Javi's 3rd Birthday in SG - F1 Grand Prix

The next day we had breakfast at a food court just beside our hotel and then Javi went to play at the hotel playground.

We then took our baths and made our way to Orchard to meet up with Ariel. At Orchard we got to see Darth Vader hehe.

Then we went inside the Apple store at Orchard.

Ariel treated us to lunch at Song Fa Bak Kut Teh at The Centerpoint. It was so yummy, even Javi ate so much! I think he finished a full bowl of rice all by himself!

After eating lunch, we went to Gate 3 of the F1 track (rode the MRT at Somerset station and then went down at City Hall station). Whiled away time at Raffles City and saw these photo exhibit. Dyan palang kinilig na ko hahaha!

We entered gate 3 of Zone 4 because we only got Zone 4 walk-about tickets on race day.

When we got inside, we were just in time for the Ferrari Challenge. Apparently there are two pre-races before the F1 grand prix race. Javi enjoyed watching the cars zooming past us.

Hinahabol nya ng tingin yung cars

After the first race, the rain poured. We had to take shelter and because Javi was becoming restless, we let him watch Youtube videos.

The Porsche race was delayed for 30 minutes.

This was infront of the Esplanade

During the race we transferred places because we wanted to scout where to watch during the F1 race. We went across the Espalanade which was also near the food stalls.

After the Porsche race, we ate early dinner, freshened up and went back to the first spot we went to. Here's a map of Zone 4 and a legend of where we stayed at
1 - Ferrari race/ F1 race
2 - Porsche race
3 - Porsche race
4 - parade of drivers

Unfortunately, it rained just before the race started. I'm thanking God, we were seated beside a Pinay, #TitasofManila, because she held the umbrella beside us so that Javi won't get wet, she lent us her jacket when the hard rain stopped but Javi still needed to be covered. I would have had a very hard time carrying him (because he fell asleep before the race started) if it weren't for that Tita. So thank you very much, Tita! We were standing up the whole time we were watching. When I was getting tired, I left the viewing area and tried bringing Javi to the area where we could sit down comfortably. I had to change his shirt because he was soaking wet with sweat because it was so humid! So yeah it woke him up. He insisted to go back to the viewing deck to watch the race afterwards.

haha sorry had to put it here to commemorate this day

So yes, we didn't even see the two Ferraris at our corner. Good thing there were practice laps so that time we saw them. But during the race, we didn't even see the cars! (They crashed on the first corner!)

Umuwi man kaming talunan, masaya pa rin coz we got to experience the race. Next time we'll save up so that we can watch the qualifying session as well.

The next day (our last day in SG), we didn't really have anything in our agenda. We just had lunch with Ariel at Bugis.

With his Lego car

Then it was time to bid SG goodbye!

Javi's 3rd Birthday in SG - USS and SEA Aquarium

So as I've mentioned in my last post, we went to Singapore for Javi's birthday. Joma and I went with Javi, yes just the three of us minus the two girls. Well, our thinking was Miya got to celebrate her birthday as a solo child when she was still the only child so we figured we should let Javi and Nina experience that as well. So for Javi's 3rd birthday, we decided to go to Singapore since his birthday coincides with the Formula 1 SG grand prix plus he likes Elmo, Cookie Monster, the Minions and he really likes cars. It's like hitting two birds with one stone hehe.

We left on the night of the 15th and arrived around 1:30am in Singapore.

At NAIA waiting to board our flight to Singapore

The lines at the Immigration was super long so it took us longer to get out of the airport. We arrived at our hotel around 3am. We slept for a few hours and then met up with Ariel at Vivo City before going to Universal Studios Singapore. At USS, we only did what Javi wanted to do. We didn't go inside any rides that he didn't like - that is, we didn't ride anything hahahaha! We only watched the Sesame Street show and then we lined up to have his photo take with all the characters he loved. We bought him toys and souvenirs for his Ate and Nina. So he enjoyed every minute of our stay inside USS. Well, almost every minute because he got scared inside the Sesame Street show hahaha! It was near Halloween so the show had a Halloween theme and there were thunder sounds as The Count counted, so he got scared of that hahaha!

When we got inside, we immediately saw Gru but unfortunately photo taking with him was up and he was whisked away by the USS staff. So we went inside the Minion Mart to get something for Javi.

Then we walked further down the road and saw Elmo and Cookie Monster!

Elmo was right across this haha

We waited a bit inside the Sesame Street store until the show.

The video below shows Javi's nervous face while watching the show hahaha!

After that we ate lunch and went back to wait in line with the Minions.

Then right after, it was the Sesame Street's gang's turn.

Then Gru!

After that, we went to Shrek's castle.

We ate ice cream and watched Donkey on his comedy show.

After that we left USS and went inside SEA Aquarium.

More photos after the jump...

Javi's 3rd Birthday

A week before Javi's actual birthday, we went to Singapore to celebrate. But this post is not about that (hopefully, I get to post a separate one about it) heehee. On his birthday, we stayed at home. His co-celebrant Lola Tess together with Lolo Arthur went to our house in the morning and they blew their birthday cake.

In the afternoon, his Ninongs and Ninangs braved the traffic from the South going to the East to celebrate with him. Blowing his cake with Ninong Mek who celebrated his birthday a day before him.  Lolo, Lola and Ninong Jay also joined us for dinner. But no photos aside from these. We just enjoyed their company that night.

The work week after his birthday was hell for me and Joma, so we decided to go on a staycation, sort of an extended birthday celebration of Javi. But also at the same time just to spend the weekend with the family, just us five. It was a major feat for us because the last time we did this was Mother's Day 2016. But then we only stayed inside our room and ordered room service for breakfast. This time around, we were braver and swam at the hotel swimming pool with all three kids and ate buffet breakfast at Heat. Was definitely a high-five moment for Joma and me, handling all three kids without yayas hahaha!

More photos after the break.

Javi's First Day

24 July 2017

So yeah, Javi's now in school. Although, the previous school we were considering did not push through hahaha! I went to school him with him on his first day.

My dearest Javi,

On your first day of pre-nursery, we arrived very early. You were the first one there.

You went straight to the toys and started playing.

You went around the room and tried out everything. You even got a color from the drawing table and doodled on the table! I almost had a heart attack because school hasn't officially started and you destroyed school property already hahaha! Good thing I had baby wipes and the color was removed from just wiping it out.

You didn't want your photo taken with Mommy. 

When you got bored, you asked for your baon and started eating! The teacher was joking you that you're already hungry. 

When circle time started, you didn't want to sing and dance!

But you were very willing to try out the art activity.

When it was snack time, you didn't want to finish yung natira mong baon. Instead, you wanted to try your classmates food - Pepero! Nakakahiya anak hahaha! I had to tell you to stop eating his baon. Even teacher had to tell you hahahaha! But that's how you are.

All in all, I thought it was still a good first day. I didn't get emotional on that exact time I was with you. But thinking about your first day now, makes me realize that this is a major milestone for you. Only after a few days, you can be left alone inside with teacher. Ate (yaya) didn't have to be with you. And today, Ate told me that you got a smiley stamp from Teacher. Good job, Kuya! I hope you continue to enjoy school and learn some things along the way. We're not pressuring you to study (not now, maybe when you're older haha), we just want you to enjoy and meet new friends and learn new things to maximize your potential. We love you, Javiboy!

Love,
Mommy

Javi's First School and First Movie Experience

I mentioned in my last post that we'll be trying out a toddler program last Saturday and here I am to blog about what happened. We tried the Learning Lab program of Gymboree.  We arrived a few minutes early before the start of class so Javi was able to play at the play area.

He was so happy he thought he was there only to play.

And then the bell clanged to signal that we need to go inside the classroom. There were maybe 15 toddlers during the class so it was a bit too tight in the room. It took maybe a good 15 minutes just on the introductory part of the program where they get to say hi to each of the kids. After that, the teacher brought out some toys for them to play only for a few minutes. And when I say a few minutes, that's just 1-2 minutes and then they need to pack away agad agad.


Playing with the rattle

Then story telling time. The kids were given snacks which Javi consumed even before the teacher got to the 3rd page of the book hahahaha! Sayang wala akong photo but he basically shoved all the breadsticks inside his mouth and then said, "Mommy, water!" ahahaha! After that, there was a writing and painting activity.

Packing away the marker that he used

Painting waves

Javi didn't finish the entire class because after the painting activity, he wanted to get out of the room already. Ay sus! Hahaha! All in all, we decided not to enroll him there. One hour was too short for him to get at ease with all the activities plus there were too many kids during the class. I know we enrolled Miya to the same program when she was younger but this won't work with Javi. I don't know why he wasn't as receptive because at home he can sit longer compared to his Ate to concentrate on a specific task. It's easier for us to talk to him and give him instructions because he will listen as compared to Miya who will ask a million questions first before following. So it actually baffles me that he wasn't receptive to instructions when we tried it out last Saturday. I think he was interested in the activities, it's just that he didn't have enough time to warm up to his surroundings.

*****

Okay, after reading my post about Miya's experience to the class, I might rethink our decision in enrolling Javi. But one other thing is the teacher:student ratio in the class. I don't want to enroll him if there will be the same number of kids in each and every class =(

*****

After Gymboree, we went to watch Despicable Me 3. This is Javi's first time to watch a movie in the cinema. We were all excited for him. Miya was even telling him all the rules inside the movie house. He can watch a full movie at home - we've watched Cars 2 a million times (we don't have a copy of the first movie hahaha!) and he likes watching the movie shorts of the minions so we decided this can be his first movie experience in the cinema.  We don't have a decent photo of him outside the cinema because (a) he doesn't want his photo taken and (b) there were no more Minions standees/movie poster in the movie house  we went to.

He doesn't look happy because he doesn't want his photo taken. 

After the movie gusto na lumabas agad hahahaha!

He was able to sit through the entire movie although he kept on telling me to go outside. Di naman sya nag-insist ng todo-todo kaya we were able to finish the movie. Yey! He was also happy with the movie, panay ang palakpak pag lumalabas ang minions or banana as he calls them.


***********

My dear little boy,

Over the weekend you had two milestones, first you went to your first classroom experience and then you went to watch your first movie in the cinema. I know you'll enjoy school because you like learning new things. We just need to find you the perfect one for your personality. Don't worry, Mommy and Daddy will research more. We don't want to force you into something you don't like. We want you to enjoy going to school to play with your friends and teachers. As for the movie, we're happy that you were happy while watching. We can't help but smile every time you clap when you see a minion hehehe. Our next movie date will be the new Cars movie. We can't wait to see it with you.

Love you,
Mommy

Javi and School

I feel guilty that we haven't enrolled Javi in school yet. When Miya was at his age, she was already attending school in Rainbow Room. Hubby said it was too early for Javi to go to school plus sending kids to school can really put a dent in your budget so I agreed with him. But because Miya passed UPIS (niminal tuition), our finances suddenly will be able to handle sending two kids to school at this time. So that's when we only started looking for schools for Javi. But two of the schools I called said that he's too young for their nursery class. Of the other two schools that my hubby visited, one was scratched off the list immediately. My husband didn't like the school because of its location and security. While for the second one, there were no more slots for Javi. So I said, okay maybe we really need to postpone sending him to school. But my guilt is eating me alive so I had to research for other toddler programs where we can send him. Will try one on Saturday and see if he's ready. If yes, then he'll start a once a week toddler program. Yey! I just really want to take advantage of this time because he's at the stage where he's like a sponge and absorbs everything that he listens to or watches. Admittedly, we were not as proactive with his education as we were with Miya. With Miya we attended Kindermusik classes, Gymboree classes and other toddler programs even before she was one year old. So I'm feeling really guilty with my second born.

Here's Javi singing (12 May 2017)

My dearest boy,

Please forgive Mommy if we didn't give you all the other classes Ate Miya attended. Although I'm pretty sure you're happy staying at home to play with your toy cars and play with Ate and Nina. I'm not as diligent in tracking your milestones compared to your Ate, but that was because I wanted you to stay as a baby for as long as I can stretch it. I don't want to hurry that part. And I don't want to compare each and every milestone with your Ate because that wouldn't be fair. You are you and we love you for who you are.

I hope you enjoy your trial class on Saturday, and if you do, Daddy and Mommy will enroll you there. We love you, Javiboy!

Love,
Mommy

#BrgyAlano Goes to Hong Kong - Day 1

A few weeks ago our family went to Hong Kong. This is a milestone for us as it's our first time to travel as a family of five, it's Javi and Nina's first plane ride, it's also their first out of the country trip. We travelled with my parents and my brother for this trip. Suffice it to say, we were all excited!

Nina's first plane ride! She sat on my lap while Ate sat between me and Daddy

Kuya's first plane ride - he sat with Lolo! 

I was hoping the kids would sleep during the flight but Nina did not sleep a wink! Miya and I switched seats so she could look outside the window. Miya fell asleep after takeoff, Javi also slept during the flight but I heard him cry a bit (his ears hurt, I think) but he was okay again after we landed.

The baby who did not sleep the entire flight! And she pooped! 

This is after we landed - so glad to see him okay. 

I lost P1,000 at the money exchange counter! Grrr! I exchanged an x amount of Pesos to HKD when I absent-mindedly put a thousand pesos on the counter. And then I left it there! Hay naku! Joema told me to forget about it and not let it spoil our vacation. So I did.

We were brave because we took the Airport Express and transferred trains in the MTR instead of taking the taxi from airport to our hotel hahaha!

Good thing our hotel was just a few meters away from Prince Edward MTR station. When we got to our room, I put Nina down and told the kids, "Okay, go wild!" and they did!

Nina, Joema and I stayed behind while the rest of the family went out to eat dinner. When they got back, Joema and I ventured out. We ate at an authentic HK restaurant, the owner didn't speak English, but unfortunately we ate a so-so dinner for almost HK150 (that's almost a thousand pesos!).

To be continued...