Mooncake Festival 2012

Griffin won the first prize again in the dice game. He got 5 ones. It has been three years since he last won. I hope this brings him good fortune.

Hailey in school

Hailey has learned a lot in school. She loves singing the alphabet song. She can recognize all the letters although for some letters she does not remember the name. Instead of the letter names she says the sound or a word that begins with that letter. At times she does not want to go to school. There was also a time when she did not want to work in school and kept dropping her pencil. But overall, she has been a good girl.

Anecdote - Hailey

Last night (Sept. 12, 2012), Hailey came out of our room and went to the kitchen where I was. She was saying, "I'm 'cared" which meant scared. My mom asked her why she was scared. She said, "I'm 'cared of the dahk". My mom said, "What duck?". Hahaha! Hailey, of course meant dark not duck. ------------------------- Hailey calls a refrigerator a "fowager".

Anecdotes

Yesterday, Griffin told me, "Mommy why don't you work in a restaurant? You're a good chef". I said, "I don't even know how to cook". He said, "You can. Your cookies and cupcakes are good". Hehehe, my cupcakes and cookies are made from cake and cookie mix. Meanwhile, Hailey is so adorable. When I pick her up in school, she always tells me, "Mommy, you're the best driver in the whole wide world!" These are the reasons why I love my kids. They love me so much too!

Hailey is 3 years and 1 month old

Hailey at 37 months, is very talkative. She loves asking questions She is enjoying school as she told me, "I just love school!" Whereas before she does not want to sing the alphabet song, now she would often ask, "Can I sing ABC?", then she would stand and start singing. She has also started sing the "Days of the week" and their good bye song although she has not mastered it yet. She also showed how they pray before eating their snacks. She has learned so much in school. I'm glad she's having fun while learning. I wonder how she is at school, how she talks to her classmates and how she is when she's doing her work at school. She is really good at forming the letters she traces when painting. She has very good control and very good fine motor skills. She is also a sensitive person. When she knows you are mad at her she says "soyi" (sorry). When she feels bad, she goes to a corner and "emotes".

The best driver

I picked Hailey up in school last Friday. She sat at the backseat of the car while I was in the driver's seat. I started the engine then she told me, "Mommy, you're the best driver in the world!" She's just like Griffin when I used to pick him up at KIDS. He also told me once, " Mommy, you're the best driver ever!" My kids love me so much. Even if I get stressed by them everyday, hearing compliments from them erases all the stress.

Hailey's first day of school

Yesterday, June 13, was Hailey's first day of school at KIDS. Her class was at 12 noon but by 11 am, she was still asleep. I dressed her up while she was still asleep. She woke up but was still sleepy. I told her she had to get ready for school. After a while, she was awake already and ate bread with cheese spread and drank some chuckie. Around 10 minutes to 12, we left for school. She had her backpack with extra clothes and her lunchbox with piggy and doggie shaped cheese sandwich and some froot loops. When we arrived in school, she was introduced to her classmates and she played with the toy kitchen. I told her, I'll be leaving already and would be back later. She said, "Ok, bye Mommy." I picked her up in school at 3pm. The teacher was letting them out, one at a time. When she saw me, she ran to me and I carried her. She even said bye to her teachers. She enjoyed going to school. She finished her snacks except for a small portion of the pig sandwich. She showed me the smiley face stamp on her hand and gave me a piece of paper where she colored a cat violet. I've got some free time 3x a week when Hailey's at school. It's relaxing but I do miss her while she's at school. I keep on thinking of what she's doing there. I'll be picking her up in an hour. I hope she had fun.

Happy 3rd birthday Hailey!

My little princess turned 3 years old yesterday, but we celebrated her birthday the day before, May 19. Hailey was very excited about her birthday. She often tell me, "It's almost my birthday, ma." When she sees the stack of chairs, she would say, "That's for my party." She even requested for lechon when asked what food she wants for her party. She also wanted the giant pizza I showed her on the ipad. Of course, her request was for a Cinderella themed party. She was wearing her blue dress and a tiara with matching white shoes. Her cake was a caramel cake from Costa Brava then I just placed the Cinderella topper I bought from Goldilock's. She really enjoyed eating the lechon. She was so happy too receiving lots of gifts. She was a very happy girl that day. I'm so glad we were able to give her a beautiful party even if her guests were just family. She was very happy about her party that when she saw that all the tables and chairs were no longer there she cried. I told her we had to keep them because her party was done. Yesterday, on her actual birthday, we watched The Avengers as she also requested to watch this movie. We had sour cream popcorn and soda. She liked the movie. She fell asleep for a while then woke up towards the ending. Her favorite character was Iron Man. She liked the part where Iron Man was unconscious then the Hulk shouted which awoke Iron Man. She would say, "Iron Man was dead then the Incredible Hulk said RAAAARRR, then Iron Man woke up. She kept on telling me after the movie, "Mommy, The Avengers is good." We ate at Pepper Lunch after then looked around in Toys r Us. Time flies so fast, my little baby is a big girl now. I dread the day when she has to go to big school already. I love you baby girl. I love hearing you say, " You're my best friend, Mommy!" You are my best friend too, baby! Sorry for being grumpy when you and Griffin make a mess or are "magulo".

Griffin: First Honors for SY 2011-2012

Griffin has achieved First Honors for SY 2011-2012. He also has Subject Excellence awards in Language, Reading, Filipino and Science. I'm so proud of him. He'll be getting his certificates and medal probably by early next school year. Last school year was a breeze, if only he would do his homework first before playing the computer then it would have even easier for me. :)

Hailey is 2 years 11 months old

Hailey turned 2 years 11 months last April 20. She is a very independent girl. She can eat and put on her clothes by herself. She has been fully potty trained herself for months already. She has stopped wearing diapers even before she was 2.5 years old. Never had a problem with her pooping in her pants while in the mall because she always tells me when she has to go. She is very talkative and is so cute cute when she says soyi for sorry and yoyo for yellow. Although she is talkative, she is kind of shy and needs time to warm up to people she does not know. She loves Cinderella. She likes pretending to be Cinderella and I am Anesthasia or the Prince. She had the time of her life at Disneyland last month. Although she missed having her picture taken with Cinderella. She loves having her pictures with the characters, unfortunately we did not get to have much photos with the characters. Up to now she pretends we are in Disneyland and she is having her picture taken with the Disney characters. She would love to go back to Hong Kong again. She is also very excited to go to school. I enrolled her at KIDS this coming school year for a 3x a week class. I know she'll enjoy school. She'll probably be a vey attentive student as I've seen how she listens to the instructions of he teacher when she had her trial class. She still does not want to sing the alphabet song. She just sings it as a b c d k i m c c o. She recognizes some letters already. Sometimes she knows the sound it makes but not the letter name. She actually has a very good memory. She's just not interested in letters. She learned the sounds by watching the Leap Frog video. She has very good fine motor skills and loves cutting paper. She also loves singing her made up songs and dancing like Cinderella and the prince. I'm sad that she has an ear infection and we can't get her to drink the antibiotic as she just spits it out. She has a middle ear infection but she's been complaining that her ear hurts when it is touched. I don't know what to do. I want her to get better already but i don't know how to make her drink the medicine.

Hailey is 2 years 9 months old

Hailey at 2 years 9 months old can speak in correct sentences now. Whereas before she used to say "me no see", now she can say "I can't see" or instead of "me no like" she can say "I don't want". She has begun using "I'm" instead of "me" although at times she does not use it correctly. She really loves being a princess, particularly Cinderella. I bought her a pretty blue dress with matching white shoes so she can pretend she's Cinderella. She wears these with her tiara. When she is dressed, she feels and acts like a princess. She pretends that we are the other Cinderella characters like the step sisters and the prince. She is also less shy.

Yesterday, we went to school to pay for reservation fee. I was supposed to reserve for a 3x a week morning slot but was told that nobody avails of 3x a week classes anymore. I felt kind of sad thinking that Hailey would be in school everyday. I know I feel so stressed when both kids are at home but the thought of both of them in school makes me sad. My babies are growing up too fast. Griffin does not even join us when we go to the mall. He prefers to stay home playing computer. I know that I have to make the most of being with them while they're still kids. I know I'm going to miss the noise they make, the crying and the fights they have when they're all grown up.

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