My two boys went afternoon biking and roller blading.
The Gremlin pedaled his bike as his dad tried the roller blades (the first time). The dad keeps falling and the Gremlin would get to his side and ask:
"How are you papa? Dont worry...".
One time the dad said "Dont come near me, if I fall I could hit you", that the Gremlin sung "London bridge is falling down". The dad suggested singing instead "Papa is falling down, falling down".
Its slimness, 5megapixel camera, touch screen and big screen view -- made me happy to receive this mobile phone from hubby on my birthday. But now I look forward to having another phone and does not really want a touch screen now.
Just barely five months of use and started not budging, sort of it "hangs". Pressing the screen hard does not help, and pressing the switch off button for re-setting does not help either. I have to remove the battery then wait awhile before switching it back on. Imagine the phone ringing and it wont let me receive the call. - This is a definite no-no for a texter (SMS). The screen is ultra sensitive, and the fingers ought to be small-sized to avoid wrongly hitting nearby letters.
- This does not have an external switch to activate the camera, at times you need to urgently take a photo.
Whatever it is, I dont recommend this phone =)
Adventurous as he is, he does not drive it straight and fast.
He circles plant boxes. He never misses to hit anything bumpy along the way. Bet on him to pass on paper or anything on the sidewalk and you'll never be wrong.
For us, the bike is helpful. We bluff him everytime he misbehaves to return the bike back to ToysRUs, and he would obey.
At the SLU fishpond twelve years back on this day, the gremlin's mom verbally affirmed she feels so blessed at the passionate care she is receiving from the gremlin's dad =)
"What month does Brent start classes?" asks the gremlin's dad. He's asking about the one in Baguio.
Yeah, we're both re-thinking sending our Gremlin to school back home. You see, the minimum AED 15k annual fee for nursery classes here translates to around Php 192k, enough to pay Brent School Baguio. And that means our son getting the equivalent of the premium schools here.
We thought attending a school in Baguio could be better because:
- Filipino schools (as cheap options) here in Dubai are much like the Philippine public schools according to two moms I chatted with;
- The other cheaper options are some Indian schools but these mean other culture and different curriculum;
- Unless at Saint Mary's (which is not of Philippine curriculum), schools here dont include Christian (Catholicism) religion subjects;
That aside, we also consider Baguio because it is where family is and where our gremlin gets a normal social life. Earlier,it was during his stay there that his social and mental growth has accelerated. He was just a month old when he would speak his syllables to his grannies and to his aunt Bistang every time they speak to him at every pause of an ascending tone. He babbled "bah", "gah", "inggah". (I remember those syllables still quite well!)
Coming to Dubai, it was just us his mom, dad, anta lisa. We were not enough to encourage him to converse. Yes, he turned two without being his like mom =) who at prior to two years old is talking her simple sentences (according to the gremlin's granny, haha).
He only caught up when he settled in Baguio again for seven months. According to his grannies, soon as we left him (at two years seven months), he started speaking his simple sentences until he became conversant.
(Although it should not be ignored that he's extra hyper, he is more than the usual hyper toddler. This gave us hard time to let him sit and learn to talk.)
I know other parents feeling against sending their children through school back home while they work here, fearing the kids might be left out unguided.
But we feel blessed in this aspect because we have the all the confidence in the love and care of the gremlin's grannies. They love him and are happy to have him there =)
It just then becomes a case of us missing him around if we do send him home. In the meantime, we aim to keep growing in our careers so $ becomes a lesser restriction whereever our gremlin could enjoy school. (How about getting that managerial employee benefit of AED 30k annual schooling allowance?)
Btw, we realized sending the gremlin to Brent school may not be financially practical. Say, how about sending him to SLU Lab/ Saint Louis School Center, then attending drumming lessons at Musar Yamaha on his free time?
