The Kindergarteners CLass Picture

05.02.09

Its almost the end of the school year for my son as a kindergarten. I scanned his class picture from the yearbook because kids grow up so fast and the next time you see them it might be their college graduation picture.

So here's Aidans class picture for the year 2008-2009. By the way he's turning 6yrs old soon. How time flies...

Laugh Time Video

A funny blooper video clips of my two kids..

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My source of happiness

This is what I received from my son last easter sunday. Don't mind the spelling he's only 5.

Update 03.16.09

I have had a lot of events in the month of February but most of them were due to the kids being sick, the most notable was that my eldest son having an appendectomy and then the following month there was a lot of grief at the passing of a family friend, my uncle and my husbands grandmother, it is for these reasons that I was unable to update my blog and share my everyday stuff.

I am hoping that I will be able to get back into the grove with my writing.

Here are some of get well cards that my son received after his surgery and some valentine treats from his classmates.

Public vs. Private in the US

The topic of schools is always a hot one at family gatherings. So everyone we encountered had their own set of beliefs about public and private schools. I heard the following:

" I know you are a Catholic. Don't you want your child taught in a Christian atmosphere?"
" You know they have a lot of those ( name your racial group) in public schools."
" If you ever want your child to go to college you better look into a private school. You know private schools do better on all those college tests."

I bet you have heard similar comments especially from relatives and friends.

So here are some of the factors why we chose to put our son to public school:

- I first looked at price - I wanted to estimate just how much it would cost for my son to complete elementary school.

- Not all schools offer full day kindergarten - my son's school does which could alter the tuition costs for that grade.

- Student/Teacher ratio in public school are 18. In private or parochial school are 20 (some of them are less).

- The cost of public school FREE. In private or parochial school range from $4,752 - $8,500 a year. And they increase about 5% every year (accdg to my source).

- Speech therapy, hearing and vision services, classes for students with limited english proficiency are all provided at no charge in the public school while in the private, speech therapy costs about $2000 per year.

- Private and public schools do not give the same tests so there is no way to compare them in the characteristics that counts the most.

- Some of the schools ( private) restricted visitation which made us feel suspect as to why they would not allow us to look.

- Public schools offer free bus service. In private you have to pay $650 per family and some parochial school does not offer bus service.

- Public school has a very diverse population with students of various economic, ethnic and religious backgrounds. The private schools were much less diverse. - I want my son to have early exposure in other ethnics and other religious backgrounds.

- Traditional schools and many regular program schools do not offer advance program classes for gifted and talented students. Many of the private schools do not offer them either.

- In fact, many students from private and parochial schools come to public school during the day to access their special education services because they are not available at the private school or are cost prohibitive.

- It is true that my son is not being taught religion at school. He is being taught values ( honesty, respect, perseverance, etc.) and how to be a good person. My husband and I cover the rest at home. I actually prefer to be the one who tells him about God and our faith.

- Paying huge tuition rates does not guarantee that my child will be immune to the dangers of the world.

- School is for academics and church is for faith. My son is with "the right kinds of people" and in the best academic setting possible.

- I am not convinced that paying tuition here in the US is the better choice especially if you have more than one child. And don't forget, there is college to pay for and it doesn't come cheap.

***This blog is not to criticize any private or public school or the people that choose them. School choice is a private issue best left in the family. We all make decisions for the best interests of our children and what works for one may not work for another. To use a trite old saying: " different strokes for different folks".

I do criticize those people who look down their noses at parents who choose public schools. Their elitism reveals their ignorance about the facts of public schools. Sensible people know that not all public schools are equal. There are good and bad schools in both the public and private sectors. The Catholic priests scandals of late show that no school community is immune. Knowing the facts is essential. Keeping our children the top priority is our responsibility as a parent. By the way the quality of public schools that are paid for here in the US comes from the property taxes. So if you live here in the US and you are paying taxes , your taxes goes to the school etc. So there you go. There's a big difference of what kind of public school here in the US and in the Philippines. I just want to make that clear. Same with the private school.

Public or Private? Which is right for your child read more here.

Aidan's Bday part II

Here's a fun little glimpse at each of Aidan's past 5 birthdays:


Aidan's BIRTH-DAY
1st Birthday - @ the Chinese Restaurant in NJ.

2ND Birthday - Celebrated at the apartment with friends.

Aidan's 3rd Birthday - Celebrated his b-day at the apt with his friend Jamison and Cheesecake Factory.

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Aidan's 4Th Birthday - @ ChuckeCheese




Aidan's 5Th Birthday

Happy 5th Birthday AC!

My son celebrated his 5Th birthday today, we had a couple of people over but most of them were kids and close friends. We had to wait for my husband as he was coming home early from work to get the balloons and birthday cake.

Aidan had picked out his birthday cake the other day with the theme being "Pirates of the Caribbean", he always liked the movies and he has a toy pirate ship so he can indulge in his play time, this pirate ship was our gift to him sadly he said he needed another ship to play with against the other ship.

Soon as my husband got home we proceeded to the pool so that the kids could have some fun, so they swam for two hours with my husband shepherding the kids in the pool, by late afternoon the kids were hungry so we went back to the apartment.

I started heating and preparing the food and cooking spring rolls for the kids, pizza was also served and once everything was ready my husband said grace and we proceeded to eat. Aidan blew his candle with much enthusiasm, he could not wait to blow the candle and wanted to eat cake. The kids then spent their time playing with bubbles and toys we finished around 10 PM.

I have a couple of pics showing how fast kids grow up as from the time that he was born to when he is now 5 years, yes they do pass by soon he will be more older and hopefully more wiser but he will always be my first baby boy.

Swim Fan

This week's blog is all about my son as he is turning 5, next week could be about my second bundle of joy.


I was looking at my son today at the pool swimming and marveled at how far he has progressed in his swimming ability from a year ago.

A year ago he was just waving his arms in the water and my husband would always have to near him as he would call out.

Now he can swim and play on his own in the water with confidence even doing back float. I guess enrolling him at the local "Y" swimming program helped out.


Here are some of his pictures last year learning how to float with his daddy.



Here are some of his latest pictures today at the clubhouse pool.

He swam by himself.

AC's 1st toys

As I was tagged by Em about this, I went looking for pictures of my son which I had saved via his multiply. Time flies so fast because it has been 5years since I took these pictures and now looking back at my son's pictures I feel amazed at how I've raised him within that 5years. I've learned a lot of things about parenting, being his playmate, his friend and his mom. It was really a joy to bring a child to this world and now he is going to turn 5 this June and going to school for Kindergarten and he will be able to interact with other kids his age, this will be another challenging stage for me and for my husband.

So here are some pictures of his first toys.




With his musical nightlight

With his Teddy Brown Bear

The toys in his ExerSaucer

The Toys in his Bouncer

He's still a computer addict!

AC @ 15mos old


My son plays a lot of activities, he started playing on the pc when he was 15mos old and now look at him he's still addicted. Maybe he gets this from his parents who mostly spend their time in the computers everyday! Others say that exposing children at an early age to computer was not a good idea but I believe that my son is a smart one because he can think, navigate and be creative using desktop or notebook. He can't color that much using paper but when you give him a computer he can draw and put some arts on his piece. He can't write that much in the paper but when you tell him to type the website that he wants to play you'll be surprise he can memorize it and type by his own. So different kids have their own different skills and specialty. You just have to know as a parent what your kids wants and interests. Here are some pictures and videos of my son when he started to use the computer. I'm really a proud mother.

These videos were taken when he was 2yrs old.

He does not like meat and veggies!

I guess most parents go through certain periods of their children's growing up stages, we are going thru the "Picky food phase". My son had no problems with foods when he was two years old, in fact he would eat anything off the plate but this changed when he turned three, since then it has been hard to get him to eat anything else. I am not saying that he won't eat but the usual foods that kids eat like, burgers and pasta are things he doesn't eat. I am hoping that this is just a phase and when he goes to school and sees other kids eating these foods then he will be able to adjust. Here is a picture of his reaction when he does not like the food, he did not eat it and he fell asleep after a couple of minutes.

Welcome Home part 2

Just wanna share some photos of our new apartment complex. The other day me and my son were strolling around and took these pictures. It's not complete though, I was supposed to take pictures of the tennis court and volleyball court but somebody was playing and I did not want to take pictures with out their permission hehe....Please click below to see more...

See my Tabblo>

See my Tabblo>

AC's Hobby

I think that when kids are young you should give them every opportunity to try out every activity that is out there, it can be sports, music or even something like reading. This serves as point of pride in themselves as they grow older and a sense of accomplishment, my son has a lot of interests but in old apartment he could not go out very often as the area did not have many chances for recreation, except swimming in the pool and the tennis courts.

His hobby has come to include golf or mini golf, he started playing this while on the mall playing on one of the sports demos on Nintendo Wii, he approached an older kid and asked him if he could try it out and he could and did.

The new place has a mini golf and a beach volleyball ground plus the pool and tennis courts, as he was restless today we tried out the golf and he enjoyed it so much, I won't say he is a natural but he likes it a lot. I am pretty sure Tiger Woods must have started on similar grounds.

Update!

It's been a while since my last update so I thought I'd give an update on what's been going on.

Mar. 26 ( Wed)- We went out and watched Horton Hears a Who, a 3d film based on the characters on Dr. Seuss.



Mar.27 ( Thurs) - We brought our son to Mickey D's playground, got some groceries and had dinner while we celebrate our 13th anniversary of togetherness.

Mar.28 ( Fri)- Had my Glucose level tested. I'm in my 28weeks of pregnancy and officially in the 3rd trimester.

Mar. 29 ( Sat) - Had a two hour driving lesson, completed the weekly laundry ritual and paid a friend visit afterwards watched some movies at friends place.

Mar. 30 ( Sun) - Woke up at 9am, bloghop for few mins, drove to church at 11am then went to the mall for lunch and to the furniture outlet store to adjust furniture orders that we had, had some frapuccino at starbucks, went to honda for maintenance they required an oil change and tire rotation, got home tired but still had to continue packing.



Mar.31 (Mon) - still fixing some things for the preparation of moving then wait for hubby to come home, went to the other apartment for the final paperwork.

April 1 (Tue) - Will need to go back to OB as they need another Glucose test, call the ISP so that we have broadband internet when we move, changed the mailing addresses of all the bills, and shred some documents.

April 2 (Wed)- Clean, pack, checked some emails, went to goodwill store to find some cheap stuff for the apt, I also checked the baby store Once Upon a Child - a place to buy some used baby's item and furnitures ( I know I'm being practical here hehe).



April 3 (Thurs) - packing, cleaning, checking emails, chatting with my hubby @ msn messenger, then rest for awhile, blogging this update and pack again, so tiring! I have so much back pain, I hope I won't deliver this baby till my due date in June ( stress stress go away!)

April 4 (Fri) - Finalize everything, will go to my glucose testing again in the morning, will rent a moving truck, clean and pack again...( Never ending packing LOL).



April 5 (Sat) - Moving day. So no internet for me.

April 6 ( Sun) - We will treat Aidan to Sesame Street Live concert. I've been waiting for this concert since last year, finally they're here in our town.



Will see you all next week! Happy Blogging everyone!!!!

Aidan's Game and Learning Development

My son plays a lot of games and looking back I noticed that he had progressed to the games that he would play or his interests. He started becoming interested at around 15 mos old when he saw my husband doing some work on the PC along with that we spent most of our time together on the computer.

Starting 15 mos old he was surfing Sesame Street website , which had plenty of kids games and movies that he can interact with, also this site offers a lot of singing and alphabet tutorials.

He used PowerTouch learning system and Interactive DVDs system when he was two yrs old, basically these systems develop hand eye coordination by responding to stimulus in the form of spoken words, colors and music.
Along with the PowerTouch, he also played some not so educational games courtesy of my husband who had an X-box, so he was also playing Cars, Finding Nemo, Shark Tales, Spongebob and PacMan3 unfortunately we don't have these games anymore as I sold them without thinking they could still be used in a X-box 360.


By the time he was three we gave him Leapster Games and Nintendo Game Boy, you see this is the age where they complain a lot during long trips so these games were useful because it occupied his attention when we traveled.



He has now graduated to some X-box 360 games that are for his age, his favorite is Thrillville off the rails, Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Avatar from Nickelodeon. The only problem with these games is that they are mostly role playing so it is still hard for him to follow the storyline.

I know some parents think, well let me quantify that they believe that video games are bad, at least with my son he will ask me if the words that he heard in his game are good or bad, at that early age he has some understanding that some games are bad and some are good.

These are the learning system that he used at the age of 4yrs old. He usually plays this before bedtime, specially the V-tech Alphabet Town because of the music and spelling features.
Lastly all through these years he has never lost interest in solving puzzles, these could involve the connect the dots puzzle, word puzzles and shape puzzles. He also loves completing puzzle maps specially the US map, see the picture below. I hope he keeps these interests as the inquisitive and curious mind is good for kids.
The toys that he has hopefully will be used by his younger sibling and at that time he can teach his younger brother as well.

Lambchops play along

I was amazed one day when I was watching my son staring intently at Qubo (a kids channel in cable), then as if by unknown agreement he started singing, " This is a song that never ends". I have noticed that he has become adept at memorizing TV show themes especially the kids shows that he watches.

I guess he has a mind for music, I hope that he does not lose his enthusiasm when he grows up because kids usually when they grow up lose the part of themselves that enjoyed and loved life even if it is just singing or humming along a tune.

As adults we lose the simple pleasures of life and it takes children to remind us that these are the things that matter most.

Here is the video of the song that never ends:

Aidan's Puzzle Map Video

Here's the videos of my son how he made the puzzle map of the United States of America...

I am unable to upload the videos in photobucket. So go to the link and you can watch his video's here and here .

Reminder:

You can only view the video's using windows internet explorer and (To play this file, you need to update your Real Networks or QuickTime media player).

8 Random Things About Aidan

I've been tagged by my friend EM so I decided to blog about the things that I have noticed about my son with regards to his attitude.

- At the age of 4yrs old he can read about three to four words and use the computer effectively..He can type in the computer all the sites that he wants to play. He can spell four to five letter words by typing it in the keyboard using a notepad.

- He hates boredom as when he gets tired of one thing he finds something else to arouse his interest.

- He likes to talk and laugh a lot before he sleeps, probably his way of unwinding the day.

- He loves to review his video recordings made in the camera phone before he sleeps, maybe he's fond of himself.

- He reminds you to put the seatbelt on and drive carefully in the car and read all the signs in the stores.

- He is sometimes possessive of his things when he's in a tantrum mode.

- He picks up at a tune really well and we would often find him humming a song.

- He loves to shop as in the grocery he picks his own stuff not based on the color or whether it is attractive but because he has tasted it before and see it on the PC or TV.

I'll post some of his videos when I learn how to upload the video in photobucket.

Proud Parents!

Me and my husband have never been prouder when my son scored high in his ESL test 25/30, as a background this test is administered to children who speak two languages at home, this is done to gauge the child readiness for school instruction.

He did very well in comprehension and in expressing himself, this I believe is important to a growing child as it breeds and nurtures the creative part of his brain.



It is also proves that even if we had stayed in the apartment for a long time and just did some basic home schooling he still turns out okay and hopefully this coming school year will be a good year for him in school.

It is a good thing that even though we are bilingual still we speak to my son in English. Its not that we don't want him to learn our native language but he will have time to learn that when he grows up.