Bela, the Future Book Writer and Illustrator

My daughter is very bus and did you know what she is busy with?

She is doing her own book about Dinosaurs. She received a Dinosaur book from my friend last Christmas and it contains tons of information about every dinosaur you can think of. What she is doing for her book is she is drawing the different dinosaurs and then she is summarizing the information and is writing it down in her book.

She said she is making this book and she will give it to the kids in Ulingan so they will learn about dinosaurs too. Isn’t she is the sweetest? And I am proud that she just not thinks of herself but of others as well. Another proud mommy moment here.

Summer is Over. Start of the New School Year

I can’t believe that the 2 months of summer vacation is over just like that. Next week, Bela will go back to school as a grade 2 student. I remember last year, I have a lot of fears for my daughter as it is a big transition for her, moving from Sr. Prep to Grade 1.

In Grade 1, they will have teachers for each subject and she was in school almost the whole day. On the first week of class, Bela would go home almost at the brink of crying and she keep on telling us that teacher does not like her. I was even asked by her special programs teacher for a meeting as Bela would hide under the table and she needs to do a lot of convincing before she comes out of the table.

My heart was shattered as a mom, seeing my daughter like that. But every time I will ask her, she will say that she still loves school so I am thankful that it did not reached the point when Bela would detest going to school.

Hope this school year will be different. I am really praying to God that Bela will have supportive and patient teachers and adviser and nice classmates so it will be a smoother transition for her this time.

And speaking of first day of school, I suddenly remembered that I have not printed sticker labels for Bela’s notebooks and books. Good thing I remembered that I ordered to print flyers at printingamerica.com few months ago and so I will check if they print sticker labels and bag tags too.

Good luck my dear daughter. Have fun in school.

Living my Dream

Looks like Howell has to bring out his guitar so he and Bela can have their jamming session at home. It is because Bela has been attending drum lessons at Academy of Rock for 2 sessions now and she is really enjoying it and is so into it that I think, she will continue with the class even after the school opens.

If she finishes her 4 sessions and we find that this is really something that she will spend time with, we may have to save to upgrade her drum set to the complete one as what she has right now is just the basic.

Playing drums is one of my frustrations growing up. So at least I am having my wish come true, through my daughter.

Ocean Adventure for Mother's Day

On Howell’s last weekend here in Manila before he leaves for his temporary duty to Majuro, we were able to go to Ocean Adventure for more bonding moments with the kids. It was actually a last minute decision and we left the house around 11 AM already and we reached Subic by 2 AM just in time for their first afternoon show. In a way, it is also our Mother's Day celebration.

This is our 2nd or 3rd time here but it is the first for Cobi. We watched all the shows: Walk on the Wild Side Show, Amazing African Acrobats, Dolphin Show and the Sea Lion Show.

We enjoyed all of the shows but the highlight of our day was our close encounter with Tonka, Ocean Adventure’s false killer whale. We know much Bela would love this experience and so even if we are not prepared and we did not bring any swimwear, we still signed up for the Beach encounter with Tonka. Just look at how cool it is:

Of course Bela won’t stop thanking us and she said that it is one of her best day ever.

Enrolled: Drum Lessons at Academy of Rock

Bela has been attending the Beginning Filipino Workshop being offered by the Learning Library at Gymboree Serendra. She actually finished 8 sessions already and I enrolled her for another 8 sessions. Aside from this, she also has Kumon classes in Reading and Math every Tuesday and Thursday.

But these are all academic classes and so I wanted to enroll her to another extra-curricular activity and her choices is either swimming or drum lessons. I inquired with Bert Lozada at Ace Water Spa but their schedule is every day for summer and this won’t fit in Bela’s busy schedule. So I was able to convince her to take drum lessons instead and she will just go back to swimming come June.

So last week, we were able to drop by Academy of Rock in Rockwell and she had a trial class. She enjoyed it and she said she wanted to try out the class so I enrolled her for 4 sessions.

I totally forgot that Howell will be away until June and since I don’t drive, I have to ask my dad to drive us every Saturday while Howell is away. LOL. That is why I have been checking out Famous Smoke shop to check out for my dad’s favorite cigar as our bribe to him. He can even try out cigar affiliate program of Famous Smoke so he can earn on the side too.

I am excited for the activities lined up for Bela. I am sure, she will enjoy all of these.