Just found out that there will be no classes for Ben tomorrow. The Philippines celebrates National Heroes Day today, and tomorrow has been declared a non-working holiday for government employees while classes in both public and private schools will be suspended. Strange actually, since by law (if I'm not mistaken), National Heroes Day is supposed to be celebrated on the third Sunday of August. And so it doesn't make sense to call off the Monday following in celebration of the said holiday. There's just no getting away from politics.
Oh well, enough of that. This morning, we also went and visited the house that Kuya Toti and Jojo are having built at the Ateneo faculty housing project in Marikina (pictures below):
Ben outside the house
Another shot (from the front)
I think they are hoping to move in at the earliest in October. Definitely, they'll be moved in by Christmastime.
Meanwhile, Ben finally got a chance to play with the LeapPad that his Ninong Mark sent him. Need I say it...of course, he loved it. Pictures below prove that:
Hard at work tracing letters
Thanks, Ninong Mark :-D
He's still having some difficulty tracing the letters, but he's working on it. I'll help him out with that too. Update on how he's doing in school: Still a bit of a bully, but his teachers said he's improving. He's been coming home more frequently with a star stamped on his hand, but sometimes, he still goes back to the old ways. Oh well, by end of this month, I should have another progress report. He already knows colors, shapes, numbers (count up to 20 most of the time, although he tends to skip the number 16) and the alphabet. I've got to teach him the lower case letters though. While he enjoys most of his toys, it's still Thomas the Tank Engine and the other trains in that set that he is most happy with. [By the way, Mark, that train set you gave him before you left, he could spend hours just watching the train go round and round the tracks.] On the whole, he is doing well, and I'm proud of him.
Today is also the birthday of our househelp, Flor. And to celebrate, we got her a small cake, with a candle to blow. Unfortunately, Hurricane Ben got there ahead of her, so he blew the candle instead. A couple of pictures from that below:
Singing happy birthday...
...and blowing the candle.
All in all, it was a fun, but tiring day. Oh well, it's back to work tomorrow. Hay, buhay!!!
Finally, after many, many years, I've managed to go home to Baler to celebrate the town fiesta, the day on which my birthday also happens to fall. So, after my very nice boss gave me a few days' holiday, Ben and I (with Papa, Auntie Anay, and Flor) headed home to Baler on 16 August (Kuya Tony followed two days later). So it was a lot of fun. Ben got to watch the parade, and spent a lot of time waving to the people and saying hi.
To be honest though, we really didn't do much back home except relax and sleep. Try as I might, I just can't get myself to sit in front of the computer long enough to get any real work done. So I've got to make up for it these next few days. During the date of the fiesta itself, after watching the parade, we just decided to stay home. Doesn't sound like fun, but these days, I have a lot of fun just spending time with Ben.
He is getting to be a real handful, even Papa is starting to get upset with him sometimes. He can get very naughty and stubborn at times, but he still knows how to get us to forgive him. Even now, I still can't get over how much better my life is now that he's around. I mean, economically, we're probably not doing as well as we were a couple of years ago, but what the heck. When I look at him, especially when he's sleeping, I just have this feeling of great happiness. That's why I'm so thankful for him.
Oh well, enough of the sentimental stuff. The day after the fiesta, we went to the beach. Ben is no longer that afraid of getting wet with sea water. Before, he used to cry as soon as he caught sight of the sea, but that day, after some time crying and several minutes of us coaxing him, he finally relented and stepped into the water. And he enjoyed it. He didn't bathe--we couldn't because Papa will get mad, and besides, we didn't stay that long--but he had fun just getting his feet wet and feeling the waves hit. Next time, we'll spend more time so he can get really used to the waves and the sea water.
So, here are a few pictures from the trip. The others I will post in the fotopic site so feel free to browse around there to see those and other photos.
No matter what, Baler will always be home.
ben wearing his sabutan hat while watching the parade
another shot of the parade and ben
on the porch of one of the booths of the coco sabutan festival
getting his feet wet
Ben's school (Fremont Learning Center) had its Family Day today, and the family (me, Ben, Auntie Anay, Kuya Toti, Jojo, Daniel, Miguel, and LJ) went and had a bit of fun playing games with other families of students from the school.
Our team was the green team, hence the green t-shirts. Sad to report that while we were leading in points before we took a break for lunch, the team ended up placing third (among three teams) in the end. We didn't lose in the physical games though. We lost in some weird strange games. Nevertheless, it was fun, and Ben had fun running around. He also won a cap from Metrobank for his colored picture (I helped him out).
So, here are a few pictures. The others I'll post in the fotopic site, so you can just click on the link to see the rest.
Ben wearing the green team uniform just before we left the house
Ben getting instructions from Tito Toti just before the first game (Green team finished 2nd)
Having a laugh just before another game where his Tito Toti had to dress like a woman and carry him around (Green Team finished 1st)
Kuya Daniel, Kuya LJ, Lola Anay, Tito Toti, Ben, Auntie Jojo, Kuya Miguel
Kuya Daniel, Kuya LJ, Lola Anay, Tito Toti, Ben, Nanay, Kuya Miguel
Ben outside the house
Another shot (from the front)
Hard at work tracing letters
Thanks, Ninong Mark :-D
Singing happy birthday...
...and blowing the candle.
