The sick flower girl and the preggy bridesmaid

Gabbie's temperature when we went to Tagaytay last May 15 for Ninang Jenny's wedding was 38.9 C. She was sleeping the whole time on the way to the church. But despite the really hot weather and the fever, she still managed to march down the aisle without tantrums (unlike the other and older flower girls who were all nakasimangot while walking). She slept during the ceremony but woke up when it was already picture taking with the newlyweds, and then fell asleep again on the way to reception.

During the reception she was getting cranky. After the dinner, we already left. It was also a very tiring day for me because I was the one driving. Hubby was out on a business trip and unfortunately there was no one who could drive but me.

Sweet Girl Award

Gabbie's summer class ended last May 16. We almost didn't make it because the weekend before that Gabbie had very high fever.

The whole class held a party/picnic after their recognition ceremony where they were given their summer class completion certificate and their individual awards. Gabbie's award is The Sweet Girl Award. According to the teacher, she is the only student who is all-smile every time she enters the classroom, and is sweet and friendly to everybody.

It was a potluck party. I cooked spaghetti for the kids, teachers and parents. The others brought cake, fried chicken, melon shake, pancit, puto , lumpiang shanghai and rice.

I guess Gabbie is already 100% ready to go to formal school in June :)

Ninang Jenny's Flower Girl

The wedding will be on Saturday May 15, 2011 at the Chapel of Transfiguration (Caleregua) in Nasugbu Batangas. Gabbie will be a flower girl, and me... a preggy bridesmaid this time. This is Gabbie's gown, during our 2nd fitting. Can't wait to see her walk down the aisle again on Ninang Jenny's big day :)

Puzzle Time

The girls are currently into puzzles so during their free time after school, we set up a camp in the garage and there they do their stuff.

This is a really effective way to lessen their TV time. So the one-hour a day is now reduced to half, because by the time they ask for cartoons, they'd be tired and sleepy. They couldn't even finish a 30-minute cartoon show on Nick.

School Girls

These are our school girls after their summer classes, taking their afternoon nap.

So far we have been successful with regards to their daily routine. TV/cartoon time has been limited to an hour a day which is a significant improvement than before they went schooling.

7-7:30 Wake up

8:00 Eat breakfast

8:30 Bath time

9:00-11:00 Summer school

11:30 Lunch

12:30 Review of today's lesson

1:00 Cartoon Time

2:00 Nap time

4:00 Snacks and indoor activities (play toys, puzzles, building blocks, etc)

5:00 Outdoor activities (biking, playing with neighbor kids)

6:00 Study for tomorrow's lesson

7:00 Free time (sing, play, read books, coloring books, etc)

8:00 Dinner

9:00 Prepare for bedtime

10:00 Sleep

And so far, both girls are behaving well in school, although Gabbie is, at her age, still very playful. But among the 3-yr olds in their summer class, Gabbie is the only one who never needed a companion inside the classroom since day one, and unlike most of her classmates, she doesn't cry or throw tantrums. She even finishes her snacks and she has improved a lot in terms of attention, focus and following the routine, according to the teachers. We just need to practice her coloring skills and grip because when she writes, its almost invisible especially when she uses a pencil.

Baby Rafa :)

Meet Baby Rafa at 10wks and 4days. His expected date of delivery is on November 8, 2011. If he stays for three more days inside (like Ate Gabbie whose EDD was Jan 9, 2008 but came out Jan 12 instead), he will be born 11-11-11. We'll see :)

Amazing!

Last weekend we attended Darla's first birthday party at Alexandra Clubhouse in Pasig City. Darla is Dana's little sister. Dana is Gabbie's bestfriend. Darla and Dana are my friend Kitte's lovely daughters.

The party was hosted by a magician named Kuya Alex. His magic tricks were so amazing that we were caught by one of the photographer looking like this:

I've been watching a show where they reveal how these magicians do their tricks. But still seeing one do it right in front of my two eyes make me still go "whoa! how did he do that?"

Gabbie's First Day in School (Summer Class)

First day of summer class, Gabbie asked me "Mommy, can I bring my PSP?" I said "No, that won't be necessary." She just said "Ok" then went to the bathroom to bathe and brush teeth.

At the school, she went immediately inside the classroom, totally forgetting that there's mommy and daddy watching her from outside. I had to get her attention to bid goodbye to daddy before he goes to work. She just kissed daddy goodbye and joined the other kids playing toys inside the classroom.

Outside, I waited for two hours just sitting and listening to other moms talking about their experiences with different schools they've been to. Sometime I'd fall asleep. And then I remember the PSP, I should have brought it with me, Gabbie was right. Haha.

Then about 30minutes before dismissal, I head a kid crying. I peeked at the room to check if it was Gabbie. It was another kid. But when Gabbie saw me looking, she said "Mommy, come inside." "No, anak it's not allowed" "Its ok, mommy. Come."

It was time to eat their snacks. "I thought you were the one crying", I told her. "I'm not crying! It's just the baby boy" she proudly answered. "But why is he crying?" I asked. "Maybe, he's hungry" she said.

Learning Lab @ Gymboree

Gabbie's last two sessions in Gymboree will be with Learning Lab. We might not re-enrol her unless the class opens on a weekend. That is because Gabbie will be attending a summer class starting third week of April.

According to Gymboree website: Learning Lab combines multi-sensory learning products from LeapFrog School™ and Handwriting Without Tears (HWT) with Gymboree’s interactive approach for a well-rounded learning experience for reading, writing and math.  Leapfrog activities are designed to help children build essential skills including letter and color recognition, counting, and shape identification, while HWT provides hands-on sensory-focused activities for fine motor skill development and beginning letter skills.

Today their lesson is about square. They made this artwork with lots of squares in it, they traced lines on a square pattern and they did some coloring and as usual, singing and dancing.

that's my very own Artzooka :)

using play dough to trace broken lines of a square

using a pen

i call this high-tech coloring :) i want to get one for Gabbie too, to try at home

and singing and dancing before dismissal

Conversations with my toddler

Gabbie (nananahimik sa kitchen)
Me: Gabbie what are you doing?
Gabbie: I'm eating, Mommy!
Me: What are you eating?
Gabbie: Stick-O!
Me: Are you sure? Can you read it?
Gabbie: S-U-P-E-R-S-T-I-X. Stick-O!

*************
Gabbie (at 7PM): Mommy, I want to watch cartoons.
Me: No more na cartoons, we will sleep na in a while.
Gabbie: I'm not sleepy.
Me: It's already dark anak, what do we do when it's already dark?
Gabbie: We have to use flashlight!

*************
Gabbie: Mommy, my feet are talking! Talk to them please...
Me: Hello feet! But anak, feet don't talk.
Gabbie: Oh no, we have a big problem.
Me: Huh???

*************
Me: Gabbie, please don't eat your hands. They're dirty.
Gabbie: Look mommy, my hands are clean.
Me: Yeah but there may be worms in your hands, don't eat them.
Gabbie: Don't worry mommy, I don't eat the worms, I just eat my hands.

*************
Me (making lambing while waking her up): Good morning bebeng... are you wake up na?
Gabbie: Mommy, I'm not your bebeng. Just Gabbie. Just call me Gabbie. I'm still sleeping.
Me: Oh, ok... sleep more.