Summer Destination

Bela really had a great time during our last vacation in Davao. Every time we travel, we always bring Bela with us as discovering new things and exploring new places is really priceless when shared with our daughter.

During our last vacation, my parents are with us to help us take care of Bela since she is really a handful. Actually, my parents are always with us to almost all of our travels since Howell and I are really not that confident in terms of our ability to take care of Bela.

When we last went to Hong Kong, my parents did not go with us and it is the first time that we travel out of the country without them. And so the result, we are really dead tired after four days of traveling with Bela. So hubby told me that our next travel destination would just be an R&R to other local destinations here in the Philippines.

We plan to have another beach vacation this coming summer and as early as now, I am already searching for Family Friendly Hotels where we can stay. As I was doing my search I discovered Azul Blue Hotel and Spa in Riviera Maya and reading about them makes me wished we have something like that here in the Philippines. Imagine you will stay at a secluded white-sand beach resort (which Bela will surely love) and you have a great view of the Mexican Riviera Maya. Plus there are a lot of bonding activities that you can do as a family like kite flying, beach volleyball or any of the water sports that the resort offers. I am sure any toddler with enjoy that.

I hope I will be able to finalize our vacation plans this summer as time really flies and before I know it, we are off again to out next vacation destination.

School Hunting, Third Stop: Mind Specialist School

January 20, I scheduled a trial class at Mind Specialist School in D. Tuazon, Quezon City. We checked out this school also when we went school hunting last year. We like their program but Bela did not like it there when she had her trial class. She would not even go inside the room. The rooms there are a little enclose and when Bela was still 2.6, she doesn’t like being inside an enclose room. (You can read the whole story of her trial class at Mind Specialist School last year, here).

But things are different this time. She did not hesitate to go inside the room and she immediately greeted the students of the cocoon class as she entered the room. They are having their free play and she joined a group of girls playing with the blocks. While the kids are having their free play, the two teachers are doing an II (Individual Instruction) for each student. One teacher was calling the students one by one to help them with their worksheet (I think she spends 15 minutes per student) while the other teacher is doing a one on one art work with each student. I like this style as they are really giving each student individual attention especially when it comes with the worksheets.

When all the kids have finished doing their worksheets and art work with the teachers, they now have circle time. They started first with a number of songs. Bela got scared when all the kids sang at the same time. She ran towards us and she kept on saying “They’re so loud” while she cover her ears. But with a little convincing we are able to ask her to go back with her other classmates.

Their topic that day was modes of transportation and the teacher is showing the kids pictures of the different modes of transportation while the kids identify each of them and they will tell the teacher if it runs on land, air or water. Bela excitedly participated again but got scared again and ran towards us when the kids answered the teacher all at the same time and it was too noisy again for Bela.

After circle time, they now have a lecture about the middle sound and I was impressed as kids can now read three letter words and can identify which middle sound to use for the missing letter. After almost an hour and a half of activity, Bela got bored and she wants to go out.

Overall, I think her trial at Mind Specialist School went well. After our trial, I got confused on what type of school now will we enroll Bela. We initially want a progressive school for her and Mind School is a mix progressive and traditional school but then we are starting to think if we should expose her to that kind of environment to prepare her for the big school. We notice how she got scared if her surroundings got a bit noisy since she is not use to that kind of setting since they only have a small class in TU (8 kids). So we’re thinking now that Mind Specialist will be a good training for her to prepare her for the big school setup. Plus my mom and I were impressed at how behave the kids are and how advance they are academically since they are only 3.5 years old and they are already doing three letter sounds. But my worry now is if Bela will not be stress out if we expose her to this kind of new environment. We talked to the school director and she said that there will always be an adjustment period for all the kids and assured me that Bela will be able to adapt if we will just give her time.

We will check out one more school next week (Child School) and we will decide after that.

Kosher Partner

To take on the demanding role of being a working mom, a responsible mother and loving wife at the same time is a passion I considered the best step to parlay the vision I had for my family. But while on the process I have subjected my body to so much craps wasting away without let up then all of a sudden I was faced with newly emerged facts what used to be a healthy and supernova body is not so anymore completely losing the glamorous side of it because of the weight gain resulting to unpleasant size. I looked like a spent asteroid that sooner or later will move languidly if not addressed immediately.

Awakened on the right time, to avoid the impending doom, I felt so lucky to discovered Lipovox, a food supplement that has become a by words and an inextricable name among women because of its superb character to quell and alleviate weight gain problems. It’s the food supplement formulated with health friendly ingredients that met the required standard to weed away unsightly fats and specifically manufactured by the purveyors of this best food supplement to help bring back the deformed body figure in places where size and shape do matters. That by the time I started my daily devotion to this wonderful diet supplement I couldn’t help but wonder in awe for the message of weight difference received by my brain coming from my eyes as I step down from the scale in just a couple of days. With a week more or two, I could see and feel more amazing changes with inches off my waist and pounds on my weight, reshaping is coming out strongly, evoking extraordinary looks several steps above the prevailing level of opulence that marked the beginning of coolness in my universe.

When I gave the food supplement a whirl, I never expect to be wrapped in the arresting package of beauty and glamour, but because of the stellar ingredients of the supplement that zeroed in quickly in weeding and melting all the stubborn fats, I emerged in my new world without a trace of those unhealthy looks on my body which gave me the platform in which I can share and experience more of the exciting happenings of my life. No one can gainsay the effectiveness of the food supplement I find it to be my quite kosher partner that helped maintain my wholesome image.

Medically Ours

In terms of medical needs I am always meticulous in the choice of the brand that I will buy and give for family use. Like for instance the choice for medical equipment, I could hardly quench my thirst if the product is not made by AllegroMedical. Knowing the company’s reputable reputation that have churned out revolutionary equipments for medical aids where it designed ingenuity, its level of comfort, its technological advancement express admiration for how advanced and world class Allegro medical products are, a trademark that have made the company one of the biggest purveyor of medical contraptions in the U.S. for almost a decade.

AllegroMedical, is supervised and managed by Allegro Enterprise Inc. a privately owned company based in Tempe Arizona, and is composed of pioneering minds that shared a common passion to deliver the premium quality made only from finest materials where its durability appeals to the practical and intelligent senses of the customers that gave positive lasting impressions filled with warmth friendliness and hospitality, together with the kindness care and compassion that all come together to create an ideal network of emotional support that would speed up and better up the quality of one’s recovery from any illness whether of spirit or body.

Allegro Enterprise is also known for its home health care supplies, exercise and fitness equipments, nutritional dietary supplements, maternity/baby supplies and outdoor gears in which sales of the products always live up to the company’s worthy banner to maintain a descent image of positive and value forming that uplifts the noble aspiration of the human mind that gave customers the satisfaction they need in every sense of the world, a passion that merges modern technology and excellent customers service.

No one can impugn the quality of AllegroMedical products that is why it always occupied the biggest and widest space in the market eyes and ears that kept flourishing more strongly than ever through the years.

School Hunting, Second Stop: CHILD Preschool Part 1

Since we (me and my mom) are not that happy with how Bela’s trial class went at Early Achievers, we decided to visit Child Preschool along Tomas Morato after our visit at EALC.

We arrived at Child school a little before 12 noon so the class has just finished but we were greeted by the warm smiles of the teachers when we entered the school grounds. Teacher Duckie (the teacher handling the juniors class, where Bela will belong next year) entertained us right away and she introduced us to Teacher Rosanne (School Director).

Teacher Rosanne explained to us the curriculum of Child Preschool. They are a progressive school also like Toddlers Unlimited but their difference is that they have worksheet time. They have a thematic style of teaching so every month; their lesson is centered on a particular topic. They also have a field trip every month to highlight everything that has been discussed for the whole month. They also have a 20 minutes Chinese lesson per day. I like this better than the style of EALC for their Chinese class. Because for me, the Chinese lesson will just be an elective for the kids and not like in EALC where it looks like Chinese is really their emphasis. Since we are not Chinese, this is a better setup since I just like Bela to learn an additional language which will give her an advantage but at the same time, I still don’t like it to be a major subject for her since she will not really have a need for it since we will not enroll her to a Chinese school when it is time for her to go to big school. Currently they have 8 students for the junior class with one teacher and they accept a maximum of 12 students per class (their teacher to student ratio is a little low compared to Toddlers Unlimited).

Teacher Rosanne explained everything very well that we did not have any questions after her explanation. So far after Teacher Rosanne’s explanation, we like their curriculum and Child is really on our short list for Bela’s school this coming school year. I will schedule a trial class for Bela next week to see how she will respond to the class and to see for ourselves how their normal day at class goes then we will decide after that.

School Hunting, First Stop: Early Achievers Learning Center

Bela had her trial class at Early Achievers Learning Center in Sgt. River Quezon City last January 19. We checked out EALC when we were school hunting last year but we did not have a trial class as they don’t have a 3x a week schedule for Bela’s age group. And that time, we only want a 3x a week schedule for Bela as she is just 2.6 years old then.

I checked out their brochure again and I like their curriculum. They are a purely progressive school and they have the same set of activities as Toddlers Unlimited – free play, circle time, snack time, story time, and art time. The only difference is that, EALC have a Chinese class. It is a one hour class where all the topics and activities done during the English period will be repeated again but this time, the medium of communication that will be use is the Chinese language and they have a separate Chinese teacher for this. This means that there will just be a total of two hours for the whole class since the Chinese class is just a repetition of the English class. And I think for Bela’s age, a two hour class is not enough and even though learning Chinese would be an advantage for Bela, I still did not like how they divide the 3 hours class for their English and Chinese lessons. I think for parents who will enroll their kids to a Chinese school, this will be a benefit since as early as pre-school, the kids already have a start with the Chinese language. But since we are not Chinese, we will not enroll Bela in a Chinese school when she is ready for big school so I think EALC Chinese curriculum will not benefit her that much.

Bela actually enjoyed the trial class (They only allowed us for a 1 hour trial class). When she was introduced by Teacher Carol (EALC Program Coordinator) to the Senior Nursery Class, she waved her hands to say hi and she told them her name. Then she immediately participated in the class activity which is their story time.

But even if it looks like Bela will not have a hard time adjusting at EALC, I am still not convince and after the trial, I realized that I did not like their curriculum even if they are a progressive school like Toddlers Unlimited. So we decided that we still have to look for another school for Bela.

After visiting EALC, we visited Child Preschool in Tomas Morato. I will make a separate post about that soon as I still have a lot of tasks to finish and it is already 12 AM. (Thank goodness we receive a number of coffee makers during our wedding that we always have coffee ready to keep me awake until the wee hours of the morning.)

Bela heart Pearl Farm

Look at how much Bela enjoyed our accommodation at Pearl Farm.

Who wouldn’t love it? We got two Mandaya houses for our overnight stay at Pearl Farm beach resort. The Mandaya houses are laid out on their own beach front and are at the far end of the main island so it is quiet since most of the guest stays at the Samal Suites or Samal Houses which is quite far from the Mandaya Houses. The Mandaya has a big bedroom whit one queen size bed. It also has a spacious bathroom (complete with all the bathroom vanities) which my sister particularly love. The Mandaya house also has its veranda and the two houses that we are occupying is connected with a common door so we have easy access with each other’s room. It is also equipped with Cable TV although only Cartoon Network is the only channel available for kids. The room is really clean and looks like it is well maintained. The part of the island where the Manadaya Houses are situated has its own pool with Jacuzzi but the beach front is not that nice as compared to the beach front in the main island. Also another thing that we don’t like about the Mandaya House is that it is quite far from the restaurant so we always have to call a shuttle service to take us to and from the restaurant.

But overall, just like Bela, we did enjoy our stay at Pearl Farm. (You can view pictures and stories of our Day 1 in Davao here.)

Figures count

One too many times as I looked at myself on the mirror that wry smile never seems to stop coming out within the nanosecond of standing infront of the mirror. Its because the random thoughts cascading at the back of my mind was the pictured of my repulsive visage beneath the pristine uniform that once upon a time filled the space of the mirror, then had quirky turned and radiates a voluptuous charm altogether that enshrines the ultimate expression of beauty in the feminine mode that shouted vim and vigor for a bubbly personality and confidence.

As I chilled, giggled and rejoice with exceeding joys for my new refurbished image, suffice it to say it would not have been palpable without the help of best diet pills that conjured up for me to exude this exquisite good looking and refreshing body figure impression. Based on the deep roots of the diet pill brand’s and the strong heritage of its natural ingredients that worked and blended well synergistically in dramatic immediacy to melt the stubborn and unwanted fats that was developed in my body. My daily take of the pill also helped promote a subtle check and balance and adjust, normalizes and stabilized calorie intake to prevent accumulation anew of undesirable fats considered to be the main cause of weight gain. Imbibed to be the best and safe diet pill in the market that delivered immediate shaping and trimming result in just a matter of days sans fears of compromising my health and be rewarded for more brilliant years to have the glow of life lived well to a society brimming with social grace and charm.

I doffed my hat, praised and thank profusely the manufacturer of this well loved and cherished magic diet pill that give utmost care in maintaining this faculty of glamour my body figure keep exuding which is the bastion that formed a part of every woman’s fantasy.

School Hunting Again

It is school hunting time for me again. I posted my dilemma here before on whether we should send Bela to big school or not this coming school year. We really wanted to enroll her at St. Theresa’s College in Quezon City as it is the closest school in our area that we really like but the youngest age that they can accept is 5.5 years old. Our second choice is Colegio de San Agustin in Makati but we would really prefer a school within the Manila or Quezon City area as we don’t want to stress Bela with traveling to Makati everyday.

And so our decision, we will just move her to a progressive school in the Manila or Quezon City area this coming school year as she will have to go to school five times a week now and we will just decide again next year if she is ready for big school or not.

I took a leave from work today and I will be on leave again tomorrow to check out more schools. We visited two schools today – Early Achievers Learning Center along Sgt. Rivera in Quezon City and Child Preschool in Tomas Morato. Bela was able to attend a 1 hour trial class at Early Achievers today (I will make a separate post about it). After her trial at EALC, we checked out CHILD school and so far we like their curriculum better than EALC. I will schedule another trial class for Bela at CHILD preschool next week.

Tomorrow, Bela will attend a trial class at Mind Specialist School along D. Tuazon Quezon City. We checked out this school last year. They have the same curriculum and methods at Toddlers Unlimited but for some reason, Bela doesn’t like to go inside the classrooms when we checked it out last year. Let’s see what will happen tomorrow….

Meet Bela’s new friend

I promised my cousin that I will help him look for New York Yankees tickets but I want to post this first as I can’t resist this cute pictures when I saw them. Meet Bela’s new friend Jacobo Zulueta Lagdameo.


Bela enjoys playing with other kids more now. She will approach them without hesitation and will tell them their name and will ask them to play with her. And so when we were in Davao, she gained a lot of new friends as she will approach any kid that she sees.

It was our last day at Pearl Farm and we checked out Malipano Island (owned by Pearl Farm also) which is just 3 minutes away from Pearl Farm resort. Howell and Bela made sand castles and Bela was busy playing with her toys on the sand castle that they built. Jacobo approached Bela as soon as he saw Bela’s toys (especially Bela’s Little Einstein rocket). He offered Bela his pail and shovel and he eagerly joined Bela in playing. Bela welcomed Jacobo and shared her toys with him and after just a few minutes the two were talking as if they were really close friends.

When it is time for Jacobo to go home, he approached Bela (as Bela got hungry and she left Jacobo with her toys and she drinks her milk) and he said:

Jacobo: “I like to say thank you.”

And he kissed and hugged Bela. He is really one sweet boy and Bela really had a great time playing with him.

Dinos Alive Manila Tour

I learned about the Dinos Alive Manila tour even weeks before it open its doors to visitors. But we got really busy during the Christmas season shopping for gifts, wrapping them and putting gift card for all of them that it was only during the last week of the Dinos Alive tour in Manila that we were able to visit the theme park.

The night before I asked Bela is she wants to check out the dinosaurs. I was explaining to her that the dinosaurs will really be big (so at least she knows what to expect and she won’t get scared) and I asked her several times if she really wants to go and this is her answer:

Bela: “Yes, mommy. I want to see the dinosaurs. It is cool and fun.”




So after Bela’s class at Toddlers Unlimited last January 7, they fetched me at work and we fetched Howell before we proceed to the Dinos Alive theme park at Mall of Asia. Bela was really excited upon seeing the pictures of the dinosaurs found outside of the park. But as soon as we enter the park, she started to get scared a bit as it was dark (even I got scared as soon as we enter as the room was really dark and you can see life size dinosaurs just a few inches from you). But we still went inside as she started playing with the smaller dinosaurs. And then she saw the T-rex which was really so big and is making loud sounds and that is when she started to get really scared.

Bela: “We’re finish now, it is time to go out.”
Me: “Oh don’t be scared. They are just big toys.”
Bela: “I love toys, I love toys, I love toys.”
Me: “See. It is cool and fun right?”
Bela: “Yes, they are just toys with big batteries. I love toys, I love toys.”

She even posed in front of the T-rex after she kept on repeating her mantra. But then she saw Long neck which was really huge and really scary. So we hurriedly finished the tour and went out.

When I read the Dinos Alive advertisement, I never really imagined that it will be scary. Good thing Bela did not cry and she at least enjoyed the first part of the tour.

Bela’s First Song Composition

If you will ask me, I don’t think I have any talent that I can pass to my daughter. But not hubby. He is artistic and very talented and he really has a good voice which I think he passed on to our daughter.

Bela has a passion for music and for singing. You will often hear her singing her favorite Disney songs or she will invent her own lyrics and hum everything.

We are on our way to attend the Christmas party that my brother hosted for the kids at Hospicio de San Jose when we heard Bela sang this:

Bela: “On the road, on the road. Can we buy a catsup, can we buy a catsup? ABCs. 123.”

I don’t know where she got the lyrics and I don’t know if it really makes any sense but for me, it is really cute and I am one proud mommy. I am really glad that she is musically inclined too like her dad and not like me who doesn’t have any talent at all. LOL.

To Blog for this Week

We’re back from our three days Davao vacation. We all had fun and enjoyed our stay there, especially Bela who really had a great time making sand castles, playing with the fishes and star fish and enjoying the pool and the beach. But I am still lazy to post the pictures as I still have tons of things to finish but I promise to post it soon.

I will finish my research first about POS systems as I need to make a report about it when I get back to work on Wednesday. So for the meantime, here is the list of the things that I need to blog:

1. Bela’s song composition
2. Bela’s Davao adventure
3. Bela’s Trial class at Early Achievers and Mind School Specialist (scheduled for tomorrow)
4. Bela’s Dinos Alive Adventure
5. Bela’s new nanny (yes I have a new nanny again and I’m planning to get her replace the soonest as I am really not happy with how she works. Gosh, I am not sure if I will ever find the nanny for us but I am still hopeful and I still pray to God that He will give us one)

I hope I will find the time this week to post all of this.

Circle of Gold

My refined feel of collecting memorabilia items was once a hobby that comes out naturally way back my teenaged life. Appalled by its appeal that define and foretell the spirits of the past, kept my knacks worked to get hold of the piece of history I perceived worth keeping. After some years of enjoying my hobby, I suddenly found a trove of treasures on my sets of collections and I was unabashedly delighted for the financial benefits that I derived from them when some of my items were bought by insistent buyer.

The experienced heightened the utopia of my senses as it propelled me to extend my range far beyond and invest for rare gold coins collection where the room for potential and opportunity is vast and inspiring. As I take a flight for my search and start my rare coin collection ventures, who else should I turned to except for the trusted Monaco rare coins company who is known to be part of the Monex family of companies a maven when it comes to rare coins collections operating for almost four decades and member of numerous numismatic associations in America. Aside from the company’s access to worldwide network resources that keeps it upgraded for the rare coin trend and development in the market, having been attune and involve in all aspects of the rare coins trade, it is perhaps from this vantage point where they can help find the best rare coin value available in the market. Definitely it is the company that I can rely and trusted to help me build a world class rare coin portfolio as it mixes commerce and art that interactive so seamlessly that produce high constant effulgence for my investments.

Everyone who sees the gallery of Monaco will salivate for the stupendous volume of rare coin collections as they are motley ensemble like pieces of circle made of gold. Truly it is the ideal setting for these quintessential pieces of history. That is why my simple hobby has turned out to be a passion that yields some golden fortunes so loud to be ignored.

Conversations with Bela & Anecdotal Report - Dec 12, 2008

Me: “Bela, do you want to go to Mall of Asia to see the dinosaurs?
Bela: “Yes mommy. I want to go there. It is cool and fun.”

==

Me: “It’s my birthday on the 19th Bela.”
Bela: “Happy birthday mommy.”
Me: “Thank you.”
Bela: “You’re welcome. You will have cakes and balloons and you will blow your candle.”
Me: “Yes, I’m so excited. How about, gifts? Will I receive gifts too?”
Bela: “No, just cakes and balloons.”

==

Bela was out playing with some of the kids in our neighborhood. Most of the kids haven’t taken a bath yet and they are still wearing their PJs.

Bela: “Girls and boys, go to your yaya. Take a bath. Change your PJs.”

==
And here is Bela’s latest Anecdotal Report.

TODDLER’S UNLIMITED
Anecdotal Report

Child’s Name: Bela
Teacher/s: Maica and lei
Date: December 12, 2008
Class: Jumping Joeys

We thought you might like to know:

Bela is a very independent kid! She enjoys doing things on her own and is very proud of herself when she accomplishes a task. She loves eating in her own especially when she eats hotdog and uses her chopsticks to poke her food then it goes straight in her mouth. When we wash our hands, she would always say “I can do it teacher!” We are glad that Bela is growing up to be a very independent and happy child.

To Davao

I'm so excited. In just five days we're off to Davao to enjoy the beautiful beach of Pearl Farm (which reminds me I really have to take weight loss supplements so I at least can loose some weight before I dare put on my sexy swimsuit. LOL.) I can't wait for this vacation as I really, really needed a break. Things are really crazy at the office that I didn't even take a leave during the holiday season so this is really the break that I am waiting for.

Even Bela is excited for this trip. She saw me browsing our pictures when we went to Bohol and she kept on saying ''I want to go to the beach mommy, I want to swim.'' And so I told her that we're going to the beach next week and she got all excited and happy. She even asked me to play the movie ''Surf's Up'' on her iPod and she said:

Bela: "Mommy I want to surf. I want to surf like the penguin."
Me: "Ok next week. We'll go surfing."
Bela: "Ok mommy."

We are all really excited. Isn't it obvious?