My Little Rock Star

Here's a video of Griffin singing Crazy Car:

While playing cars ....

Last night Griffin was playing with his Hot Wheels cars. He was rolling them on the floor and they would hit his swing. His dad told him not to bang the cars on the swing. I think he felt bad because he was told off. He told his daddy, "Bad boy. You're not giving me good memories."

I Like Cold Things

Griffin has colds. I gave him medicine for colds last night which also had antihistamine so I was expecting that he would be sleeping like a log. I was wrong because he woke up several times. It seemed like he couldn't sleep well because everytime I would cover him with a blanket, he would wake up and cry. Maybe he couldn't sleep soundly because of the iced coffee. Bad mommy! I made some iced coffee for myself but he tasted it and liked it. The last time he woke up, before the sun came out, he told me, "Mommy, I don't like the blanket because it's hot. I only like cold things, as in the aircon and the fan." He was talking so clearly like he was wide awake but right after, he went back to sleep.

Home Address

Griffin has memorized our home address. When you ask him, he says it complete with number, street and city.

Toilet Trained

Griffin has been toilet trained at home since late last year. He tells when he has to pee or poop. It's a different story when we're outside. When at the mall, he usually doesn't say when he wants to pee specially when he's busy doing something. That is why I usually put diapers on him when we go out. It was only when he goes to Little Gym that he wears boxer shorts since it was only for an hour. It was a testing ground on whether he would tell if he had to go to the toilet. He never had an accident in Little Gym except for one time when I went to Jollibee and left him there. When I got back, he had already peed in his pants.

Lately though, I don't let him wear diapers anymore either at night or when we go out. Sometimes he pees while sleeping specially when he drinks a lot at night, but most of the time he's dry when he wakes up. With regards to being in the mall, he's been a good boy and tells me when he has to pee. He hasn't had any accidents so far. Sometimes I have to keep on asking him if he has to go to the toilet when he looks like he wants to wee wee because he has this habit of telling me he wants to pee when the pee is about to come out already.

Looks like he's toilet trained when I'm with him. The true test would be when he goes to Summer school. I won't be around so he has to tell the teacher when he has to go to the toilet. I hope he can do it without me.

Blurry Ama

A few days ago, we were laminating some posters. Griffin was on one side of the laminator and my mom was on the other side. He could see my mom on the other side through the translucent laminating film. He told my mom, "Ama, you're blurry.". He knows the meaning of the word blurry because I sometimes tell him about a photo taken by our camera that's blurry. I was just surprised that he used the word not to describe a photo.

One Saturday at Greenbelt

Here are some of our photos in Greenbelt last Saturday.

At the Greenbelt carpark, listening to music.


Lunch at Sentro


Drinking Sago't Gulaman


Beside the Fountain


Outside Nike Park

Reading sight words

Mastered these words Nov. 19, 2007


Mastered these on April 21, 2008. He mistook rat for red when I was taking his video a while ago.


Mastered these on April 22, 2008. Except for 'the'. He usually says 'end' when I ask him to read the word 'the' because I told him it's the word in 'The End'.


Here's a video of Griffin reading some words:

Fillings again

Front tooth with no filling.


At Mcdo having ice cream


The filling on Griffin's front tooth came off again last April 17. The next day, I called the dentist and was told that we could come that afternoon. After Little Gym, we went straight to the dentist. At first, he didn't want to go because he wanted to go to Mc Donald's but after a while, he was already in a good mood. He was a very good boy. He did not move his tongue and kept his mouth open while the dentist placed the filling. After just half an hour or less, we were on our way to McDo. Hopefully the filling won't come off anymore.

As I promised him, we went to McDo. We ate nuggets, fries, chicken with rice and gravy. After eating, Griffin went to the playplace and played for 1.5 hours with some older boys. He was so sad when the boys left. I bought him a sundae cone and waited for my mom to come and pick us up.

Excited to go to school

Griffin woke up at around 10:00 am yesterday. He was in a good mood and was watching Nickelodeon. I told him that I am be going to pay for his tuition. He allowed me to leave and agreed to wait till I come back.

I came back right away after enrolling him at Kids in Day School for School Year 2008-2009. He will be in Nursery this June. I also enrolled him for the Summer Enrichment Program which will start on May 5. A short while after I returned, he was on the computer playing Starfall. I was asking him what bag he would use in school. He said he would use his green backpack. He was telling me, "After I play Starfall". I didn't understand what he was trying to tell me. I went out of the room to eat lunch and left him playing on the computer. Moments later, he was telling me that he was ready to go to school. He even opened his drawer to get his clothes. I told him he would start school in May and not today. He cried. He really wanted to go to school.

Just today at around lunch time, he asked me, "Can I go to school now?". I told him again that he will go to school on May 5. He told me that he knows that. It's a good thing he did not cry.

He's really excited about school. When I ask him what he's going to do in school, he says, "I will play and eat and play". I hope that he will really love school and that he would start sleeping early so that he won't be sleepy in the morning.

Griffin writes his name

This is the very first time that Griffin wrote his name. He usually refuses to write it when I ask him to. This time, he did it himself. I hope he starts writing letters without tracing.

Snapshots

Getting ready to swim again.


Doing some water bending.


Playing with Power Rangers.


Playing Tekken3 using Super Arena 2 controller.


Writing the alphabet.


Hanging upside down on Iper's bunk bed.


Feeding Ama butong pakwan.

Griffin's Drawings

I drew a gecko with red marker then Griffin erased half of it. After a while, he told me that he drew a gecko. He drew the erased half with black marker.


This is a drawing of a canon.


This is a boat in water.

Griffin Loves Our Car

Griffin loves our Black Honda City. It's the only car he likes to ride because he says it's not smelly. Everytime we ride other cars, he usually doesn't want to go in because according to him it smells bad. I think this started when he threw up in my mom's car because of the smell of the air freshener. From that time on, he only likes riding in our car.

Yesterday, after visiting the Toyota show room ......

Willie: Can we sell our car and buy a new car?
Griffin: No. If we sell it, I can't ride it anymore.
--------0---------
Iper: Will we keep this car or buy a new one?
Griffin: If we keep our car. I can't ride it anymore.

Tama nga naman pagtinago (keep) yung car, paaano sasakyan?
--------0----------
Iper: Can we sell Ama's car?
Griffin: Yes, we'll buy a black Honda then it won't be smelly anymore.

I Will Rise and Crush You!

While watching Babangon Ako't Dudurugin Kita ....

Griffin: What's that show?
Me: That's "Babangon Akot' Dudurugin Kita".
Griffin: No, in English.
Me: It's "I Will Rise and Crush You".

Everytime he sees this show, he says it's I Will Rise and Crush You.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Two days ago, while watching Babangon Ako't Dudurugin Kita again....

Griffin: It's "I Will Rise and Crush You".
Me: Griffin, It's like this,(demonstrating how to crush an ant on the floor with my finger) Dudurugin kita!
Griffin: (Imitating me crushing an ant.) I will rise and crush you!

I wonder when Griffin will learn to speak Filipino. I hope he learns soon. Or else, he's going to have a difficult time in school.

Tooth filling woes

I am so sad again because the new fillings on Griffin's teeth came off again. It's expensive at P1,600 per filling. I'm also sad that Griffin has to go through the process again, and he still has other teeth which have to be fixed. I should never have given him candy when he was younger. I should also have forced him to brush his teeth even if he didn't like it. It's too late now, but at least his teeth can still be fixed through fillings. I'm thankful that he's such a cooperative boy. He's Ok with going to the dentist and having his teeth fixed. I know that he'll have many more dental visits since he has lots of dental caries aside from the existing cavities. I hope that he learns to take care of his teeth especially when his permanent teeth start coming out.

Little Gym Show Day

Doing the Spider Walk with Jac Jac


Playing with Jac Jac and Tyler


Receiving the Little Gym bag at the end of Show Day


His classmates for the Spring Term
(L to R, Tyler, Yuan, Cito, Nilo, Griffin, Mara, Francis, Diana, Coco, Jac Jac) Red did not attend Show Day




Singing their good-bye song


Griffin's Appraisal Card


It was Griffin's Show Day at The Little Gym for the Spring Term (January 2 - April 15, 2008) last Friday (April 11, 2008). Since it was Show Day, parents were allowed to be inside the gym with their kid. I enjoyed seeing Griffin up close doing his routines and playing with his classmates. I saw how Griffin progressed with his skills from his very first day at Little Gym, 8 months ago, to this day, his last Show Day.

I am no longer enrolling him next term, since he'll be going to school already. It was quite expensive enrolling him for 2 terms at Little Gym. P11,000+ for 15 one hour sessions is not cheap. But for me, it was worth it because I saw how Griffin enjoyed every second of his classes, how he learned new things, how to wait for his turn, how he made friends, and how he learned to follow instructions and listen to the teacher. He really loves it there because for him it's playtime with his friends.

I'm sure we'll both miss going to Little Gym at 1 pm every Friday. I always tell him the night before that he has to sleep early because there's Little Gym the next day. He never does sleep early, but is always ready to get up the next day to get ready for his class. We'll miss his friends too, especially those whom he's been with since his first day at Little Gym. These are happy memories which we can go back to again and again through photos and videos.

I know that Griffin still has a long way to go. He'll be in Nursery already and I know he's going to make new friends in school this coming June. I hope that he enjoys going to school, the way he enjoyed going to Little Gym.

Dancing Papaya

We went to Alexia's birthday party last Sunday. Griffin had a lot of fun playing with the other kids.

The following is a video of Griffin dancing the Papaya Song:

Filling Update

After 2nd and 3rd Filling


After 4th Filling


Griffin went back to the Dentist last Friday, March 28 and yesterday, April 1 to have more fillings done. He was very good and cooperative. He even willingly agreed to go to the dentist. The dentist showed me that both of his upper molars have cavities. We'll be back in 2 weeks to have his molars filled. I told him that if he's a good boy and allows me to brush his teeth after eating, I would get him another Power Ranger. So far, he allows me to brush his teeth. I just hope he'll always be this cooperative.