Oh My Gulay!

July is Nutrition Month in the Philippines and every year, schools celebrate this occasion with activities related to food, good health, and proper diet.

The theme for this year's Nutrition Month celebration is "Pagkain ng gulay ugaliin, araw-araw ihain!" and its main focus is to encourage Filipinos to increase their vegetable consumption. By doing so, micronutrient deficiencies can be addressed and non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes can also be prevented.

The Learners' Academy (aka my son's school) celebrated Nutrition Month last Friday with various classroom activities. Take a look at what my son's Kindergarten class did at school.

Huge smile from my eager beaver.

Teacher Love shows the kids what they need to do.

Yue's turn to do it.

The kids prepared vegetable salad and calamansi juice for their snack, with the assistance of Teacher Love and Teacher Erlyn, of course.

Getting ready for the good stuff. :)

A blob of mayonnaise here... 

some carrots there...

Yue has so many questions in between, lol.

Mixing the ketchup...

Mix, mix, mix!

Now my son was never a picky eater, and making him eat vegetables has never been a problem. But his reaction to the carrot was epic.

The face that can ignite a war, lol.

He dipped the carrot in the ketchup-mayo mix, and the taste he found revolting. Haha! He's not too fond of either ketchup or mayonnaise, which is kinda ironic since I love mayo while the husband loves ketchup.

A-aaaa!

He has no complains about the apple, though. 'Round here, he's the Cookie Monster of apples, lol.

And when Teacher Love announced that it was time to make their own juice, the little man was more ready to pounce on the calamansi.

Check out my son's hair, inspired by Siwon of Super Junior. But of course. ;)

More of squeeze, actually.

Left hand...

Right hand...

Both hands in action! Haha!

This was one activity my son really enjoyed. He loves Elmo's Magical Cookbook a lot and he seems to have developed a liking for Gordon Ramsay and his bad-ass, don't-mess-with-the-chef attitude, so it's great that he had the chance to take a stab at 'cooking' like Elmo and Chef Ramsay.

And don't be surprised to see the moms hovering in the photos. We usually stay outside the school premises during class hours, but Teacher Love allowed us to enter the classroom so we could take photos of the kids. 

Thank you, Teacher Love and TLA for letting us capture these precious moments. Can't wait for the next school activity! Anticipating August! :)

Sharing with Green Monday, Oh, Snap!

My Shining Star!

Proof of the little man's amazing memory. And speaking skills.

Way to go, baby! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you!  ♥ ♥ ♥

Sharing with Mommy Moments, Mellow Yellow Monday, and lots of Wordless Wednesdays. 

He's a Small Wonder.

A few days ago, I heard my son singing this out of the blue, "Naega jeil jal naga... naega jeil jal naga!" This means "I am the best", which is the chorus of 2NE1's hit song, I Am the Best. I was astonished, of course, because as far as I could remember, he heard this song no less than five times before. 


And then the other day, while we were at Bench shopping for my Super Junior shirt, the little man began belting out, "I love you, Baby I'm not a monster, Neon al janha ireoke kajima!" 
That's from the chorus of Big Bang's Monster, with the Hangul part meaning "You know me so don't leave like this." While he hears this song quite often - from the MYX Daily Top 10, at Arirang's Pops in Seoul, and from my 'Still Alive' CD - I never thought he'd be able to decipher the lyrics considering it's a Big Bang song.


My son has a pretty good memory - something I discovered even before he turned two. But I never expected his memory to be THIS amazing. 

He could already be working on his undergraduate thesis for all I know, lol.

Today, I came across an article from Austega, which gave me a better understanding of giftedness in my child. Looking at it from a broader spectrum, a gifted child exhibits exceptional ability in terms of the following:

• general intellect
• specific academic aptitude
• creative thinking and production
• leadership
• psychomotor
• visual and performing arts

A detailed list of characteristics can be found in this article.

The Circle of Moms simplifies this with an easy-to-understand checklist. The '20 Signs of Giftedness' are listed below:

1. Has early interest in words and reading
2. Has exceptionally large vocabulary for their age
3. Learns rapidly, easily and efficiently
4. Is curious about objects or situations, asks provocative questions; enjoys exploratory activities
5. Has an unusually strong memory, but is bored with memorization and recitation
6. Is flexible in thinking patterns; makes unusual associations between remote ideas 
7. Is independent
8. Has a wide range of interests
9. Demonstrates unusual reasoning power
10. Likes structure, order and consistency
11. Show unusual degrees of originality, concentration and persistent hard work on projects that capture their interest and imagination
12. Is perceptually open to his or her environment
13. Has an advanced sense of humor
14. Is sensitive to the feelings of others
15. Shows more interest in creative effort and new activities than in routine and repetitive tasks
16. Shows an intense interest and aptitude in an artistic activity, such as drawing, singing, dancing, writing, or playing a musical instrument
17. Is intellectually playful, interested in fantasy, imagination 
18. Acts as a leader among children of their own age
19. Tries to excel in almost everything she does
20. Senses when problems exist; always trying to adapt or improve things

*Note that no one gifted child exhibits all of these characteristics.

Highlighted in bold are the traits which we have observed in my son so far. And by 'we' that means I, my siblings, Yue's kindergarten teacher, and even the school directress.

Feel free to refer to this list as you discover and nourish the giftedness of your own child. As for me, I'm looking forward to being further amazed and astounded by my little progeny. :)

The Story of Dirty Tom.

Because I won my first speaking contest at age 2.5, I knew there'd be pressure on my little man (hello, stage grandmoms, lol). But it seems like Yue really takes after me when it comes to stuff like this. (Stubbornness included, haha!)

Here's Yue, now at age 3.5, reciting 'The Story of Dirty Tom'. This kid's got a pretty sharp memory so our next project will be... The Gettysburg Address. Hahaha! :)

Sharing with Wednesday Whites and Wordless Wednesdays all over the blogosphere. :)

Home School (well, sort of.)

It's been two weeks since summer school ended, and we have another two weeks before the regular classes formally open. Guess what we're doing in between that period.

We're still studying! :)

Shared with InstaFriday, Photostory Friday, Mommy Moments, and lots of Wordless Wednesdays. 

The Age of Wonder.

Good morning, Moon Angel!

"There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million." - Walt Streightiff

A Wordless Wednesday / Wednesday Whites post. :)

Genius at Work.

"Mommy, mag-drawing tayo," (Mommy, let's draw) Yue said to me this morning as soon as we were done having breakfast. I heaved an exasperated sigh. Not that I don't want to help him, it's just that my ability to draw can be described in two words. I suck.

My skills (or the lack thereof) pale in comparison to my brother (who is a graphics designer and web developer) and my sister (who has the knack for designing dresses, such as her wedding gown). Both of them obviously took after my Mum, who could have pursued a career in Fine Arts had my grandfather allowed her to. And that is why my stick figures and I, suck. Har.

Handing over some paper, a box of crayons, a drawing board, and a drawing board marker, I told Yue, "Ikaw muna mag-drawing, ha. Hugas lang ako ng plates natin." (You go ahead and draw while I clean the dishes first.) Not sensing that this was my escape route, he willingly obliged, settled down in his study table, and began to draw.

A few minutes later he came running to the kitchen. "Mommy, ang galing ko mag-drawing!" (Mommy, I'm good at drawing!), he exclaimed. And then he showed me this.

Yue's artwork, 23 January 2012.

One look at his drawing and I knew this kid is really something else. "Wow! Very good! Ginaya mo yung mga alien!" (You copied the aliens!") I said. Yue corrected me matter-of-factly, "Hindi po ah. Ikaw yan, saka si Daddy, saka ako." (Of course not. That's you, and Daddy, and me.) I was so touched and impressed by my son's genius that tears were threatening to well up in my eyes.

Hello, van Gogh! Proudly showing off his artwork.

"Very good ka talaga anak," (You're very good, my son) I said as I ruffled his hair and scooped him up for a big hug. "Syempre Mommy, ang galing ko magdrawing parang ikaw!" (Of course! I'm good at drawing just like you) he beamed. My three-year-old's unintentional sarcasm then sent me into a fit of laughter.

My son's smarts and congeniality has earned him praises several times before. Most of them even come from strangers, or random people that we meet while we're out in public (ie, at the mall or at the doctor's clinic). A friend even encouraged me to have his IQ tested and measured because he thinks Yue is really a genius. I didn't take it seriously, but this drawing is now giving me the thought. Especially after I found these.

http://gleigh.tripod.com/gftskills.htm

http://www.learningdesign.com/Portfolio/DrawDev/kiddrawing.html

Must speak with Yue's pedia soon. :)