The first of many lasts

You're out in the park with Daddy today, and these are just some of the very few times I'm alone with the computer. However, it won't be long until I'll hear the both of you enter the front door, and that means I should rescue your Daddy from babysitting duties by then.

Pardon me from being sentimental, but you should know that Mommy has always been, is, and will always be. All the more that there are many things to be sentimental about nowadays. I'm so looking forward to our big move (in fact, there's only 1 box left that we haven't packed), and I really thought the excitement and positivity will far outweigh the emotional boohoo of it all. However, a few weeks before the New Year rolls around, I find that it sneaks up when I least expect it.

This your Daddy has shared on Facebook on video I can't believe it! Then again, who cares now hehehe! As you might NOT have noticed, we started sorting and packing our stuff, and we had to get rid the big toys, one of which is your Little Tikes Cupcake Kitchen that was a birthday gift from your Ninong Frich. Normally, you would get all the accessories (utensils, cupcakes, pot, plates, etc.) and litter the whole condo with it and rarely did I see you play with it the way it was meant to be played. So oftentimes your yaya and I would keep the little stuff in your toy box, but then again, you would dismantle the kitchen because it wasn't screwed together yet. You really were a "rough playa" if I will say so myself. Anyway, when we arrived at the condo that day, guess what caught your eye first? Of course it's the cupcake kitchen! You found it complete with its accessories, and I was totally surprised when, for the first time, you didn't throw them around and instead took a plate, opened the oven, got a cupcake and placed it on the plate, and you got a fork from the drawer and pretended to eat it!

It didn't take a while for you to get distracted by the other toys, so I pulled the kitchen towards the table to clean it and put back in the box. While I was disinfecting the parts, you quietly pulled the kitchen back to its original place, perhaps wondering why I placed it so close to the dining table when its rightful place was by the window. By this time, I couldn't fight back the tears and I was having a difficult time breathing. It was too ironic that it was the first time you played it and yet the last time as well. It sure wouldn't be as emotional as it would have been if you were extremely attached to it and you bawled your eyes out while I was putting it back in the box.

Your Daddy got sad too, because that's just the first of the many lasts we'll ever get to do before we leave - watching TV in our small living room with all the knick-knacks and your toys, eating our favorite Filipino food that's easily available, spending time with your Lolos and Lolas, Titos and Titas, Ninongs and Ninangs, your Ates and Kuyas; swimming at Palms and in Subic, running around in the playground and Cuenca football field, harassing Chewy, and the list goes on and on. It's a bittersweet ending to 2013, but it's also a very bright promise to what lies ahead for us in 2014.