Fun rides

We went malling last Thursday and Ben wanted to take some rides. Here are a couple of photos:

riding the firetruck in the car carousel

roundabout in a plane-like ride

Ben docs

I thought I'd share Ben's certificate, report card, and assessment, with those who may be interested.

School's out

Yesterday, Ben's school had it's Moving Up Day. It's kind of like a graduation, where students are given certificates. A number of the kids, including Ben, are moving on to the "big" schools. Next school year, Ben will be going to Claret School's Child Study Center. He wasn't accepted to the kindergarten level because of his age (they require kindergartners to be at least 4.5 by June and Ben only turns 4 in July), so he's going to be in Senior Nursery level. Hopefully, he won't get bored.

Anyway, back to the Moving Up celebration, I've got the pictures here. All the pictures will be posted at the fotopic site too (Ben's Moving Up Day).

He was up on stage four times, when he received his certificate, and when the children sang songs. When they were singing the "Vaseline Shampoo song," I felt so bad for the little girl he was holding on to, because he kept pulling her back and forth. The pictures won't show it, but we've got video that proves otherwise. And at times, he was scratching his head and Kuya Tony was joking that he had dandruff.

All in all, he had lots of fun, and was smiling most of the time he was up on stage. Enjoy the pictures. I've sized them down, which I hope will make loading time for the page faster. If anyone wants the better resolution files, let me know.

Ben just before we went to school for the Moving Up celebration
Ben again
That's me, Ben, and his Lola Iring
Waiting for his name to be called
Benjamin Gabriel Querijero Tan, bow
Taking his place for the song number
Singing "The More We Get Together;" the little girl next to him is Aya, and poor kid pulled around all over the place by Ben
Singing the Vaseline song
Singing the Fremont song

Other pictures:

taken in his classroom just before the event
Ben's official school picture
Ben's class

So now, Ben's on vacation for about a month. He'll attend a summer program in school for reading and writing, but just for a month and just for a couple of hours each day. It'll be more to have time to play with other kids during the summer.

Chinese Ben

Yesterday, Ben's school had a costume party to celebrate the end of the school year. I didn't buy a costume for him anymore, but instead had him wear one of his Chinese pajamas. With his hair, he looked like a little shao-lin. Anyway, it was another fun time for him in school. Near the end of the party, the school also gave away awards. Ben received three ribbons (see below) and a "certificate." Of course, he was very happy, as the pictures below will show. He will have his moving up day on Sunday, so more pictures to follow.

Ribbon for being outstanding in language and speech
Ribbon for being outstanding in math
Ribbon for being outstanding in reading
What can I say...my son is lovable! :-D

And here's Ben in his Chinese pajamas:


And in the party:


Receiving his ribbons:


The awardees:

A new 'do

Ben had his haircut last yesterday. Since it's summertime, I thought I'd have it cut real short. Anyway, we all think the new cut suits him. Here's the new 'do.

a view from the front...

and from the back

With the summer heat bearing down upon us, I think we'll keep his hair pretty short for the next couple of months at least.

A little bit of Thomas fun

Ben had a little bit of fun with Thomas the Tank Engine on Sunday (5 March). Nothing major, of course, just an inflatable Thomas that was set up in MegaMall for kids who will buy Thomas the Tank Engine products. Of course, we had to go just because Ben is a major fan.

Here's a pic of him with the inflated Thomas.

First field trip

Ben went on his first school field trip today (accompanied by Nanay, of course).
We went to his school relatively early (730a) and the bus was off at around 8am (by the way, it was his first ever bus trip too). As usual, the kid was excited. The trip was to Museo Pambata and the Orchidarium.

He had lots of fun at Museo, where he got to play with various things. Perhaps most exciting for him was the fish exhibit, which he liked a lot. Sometimes it makes me wonder if my kid was a fish in a past life. :-D

In the Orchidarium, what he liked best was the butterfly house and again the fish (Japanese koi). Anyway, here are some pictures. For the other pictures, visit Ben's First Field Trip in our fotopic site. I've had to resize the photos (so the resolution may not be so great) so I don't exceed my quota, so if anyone would like a file of a picture, just let me know and I'll email it.

Ben in the bus

playing with a computer game

Posing near the moon rock

in the fire truck

in the fruits and veggie stand

getting ready for a shot

there goes the ball

standing next to Shaq's lifesize photo

in a cave

near the aquarium

up in a tree house

in the Buttefly House in the Orchidarium

waiting to touch the butterfly

enjoying the Japanese kois

by the Orchidarium waterfall