happy birthday, gabie!

today is my baby gabie's birthday. to make this day special for him, i took some time off from work and made some cupcakes for him to share in school.

i had to finish the cupcakes this morning so by the time gabie's school started, i've just finished all the cuppies. and i literally have to rush off the door to get the cuppies in time for his recess. and because of all the rush, i forgot to take a picture of the cuppies :-( that's my first mistake of the day.

after passing the cupcakes to gabie's teacher, i decided to stay around the school and wait for gabie and mikee. the kids always like it whenever i come and fetch them from school because they know too well that it rarely happens.

while waiting, i had a chat with a granny (or auntie, as they are called here in singapore) who was also waiting for the class to finish. she never seemed to ran out of things to talk about. since i was raised to be courteous and didn't want to offend her by being curt, i had to talk to her for about two hours! the only break i had was when i bought a canned milo from the vending machine. that's when i did my second mistake.

when the school finished, just when mikee was about to come out, the aunty asked me to write down my handphone number. that's my third mistake. it was quite chaotic that time with all the kids coming out of the school. i was also looking out for gabie to make sure that the school bus would not take him.

so, what are my second and third mistake?

my second mistake is that after getting coins from my wallet, i didn't put the wallet back into my bag. i decided to just carry it on my hand.

third mistake. i should have just given the aunty a name card! what was i thinking writing down my number? darn! if i'd just tried to get a name card from my wallet, i would have realized earlier that my wallet was missing!!!

i only realized that my wallet was missing when we were already in the bus stop waiting for our bus. and by the time i went back to the school, it was already empty.

and that's how i lost my wallet. i'm not concerned about money because all i had in there was a ten dollar and 2 two dollar bills. i'm more worried about my id's and cards in the wallet. both mine and my husbands nric card (identification card) are there. do i have to mention credit cards and atm cards? anyway, hubby has already cancelled the credit card as soon as i told him i lost my wallet. i don't have money on my atm account, coz i don't keep money there, so that's fine. but the nric cards! aargh! because of this i'd have to take off from work again tomorrow to try and ask around gabie's school if anyone has seen my wallet. and if i don't get it back, i'd have to file a police report for the nric cards.

*_*

chocolate

yesterday morning, when miggy woke up, he had a fever. i'm not sure what happened to him. i don't think it could be viral 'coz if it was, then he would have passed it to one of us by now. and no one else was sick at home. and he never went out the house during the weekend.

anyway, he was sick in bed all day. i spent most of last night awake to monitor his condition. luckily, it's a public holiday yesterday and today so i could take care of him.

when he woke up this morning, he's still sick. he was nauseous and had to vomit a few times. it wasn't easy because he hadn't eaten anything yet so his stomach was empty.

i asked him what he wanted to eat for breakfast. but he didn't want anything because of the nausea. and he just want to go back to sleep.

so, i left him for a while and went to get a chocolate sandwich (a.k.a nutella-filled sandwich) for myself. when miggy saw me with the sandwich, i guess, he was tempted and asked for my sandwich. after finishing the sandwich, he asked for another one.

and lo! after his second sandwich, he suddenly got better. the fever was gone. the nausea was gone. he even left the bed to play with mikee and gabie. and he never got sick again throughout the day.

that's why now, i am wondering ... chocolates???


*_*

SILLY MONKEY STORIES: difference between girls and boys

yesterday morning, gabie was playing with two ultraman action figures. i heard him doing the following monologue in his best ultraman tiga and ultraman dyna voice ...

ultraman tiga: tiga! i'll beat you!
ultraman dyna: you can't beat me!
tsug! tsag! tsug! (punching sounds here)

later in the afternoon, i saw mikee playing with the same two action figures. and here's her own monologue ...

ultraman tiga: let's be friends.
ultraman dyna: you're my best friend.
(then she put their hands together and made them walk while holding hands)
see mama? ultraman tiga and dyna are best friends forever!

and that, my dear, is the difference between girls and boys ...



^_^

LITRATONG PINOY: kahel (orange)

last friday, mikee and gabie's school celebrated chinese new year. they had to go to school wearing chinese costumes. and when they got back from school, they each have two oranges.

it's customary for the chinese to give away 2 oranges during their new year festivities. i'm not exactly sure what it really means. but i remember a friend saying that it's lucky because the shape of the two oranges makes an 8 which is a lucky number for the chinese. and that should you receive a pair of oranges for good luck, you should never ever eat any one of them. because if you eat one, the "8" becames a "0". yeah yeah i know, it's corny. not mine though. i just borrowed hahaha

***

nung nakaraang biyernes, nag-celebrate ng chinese new year sa school ni miggy at gabie. lahat sila ay pumasok na nakasuot ng damit na pang-chinese. at nang umuwi sila galing school, meron silang tig-dalawang piraso ng orange.

nakaugalian na ng mga chinese na mamigay ng 2 orange tuwing new year nila. indi ko sigurado kung ano talaga ang ibig sabihin nito. pero naaalala ko na me isang kaibigan ang nagsabi na magdadala daw ito ng swerte dahil ang korte ng dalawang orange ay "8", at ito ay isang suwerteng numero para sa mga chinese. at hindi raw dapat kinakain ang kahit isa sa mga ito dahil pag kinain mo na ang isa ang "8" ay magiging "0". ang corny no? hehe ok lng. indi akin na idea to hehe kinopya ko lang.

^_^

SILLY MONKEY STORIES: girls!

over the weekend, gabie was telling me what he wanted for his birthday (next week). all the while miggy was busy with something else. but at the mention of the word birthday, he suddenly perked up and asked me about his birthday.

having had too much of miggy's birthday last week, gabie exclaimed, "kuya, you're birthday is soooooo over!"

and to this miggy replied, "gabie, stop talking like a girl!"

oh well, boys are boys ... they'd take every opportunity to tease each other about being girlish ...


^_^

studying mandarin

one of the reasons we prefer singapore to be our home away from home is the quality of education here. i always say that in singapore, my kids can have world class education for just a few dollars every month. and to us, that means a lot.

however, one of the challenges that the kids face in studying here is mandarin. kids here are required to study a mother tongue language. and the only languages offered are mandarin, tamil, and malay. since neither of the three options are our mother tongue, hubby and i selected mandarin for our kids.

it's really very challenging not only to my kids, but to me as well, because none of us speak, write, read, and understand a word of chinese. so, to survive this subject, i need to get a chinese tutor for miggy. last year, i spent about an average of US$130 a month just for the chinese tutor. and that's really a lot considering i spend only a few dollars every month for his school tuition fees.

actually, we do have an option to bail out of this subject. i can apply for an exemption from the mother tongue subject. but, i believe that it would be beneficial in the future for my kids to study mandarin.

for this year, i have decided not to get a chinese tutor for miggy. both to save on the monthly expenses and to make miggy more responsible in studying chinese. last year, miggy was too dependent on the chinese tutor that, i found out, he would excuse himself from his chinese homeworks on days when the tutor is not coming to our house!



anyway, i am more confident this year because i already know which resources he can use to aide him in studying chinese. aside from the available activity/revision books in a popular bookstore here, i've also invested in a stylus and tablet for the computer. with this, i can easily write the characters from miggy's homework and books to capture it in ms word. then, easily translate it to english. last year, without this tablet, i will have to go through each page of miggy's books to find the hanyu pinyin (alphabet) equivalent of the chinese characters from his assignments, then translate the hanyu pinyin to english. i swear, you wouldn't want to try this hahaha i used to spend 3-4 hours a day just to translate a 1-page homework!


^_^

jonas brothers band - burning up

lately, i noticed the kids are so fond of this new music video in nickelodeon that they would all sing and dance once it's on tv. i found out that the song is by the jonas brothers band titled burning up. i've also read in somebody else's blog that this bond is the "in" song for kids and tweens. hmmm.

so, i searched for a video in youtube and made a video of mikee singing and dancing to it. of course, with gabie on the side as the guitarist.





^_^

spongebob squarepants

last night, my kids were all in the living room and each of them were drawing with their crayons. i saw gabie drawing this ...



being the supportive mom, i exclaimed, "wow, gabie! that's a really good drawing of spongebob and ultraman!"

now the moment i blurted this out, i knew right away that i said something wrong because everyone just stared at me, open-mouthed. and i can hear my hubby stiffling his laughter. but i had no idea what was wrong.

then, gabie said, "mama, that's not ultraman! that's patrick!"

oh, yeah, right! patrick. spongebob's best friend. patrick. what in the world was i thinking anyway? why would spongebob be with ultraman in the first place?


*_*

LITRATONG PINOY: asul (blue)

it was miggy's birthday last monday. he requested for a super mario cake and here's the one that i made for him :)

so, why blue?

notice anything about mario?

if you're a mario fan, you would have noticed it by now.

see mario's jumper? i made a mistake with this one! the jumper's color is wrong hahaha instead of red, it was supposed to be blue. and his shirt should have been the red one.

*****

birthday ni miggy nung lunes. at humiling sya ng super mario na cake kaya eto ang ginawa ko para sa kanya ...

bakit kamo asul?

wala ka bang napapansin kay mario?

kung fan ka talaga ni mario, malamang napansin mo na agad.

kita mo yung jumper ni mario? nagkamali ako dito. mali ang kulay ng jumper nya hahaha dapat, asul ang kulay ng jumper ni mario. ang shirt nya dapat ang pula.


^_^

twilight

my kind of twilight ...


miggy's kind of twilight ...


hahaha and for a minute there i thought we were on the same page (no pun intended)

when miggy first saw my twilight book, he was very interested. of course, i was a bit surprised. i didn't think the twilight mania would have already reached kids his age, aside from the fact that he's a boy. i wouldn't be too surprised if he's a girl. you know, i do understand edward cullen's magnet to girls (yeah, yeah, i admit, i'm an edward fan teehee). but, boys?

miggy even asked me if he can read my book once i'm done with it ... hmmm interesting, right? i was like, "are you sure???"

but when he saw me watching the twilight movie, then it dawned on him hahaha not only did he lose interest in the book, by the time he saw me watching the movie for the third time, here's what he has to say ...

i can't believe you like "that" twilight ...

what's so good about it?

i don't get it. it's too boring.

and can you believe, he's even urging me to switch to his twilight? hahaha fat chance!


~.~

iCarly

this is my desktop wallpaper at the moment ... wonder why?

let's just say that my dear miggy has finally began noticing girls hahaha and, oh boy, does he have good taste?

my hubby is the one who first noticed it during his (long) vacation last month while the kids where also having their summer vacation. after staying at home for about a week, i noticed that my hubby kept singing a song that i thought i've heard either from nickelodeon or disney channel. when i asked him about it, he told me that he just can't help it if he keeps hearing that song for more than 5 times a day. and he also complained that he's already getting too much of iCarly because miggy was always watching the show.

and that's when the teasing began hahaha

once i asked miggy if he thinks iCarly (that's what we call her, anyway) is pretty. his answer? of course it's a yes!

and to test how pretty he thinks she is, i once asked him who is prettier, mikee or iCarly. well, he can't answer me at all hahaha in the past, at least before iCarly, he'd quickly say that mikee is the prettiest girl in the world :) sweet, eh?


^.^

SILLY MONKEY STORY: first day of school 2009

the new school year officially began last friday here in singapore. so, miggy went back to school and as always, didn't have any issues with his first day in school. if he did, maybe it lasted only 5 minutes. that's how comfy he is about going to school. even way back in nursery when he first started schooling. he needed only one day to adjust then. the following days, he was on his own.

and that was the complete opposite of gabie and mikee's first day in school.

last year, when gabie started in nursery, he cried as expected. no. he didn't simply cry. no. actually, he made a scene. a very big scene. it took him about 4 days to adjust to school. but at least on the 4th day, he rode the school bus and went to school by himself.

this year, it was mikee's turn. and oh, am i glad this is the last hahaha

gabie and mikee's kindergarten began only yesterday. if gabie made a scene last year, mikee has her own drama this year. she wouldn't let me leave her in school. but the teachers requested all of us parents to leave the kids to them and they'll handle them. all 15 of them. crying. kids. all at the same time.

if you ask me, i don't think that is the most effective way to help the kids adjust to kindergarten. i mean, they weren't really given the time to adjust. i think it would have been better if the parents were allowed to stay with the kids for at least one day. at least for one day, the kids wouldn't have to worry about their mommies or daddies leaving them in school. instead, they can focus on their new surrounding and get used to their teachers and new friends. oh well, that's the school policy. not mine.

(see that worried look on her face?)

before i left mikee yesterday, i told her that if she is feeling sad, just sing to herself. sing her favorite song, tomorrow. so, from outside the school, i heard her lamenting to her teacher ...

where's my mama?

but ... but ... i miss my mama ...

the sun will come out, tomorrow! (this she sings while crying!)

i want to go home ...

i miss my boys ... (i really find this sweet!)

and of course, it was the same today ... and tomorrow. will. be. another. day.

so, how was your kids' first day in school?



^_^