Mommy mode: ON

I've been spending the last few weeks thinking of ways to get Miguel ready for the UPIS Kindergarten entrance exam. I know it's a long shot because only 100 children will be admitted, and 60% of those will be UP dependents -- so hundreds of children will be vying for the remaining 40% of slots. Nevertheless, it would be good for Miguel to experience taking a school readiness test.

Taking a page from my sister's book, I made something like a word chart for Miguel. It has what are called "sight words," also called the Dolch Word List. These are some of the most frequently used word in the English language. It's important to teach pre-school kids these words because many of the sight words cannot be analyzed phonetically, and also because a number of the sight words cannot be taught using pictures.

I started off with the list of pre-primer words. There are about 40 words in the list, and I used these ones first:
As he masters the words, I'll be replacing them with the other words on the pre-primer list. I think it's happening sooner rather than later, because he read all these words easily when I showed him his chart (yes, proud mom here!).

A new obsession

Thanks to Slurpee (sister's poodle) and Baci (another sister's lab), I've grown to like dogs. And ever since I saw a picture of my brother-in-law's hybrid poodle, I've been wanting to get one too... a westiepoo! I think I'll have to wait a while though, because I don't think Miguel is ready to help me take care of a dog. Sometimes when he plays with Slurpee he gets too rough and the poor dog runs away.

Anyway, I've been reading up a bit about westiepoos, and what I like about them is they don't shed (like poodles) and they're very intelligent.

(photo from Westiepoo Hybrid Dogs)

One Sunday...

This was taken a couple of weeks ago right after I picked up Mig from Sunday School. He looks forward to attending Sunday School, and whenever he comes out of the room he always has a biscuit for me. :-)

Hello, 2011!

I'm not very good with keeping resolutions. However. I thought about what I'd like to change in 2011 and I came up with these:

1. Eat more healthy food and less junk food. I was able to live without junk food for 3 weeks last year, so it shouldn't be too difficult (I hope).
2. Limit time spent online. I noticed that I'd spend hours on twitter, facebook, and tumblr doing nothing at all. It's like a black hole that sucks you in. I should spend time on more meaningful and productive things.
   
3. Be present. Being an OC person, I can't help fretting about little things. I'd like to practice living in the moment and just being present.

New training partner

I took my new toy out for a spin earlier this morning. According to Smartcoach, I'm supposed to do an easy 3K today, so it was perfect for getting to know my new training partner better. I love it! And uh oh, I can feel an addiction coming on. Next step is pairing and using the HR monitor.

Being an OC person, I wanted to stick to my target pace (8 mpk) - it's supposed to be an easy run, after all, and my Garmin helped me to do it. Amazing, amazing. Now if only my problematic knees would cooperate...