We coudln't miss out on his graduation to the bigger kid preschool class! Some of the highlights of his graduation, was hearing his class sing, "God is big! He is very very big!"& watching Dengs walk so proudly and confidently across the stage to get his certificate.
"God is big! God is big! He is very, very, very, very big! Like a lion!" sang the class.
After the ceremony, we had a celebratory dinner with the fam.
Miles has been having tons of fun hanging out with his cousins, playing outside, and sometimes on weekend nights, he gets to play an hour of E-rated video games (gasp!). Never thought I would allow the video games to enter the household but I think this kid must have manifested it for himself, getting a second-hand game cube via Uncle Bob & Aunty Cheryl, money to buy Star Wars games from his Uncle Allan, and a dad who defends his weekend hourly right to play. That is, if he "earned it". According to Jus, it's been the language to get Miles to abide by house rules. If he breaks these rules, he loses "video game privileges." Miles has been very rule-abiding since his dad introduced this condition. Every now and then, Miles will be on the verge of breaking a rule but very quickly check himself, followed by asking, "do I still have my privileges?"
The heat has returned and so have the festivals. This weekend in Vallejo was the annual Pistahan fest at the waterfront. Although it was scorching hot, I didn't want Miles to miss out on his peoples. Gotta get this boy exposed to his community & culture. But when we got there, if he learned anything, it would be that Filipinos use umbrellas even when it's not raining! Miles, Aunty Angela, and Aunty Ching, and I went and met up with his other Aunties Erica & Rhea, and Ayana. He was on a mission to find shave ice but was content with this (peep the umbrellas in the background).
On Sunday, Miles got to play video games at Uncle Rob's house with his favorite big cousin, Paulskeee Jr. Paulskeee Jr. + video games was heaven for this kid, who love both!
He literally cried when we had to leave Uncle Rob's place to meet up with more of his aunts, uncles, and cousins at the Telegraph street festival in Oakland which is literally down the street from where Aunty Xtina & Uncle Arjuna live. It was fun for him to hang out with Kasama & Gwyneth and Maliyah is so cute and happy. Makes me want someone else to have a baby girl soon (Jen? Awts?). Miles was excited cause there were bouncers, shave ice, and kettle corn, "I love street fairs mom!"
On a trip to the library last week, Miles signed up for the Summer reading program, committing to reading at least 10 books this summer. In August, they throw a book lovers party for all the kids who sign up."Ten books is easy mom! We can do that in one night!" He reassured me. One of the books he borrowed is called, Creatures of the Sea, a pretty cool children's book about ocean life and I figured, hey why not make this into a home school lesson plan subject for these summer weeks? Miles has been enjoying the book, asking me to re-read the 70+ pages over and over (even though he's memorized a lot of the info already). I'm learning a lot about the ocean myself! It's been a good way to get ready for his summer trip to Hawaii. Yesterday, Miles drew pictures of his favorite sea creatures and grabbed the globe so that I could show him where each creature is found. His favorite creatures include the razor clam, gulper eel, viper fish, and sea cucumber. We made a sea creature collage of all his art work and cleared his desk space for all his ocean books. It's been a lot of fun! One day next week, we'll make a day trip to one of the beaches up north which we've never been to.
Wee! So glad we made it through this busy weekend. Miles had a blast staying at his Nanay's house, playing with Darrien all weekend long. Justin and I had a quick getaway to Long Beach for DMC. We got to hang out with good friends (Kimmy, Perci, & Gani!!) and I got to battle once again with my girls, Dee & E! We placed 2nd this year (even though I think we deserved 1st!) but we had tons of fun training for it and finally being able to rock it proper! When I picked up Miles today, the first thing he asked was, "What happened mommy? We're not going to London? Can I see the battle?" I really wonder what he was thinking when he watched it. Before I left for DMC with Jus, he told me, "How come you go to Skratchpad so much?" He thinks any gig I do is Skratchpad. I just told him, "Miles, this is my job and daddy's job too."
While our DMC experience was almost like deja vu from last year, my attitude about not placing first has definitely improved (haha!). Instead of being angry, or getting pissy about the glass ceiling that does exist in every sector almost of society, including HIP HOP, I'm channeling all my energy into music, gonna work on music (& my skills) and continue to "Do me" instead of focusing energy on others. Change starts from within. So if we want anything to change in this world, we gotta focus on working inward on out. If everyone does their part, then hey, maybe the world CAN change, including HIP HOP. And just as our children do each day, just gotta keep having fun and find the joys in everything. 5 or so years ago, I'd probably be angry and bitter after this battle, but now I can take a step back and remember something Qbert told me years ago when I first started DJing (& experiencing misogyny in HIP HOP), "Show 'em what time it is!"
So important to be able to deal with any kind of aggression directed towards you, right? And why not deal with it creatively!
This is for the mamas & womyn of the world, "DO YOU!"...
Thanks to Aunty Cheryl & Uncle Bob aka Bobawts, Miles & Darrien had a fun afternoon at the P-side bowl! I'm sure it was way more fun for the boys to bowl outside of Wii bowl! I think all that Wii bowling practice helped these boys out a bit. What do you think?
We really appreciate our fam for holding us down and spending a lot of time with Miles especially since I've been training for DMC and Justin has been working on music as well. Thank you Nanay, Aunty Jen, Uncle Eric, Aunty Cheryl, & Uncle Bob--Miles has been able to spend quality time with you guys--which he needs!
If you're in the L.A./Long Beach area this weekend, I hope to see you here. Pre-sales are only $10 here: http://www.wantickets.com/EventDetail.aspx?e_id=108241
Miles' aunties Diane & Erin and I have been training for this non-stop. I can't believe it's been about a year since last year's DMC in L.A. Can't wait! Once it's over I'll get to spend time with my boys. They've been super supportive and understanding. Miles asked one night before I left to train at Erin's, "Mom, how come you keep practicing?" And I told him, "Well, I gotta practice with my team a lot so we can get better and do our best." And Miles replied, "Well you make sure you practice all the time then mom because I want you guys to sound good. Ok, DJ Celskiii?"
I love having these precious conversations with my lil man.
