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!

End of the Year Updates

Did you know that Louna missed 3 days of school because she had chicken pox? Nope? That means you need to be updated. The girls are growing up too fast. I hardly get a chance to update this blog: Primo, because I don't want to miss on their education. Segundo, because these girls demand a lot of time and attention from their Mom.

So on with the updates. Kyla, luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you see it) wasn't contaminated with the chicken pox virus. Strong little girl. To think that we didn't take any effort to separate the two. Better luck next time.

Louna, on the other hand wasn't really disturbed by the virus. She had the same appetite and energy. I just hope there'll be no scars especially on her face, because this girl's not listening to her Mom. She just can't stop herself from scratching!

On with the developments. Kyla, at 1 year and 3 months old hasn't taken her first step yet. She prefers to walk with somebody than pushing a toy stroller or pushcarts alone. Hmmm. But she's got talents tho. She can eat her yoghurt on her own. In fact, she wants to eat on her own now.

Louna's development now is more on learning letters and numbers. She's got a lot of smileys from school which kind of motivate her. But that talent is rarely shown at home. She prefers to play teacher at home, she's giving me smileys too!

She's quite active tho on extra-curricular activities which is good in learning to respect others and how to connect with other kids.

Louna doing rock climbing (okay, she's too slow! but she's the youngest among the group and she's the only girl too).

Louna doing roller blades.

She knows how to take care of her sister too (when she's in the mood, of course). Look at them playing with the snow.

Merry Christmas!!

Will She Walk Before Christmas?

Kyla, the lazy walker. We have been trying to introduce different push-carts, toy strollers, mini-buses, toy trolleys, walker, name it.. none of those motivated her to take that first step without whining. This morning, I dealt the problem with a lot of patience... and look at the result! Kyla pushing her stroller! With a smile at that!

If she doesn't walk on her own before Christmas, I'm not the impatient kind of Mom, I could still wait till our Philippine vacation next Feb.

Kyla, no stress girly ;)