Griffin Daley

Last weekend, while eating at Mc Donald's .....

Me: If we have a baby, who will take care of the baby.

Griffin: Me.

Me: What will you do?

Griffin: I will give him my baby toys.

Me: What will his name be?

Griffin: Griffin Daley.

Me: If the baby is a girl, what will you name her?

Griffin: Violet. (Violet is his favorite color.  He wants everything in violet, especially in school, where he wants to use violet materials, be it crayons, markers, popsicle sticks, paper, feathers, paint, scissors or paint brush.)

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A few days ago on our way to school ....

Me: Who is the the cutest boy in the world?

Griffin: It's my baby brother.  His name is Griffin Daley.

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Just a while ago .....

Me: My baby is a big boy already.

Griffin: I'm not a baby.

Me: I want to call you my baby even if you're big already.

Griffin: You'll have another baby, his name is Griffin Daley.

Griffin's School Party

Griffin was supposed to have his birthday party in school tomorrow, friday.  But because of their field trip to Fort Santiago on friday, his party was moved to today, July 31.  Since his party was moved one day earlier, I had to buy him a Goldilock's cake for his school party because his Power Ranger cake would not be ready yet.  We were able to get the character cookies though, so these were given to his classmates this morning.  

My mom, my sister and I were at Griffin's school party so we were able to take photos and videos.  The kids had spaghetti, hotdogs, colored sandwiches and cake.  Griffin really enjoyed his party in school and I'm sure his classmates loved their loot bags.  

When Teacher Cristy asked him how old he is, he said, "I'm still three".   She then asked, "When will you be four?" He said, "On August 2".  He doesn't consider himself 4 years old yet, not until it's August 2.  He told me a few days ago, "When I'm four, I will help you clean up and I won't nenen anymore".  Well, to see is to believe.  : )

Here are some photos of his party:

This is the invitation I made for his classmates.

This is his round mocha cake from Goldilock's.  I was just supposed to get the small round cake but they did not have that size in mocha flavor.

Here he is blowing his candle.

Praying before eating.

Parachute time after snack time.

Class picture at the Music room.

Giving away loot bags.

Narrative Report - July 21 - July 25, 2008

Narrative Report
Period covered: July 21 - July 25, 2008
By Teacher Cristy

First of all, we would like to thank you once again for opening your home to our class.  We all had a good time, especially the children, as they not only got to play with Griffin's toys, but even had take home giveaways, which they continued to wear in school even the next day! Thank you too for Ama's warm welcome and the snacks you prepared for us. : )

As we talked about the different parts of a house, Griffin was quick to identify the different rooms in a house and the many things seen in the different rooms.  He said that the bedroom is his favorite part of the house and he went on to draw his bedroom including stuff like his toy boxes, his table, his big bed and 2 toys under his bed.

When we had a story about a hole in Amy's roof, Griffin commented, "I don't have a hole in my house, my things will not get wet".

He can sight read the 12 months of the year, the days of the week, and most colors and number words up to ten.  He was quick to distinguish if 2 objects were alike or different, although needed some cues when there were 3 objects involved.  There were not much hesitations to write this week. : )

K.I.D.S. Home Visit at Our House

Griffin's class had their home visit at our house today.  Their theme for this week is "Welcome to our House" so their activities were focused on 'Parts of a House' and 'Things inside our House'.  The purpose of the home visit was to show the kids the parts of the house.  

Griffin toured his classmates around our house. When we entered our main door,  he told his classmates, " This is my race car.  This is the laminator.  These are 2 big fish.  Where's the lobster? Oh, it's hiding behind the rock."  

They went on upstairs to the living room, dining room and kitchen.  Before they went in the kitchen, Teacher Cristy asked Griffin, "Does your mommy cook?" and Griffin answered, "Yes". The teacher did not know that all I cook is hotdog, nuggets, sausage, and noodles.  In short, I know how to fry and boil food.  

Then we went to our bedroom where Griffin said, "This is my other house."  Teacher Mina thought he was referring to our room as his other house but he was actually referring to his playhouse.  The kids went in the playhouse and looked at the pictures on our wall.  After this, they went to our bathroom.  Teacher Cristy said, " You have a big tub."  Griffin corrected her and said, " It's not a big tub.  It's a jacuzzi."

After touring the house, we served them some snacks, Super Thin and Sunkist.  While they were eating his teacher kept on telling me that Griffin talks like a grown up.  She asked me if it was because he is with me all the time or it's just his personality and I said, " It's just the way he is."  I don't think it's because he's with me all the time.  He's just the type of kid who is an extrovert and talks like a grown up.  Most of the kids stayed at the lanai, writing on the whiteboard, playing some of Griffin's toys while Griffin and Enzo were at his small table eating their Super Thin till it was already time to go. a souvenir of their visit to our home, we gave each of them a Spiderman/Disney Princess band and glow stick.  

The home visit was a fun activity. I'm glad they had it at our home.  Even if we had to clean up the whole house and keep all the mess in the bodega.   Too bad, I was only able to take a few pictures of the visit. 

Photos taken while they were in our room. 

Inside Griffin's playhouse.

Inside our bathroom, looking at the jacuzzi.

Narrative Report - July 14 - July 18, 2008

Narrative Report
Period covered: July 14 - July 18, 2008
By Teacher Cristy

As we started to talk about our theme on FAMILY, Griffin was quick to identify his family members - mommy janice, daddy wellington and ME!  When he saw the family pictures of his classmates who had siblings, he said "I am going to have a baby next time". : )  When asked about what daddy and mommy do, he told the class "My daddy goes to the office and then goes home when it's night.  My mommy stays home because I don't want her to work.  We play and read stories until it's time to sleep".

He continues to do very well during worktime and answers his work sheets well.  He had no difficulty grasping the concepts of biggest/smallest, tallest/shortest.  He only shows some hesitation when he needs to trace or write some words but responds positively when prompted.

When they were asked what they enjoyed most during their field trip to Club Gymnastica, he said, "My favorite was hanging and swinging on the rope" and he went on to draw about it.

There are times when he still is very playful during circle time and at the start of activity time.  When we sing our morning songs, he would run around and shriek, sometimes, with other classmates following his lead.  When they move on to activity time, he then uses the table as a drum, tapping on them with his hands.  As soon as he is reminded though that it is not yet time for play, he quickly settles down and starts to focus on the activity at hand.

Happy Birthday Ama!

Yesterday was my mom's 60th birthday. The day before, I had prepared an audio visual presentation which featured pictures of her with Griffin from the time Griffin was still a baby till the present. At the end of AVP was a video of Griffin singing Happy Birthday then he says' "I love you Ama!" This was Griffin's gift to her and she really loved it.

When I picked Griffin up in school, he was sad. He told me about a jacket or costume in school which he couldn't get, but I don't exactly know why he felt bad. He was really feeling sad, that seeing Ama's cake did not cheer him up much as he was singing Happy Birthday in a sad voice. He had even cried during the candle blowing because he only wanted to blow the zero while my mom was to blow the 6 , however when he blew out the candle, both candles were blown so he began crying.

After a little while though, he was ok already and back to his usual self. He ate 2 sticks of barbecue, the Spongebob choco lollipop and cake. We only had a simple celebration at lunch time, with palabok, barbecue, inihaw na baboy and pichi-pichi.

We were supposed to eat at Tong Yang that night but at around 5:30 pm, my dad had a seizure so he had to be brought to the hospital. He is currently admitted at UST hospital so that his doctor could check on him. Hopefully, they'll be back home soon.

Posing with Ama before going to school


Griffin holding his gift to Ama


Ama's cake and balloons


The Birthday Celebrant


Blowing the candle

Mouth Brush

Two days ago, my mom noticed that Griffin had some red marks below his lips. She saw him hitting his mouth with the cover of a baby bottle so she thought that was the culprit. At first, I thought it was just dirt, then I asked him what he did to his mouth and he said," I brushed it with my toothbrush." The toothbrush he used was the battery operated kind. The brush not only irritated his skin but also hurt the blood vessels underneath the skin. It looked like someone had punched him in the mouth.

Here is a photo of his bruised mouth area. It doesn't look so bad in the picture, but it actually looks terrible in person.

Narrative Report - July 7 - July 11, 2008

Narrative Report 
Period covered: July 7 - July 11, 2008
By Teacher Cristy

Griffin was in violet "mode" the whole week.  He worked with no other color of markers and crayons, except violet.  He chose all violet popsicle sticks for arts, while everyone else opted for multi colors. And even when we had cutting exercises, he had to be given violet scissors as he didn't want to use anything else.

As in the past, he had no difficulty with our lessons for the week.  He is starting to read c-v-c's already (ei. cat, hat, rag...) although sometimes needs picture clues at the start of our reading exercise.  When we reviewed the concept of more/less, he was quick to identify which groups had more, and which had less.  Once, at the start of class, I had them form 2 lines - 1 for the boys and 1 for the girls.  I then let Griffin count how many were in each line.  He counted 6 boys and 6 girls (nobody was absent that day).  I then asked which line had more.  Everyone was quiet for a while, the Griffin said confidently "there are more boys and more girls!" : )

He had no tantrums this week.  Every time he would get frustrated and start to whine, he would quickly stop, perhaps remembering what mommy told him about not crying anymore.  He continues to remind classmates that sharing is good when they "forget" to share.

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Griffin's Awesome Gun

I promised Griffin that if he's good in school, I would buy him a toy. He cried again last Monday because he wasn't able to pack away the violet ball in school. But from Tuesday to Friday, he was a good boy that's why I told him I would buy him a toy when we go to the mall. He told me he wanted a Power Ranger gun. Last Saturday, we went to Toy Kingdom and he showed me the gun he liked. When we got home, I thought he forgot about the toy, so I wrapped it. Later that night, he asked me where the gun was, so I gave it to him. He excitedly tore open the gift wrapper and got the gun out of the packaging. He said, "This is awesome! This gun is so awesome!". We couldn't stop laughing when we heard him say "awesome". He definitely got the word "awesome" from the TV shows he watches on Nickelodeon.

Field Trip to Club Gymnastica

Griffin had their Field Trip to Club Gymnastica last Friday (July 11). My mom and I joined him on his very first Field Trip. During the warm-up exercises, Griffin wasn't following the coach. He couldn't stay still and kept looking elsewhere. Their first stop was the balance beam where he walked unassisted. Next was doing the forward roll, which he knows so well. Third was the trampoline, which, I think, he loved the most. He was really sweaty because aside from moving around a lot, it was also quite hot in the gym. He swung on a rope and did some hanging on the bars then wanted to eat some snacks because he saw some kids eating already. He did not join the exercises anymore since he was eating. Before going home, they all sang their Good Bye song. It was a really fun field trip. I'm sure Griffin will love their other field trips in the future.

Drawing and Writing Update

Here's Griffin's latest drawing of a face:




I think his drawing has improved a lot. The face looks really good. With regards to writing, he still prefers to trace the letters or he wants someone to hold his hand while writing. He actually writes the letters himself, he just wants someone to hold his hand, for moral support.

Narrative Report - June 30 - July 4, 2008

Narrative Report
Period covered: June 30 - July 4, 2008
By Teacher Cristy

Griffin continues to be generally cooperative and attentive during activity time as well as during work time. He follows directions well and always makes it a point to finish his project and use it at once - like the belt, the necklace, and the hat that we made this week.

When we talked about some body organs using a body puzzle, he said, " I want to be the one to stick the kidneys", even before we started talking about it. : ) He was also able to give several "opposites"' and was among the first to answer questions in this regard.

He writes letters without a guide anymore and does not need promptings to write his name. He answered his worksheets without much distractions, consistently choosing a violet marker each time. His friends call him "the violet boy" and he just laughs when he hears them say that.

He had some anxious moments though today, friday, and cried on several occasions. He first got upset during outdoor play when a classmate blocked the slide as he was going up. I was able to calm him down quickly there but when it was time for snacks he again started to cry. When I asked why, he couldn't quite answer; I told him that I wouldn't be able to help and understand if he doesn't tell me why he was crying. He stopped crying shortly after and went on to play while waiting for his turn to work. During work time, he tried to complete a 20 piece puzzle and got a little frustrated when he found it difficult to put together. I gave him a little help and he felt happy when he was able to finish it. He cried again though just before bye bye time, as he wasn't able to put on his sandals quickly and missed part of our action song. He said, "I want to do it", so we repeated our song for him ----- well times like these do happen, he really is still a little boy after all. And he did do very well during the first four days of the week!

Molting

Griffin and I were reading his insect book this afternoon. I was reading aloud the part about the Life Cycle of the Spider. It says that spiderlings molt four or five times before they are fully grown.

Me: The spiderlings molt like our lobster. (referring to our fortune lobster, I showed him our lobster once, when it had just molted and shed off its old skin, particularly the claw part)

Griffin: Like Apit and Nikki.

Me: What do you mean?

Griffin: Like Apit and Nikki when they went to the beach.

Me: No, that's not molting. When you stay under the sun for too long, you get sunburned skin then it peels off.

Griffin remembered the time when Apit and Nikki came home from the beach and they had skin peeling off due to sunburn. I think Apit told him he was molting. Hahaha!

Black Spiderman

We went to Divisoria Mall and 168 again yesterday.  Griffin has a new classmate so I had to buy an additional loot bag. Griffin got two new costumes, a blue Dino Thunder Power Ranger and a Black Spiderman costume.

Here he is being the Black Spiderman:

Playing the Drums

Griffin was playing the drums and said that his song is called "Fresh Out The Water".

Here's the video:

Informal report - June 23-27, 2008

Informal report by Teacher Cristy

Period Covered: June 23-27

Participation in various routines:

Griffin shows enthusiasm to try out different activities and participates actively in our various routines.

Favorite activity:

He enjoyed our "sight seeing" activity.  His favorite though was making popcorn and eating it after he even asked for his bowl to be refilled.

Attention span:

Griffin was generally attentive during activity and work time.  He has been quite playful though during circle time, needing extra encouragement to stay in place.

Ability to work independently:

He did his cutting activity without teacher's help anymore.  He only needed some reminder to finish his work before moving to the next routine.

Reception/Retention of concepts:

He had no difficulty with our letter and number of the week, as well as answering worksheets about top/bottom, in/out.  He just needed a little help with right vs. left.

Small Muscle Coordination:

He now traces his name as well as other letters with a little more ease, although his grip is still not very firm.

Large Muscle Coordination:

Griffin is very agile and loves to run, jump and go up and down the slide over and over.

Attitude towards peers:

He told his classmates "sharing is good" whenever someone didn't want to give up a toy he wanted to play with.

Attitude towards teachers:

He continues to respond positively to teacher's directions and follows instructions well.

Remarks:

Keep up the good work, Griffin!