Daddy's 1st death anniversary

It was Daddy's 1st death anniversary last thursday, January 19. We had a get together at home and a lot of yummy food which I ate for lunch and dinner the following days. If only Daddy could see his three grandchildren now, I'm sure he would enjoy their company. It's sad that, he only saw Griffin and Griffin was still small then. As Griffin grew older and was studying already, Daddy's health deteriorated and you could no longer talk to him. Even before Hailey was born, he was bedridden already. If only his mind was still ok then he could have seen Griffin and Hailey. Unfortunately, his disease affected his brain. He never knew that Griffin went to Xavier for big school and never heard Griffin reciting his Chinese poems. I'm sure he would have loved to hear that and would speak to Griffin in Chinese. But I guess God has other plans for him and he's in a better place now. We miss you Daddy! Hope you could be with us now. Please watch over our family from up there. : )

Griffin and school

Griffin is doing so well in school. He has had First Honors for the last 3 quarters, hopefully he maintains good grades this fourth quarter. I have not much problems with him except that he keeps on playing on the computer. He doesn't even want to come with us when we go to the mall.
I' m less stressed though when he does not come since I only have to take care of Hailey. Griffin still does not eat much except for chicken, nuggets, hotdog, luncheon meat and cream of mushroom soup. I hope he grows out of being a picky eater. It's difficult eating out with him because he always has to have Mc Donald's if the restaurant has no fried chicken or chicken fingers.

Hailey is 2 years 8 months old

Hailey at 2 years 8 months can speak in sentences better now. She still uses "me" instead of "I". She is very observant and has a good memory. A few days ago we were in Shopwise and passes by the Carbtrim shelf and she told me, "Mommy like". She probably heard me comment on the Carbtrim commercial saying I liked the product. She also recognizes the junk food that Iper buys when we are at the chips section. She's a lot better in Filipino. Griffin, at this age could not understand any Filipino word. She knows the meaning of Filipino words like basa (wet), mata, buhok, ilong, tapon, maybe even more. She can also understand when you speak in Filipino although I don't know how much she understands. She loves pretend cooking, pushing her shopping cart around, filling bags with stuff and carrying it around. She can also fold a hand towel with a piece of tissue inside and gives it to me saying " gift to you" meaning its a gift for me.

This is how she pronounces the following words. She sounds so cute when she says these words.
Jan8-recue me for rescue me
            -cebration for celebration
            -lunchime for lunch time
Jan22-patater for computer
               -aytus me for excuse me

Hailey can now write the letters H, O, T and can draw faces quite well. She still does not know the alphabet so well except for the letter O, that is why I'm thinking of sending her to school this coming school year so that she could learn more things. I tried teaching her letters but she's not so interested. We visited K.I.D.S last thursday and seems like she's ok with school, she follows and repeats what the teacher says especially when she joined the stretch n grow class. I'm still deciding though if she'll be in school everyday or iust 3x a week.

My baby is such a big girl now. She'll be 3 already on May 20. Time flies so fast.

Decluttered room for the New Year

I cleaned up our room, got rid of some toys, removed posters/pictures on the wall and had the whole room painted just before the New Year came. Hopefully our decluttered room would bring us more blessings this year. For a start, Griffin no longer has a badly clogged nose at night because we got rid of so much dirt and dust in our room, especially the dust on the shelves and frames which have collected for years. I'm very happy with our very clean room. Hopefully, i can keep it that way all the time.

Hailey is 2 years 7 months old

Hailey turned 31 months old last December 20. She is a very talkative girl who loves to repeat whatever you say. She speaks in sentences already. She would say thank you when you give her something and would say you're welcome when you say thank you to her. She also knows how to say please when she wants something. She can say numbers although not always in the correct order. She can also recite some of the alphabet but cannot recognize the letters yet except for the letter O. She also knows colors and shapes. She is a very sweet girl as she would often tell me "yab you" for love you. She is kind of shy when she is around people she does not know. Whenever I ask her if she wants to go to school, she would say no. I am thinking of a way to teach her to recognize the alphabet since she is not interested in reading books or watching videos about it.

These are just a few of the new words she knows, i was not able to keep track of the others.

Nov28-hailey can count to 13
          -she likes arranging stuff by color
Dec9- jingbebels for jingle bells
Dec12-muncha for monster
          -chababi for strawberry
Jan2- celebration
- hep me for help me
- recue me for rescue me

Hailey is 2.5 years old

Hailey at 2.5 years old is very talkative. She can say so many words, words that I did not think she knew. She loved our trip to Disneyland early this month. Her favorite attractions were the Pooh ride, spinning cup, Buzz Lightyear ride and the Philharmagic movie. She also enjoyed the parade and seeing the Disney characters. She was happy to see the characters up close but there are times though that she does not want to have her picture taken alone so i had to carry her. She would love to visit Disneyland again. On our next trip to Hong Kong, we'll visit Ocean Park so she can see the pandas.

Her current favorite toys are play doh and beados. She also loves fingerpainting. She has also picked up some of Griffin's expressions. She was playing the marble race when she said "best ever". She meant the toy was the best ever. She probably heard Griffin saying the same when he likes a toy or game. The other day she was choosing from her dvd's when she saw one with Cinderella. She told me, Sinena (Cinderella), more fun, diba? She sounded so cute.

The following are newer words i heard her say but I could not keep track of all the words anymore because she knows so much now.

Oct21-sip for slip
         -fun/funny
         -choose 
         - food
Oct22-batoom for bathroom
          -table
Oct27-geen for green
Nov10- patati for spaghetti
          - butta-fly
          -mash bothers bawl
          - kiss
          -baki for broccoli
Nov17- best ever ( she said this while playing marble race)
          -awesome
Nov18-pookaba for peekaboo
Nov20- efant for elephant

Hailey is 29 month old

At 29 months, Hailey can suddenly say so many words. Words that I did not know she knew or could say. She can say colors like black, red, yellow, sometimes green and orange although she still calls it nana. She can even say Griffin's name whereas before she did not even want to try to say Griffin. She still calls him gege and herself meimei. She can even understand Filipino. When I asked her, "Anong pangalan mo?", she said, "Hay-yee". The following are the words she can now say:
Sep 20-oh no
               -nice
               -baseball
               -manana
               - notebook
Sep 25- nanak for knock knock
               - icee for icing
Sep 26- manana for banana
               - oh my ants bite meimei
Sep27 - toad
               -taste
Sep 28- itchy
            -ghost
            -aunt nikki
            -apit
Sep 29- neck
           - toes
           -teeth
           -ma-key for monkey
           - ouch
          -this
Sep 30- i know cute
Oct 3- bah bee for barbie
Oct 5- pace for space
Oct 6- mall for small
Oct 7- i no know for i don't know
Oct 9- bahay buho for bahay kubo
Oct10- moon-no for moon dough/play dough
          -patata for pajamas
Oct12-black
          -white
          -baby bop
          -wait
          -bomba
          -naked
          -moon
          -batman
          -black bird
          -ben 10
          -cookies
Oct12-eat
          -dark
Oct16-wed for red
          -box
          -book
Oct18-eat
          -watch
          -any
          -again
          -wain for rain
          -mix
Oct20-pactice for practice
Oct21-sip for slip
         -fun/funny
         -choose 
         - food
Oct22-batoom for bathroom
          -table

Hailey is 28 months old

Hailey is 28 months old today. She is starting to talk in phrases now. She refers to herself as mei mei although she can already say Hailey. Griffin is still gege to her because she still can't pronounce Griffin. She can say so many words already. It surprises me sometimes that she can say cat, dog, cow, etc. Whereas, just a few months ago she could only call them by their animal sounds. The following are the newer words she has learned to say, some of the words she can pronounce more clearly now.

Aug 21- ke kow for gege
- ba bow for barber
- hah for tiger
- mei mei
Aug 22- pap pap for backpack
Aug 24- key
Aug 25- deh dis for dentist
- tank two for thank you
- pup for pump
Aug 26-bike
- tee for three
- eygoo for igloo
Aug 27- dada's i d for dada's d s
- dai dee for daddy
- wet
Aug 29- cut
Aug 30- dizzy
Sep 1- boot
-yo/ ya low for yellow
- cookie
- cat
-dog
- yuck
- hotcake
Sep 2- touch
- abc
Sep 4- mommy
-pop
-this
Sep 5-bad
- bat for back
- bah bee/ bah dee for body
Sep 8-house
- wah ya for water
- shoes
- tatch for cut
Sep 9- pat sis for princess
- tah too for thank you
-bitsy
Sep 10- picy for spicy
Sep 11- ah pat for ipad
- hailey
-cut this
- bokey for broken
Sep 12-thanks
- panty
Sep 14-yuck baho
-ouch
Sep 15-monkey
-baho
-cow
- man
Sep 19- see gege or see mama( with
her hand over her eyes)
means she can't see bec. of
something or someone
blocking her view
- tsup tsup for jup jup
-hand
-mad
-peach/ness (characters in the wii games)

Griffin's First Quarter Report Card

Griffin got his report card last thursday. He had very very good grades. His highest grade was 100 for Language while his lowest grade was 93 for CLE. The rest of his grades are as follows: Chinese-94, Reading-99, Filipino-96, Math-97, Science-98, Social Studies-96. His quarterly average was 97 which qualified as 1st Honor. He also got the Diligence Award for having a grade of Outstanding in both Conduct and Effort. When my mom told him, "Wow, you're 1st Honor!", he said, "What's that?". He doesn't know what being 1st honor is because during preschool, they weren't given awards like these. Good job Griffin! We're so proud of you! Keep it up!

Hailey is 27 months old

Hailey is 2 years and 3 months old today. She is starting to talk in phrases. She can say things like, throw ball, more milk, no more pizza but not very clearly. She now calls Griffin, gēge ( older brother in Mandarin) and calls herself meimei (younger sister in Mandarin). She still can't pronounce thier names so when we told her yesterday that she can call Griffin, gēge and call herself, meimei, she can now easily call Griffin. She now has a habit of looking sad with pouting lips (emoting) every time she feels sad like when Griffin gets something from her or when she is not given something she wants.

Here are some of her new words:

July 26 - dad for done
July 27 - co for cold
July 28 - poo for pool
                 - ta for butterfly
July 29 - beash for beach 
July 30 -hoe for hole
                  -moo for move
July 31 - pisha for pizza
Aug 2 - do dey-a for go there
Aug 3 - boke for broke
              - i tea
              - fish
              - i .day for i.d.
Aug6 -  choose
           - weh for wet
            - eww for yellow
           - piece
           - pay for play
Aug 7 - kise for case
Aug 10- wah for water
              - ump for jump 
              - wash
Aug 11 - home
            - hoe koo for hong kong
            - heh heh for hailey
Aug 13- tat-too for tattoo
              - beh for bed
Aug19- no mow pizza
Aug 20- doe ball for throw ball
             - mo for mall

Griffin turns 7

Griffin is 7 years old today. Time flies so fast. It seems like only a few years ago, he was my baby. We used to be together 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He would always want me by his side saying he'd miss me if I would go somewhere without him. He is now in Grade 1 and has grown up to be a very smart boy. He has never given me problems regarding school work. But I hope that he learns to control his temper now that he's older. We did not throw him a party for his 7th birthday, we just gave him a wii instead. He's very happy with his gift. Happy birthday baby boy! Wishing you many many more birthdays to come!

Griffin wears eyeglasses

It was last summer, when Griffin had an eye test that we found out that his right eye is nearsighted. We did not go to the ophthalmologist right away because he told me the next day that his vision was not blurry anymore. It was a few weeks after school started that I decided to bring him to the doctor. The doctor initially thought it could be a lazy eye. His other eye was 20/30 which she said was normal for his age. We had to return the next day for the eyedrops to make his eye dilate because he had tests the next day and the eyedrops would make his eyesight blurry. Thankfully, after another eye test and checking his eyes, it wasn't a lazy eye after all. He just needed to correct the nearsighted eye with glasses. The lens prescribed to him was -1.75 for the right eye and plain lens for the left eye. The glasses I got him are made of flexible and light material. It is quite expensive but at least it is more comfortable for him than heavier glasses. His next check up is six weeks after his first check up.

Hailey is 26 months

Hailey turned 26 months last Wednesday, July 20. She still doesn't talk in sentences. She can recognize shapes and colors but she can only say blue and pink and she calls the circle, O. She can understand some Filipino unlike Griffin when he was the same age, who seemed to block off any Filipino words he hears thus he could not understand it. She can also climb up the stairs on her own, holding on to the wall, at times, for support. Here are some of the new words she can say:

June 22 - fafa for foofa
                  - peach
                  - ha fa for hi5
June 24- pink
July 2 - pica for picture
July 6 - pig
Jul 8 - pika for pizza
           - bib
Jul 14- kis for case
Jul 17- kakak for hong kong
           - o-koo for hong kong
           - popo for tapon
            - ice
- yup

Bullying in school

Griffin was a victim of bullies last Monday, July 18. He told me what happened to him during lunch that day. He usually plays with Andre but while playing in the quadrangle they got separated and he couldn't find him anymore. That's why he said he was playing alone when Ethan kicked him. He said he wasn't even playing with them. Ethan punched him then did a flying kick to his tummy. Then he said Hanz spit on him. He said Ethan told Hans, "fight Griffin". Ethan was his classmate in Nursery. He even told me he played with Ethan during the first week of school. This incident isn't the first time Ethan and Hans ganged up on him. Two weeks ago, he told me Ethan and Hans made him eat plastic (a Nissin wrapper). I don't know how they forced him to eat the plastic. I told him to tell a teacher or tell teacher Roi but he said he didn't know where to find T. Roi. I just told him not to go near those 2 kids.

I wrote a letter to his teacher and emailed the school director about this incident. The 3 kids were called. They talked to Mr. Avanzado about it. The 2 kids admitted what they did to Griffin. Ethan admitted that it was an accident when he fell and that he kicked Griffin. Hanz also admitted that he kicked Griffin on the leg. This, I did not know. I didn't know that both of them kicked Griffin. It was Cody, his classmate who told their teacher about the incident. When T. Roi confronted them about the plastic incident, they said it was a joke, such a cruel joke! I don't know what disciplinary action was done. Just hoping Griffin does not encounter any bullies anymore.