Pool proof

We measure our Drizlets' height the old fashioned way (yes by marking the walls) Yesterday I decided to get their exact height by measuring the markings with a tape measure

Me: "Kuya, you are almost 5'4" tall"

Z1 :"I think that is still small mommy"

Me: "Beh, you are already 4"1' tall"

Z2 : "4 feet mommy?"

Me: "Yes. 4 feet and 1 inch"

Z2 : "Yey! Hindi na ko malulunod sa 4feet na swimming pool!" (Yey! I will no longer drown in a 4feet deep swimming pool!)

Achievement unlocked for the little Drizlet!

Blessed to be a blessing

While taking a break from her review, our little girl shared a story:

Z: "Mommy,  I shared my (tocino) baon with Jenica"

M: "Really that is nice. Anong sabi nya (What did she say)?"

Z: " She liked it mommy. Then she gave me marshmallow"

M: "Wow you like that right?"

Z: "Yes mommy. Ang bilis talaga bumalik ng blessing when you give"

Indeed, anak. We reap what we sow. God bless your kind heart little girl!

Gender Reveal

Not mine.

Yes I will have to do a disclaimer prior to anything because this gender reveal doesn't belong to me.

My brother-in-law's wife, Renna, is on her way to their third baby. First to kids were boys so she was kinda hoping they'd have a girl this time. Thus, a gender reveal.

Half of the bunch was rooting for a girl while the other half was rooting (or should I say expecting) a boy.

For the third time, it was a boy. Enjoy the video of the gender reveal Sunday afternoon! Congrats on the third baby boy Nikki and Renna! 

How zoon can you get to the newest play place?

Zye as Jack Frost

Zoe as Boo

October 31 was the most awaited day of our kiddos as it was our family day in the office with the company's trick or treat activity. To get their attention off the candies (as they might think the goal is to finish it all within the day) I brought them to Robinson's Galleria after my shift to go to this cool play place that I have heard of.

Registration card with locker and shoe rack assignment

It's indeed One Peso per hour

4th level Robinson's Galleria

Located at the 4th level of the mall between City buffet and Pizza hut, Kidzoona offers a different kind of play place for the kids. As they are on soft opening, the play rates are at P1.00/hr. To allow more kids to experience the fun, they are limiting it to an hour only, assigning batches on an hourly basis. Only 1 guardian per kid is allowed as the area is getting crowded with adults instead of kids. We came at around 4:30pm and pre-registered. We got the 6-7pm slot which was good as we had time to get snacks first.

Shoe and bag locker area

One of the goals of Kidzoona

Registration Area

We lined up at the entrance area around quarter to 6pm and we were already given our locker keys while we were waiting. The 5-6pm batch were made to vacate the area and the next batch were allowed to enter by 5s.

As soon as Zye and Zoe removed their shoes, they ran off -- literally! It wasn't really hard to find them as the area was sectioned accordingly. We started with the area of creating things and music. It had blocks, musical instruments, trains. It allows the kids to see and observe how things happen

Zye making maki for me

Our little miss baker

Picking out the ingredients

No more fire?

Asking for back-up I guess

Two scoops please?

After a few minutes we were off to the area where role playing is the main goal. It allows the kids to experience first hand how grown up jobs and responsibilities are done. From experiencing how to buy fruits and vegetables in the market, to baking and preparing sushi, even the adults will have fun. The kids can also role play being a fire fighter, mailman, doctor. Indeed imagination has no limits here.

Zye calls it the big lumpia

Ready to jump

Our last stop was the area of physical play. Mats were all around and kids can just go and jump whenever they feel like doing it. Adults who get tired meanwhile have a lounge area. They have free water in the area though they do not have their own washroom.

It was a great experience and I think this is much better than an hour in the arcade. I can't wait for the grand launch as theu promise more equipment and play concept. Happy day indeed!

Time machine

For me I don't need to wait for Thursdays to throw back or Fridays to flash back. Looking at our kids is always reminiscing how they have grown so fast. Everyday can be a trip to memory lane. I am grateful for all their developments, and I know that there will be more blessings thru the things they will achieve. They are our angels, our miracles, one of God's greatest gift.

The adventures of boy Zye- Part 5: The First Q is out!

As I have mentioned in my previous post to bring it on. Our son really did!

Husband and I woke up early to be the first in line during the PTC card retrieving day. Got 2nd in line but was ecstatic to see that Zye did pretty well in school!

It was actually very evident that he is good with Math simply because he would rather count than do the other school stuff. (Do we see another Engineer in the family?) Over-all average is 93.18 with the lowest grade at 91.85. Really impressive! (and not just because I am his mom)

 It sometimes gets a little challenging to keep him focused whenever we are studying. This especially goes when he practices his writing and whenever he needs to do some coloring activities. It can be gruelling and frustrating especially when I come home from work and we still need to study.

Most of the times we actually need to find new means and ways to be able to introduce new learnings. Review time before examination can be tricky since it is just a "re-run" of everything they have studied. A few times we did consider getting him a tutor just in case the time we spend reviewing with him isn't enough. But we do enjoy every studying moments (even if it takes hours!) and we just make sure that we let him feel that studying can be fun.

First quarter grading was superb. I know it doesn't guarantee all the remaining quarters in school but it truly is a big statement that Zye is enjoying school and he sure aint behind. His progress is the most important this and for that alone, his earned all the stars in my heart.

The adventures of school boy Zye- Part 4: What's going on in school?

So our little boy is in school - complete with books and uniform. The works. Aside from the improvement in his english vocabulary that he so oftenly use nowadays (and we are most of the times in awe of his good sentence construction) I must say we gotta see proof in what he's been learning.

The first long test. First time to spend long hours studying (and testing my patience I must say). The results were pretty amazing

Happy and jumping with joy upon receiving this small slip of paper attached to Zye's examination papers. Great! Now we know that our little boy is not just learning but definitely coping well in their lessons. After the monsoon rains we get ready for the first quarter exams. Mommy is a little pressure having to do reviews after work. Daddy is a little tensed, pressuring Mommy to do an intense review. The review nights sometimes become frustrating with Zye getting bored in between reviews (especially when he is practicing his writing) Finally words to Zye before the big exam day: Do not be in a hurry, count well and Pray hard.

The result was phenomenal!

This time around we didn't jump for joy. We were flying in the air! It was such a great joy knowing that our kid was doing superb. When Zye's yaya showed me the papers, I shouted:

ME: "Good job anak! Four stars!!!!"

ZYE: "Happy naman si mommy?" (Is mom happy?)

ME: "Yes of course anak. Mommy is sooooooo happy!"

The daddy was ecstatic. Coming home from his Cebu trip, he smiled ear-to-ear upon seeing the results. It was indeed a sweet thing to come home to such a pleasant surprise.

Tomorrow is report card giving day. Let's get it on!

Bubbacabulary

Our pet name for Zye is "Bubba". For the time that he is still learning how to pronounce words well, I'd like to list down what he has translated in his own language. Thus, I call it "Bubbacabulary" =)

(By the way, I am spelling the words the way he pronounces it)

dijuice = Jesus

Papatch = Spongebob

Momok = Moo - moo

Tutay = showtime

O-leyt = chocolate

Lalap = laptop

Pansit = any kind of noodle

Janoyd = John Lloyd

Amol = Elmo

Digo = Ligo (bath)

Babrush = toothbrush

Aski = Kick Buttowski

Ani = Barney

Liliw = Kili-kili (armpit)

Milk Please?

Zye was still sleeping when I went to the bathroom. I knew that he has in deep sleep because my husband kissed him goodbye before leaving the house but he did not move a bit.

When I was almost done with my bath, I heard sobs of a little boy. I wasn't quite sure until I heard him saying repeatedly the word mommy. After a few seconds, the voice sounded clearer and someone was attempting to open the bathroom door. I wrapped the towel and hurriedly reached for the door. As it openned I saw Zye crying and saying, "Mommy, milk" in the most "kawawawa" face.

Apparently, he was crying for milk and neither the yaya nor my mom heard him. He was crying but cried even harder when his yaya gave the milk, probably communicating that he's a bit mad nobody heard him. Poor kiddo.

Good thing that "Wonder pets" was on TV. He stopped crying and just finished his milk while watching Ming-Ming. Hooray for the wonder pets!

Not my idea -- at all!

Zye, hugging his vitamins =)

He posed saying : "Mommy,usap...tawag..smile"

Posing as Ironman.

Zye: "Mommy, obot. Ilaw."

Then raises his hand and shifts his face on a serious face.

(Sort of) heartbreaking

There comes a time in a parent's life when your kid starts manifesting signs that they do things, in their own liking just to disobey you.

Yes, I dare say that a young age of 2 and a half years old our son is able to break "rules". You may begin to wonder how I can boldly claim that our kid has that ability. Is he of high IQ? Is he specially capable of following instructions to the dot? He's none of that. Inspite of his very keen observant eye, he is your average kid in most areas. But his ability to observe, grasp and immediately immitate actions is a true indication that he understands things. He can already assess whether I'd get mad or if what he would do will catch my attention. Thus it truly breaks my heart when you see that at some point in time, when our son will have the ability to really decide on his own, he may do things that is not to our liking.

And I say -- he may. He just might. But then my husband and I pray hard that he won't. We hope that the values we have taught will not go to waste, the love we shower him with would be enough to overcome any pressures he will encounter and the faith that we practice will give him the courage to always choose right from wrong.

It is not any easy path. But my spirit soars up knowing that all things work together for good to them that truly love the Lord.

Gleeks

Whenever Zye hears the intro of "Don't stop believing", he start humming too. After that he would turn around, hands up on the forehead and shouts " Mommy....gee!" (Translation: "Mommy....glee!"

So then you know what our Wednesday nights are just so darn musical!

Amen!

The other night, after having dozed off for a few minutes, I was awakened by our son's voice reciting something. Almost ready to tell him to go to sleep, I turned around to find him sitting down, looking up, with his hands together. He was in a praying position. Suddenly the words were as clear as it can be:
(Written as pronounced by Zye)
"I-jus, aah....i-amat. I-ahh..ilaw, ahh...pa-patch. I-amat,I-jus"
Translation:
"Jesus, ah..salamat. Sa ilaw, ah...kay spongebob. Salamat Jesus".

I smiled. My heart was seemed as if it was gonna burst. I am so thankful. And I pray to God that he will be blessed with a good sense of faith no matter how old he gets.

Little drummer boy

Yesterday at Toy Kingdom:

Dhe: "Bili natin si Zye ng matibay na basketball court"

("Let's buy Zye a good basketball court")

Mhe: "Sige, pumili ka na"

("Okay, you choose")

**On our way to the counter, we saw a little drum set fit for 3yrs old and above.Hubby and I glanced at each other**

Mhe: "Di ko kaya bilhin ng sabay. Isa lang muna"

("I can't afford to buy both. We have to choose one"

Dhe: talking to Zye "Bubba, which one do you want? This one (pointing at the basketball court) or this one (pointing at the drumset)?"

Zye: "This one (points at the drumset)"

**And the rest is history**

Zye and the Bee

This is Zye's very first encounter with the one and only bee that dances well.

It was also the first ever birthday party wherein Zye actually ran around, wanting to get all the balloons that his hands can grab. Shouting and dancing. Fishing for more fries, ice cream and spaghetti. He was so happy because there are a lot of kids and he just wanted to play with every one of them. It was such a classic moment when Jollibee arrived at the scene. Hubby and I was really excited to see how Zye would react -- will he cry, will he be entertained? We went near the bee and to my surprise Zye was quite amused with Jollibee. Maybe because of the size, or the color perhaps, or probably just fascinated with what Jollibee was. A few moments when Jollibee was already moving too much, Zye's amusement was slowly turned to fear. I think it was the big eyes that got into him that made him change his mind about liking the big, dancing bee.

Oh well, I'm just glad that he enjoyed the party. He was, after all, batman for a day! =)

Water baby

This is Zye's first swimming experience...and how happy we are that he loved it....really, really, loved it!

We didn't want him to take a dip because he woke up very late and the weather wasn't too inviting (althought it was a hotspring so the water's temperature wouldn't be a problem) but he wanted to wade so hubby allowed him to stay by the pool side to have his feet touch the water. Unfortunately, his shorts got wet and the water was splashing all over him so we decided that they (father and son) both go for a dip.

And the rest is so history. He didn't want to get out of the pool anymore. After taking a shower, he probable got tired of waving his hand while he was in the pool so he dozed off and was actually dreaming that he was still in the water (yes, waving his hand while asleep).

I'll upload the video soon so that I can have it posted here.

And then...ZYE turned one!

Long overdue post. But the memory of it is still fresh in my mind.

Last October 4, Zye turned one. There was no fancy party, not even a home gathering for that matter. We planned a simple day ahead for our families to share together.

Inspite the fact that Zye will not be having a first birthday party, I was still excited. Maybe it was because I have been reminded of my not so good condition before I gave birth and here he is now -- strong, happy, actively crawling, walks confidently when his hand can hold on to something, shouts and claps at his own definition of happiness while his teeth (he's got three now!) peeps through.

Wow. And I thought that it has been ages. But here he is celebrating his 12th month in this world. We wanted something new and diverted from the usual KTV bonding to a few games of bowling at Green Valley Bowling Alley (the one near Valle Verde). It was hilarious! While everyone else were busy figuring out how to get a perfect game, we were busy laughing our hearts out as some have never gone bowling. We counted the number of strikes that we get (collectively) since most of the times our bowling balls end up finding their way to the canal. Zye enjoyed the colorful balls after the game. He was asleep while the whole game was going on.

After bowling, we went for a good, quiet dinner at Grilla Libis. Well, we actually dined at Old Spaghetti house (which was the non-smoking area located at the ground floor) but ordered food from Grilla (second floor, smoking area). We got their ultimate barbeque platter and sizzling veggies (which was more like pinakbet on a sizzling plate). Some of the boys got a few rounds of drink so we got the spicy sausage trio, cheese sticks and calamares while chatting our hearts out.

A few minutes while the family conversation was getting started we decided to light the candle on Zye's cake and sing him his birthday song. My sister brought this racing car themed birthday cake which we all loved (including Zye!) The cake wasn't too sweet that we all ended up taking off most of the icing on it (Zye was first to taste the icing)

We decided to call it a night at around 11 in the evening happy with how the day turned out. I think more than anything else, each one of us just feels so blessed that Zye is turning out pretty well. The bonding that our families have is also something that we are all thankful for. Nothing beats celebrating with them. The day was just perfect.

We love you Zye! Mommy and Daddy will do their best to give you the best. And just in case you don't always get the best of everything, we'll make sure that our love will be more than enough to fill up all the spaces between better and best.

You are our miracle, God's gift. Our little angel in disguise.