Her Barbie Dolls

I was watching a documentary on TV about cancer particularly about mesothelioma and I can’t help but feel emotional since my aunt who is very dear to my heart died from cancer. So instead, I turned off the TV and I decided to just blog about Bela’s latest pictures.

Bela is the type of kid who rarely plays with dolls. She only plays with one doll and it is her Baby Alive doll, which was a gift from her Tita Veejay last Christmas and she only took it out from the box just recently and I think she only played with it twice or thrice only.
She is the type of kid who loves playing with her animal toys like her Littlest Petshop collection, her Puppy in my Pocket collection, or her plastic animal toys instead of playing with her dolls. So I was really surprised last Sunday night when she entered our room carrying Barbie dolls and a Bratz doll which is still inside the box. She went inside our second room with her dad and she saw a big paper bag containing my old Barbie Dolls and she got interested and for this week, it has been her favorite toy. She will play with it and she will pretend to be a doctor and the Barbie dolls are her patients. Or she will play pretend with her Barbie dolls and we can hear her telling stories, with the Barbie dolls as the main characters of her story.

By the way, if you will notice the Barbie dolls look a little old and their dresses are filthy. Well it is because they are more than ten years old already because they are my old Barbie dolls which I handed down to my sister and now she handed it down to Bela. I am really glad that Bela is having fun playing with my old toys.

The Jumping Joeys of TU

Howell picked up Bela’s memorabilia package from Toddlers Unlimited a few weeks ago. The package includes a photo book with a class picture of the whole Jumping Joeys class with Teacher Maica and Teacher Lei and a picture of each student with a short description of each of the students.

And here is what Bela’s teachers wrote about her:

Bela is the official zoologist of the Jumping Joeys class. The sight of the basket full of toy animals or books about animals makes our dear Bela jump for joy. She enjoys lining up all the animals in the Yellow Room and calls it the “Animal Parade.” Sometimes she and her friends build different structures using blocks and magnetic shapes before putting all the animals inside. Don’t be deceived by this little girl’s body frame. She has all the energy to keep al her friends and her teachers breathless especially after Romp Time. Charming Bela has grown to be a cheerful, bubbly, independent girl that we all love. We will surely miss Bela in the Yellow Room.

The package also includes a DVD with different video footages taken by the teachers during class and when Bela watched it, she was so happy and she was saying “Oh my friends.”

It makes me really miss Toddlers Unlimited. Maybe that is the reason why I haven’t enrolled Bela to MSS…LOL.

I'm Ready

Isn’t she a cutie?

She is our source of joy, our source of inspiration, the reason why my husband and I have been working so hard so we can give nothing but the best for her.

I was telling my best friend who is due to give birth this month that no matter how difficult her pregnancy is, I am sure all the pain will go away once she sees her daughter.

For me, and I am sure all moms will agree, that nothing beats the joy that motherhood brings. So I am really excited as we are planning to have our second baby this year and we are praying that God will give us the second addition to our family.

I think we are more ready now. Bela will be turning four this year and by the time I gave birth, she is already five years old so she is more independent and she is really ready to be an Ate.

As for me, I already read about liporexall review so I don’t have any problems with loosing weight after I gave birth. LOL. But seriously speaking, I think I am really ready. Before I was asking my friends if I am a bad mommy since most of my friends all feel excited already and they are already planning for their next baby, while I on the other hand, is not even thinking of having a second child. But they are telling me that time will come that I will be ready again and I can say that now is really the time.

Bela the Flower Girl

In just a few months time, Bela will be walking down the aisle again of Caleruega Church as a flower girl for my brother’s wedding. This will be Bela’s third time to be a flower girl and of course it will be extra special since it is the wedding of my brother.

Her first time was when she was just less than two years old and she did not participate in the procession as she was busy playing outside the church. Her second was in Caleruega also and I was one proud mom even though I have to walk with her and we have to go out after the procession since I don’t think Bela will be able to keep quiet and sit still for the entire duration of the church ceremony. Look at some pictures below:


This is one of my favorite wedding, not because my daughter was one of the flower girls, but because I love every concept that they have for their wedding. Caleruega has always been my dream church venue and I always wanted to get married with the romantic view of the Taal Lake as our background. I also love the couple’s wedding favors since it was personalized and it really showed and reflected the personality of the couple. The bride said that she got it from The Knot wedding shop and she did not have a hard time looking for the best wedding favors because of the wide range of unique wedding favors that she found at The Knot. Another thing that I like about this wedding was that it was really fun and the couple even had a very funny and entertaining dance number instead of the conventional first dance.

My brother and his fiancée already started to prepare for their wedding next year and I am sure it will be one of my favorite weddings also.

Magic Strokes: May 11-15, 2009

We have reached the end of summer class. Although it is somewhat a relief, we will surely miss the kids and they too will miss their peers. From start to finish, they all enjoyed our weight bearing exercises, strengthening exercises and pushups. They also loved singing songs and doing finger play. Plus they too await the different fine motor activities as well. This week we enjoyed doing the following: tying and untying ribbons, shoe lacing, opening different kinds of locks, mazes and origami or paper folding. Truly, not only the kids enjoy these activities, but we too get hyped up whener we do these kinds of activities.

We’ve seen big and small changes in Ysabela’s writing skills but of course no matter how big or how small it is it definitely helped her discover her ability in manipulating a writing instrument and enjoying how to strengthen ones fine motor skills. We could attest that in time she will definitely learn those strokes and write legibly than doctors (oooopppps! Just kidding). Remember, practice makes perfect so we have to continue writing, doodling and coloring to enhance those skills.

It was indeed a wonderful summer and we thank you for choosing MSS and our Magic Strokes Program to enhance your child’s skills this summer. We hope to see you again next year and in the coming school year.

Reading Readiness One Last Hurrah!: May 11-15, 2009

Dear Parents,

Alas, the time has come to say goodbye! As the Von Trapp children in the well loved classic, “The Sound of Music,” sang, “So long, farewell, we hate to say good-bye!” Indeed, we hate to say good-bye but do so we must.

It has been a wonderful five-week ride aboard the Reading Readiness train and so we all sure had wonderful time learning and mastering the letters of the alphabet, their sounds as ell as the concept of beginning sounds. Now, the summer has ended and we take a respite from studying to prepare ourselves for a yet longer and more rigid school time – regular classes.

We wish to extend our thanks to you dear parents, for having entrusted your child in to our care for the last five weeks. Thank you for the support and we hope that, in one way or another, each child entrusted to us in Reading Readiness picked up a lesson or two. We may not have managed to proceed to studying the concept of the ending sounds but we did work hard at mastering the beginning sounds and even mastering letters and their sounds.

As we end the summer classes, it is our desire and prayer that the lessons leaned the last five weeks will be useful as each child prepares for the coming school year. To cap off this final journal, here is a summary of how your child did in Reading Readiness….

ALL ABOUT YSABELA…

Having Ysabela in Reading Readiness this summer certainly added spice to the class. She enjoys play time very much and in fact, even when Barney has sung, “Clean up”, play time is never over for Ysabela. She enjoys walking around and can barely stay seated for more than a minute or two and when told to do, she seldom does except when Teacher talks to her to tell her that there is a time for everything inside the classroom and when it is lesson time, it is also time to sit down and be still and listen.

As far as lessons go, Ysabela has no trouble keeping up, in spite of her constant movement. She has mastered all the letters of the alphabet, including the baby letters and can also now produce most of the letter sounds. Furthermore, she can also identify which letters makes a particular sound, hence she has no difficulty when it comes to answering worksheets. What we do see quite notable even at the final journal is how she still needs to be given more exercises and drills that will help develop and strengthen her arm and finger muscles so as to develop her fine motor skills, as she has difficulty with holding and handling a pencil properly.

Still Undecided

May 15 is the start of the enrollment period at Bela’s new school (Mind Specialists School). I haven’t enrolled her yet as we still have up to May 30 to decide if we will enroll her at MSS or not.

Actually, I really like their curriculum as I find it more structured than Toddlers Unlimited which I think is better especially for Bela’s age since it will better prepare her for big school. But I had some issues with Bela’s new school (MSS) which I posted here. I already spoke with Bela’s teacher who I had some issues with and she was able to explain to me her anecdotal reports for Bela. I read Bela’s last report for her summer classes and it looks as though she still hasn’t adjusted yet to her new setup.

Since she came from a purely progressive school which is basically play based, she is not used to the structured routine where students have to sit down and listen to their teachers during discussions. I know this will be the setup when she enters big school so my mom was telling me that it is better that we let Bela adjust now than to let her be used to progressive setting and she will have a hard time adjusting when she enters big school when she is already 5.5 years old. But I am just worried though if MSS’s teachers can really be that patient with Bela and they will really help her during her adjustment period. I know I already had a dialogue with Bela’s teacher and she assured me that they will be with Bela in every step of her adjustment but I still can’t forget the report that I read from one of Bela’s teachers which to me sounded like she is already running out of patience for my daughter (which by the way she explained that it is really just a wrong choice of words and she never really mean it that way and she promised me that she will help Bela adjust and she also gave me an assurance that in time, she knows that Bela can very well cope up).

Honestly, I am still not that decided on where to enroll Bela. We really prefer MSS as it is really near our place so less travel time but there is really a part of me that is still not convinced yet. I am so confuse already to think that Bela is still in preschool. What more if she is already in college and have to take degree program. I bet I have more things to consider when that time comes. But one thing is for sure, I will definitely recommend to her enrolling at Capella University if she wants to take masteral degree since it is the leading provider for online graduate school program so she will still get the best in graduate school program even if she is already working and she can do it at her own convenient time at the confines of her own home.

But for now, I guess my husband and I still have up to May 30 to decide on where we should enroll Bela for this coming school year.

This blog post is based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

Bela's Activity Folder from MSS

During Bela’s Summer class at Mind Specialist School, she always brings home her activity folder every Friday which contains all the worksheets and artworks that they did during the week. It also has a note for the parents explaining the topics and activities that they did in school. It also has Anecdotal reports which discusses Bela’s progress in school every week.

I love looking at all the art works and worksheets of Bela. And every Friday, she is so excited to show her folder to us when we reached home. She will excitedly flipped all the pages in the folder to show us her worksheets and she will proudly say “Mom, dad I did it. I have a star from teacher.”

And last May 15 during their last day for the summer class they even had a Farewell Party and they gave each student certificates for the program that they attended during summer class. Here are some pictures of Bela’s Activity folder from MSS:

Magic Strokes: May 4-8, 2009

This is a long overdue post but like what they always say, better late than never. So here is Bela’s Anecdotal Report for May 4-8, 2009 from her Magic Strokes Class.

==

Magic Strokes: May 4-8, 2009

We are nearing the final week of summer classes. Most of the kids have shown massive improvement in their writing skills and we applaud them for that.

The most that they enjoy doing is our fine motor activities. For this week we had: lacing of their initials, beading bracelets with their own designs, manipulating nuts and bolts, wringing wet clothes, tossing bean bags, playing a dice game, catching bean bags, buttoning and unbuttoning and paper tearing. Some of the activities may look absurd at first but they are fun ways to develop your child’s fingers fro them to be able to manipulate them freely. As a plus we also made something for our moms for “Mother’s Day.” We hope mommy liked our work of art.

Ysabela is very playful in class. She loves to run around inside the classroom and teacher needs to call her attention from time to time. She enjoys doing our exercises and strengthening activities like the weights and the push-ups. She shows interest in doing our activities especially the bubble film popping, putting a nut in a bolt, lacing, picking the mongo seeds using the tweezers and especially throwing and catching the bean bag. Most of the said activities is being assisted.

We look forward to our last week in the Magic Strokes Class.

==

I think Bela is still adjusting to her new environment but I told Bela’s teacher that it is okay and they don’t have to push Bela to do something that Bela doesn’t like. I know that time will come that she will go to big school and before I knew it; I have to look for Riviera hotel as our graduation gift for her (wishful thinking). But for the mean time, we just want her to enjoy school and not be pressured academically with school work.

On Enrollment & Investment

Bela just finished her Summer Classes last May 15, 2009. Time really flies so fast and I can’t believe that five weeks have passed already and summer is almost over. I know that Bela had a great time at school and I think she did learn a lot.

I can’t believe that it is enrollment time already and I can’t believe how expensive it is to send a child to school. If I remember it correctly, the tuition fee that I will be paying for Bela’s one year in school was more than enough to pay for my tuition fee when I was still in college.

So we really made sure that we allot a certain amount from our salary to save for Bela’s tuition fee. We opened up a savings account for her where we can deposit regularly to save up for her annual tuition fee. But sadly, depositing money in banks is really not a wise way to invest and preserve our money since the interest that they are offering is really not that big.

I guess next time, we should start looking at other investment options like buying gold bars since it is a very unique investment that will not depreciate in time but instead might even increase its value over time. I promise, next time we have extra money for investment I will check out Monex to help me look for the best precious metal investments that market has to offer.

Reading Readiness: May 4-8, 2009

Dear Parents,

Well, as everything else in the world, summer classes are nearing their end. The fourth week is done and although it saddens us to bid farewell to each other, we are glad of the time well spent, the new friends made as well as the new lessons learned.

This week we busied ourselves with learning the letters Jj, Kk, Ll, Qq, Vv and Ww. Of course, we did not forget to review last week’s letters and even those from way back when we began summer four weeks ago. Of course, we also spent time preparing a little something for our dearest Moms as they celebrate Mother’s Day this coming Sunday, May 10. We hope that in our own little way, we can show you just how much you mean to us and how, even years from now when we have grown along with our little hands printed on your special card, you will continue to be a very important part of our lives. Let this be our way of telling you how much we love you.

All About Ysabela

On the second to the last week of summer classes, we are pleased to note how at ease Ysabela has become in class. Her most favorite time is “play time” especially since Yaya began playing along with them. The class’s favorite game is catch or find the ball. In as much as she enjoys play time, Ysabela also knows the minute Barney begins singing “Clean up” that it is indeed, time to clean up. With some reminder, she would help in the cleaning up and then would sit herself on our group area.

During discussions, Ysabela tries to focus and pay attention and stay seated as best as she can but there are still times when the urge to move around is just too great that she can’t resist. Yet, even as she moves around I the room, she still takes part in the discussions and is well able to cope.

Bela on Ice

Last Saturday, we went to Mandaluyong to do some errands – we delivered the orders from my aunt to her former office and we also have to look for area rugs. We are kind of undecided on where to have lunch but Bela kept on repeating that she wants to go ice skating. Every time we are at Mall of Asia, we have to drop by at the Ice Skating Rink and Bela will watch in fascination as she watches the graceful movements of the figure skaters. So I promised her that next time we are in Megamall or in Mall of Asia, we will let her try it.

I called SM MOA a few weeks ago to inquire about their Ice Skating Lessons and the staff that I talked to suggested that we can just let Bela have the 30 minutes trial class for only P150. And that is what we did. They don’t want to accept Bela at first since the class is for kids 4 years old and up but because of my convincing power (and luckily there is an ice skate that fits Bela), they let Bela try the class.

I introduced Bela to Coach Ariel and told her that Coach will teach her how to skate and she went with Coach inside the rink without hesitation. I can really tell that she was enjoying and I was so proud of her, because not like me, she was so brave and would even want to try skating on her own. I also love Coach Ariel because he is so patient with Bela.

After 30 minutes, Bela was tired already and she said that she already wants to rest. I asked coach if we can enroll Bela to the program (just out of curiosity as I have no plans of enrolling her this summer) but he suggested that we can just have the trial lessons first every time we visit which I think is a good idea since she is not even finish with her swimming lessons which I think will last until July. LOL.

Here are some pictures:

Still Worried

I was chatting with Jacqui and Kathy last night because I can’t help but share my sentiments with Bela’s Anecdotal Report from Teacher Abbie (her Reading Readiness teacher at MSS) for this week. I was just quite surprise since it is as if Bela had a 360 turn from being the bubby, sweet and happy kid when she was at Toddlers Unlimited (this is how she is described by her teacher and her granny who is always at school when Bela have a class) to being the monster brat (well, this is just how I interpret the comment of teacher Abbie) that she is now at MSS.

I was so worried that I even dreamt about it. I am just worried as to why Bela is reacting this way at school. I really want to talk to Teacher Abbie to ask her why it is as if she sounds like she is already loosing patience on my daughter. That is the reason why I enrolled Bela in a progressive school; because I know teachers in progressive schools are more patient and more trained so they will know how to encourage Bela. But judging from the comments that Teacher Abbie is giving Bela, I am beginning to feel that they are already loosing their patience.

I know Bela can really be a handful sometimes but I am just wondering why they are having a hard time with Bela because I never saw Bela’s teachers from TU grew tired of her or was ever been impatient with her to think that she is much younger when she entered TU.

Now I am having second thoughts with MSS and I am starting to think now if MSS is really the right school for her or I should bring Bela back to TU. Actually, I like MSS’s curriculum because in just 2.5 weeks Bela learned a lot already academically like she is now familiar with the beginning sounds of the alphabets and she is starting to write and do art works on her own. But I also want Bela to be happy in school and not just learn academically, but I also want her to have a well rounded personality.

Oh well, Bela still has two more weeks left with MSS and I still have to talk about this with hubby who might have a different view about this. Mike (Jacqui’s husband) was able to read my post and he said that the teacher’s comments are objective but he thought that the Teacher can have nicer way of phrasing her comments. So Howell might have his own views too about this and I am open for this because just like I said, it is only Teacher Abbie that I am concerned with because I like MSS’s curriculum.

So while waiting for hubby to wake up, I better look for cervical collars first to take my mind away from this topic as it is really pissing me off. My friend recommended Allegro Medical because they have a wide range of medical products and I can easily find what I am looking for from their site because I can just do a search by category. So I guess I have to do this first so I will sign off for now.

Thanks to Jacqui, Mike and Kathy for sharing your views on my concern. I really appreciate it.