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.

Griffin's loses 2nd milk tooth

Griffin's lost another milk tooth yesterday. I wonder when his upper front teeth would come off.

Griffin lost a tooth

Griffin lost his first milk tooth yesterday. It was his lower front tooth. The tooth right beside it is also loose and would probably fall off soon.

Hailey is 25 months old

Hailey turned 25 months last Monday. She knows a lot of words already and sometimes combines some words. We warched Mr. Popper's Penguins last Saturday and she loved it. I thought she was going to fall asleep because we watched the 2:45 pm screening but she finished the whole movie. She can now say milk and often asks for some. The following are some of the new words in her vocabulary:

May 23 - bi for big
                  - coke
                  - quack quack
                  - moo
                  - bow for bowl
May 26 - mall for small
May 28- eaw for ear
May29 - mow for more
May 31 - ah pad for ipad
                - tow for throw
June 3- cake
              -elbow
June 6- mo for worm
June 8- hehw for hello
June 12- ahp fu for iphone
June 19 - fah for fred
               - milk
               - nana for nenen na
June 20- hat tea for ice tea
June 22 - fafa for foofa
                  - peach
                  - ha fa for hi5

Hailey is 2 years old

Hailey turned 2 years old last friday, May 20. She had an Elmo cake and Elmo cupcakes, as well as floating balloons. She loved her cakes and cupcakes and started eating the icing. She also enjoyed playing with the floating balloons. In the afternoon, we checked in at Sofitel to spend the night there. Once in the hotel room, she immediately went on the bed. She loved going up and down the bed and playing by the drapes. After a while, we went swimming then Griffin and Hailey played on the playground. She had fun on the swing and see saw. At around 4:30 pm we went back to the room to take a shower and get ready for dinner at Spirals. Hailey fell asleep, but when she woke up, she feasted on shrimp dumplings, fried kani and tempura. The next morning we had buffet breakfast then played in the playground for a while, before returning to the room to wait for check out time.

Hailey at 2 years old, still does not talk in phrases although she adds more and more words to her vocabulary everyday. Her current favorite expression is "eww". She says this when she sees something that looks dirty or yucky. She's also really good at putting on her pajamas by herself as well as eating on her own. She can say the animal sounds of a dog, cat, duck, cow, elephant, tiger, lion, and monkey. The following are some of the newer words she knows:

May 1 - no
May7- anana for banana
           - duck
           - rio 
           - byu for blue
May19-up
May 23 - bi for big
                  - coke
                  - quack quack
                  - moo
- bi for big
-bow for bowl

Hailey anecdote

We were at Watson's with Hailey yesterday. I got a pack of baby wipes and was about to pay but Hailey saw Trolli Neon Squiggles and got a pack. I told her that we were going to pay for it already. So she walked with me to the cashier holding the pack of gummies saying "pee" which meant "pay" of course. I was waiting for my turn while Hailey wandered off. When I was done paying, i saw Hailey back at the shelf where the gummies were and she was holding 1 pack saying "pee". My bqby is such a smart girl.

Hailey is 23 months old

Today, Hailey turned 23 months old. She can say a lot of words now but doesn't use them much when she wants to tell you something. She has a very long attention span as she was able to watch Rio, a full length movie, sitting on her own chair for almost the whole duration of the movie. She was never restless and was never noisy. It is quite a feat for a kid less than 2 years old to be so behaved in the cinema. She can also follow dance actions she sees on tv especially when she watches Hi-5. The following are some of the words she knows by now:
Last week of march -hide, bee, mah for mad, dye for bye
March 31 - wow
April 3  - apu for apple              
-happy
April 5 - eyes (usually when taking a bath)
            - hot ( when we went in the car and it was hot)
April6 - bibi for baby
Aprl 12 - ayg for egg
              - duh ti for dirty
April 20 - me (while pointing to herself)
              - bull for ball                
- shfi for fish
April 23- nooow for nose
              - buhbow for bubbles

Lessons from Griffin

A few weeks ago, I was checking the lotto results and Griffin saw me holding the tickets. He said, "did you win?". I said, "no, why don't you pray to God". He said, " God is not about money. God is about hope." I said, "ok, I know". Nasupalpal ako, a lesson learned.

Griffin's summer activities

Griffin joined two summer activities last week. From 8:30 to 12 noon he had cooking and baking workshop of Maya kitchen then from 2:00 to 4:00 pm he was a Mc Donald's kiddie crew. He enjoyed both but had more fun as at the McDo kiddie crew workshop. He even sang Firework as part of the Mcdo talent workshop. He did not join the Graduation at Maya Kitchen because he did not want to be late at Mcdo. I asked him if it was ok to be late at Mcdo but he told me it wasn't ok because according to him, "i have to serve". He had his graduation at McDonald's Kingswood last Saturday. I'm thinking of making some sugar cookies which we can decorate, one of these days. Maybe we could also go to Manila zoo. Thinking of more activities so Griffin won't get bored this summer.

Rio : Hailey's first movie experience

We watched Rio today at Cash and Carry. This is Hailey''s first time to watch a movie. We bought pop corn and soda and went in the movie house a few minutes before 1:30 pm. It was the first screening for the day. At first she was enjoying the pop corn sitting on her own chair then when movie trailers started being shown, I think she kind of got shocked by some of the scenes which made her stop eating. For most part of the movie she just sat on her own watching the film. She never became restless. I just carried her for awhile at the latter part. She was so behaved even more behaved than Griffin when he first watched a movie when he was 3. When the movie ended, I asked her if she liked the movie and she said, "ya". Maybe we can watch another movie again this summer.

Hailey is 22 months old

Hailey turned 22 months old yesterday. As of now, she still does not want to talk. She gestures and makes sound effects to tell you what she wants. We went to Boracay last week, and Hailey loved it there. She is a true water baby. She loved the beach, playing in the sand and swimming in the sea. She is not afraid of getting water in her eyes and even liked the big waves. During our stay there, she had a new word. I was making bread and cheese and she said cheese. We bought a lot of ref magnets from boracay, mostly fish with some turtles, starfish and other sea creatures. Just today, she was playing with the magnets and said "turtah" for turtle. We asked her to repeat what she said and she did so. She probably knows a lot of words but refuses to say it aloud. She'll be 2 years old in a few months. Hopefully, she'll be speaking by that time.

We'll miss you Angkong!

My dad, Angkong to Hailey and Griffin joined our Creator the evening of January 19, 2011 at almost 11 pm. We'll surely miss him but we know that he is happy with God now and he is no longer suffering from pain. Griffin got to know Angkong for almost 6.5 years while Hailey had 20 months with him. Angkong never saw Hailey as he does not react anymore when you talk to him. Hailey knows Angkong and points to him when asked "where is Angkong?". When he passed on, we asked her "where is angkong?", she would answer with both her palms facing up which meant "not here". A few days after daddy was laid to rest, we were hanging out in Ama's room. It was time to return to our room so we started going up the stairs. Griffin went ahead so it was just me and Hailey going up. She was walking up the stairs, after a few steps she looked back and was waving like saying bye to someone then she climbed a few steps and looked back again and waved. I was asking her who she was waving to but of course she does not know how to talk so she did not answer. She was probably waving at Angkong. When i asked her the next day if she saw Angkong, she said "da" which meant yes. I don't know if it was true because she sometimes says yes to anything you ask her but she has never waved at no one. Rest in peace Daddy/Angkong.

Hailey is 20 months old

Hailey turned 20 months last January 20. At 20 months, she can understand very well. When you tell her to do something, she follows. She listens to our conversations and reacts which means she understands. She seems to understand both Filipino and English. She still doesn't talk though. The few words she can say are "da" or "ya", "ow", "uh oh", "aye" for bye or hi and just today she said "ine" for mine. She is slowly learning to say new words but her comprehension seems to be advanced. I was asking Griffin the other day if he wanted nuggets from Mc Donald's and Hailey reacted by raising her finger which meant to say she wanted some too. She even reacts when I say things in Filipino. She seems smart too, I hope she would do well in school too just like Griffin.