Having a Baby

Griffin went to his Daddy's office for another Halloween Trick or Treat. He was supposed to wear his Aang costume, unfortunately, he changed his mind at the last minute and opted to wear his Dino Thunder Power Ranger costume. He went with his Dad and I stayed at home. After a while I got a call from Willie, he said Griffin was talking about me. His co-workers were asking Griffin where his mommy is and he answered, "She's having a baby"!

Halloween Trick or Treat at K.I.D.S.

Griffin had his Halloween Trick or Treat with his schoolmates last October 22 at 9:00in the morning. We went around some houses in San Antonio Village. He got lots of loot and was quite tired towards the end that he asked to be carried already. When we got back in the school there were refreshments and Mickey shaped pancakes for everyone. There were still lots of candy being given away.

Here are some photos:

Before going to school. I forgot to put on the belt of Griffin's Aang costume.


About to go trick or treating.


Classmates in costume.




With pumpkins full of loot.


Griffin's improved Aang costume which he'll wear in Daddy's office to go trick or treating again.

Baby#2: First Ultrasound

I came from the doctor this afternoon and had my first ultrasound. The baby is estimated to be around 8 weeks and its estimated due date is June 5, 2009 although if I were to opt for C-section, I could give birth as early as 2 weeks before. The baby is fine and has a very good heartbeat.

Here's the ultrasound photo:

Baby Talk

Some conversations about the baby.....

Me: I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse.
Ama: Mommy's so hungry, she could eat a Griffin.
Griffin: But she already ate a Griffin .... Griffin Daley. (referring to the baby in my tummy)

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Ama: I want to see the baby in the book. (referring to the science book which shows the sperm and egg join together)
Griffin: (whispering in her ear) It's still in the tummy. (referring to the baby in my tummy)

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Griffin: (pretending to type) Dear God, I already have a baby.

I remember what his teacher said when they were talking about family, and Griffin saw Colin and Enzo's family pictures and they had baby sisters. Griffin said, "next time I will have a baby", and now he will have one.

Parent-Teacher Conference

I had my first Parent-Teacher Conference yesterday morning with Teacher Cristy. We discussed Griffin's Progress Report. Griffin's progress report was really good, he had mostly O's (outstanding) and VS's (very satisfactory). He only had 5 S's (satisfactory), for writing his name, writing letters, writing numerals, not easily calmed down when crying and one for gross motor skill - shooting the ball in the basket. Basically, his teacher said that Griffin is really smart and funny. He's especially good with numbers but actually knows his letters too, it's just that he's not very good at writing letters and numbers yet.

Teacher Cristy said, this next sem, they will concentrate on reading, addition, fractions and try to get Griffin to write within the lines and hopefully improve in writing.

I'm so proud of Griffin. He's doing really well in school.

Pirate Griffin

We attended Joaquin's Pirate themed 7th birthday yesterday. Griffin had a blast seeing pirates, wearing a pirate costume and even doing some sword fighting. He also had a skull "tattooed" on his arm. Unfortunately, we left before the party was over and missed the Magic show. We still had another party to attend at the Fun Ranch. Griffin loved the loot he got, especially the treasure chest and the chocolate gold coins. When we got home, he put on his pirate costume and pretended to be a pirate, fighting and looking for treasure.

Here are some photos:

On the way to the party.


With Captain Jack Sparrow and Commodore James Norrington


His skull tattoo


In his pirate costume

Narrative Report: October 6-11, 2008

Narrative Report
Period Covered: October 6-11, 2008
By Teacher Cristy

As we looked at our globe and atlas to begin our discussions about "united nations", Griffin was quick to read CHINA, as we looked at the different countries in asia. And as we looked at pictures of asians, europeans and africans, he became quite curious and started to ask his classmates "What does your mommy look like?' as quoted in our newsletter, he said "my mommy looks filipina, sometimes she looks chinese!" : )

He had no difficulty identifying #'s that come before, after and in between, as well as distinguishing between equal & not equal; he had a hard time though writing some numbers like 3, 2, 7, 5 which he wrote in reverse. When asked to draw objects to complete sets, he at first tried to draw some of it on his own but after a while asked teacher to help him.

It has been a while since we played in the sandbox so he was excited when we had sand play in relation to talking about the desserts in africa. He had no problems though about sharing the shovels and pails and taking turns but just got easily annoyed when he got stepped on or shoved.

P.S.
I hope you enjoyed watching Griffin perform during the U.N. day program. My reminder to him was to stay in place during the dance as during our practices he had a tendency to wander off in the middle of the presentation. : )

Teacher Cristy

First Semester Assessment

Griffin had his first semester assessment this morning from 8:30 to 9:30 am. We arrived in school really early today. I stayed with Griffin till his teacher came. After a while he started answering the worksheets then Zach arrived and started doing his worksheets too. Zach finished his work ahead of Griffin. They played for a few minutes then they started doing their math worksheets.

When they were done, Teacher Cristy gave them Spiderman bubbles. She told me that Griffin's weakness is writing. I know that because up to now he's really not an expert yet at writing, especially writing lowercase letters and numbers. But she told me, when it came to the math part, he was really fast. She says that sometimes, he doesn't even count the objects anymore, he just looks at them and knows how many there are.

His Progress Report will be given to us on tuesday then the Parent-Teachers Conference will be on thursday.

Pregnancy Blues

This second pregnancy is so different from the time I was pregnant with Griffin. Although, I still don't throw up, there are food that I don't want to eat. My tummy doesn't feel good, no matter what I eat. During Griffin's time, I would eat anything and I wasn't sensitive to smells although I did feel like I had indigestion during the first trimester. This time, I don't know what I want to eat. Sometimes just thinking about a particular food makes me feel so icky. I'm really hoping that this disappears when the first trimester ends.

A Day at Fun Ranch

After the United Nations program, we went back home to eat lunch then after we proceeded to Fun Ranch to attend a birthday party. We were early so Griffin enjoyed most of the rides first and had a glass of strawberry snowcone.

As usual, Griffin had fun at the party. He played in the playground when we arrived while waiting for the program to start. He had Spiderman painted on his face, joined the games and watched the Magic show. He was very attentive and listened to the host. He was able to do the garter relay game really well. He quickly put the garter over his head, pulled it down to his feet then returned the garter to the chair. Unfortunately, his team lost the game, but they were given consolation prizes.

K.I.D.S. United Nations Program

Griffin had their United Nations Program last Saturday at the Philippine Navy Officers' Clubhouse. The Program started a few minutes after 9:00 am. Griffin was one of the kids on stage during the National Anthem. Their class represented the Philippines.

Griffin is not the shy type so he has no worries about performing on stage in front of a lot of people. He danced together with his classmates to the tune of Blue Jeans by Apo Hiking Society. Right after their performance, he got hungry so I bought him hotdog on stick. He ate up 3 hotdogs on stick so by the time the program ended, he didn't want to eat the snacks that were prepared for the kids.

Here are some photos:

Waiting for the program to start


During the National Anthem


Dancing Blue Jeans




After the program

Missing You

When I picked Griffin up this morning ....

Me: It's Zach's car. It's his daddy.
Griffin: Where is Zach's mommy?
Me: Maybe she goes to the office.
Griffin: She goes to the office like my daddy. You don't have an office.
Me: You want me to go to the office?
Griffin: No, I might miss you. I always want to miss daddy.

Narrative Report: Sepetember 29 to October 3, 2008

Narrative Report
Period Covered: September 29 to October 3, 2008
By Teacher Cristy

There were no "meltdowns" for Griffin this week (even on the day he came in very sleepy, he snapped out of it by the middle of circle time without much fuss :) ). He was in a playful and happy disposition most of the time and easily focused and paid attention when it was time for work.

As we talked about zoo animals this week, he said his favorite zoo animal is the elephant, adding that he doesn't want to go near tigers and lions because "they bite people". He made his zoo animal art works for the week with little supervision and just needed reminders not to rush and stay within the lines whenever he colors. When we had our alligator painting activity, he asked if he can paint his alligator violet, but we didn't have any violet paint available that time, so he just agreed to use gray, which everyone else used.

He still is really a little boy; when he needs to make wiwi, he sometimes takes off his underwear already while he is walking towards the toilet. He makes sure he "shoots" his wiwi in the bowl already, and when reminded to flush and wash his hands he said "I shouldn't hold that because it is dirty and has germs."

Baby Number 2

I was expecting my monthly period to come last September 30 but after a week I still haven't had my period so I took the pregnancy test this morning and it's positive. Griffin is going to be a big brother already. Griffin's birthday wish has come true. It was his wish on his birthday last August that he'd like to have a baby.

I told Griffin that he's going to be a big brother. I asked him what would he do when the baby comes. He showed me what he would do by shouting, "Mommy, the baby needs milk!".

While lying down on our bed, I was hugging Griffin ....
Me: I'm going to have 2 babies already. (Referring to Griffin and the new baby.)
Griffin: The baby will sleep beside me.

Willie was telling Griffin that there's a baby in my tummy. But Griffin kept on saying NO! I guess he still can't believe that there's a baby in my tummy because he knows pregnant women have big tummies.

I showed Griffin the pregnancy test and told him that if there are 2 lines, it means you're pregnant. Then he told me, I only want 1 line because I'm not pregnant. When Willie came home that night, he drew 2 lines on Griffin's arm and told him that he's pregnant. Griffin cried so I erased the 2 lines. After I erased the lines with alcohol, he asked me to draw 1 line only because he said he's not pregnant. After a while, Willie drew 3 lines on his own arm and told Griffin about it. Griffin said, "Daddy, you're very very pregnant"!

Field Trip to Manila Zoo and Kinder Zoo

Griffin went on a field trip to the Zoo. On the way there, he rode with his classmates. First stop was the Kinder Zoo. Griffin was really brave. He rode on the ostrich. He sat beside a baby crocodile and even had his picture taken with the snake. On the way out, though, he did not want to have his picture taken with the bird on his head or shoulder.

After Kinder Zoo, we went around Manila Zoo and saw the elephant, hippo, zebra,tiger, deer, snakes, iguanas, crocodiles, turtles, monkeys and different kinds of birds. He got kind of tired after a while so he asked to be carried. He only got down when he saw the playground and the kids played there for quite some time before we finally went home.

Griffin passed his big school entrance exam

Griffin passed the entrance exam at Xavier School. Teacher Cristy was asking me yesterday morning, when the results would be out because she said Zach got the result of his entrance exam at CSA, 2 days ago. I told her I was going to get the results that morning.

Griffin will be in big school already next year. When I told him that he passed in Xavier and that he could go to school there, he said, "I don't want to go to my school anymore. (referring to KIDS)". I really hope that he would still enjoy going to school next year.

Dangerous Fishball

Just this morning ......

Griffin: Mommy, I want fishball.
Me: OK. I'll cook some.
Griffin: No, Ama will cook. Your eye, you might get owie again.

He remebered the last time, I cooked him some fishballs, I got some oil burns on my face near my eye. I actually forgot about that already but he still remembers.

When I told him, I was done cooking the fishballs. He asked me, "Did you get owie"?
He's so concerned about me. : )

Narrative Report: September 22 to September 26, 2008

Narrative Report
Period Covered: September 22 to September 26, 2008
By Teacher Cristy

Griffin did very well in our science readiness oral exercise in relation to our "animals" theme. He identified many animals in our chart and quickly matched animal footprints as well as animal habitats. He was able to properly sequence the growth of a turkey, based on pictures shown; he easily determined which among ten different looking baby rabbits looked like the mommy rabbit. When shown a picture of rabbits that got out of its cage, he was able to give the correct explanation, (from several choices) as to why it may have happened. He also identified beginning letter of words like _oat, _ig, _orse, _ow ... and just needed a little help with _heep. When asked to name the paper "puzzle" pig he formed, he said "my pig's name is oink"!

He has been actively participating our rehearsals for our U.N. day program. We will be representing the Philippines and will be dancing to a song by the Apo Hiking Society, "BLUE JEANS". Our costume will be blue jeans, white shirt with collar and a bandana (any color) and rubber shoes. Should you wish Griffin to wear a different costume for the parade, he may do so, but it is not required.

P.S. Griffin's Ben 10 toy was a big hit with his friends. He shared it and let them borrow it willingly. : )

You're so Forgettable

Last Monday, before leaving to pick Willie up at the airport ......

Ama: Your feet are dirty!
Griffin: I washed it Ama. You're always "forgettable"! My feet are clean because I washed it.

My mom was downstairs so he kept shouting "Ama you're so forgettable". I kept on laughing at what he said. He actually meant forgetful.