Thursday, October 30, 2008

Ambition Day



Yesterday was Ambition Day at FAB Learning Center. Zoie was dressed as a dancer because she told me she wanted to be a dancer. Ken was dressed as a policeman. There were 2 nurses, the very cute Anne looked like she works for Red Cross, 2 doctors, a princess, a race car driver, Drei is really into cars and a teacher. Teacher Yvette was dressed as a cyclist.

They had their usual set of activities but the theme is focused on occupations. Even the story at the end of the school day was about an entrepreneur.

Zoie's worksheet was about the letter B and had a picture of a baker.
The kids had fun playing while in costume. Even the princess was running around.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Zoie's UN Day Celebration

The kids arrived at school in different costumes. Two kids represent a country and my daughter's country was France. All kids brought food representing their country.
Zoie came as a mime artist from France. I would have made her face whiter if she had permitted it.
The kids had their usual set of activities and I'm quite surprised that Zoie already knows the meaning of "agenda".
Little Zoie is keeping up.
They had a Japanese teacher, Teacher Yoko (I'm not sure if this is her name really) who taught them origami and how to use the chopsticks.
The buffet consisted of food representing different countries.
Corn?
My little mime artist had fun at the monkey bars after snack time.
The kids watched some videos.
Group picture. Too bad Drei didn't make it.
Finally, it's goodbye time. I can't wait for tomorrow. It's their Ambition Day and Zoie's coming as a ballet dancer. I wanted her to come dressed as a photographer but she'd rather be a dancer. She told me so.

lost files?!!

Friday, October 24, 2008

mini me... only worse

last night, i bought face paint for zoie. she's going to be my little mime artist later because she's representing France. i bought 3 loaves of french bread at French Baker and had 1 loaf sliced. she was excited with the face paint. i couldn't find an all white palette so i settled for the 4 color makeup. i told her not to touch the white paint. she nodded. i was on the phone talking to my mom and she was looking at me. then i saw her trace her fingers on the other colors then trailed it across the white paint! i was indignant. i asked her why she broke her promise. my mom was laughing at the other end of the line. zoie looked at me defiantly and moved her arms on the sofa and the makeup cover fell on the floor. i asked her to pick it up. she refused. i was staring at a miniature of myself... na mas malala. ever heard of the saying that your child reflects you... only worse. i looked at her angrily. she tried to stare me down then broke into sobs... ran to my cousin, hugged her and told her to pick up the makeup cover. nang-utos pa. i asked calet not to hug her, aabuso. then her tatay went out of the room because he heard her crying ang picked her up. aba, i was the enemy. the three of them against me. but then she went out of the room again and i went to get her and said i was sorry. i know that was wrong but i couldn't just stand her and break her little heart. the ending? calet got the makeup cover, zoie refused to go to the room because she was "nood pa ako" ng TV, i read my book and hubby watched his favorite TV series on the ipod because no one can touch the TV but zoie.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Zoie the Mime Artist

tomorrow, zoie will be celebrating UN day at school. the country she was assigned to is France. costumes are not required but i'd like her to come to class as a mime artist. i bought her a long sleeved striped shirt and a beret. she will bring with her loaves of french bread or croissant. i'm not sure yet. they have a Japanese guest who will teach them how to use chopsticks. i am going to take the half day off from work. i've thought about this for a few days. i don't want to be the parent who was always present at school but what the heck, it's her first UN day celebration so i will take a lot of pictures. i'm so excited.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

how an outfit can generate these reactions












*and all i did was buy her the leotard and tights... and did you notice the froggy bedroom slippers?

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Zoie's House


this is zoie's doll house and i'm glad that she chose this when her lola took her to toy kingdom and asked her to pick the toy she liked most. if not for this house, zoie will think that a house looks like a building. we live in a building, by the way. i don't want her to have a wrong perception of what a house looks like.

Parental Ambitions


Okay, so i gave you a scary picture there in my previous post... barney the predator, growl!!! hahaha! Sorry for that! Zoie is scared of Jack O' Lantern and I had to kiss that pumpkin to show her that he's not scary at all. Ssshhh... I was a little freaked out as well.

Last night, I bought Zoie a ballet leotard. Although I haven't enrolled her to any ballet classes yet, I figured this can be her "what I want to be when I grow up" costume because she's always dancing around the house and hey, it was 50% off! personally, i don't want her to be a dancer though. I also don't want her to become a producer like her mom (moi!) and her tatay doesn't want her to become an IT person. Weird ba? But in the end it'll be her decision. I recognize my child's gift in taking pictures. At 2, she learned to use the digicam and now that she's 3, we're allowing her to take pictures of us and of everything from flowers to blank things like the wall. Lol! She takes pictures of her dolls and even reminds me to put the strap around my wrist so the camera won't fall to the ground.

I have a lot of respect for cameramen whether the medium is film, video or the classic - photography. I admire their eye for detail and the way they create the mise-en-scene. In my heart, I hope Zoie will develop her eye for detail. Admit it, some people who are already old still couldn't take good pictures. I know some. Lol! Wait... wait... am I wishing for my kid to become a film maker? Well, I'm not sure really but I hope she'll know what she wants before college.

*Zoie took this picture

Monday, October 20, 2008

Barney the Predator


Will this picture traumatize your child and damage him/her for life?


Apparently not for Zoie. This was the scene that Zoie witnessed when she entered the bedroom a few days before her birthday. Zoie looked at Barney with wide eyes and a hint of horror... stared at it for a few seconds and then laughed. I didn't know how to react to this. Adrian obviously had fun setting up the scene, introducing Barney as the predator just like his ancestors. A few minutes before that, I was explaining to Zoie that Big Barney was little Barney's father.
Those who know us well would probably just laugh it off but those who don't will probably say, this is one sick family. Lol! But wait, I woke up to this scene this morning and I was a bit traumatized.
Don't blame me. I love Spongebob!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

First Ever Global Handwashing Day

I'm excited about this post that I'm posting it here and allthingschuva.blogspot.com

In my years of experience as a producer, (no, i'm not going to say how many), I've done a lot of projects but only few really had an impact on me. I actually forget that I've been part of a big event as I worked from project to project over the years. The first ever Global Handwashing Day which was held yesterday at the West Rembo Sports Complex was one of those projects that made a mark for me. I won't describe the process of organizing this event because it's just work. It's part of my job. Whatever the hardships I went through... whatever the stress... it doesn't matter. What's important is that the event went well and it was successful.

I learned a lot during GHD production. I learned how to use the digital SLR camera. It's been ages since I last used my film SLR camera and now everything's digital. I learned to direct people during the shoot. I do this in some projects if there's no director but this time I got to ask people to dance and they're not professional talents. The shoots - I enjoyed so much. Two to four companies or groups from both private and public sectors a day for a week was really exhausting but so much fun. I also got to be voice talent. I was one of the germ monsters that cause diseases in the program.

GHD editing went smoothly because my team was working on the videos while I was out shooting. The research for pictures was a bit heartbreaking for me because I got to see a lot of suffering kids. What can I do? I need them for the visuals. I also learned that there were a lot of kids who die of diarrhea, pneumonia, bulate and flu every single year. Knock on wood.

I've never been an advocate of handwashing. Putting my hands under running water was enough or a dab of hand sanitizer would often suffice or even a few splashes of rubbing alcohol. But my child was taught how to wash hands at school and I would often marvel as she counts from 1 to 20 while soaping her hands and she wasn't even 3 years old then. She even tells us Tatay, Mama, wash hands!

This GHD project though opened my eyes to the importance of washing one's hands with soap and clean water. I became aware of the 5 steps in washing one's hands.

1. wet your hands with clean and running water
2. lather and make lots of bubbles using a soap with long-lasting skin germ protection. (Okay. Use Safeguard. this is my blog so i can advertise.)
3. scrub the front and back of your hands
4. clean around and between every finger and under every fingernail
5. rinse and dry hands thoroughly. use clean towel.

Washing of hands should take about 20 seconds or the length of 2 happy birthday songs. No, no, no, not the "sayo ang inuman... sayo ang pulutan" version, just the traditional happy birthday song.

The fact that this project was UNICEF's with Safeguard as sponsor and me being a mom as well made this project meaningful for me. Three hundred Grade 1 kids from Fort Bonifacio Elementary School were invited to the event. Tonipet of Art Angel was a great host and captured the attention of everyone who was there. All the kids were eager to wash their hands at the mobile sinks in the venue. We had giant Disease monsters fabricated and as Senator Gordon, Sec Lapus, DOH NCR Regional Director Anden, Mr. Davis of UNICEF and Mr. Anand of P&G directed their highpowered water jets at the monsters, the mural that featured all the hands with signature of all sectors who support the cause was revealed as the monsters dissolved from the strength of the water from the hoses.

It was a great project for me. These are projects that make me proud to be a producer, a producer who now washes her hands as often as possible with soap and clean water. Lol!

wag ka palo, bad yan!

it's amazing how much we learn from our kids. i feel that the kids nowadays are more mature and more intelligent than we were before. aminin!

yesterday, the culmination of my almost month-long project has come to an end. yesterday was Global Handwashing Day. the weeks of shoots, editing and stress... it's over. so, i eagerly went home to see Zoie and finally lie down in bed at a respectable time of night. when i entered the room (thankfully the aircon was turned on already) my mag-ama was naghaharutan. i made them come down from the bed so i can straighten the bedsheet. my back becomes itchy on an unmade bed. after straightening the bed out, adrian dived and ayun, sira ulit. i was so pissed off. my voice was loud and i slapped adrian on the arm and this set him off also. Zoie watched in horror and said "Wag ka palo! Wag ka palo, Tatay! Wag ka palo! Bad yan." Honestly, i didn't quite know what to do but my head was swimming and i wanted to lie down and everyone's in the way. I said sorry to zoie but not to adrian. I asked him to put the rubber bands on the canister with the other rubber bands but he threw them on the floor. I hated that. is it so bad if i can't sleep with toys all over the floor, a cabinet or a door open, a closet open, the windows are open, the bed sheet is rumpled and small things like rubber bands are all over the place? i can't even sleep with books under the bed. zoie was rubbing her eyes and wanted to cry but adrian and i kissed her and she asked for dede. after that, as soon as my head hit the pillow, nothing mattered. i fell into a deep sleep.

side kwento. last night while eating dinner.

Calet: baby, nasan si ate tisay (maid from the 5th floor)?
Zoie: Olongapo
Calet: eh si... (some playmate)
Zoie: Pangasinan

i was really surprised as these words rolled out from Zoie's mouth and it's not even bulol!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Party Pictures

why so serious?

the birthday girl
piƱata time

that candle at the center actually plays the happy birthday song
zoie and mamat
they actually asked me to take their picture!

classmates lining up to give gifts to zoie
zoie giving out backpacks to classmates
goodbye song

Zoie's School Party


zoie's balloon


zoie's cake

zoie's giveaways (inside - barney stickers and barney school supplies)

teacher yvette as the host of the party. me: photographer lang

trip to Jerusalem

the moves