start going to a formal school during her formative years.
"Granny, mama, is here! Should I get now my flash cards?" Baby Arm asked Granny Reyna.
"Little girl, give your Mama a time to rest for awhile. She is still tired from her work." Granny Reyna reminded her.
"I got it granny. Thanks for reminding me." Baby Arm said.
After eating her snack, she was laying down on her bed for thirty minutes, the teaching-learning process started.
"Sweetheart, would you like to play with me today?" Splash asked her daughter.
"With all my heart, Mama." Baby Arm answered excitedly.
"Can you see these objects baby?" Splash asked her baby.
"This is an eraser. This is a toy car. This is a pencil. This is a crayon. And this one is a sharpener." Baby Arm named them one by one in complete sentences.
"The game would be called 'magical game'. You will close your eyes. Once I ask you to open them, that's the time to do so. Then you are going to check the objects you identified individually to name them again. Did I make myself clear?" A long explanation was given to Baby Arm by Splash, her mother.
So the game began. As Baby Arm closed her eyes, Splash snatched the eraser and kept it in her pocket. After keeping it, she told her baby to open her eyes.
Immediately, after opening her eyes, she too enthusiastically checked the objects she named. Her memory never failed at all. So she said:
"Mama the eraser is missing. It isn't here. Have you thrown it?" Baby Arm grimaced while complaining.
"Really? Oh, my! Where could it be. Can you close your eyes once more?" Splash instructed her once more.
Before telling her baby to open her eyes once again she said pretending to be a soothsayer, "Magic, magic give me back the missing eraser. Baby Arm uses it in erasing her mistakes. Ta... Da.. ... Open your eyes"
"Mama, the eraser is no longer missing. It is already here. Look at it Mama." Baby Arm was very glad while pinpointing the eraser to her mother.
The lesson on 'missing objects' was done during that afternoon. Her mother and her were ready to introduce the missing letters to her the following days to come.
"Be ready for our evening meal" Granny Reyna told the mother and her child.
After their meal, Splash washed the dishes while Baby Arm dried them. As they were done with the chores, they went to the bathroom for sanitation. Before sleeping, Baby Arm was taught to recite her prayer and...
"Good night Mama and Granny. Good night Father God!" Then she was in her deep sleep.
Note from the Author:
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