New Stage in Life-Ian graduated from High School

Ian Katague King in his Barong Tagalog ready for His High School Graduation with Lolo and Lola Katague
Two weeks ago, our oldest grandson,Ian Katague King (he turned 18 last January) graduated from high school. Macrine and I attended his graduation with the thought that this is another stage in our life worth remembering. Macrine and I are lucky to experience this event in our lives, since both of us are still in fairly good health. During the graduation ceremony ( about 4 hours), my mind keep wandering about Ian's future. We know he is going to college next Fall, taking Architecture. Then in four years, we hope he will get his degree. In the next two years, he will hopefully get married and maybe have a family of his own, That means , Macrine and I will be a great grand Parents before our 8oth Birthday. I hope we both live long enough to reach that stage in our lives.
Carenna at her Kindergarten Graduation last year
This weekend we babysat again for our six year-old grand daughter, Carenna Katague Thompson, for the whole 4 days and 3 nights. Carenna is our youngest grand daughter. Normally, we just babysit for her during the day. The last time she stayed overnight was last year. At that time, she did not want to sleep alone in her own bed, so she slept between Macrine and I in our California King size bed. We did not realized at that time that Carenna turns 360 degrees during her sleep. In doing this maneuver, she would kick Macrine on the breast and also my upper torso during the whole night. Needless to say, we had a sleepless and disturbed night. So we told her Mom, the next time she stays with us overnight, she will have to sleep on her own bed either in our guest room or in our bedroom if she is scared sleeping alone in another room. Carenna promised to sleep in her own portable bed, but in our bedroom. We said that is fine. In the early part of the her first night, every thing went well as planned. However, by about 4:00 AM, I was awaken by a whisper “ Lolo, could I sleep with you and Lola”. I can't say no, so I said “come on”. She would then climb over and sleep between us. By 5:30AM as soon as day light, we were both awake. It was early for my normal waking hours, but I have no choice. Macrine did not realized this happened until, I told her the next day. The second night, she slept in her own portable bed. Again, the same thing happened at about 3:00AM. This time though, she was not restless and did not wake up until 7:00AM, my normal waking hour. At the third and last night, Carenna slept all night in her portable bed. Our goal for her is to sleep independently when she stays with us overnight. This has been accomplished. Before we know it, she will be a teenager. We are looking forward for that day, when she turns 13.This will be another stage in our lives worth remembering.

Our standard routine when Carenna stays overnight is that we bring her to our local mall to play in the children area inside the mall. After that, we buy her an ice cream and bring her to the toy shop. If she has been good, we buy her an inexpensive gift. Later she would swim with her Lola, then watch her favorite TV show, Tom and Jerry in the ON DEMAND movies section. She enjoys this activity, since her MOM and DAD do not subscribe to CABLE. In between swimming and Cable TV, she would draw free hand or color in a pre-printed pictures. Her free-hand drawing looks good for her age. This reminds me of my own father who was an excellent free-hand artist. Of course, Carenna's mother, Ditas, is also artistic. She has a Bachelor degree in Art from UC Berkeley. Her sculpture during her student days at UC Berkeley, had been exhibited in the campus and she had participated in Arts Shows during her student days.

The joy of taking care of our six year old grand daughter is indescribable. She is smart for her age. She talks like a 10-year old kid. She knows of her Filipino heritage(half Filipino-half Irish) and that she is a mestiza. Baby sitting for her makes us feel young again, although at the end of our babysitting session, we feel very tired and exhausted. This is an experience in the stage in our life that we enjoyed very much. For as they saying goes, you love more your grandchildren than your children, since your grandchildren are already your profits from your investments ( your children).