Language in our house...

I was thinking about language this evening. It's the way we, humans communicate. We use words to give meaning to the pictures and ideas in our heads. When we speak, we attempt to paint the same picture in the mind of the listener. Language is ever changing and morphing, fitting the functions of the communicators. So...what does all this mean to me in my everyday life??? After spending a lot of time in the Philippines, I've heard my share of Taglish. It's really fascinating, to listen to the intertwining of the two languages. It almost seems if English words dart in and out, bobbing and weaving between phrases in Tagalog.

In our household, it's a bit different. Since my J is a Dabawenya, we've crafted our own little hybrid, Bisaylish. It's more of strategically placing Bisaya words amongst the English sentences that we use. We'll tell the kids ubos their dinners or it's time to hipos the kitchen. Sometimes J will tell Goobs to pag tarong or else!!! Now Goobs has a new pair of sandals. Since we've been calling them Tsinelas, he refuses to call them sandals. J told him to pick up his sandals. He responded by saying,"They're not sandals mommy, they're my Tsinelas!!! It's everyday language in our house, but I know there will come a time when Goobs will be eating lunch in the school cafeteria and he'll ask his friend whether or not he's going to ubos his french fries.

I like it when life is interesting, don't you???

Earlier this week we got Goobs his first "Big Boy" bed. We found a great twin bed with blonde wood head and foot boards on Craig's List. It was a steal, so we jumped on it. We had been talking this up to him for the past month. Since he isn't four yet, he's had some trouble with wetting the bed. We've gotten the daytime potty training down, but the night time deal has been a bit tougher. It was a bit spotty, pardon the pun. He would be dry for a few days and then wet the bed for a few more and it would go from there. We were talking up the "Big Boy Bed" idea for the past month to him. He was wetting the bed less and less. He went the last two weeks without incident...so...J and I decided it was time to get the bed for him.
You should have seen his eyes when he saw his mom and I trucking the bed up the steps. He was stoked in a truly monster way. He was jumping up and down and really kind of getting in the way of the bed setup-which is perfectly understandable for a kid getting their first bed. Anyhooo... We got the sheets and covers on the bed, gave him his bath, read to him and settled him in... He did fall asleep, however we were awakened at about 12:45 AM by a howl, followed by loud sobs coming from Goob's room. He had thrown up on his new bed. It wasn't that much and only on the bedspread, but it kind of was a buzzkill for our little man. He'd waited for a month for his new bed. He kept telling us that his bed would be dry, but on the special night that he got his new bed, he puked on it. Oh well...it's just another cute memory that we have that we can bust out later to embarass our son in his teen years.

Okay...so let's start over...

You're probably wondering why I have entitled my blog "Samok Daddy." Here's the background...My wonderful wife is from Davao in the Philippines. Roughly translated from Bisaya, the dialect in that area, it means "pain in the backside." She tells me on a regular basis that she loves me dearly, but that I am samok. My son, who will turn four in October, tells me, "Daddy you are samok!!!" I'm sure that my 2 year old daughter would tell me it too if she could string together a complete sentence.
Yes, I'm a little hyper...Yes, I try too hard to be a good dad and husband and sometimes it backfires...but I guess that's my charm. According to J, my wife, being samok is just part of who I am. It's nice to have someone love you because of who you are. I guess I'll just keep embracing my kind of samok.

Okay world...Here I am. This is my first shot at blogging...I've been reading other blogs, and I really wanted to give this a try. SO, HERE I AM...