Bela's First Gig @ SSC Family Day

Last Saturday was Bela’s Family Day activity in school. I was part of the committee who organized the event and one of the activities that we included was a presentation per class. And for St. Walburga, Bela’s class, I asked teacher if she can help the kids practice the song Roar while Bela plays the drums.

I was actually hesitant at first because the logistics will be complicated as I either have to bring the drum set of Bela in school or I would have to rent. I asked Bela and she is really eager to perform so who am I to say No to that kind of request of my daughter.

And I am glad we pushed through with it because I can see the joy in Bela’s face as she performs. She played the song Roar while her classmates sing and dance to the tune. Here is a full video of the presentation:

And it gave me and hubby so much joy and pride that we were both teary eyed as we watch our princess rocks.

RockStar Bela

This is one picture of my daughter in one of her drum lessons at Academy of Rock:

She is really in the zone. And would you believe, she can already read notes and she said she can play the song Roar already.

She has been attending drum lessons at Academy of Rock for more than 6 months now I think and I must say that the tuition fee that we pay is really all worth it as we can really see big improvements with her drum skills.

She is enrolled for this month again and we plan to enroll her as long as she is still interested to learn new tricks.

My youngest also wants to take drum lessons just like her sister. He would even come inside the classroom and watch his sister play. Unfortunately, he is still too young for the lesson so I guess for now, he can just settle in being his sister fan and we will just buy him remo lollipop drums at music123.

Bela and her Books

My daughter has been into creating her own story books. She will write the stories and do the drawings as well on bond paper and will ask us to compile it like a book.

I am really one proud mommy as she is just 7 years old and she is into story writing and illustration already. But what makes me proud the most is the reason behind why she is doing this. According to Bela, she is making these books so that kids who can’t afford to buy the books can still read the stories and information that she shares in her books. Then she told me that she will make tons and tons of books and will sell it so that the money that she will get from the sales can be use to buy food for the hungry kids in Ulingan (which is the community that my husband and I volunteers to).

This is something that I have to document so that she will still be able to recall this when she grows up. That is why I am checking out website-builder.com so I can make a website for Bela’s books, upload pictures of each of the books and the story behind each book.

I am happy that Bela is growing up to be a kid who has a kind heart who knows how to look after the welfare of others as well. My husband and I must be really doing something right for raising a daughter like Bela.

Bela'a Neuro Psychological Test Results for Academic Skills

I forgot to blog about this but we visited Bela’s pedia last May and he administered a Bela'a results for Neuro Psychological Test for Academic Skills and just look at Bela’s results.

Bela is 7 years old and is in Grade 2 this school year:

General Information – 6-7 years old

Oral Reading – Grade 3

Reading Comprehension – Grade 3

Mathematics – Grade 2

I am one proud mommy. But more than the academic skills, I am happy because Bela is growing up to be the kind child who knows how to share her blessings and looks after the welfare of others. Hope she will continue to grow to be a God fearing individual and a responsible member of the society.

I kept on wondering what she will be like when she grows up. For now, she is fascinated with anything about animals so will she be a veterinarian or a zoo keeper someday? Or since she loves Science, will she be a chemist and scientist just like those working for www.lspceramics.com/.

But whatever it is that she likes to pursue, we her parents, are just here to support her all the way.

A Special Card from Bela

Look, Bela made a card for us and what makes it even more special is that it is written in Tagalog:

This is one of the art works that they did in her Tagalog Class with The Learning Library. Bela enjoys her class with them because it is not a formal classroom setup. They have games, reading activities, arts and crafts and they just incorporate Tagalog language with all these activities.

I really saw some improvement with Bela’s Tagalog skills because she is starting to speak in Tagalog and she can even understand some of the words if we speak to her in Tagalog. Too bad they don’t have Saturday class this school year because I would have wanted her to continue with their Tagalog class for the entire school year until she gains confidence and be fluent with the Tagalog language.

Bela's 3rd Book: Reptiles

Here are a few pages on the 3rd book that Bela is working on:

The first book that she made was a story about Brother Bear, the second book was all about Dinosaurs and this is her third book which is all about Reptiles.

She said that she is summarizing the books that she had been reading about Reptiles and compressed it to a few pages so that other kids can read and learn about reptiles too without having to read thousand pages of book.

What makes this book really special is that Bela is doing the book so she can sell it and the proceeds will be donated to Project PEARLS, which is the NGO that my husband and I supports, so that she can share money to buy food for the kids. I am one proud mommy.

My Baker Princess

I love watching cooking and baking shows but I never was hands on when it comes to cooking. That is why when we bought an oven for our house, I know that I will not be able to put good use to it.

That is why I was really happy when my cousin enjoyed baking that she will often drop by at our place to bake for the family especially if there is a special occasion. And all the more I am happy because my daughter got really interested and would often lend her Tita Tessa a hand every time she is baking.

Just look at the picture below: 

This picture was taken when Bela and her Tita baked Crinkles for Nanay Puti’s birthday. I always dreamed of having a chef in the family. Who knows, maybe Bela will take a different path than me and she would enjoy baking and cooking.

Shopping for her Moving Up Day Attire

Bela was asked to come in her Sunday dress for her Moving up Day so I asked hubby that we check out Baby Fashionistas at the Block to check for a nice dress that Bela can wear on her special day.

These are our choices:

I really like the one on the left but it is made in the same material as the dress that I bought her for her Christmas party. I also like the one on the right but hubby is not really up to wearing white for a graduation ceremony.

So we ended up buying this:

I love the fit of this dress on her, it is showing her belly. LOL. It is so dainty and girly but still simple which is the look that I love to achieve.

Every time I needed a dress for Bela, Baby Fashionistas will always come to my rescue. Now I am not sure if I will be excited or scared with the opening of the Baby Fashionistas store near our place because for sure, I will not be able to control myself from buying.

My Bela

This is how she sleeps:

Her bed is full of stuffed toys and her animal toys that she will have not enough space where she can lie down comfortably.

I told her to remove her toys from her bed but she said that she has to make her friends (her toys) comfortable too.

Well actually, I think she will only use this bed for just a few more months and it will time to buy a bigger bed for her. She has used this bed for 3 years now and Bela has grown since then so I am sure she will outgrow her bed soon.

Aside from her bed, I need to replenish her wardrobe too because majority of her clothes are too small for her already.

Oh, my little girl is all grown up. I can’t help but feel sentimental about it. I can still remember when I first hold her in my arms. She was a very fragile baby then but now she can operate bosch dishwashers or connect to youtube to watch her movie, dress up on her own and she can make decisions too and will reason out if I am against her choice.

In just a few months she will be turning 7. My baby has really turned into a beautiful princess. Bitter sweet.

The Benefits of Acai Berry

Our dear daughter just turned 6 years old today and my husband and I realized that although she is growing up fast, she still has a long way to go and there are still a lot of things in store for her and we want that we will always be there to witness all of that.

And so we came to a realization that my husband and I should really learn how to take care of our health so we can live longer for our kids. Our first step is taking supplements like Acai Berry.

So what are the benefits of Acai Berry?

1. Do you need tips on How to lower cholesterol? Well acai berry can help you with that as is said to prevent heart diseases because it helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels which helps prevent heart attacks and other heart disease.
2. Acai Berry also helps boost immune system so it helps fight infections and it gives the body energy to do more.
3. Acai Berry also contains a lot of natural fat which can aid for those who want to lose weight.
4. It is also rich in antioxidant which flushes out bad toxins from the body so it is said to help prevent colon cancer and other deadly diseases.
5. Acai Berry also has anti ageing effects so you can have youthful skin if you continue to take acai berry.

You can easily enjoy the benefits of Acai Berry as it is available in many different forms like fruit juices. You can also enjoy the benefits of Acai Berry by taking Acai Berry supplements which you can buy from stores which sells vitamins and supplements like Krill Oil, Acai Berry and more from healthychoicenaturals.

Change in lifestyle and Supplements is what can help us live longer so we can be with our kids as they grow up and be successful in life.

She Continues to Make Us Proud

My kids love watching television especially Bela. Ever since she was months old, she’s very interested with educational movies and I really think that it became very helpful to her because that’s where she was able to enhance her deep vocabulary.

Before, Bela is fond of watching Disney Junior but now, she enjoys educational channel from our digital antenna just like Discovery Channel and the National Geographic Channel most likely if it’s about her favorite animals. You can see her very focused and scrutinizing every detail that she can hear about animals and you can definitely see her eagerness to learn that at times, you’ll be surprised as she will give you trivia that you’re somehow not familiar to.

Day by day, I’m getting prouder and prouder of my daughter. I am very confident that she’ll do well specifically with her academics. It’s really a good thing that you should monitor all the activities that your kids are engaged to because these will reflect in their performance as they grow.

Thinking of Possible Options

I can see how Bela does great with her studies. Since she studied in the big school, I can see a lot of improvements from her. She’s well disciplined now and she knows when to stop playing or watching TV to study. She even knows how to read a two-letter word now and she’s doing great in her writing activity now.

I am such a proud mom that’s why I am more motivated to work to earn enough to give her the best education and for Cobi as well. I also thought that maybe I should start investing my money rather than stocking it up in the bank.

Considering what to invest might be quite a hard decision for you should first think of the possible pros and cons of your options. As for now, I’m still reviewing the benefits of investing in gold bullion as I read from their site and base from the suggestions of my friends, this can be one of the best investments since gold has a lot of good benefits.

So now I’m still finalizing with my decisions and I know that I have to talk this over with hubby before I push through with it.

Our Book Worm

I am glad that Bela is growing up to be a person who really loves book. We bought her the “I wonder why” series from Groiller and every night she will bring two to three books upstairs and she will ask us to read it to her from cover to cover. That is why even if I am feeling so sleepy already due to lack of sleep from taking care of Cobi, I have no choice but to read the book to her as she will not stop unless we give in to her request. (Thank goodness there are eye wrinkle creams in the market that I can use so I will not look haggard and zombie like. To know more about eye wrinkle creams, click here).

Sometimes I would cheat and skip some pages but I can never really fool her as she knows all her books by heart and she will know if I skip a page or not. But I am happy though because Bela is learning a lot form these books. Her teacher from her previous school event noted in her report that Bela is very good in Trivia and she got all of that information that she shared with her teachers and friends from this book.

Conversations with Bela: @ 4 years old

During her swimming class:

Me: “Bela, be careful, you might hit the wall.”
Bela: “Don’t worry mom. I will be more careful next time.”

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Me: “Here Bela, you can sit now. I already removed the bags.”
Bela: “Now that is the problem. That is the reason why I can’t sit properly because there are bags on the chair.”

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Me: “Bela, I am so sad because I will be going back to work already. It means you won’t see me when you wake up in the morning.”
Bela: “That’s okay mommy. I will ask lolo to fetch you so you won’t be sad.”

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Bela: “Our house is already full of toys. We should not be buying toys anymore. We should just go on vacation instead.”

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When the electricity went off one evening:

Bela: “Come one mom, let’s go to a hotel.”

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When she was asking me to buy her another ballpen with cute characters as the cover:

Bela: “Mom, I think I lost my pen.”
Me: “No, it is upstairs in our room. I kept it.”
Bela: “But if there is no more ink, I need another pen that I can use. Can I buy another pen?”

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Me: “Bela, do you have something to show me in your notebook number 1?”
Bela: “Nothing. But I have a folded letter for you.”

And she handed me the circular from her teacher.

Bela: “You have to cut from this line, and then sign here and I will give it back to teacher.”

One Happy Mom

It’s been almost two months since Bela started in the big school. And as of now, I can see how well she improved and she’s really doing a great job.

I just attended the PTA meeting last week and her teacher told me positive feedbacks about Bela and I was so happy to hear that, because honestly, at first I am not that confident to enroll her in a big school because I’m a bit nervous that she will have a hard time adjusting in her environment.

But I was totally wrong because every time I check on Bela’s evaluation sheet and notebooks, I am happy and assured that Bela is improving with a lot of skills especially in her academics. Actually, last two days, B had her exams and on the first, she got 20/21 and on the second she had a perfect score that’s why there’s no doubt that she is doing well.

I just hope that she will keep up with her goods works and make me more proud as what I am right now.

Another Milestone

Before I look for the best acne treatments, let me post here first some recent updates on Bela.

If you remember, a few months back that we have been struggling to teach Bela how to write. Writing is really something that Bela hates doing and it will really need a lot of convincing before we can ask her to write even just one letter every time she does her writing assignments. It was also noted by the Admissions Officer of St. Scholastica as they noticed how much Bela struggled with her writing when she had her entrance exam there. We were even warned that we should really train her before June so she won’t have a hard time coping in Jr. Prep.

We enrolled her to the Magic Strokes class this summer at her school and she is also enrolled since February in the Enopi (Math & English) program. Since then, we really noticed a big improvement on Bela. She can now write the letters and numbers even without the tracing lines. She even loves doing her assignment in Enopi and we even have to beg her to stop and remind her that it is already time to go to sleep. She also loves coloring, drawing, and doing artwork. Just look at her recent at project:

She asked her Tita Iah to draw June and her dad to draw Leo of the Little Einsteins and she colored the two drawings in one sitting. At least now, my worries on her big adjustment to big school have been lessened because of this latest improvement.

Enopi Math & English: Enrolled

I made a post here a few weeks ago about our dilemma on whether we will enroll Bela to big school or not this coming school year. This has given me quite a number of sleepless nights (that is why I badly need acne solutions) thinking about this dilemma.

But so far, hubby and I is almost 90% sure that we will move her to big school already. It is just a matter of decision now on whether we will enroll her at St. Theresa’s College or St. Scholastica.

One of the few ways that we are helping her prepare for her enrollment to big school is helping her with her writing skills. We were informed by the Admission Officer of St. Scholastica that we should really train Bela with her writing and she should be really trained in writing by the time school starts in June. Our style is that we will try to practice her writing when we are at home but if Bela doesn’t want to, then we will not force her. Hubby and I realized that this is not really helping her and we really need an expert to help Bela. Hubby’s initial suggestion was to get a tutor that will train Bela with her writing but I realized that instead of just writing, why not enroll her in the Enopi program so she will get training in Math, English, Critical thinking and her writing.

She already started with the Math program since January and she is currently enrolled in both English and Math program. Bela is actually having fun as the Enopi worksheets are really colorful with full of drawings so Bela is really inspired to finish her worksheets. Even when doing homework, it will only take her less than 10 minutes to finish 4 pages of writing assignments so I am happy with how she is enjoying the program.

Her teacher even commented on her last journal report that Bela is already showing more interest in her writing drills so I am really thankful that we decided to enroll her in extra-curricular activities such as Enopi, that will help her with her writing problem.

Trial @ Yamaha School of Music

I know I need to look for free insurance quotes as we really need to finalize the renewal of our insurance but then I can’t wait to share this picture of Bela.

These pictures were taken during her trial class at Yamaha School of Music last Saturday. She received a drum set from her Tito and Tita on her last birthday. She really loves musical instruments and is really interested in learning to play it but since she already have a drum set, we decided that we let her try drum lessons.

My mom inquired at Yamaha School of Music in D. Tuazon, Quezon City last year. They normally accept students for their drum lessons aged 5 years old and up but they already had a 4-year old student before so they said that Bela can have a trial to see if she is fit for the program.

As soon as she sees the drum set, she quickly went inside the music room and said “Oh, my favorite!” She comfortably sit in front of the drums and started chanting “1-2-3” while tapping the drum sticks together and started playing with the drums.

The instructor commented that Bela has a potential as a drummer but the problem is she is still too small for their drum sets (which are for kids aged 7 years old and above) and so she can’t reach the pedal which the instructor said is an important aspect in learning how to play the drums. We told them that Bela has a drum set at home for her age and we can try brining in the chair that goes with her drum set and she can try again if she can reach the pedal of Yamaha’s drum set using her own chair.

The owner scheduled us for another trial on Friday. Hopefully, Bela’s chair will work with their drum set so she can enroll in their Drum Lessons program as she is just so eager to learn how to play the drums.

MSS’s Christmas program

Last December 13, was MSS’s Christmas program entitled “Pamaskong Handog ng MSS.” The program was held at the Philam Life Theater in UN.

They have been practicing for weeks and Bela’s teachers even gave us a CD of the songs that they will be singing so they can practice it at home. Bela loves to perform, she loves to sing and dance, but the problem is, all the songs that they are performing are in Tagalog. We tried to make her practice at home by listening to the CD but Bela is really not interested.

They had a general rehearsal last Saturday but the theater gates were closed as they want it to be a surprise for the parents and boy we were really surprise.

Bela performed four times during the program. The first one was during the opening number where all students sing and dance to different Christmas songs.

Bela’s second performance was when her class sang “Diba’t ang Pasko.” I was really surprised because she knows the lines even if it is in Tagalog. There was a microphone in front of her but it was too high but she was really doing all the extra effort (she tiptoed a lot) so she can reach the mic and sing the song. We were all laughing while watching her.

Then they did a dance number to the tune of “Season of Smiles” and Bela knows all the dance steps by heart.

Her last performance was indeed a surprise for us as she was one of the chosen student to perform for the Grand Finale. They sang “Handog” by Florante. I was really surprised because she knows the lyrics of the songs though she was saying the words in slang. LOL. We were all laughing while watching her because her teacher (whom she sang the song with), had a hard time in trying to make Bela stop because Bela still continued singing even if it is not her part of the song already. Her teacher has to sit down to get the mic away from Bela. LOL.

When the program was finish and when we fetched her from the stage, this is what she said: “Mom, I am a superstar.”

Hay, Bela is one performer talaga. We are really proud of her!!

You can view more pictures here.

Ate Bela

Bela loves the fact that she will be an Ate soon. Every night she will kiss my tummy and will hug it and will tell her baby “it” that she loves her so much. She would tell stories to her baby “it” and she will sometimes ask her dad to read a story for her and her baby “it.”

And now that she will be an ate soon, we are telling her that she should be more independent because she is no longer a baby and she is now a big girl. I guess what my friends are saying is true, that they will really learn to be more independent and responsible with the coming of the new baby.

As early as now, Bela is showing signs that she is starting to become more independent. She goes to her potty by herself every time she needs to do number 1 and number 2 and she will even remove her shorts and panty by herself. She even knows how to open the faucets by herself to wash her hands. She also started to eat by herself and I really can’t help but smile every time I see her do things on her own.

I know she should have been doing these things by herself a long time ago but I guess since she is an only child and the first grand child, we kind of spoiled her a bit. That is why her developmental pedia really recommended that Bela should become an ate soon as it will really help with her emotional growth and maturity. Her pedia also warned us that she will show signs of regression when the second baby arrives but I know Bela is a smart girl and in time she will learn to adapt and I know there is no doubt that she will be the sweetest ate ever to her baby “it.”