Our friends love taking their kids to our house all the time. Aside from having a large garden to run around, the kids also have fun playing at Sophia’s playhouse complete with a slide and a tunnel. The slide is too small for Sophia and the other kids now though so the husband has been looking for alternative slides to buy and set up in the garden beside the playhouse. And with the arrival of the new baby soon, we are also thinking of acquiring additional playground equipment which I’m sure the kids (our friends’ and our own) will love. I bet our friends’ kids will frequent our house more often than they used to when we finally get these extra stuff which is good as Sophia loves having them around as she usually needs to content herself playing with the yaya all the time. Soon though, she will have her own and permanent playmate in the presence of her coming baby brother.

She also has been requesting for a swing by the way and I have seen really nice ones at http://www.swingset.com/. I like the idea and I’m thinking of getting two swings actually – a baby swing for our baby boy and a swing belt or sling for her, the big sister soon.

Jon’s “ama” (grandmother in Chinese) is celebrating her 82nd birthday soon. I have long been thinking of what to give her but couldn’t decide on anything. Since she is obviously of old age already, I don’t think she’ll find use for any other material things I have in mind. Besides, she already has everything!

My mom suggested though that we get her Medical Alert instead as this would be very useful for her. Since “ama” is usually home with just the maids the whole day on a very big house, she can get complete protection and help instantly if something happens to her. You see, Jon’s auntie who lives with her goes to work every single day and does not come home until late in the evenings so “ama” is literally all on her own most of the time. As you all would agree too, we cannot count on the maids all the time, right? With Medical Alert, her loved ones need not worry all the time as home and emergency response system is available. I am now wondering if I should get the one for the home which is the Fall Alert detector or the GPS Tracking Bracelet. But since “ama” is just usually home, might just settle for the Fall Alert detector which I think she can utilize more.

I am sure Jon would be delighted with this Medical Alert gift idea of mine as its truly what his “ama” needs these times.

How can I forget to include this event from the list I made here. This was one of our week’s highlight last week.

At Sophia’s school, each child is given a tutor – the one who will monitor her emotional, spiritual and social skills. Not much of academics really but more of all the other aspects except academics. The tutor will be the one to update us on everything though including her grades, her performance in school and how she interacts with others aside from discussing with us what she needs to improve on and talk about solutions. The tutor can be anyone in the faculty, can be the kid’s teacher or not. In Sophia’s case, its the School Director! HAHA.

Jon and I met with her tutor last Friday not knowing what to really expect as its our first time. The tutorial chat as they call it was very informative. We were told that they don’t have problems with Sophia except for the sharing part. She is said to have a hard time sharing the playground equipment during play time. But on every other aspect, she is very well fine. She is even the Virtue of the Month awardee, remember? They even handed me a picture of her being awarded by the school’s two super heroes – Super Monty and Super Rosie which reminds me now that I need to get new picture frames. One thing worth noting too is how they talk about how good at communicating our little girl was. She speaks her mind all the time and very clearly at that as they told us. The tutor read a very long list of how Sophia is but I won’t go into details anymore. Syempre, positive lahat.

Now, the best part is, we were also told that she had a perfect score on all her exams (Math and Reading) or what they call the long paper game. Whoa! Remember the time I was so worried as the exam was right after we got back from our HK trip? She was absent for a whole week! I was so guilty that I didn’t even bother to ask the teacher for their schedule before planning and booking a trip. But I guess, the cramming paid off, HAHA. We were given the test papers and am I one proud mommy!!! Perfect scores indeed! Her report card of course was such a sight.

Now, would you believe that we, Jon and I, as parents have our own report card too? Outrageous? Believe it, we do. It consists of our attendance to school programs, meetings, talks and what-nots. We even have our goals each quarter for the little girl to be updated in every tutorial chat we will be having. I find such funny but for some reason, I like the idea and so does the husband. So I now get it why other parents don’t like PAREF schools while other LOVE it. Different strokes for different folks, right? To some, PAREF schools borders on being “pakialamero” already as they try to go beyond the school premises and even wants to invade the home as they talk to parents what happens at home like our daily rituals, practices etc. On our part, with all honesty, we don’t mind.

I spent the whole night last night searching online for a formal gown/dress to wear to a wedding next week but to no avail. Instead, I stumbled on a site that sells prom dresses with matching prom shoes. Goodness, how I wish I have a high school girl to dress up this early! The dresses were fabulous! They even have the prom dresses 2009 I wish I can wear myself. Too bad, I am so over that stage already and my little girl has still got a long way to go. She’s just three for pete’s sake! Having a really nice prom dress has been my frustration you see as I didn’t get to have one.  Looking back, I don’t even want to remember what my mom made me wear that time, LOL. So I really get excited looking at really nice prom dresses all the time. It just some sort of brings me back to my youthful days. AHHHH.

I have been pretty busy obviously the past days which explains the lack of updates on all my blogs. I hope to find time to blog tomorrow about …

~ Sophia’s accident and trip to the ER.

~ The Mother’s Day program of Rosemont at Ayala Alabang Country Club yesterday.

~ Jon’s very impulsive purchase I haven’t seen yet to this day.

~ My new hired helper in replacement of my preggy one.

~ Our weekend.

Its so hard to go back to blogging after a short break don’t you agree? To top it off, Big G strikes again! HAHA

Proud mommy here.

Sophia took this home yesterday.

Am I reading it right? I don’t need Lasik yet I’m sure though but its just hard to believe. My little girl is awarded for practicing “Respect”? Wow. I wonder how and why she was chosen among all her classmates. Will it be too much if I give the teacher a call and ask?

Halloween is just a month away and as early as now, I am already thinking of what Sophia will wear this year. I want to veer away from the usual Disney Princesses, animals or what you call the traditional costumes this time so I am thinking of something different. A wedding dress popped in mind, or a cheer leading outfit perhaps? Now I bet my little girl will look so good in a cheer leading uniform! With those chubby legs of hers? Ahhh!

So I searched for Cheerleading Apparel online to copy and I stumbled upon the modern, trendy and super stylish Cheerleading Uniforms at Campus Team Wear. And the good news is, they are very affordable which is why I am now thinking of just ordering online instead of having one made. It would mean less hassle on my part and I can even have everything coordinated as there are also available Cheerleading Shoes, Poms, Socks aside from the usual skirts and shirts uniform. Now, I am so excited. We are of course getting something in pink as my daughter, as you all know by now, adores this color.