earth hour 2009 - we voted!

we started about 30 minutes late but just the same, we voted! and not just lights, we turned off all the electricity at home for an hour. as i said, we didn't start at 8:30, but we made sure it lasted for an hour.

so how do you make 3 kids (aged 8, 5, and 3) vote for mother earth?

after turning off the lights, i brought the kids into the bedroom and i started telling them about earth hour. i began by telling them the age of mother earth (which i found out now is wrong hahaha that's what happens when you don't do your homework). anyway, i tried to make them understand the age by making them count the number of zeros in it. then, i began explaining to them that mother earth is already too old and that she is already showing some signs of aging.

i also told them about mother earth's shield (ozone). since the boys love ultraman and super mario smash brawl, they understand very well the purpose of a shield. they know that though a shield can protect, it can still be broken if it gets too much blows. so, i told them that the shield protects us from the sun's heat and told them what happens if the shield gets "broken". i asked them how they feel during a very sunny day, and told them that it will be much much worst once the shield is broken. i told the kids why we are voting by turning off the electricity. i told them that mother earth is already very old and people are not making things easier for her. the burning of too much energy is a hard blow to the shield.

from the shield, we moved on to the melting glaciers. we talked of what the kids knew about the north pole, everything from the ice, to the cold, and santa claus! (though the melting glaciers may not be limited to the north pole, it's easier to explain the northpole to the kids because of santa). then, i told them that when the ice melts, it becomes water. lots and lots of water. to make them understand the impact of the melting ice, i made a circle with my two hands. first, i showed them how a regular circle looks, and pointed where the north pole would be. then i tilted my circle to the side. then explained to them where the water from the melted ice would go. with this, we talked about the story of noah and the ark which the kids have already learned from preschool. i told them that noah's flood can and will happen again if we are not careful and too bad 'coz noah is already dead. guess what gabie said we should do? call bob the builder! oh yes, we can hahaha

then, i explained to them that since all the water goes to one side, the other part of the earth runs out of water and dries up. that's where the soil dries up, then the trees dies, and then people run out of food to eat, and then, die of starvation.

after talking about everything that's happening to mother earth, i asked them what they think we should do in our own little way to help save her. and here's the list of what the kids came up with:

1. reduce aircon usage. instead of using the aircon every night, we'll try to use it only every other day for 1 month. it's a big sacrifice to the kids because they are so used to sleeping with the aircon on.

2. save water by turning off the tap when brushing their teeth.

3. don't play with water when taking a bath.

4. save paper! to me and hubby's delight, this is a suggestion from gabie. see, gabie loves papers too much. he likes to draw and write and cut. if uncontrolled, he can really waste a lot of paper. we've already hidden our paper supply in a place that he cannot reach and gives him only one paper a day.

5. instead of paper use a whiteboard or blackboard.

i think it was a fun, entertaining, and educational earth hour for us. for more details about earth hour 2009, visit http://www.earthhour.org/home/.

mother earth, you got five votes from my family in singapore!


^_^

a day at the zoo

it was the school holidays last week, so as a treat to the kids, hubby and i took them to the zoo.

a few days before our trip, the kids were so excited, as always.

miggy wanted to visit the new kids station where they can play in the amazing wading pool. and eat kfc hahaha need i say more?

mikee kept saying that she wants to see the monkeys. she doesn't care about all the other animals. only the monkeys. when i asked her why, she said all the other animals will eat her. not bite. eat.

gabie is the most interesting one. when i asked him which animal he wants to see in the zoo, he said the tiger. then, he said, "mama, i want to touch the tiger!" ok, he's definitely not doing that!

on the day of our trip to the zoo, it started out as a very sunny day. it was too hot! lucky i brought an evian water spray to at least relieve us from the heat. but since it was too hot, we had to spray, i think, every 10 minutes ^_^

so, after watching an animal show and the polar bear feeding, we headed to the kids station and had lunch at kfc. all this time, the kids just can't wait to get over with lunch so they can go to the wading pool.

then, by the time we finished eating, it started to rain. and it never stopped. until we just decided to go home T_T poor kids, i guess i'll just have to bring them back next month.

we just arrived at the zoo ...


see mikee with her binoculars? she was so arte all the time, using it whenever we point at an animal ...


notice most of the pictures here are dark? well, we spent most of the time in the boat dock, waiting for the rain to stop ...


and here's mikee singing while we were waiting for the rain to stop in the boat dock ...


notice her song lyrics is mostly "we cannot go ... we cannot go" hahaha


oh! the kids did get to spend some time in the wading pool. that's when the rain let up a bit. a whopping ten minutes in the pool :)

and yes, gabie changed his mind as soon as we arrived at the tigers' den ...


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parent-teacher-meeting

yesterday, i went for a parent-teacher-meeting in miggy's school to know how he's been doing so far in primary 2. generally, the feedback is quite good. academically, he's doing well. i even learned from his form teacher (philippine counterpart: class adviser) that he had the best marks in class for his english exams. i'd say, wow! considering that around this time last year, i learned that he had to go to a learning support program because his reading skills were way below average. and now, he's got the best marks ^_^

his marks in maths is also okay. he got 40 out of 50 in the exams. and his mistakes were mostly due to him rushing to finish the test (again) and not because he doesn't know how to do the mental sums.

now, for his mandarin class ... well ... as expected, he did poorly again. but still, i'd have to say that he is definitely doing much better this year than last year. this year, according to the teacher, at least he's already able to understand her when she speaks in mandarin. and he's even able to answer in mandarin as well. so, there's still a whole lot of room for improvement, but he's definitely crawling his way into that room.

the only negative feedback i got (yes, aside from mandarin) was again on his behavior. he still doesn't pay much attention in class. and in his classic miggy way, he'd often ask questions that are always way way out of topic. hayyy, i can just imagine the desperation of his teacher when he does that. you see, miggy never run out of questions. he's always curious about everything. and everything that he doesn't know or understand, he'd definitely voice it out. another hayyyy. anyway, at least, i know he's already improved compared to how he was when he first joined kindergarten. hahaha i remember the feedback that i get from the teachers then. they just didn't know how to calm him down. he was always hyper-active. at least, now, not too much hehe

on our way back home, we were talking about some stuff about his school, his teachers feedback, his friends. we even talked about one of his friends who, according to him, got only 2 points (out of 50) in their maths exams. i told him that maybe they just have to help her because she might be having some learning difficulties. maybe she needs a lot of help. i wanted to teach him that the girl may be having low marks not because she is "slow" but maybe because she's just not getting all the help that she needs at home.

miggy: when i grow up, mama, i will teach my kids just like you!
me: ok. that's good.
miggy: yes. but i'm going to take them back to the philippines. so they wouldn't have to study mandarin!

alright ... i guess that's some sort of a hint ... don't you think?


^_^

a new daddy

i'm always gaga about korean dramas :) earlier, i was watching one k-drama (boys over flowers) with mikee.

i was telling her that one of the boys, kim hyun-joong, is just so pogi!!! (so handsome) when she asked me, "mama, you want a new daddy???"

hahahaha

anyway, i think kim hyun-joong looks like a younger bae yong joon :)


^_^

LITRATONG PINOY: bag

when mikee started in pre-school, i bought her this really cute hello kitty bag. she liked it so much coz she's at a stage where she's starting to appreciate everything pink and hello kitty.

after a month in pre-school, her teacher talked to me and told me to replace mikee's bag. i was like, what the?!?!?! of course, i didn't say that out loud to the teacher, but i surely asked her, "what's wrong with her bag?"

well, the teacher told me that mikee is going to school, so she should be using a more appropriate school bag like a backpack (ok, fine). and that her bag is inappropriate because she's not going shopping or something (what the!!! 3-year-old mikee's bag ... for shopping?)

****

noong mag-umpisa si mikee sa pre-school, binilhan ko siya ng cute na hello kitty bag. gustong-gusto niya ito dahil nasa stage siya na nag-uumpisang ma-appreciate nya ang kahit anong kulay pink o hello kitty na bagay.

matapos ang isang buwan sa pre-school, kinausap ako ng teacher niya at sabi ay palitan ko daw ang bag nya. nagulat talaga ako. ang bag ni mikee? palitan ko daw? bakit???

ang sabi ng teacher, dahil sa school naman ang punta ni mikee, dapat lang na pang-eskwelahan ang bag niya gaya ng mga backpack. hindi daw kasi pang-school ang bag nya, pang- shopping daw hahahaha

^_^

what is a puffle?

last week, miggy asked me to sign his school work. it was an english composition that he wrote. the title was my pet migz, the puffle.

i would say that miggy is definitely improving with his writing. i think for an eight-year-old, he's doing really good in writing. even his teacher agrees that with just a little more effort, his writing would be perfect. you can read about his composition in his own blog.

and his imagination. well, it simply amazes me. he's a good storyteller. i mean, what is a puffle, anyway??? but there he was describing it in full details, including the food it eats and where he found it.

anyway, i hope he keeps up the good work if he really wants to be a comics writer in the future. according to him, he will be the stan lee of the future :D

^_^

little linguist

mikee's been having some chinese lessons in her nursery class. i can tell that she's really interested in the language. at home, she would often recite the phrases that she learned in school. sometimes, she would even attempt to teach me some of the phrases and would even correct me when my pronunciations are wrong. oh and do i have to mention that i have absolutely no idea whether the phrases that she recites are correct? hahaha how would i know anyway?

one morning, mikee woke up early so i had breakfast with her before i went to work. and as always, she is doing her monologue. i'm so used to her monologues that i have to admit that sometimes, i no longer pay attention to what she's saying. she would tell or ask me some things and i would just absent-mindedly answer her.

so, when she said, "anone hato?", i answered with an "uh huh."

i guess she wasn't satisfied with my reply because again she said, "anone hato?". this time louder. and she was indeed successful cause she definitely got me saying "what?!?!?!"

i thought that she can't be speaking chinese because it certainly didn't sound chinese. and i kept thinking about miggy who's been trying to learn some japanese phrases via his favorite japanese show. the way mikee said the phrase, it really sounded like japanese. and i thought maybe she's been catching some of the things that miggy's been learning.

then, i looked at our food ... lightbulb moment!

we were having hotdogs for breakfast. so, hato must be hotdog! hahaha all along she's been speaking english and there i was racking my brains for japanese and chinese phrases :D

okay, now, don't ask me what is anone. because up to now, i still haven't figured out that part :D


^_^