Riley Loves His New Book!

I am not good with surprises. Especially to Riley! For example, last Saturday I bought a book as a Christmas present to him. Syempre Christmas present nga so I plan to wrap it and wait for Christmas before he can open it. E kaso when I saw Riley I lose self control. I gave it to him right away. I couldn't hide anything to him. Plus I wanted to know what will be his reaction to my gift.

Praying...

I gave him a Bible stories book. You know, every time Riley sees a church, or an image of God or Jesus, or an angel, he always says "Papa Jesus." Before he sleeps at night and after he wakes up in the morning, he always reminded me to pray. Sometimes when Riley is throwing a fit or he seems upset over things I ask him to pray. I want him to learn that in life there is one person he can turn to at any times, may he be happy or sad or angry or confused. God will always be there to help him. I may fail Riley at times but God would never ever fail him. If I can bring Riley closer to God, then I know I've done my part as a mother to him. And I know this book can help him know God and Jesus more.

This is the book I found at BookSale! :)

The thing I love most about this book are the illustrations. 

Riley seems to like them too.

Reading to him. He actually listens to me! 

Riley normally doesn't like reading. He would rather play ball outside than read. It doesn't bother me because look at me. I don't have any books when I was young but I grew up loving reading. I don't force him to read (or in his case at least open) the books he have. But with this book, it is the other way around. He requested for me to read this book to him. Kaya eto ako, namalat na kababasa! Pero okay lang. :)

I'm so glad he loves the book! Now, I have to think another gift to give him. But I'll wait until near Christmas day so I wouldn't ruin the surprise again!

Learning is Fun

To practice my son on how "real" school works, I devise this plan of having a school in the comfort of our home. Every morning after he wakes me up, I setup the table, get my teaching materials and make trick Riley into doing whatever our lesson for the day is!

Yes, trick is the word. It's because kids will always be kids. They will be distracted, make excuses, and most of the time they just want to play. Before, I let it go when he doesn't want to study. But since we have this mini school, the objective is for him to finish whatever the teacher (aka me) wants to do or he can't do whatever he wants. He can't watch videos or play the iPad or play outside unless he does everything I ask him to do. That's our agreement. At first, it was very frustrating to him. Some days are easier, some is very challenging for both of us. I know in time he will be ready for a real school. He still have a lot to learn. But for now, I am happy teaching my favorite pupil of all time!

serious sa simula

ayan na nabobored na

humihikab na

kung saan saan na tumitingin

iiyak na yan! :p

konti na lang anak

yehey! almost there! :)

the first thing they got to learn is how to write their name, right?

you can make one here for your kids

we also have time for coloring, reading and counting

And as promised, I let him watch Alvin and the Chipmunks after. :)