It seems almost weird that Christmas is just a dozen days away. Somehow, the feeling hasn't really rubbed on me yet.Ben is busy preparing for his school's Christmas presentation. I was surprised when they informed us that it was to be Hansel and Gretel in the Big Woods. I don't know. Somehow, Hansel and Gretel didn't seem like a fitting story for a Christmas presentation, but I guess they made some changes. Ben will play a dwarf (I never knew there was a dwarf in the original). For the past week and a half, he's been spending 3-1/2 hours in school for practice. This Wednesday, they'll be having their Christmas party. Then a dress rehearsal on Thursday, and a final rehearsal on Friday. The presentation itself is this coming Saturday at 5pm. Of course, there'll be pictures.Next week, we'll be heading home to Baler for the Christmas holidays and we won't be back until Jan 2. Ben doesn't have school until then. There'll be lots of pictures from that too.Back to Christmas...I still have to do my Christmas shopping!!!
Papa celebrated his 71st birthday last Tuesday (22 Nov). Auntie Nena (my New York-based aunt) and her husband threw a party for him, which also served as a send off dinner for my cousin Trixie, her husband Ariel, and their son Angelo. They are moving to Canada and are leaving this weekend. So it was a fun night, but kind of sad too. Everyone seems to be leaving to try their luck somewhere else. To be honest, I've thought about it myself, but I don't know yet.
Anyway, the kids had great fun. Ben and Jaden actually played together, a first actually since before Jaden had been to shy to play with him. So I've got some pictures here from that night.
Ben with his Lolo Emon and Lolo Miguel
Ben and his cousin Jaden
Ben and his Kuya Angelo
Ben and Gwen
Getting writing lessons from Kuya Jovin
Kuya Daniel, Kuya Angelo, and Ben enjoying a little video game
Well, the trip home to Baler was okay. It was pretty much raining the whole time we were there, so we stayed mostly at home. Ben did get a short side trip to his favorite Biklat River to cross the hanging bridge, but wasn't able to join us to visit his Lola Pen's grave.
He also got a haircut in Baler, and I thought I'd post a photo of him. He's a bit chubbier now.
Then just this afternoon, I had a talk with his teachers in school. Two weeks ago, he had his mid-year assessment, and this afternoon, his teachers told me that he has been doing very well in school. There are some things that he needs to improve on, but on the whole, he's doing great. The teachers said he's quite advanced for his age. So I'm real proud of the little bugger. I also scanned his report card and the assessment report from his teachers to show off. I'm giving him a prize as a result. Anyway, second semester starts on Monday, and he's already excited to go back.
Ben with his new haircut
Ben's assessment report for the first semester
Ben's report card, page 1
Ben's report card, page 2
Ben's school had their UN Day Program this afternoon, and wonder of wonders...Ben actually stayed in his place (well, for the most part, anyway) and danced. Quite a big difference from his roaming around hour during the dress rehearsals. I have a short video of their performance, but I still need to have it transferred to a disc so I can upload it.
It was a good show. Our booth, for which yours truly is the coordinator, won the Best Booth award. It was a nice end to a week of hard work. Of course, I got a lot of help from the other mothers who took the time to help me out. Here's three pictures of our winning booth (from three angles):
Our Brazil booth from the front
From the left
From the right
And now, of course, the main man...
Taken by the official photographer
Ben with some of his classmates and his teacher, Jasmine
Ben taking his place on stage...
...and a-dancing he goes:
Ben is having a dress rehearsal today for their UN Day Program this coming Saturday. He was excited to wear his costume so I thought I'd take a shot and share the picture. I'll go and watch the rehearsals later, and hopefully, he will really be taking part in the dance number and not roaming around the stage this time.
Of course there'll be more photos posted after the program.
There's my little Brazilian boy
Ben's school (Fremont Learning Center) had a Filipino fiesta celebration today. They were asked to wear Filipino costume and he went to school in a Barong Tagalog (Thanks, Kuya Enzo). He was also asked to bring a Filipino product and he brought his sabutan sombrero, which we bought in Baler when we were there for the town fiesta. For his food contribution, he was asked to bring adobo, which he did. We don't know if he ate any of it though. He came home with a star (after more than a week of no stamps or x stamps on his hand), I guess indicating that he was pretty good in school today. He also brought home his progress folder, and it seems that while he is improving when it comes to their school worksheets, he still has the tendency to hit his classmates and roam around the room during class. Well, like the teacher said, I've got to just keep telling him that he shouldn't hit and that he shouldn't be roaming around the room during class activities. Oh well, he is only 3 years old after all.Anyway, here are a few pictures I took of him before he went to school this morning.
We had a great celebration of the Moon Festival last Sunday at Kuya Boy's house. Too bad only Auntie Delan's and Papa's family were represented, but it was still a lot of fun. It was potluck lunch and we all brought something to share.
We had fun playing the dice game. Ben played and won P140. I think he was one of the big winners that day. While the games were going on, there were lots of hoots, claps, shouting, etc...you can tell everyone was having a great time. The only one who didn't join in the dice game was, as usual, Papa, who sat in his corner reading the newspaper. So, what did I expect??? Anyway, after the games, some of us headed off to Quiapo to look around at the dbds. Need I say more...
So, here are some pictures of Ben from Sunday. The other pictures I posted in the Tan Family blogsite (click on the link to check those out).
Ben practising dice throwing with his Ate Janina and Ate Siobe (hidden behind Ben)
Ben about to throw the dice
The tantarantan trio???
Ben getting an early start on the karaoke machine as his Ate Janina searches for songs and his Ate Siobe smiles on
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 in his dwarf costume
Happy face
Dancing onstage 1
Dancing onstage 2
In his classroom after opening Santa's present
Onstage after the show
Ben
Miguel
Daniel
Me and Ben (as usual, I look like a dork :-D)
Ben with his Lolo Emon and Lolo Miguel
Ben and his cousin Jaden
Ben and his Kuya Angelo
Ben and Gwen
Getting writing lessons from Kuya Jovin
Kuya Daniel, Kuya Angelo, and Ben enjoying a little video game
Ben with his new haircut
Ben's assessment report for the first semester
Ben's report card, page 1
Ben's report card, page 2
Our Brazil booth from the front
From the left
From the right
Taken by the official photographer
Ben with some of his classmates and his teacher, Jasmine
Ben taking his place on stage...
There's my little Brazilian boy
Ben with the pampano, which he said tastes like fish
With the ornamental fish in the BFAR booth
Getting a hog hug from Purina's mascot
With lots of flower
With the Magnolia chicken
With the BMeg pig
Ben practising dice throwing with his Ate Janina and Ate Siobe (hidden behind Ben)
Ben about to throw the dice
The tantarantan trio???
Ben getting an early start on the karaoke machine as his Ate Janina searches for songs and his Ate Siobe smiles on
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.
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