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Sunday, June 28, 2015

Learning is Fun: Bookay-Bookay 2015

Hi book lovers, you might want to check out this book sale by WS Pacific Publications, Inc. or popularly known as Learning is Fun. They are having a mini BOOK-ay BOOK-ay event where all books displayed are at 35% off the tag price. You might ask why it's written up to 50% off. I think it's because some of the items are 50% cheaper than the retail price. That's my assumption because some books have tag prices of SM, TRU, etc and I was able to compare the mall's price. But I heard they will retag the books to their discounted price already by Monday. Anyway, last day on July 1!



Sharing to you some of the pictures I took when I visited last June 27.






Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Trial Class at Cambridge Binondo

One fine afternoon last March, I visited my friend at her office tagging along my toddler just to have a short play time with her toddler. Then just before we part our ways, I thought of dropping by Cambridge since it's just within their building. We went together to check out the place and inquire for the rates as well. The complete name of the school is Cambridge Child Development Centre, a Singapore International Preschool. 

March 26. Two toddlers playing at the 'outdoor' playground of Cambridge.

Upon entering the class area, the toddlers ran loose towards the outdoor playground while the mommies were attended by Teacher Kevin to discuss their curriculum and fees. I personally felt excited while he was showing to us a photo album of students in action and how they conduct their class. Their approach is Project-Based Ecological Model or PBEM for short. I wasn't able to observe this during the 3-day trial class but you can research more about it here.



So we went there March 26 and because the summer class will be starting soon, April 6 right after the Holy Week, we weren't allowed to schedule a trial class already. The next available schedule was on May 4 which means our April will be vacant. Anyway, we were told to bring a pair of slippers, toothbrush and toothpaste and a set of clothes. 

Fast forward to our first day of trial. We came in 15 minutes late despite that it's a 10-minute walk from our place. I'm actually the one excited since it's my first time as a mom to bring my child to a school. It's quite challenging to wake a toddler up, rush her to eat breakfast, change clothes and prepare her baon. Upon arriving at the center, everybody was busy since the sessions have already started. Baby A was assigned at the toddler class, separated from my friend's toddler. 

The whole time I accompanied my toddler inside and observed the surrounding, from the students, teachers, materials, lessons, teaching method and of course Baby A's reaction and performance.


May 4, 2015. Day 1 of the trial class.
Circle Time 

The first thing that I noticed was the class is just a handful. They started the class with action songs to engage the small kids and to warm them up. The teacher assigned to her class is Teacher Nicole, or T. Nicole for short. She was one of the Chinese teachers so they were conversed and taught with both English and Chinese songs and lessons.


Their syllabus

Thursday, June 18, 2015

My 30-Month Old Toddler

It's been months since I stopped writing about my motherhood journey here. I'm so sorry about it. But if you have been following me on my Instagram account, you would know the updates on my child's development. I regularly post pictures with brief caption on Instagram as my only me-time is at night time while breastfeeding my now 30-month old toddler to sleep. 

There are lots of questions running around in my head. Some of them are:
1. How to correct and feed my picky-eater toddler well and increase her weight?
2. Where to begin and go about homeschooling my toddler?
3. Should I worry if my toddler is not yet fully potty-trained at her age now?
4. How to support my family's finances while being a full-time mom?
5. How to slowly wean my toddler from breastfeeding and train her to sleep without being carried by me so I can be more productive?

Since last December when Baby A's yaya had left us, I became more hands-on with her that's why I wasn't able to blog for so long. I would bathe with her, wipe after her pee and poop, feed her, carry her to sleep in the afternoon, play with her and even bring her along to Divisoria wet market or just out for a quick grocery or bank errand. It's very exhausting really if you don't have a trusted or able yaya to cover up for you. To add to that, our family just got scammed big time but that's a different story.


Walking courageously to Divisoria with my toddler
Baby A helping me wash her dirty clothes. No maid that time. (March)

Last January, I started handling workshops for Manila Workshops particularly Road to Retail sessions up until last May. I learned to stand by the challenges and be responsible for the result of the event. I learned how to prepare the materials, to coordinate with the attendees, to do post-documentation and even got to meet a few successful people. But because it's hard for me to divide my attention, doing this online job while worrying about my toddler's development, I decided to temporarily stop until I'm ready to interact with people or until I find the solutions to my concerns. 


at The Open Space, Makati

I'm happy that my toddler is on track with her developmental milestones. Based on my observation, she is good at:
1. picking up words heard from people talking or books being read to her
2. has clear diction or verbally inclined
3. loves to sing along, can even invent words using a familiar tune
4. loves to dance along, can even dance ballet without prior lessons
5. has sharp memory or recall
6. sociable and can easily mingle with people
7. has sense of humor, for example: she appears in the air instead of the person's hand; she imitates people walking weirdly, and many more.
8. she loves being massaged in the head or simply enjoys the pleasure of being tickled


home-service massage

9. she loves to drink Yakult, Dutch Mill, goat's milk/fresh milk with cereal or anything cold


at S&R
10. she loves to eat raisins thus I mixed it with her oatmeal as a cheat
11. of course, she loves cakes, ice creams and chocolates just like her mom
12. she loves to ride merry-go-round, kiddie trains and going to playground
climbing the slide
13. she has strong muscles such that she can hung herself and swing like this
14. she is showing signs of independence, for example: she wants to walk up/down the stairs by herself; she wants to switch on/off the light herself; she wants to carry her backpack; she can open and drink water from a jug all by herself and many more.
15. can complete a 10-piece puzzle
16. knows how to pray

Overall, I can say that she is indeed an active and fast-learner kind of toddler that it dawned on me whether it's time to enroll her to a preschool. How shall I enrich her this summer? It was already too late for me to scout for summer activities suitable for my then 28-month old toddler. But looking back now, it turned out that we had a jam-packed month of May after all! What we did last month deserves a separate post. Stay tuned! :)

Mommy Sally 

PS. Okay let me give you a sneak peek of what we did last May:
1. We attended 3-day trial class at Cambridge Binondo.
2. We attended 1 week Vacation Bible Study at Gerizim and had field trip at Avilon Zoo.
3. We enrolled her for a 15-day Summer Fun batch 2 class at Sacred Heart School.
4. We joined the 1-day Lil Preneur bazaar at San Lorenzo Village, Makati (June).
5. We've started setting up our mini classroom at home.