Call Center Louna

Louna always loved talking on the phone. Here's a collage of videos of her at 20 months old and now at 5 years old.

The Girls' 2010 Encounter with Santa

Kyla's First Day at School (Adaptation Period)

>We received a great surprise from the school last week. The preschool teacher informed us that Kyla could finally start school next year, January. Last Thursday was her first and only day of adaptation at school. But unlike the daycare where she used to go, Kyla was prim and proper, almost like a big girl at school. She took the teacher's hand and stayed with her without crying.

Conclusion? Kyla's ready for school. Next rendez-vous will be on the class opening this January.

Kyla's First Approach to English Language

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Louna's 5th Birthday

Louna had been talking about her birthday since... well, I can't even remember. Since long time ago, for sure. She had been warning us to be kind to her so we could be on the list of her invitees. She had been dreaming about celebrating her birthday at Mc Donalds but unfortunately, we were not able to reserve the date chosen. We held her birthday at Jungle Kid instead, and not to my surprise, to all the kids' delight! The pictures say it all!

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PS: Louna's birthday is on November 8 but we held an advanced celebration as I'll be out on a business trip on that day.

Kyla's First Run

It was a sunny October afternoon. The whole family were bound to Dole for Papa's 10-km run and Louna's fun run. But during the registration, Papa learned that kids born on 2008 are allowed to run.. so I guess you follow the story. Now, here's the evidence. Have fun!

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Summer Vacation with Goals

First is to get Kyla potty trained before she enters daycare on September (tho it's not an obligation). So far, so good. It seems that she definitely said goodbye to daytime diapers since a week now. She gets to control her "needs" better now. No more accidents!Second is to teach Louna how to bike. Allow me to show you the evidence and appreciate it yourself.

Summer Vacation at Lac du Carouge

We had a week vacation to spend 2 weeks ago and to please everybody, we decided to rent a mobilehome at a camping site in the mountainous area of the Savoie Region - that is to please Papa who's a bike fanatic at the moment, to please Mama who hates too much hot weather, and to please us, the little girls because there's a tiny lake just at the gate of the camping site and because we're staying in a "rectangle house"!

The camping site had a Mini Club so I got to spend some mornings with other kids while Mama and Kyla had fun at the playground or at the lake and while Papa's out biking. Mama said I progressed a lot because I was less shy and I participated in kid activities at the camping site. In fact, I went alone at the club just after breakfast when we had no planned activity in the morning. That's how big I am now!

Nights are spent watching football (it was the world cup finals that week!), or listening to karaoke or simply playing with other kids - of other nationalities! That's camping life and I love it!

One morning, my parents had a surprise for Kyla and I - a donkey ride! Its name was Galopette and it stayed the whole day with us. That was really a fun ride and I wish I could do the same again next vacation. Kyla would surely love to do it alone on her own donkey.

We did a lot of child-friendly trek and even Kyla walked with us. Mama said I could really do long distances now and that she was proud of me. One itinerary included a 350m climb (3 hour hike) but we took the wrong way on our way back so we continued climbing and some passages were really dangerous. Papa said that we were out of the child-friendly loop and we needed to take extra care in climbing. Good thing Mama didn't forget our magic lollipop that gave me extra power to climb. Kyla was comfortably seated on her baby backpack but she needed the magic lollipop anyway to give her extra power to stay calm.

Look at that, the magic lollipop worked wonders too to keep me smiling after such an effort!

Check the pictures and have fun with us!

Photoshoot June 2010

Mother's Day

Papa told me one afternoon that we needed to send some pictures to his parents because it's been a long time they haven't seen the girls and one of the main reasons is, the blog is not updated! Errr, is there any message somewhere? *scratching head*

Ok, alright. How many times did I say that I need to be more active on blogging, at least on this one? Hmmm, probably on all my previous entries, lol. Facebook is probably the IN thing of the moment and since all my siblings and a LOT of my friends and relatives are there.. and not to forget, the girls' cousin Louise is also there - that I unconsciously neglige this blog thinking they get an update and get to see pictures of the girls there.

But ok, due to Papa's insistent demand, here I go with none other than my gift on mother's day! As you can observe, the little artist has improved a lot on cutting and painting objects + on writing skills as well.

Below is a video of my mother's day poem this year. Louna's not in the mood to recite it, but due to insistent public demand, she gave way without much enthusiasme, lol. Here's a link to last year's poem.

Here are some picture updates.
And a video update showing how they love to feed the animals.

Kyla's Spring Update

1 year and 7 months old! And yet, she just started walking 2 months ago, at 17 months old. But then, she's got all her baby teeth and she eats on her own. Each kid has his own developmental milestone and I vowed to respect my kids' time.

She's got other talents too. She can drink from a cup/glass on her own - without a drop, take note.

She tries to run. Climbs up the stairs. She knows when she does her potty thing (she says o-o), even sits on her trainer without her diapers but still couldn't do it. In fact, she informs us when she's actually doing it. There's a problem of synchronization but I'll seriously start training her this summer.

Communication is probably the highlight of this season. She starts to pronounce words and form sentences. She loves to repeat words so I take advantage.

Kyla's First Words

Mama - that's music to my ears especially when she wakes up in the morning and yells Mama!
Papa -
Siser (Dessert) - while pointing with insistence on the fridge
Shosho (Chaussures, chaussettes ou chaussons - shoes, socks or bootee) - while pointing on her feet
Ato (Gâteau - Cake/Cookie) - this pertains to all kinds of food!
Shisho (C'est chaud - It's hot) - generally to refer to her soup followed by blowing to cool it down. Below is a vid showing how she pronounce c'est chaud.

English Phrases She Understands

Go to bed - she sure understands this because she cries each time I tell her
Go upstairs - she generally doesn't like this because it's almost synonymous to 'go to bed'
Go downstairs - it means it's time for breakfast
Let's brush your teeth - she wants to brush her teeth herself
Time to eat - she would stop whatever she's doing and run direct to the kitchen
Outside - she loves to stay outside

Now that she starts to catch some words and understands them, I also start introducing English DVDs so she assimilates another language easily. Did I say she's watching Dora?

Kyla's Walking

Since 3 weeks now. And she's lovin' it. Here's a video taken before Louna's Carnaval at school. Of course, Kyla's got her own costume too.

Philippine Getaway 2010

It was winter vacation at Louna’s school but we had better plans than battling the freezing cold here in France. The whole family geared off with summer outfits and off we went to the Philippines!

Kyla’s Christening

When my mother-inlaw asked how many visitors we will have on Kyla’s baptism. I told her “100 minimum”. She didn’t budge to react, I think it’s not because she didn’t care but simply because she was shocked! For Louna’s baptism, we did it the traditional way here in France. We were a total of 12 persons around the table. Exclusive to family members only (Louna’s godmother is her cousin). No extended family. No friends. No neighbors. No friends of the friends of our neighbors.

For Kyla’s baptism, it was rock-n-roll! We live in a small barrio and everybody knows each other (we didn’t officially invite tho because the number could grow exponentially!), my parents are retired teachers but they stay in contact with their friends, our family alone (mother and father side) represents more than a hundred already, multiply that by 2 if they’re all present! And 3 if all relatives living abroad go home to the Philippines!

Enough with the numbers but I’d like to insist that it’s simply impossible to plan for a “small” banquet. It’s just simply not possible. Party preparation is part of the fiesta though. As usual, my aunties and cousins were there to help prepare whatever there is to prepare. Most of the time, it ends up with a lot of reminiscing, a lot of laughter and a lot of bonding time with the family. That’s part of the Philippine culture I terribly miss.

So on with the fiesta. Kyla was feisty during the celebration because she was tired, it was hot, and we waited too long before the celebration started. Pictures were quite impossible to take. She was knocked off on our way home. But once awake, she loved switching from one arm to another. She never saw as much willing nannies, ready to cuddle and carry her day in and day out as in the Philippines! No wonder, she didn’t learn to walk there, she just needed to raise her arms and she’s carried!

Louna on the other hand had a blast. She played with her cousin, uncles and aunties. The language barrier didn’t seem to disturb her. The Christening celebration became a kiddy party of some sort since I wanted Louna to experience partying Filipino style.

Rural Life

Though Dijon couldn’t be considered a big city, it’s far from being rural either. And I personally prefer that my kids play outside than playing with their Nintendos inside their room. Louna fortunately shares the same point of view. She loved staying outside (we even took our meals outside! Under our caïmito tree!), picking bananas, mangoes and caïmitos direct from the tree every morning, living life without the stress of our daily routine.

Beach Lovers

White sand + Sun + Clear water + Isolated island = Paradise. Potipot island is just 10-15 minutes boat ride from the mainland. The girls loved the getaway. They forgot about their jetlag!