*Mama Rose, my hero!
The saga continues! Sophia stealing the after-show as the littlest unofficial graduate of Pre-School Class of 2011 was cute and all, but our day gets even more blooper laden.
During rehearsal period, Zach and his school mates practiced everyday like it was grad day. They get up on the stage themselves to receive their diplomas. But even good plans do not always unfold accordingly. The hundred or so littles were already feeling restless, perhaps a bit jittery too because they had to go on stage unaccompanied and in front of an audience so all those not-so-little changes had to be adjusted and accommodated for the program.
Turns out, some of these kids clamored for their parents to go with them. Tots and I were so out of the loop as it happened because we were at the back of the gym, standing by our chairs. With us was Mama Rose and the rest of the fam, waiting for Isaac’s class to be called to receive their diplomas next. (I think we were standing because we had just clamped on another Sophia tantrum.)
Out of the blue, Zach was before us and was very urgent in letting us know that he needed a parent to go up with him onstage. And then he grabbed Mama Rose’s hand. “Hurry Mama Rose, the parents need to be up there!”
Just as sudden as he appeared, so did he go, this time dragging Mama Rose with him. It took a few seconds for the humor in the situation to sink in. Tots and I looked at each other when it hit us. He picked his nanny over us!
Reposts from here:
I ran up to Zach.
“Baby, it’s only the kids who go up.”
“No, the other kids got their parents!”
“So I’ll go up with you.”
“No, only Mama Rose, please.”
“You sure?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, up you both go.”
“Thanks, Inday.” <— that was Mama Rose.
And so Mama Rose in her jeans and green shirt went up on the stage with Zach Attack to receive his diploma. And me? Dressed and dolled up for the occasion, I was their photographer.
And up the stage Mama Rose and Zach Attack went, both all lighted up and bursting with pride. Mama Rose was extremely pleased with herself and she scored a big one over all her yaya friends too.
I was not bitter about the nanny going up with my boy. I was very pleased too because Mama Rose also deserved to be up there. And it only proved so much: that their “big fight” over “family issues” was finally resolved.
Ahhh yes, these two have a love story that is all their own. They are super close. And they fight a lot too. Haha.
See, we got lucky in the nanny department. Zach is six years old; Mama Rose has been in our employ for six years too. I once said that these six years may not yet be counted as long, but considering how hard it is to find good help these days, this time is amazingly long and loyal. And we’re still counting.
So you can imagine the bond they both share. Mama Rose’s care for the kids goes beyond looking at it as a mere job. She really cares for us. (Though Sophia has her own nanny and we got lucky with her too! Sophia is three; Mama Ga has been with us that long. We are so blessed!!)
So going back to the days before Zach’s graduation, they had a major falling out. They both debate a lot over the smallest things, Zach being in the why-that-why-this-how-does stage, but this last fight was huge. They were going on with their regular arguments as usual – Zach was refusing to eat breakfast and kept asking why he needed it. It got to a point where he was irritated with all the mothering, so he blurted out some long litany, which ended up with something like, “…so you’re not my family, you’re only the yaya!!!” Ouch.
Mama Rose retorted with one of her classics: “Aha!!! Ang liit liit mo pa, minamaltrato mo na ako, ano pa kaya kung malaki ka na!!” That and some others.
I know Mama Rose took all that in stride. He’s just a kid, after all. She also knows Zach didn’t mean it like that, but I know she was also hurt by those words. Poor Mama Rose.
I gave Zach The Talk that night, of course. True to his kid self, he said that he was just irked by the many chores his nanny was making him do: eat meals (he calls it a chore), pick up after playing with the toys, help fix his bed, take naps, etc. Why do all that when he would rather play all day?
I reminded him yet again that what his Mama Rose asks him to do are instructions that I myself leave. So it was really Mommy telling him to do all those chores.
Zach: “Siiigghhh. Life is so hard.” Drama.
I had to make him see that in our household, Mama Rose and Mama Ga are very much part of the family. That in other houses, their help are just the yayas but in our house, we do not treat them like that at all.
So you see, our graduation boo-boo may have been a blooper, but it was also a blessing. It was proof that she was not only the yaya to him. He really does love his Mama Rose despite their constant bickering.
Post-grad, they are back to their normal love-hate relationship. Zach is still mighty irked that he has a lot of chores to do.
In the meantime, here’s an oldie:
***
The Zach Grad Day Blooper Series is a chronicle of (some of) our boo-boos during and after pre-school graduation. This is not the first time we’ve had our bloopers… we are the kind of family where the little mishaps follow us like the plague. Read up here and here. And you might also want to read this even if it is non-blooper related. And the last of this series will be up in a few days. (it’s right here, actually – Blooper 3)
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