Teacher Ate

On nursery rhyme...
Gio: (Incomprehensible sound)...twas a farmer whohada duck...
Ate: dog!
Gio: and DINGO was his name-o
Ate: BINGO!
Gio: E-I-N-G-O!
Ate:....

On counting...
Ate: O bilangin mo yan. One...
Gio: Zero muna.
Ate: One muna.
Gio: Zero muna kc ung nasa ref zero muna.
Ate: Pero pag nagbibilang one muna kaya nga two kasi one, two.
Gio (starts counting): Zero, one, two...thirty-nine, thirty...fourty-nine, thirty...eighty-nine, thirty
(The ate corrects him everytime, nevertheless).

On math...
Ate: Gio, one plus one?
Gio(puts out his two pointing fingers): One plus one... equals zero!

On spelling...
Ate: Gio, alam mo ba spelling ng dog?
Gio(nods) : D...anung sunod?
Ate: O
Gio: D-O-I-U!
Ate: E cat?
Gio: C...Ate, SHOES alam ko!
Ate: Tlaga?! Cge shoes.
Gio: H-O-I-U-R-U
Ate(silently thinking): H-O-I-U-R-U...HO-I-U-RU
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I could really be mistaken to be Gio's mother. I was was the one who enrolled him for nursery, put on his sash when he won as runner-up in the Mr. UN contest, attended his Christmas party, accepted his award during his recognition day. And I was his chaperone during the first Field Trip of his life. You see, my parents are really busy. That is, busier than a medicine student. But these instances were really...mmm...amazing(?).

Included in the itinerary of their trip was a puppet show. In the middle of the show, I allowed him to sit with the other kids on the side of the stage. Like any other typical stories for kids there was a villain. At the moment the villain demonstrated his evil acts toward the protagonist, my brother ran towards the center of the stage, hit the villain several times with all his might and kaboom! he became part of the show. He was declared as a hero. During these times I didn't know if I should get my brother out of stage or take pictures of him with the other characters. I preferred to do the latter.

After these events a parent approached me and said, "Ang galing naman ng anak mo!" Napangiti lang ako.

After two weeks, my mom managed to show up in my brother's school for the first time to drop him off.
Teacher: A...kayo ho ba ang lola?
Mami ko: A hindi ho. Ako ho ang tunay na mommy.