First day high

Today marks the first day of school for ate Maisie. This is her new school, new classmates, everything is new to her. As I have anticipated, ate was not able to wake up early, (unlike any other day when she woke at 530am). Her class begins at 8am. Papa woke her at 630am to take a bath. No more breakfast for her but I packed her food in case she wants to eat rice in school.

We arrive school at 730am. Our notice said that we should be in the classroom 30 minutes before the time. Thus we rushed to her class room located in the 2nd floor of the building. I was apprehensive leaving her alone. Although there were classmates already but with their respective parents. And since I have to punch in to record my time, I asked ate if its okay to leave her she said yes. I hurried with the things I have to do, after 10 minutes I went back to ate. There she was sitting calmly, while one of her classmate was crying wanting for her parents to fetch her. I told ate to picked a book or play with her boy classmates while waiting for their teacher. She instead get a book. I know she could not concentrate because just infront her was the crying classmate. My heart skipped a bit. I was afraid ate will also cry if its time for me to leave. After five minutes of sitting with her in the classroom, she told me I should leave because I might be late for the office. That moment I felt relieve and proud of ate. I left. After 5 minutes I went back to see how she is faring. The teacher was already in. She saw me and she waved, I waved back. Then the teacher closed the door.

I realized ate was so ready for school. I am proud of you ate. You are mature enough and ready to explore the world.Keep up the good works ate, discard the bad. We are here supporting your every endeavor. Today marks the beginning of her journey. Before we know it, she'll graduate from grade school to soon. But she'll always be our baby.

Ice Cream Time

My husband told me that ice cream maybe kids' all time favorite.

I brought Jaden to the office last Saturday, and every Saturdays there after. Ate Maisie and lola were attending a wedding and our yaya began school. This left me with Ate and Jaden every weekend. Anyways, Jaden was a surprise. She mingled easily with ice cream as a bribe. She left our office alone with ate Iya, whom she just get acquainted with, and went to the second floor office because an ice cream was offered to her. She also willingly let my boss hold her with an ice cream promise.

On a closer note, I observed that Jaden is not fond of ice cream. She just think she likes ice cream because ate likes it very much. On different occasions, Jaden will just finish one fourth of her ice cream, while the other portions would either melt in her hands or straight to mama or papa's tummy. Just the same is was our ice cream bonding last Sunday. The three of us were left at home, papa was attending a burial.

We started the Sunday with a visit to ate's school to know her section and schedule of attending her class at the Ateneo de Davao University. Then we spent three hours at SM Ecoland. This is my way of exhausting their energies. We eat, we stroll and we window shopped. I know the activities were draining my energy, but I decided its best this way than spending it at home watching TV. At 1pm we head home for a late lunch. I forced them to sleep at 2pm to no avail. So we brought their ice cream at a nearby store. I should have realized the sugar in ice cream boost their energy level. The small bath tub was the next activity. While they "swim", I cleaned the house. They spent a full one hour "swimming" or playing with water. By 5pm, lola arrived with a Barney cd. The kids were very excited to watch. Jaden however, after 10 minutes of watching dozed off. I was not thrilled though that Jaden fell asleep because I know she will wake up later in early evening. Aside from the fact that ate is still fully awake. True enough Jaden woke up after 2 hours of sleeping feeling grumpy and still sleepy. With much goading from ate and mama, Jaden started to play along and smile.

It was another bonding Sunday. The kids were able to enjoy their two most favorite activities; eating ice cream and playing / swimming in a tub filled with water and soap suds. 

Motor Skills

Every aspect of a child should be develop and for me, the right time to do it is when they are 1 year old up to 6 years old. It is in these growing years that their mind and body are like sponges that sucked in anything presented to them. Today I am writing about how we develop their motor skills.

Motor development is the ability of a child to use its body and other physical skills to do an action. Motor development is classified into three categories, namely, gross motor skills, fine motor skills and balance/co-ordination skills. Studies show that developing motor skills in children help them in understanding all aspects of human development. It also helps in identifying any abnormalities in motor skills at an early stage. When abnormalities are identified at an earlier stage it is easier to rectify them. This is from http://gomestic.com/family/how-to-develop-fine-motor-skills-in-toddlers/.

Activities like walking, hopping, dancing, running, etc. ate and Jaden need no words of encouragement. I also remind their yaya to encourage playing most of their time. Jaden now begins to imitate the video taken from the ballet recital of ate Maisie. She watches it and do the moves later. Or when she hears a danceable music, Jaden automatically stands up and dance. That is why I don't anymore play psy's gentleman when it is sleeping time because both girls will dance right away. We also play catch ball or kick ball. Both girls have their own basketball but it has a little mermaid design on it. Ate Maisie likes to play volleyball while Jaden wants to catch and kick.

Equally important also is to develop their fine motor skills - small, precise thumb, finger, hand, and wrist movements — because they support a host of other vital physical and mental skills.(http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-to-help-your-toddler-develop-fine-motor-skills_11549.bc.
 Among our activities are playing of blocks. Ate and Jaden would stack the blocks according to their designs. We also let them hold the crayons. With ate coloring is no sweat, its a different picture though with Jaden. Sometimes I felt that coloring pictures or worksheets are too boring for ate since she has done this for sometime already. During bath time, I allow ate and Jaden to scoop water from one container to another. This is a good play for them to develop their fine motor skills. Dressing up and buttoning shirts are good exercise of their skills also aside from the fact that they are able to practice their "me" phase or their independent phase.

Play are the fun method of learning indeed.