Plaque Monster!

"Can you do me a favor, Papa?" Gabi asked as I picked him up from school this lunch time.

"Sure, Gabi," I said, already expecting a request to pass by his favorite fast food chain for chicken, fries and rice.

"Can you please stop drinking Coke Light?" was his surprising reply. "And I will stop eating candy."

"Why?" I asked, now truly curious.

"Because the Plaque Monster will go inside our mouth and make a hole in our teeth!"

Turns out that a lady dentist visited the school today to talk about proper oral hygiene. She was invited as part of the class' month long series on people in the community.

And obviously, her scare tactics worked.

"Please, Papa, I don't want that to happen to us," Gabi pleaded some more, the fear in his voice seemed real.

"Yes, anak, we will try," was my attempt to reassure him. "we will really try."

Gabi then handed me a small package. Inside was a toothbrush, two sachets of toothpaste and the flyer and calling card of the lady dentist.

Now that's what I call direct marketing.

Better Late Than Never

Gabi and I got to school early today. And with good reason.

Yesterday we received Gabi's first monthly school report. It began well.

Gabi has proven to be very confident since day one. He verbally tells everyone that he already knows how something is done and attempts to demonstrate it most of the time. Like when teacher writes her morning message on the board, he tries to read it with much confidence and succeeds most of the time.


Then, out of nowhere, the reprimand came.

Since we started school, Gabi has shown how much he missed playing with his friends in school. Sometimes, even when it's discussion time already, he still tends to tell stories to them, which hinders him from concentrating on the discussion. It might help if he would arrive on time and have Free Play (8:30-8:50), when he gets to have all the time to socialize with everyone and play with the materials in the classroom and enjoy playing with everything else.

Oops. Yikes. Sorry, Gabi. Papa's fault.

I know that you are almost always ready to leave for school at 8:15. It's Papa who dilly dallies in the morning.

Promise. Papa will work on his tardiness.

Having a Ball

Gymboree in Trinoma is Bela's favorite place.

She's there at least once a week and enjoys gym play immensely. She crawls and runs around the matted play area, gets on all the ramps and tunnels and interacts with all the other kids whether her age or older.

The people behind Gymboree believe that a child's development is most important during the first three years since this is when the brain is most active, growing to up to 80% of its adult size. That's why they offer all sorts of classes and activities that are designed to help "stretch the child's rapidly developing mind and body."

I'm no rabid follower of thisor any other child development philosophy. If going to Gymboree helps her development, then well and good. What's important now is that Bela is enjoying.

Yesterday, Patty was with Bela for her first formal class: Gymboree Play and Learn 3. In this class parents learn how to understand the way their child interacts with them and the world.

Bela was not too attentive in her first class. She would listen to the teacher for a while and then wander off to her favorite slide or monkey bars. We let her be. No sense forcing her to sit and listen. She might just end up losing interest in what to her now is fun.

She's having a ball right now and we don't want to spoil it.