Xian's Corner: Learning to Write and Draw

If we're friends in facebook probably you've seen this on my timeline a month ago.

 Xian's penmanship.

Yes! finally, those scribbles and lines before becomes more legible.  At 3 years and 6 months, Xian was able to write his first name on his own without any help from mommy. Although wala pa lang sa line but eventually I know masasanay din sya with our constant writing practice. :) As of today he already know how to write his full name -- Xian Allen.  Yun nga lang may condition, it's either Xian or Allen muna isusulat nya not both name at the same time because according to him -- it's too long. Huh?

Other than that, it's his habit before bedtime to do some activities like coloring his workbook or doodle in his paper.I was surprised when he showed me this after spending a couple of minutes armed with paper and a pencil. Now can you make a wild guess of who's the subject of his artwork?

According to Xian, this is daddy at work. hehe! He's wearing a safety hat (a necessity at hubby's work) pero nahulog yung safety hat kaya ganun na lang reaction ni daddy nya.When I showed this to hubby, he can't help but laugh.

 So there,sharing you two of Xian's work. I'm looking forward to the time our Xian will write his own letter for his dad and me. :)

After 7 months!

Hi guys! how are you? Sapphire Mommy in the house! I just drop by to let you know that I still exist and everything is well in my life. For the past few months, I've been so wrapped up with all the happenings at work and at home especially now that we already have a school boy and the husband is still working overseas (he just had his 2 weeks vacay 2 months ago so medyo busy din ako lalo time na yun trying to make the most of our precious time together.) As much as I want to share snippets of my life, our life, I just can't really find the time to squeeze this hobby in my schedule more often. Tsk! sinasabi ko na nga ba sagabal talaga sa blogging ang work eh no? hehe. 

To my mommy blogger friends Em, Lanie, Krissy, Michi, Anney, Cham and everyone I constantly interacted with on social networking sites that even in my absence, they still managed to ask how is it going. I'm deeply touched! Thank you guys! I can't believe that its been 7 months since I last updated my blog before I was "kidnapped"  from the blogging world. My Gulay! time flies so fast that the same old feeling hit me while I was composing a new blog post today. Kinda weird. I mean, how will I start? am I still welcome here? haha! For a moment, I suddenly had a hard time figuring out some of the blog icons here. sensya na pumi-first time blogger eh.haha! 

its really disheartening on my part knowing that a lot of Xian moments which are very much worthy to be blog about just slipped away. *sad face* Di ba nga, my ultimate goal is to blog his every milestone. But don't worry Xian my love, because I can still vividly recall each one of them from your first day of school, first ever school performance which always makes me one proud mom, our random kulit conversations, and all the other Xian related stuffs. But this time around, I'll make sure to never neglect this blog ever again -- kahit ba parang kabute lang ako na pasulpot-sulpot! hihi.

Anyway to end my comeback post, I'm sharing you some of the pics of our school boy Xian while I was on a blog hiatus.

 in one of their school presentation

 first day of school

kid scout

with his friend,Aemiel.

warm up before their dance number, with Agatha.

usual Sundate with my hubby's mini me. :)

O sya that's all for now.happy to be back for real! :)

Loaded Week

Hello guys, I'm still alive! :P Did you missed me or namiss nyo ba ko? haha,feeling lang! kase ako namiss ko kayo lahat while I was away. My day is not complete without checking my daily reads here in my blog :(

Our internet connection is just so irritating that it really stuck me to being lazy to blog. Plus I was really busy for the past few days with my life at work – my new workplace, new workloads, new schedule and I'm still on the adjustment period although I'm still on the same environment pa din naman and still working in the same school but this career change of mine is something positive which gives me the time to go home earlier than my previous work. Meaning, more time with my Xian! Then aside from that, I'm tending to our school boy everyday. Before I go to work I make sure that all of his daily needs are ready and when I got home naman, we'll talk about their activities at school that day and will ask Xian to sing the new song or the new things he learned from Teacher Anne as our bonding time. This kind of busyness especially with my school boy is what's giving me a new kind of high nowadays. Hindi sya yung stressful, in fact I love everything about it especially after a tiring day at work then Xian will show me his activity sheet from school as soon as I enter the house.

So I just dropped by to have a quick post. quick daw ano eh kanina pa ko daldal ng daldal. Honestly I don't know where to start. The new blogger's layout didn't help. Kaloka! Andami ko gusto ikwento especially Xian's summer class. by the way for the past 8 days, he's doing great in school. As promised, I was the one who dropped him off to school on his first day and nag-sit in ako together with the other moms while they're having their activities and OA man sabihin pero alam mo yung feeling na nakakaiyak sa galak just by merely looking at him with his new milestone and that is his life as a preschooler enjoying on his new environment. On his second day I told him that I need to go to the office and I cannot go with him sa school kaya si inay na muna maghahatid since may service naman sila. I thought iiyak sya but to my surprise, ok lang sa kanya and when I called Inay at school to check them, she told me that Xian's inside the classroom already and there's no crying moments. in fact, she's already at the guardian's area together with the other parents/guardians. Then when I went to his school few days ago, according to Teacher Anne, he's very good because he's really participating in class and active in every activities. I noticed that school became Xian's happy place together with his classmates as his new-found friends and playmates.

Then kanina, I filed a half day of leave because I attended my first ever parents' meeting! Hello PTA meeting, I belong. Haha. The meeting is about the Culminating Activity on the 3^rd week of May which is the kids “graduation day” because they'll be having some dance presentations so meaning they also have costumes and all. I can't wait to see my Xian participating on the school program.

As much as I want to share some of Xian's memorable photos at his school right now but I have yet to download them from my camera, imagine paga-upload lang wala din ako time.haha,this time being busy is bad! So let me just share you some of preschool-related photos of our Xian from my phone.

 first day high -- off to school!

puzzle time!

 their first ever coloring activity.

my first ever parents' meeting notice.

 

That's all for now muna! :)

 

Preschool Hunting: The Final Edition

Like what I've mentioned before, initially we have four choices of preschool for the little man. I'm done with preschool #1 and since preschools 2, 3 and 4 are all near our place approximately 5-10 minutes travel time, I had the best time to check them in one day. So during my 1 week bed rest after I had my surgical operation last month, I allotted one day to check these schools together with Inay and Xian for ocular visit. Nung nag-ocular kami, magkakalapit din lang yung inikutan namin. hehe. Unfortunately, I don't like preschool #3 because of some factors, imagine yung feeling na first impression pa lang pero sablay na. preschool #4 naman (which is also a catholic school where I graduated) is my last choice if ever preschool #2 will not pass my standards.

So I'll just focus this post on our preschool of choice.

Preschool #2: St. Jude Science and Technological School

They're one progressive school in our town being 4 years only in the business.The name is quite confusing at first because it doesn't sounds like a "normal preschool name" but they're actually one. While there are several existing schools offering pre-elem, elementary  and highschool courses within our town, SJSTI is the first Science and English-speaking school in the area. They also offer grade school and high school that's why the name is a little bit different. What I like about this school is that it is somehow aligned to our family values or values that I wanted to teach him since I also studied in a catholic school.

I don't have any photos of the facilities to share since I'm too shy to take pictures that time since the principal is there.haha! But they have nice classrooms and clean playground, same thing with other facilities.The school for me provides a conducive environment for the little man's growth,away from the noise of the vehicles in the street. While we're checking the school, we saw some hollow blocks and other construction materials present that time but that's understandable since they're undergoing some expansion.The approved building plan also is very promising. The staff  and teachers are courteous and even the security guard speaks in English.  There are a couple of students at the area that time and seems like they're well-disciplined. We also saw the school canteen and most of the foods we saw there are nutritious ones. Wala akong napansin na junk foods.  And although may mga big kids na kasama sa school, the pre-elem's classrooms are far from the elementary and high school so I don't have to worry na may makakabangga sa kanya na malaking bata. You know naman mga kids, they have the tendency to get rowdy sometimes especially with the little ones.

The tuition fee is ok and fit nicely in our budget and I believe that it commensurate to the quality of education they provide. The best thing about it is that when I asked Xian if he already like there as his school, he answered me with "yes" and everytime may magtatanong sa kanya sa family namin kung saan sya papasok he'll proudly reply with "St. Good (Jude)!" so that's a big factor for us to consider-- Xian liked preschool #2.

Here's one of Xian's snapshot during our ocular visit.

With their mission "Your partner in the holistic development of  your child" . After careful deliberation with hubby Allan and weighing the pros and cons of our top 2 school of choice -- Silvercrest School and St. Jude and carefully comparing them, we came to our mutual decision and that is we're finally going to send Xian to St. Jude!  We'll see and try there muna for 1 year. After all St. Jude passed our criteria especially the convenient location without sacrificing the quality of education. Although sayang yung discount sa Silvercrest as one of Xian's benefit as my son, who knows maaavail din naman nya yun in the future pag big kid na sya. 

I already enrolled Xian at St. Jude's 1 month summer "practice" class which will start on Monday. This also served na din as reservation fee and they'll just deduct 50% of what I paid for the summer class from the actual tuition fee for the whole year.The staff said that it's more of playtime and socialization and some activities for kids in preparation for the opening of classes this June. As promised, I will be the one to accompany the little man to his school on Monday. I already filed a vacation leave. :)

So yes, we will finally send a kid to preschool! I'm a bit excited and scared. Hopefully, Xian's first day will be a smooth one.Wish us lots of luck.hahaha!

 

Preschool Hunting

This is a super delayed post. 


Like what I've mention before, our Xian will start schooling this June as Nursery. Allow me to say my favorite motto but time really flies so fast! May preschooler na kami! I wish there's also a ticker here on how many times I've said that statement eversince this blog was born no? I know utang-uta na kayo sa line na yun.haha!

Although I started my hunt late last year through checking the school's website but not that serious,tamang preschool hunting,steady lang. Early last year, Allan and I are already considering of sending Xian to school at 3.We did a round up of possible schools in our town. Others may think that it's way too early especially the oldies, I totally recall one scenario although this is not our case but I heard this one time while I'm riding a jeepney on my way home. Can't help but listen to the  woman in front of me.Sa lakas ba naman ng boses nya. According to the woman,"sus kaya pinapapasok ng maaga ng magulang ang anak nila eh tamad lang alagaan!" Ano daw? Where in the world did she get that idea.

Although I don't know who she is referring to particularly; but as a mom,  I was really pissed off with her statement. Hindi rason na dahil tinatamad lang alagaan kaya pinapapasok ang anak at an early age.  As a parent, it is my desire for my son to be exposed to other people with a very conducive environment for his growth and develop more of his skills.  I don't want to put pressure on the little man's schooling, I just want the whole thing  to be  a fun and enjoyable experience for him. 

One more thing to consider is the child's readiness.  2 years old pa nga lang si Xian but he already knows the concept of schooling because of his cousins and he's already excited about it. As much as I want na 4 years old sya magstart and do the homeschooling type first (as our initial plan), there are still a lot of things na mas matututunan nya at madedevelop sa personality nya away from home together with kids of his age since at our home, big kids na nakakainteract ni Xian that's why we always bring him to the play area at the mall to play with the same age bracket.

Oh well,sana lang naexplain ko yun kay ate no? hehe!

Anyway moving forward, at the start I had around 4 schools on my list. 3 in our town and 1 near my workplace.

Let's start with the latter.

Silvercrest School

What I particularly like about the school since they just opened last year is the premises, there is a small teacher-student ratio, faculty and staff who are highly qualified and competent, fully air-conditioned classrooms and laboratories,state of the art play and swimming facilities and effective system of linkage for it's site learning activities.

It is stated that their program center on the children's development which could make them socially, spiritually, emotionally, academically and globally prepared for the demands of higher learning and of the real world.

Why do I know all about these things? 

It's because this is the preschool department of the school I'm working for 5 1/2 years,I'm only assigned at the college department and no, I'm not part of their marketing team.lol. 

What I'll be stating here are unbiased observation of a first time preschooler mom. Allow me to share some of the photos I had during my ocular visit (well,sort of) hehe.

Let's tour Preschool #1,tara! :)

This is the main entrance of the building.

Welcome Greetings for Parents and Students. Noticed the date? I told you, I've been checking prospective preschool as early as last year. hehe.

This adorned the hallway

religious statue at the corner of the hallway 

 The Playroom

 Xian will surely love this.

some do's and dont's

The Classroom

During preschool hunting like this, I'm very particular with the classroom because this is where Xian will spend majority of his time. The classroom should be interesting and pleasing to the eyes.Kase ako man nung nag-aaral ako,mas inspired ako matuto kapag maganda at maayos environment ko. So a nice classroom is a big plus for me.

Here's three example of a preschool classroom at Silvercrest.

This is the green classroom. I think this belongs to the Kinder students.

The Yellow Clasroom. Siguro eto naman sa Nursery. 

Sapphire Mommy @ The Blue Room! Malamang Prep level na dito.

cute na cute ako sa design na 'to ng wall.

 This occupy one side of the wall

height chart (with my friend Kai) and animal chart.

The Comfort Room

clean comfort room for the li'l boys and girls

The Playground

hmmm.. isa pang possible hide out ni Xian

final shot after the school tour.
logo @ our back: Silvercrest is where your child becomes the best! 

This is my first choice of preschool actually. Imagine, Allan and I could save atleast 25% from Xian's tuition fee (50% if he's already in high school and college) as one of the benefits of working in a school plus I could check on him every once in a while since the preschool is just a few walks away from our building. I'm sure the little man will not have a hard time to like his "home away from home".

 But since my topmost priority is the location, I wouldn't want Xian to experience 20-30 minutes travel time every morning going to school to think their class schedule is just a couple of hours everyday. Di ba? Gusto ko papasok sya sa school everyday with a happy feeling hindi yung tatamadin na ang bagets maisip pa lang ang byahe unlike preschool in our town na 5-10 minutes travel time lang. One more factor is that, I want Xian to achieve and excel in his preschool based on his own capabilities, I don't want others to think na naaccomplish nya ang isang bagay just because his mom is a school staff. Yung ganun. You know naman I hate politics.haha!

That's why hanging pa si Preschool #1.

Nonetheless, I still continue my journey of preschool hunting down to preschool #2 of my choice and tell you about how our ocular went, but that would be on my next post! :)

 

Sunday @ Kiddy's Arts Town

Before we bought Xian's birthday gift at the mall last week, we had our lunch first at Red Ribbon then after that we brought him at Kiddy's Arts Town kiosk near the bakeshop.

Kiddy's Arts Town located in most malls offers arts and crafts that kids (even kids at heart like me!) can enjoy. Everytime we go to the mall we always see their little kiosk and as much as I want Xian to try and experience it that time, he's hesitant  to try it. Probably because most of the kids he saw there are older than him and they're so engrossed with what they're doing. Feeling nya di pa sya belong.hihi.

But last Sunday was different,tinanong ko sya if he wanted to try it and he willingly nod. So go kami.

Xian chose the fish pattern (Php 180) from the wide variety of choices. The chosen design was put in an aluminum plate.Then the staff provided Xian with cute apron and a small tray with rubber colored paints in squeezable tubes. They also provided toothpicks, cotton buds and tissues to clean up edges and wipe colors beyond the outline.

 Xian doing his masterpiece.

According to him, the reason kung bakit pink ang eyes ni fish is because of mommy and blue allover because of him and daddy.


After the little man finished his painting we give the pattern to the staff and she put it in the microwave oven for few minutes until the rubber paints dry up.

while waiting.

Presenting the final artwork! (of course with a little help from mommy.tee hee!)

It's absolutely a good and relaxing activity. We will definitely go back next time! :P

Nostalgia: Xian Then and Now

Xian Allen @ 4 months

All you knew back then is to smile back, coo and babble at us. You love to giggle to the delight of everyone. You're so helpless and you demand our attention by fussing and crying your heart's out. You entertain yourself by observing your surroundings on what's going on around you. Brightly colored mobiles and play gyms attract you the most.  Mommy's lullaby put you to sleep and my loving caress soothe you.

Xian Allen @ 2 years and 9 months

Connecting dots! I'm happy that his pencil grip is improving,yey! #proudmomma

Now at your age, you are unstoppable force anak! You will not take NO for an answer. You won't stop unless you are satisfied with the proper explanation. I can't help but be amazed at how smart you have become.  Daddy and I can't wait to see and experience more as you grow. If there's one rant I have right now,"bakit naman kase ang bilis mo lumaki?" hinay-hinay lang ha? Di pa kami sawa ni daddy sa pagkabata mo :)

 

My Dearest Xian,

You're growing up too fast into mommy and daddy's little man leaving mommy's baby behind. A couple of months from now and you'll conquer another world away from home and that is your school although I wasn't sure how it will all going to turn out on your first day! :D I love seeing how excited and proud you are everytime you tell Daddy, Inay, Tatay and everyone in the house that you're going to preschool soon and I was the one to drop you off everyday to your school and how excited you are to meet "teacher".I can't wait to see you in your first ever school uniform and I'm looking forward to prepare your everyday baon. I'm excited to see you perform in your school activities.I want you to know that I will always be your #1 fan in everything that you will do.

love you so much,anak!

Mommy 

P.S:

Actually, I was just overwhelmed to see Xian holding his pencil correctly and seriously doing his worksheet one night,yet na-emote na ko.oh well, mom's happiness to kid's achievement.hihi!

Book on My List: The Smart Mom's Guide to Raising your Preschooler

After work few days ago I went to the mall to buy some stuffs for the little man, I headed first to National Bookstore. While scouring in their bookshelves, this book caught my attention:

Smart Mom's Guide to Raising your Preschooler

The best thing about the book is that they had a copy for browsing so you can check the book first before you buy it. I had fun browsing every page that I had to lean in one of their sturdy shelf for support kase nangangawit na ko.haha! I love the content,there are lots of advices from other moms and from experts and spaces to write. There are also charts, fun activities, and recipes I can cook together with my little man.Very nice talaga.that's why I immediately bought one because this is really one of my super sulit buy for the month.

Xian will start schooling soon and this book will be a great help for me,being a first time preschool mom. I'm sure this will be one of my best book buddy just like my first ever pregnancy book from Smart Parenting, Smart Mom's Guide to Pregnancy and Baby's First Year.

This book is a comprehensive resource that helps parents through these formative years by shedding light onto a preschooler’s physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional milestones.

Ayayay,time flies so fast I'm going to have a school boy next year. By the way if you want a copy of this book, it costs P295,this book will be worth your money! :)

Xian as Future School Boy

As parents,we should think of Xian's future. Few years from now he'll be schooling soon. Time flies so fast ano,we'll have a preschooler in  SY 2012-2013.That will be next year!  He is exactly 3 years and 2.5 months by then.Keyword: SAVE,SAVE,SAVE! :) Every parents want the best for their kids and we're one of them.we want Xian to have the best especially when it comes to education. As early as now, we're already checking out potential preschools for Xian in our town. It's not that I'm one atat mom, but it's better to be ready na din so that when the time comes, we already have the school in mind and for us to anticipate everything he will need. Me personally,I want him to have different experiences so that when the time comes that he have to go to school, he is ready. Because he'll be dealing with a lot of people soon,plus the bigger environment he'll soon conquer.

I read different articles regarding kids in Psychology way back in college. i have learned that to prepare Xian for school, I have to read him books and let him understand what is it all about. Play finger games with him while singing nursery rhymes. Singing alphabet songs and point out on toys that help him remember and understand the alphabet. Expose him to different things,take him to the playground, amusement parks or zoo and talk about the things he saw and did.We also socialize him to kids of his age.

Let your child do what he wants as long as it will benefit him. Let him try different activities so that you will know where he excels. Learning is a process. Us parents should help our child in a way that school can’t offer.

At his early age of 22 months, Xian loves to dance when he heard music.  He is also fond of books with large illustrations of animals,fruits and other things. There's one instance when we showed him a picture similar to this:

 Tita Ninang Twinkle said "Xian what's that? Watch?  Xian promptly replied "No,clock!" I would have misheard it in the first place, but when I asked her Tita Ninang, that's exactly what he said! I'm excited to see my little Xian in his first ever preschool uniform! :) now, that's what you call an atat mom!