Septem-BER means Birthday Prep!

-BER month na po...

For other parents, this would mean that Christmas 2014 is soon to be rolling in. For me however, before I jump on to that particular bandwagon, there is another significant event that is being propelled by this quarter --- the kids' birthdays!

Let me get this straight. I do not have twins. I just happen to have the fortune of having kids born almost exactly a year apart, with their particular birth dates ONLY ONE DAY apart.

When I was pregnant with my son, I would always pray that his arrival not coincide with my older kid's birthday. I wanted them to have their own unique dates arriving into the world - because my belief was, they would begin to value their own selves, and bask in their individuality, if they did not share such a special date together (the year immaterial).

And as usual, GOD answered my prayers in a very special way.

A day after celebrating my daughter's first birthday - there I was again at the hospital giving birth to our baby boy.

Almost five years later, here I am (here we are). And now it is again -BER month.

In the earlier years, this would mean preparing for two parties, and worrying about bills/expenses associated with kiddie parties times two.

Not this year.

This year - both kids will have a shared, and simple family celebration - a real toast of gratefulness for the lives that God have entrusted to us. This year, the birthday celebrants will not have a big party, but will instead celebrate life by having some bit of fun with their friends, and special bonding time with family.

It will not be much of a party, but it will be a very special celebration..

FROZEN NO MORE

Just like my kids' favorite word and movie, my blog has been in "FROZEN" state for a year now.
I never thought I would get the chance to post again...
So I was about to LET IT GO... but found to my chagrin, that I just had to TRY one more time.

And if I needed any proof that GOD is on my side - then this is it!

I am finally in -- my spot has been waiting for me this whole time, and I was just afraid that I would
use the wrong log in details.

Thank you for my vitamins, I am sure they played a great role in my remembrance of details...
You know how it is - as we mature, we do need some bit of help to keep everything in tip-top
shape, most especially the mental portions...

This is such fun - I am more than ready to pound on my keys, and get started again...

So many things have happened -- my niche may have been in a stagnant state, but the kids' lives have been so dynamic :) Looking forward to sharing...

that is an exultant, happy me!

How to Teach Babies to Write the Alphabet

I had experienced being a tutor in my previous years. For a time, I even dabbled as a part - time college lecturer. But when I became a mom and started teaching my kids, I learned how different (and difficult!) it is to teach toddlers and babies.

Since my husband and I are advocates of giving the children time to come into their own, and to spend time playing before becoming students, it was only this year that our firstborn was introduced into the classroom  as a pre-schooler. As a student, I am confident that our baby will hold her own when it comes to comprehension and analysis, because these are common sensical skills that we have been imbibing them with since they were still babies. However, there are skills like writing and reading that I depend on the school to help us with.

Just as I expected, teaching my darling how to write her ABC's is different from teaching her how to sing them. For days, I was thinking of ways to make her interested in going beyond the one page practise writing and writing more so that she can also associate the letters with words.

The other night, I came upon the idea of setting up a blackboard where I can write the letters of the alphabet and then she can copy them; to make it more interesting, I used non-toxic pink chalk to write on the board. And to my delight, I was not yet finished writing down the alphabet and she was already for the chance to hold the chalk and write.

Of course, I had to make a few adjustments here and there - she wanted the letters laid out as they are in the song, so I had to make sure that I wrote them as how they are sung. I noticed that this way, she can easily copy them and make them her own :)

Last night, she also asked me to write down two things - she wanted to see how they looked when written as words. These two words are: baby and milk - her two favorite things.

I am excited to see where this journey of writing will take us. For now, her kid brother thinks that the letter A looks like a cabinet when written down on the board. It's ok - I am sure that in a few days time, he will also be writing down letters just like his ate. For now, it's ok that he draws things he loves on the board.

Thank God for non-toxic and colorful chalks :)