Gabbie: HBD and Twinkle Twinkle (and other nursery rhymes)

Been teaching Gabbie some nursery rhymes for weeks now. She's learned the ABC song, Barney Song, I Have Two Hands and Twinkle Twinkle, which is her favorite (as of now). So for her Ninong's birthday, she sang it after her usual HBD greetings.

Our current song is Five Little Monkeys. It's about the monkeys who kept jumping on the bed but one by one fell off the bed and bumped their heads. Then the momma monkey would call the doctor and the doctor would say "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

So whenever Gabbie would jump on the bed, I ask her what the doctor said in the song and then she'd stop.

We're also into The Eensy Weensy Spider. She's having fun doing the actions. This is another way of preparing her for formal schooling. I don't want her lost when the teacher asks them to sing the usual nursery rhymes.

Storytelling @ Fully Booked

Aside from the trial class she had in Kindermusik last Tuesday, this one is the first for Gabbie. It's the Cambridge Storytelling and Arts and Crafts at Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street that we attended (and almost missed, thanks to the C5 heavy traffic) yesterday afternoon.

They started the session with a song If You're Happy and You Know It. Good start, considering that Gabbie just came from her afternoon nap (in the cab). And this is the latest song I taught Gabbie and she really likes it with all the actions that I use for her to act. In fact, she was able to finish her peanut butter sandwich one morning because I was singing "If you're happy and you know it, eat your bread..." the whole time she was eating.

Anyways, the teacher from Cambridge Child Develpoment Center read a story about a frog and An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni. It was Gabbie's first time, so I didn't expect her to sit all throughout the storytelling. In fact, she stood up to ask for a balloon from another teacher several times but she would go back to her seat when told, and when she heard the storyteller use different tones and act some words while reading (it really works on Gabbie even when we do our reading at home, it really catches her attention).

After the storytelling, they were asked to make a frog. The other teacher prepared cut outs of a frog's body parts and the kids were asked to put them together like this:

And then they sang some songs. Luckily, Gabbie knew most of them as we sing them together all the time at home. When they were asked what song they'd like to sing, she said "QRS" meaning, ABC. So they sang the ABC. Then she said "I love you song" meaning the Barney song. And they all sang the Barney song. They ended the session with a goodbye song (which I am not familiar with because we don't sing goodbye songs at home).

So this is Gabbie's frog:

With the balloon she was bugging the teacher about:

I hope there would be more like this. This is a perfect way to prepare her for the formal schooling next year.

Ready, Set, Swing!

Swimming Exhibition

Gabbie swimming @ Palm Grove swimming pool c/o Ninang Nelia. The water is 5-ft deep. She doesn't want to swim in the kiddie pool anymore.

Guess How Much I Love You (Gabbie version)

Guess How Much I Love You- Gabbie's funny version:

I overheard Gabbie and her daddy talking last night while she's putting on her night clothes.

Daddy: I love you!
Gabbie: I love you!
Daddy: How much?
Gabbie: Payb petot!

*******

Several nights ago naman after saying her bedtime prayer (Gabbie's prayer goes "Father, Son, Holy, Spirit, Amen. Thank you Jesus. I love you."), Gabbie said "I love you daddy, I love you mommy." I replied "I love you too."

Then she looked at me and said "I love you three!"

Hehe.

Flower girl again...

For the 4th time, Gabbie will be a flower girl. This time for her Ninong (my older brother) Olan. This photo was taken last weekend for the first fitting only but it looks like it's done already, except for the (obi) belt and the loops. The wedding will be on October 23; the finished gown will be ready by month end, so I have plenty of time to look for the matching shoes.

In May 2011 on her Ninang Jenny's wedding, she will be a flower girl again. I think it's time that I get a separate cabinet for all her gowns, dresses and costumes.

Swimming Gabbie

Toothbrushing Gabbie

Like most toddlers, Gabbie used to hate brushing her teeth, or when I do brush her teeth, I should say. We started with the real brush when she was one and half years old. I had to memorize the Colgate jingle just to make toothbrushing at night sound fun fun fun.

When she turned two, I had to "force" her to open her mouth (useless na ang Colgate jingle). Then she saw Shrek on DVD. There's a scene where Fiona and a bird were singing Aaahhhh... Aaahhh... Aahh... and the bird exploded at the highest note. She found it too funny. So when we brush her teeth, we would just ask her to sing like the princess and the bird. Successful kami dun, until now.

Then there's Charice's post (sis, I'm your blog stalker!) about telling her cutie daughter Jia that she's brushing animals out of her teeth so Jia will open her mouth because Jia finds it yucky to have goats, tigers, dogs, and monkeys inside her mouth.

Just for fun, I tried it on Gabbie. Just like with the Aaahhh... Aaahhh... Aahh.. she didn't resist when I asked her to open her mouth. I tried it anyway, but she just said "Nye!" to dogs and monkeys. So I told her we should brush her teeth because there's worm and spider inside her mouth. She said "Ewww!" and opened her mouth. But when we paused (to spit), she told me "No, mommy, no worms (in) my mouth! Chicken lang, and fish, and shrimp and bread and rice!"

"Ah, ok!"

So we brushed the chicken, the fish and shrimp and bread and rice away.

Stacking Cups

I should have gotten a 20-or-more-piece stacking cups. Gabbie learned doing this 9-pc within half an hour (and a couple of times explaining to her how it should be done) after we bought the toy. Now I'm thinking of other activities we can do with these stacking cups while she's mastering  the cup tower.

Jigsaw Puzzle

She was surprised to see the pieces flying everywhere when she removed it from its plastic cover. She said it was "sira". Haha. Of course I didn't expect her to know what's supposed to do with a jigsaw puzzle. I showed her how to do it. Then I asked her to do it herself, but when she tried, she lost patience and cried for help. We tried again, but she was the one to put the pieces on the board this time, she just asked me where to put them.

Then one day, I saw her in one corner solving the puzzle by herself. I asked her if she needed help. She said, "No po mommy, Abby lang."

Well, she wasn't able to solve it. I couldn't even figure out where Mickey's head and hands landed on the picture. She just connected the pieces until the whole board was covered. When she finished she clapped her hands and shouted "Yehey!"

That's my girl Gabbie. It was a good start.