Christmas 2013

Dec 25, 2013 was our last Christmas at Blk 960. Tito Aldrin/Tita Leomie’s family and our own family will be moving to our separate new homes early in 2014 next year. Tito Cyril also plans to be back in Cebu for good, while Tita Charm will be moving in with her best friend at another place. It has been sweet 6 years of Christmas time together for our family at Blk 960 since Hendrik was born in 2008. Tito Aldrin, Tita Leomie, Liam, Tito Cyril and Tita Charm joined our family when we celebrated Christmas 2011; and it had been a tradition that we gather together every Christmas eve for our photo shoot, noche buena and opening of gifts on the morning of Christmas day.

 - gifts for everyone -

 

 - our 4-year old Christmas tree and still looking good -

 

 - Kuya Liam and Hendrik -

 

 - Hendrik <3 -

 

 - Hendrik and Kuya Liam goofing around -

 

 

Aleeza joined us in 2012 while this year was the first Christmas with our Fyodor.

 - Hendrik, Aleeza and Kuya Liam -

 

 - group photo (serious) -

 

 - group photo (wacky) -

 

 - Fyodor and Ate Hazel -

 

 - Ate Hazel and Hendrik -

 

 - Tita Charm with the handsome boys -

 

 - Christmas Day kiss ;) -

 

 - Hendrik-lily and Mommy -

 

 - family photo 1 -

 

 - family photo 2 -

 

 - Fyodor-lily and Hendrik-lily -

 

- Daddy Joseph and Mommy Feona -

 

 - the ladies (Tita Leomie, Mommy Feona and Tita Charm) -

 

 - our "Awfully Chocolate" Christmas cake -

 

 - happy Fyodor nibbling his teething husk -

 - scrambling for the gifts -
 

 - "can we open just 1 gift for now please?" - 

 

 - look at the face! :) -

Christmas 2013 was a good and memorable one. Wishing to see and celebrate with the same people (and Tita Leomie’s coming baby girl and more friends) next Christmas…


Related posts:
Happy Christmas 2011
Christmas 2012

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Bye-bye K1

Time really flies so fast that Hendrik already finished K1. Last 15 November 2013 was Sunbeam Kindergarten’s last day of school. They had farewell to the K2s as well as early Christmas party on that day.

Hendrik enjoyed attending his classes and activities in K1. He also liked the company of his friends and teachers and he comes home happy from school every day.


* Photos grabbed from Sunbeam Kindergarten facebook page


My dear boy just needs 1 more year in kindy and then he will be moving up to elementary/primary education.

It’s bye-bye K1 for now and hello K2 for next year…  *_*


Related post: Bye-bye Nursery

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Message Exchanges via Whiteboard

A few months ago, Hendrik had several times asked us for a whiteboard. His friend, Liam, has the Ikea whiteboard cum blackboard. When they play with it they’ve sometimes fought over, with all the crying and complaining, as to who writes first and where to write on which side of the board. We then told Hendrik that we will buy him his own so he and Liam don’t have to fight over the whiteboard anymore. Daddy and I spotted the Crayola whiteboard which was on sale while we were at Toys R Us shopping for something else. Hendrik was not with us, so we surprised him with it.

He was very delighted to see it and couldn’t wait to open the box right away. From then on, thank goodness, no more fights and cries over a whiteboard happened between him and Liam anymore. And he was also always seen writing stuff on it.

Hendrik surprised me and Joseph and had asked us to close our eyes as he wrote this message before he went to bed on the night of 11 August 2013 at about 10:24pm:

Then, came our message exchanges via the whiteboard:

- Hendrik's message before sleeping on 12 Aug and Mommy's reply the morning after on 13 Aug 2013 -

 - Hendrik's message before he left for school on 13 Aug 2013 - 

 - Mommy's bedtime message on 14 Aug and Hendrik's reply the morning after on 15 Aug 2013 - 

- Hendrik's message on a Sunday night and Mommy's message of appreciation for the help in sweeping the bedroom -

 

 - Mommy's reminder to Hendrik while he was at school and Hendrik's reply when he got home - 

-  Mommy's message before Hendrik woke up on the day of his school outing to the zoo. It was Hendrik's first time to go outing without Mommy or Daddy with him -

 

- Mommy's message the day after the school outing and Hendrik's message to his baby brother, Fyodor - 

-  Mother and son's messages of love -

I am indeed grateful to have this blessing of being a Mom to this awesome boy… <3

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2013 Semester 2 Assessment

Sharing some of the snapshots from Hendrik’s portfolio for 2^nd semester 2013:

 "... Hendrik possesses good fine and gross motor skills which in turn helped in his self-help daily routines.

 

He uses his writing tools with great control and puts in effort in his work, thus produces neat work. He is able to complete his writing tasks independently.

 

Hendrik has good control in handling a pair of scissors to cut paper.

 

When participating in group games, he is able to learn to share, take turns and cooperate with others. He knows and applies safety practices with respect to self and others during physical activity.

 

He follows class rules and instructions and is a well behaved boy."  

 

 "... Hendrik is able to grasp math concepts fast.

 

He knows the names and order of the months.

 

He is able to recognize, predict and complete patterns from AB, ABC, AABB, to AABBCC.

 

He understands the concepts of one to one correspondence, has good counting skills and understands number value, number bonds and is able to describe the data on a 3-dimensional graph.

 

He is able to match and sort objects according to two attributes, put three or more things in an order according to width and position." 

 

 Translation: ...

 "... Hendrik responds appropriately when spoken to or questioned. He is able to follow verbal instructions that involve a series of actions.

 

He is able to sound each letter of the alphabet, blend sounds to read words, read simple sentences, produce rhyming words and retell key events in stories in the correct sequence using appropriate cues and prompts.

 

He also understands the basic conventions of writing such as space between words, appropriate use of upper and lower cases and basic punctuations.

 

Hendrik may be shy to speak in front of a group but with encouragement and prompts, he is able to do it.

 

He enjoys bringing his toy vehicles to school for show and tell."

 "... At times, Hendrik can be heard reading to his friends.

 

Hendrik has good self-management skills. He is able to persist in a given task and expresses his feelings in appropriate ways.

 

He works and plays cooperatively with others and recognizes the consequences of their solutions and decisions on self and others.

 

He takes responsibility for personal belongings as well as for a given task.

 

He also recognizes socially acceptable behaviors in class.

 

Hendrik has overcome his inhibition, and is more open to speak and share his thoughts and experiences with his friends and teachers."

 

Related post: 2013 Semester 1 Assessment

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Children's Day 2013

While some fathers would sleep through the night snoring or don’t even bother to move a bit when they hear their child’s cry and/or call and will just wait and leave it to the wife or mother to tend, there are surely a few exceptions – and it definitely includes Joseph. Here’s a snapshot of his thoughts posted on our Facebook page at about 11ish at night on 04 October 2013, which also happened to be Children’s Day:

Absolutely a different and affirmative perspective on seeing and/or doing Daddy duties.

Belated happy Children’s Day to our lovey dovies – Fyodor and Hendrik!

Mommy and Daddy love you heaps.  <3

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School Outing to the Zoo

Hendrik’s 2^nd school outing for 2013 which happened in 22 August was in Singapore Zoo. This was the first time Sunbeam instituted that there will be no accompanying person for Nursery, K1 and K2 students and that only Pre-Nursery students were allowed to have one. It was stated on the ‘response form’ they school gave out to the students. The reason for Pre-Nursery students to have an accompanying person was the obvious because of their age. I think that the nurseries, K1s and K2s are also still young to be out alone for a school excursion without assistance from the parent, relative or guardian. Although the teachers and teacher assistants would do their job very well in looking after for the kids under their care, I thought it would help ease their responsibilities as they also explain things, lead the way and other stuff they do to make the excursion smooth and a success. I was quite apprehensive at first since Hendrik is not used to being out by himself in public, except in school. A school staff called me up when she saw I wrote down Joseph’s name on the form as Hendrik’s accompanying person. She told me that it was the school's decision and that they want to teach the older kids (Nursery, K1 and K2 students) to be independent and to be able to socialize with their peers during the outing. That being said, I then told her that Hendrik will go by himself. I placed all my trust and confidence to the teachers and staff of Sunbeam Kindergarten for my son’s safety and welfare on that day.

Of course, when Hendrik learned about it he was also quite concerned. By the look on his face, it was like he was discouraged and as if looking for an explanation why we are not coming with him when he used to have at least one of us during their school outings. With repeated explanations that we would want and would love very much to go with him to the outing but the school doesn’t allow it. We told him that his classmates and friends will also not be with their Mommies or Daddies. Then, he was finally convinced and accepted the fact that he would go to the outing by himself.

Days before the outing, we asked him to practice eating from a lunchbox just so to get the hang of opening and closing the Lock&Lock lunchbox he will be bringing in order not to accidentally spill his food. We also kept reminding him to tell Ms Ong (K1 form teacher) or Mrs P. Wong (K1 assistant teacher) if he needed to go to the toilet and needed help to clean his bottoms just in case he poo. Other reminders were: to always stay with the group, to not run and play away from the group, to look out for vehicles when walking or crossing the street, to not agitate the animals, and to drink water frequently.

Well, it turned out that the school outing was a success. When we asked Hendrik about it when we came home from work that night, he said he enjoyed the outing. He said he only cried a bit when he tripped over the walkway when his classmate pulled his hand as they moved from one place to another. We are happy that his first school excursion by himself was a nice one. Kudos to Hendrik, for his confidence shown being out by himself on a school field trip. We are also thankful to the staff and teachers at Sunbeam Kindergarten for providing Hendrik and other students a pleasant experience at the zoo.

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Teacher's Day 2013

Last month - On the night of 03 September, Hendrik prepared and wrote Teacher's Day messages for his kindy teachers for their Teacher's Day celebration the next day. He came up with the messages and wrote them himself. I bought a set of pens for his teachers to go with the Teacher's Day cards he made. It was the first time he prepared something for the event.

- writing his own messages for his K1 teachers -

- for his K1 form teacher, Ms Sabrina Ong -

- ready to be given away -

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