the Cacing Diaries #6

Today is a special day. Cacing is two months old!

Time is stealthy. Next thing we knew our daughter is already big. She squirms in bed nowadays and soon she should be able to turn on her side. When she lies on her stomach, she can already lift her head on her own and turn it side to side (we still support it just in case). She now vocalizes frequently and engages us in a conversation with her oi, indi, oo and aw. Her eyes can already focus on us although she still prefers to look way up, infatuated by the fleur de lis-like cornice running around our living room ceiling.

She just got her vaccine shot yesterday and she was brave. She only yelped once when her pediatrician injected her in the thigh for DPT, IPV and HiB. She did not cry! Ironically, it was when she was administering her oral rotavirus vaccine that she did for she already was sleepy and cranky.

Overnight we monitored her as her temperature shot up a bit, from her basal 36.8C to 37.8C. No fever though as it was short of 38C. The pediatric paracetamol was not necessary.

As reward, today, her birthday, we went to the SM mall right after hearing the 9AM mass. Babies outgrow their clothes every two months so we bought a yellow green spaghetti shirt (P79) and a salmon pink halter and bubble skirt ensemble (P249). What excited us the most were her cheap hair clips (about P1 each) as her hair already is long and unruly.

Lunch was at the Cebuano restaurant Chikaan. We had clam soup, spicy eggplant with ground pork, crab relleno and tomato salad with pork belly strips. Cacing, of course, only had milk. She cannot have it all!

After a quick shopping for supplies at the supermarket, we went home as Cacing gets tired and cranky quickly. We passed by the Maria Clara Café near our home in Talamban where we bought her (er, rather ourselves) three pastries: a chocolate ensaymada, a petit strawberry shortcake and a hogel holf (?) cinnamon-raisin bundt cake.

Then it was pictorial, pictorial, pictorial.

Happy Birthday Cacing!


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/800s, f/2.5, 50mm, ISO 200, +2/3EV
Cacing and her hogel hoft cinnamon and raisin bundt cake
phototip: Plan the shot. As a two month old baby still cannot support her head, Cacing had to be propped on the arms of her nanny. I used my left in pushing the cake in front of her while my free hand was holding the camera. I had to be patient in waiting for the moment when Cacing got interested and pursed her lips, as if to blow the candles.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/40s, f/2.5, 50mm, ISO 800
phototip: It’s all about the angle. Cacing looks like she’s sitting here in a pose. Actually, she is lying on her back on her crib. This was a product of stalking.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/80s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 800, +1/3 EV
Her look of surprise is priceless. Up close, I could even see my shadow in her eyes.



week 8
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/80s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 800, +1/3 EV
Cacing vocalizes a lot in monosyllables. Not bad for a 2-month old.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/60s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 800, +1/3 EV
Cacing can be such a poser sometimes…



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/40s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 800
For her birthday, my wife and I brought Cacing to SM for lunch. Cacing is seen here enamored by the overhead lights at the Northwing.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/100s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 800, -1/3EV
Cacing’s glamourous look is provided for by our good friend Malou in New York: a Ralph Lauren top and denim skirt ensemble. Her hair clips were from SM and they were just about a P1 per piece!