halloween fun part 1!

it's that time of the year again, when i go all out in dressing up xia :)  it is becoming a tradition.  it won't last for long - i am giving it 2 more years before xia finds it corny to dress up for halloween hehehe... 

we went to 2 trick or treat parties - first one at the village and the next one at our office (gee, first time in my almost 9yrs at DKS!).  

she asked me this time if she can go as a princess.  i don't really fancy princesses that's why she hasn't been a princess in the last 3yrs.  but i had to give in this year.  

so she came as princess sofia (the 1st) at the village event.  

we also invited kuya matt over to join the trick or treat...  he came as a soldier :)  they look really cute!!!  

xia had fun going around the village asking for treats!  she joined the village kids and had a grand time :)  

she met maleficent along the way - who won the 3rd place for the best in costume contest...

she met more friends in different costumes.  she's not just too fond of scary costumes so she doesn't get so near them hehehe...

there was a puppet and a magic show that followed which delighted the kids :)

  
what a good time for the kids (and adults too!)...  xia brought home lots of sweets.  she certainly had a blast!!!  

i guess i had to have another post on the 2nd event to give justice also to the strories behind it :)     

ciao! 

grateful for today...

my heart is sooo full - all the time!  but today is even more special for two reasons...

xia's school celebrated the United Nation's Day.  i really love the way her school celebrates events like this - no fuss, no frills and no stress to parents!  totally suits me.  just like from the linggo ng wika, the kids were just advised to go school with any national costume.  they can even use the filipinianas if nothing else is available.  i had to do a little effort of asking friends for old costumes of their kids and was able to borrow a grasskirt from xia's ninang ann.  i just bought cheap accessories from the all P66 store to go with it :)  i am in no way going to spend more for it hehe...

i was surprised to find out from her yaya that she took home one of the best in costume awards!  there are 3 awardees in every class and she took one of those!!! i am very pleased about it especially that i didn't spend much for it haha!

but that is not just that!  xia got her midterm exam results for the 2nd sem and she got an almost perfect score again!!!  oh yeah, there's another stubborn 1 point missed but i am not complaining...  xia was just too amazing!!! #loveyourown ;)  

i get emotional at this because sometimes i think of giving up the tutoring and just hire someone who can help xia out.  it's no easy feat to go home from work (with all the stress esp that i am into this very complex project now!) and had to review her with her lessons before bedtime and do it again when we wake up.  i have to prepare worksheets while she sleeps to leave to her to do after school just in case i can't go home early the next night.  i have these huge eyebags now i swear!!! 

but honestly, i love doing this for her even if i am dead tired!  she has so much energy when we do this together.  so i can't just stop like that.  besides, time will come when she won't need me anymore and would prefer to do things on her own.  so i'd better cherish these moments when all she wants to be with is mama :) 

kaya ko to! :) aja lang ng aja hehehe!!! 

gold eagle award, baby!

xia ended up getting a GOLD EAGLE award for the 1st semester! woohhooo!!!  her enthusiasm and hardwork paid off.  it felt good too because my overtime on her was worth it!  the gold eagle award is the highest recognition given to top students.  it is followed by red and blue eagle awards...

good job, my dear xia!!!

coming from a montessori school the past 2yrs without a concept of grades and honors/awards, this is something new to me.  at least with the big / traditional school now, i am able to gauge her capabilities.  and with this, i am walking on clouds, really!!!

however, i have to stop and ponder because this is not about grades or awards.  while it is easy to fall in a trap of competing against others, i want xia (and me too!) to just enjoy studying and learning together.  minsan lang sya bata so i don't want her to miss out on the fun and play that should make up the most of her childhood...

so even if this is going to be the first and last time to get a gold eagle award, i wouldn't mind because i know now the feeling :)  we will just continue doing our best without compromising her childhood needs - that is what is important to me... :P

wrap up for the first term!

i am excited today for the card distribution of the first term and parent-teacher conference.  but the torrential rain was a killjoy!  classes have been suspended and so all the other activities have been postponed also ;(

xia has been giving me amazing results from her mid-term and end-term exams as well as her weekly short quizzes and activity sheets.  so i am excited to find out on her overall result!

but more than the grades from her academics, i wanted to find out how she interacts with her teacher and classmates.  while it's great that she's getting good grades, interpersonal skill is far more important to me.  so i grabbed the chance to have a parent-teacher conference with Ms Agus. 

due to bad weather though, i have to keep the excitement until it gets rescheduled.  hope it's going to be soon!!! ;) 

amazing xia!

for the first time this weekend, i was not able to teach and prepare xia for the week's lessons.  this was because the teacher has not provided the lesson guide for the next term and i also thought i need to give xia a rest since last week was tough because of the end-term exam for the first term.  she deserved a break after the rigid review we've been through.  in fairness to her, she was so cooperative during the week-long ordeal of going through her lessons.

she went to school today without knowing what her lessons are.  and i was glad she came home with perfect scores!!!  they did a lot at school today in english, math and filipino.  allow me to brag :)

and again the math worksheet reminds us that we REALLY have to practice more on writing!  while she answered correctly, there is still a lot to improve... me ika-career ako sa weekend hehehe!

so there, she can actually function properly on her own :)  it's good to know that you can just toss her in the water and you know she will survive.  that means a lot!!! :)

lesson on different feelings

xia handed me another surprise (after her ID of me) last night.  it was her drawing from school about the different feelings or emotions.

when i first saw it, i had to take a look at it many times because there was something on it that i can't explain.

while i had long realized that xia does not really have talent at drawing, this one just surprisingly got me.  it conveys the feelings of each faces in the drawing that it represents even if the drawing itself is not that outstanding...

posted it in instagram and friends had the same comment!  hehehe ang galing... siguro nga that's the real essence of art - it goes beyond what you see or superficial... 

but yes, she has to practice more and more on her writing... :)  we are working on it...  dapat magmana sya sa akin na maganda amg penmanship hehehe... 

"ID of me"

the little girl was too excited to show me her ID.  while parking the car, she was shouting about it and waving it at me.  she said:

"mama! mama! look, i have the ID of me already!!!"

hahaha ang cute lang ng ID of me! :P

and she's even cuter in her "ID of me".  hehehehhee...

#ootd

we hardly have ootd posts in instagram when school started because xia has uniform now in school.  i am quite relieved because it means menos gastos on clothes.  but there are times when i miss dressing her up the way i did during her first 2 school years...

so whenever i get opportunity, usually on weekends especially on sundays when attending church service, i try to really dress her up like a doll :)

she loves getting dolled up also.  and she puts together her accessories for the day too! 

she's my kikay kid! :) 

tagalog time

xia is trying really hard to speak in filipino especially when talking to her yaya and our househelp.  while she sounds funny, i don't laugh at it and i had to remind everyone not to laugh at her too.  

today these are her statements while waiting for her car pick up in going to school: 

"ang init ako!" (should be:  naiinitan ako)
"ang bagal si nathan" (should be: ang bagal ni nathan)
"sakit kamay ko" (ang sakit ng kamay ko) 

i am giving her an A for effort! :)  

of hopes and dreams...

came across a section in xia's textbook about what kids want to become someday.  there were illustrations of a doctor, a builder, a policeman, and a teacher.  i discussed it with xia and tried to check what she wants to become after going through the book.

mama:  so xia, how about you, what do you want to become when you grow up?

xia (in a high-pitched voice):  i want to become a ballerina!!!  or a singer!!! or a popstar!!!

mama:  hmmmm don't you want to become like what most kids want?  like the ones in the book?

xia:  ok... i can become a teacher!!!

mama's bubble thought:  good that she gets the clue...

until she said again...

xia:  a ballet teacher!!!

toinks!!!  sige na nga maging ballerina or ballet teacher na nga...

within that same day, i rang the ballet school and asked if they are offering weekend sessions again.  we stopped last time because the schedule was moved to a weekday and i can't afford a driver who can take her to a weekday ballet class.  good thing, there's a weekend session again!

suportahan ang hilig :)  xia is officially back and is on her way to becoming what she wants to become when she grows up!!!

a ballerina :)

yay for math, english and science!!!

i was feeling miserable yesterday due to flu.  skipped work so i can rest.  xia went home with a wonderful surprise that instantly lift my spirit!!!

perfect scores in english, math and science from her last week's quiz!!!  hoooray!!!

but since filipino is always a challenge, sumablay nga hehehehe... napagpalit ba naman ang ilong at paa hahahhaha!!! comedy talaga sa filipino si xia :)

seems like we need divine intervention na in filipino!  i don't think i am also effective in teaching the subject.  hope i can find one and hope she will agree to have a tutor.

she doesn't want her mommy-la to teach her even if i have to explain that mommy was once a teacher.  her point is:  "mommy, you are a teacher only in cadiz not here.  mama is my teacher at home"...  kaya ayun na, ako lang talaga ang pwede magturo...

hay filipino, please be good to us!

tutor mama chronicles: the filipino subject

almost 3wks into schooling and i am pretty much happy with how xia is doing in class...  except for filipino where she really struggles (and it's even an understatement!).  she is not interested on it and she feels it's the hardest subject of all.  the first week in school was just about introducing herself in filipino and she can't still do it on her own even now on the third week :(  i am partly to be blamed because i have not really trained her on filipino while she was going to an english-only preschool for 2yrs.  too late for me to realize it...

she's quite advanced on her math, english and science because it seemed they have to go back to basics on those subjects to the point that she's now getting bored on shapes, colors, letters, phonics, etc.  they have just started learning cvc's in reading while xia can already read sentences!  good thing for me that she's doing quite well already on those area so we can focus more on filipino.

last weekend, we were supposed to do advance study on the lesson for the entire week on filipino which is about bahagi ng katawan.  i had to do real slow - starting from paa, tuhod, balikat, ulo and had to sing the song for it so she can easily recognize.  then i had to move to the parts of the head.  boy, it was quite difficult!!!  and honestly nahiya ako sa sarili ko that i haven't exerted effort on teaching xia basic filipino words!  all she really knew was buhok!  we spent quite a lot of time going through the parts of the head.  and with her little span of attention, i had to resort to various tactics to get her focused on the subject.  as much as i want her to finish the entire body, i had to stop when i felt that she was starting to get overwhelmed.

before we slept last night, i knew at least that she can already identify the parts of the head in filipino including ang tamang pagbigkas. when i tried to review her again in the morning, OMG all she could remember were buhok, mata and ilong!!!  di na nakilala ang tainga, bibig, dila, ngipin, pisngi!!!  so i had to go through it again with her in our morning study time.  dinaan ko na rin sa matinding dasal na sana di na nya ulit makalimutan...

fast forward to tonight, the first thing i checked after the diary was her filipino book.  i was hoping against hope that tumama naman sana sya in case meron silang ginawang activity related to it...

and she did not fail me!!!  dannnndaaaraaannn!!!

yayyyy 3 stars!!!  i couldn't be happier!!!  hahahhaa ang babaw ko i know!  sakto lang din na yung nakaya lang namin aralin nung weekend ang lumabas sa lesson today.  

and we have to study more!  ang dami pang bahagi ng katawan na dapat aralin... ohmygosh, help me God!!! 

we really need to double our effort on filipino!  it's even humiliating to find out that her 2 half-japanese classmates speak filipino more fluently than her!!!  kaloka.  kaya ngayon me tagalog time na sya sa bahay... 

happy hi-5!!!

xia is 5 today!!!  her big day!!!  and she can't wait to be 6 hehhehee...

all she ever wants is a disney frozen-designed cake.  i have to grant her wish with 2 cakes!!!

and cute cupcakes too! 

we had a celebration with family and close friends last saturday via a pool party at the village clubhouse.  as has been the tradition, family from the province flew in because xia would want all her cousins to be with her on her birthday.  that deserves a separate post 😘

today was spent with her classmates since it was a school day and would not want her to miss school!  while it was a very simple (and quick!) celebration, xia had a time of her life!!!  her classmates enjoyed celebrating with us with jollibee chicken and spaghetti and cupcakes!!! 

xia's classmates sang for her a birthday song and she blew the candle on her cake.  the kids went crazy over the frozen cake and cupcakes!!! 

we were only allowed 20mins (strictly during recess time only!) to make it all happen.  so we just enjoyed the rest of the time watching the kids eat after serving them food.

there was one boy who came up to me, shook my hand and told me that he was glad to meet me.  such a polite boy, too bad i didn't get his name!!!  

xia came up to me in the middle of the celebration, hugged me and this was what she said: "thank you mama for the party here at school.  i am sooo happy!"... and she gave me a kiss.  i wanted to cry but held on to it.  even now as i remembered that moment, i am almost in tears!!!  that's what i liked about her - she appreciates all that i giver her and show her...

the kids also thanked me for the party and i made sure i was out of the room after 20 mins.  it was a "fastbreak" party!!!  

thank you to ms. agus who helped secure the permit and made the celebration special for my xia... 

after school, she brought home gifts from her classmates.  she loved them all and she opened them one by one upon reaching home... 

the big box came from me - remember the rule getting expensive toy only on birthday and christmas?  well, she got one today! 😉😆😄

super hi-5, xia!!!  you are my piece of heaven here on earth!!!  i can't ask for anything or anyone to be in my life because you complete me 💜💜💜 

i love you soooo dearly!!! 

may all your wishes come true!!! 💋💋💋