And the tutoring for long exams start...

My son is going to have his first long exam this coming Tuesday, November 30.  This is the first time for him to have an exam that encompasses the lessons for a whole trimester.  He used to just have short quizzes. 

There's a first time for everything.  For my husband and I, this would be the first time for us to do marathon tutoring sessions.

I hope my little boy will be able to make it.  Keeping our fingers crossed!

Pagbabago

It was barely a month after my wedding when the news came.

My uncle and his family were enjoying their Christmas vacation in Thailand when the deadly tsunami struck. This disaster claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of lives, including those of my uncle and my 2 young cousins (they were only aged 44, 13 and 10 at the time) plus 2 other members of their party.

My brother went to Phuket to take care of things while we all waited for any updates. At the time, the youngest daughter (my cousin) was still struggling for her life in an ICU. She eventually succumbed after almost 3 weeks, a few days after her 10th birthday.

Imagine. We were still at the height of the euphoric honeymoon cloud that we were riding in when we were rudely brought back to reality. My mother was very depressed that her youngest brother and the 2 young children were so abruptly taken away from us.

With all that was happening, I initially did not realize that there were already changes occurring in my body. I started to get food aversions. I thought that I just did not have an appetite given the extreme situation that we were in at that time. There were only a few things that I could tolerate, and the Goldilocks mamon that my mom's friends brought over was one of them.

Then we began to suspect that my lack of appetite and food aversions were due to something else.

2 pink lines. A new life. Hope.

We told my mother the news that she is going to be a grandmother. I believe that this was the point when she started to slowly get out of her depression.

9 months after we lost our loved ones to the fury of Mother Nature, we welcomed another life into the family. My husband and I were so excited that we excitedly shared the news to family and friends. A lot of them came over to visit. We served them goodies from Goldilocks like ensaymada and mamon and tetra packed juice.

I realized later that my son came at just the right time. He is my mother's first apo, and while she may not be a totally indulgent lola (she can actually be strict at times), she loves him very, very much. We now celebrate life, after death claimed our loved ones.

Life has again changed.

In about 2 week's time, it will be his fifth birthday. We're having a simple celebration at home. No party this year, just a simple family salo-salo, but for sure there will be a cake (from Goldilocks!) and misua. It's been a roller coaster ride the past 5 years, but life goes on, through all the ups and downs, through all the challenges, through all the PAGBABAGO (changes).

My little boy goes to big school

Today is E's first day in La Salle Greenhills.

It's not his first school. He used to attend preschool at ICBB. But big school's a totally different story.

My husband and I both took leaves from our clinics so that we could accompany him to school.

He told us that he enjoyed school. We are glad. (Big sigh of relief here). Hoping that he'll continue to enjoy school.

The biggest drawback is the heavy heavy traffic in that area! We didn't have that problem when he was still in small school. We do have to make adjustments...soon. Let's see what happens in the next few days.

Vicks -- An Awww... Moment

I have to blog about this!

Background: Our son considers Vicks Vaporub as his cure-all for minor booboos. When he gets bumped, a swipe of Vicks and the pain is magically gone :).

Last night, my little boy E was sitting on lap when he noticed that I had a small wound on my thigh. He said "sugat mommy" (mommy's wound). He stood up and looked for Vicks. When he found it, he opened the cap, put a little on his index finger, came back to me and rubbed it on my wound. It was pure magic for me--a loving gesture from my small son which warmed my heart and made me so happy. :)

I'm Yours

My son E loves this song! His a-ku (Uncle) Jack, my brother was singing and playing the guitar one day and the kid just loved it! He now refers to it as A-ku's song. :)

Lyrics | Jason Mraz lyrics - I'm Yours lyrics

E's Costumes

My son is now starting to like dressing up, unlike when he was younger. He looks so cute when he does. On his first Halloween trick or treat, he dressed up in a shark costume but later changed into a basketball jersey because it was too hot in the costume. On his second trick-or-treat, instead of going for the usual store bought costumes, he wore an improvised one with overalls and some toy tools. When asked, we said that he was "Bob the Builder". :)

Costumes when he started toddler school include the following: Filipiniana costume for their "linggo ng wika" celebration -- we simply let him wear his Barong Tagalog (which he wore to my brother's wedding as the ring bearer). An Angel costume for their school trick-or-treat. He used that later at the village trick-or-treat and walked away with a special prize for one of the 10 cutest. He enjoyed being in costume by this time and actually insisted on wearing his halo and wings every chance he got! During his moving up day, he was the blue horse in their presentation. He was asked to wear blue polo and white pants. The school's artist designed headgears for the pupils, and his was, of course, a blue horse!

I wonder what costume we'll come up with this year. Whatever it is, I'm sure he'll have a blast with it!

Happy E

I don't know if it's just our imagination or is E becoming even more makulit (mischievous)? His favorite bedtime activity nowadays is trying to bury his dad in pillows and then jumping on him, all the while laughing out loud. He also asks questions that he already knows the answers to, then if you give him the wrong answer, he will correct you. He also throws toys down the stairs and under the refrigerator and asks me to get it for him. I do not want to encourage this, so I tell him that mommy can't bend over, you'll have to get it yourself.

The good thing is that he doesn't really have many tantrums at this stage. He's a generally happy child who seldom cries and laughs often -- although sometimes he laughs AT someone after he does some mischief. Well, we'll have to guide him as to what is right and wrong, but for now I'm glad that he's turned out to be be happy AND healthy.

Daddy's Gonna Be A Great Biking Teacher

There are at least two things I want my husband to teach my son: swimming and biking.

Although I do swim, I'm not really as good as other people who are more serious about the sport. It seems that my husband is more serious than I am about this, and thus is more qualified to teach our little boy how to swim during this long, hot summer.

About biking, I'm embarrassed to admit that I never really got the hang of it. Perhaps it was already quite late when I attempted to get acquainted with the bicycle. Or maybe I'm just not cut out to ride bikes. My husband, on the other hand, has been biking with his childhood friends. Since they all lived near the vicinity of the UP Campus, they were able to make use of the relatively un-busy streets within the campus to ride their bikes.

My son already has a bike, one with detachable training wheels. He got it as a "birthday gift" when we had his first birthday at McDonald's. Now, he is 3 1/2 years old and old enough to learn to bike. And I really believe that his dad will be a good teacher.

Exciting Week in Review!

Last week was a pretty exciting (and busy) week for our family. It's especially significant since Ethan figured prominently in those (but when has he not? :)

It started on Sunday, March 15. My cousin's wedding. My son was the bible bearer, and he gets to wear a suit for the first time! It's not his first time to be a bearer. He was ring bearer during my brother's wedding last July (where he also looked very cute in his barong). The difference is that this time he actually walked alone! Sayang lang (It's a pity) he kinda spoiled the effect by turning back down the aisle just when he was about to sit down. Still, I thought that was a milestone for him.

Tuesday, March 17, was my son's moving up day. He actually delivered his lines well! This surprised me because although we were given the lines that he was supposed to sing so that we can try to practice at home, he never really wanted to practice with us. During the impromptu dress rehearsal just before the actual performance, he didn't really get his lines well either. Oh well... But when the time came for him to actually say them, he sang those lines clearly! My heart literally swelled with pride. :)

Their class also did 2 other numbers, both dances for little kids. The first involved 2 sticks and the second involved pompoms. He actually memorized the steps! This was more of a surprise since I didn't really know that there were other numbers aside from the group singing that they did. I loved the performance, but my eyes were mostly glued on my son. Proud mama moment!

Oh, and he got an award -- Excellence in Science! Actually all the kids had some sort of award but he was the only one whose award was different and unique. Nobody else got the same award as he did. The teacher said that it was because he is very interested in their science works and really excels in it. Way to go, son!

I took a leave from work that morning, and it was so worth it!

On Thursday, he had his usual speech therapy session and did very well, according to the speech therapist. She suggested that when his "real" therapist comes back from her maternity leave, we have Ethan reevaluated and then seen by the developmental pediatrician. She feels that Ethan's speech is now at par with his age, so there's a possibility that he may be discharged from therapy soon! Oooh, that made us so happy and so hopeful!

Friday was the PTC (parent teacher conference) day. It was a pity I was not able to go since something came up at the last minute. I did ask my husband about it. The teacher thought that my son had improved so much during the past year. He is now more sociable, he talks more audibly and clearly and he actually participates in his classroom activities. The teacher also noted that Ethan is more of a kinesthetic learner who learns more by doing. We should keep that in mind!

The rest of the week was a blur of work...I've added another clinic schedule since there was an opening. I believe that Someone is watching over us. We truly needed it since we are saving money for my expected CS delivery in June AND my son's tuition for the next year. Someone was watching over us and giving us opportunities in order to do those...I'm grateful for all the blessings that have come my way.

He Didn't Cry!

We went to Medical City last Saturday, both for my prenatal checkup and for our little boy to have a follow up check up with his pediatrician.

My prenatal check went ok. We had E go into the consultation room when my OB placed the Doppler probe over my tummy. He was able to hear the sound of my baby's heartbeat. Now, he sometimes lifts my shirt up to kiss it. Then he would point at it and say "sound hoo-hoo-hoo" (the sound of the heartbeat that he heard from the Doppler). :) Aliw :) (So amusing)

We then went up to his Pediatrician's clinic. He was actually better already from the cough that he had suffered from about 2 weeks ago, but we just wanted to make sure that everything's ok. He seemed fine, and even gained back the weight that he lost when he got sick. Since it was already due, we also decided to have him get his annual flu shot. It's been quite a while since his last vaccination, so we were almost expecting him to cry, like the last time he had his shots. Surprising, he didn't! He just made a face and when it was all over, my husband and I applauded and praised him for being such a good boy! His pediatrician placed a band aid with a picture of a fish (looks a bit like Dory from Finding Nemo but not really). After we went home, he keeps telling everybody that "tusok diyan Ninang Zeka" (Ninang Zeka poked me there with a needle), "Ouchie", "Sticker fish" and "Galing Ethan" (Ethan is so good!).

He turned our doctors' visits into such a nice experience! Way to go, E!

Trick or Treat!

Ethan went trick or treating yesterday. Here is his costume:
He's the little boy in the angel costume. The photo was taken from his school halloween party. (Click on image to get a bigger view).

Lookit all the loot he got! (Again, please click on image for a bigger view)
The orange bag was the prize he got for being in the 10 cutest costumes. Not bad, noh, considering that there are more than 500 participants. :) Other categories were 10 scariest, 10 best United Nations costumes and 10 best Disney costumes.

It was fun, and all we had to do was provide some goodies for kids who pass by our house!

Ethan Turned Three! -- Part I

Ethan had his birthday a little over a month ago. We had not one , but 3 celebrations to mark the day! One in school, one in my mom's home, and one with my in-laws on the Sunday after his actual birthday.

First up, we had a small party for him at his toddler school. It was a lot easier than the McDo party we had when he turned one, since there are fewer "guests" and they are all there in school, and it was very short, only about 30 minutes. Yup, short and sweet. Just the way I like it. Theme-less too, so easier to get generic stuff.

We didn't have any invitations made. I didn't think that would be necessary, because my memories of school parties just consisted of bringing the cake and ice cream and balloons to school. Anyway, I reasoned that the little guests would already by there anyway. I did inform the teacher, not only so that he will know about the upcoming activity, but also so that he would be able to advise me on what is allowable or not in school.

We only had finger food. This was on the advise of Teacher Randy. He told us that classic fare like spaghetti and fried chicken would require the help of the yayas and/or teacher aides. Finger foods are easier for little hands to handle by themselves. Not only that, the servings are smaller, perfect for small tummies. We just bought cheese sticks, cocktail hotdogs (no sticks -- I'm an ophthalmologist and I'm paranoid about barbecue stick injuries), and chicken popcorn. I had it cooked at home and brought to school. We just HAD to include birthday misua, though, because it's traditional for us Chinese. Instead of providing paper plates, we bought small plastic microwaveable containers so that the kids can bring their food home if they cannot finish it.

Instead of getting a big cake, we got mini cuppies (not regular sized ones) from Quintbelles. I think that was a good idea! Toddlers don't really get to finish the regular sized cupcakes anyway. We just arranged it so that it spells out Happy 3rd birthday Ethan (see picture). Thank you so much Elaine! We loved how it looked! The children loved licking on the icing too!

We prepared some theme-less loot bags.
They're actually small pencil cases. We put bubbles, small jellos, lollipops, a small ball, a small toy watch and another small toy inside. Simple lang. I bought mugs for the teachers and the aides and filled them with candies and decorative paper clips -- it's a pity we forgot to take pics). For the tags, I printed out pictures of Ethan and the recipient (or of the whole class if I can't find any with just the two of them).

Balloons were provided by the school. We didn't really have a set program, but the teacher incorporated the lesson about age and birthdays in that day's class. I think that was better, actually. :)

And Ethan actually blew out the candle on his birthday cupcake for the very first time in his life!

It's just a pity that Ethan was not feeling well during his birthday (he had the beginnings of viral bronchiectasis) but he was such a trooper! I believe he would have enjoyed it even more if he were not feeling under the weather.

Will have a Part II. Watch out for it.

In the meantime, I hope that these tips for birthday celebrations on a very tight budget would help you. Enjoy!

Better Way To Keep Memories

Ever since the advent of digital cameras, more and more photos are left in hard drives or SD cards. I'm one of those moms who are guilty of not having a physical photo album in which my son's photographs are showcased. My mother-in-law has been convincing me to have them printed, since for her, looking at pictures on the computer screen is not the same as looking at actual photographs. I actually agree with her. I am bothered, though, about the amount of loose pictures we had from childhood which remained unbound or have fallen off old photo albums. Time really does not guarantee that precious pictures will be kept forever, and photo albums are sadly not as durable as they used to be.

I did make an album of sorts back when my son turned 1. I printed out images on photo papers and had them ring bound by an office supply store near our home. Now, looking at it, it looks very rough, but I was proud of it. It also served as a guest book during my son's birthday as the guests signed up on the white pages. Too bad not too many guests signed, because they took a long time, as they were busy looking at the pictures!

We have already compiled quite a pile of pictures. However, I probably would not do it the way I did before, printed it out myself and had it ring bound. I would like better prints, better layout and of course better book binding for those precious photos. I came across coverbinddirect.com, which offers machines especially for this purpose. I'm thinking that this will not only be great for my family's albums, but will also make a great business. There's an ongoing contest and I'm trying my luck. Who knows, I might just be making beautiful photobooks in no time at all!

Not a Cry Baby...

My son can be pretty manipulative at times. I think he may be trying to get his way with crying. How would you explain the fact that he does not cry when he falls or bangs his head but cries loudly when he doesn't get to watch his favorite DVD? How do you explain why he cries because it's bedtime and he still wants to play? How do you explain the fact that he cries more when my husband and I are around? Arte no?

Definitely time to hold our ground and be firm about rules.

Yaya's Day Off

Yaya C. told me a few weeks before that she's taking today off so that she can spend time with her parents. I agreed. I didn't expect to be doing anything productive while the little tyke is awake. With his cousin Kuya G., it was virtually impossible for these 2 rambunctious (but fun!) boys to have any sleep! He finally crashed when he was having dinner (even had some food in his mouth pa), but it turned out to be a short nap. He woke up at around 8:30pm. My hubby and I fell asleep before he did, and when I woke up at around 11:00 pm, he was still awake, probably very bored (he was just lying in bed playing by himself in the darkened room), and smiling at me when he saw that I was already awake.

Haynaku! :)

Abangan!

My little boy had very simple birthday party celebration x 3 last week! Too bad he was a little under the weather, but the little trooper blew out the candles (for the first time in his life)! More details to follow :).

In Less Than A Month....

...Ethan will be three!

I have already talked with Teacher Randy regarding Ethan's birthday to be celebrated at school. I guess I am more excited than my boy. I have already ordered cupcakes and I am already thinking of the food that will be served. Nothing fancy, just simple finger foods that the toddlers can handle themselves without much assistance. I have even thought of his gift!

Although it's just a simple school party, I would like my son to enjoy his birthday party. Hence I am looking for birthday party supplies that would fit his interests and his personality. I'm thinking a simple art party might be nice. Or a Sesame Street themed one since it's his favorite. Since I am on a really tight budget, I'd prefer if I can find discount party supplies that would not break my very small budget. Otherwise, we'd have to make do with whatever DIY party supplies that my husband and I can make ourselves.

Birthdays for kids are big here in the Philippines, with some people spending as much as 200 thousand pesos for parties. I am more of a frugal mommy because, really, we cannot afford to spend that much for a one day celebration. We had a McDonald's party because that is what we can afford. It's a good thing that we were able to entertain more than a hundred guests (the original guest list was for 200 people) for much lower than a regular kiddie party with a party host and all the bells and whistles. His second birthday "party" was just a family celebration at home since I just got out of surgery that week. Now, his third birthday is a celebration in school. It will probably be similar for his fourth, but, we'll see.

Whatever happens, I really hope that Ethan and his classmates will enjoy the celebration!

E's Home

...because he's having some sort of viral gastroenteritis. He vomited, had 2 episodes of diarrhea, and is generally listless. No appetite either. He's lost a lot of weight. My poor baby. :(

I hope he gets well soon.

coffee break ver. 1.20

What characteristics of a school are you looking for?

Thanks, Jan, for this very timely question. My husband and I decided to send our little son to toddler school this school year. My reasons are stated in another post.

My main criteria for choosing ICBB (Innovative Center for Beginning Beginners) as my son's first school:

Their track record - Like most other moms, I asked around for good preschools within the area. There are actually a lot near us and sometimes I got a little confused when asking people, since different people will give different recommendations. I decided to try ICBB out when I was told that ICBB kids didn't have problems shifting to a more traditional system when they go to big school and actually thrive and perform very well when they do.

Their teachers - I had the pleasure to observe the teachers with the children, including my son (since I enrolled him for summer school). I love the way teachers relate to the students. They were very patient with the small children and they actually were able to make the kids listen to them. My son learned to line up for his turn at washing up, learned to get his own snack bag, learned to sit still at the table for his snacks. All without raising their voices a bit. These may be small things but I think they matter in the long run.

As for the more academic stuff, they teach children via storytelling, singing, art, playing. Even rest time, and snack time is an opportunity for learning. And the kids all seem to be having fun, but at the same time they are already learning.

My son's class is going to be consisting of only 8 students to 1 teacher. There is also 1 teacher aide to assist the teacher. The school assures me though, that if there is a particularly hard to handle student, they sometimes add another teacher.

My son -- He's happy! He learns! He now has friends :). More about that on this post.

Tuition fee - Let me first state that the tuition fee here is quite hefty. But when I compared them with other small schools in the area (and some other areas as well), it seems to be within the range and even seems to be at the lower end.
Although I am very willing to spend for a good quality education for my kid, I want something I can sustain. I do not want to send him to a school wherein I the tuition fee will be higher than what I can afford and which will have me going into debt.

Distance - Very near. This is always an advantage. My son does not have to have a big lead time when going to school so he does not have to wake up VERY early. It will be easier for me or my husband to drop him off at school and pick him up later. There is less fuel usage, which in turn translates to a lot of savings, especially in these times of high fuel prices. In times when school is suddenly called off, especially with weather changes, it would be easy for someone to go and pick him up.

Chinese lessons - This is really a bonus for other parents, but for me, I really want my son to have Chinese lessons since I'm of Chinese ancestry. I am planning to send my son to Chinese-Filipino big school later on so I do want him to have a head start already by then.

Location - It is inside an exclusive subdivision. It seems to be safer since not just anybody can go inside the village. I'm a bit paranoid about kidnapping incidents especially since my son really looks Chinese (you know kidnappers have a predilection for Chinese). Also, the road outside the school, since it's a village road, is not as busy as other streets, hence there are less incidences of accidents.

My criteria for his big school (later) is slightly different. I will probably tackle it at a later time, since big school is about 2 years away.

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Additional plugging: Watch out for the 2nd edition of the Pinoy Parenting Blog Carnival, which tackles on the issues of school. I'm still working on the roundup.

Ethan's Going to School

Ethan's now 30 months. Next month he will be going to toddler school. It was one of the most crucial decisions that we made this year.

I was not a fan of early childhood education. I thought that kids should be taught first by their parents at home and sent to school at age of around 3 or 4. And we tried to do the things that other parents do. Unfortunately, the results are not the same.

The downside of comparing your kid with other kids of the same age is that if your kid lags behind in some aspects, you become worried. It may be a good thing, though, because sometimes you catch some problems you otherwise would not have. That's what happened to me. When my forum mates with kids around the same age as Ethan started to say that their kids are already speaking in straight phrases or sentences, I became worried. My Ethan was still at the single word stage, and it was not even a lot of words. We had him evaluated, and true enough, he does have a slight expressive speech delay. Because of this, we did a 2 pronged approach and brought him to a speech therapist AND sent him to a toddler school within the vicinity for 6 weeks of the summer, just to see how things work out.

It worked! His learning accelerated! He learned a lot more words and is already starting to use phrases. He learned to follow instructions. He learned to deal with other children his age. He learned to wait his turn. He is still continuing speech therapy once a week but even his therapist noted that he has improved greatly! More importantly, he LOVED school. He actually looked forward to it. When we have to wake him up, I just have to say, "Ethan, you have to get up or you'll be late for school" and he won't linger in bed. He is a very slow eater but just tell him that he will be late for school and he will eat faster!

Separation anxiety? After maybe 2 weeks, he has ceased to cling to us. WE are the ones having separation anxiety as his dad and/or I hover around his classroom trying to peer in and see what he's doing.

It is because of all of these that made us decide to send him to school this June. He'll be going to the same school he went to during the summer. He'll be having the same classmates and the same teacher. And he's learning that learning is fun!

As to what school I'm sending him and why I chose that school, I've detailed them here.
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This is my own entry to PPBC 2nd edition.