Monthly Archives: October 2015

Monde Minion Mamon

My two year old loves Minion. If you play the song “Happy” by Pharrel Williams, my son goes on a crazy groove! He finds Minions funny and popularized the song “Ba-NA-Na Na-na-nana”.

But in one of my grocery visits we found this set of Monde Mamon with the minion on the packaging. Naturally, we are gravitated to buy them– marketing, marketing so their product gets pushed. 

  
But inside it is a great activity to do with your kids. They prepare for you some yellow icing, black fondant, and eye fondant icing to make your own minion design. It’s a pretty cool thing! 

   
 
So Joshua with my supervision, we attempted to make his Minion Mamon. Mommies have to be around to assist. As much as possible we give our children the space to complete some of the tasks. Joshua enjoys stuff like this. It was not long, and he finally made his one-eyed Minion! 

  
He is quite excited to eat it now! And mind you, the mamon was pretty good too. By the way, Monde never asked me to write about their product. This is one honest review and I’m glad there are stuff like this for kids and parents. These are activities that help build bonds and memories! 

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No Tricks for my babe! 

It’s October and Halloween is just about everywhere. You turn on your Disney channel and they feed our children all these monsters and zombies disguised in the cuteness of their cartoon characters. I’m not being a KJ (kill joy) mom. But Josh who will be turning 3 in a few more months is just more aware about it.

He actually got into the liking of the Halloween theme and even with his play doh reviews on YouTube (which he loves to watch) they push these Halloween cartoon ads and other videos. Then one time he showed me a pretty scary picture of a child whose eyes did not have any iris. It had evil full black eyes and if he pressed the photo it will open into a scary video. I told him, “you can’t watch that”. He then said, “I want him to come here to our house”. It got creepy for me. With a stern voice I said, “that one is not invited in our house. This house belongs to Jesus and we will not have evil people like that one come here. They are not our friends!” 

I had to explain to Joshua that there is evil, and bad monsters, and spirits in this world. They are enemies of God. And since we belong to God, they too are our enemies. Okay, this conversation must be made and not brushed off (especially when your child is being lured to liking evil and deceiving content).

  
Here are the products that the toy store is telling our kids to buy during Halloween. It never bothered me before… Well,  not until Joshua and Anna became a part of our family. Maybe it’s also my personal walk with the Lord too. I want my children to love God and not have the enemy a foothold in their heart.  We are children of God and we should walk in the light. The bible tells us that Jesus told Saul (later called Paul) to do this and I believe we should do this to our kids:

To open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may thus receive forgiveness and release from their sins and a place and portion among those who are consecrated and purified by faith in Me. (Acts 26:18)

  Anyway, another information I learned is that Halloween is an official festival of the church of Satan. I’m not trying to scare anyone. It’s a fact. I know that I cannot shield my children from the popular culture of Halloween. But, I can definitely explain the difference of what is godly and evil. Like those photos on the catalogue posted here,  I explained to my son that these are evil and enemies of God. Most importantly I narrated to him that all of them are defeated by Jesus.

“[God] disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him and in it [the cross].” Colossians 2:15 AMP

I know some readers will find me a bit too much. But if your child says he wants scary, evil and dead looking people to come to your house, you need to speak truth. 

I have seen our home when it was under the bondage of the occult. When families call on mediums because they can’t figure out something… That happened to us. After the consultation, our home had some evil spirits stay. Unplugged radio sets would play the CD, my sister had episodes of spirit interaction and almost possession. It opened a dimension and people think of it as nothing. It was scary. But by the grace of God, my sister was delivered from the occult, and we had to spiritually cast out and clean house! 

So for me, I will continue to let my children know God. I don’t ever want my children tricked or deceived. And yes, my 2 year old boy is grasping and knowing that truth… that there are two sides: God’s side and the enemy’s side.

Counterflow Parenting Seminar

The Biggest Parenting Event is held every year in CCF (Christ Commission Fellowship). This year an offshoot of that event will happen in General Santos City on Nov 7, 2015. 

  
This will be a Seminar to help families know how to develop the core family values of love, discipline, and godly legacy. The speakers are Peter Tanchi and wife, Deonna. They have raised 5 wonderful and successful children and passing on this godly legacy even to their grand children. Their advocacy is for parents to raise successful children despite the challenges they are facing in this world. 

The event will be on Nov 7 at Greenleaf Hotel from 9AM- 4PM. Tickets are at P500 with buffet lunch. 

Another interesting seminar that families should catch is the one by Francis Kong this Nov 6, 2015. Families have to talk about values on money and wealth. For another investment of P500 (inclusive of snack), this seminar might save your family heartaches brought about by money quarrels. There is so much wisdom we can learn from this Family Stewardship with Francis Kong. 

   
Tickets are now available at Go Sarangani Travel – call (083) 552-8015 for more information.

Colored Rice

Looking for something new to do, I stumbled upon some ideas on rice as a tool for sensory play and learning. So off we went to the kitchen and got some rice. Little did I know that my son would love this little project! 

First I prepared 4 ziplock bags and placed about a 1/4 cup of rice each bag. Then we got some food coloring with water and placed one color per bag. We prepared to do 4 colors.  After about soaking them for 15 minutes, we removed the excess water and drained the rice. Later, it was ready to be air dried.

 
But since Joshua and I were getting excited to play with the rice, we opted to use a hair blower and cloth to help us dry it quickly. 
Once it was dry,  the rice can be used to hide alphabets that he could guess. I tried to do one alphabet per letter. However, as we began playing that, it was not easy to keep every rice grain to stick to its proper colored bowl. Later, Josh wanted to mix them all and it was actually cute to have mixed colored rice! 

   
 
As I left Josh to explore with the rice on his table, he was making lots of artwork with his hands. First he was making circles. Later his imagination just left him to play there for almost an hour! 

   

This was a great sensory and learning tool for the day! Even the process of making the rice was such a great bonding experience for us! 

 

Fever go away! 

When our babies get the fever it seems so alarming for parents. Aggressive type of diseases (like the dengue fever) are rampant in tropical countries like the Philippines. That is why parents get worried and won’t wait longer than 2 days to get checked.

My 9 month old Anna, is a happy baby who likes to eat. Well, it was so until she got feverish. When Anna started burning up with a fever she was no longer playful and she did not feel like eating. She would whine and just ask for mommy’s embrace and the comfort of breastfeeding. I knew I had to let go of all my plans and appointments and strap Anna around me like a kangaroo with a baby on its pouch. 

   

After a visit to the doctor it was recommended to take a urinalysis, a stool exam, and blood test. Fever is a sign that the body is fighting an infection or causing an alarm on the immune system… It is anyone’s guess if it is a virus, an infection, or a disease. We were also advised if the fever hits 100.3 Fahrenheit, to administer paracetamol. Anna became a fussy, whiny, and clingy little girl. The difficulty of infants are not being able to articulate what hurts and where it hurts.

As we went back and forth to the hospital for tests, it was concerning to see so many children in the ER. You feel the tension among parents holding their crying babies. It makes you say a prayer for your child and for theirs. 

Manong Joshua would lay hands and pray for his sister, “Fever go away in Jesus name!” I also thank God also for friends who I asked prayers from because on the 3rd day Anna’s fever subsided.

  
Anna’s urinalysis came out negative from UTI. The stool exam also came out negative.She also did not cry when they took blood by pricking her little finger and pressing it. She’s one brave little infant. I’m blessed by that. I am also blessed by her blood results because all was normal except a low White Blood Cell count which means viral infection. And true to the form of viral – flat rosy spots have surfaced on day 4. Anna has roseola. It is contagious to children between 6 months to 3 years old. Since it’s viral there are no medicines for it … My baby has to just go through it.

 

So for now, mommy has to just stay close and take care of my little one. It will all get better in Jesus Name!! 

I am praying too for all moms and dads and babies that are currently in some health situation. Know that Jesus heals and he hears our prayers! 

Family trips: Manila Zoo

I thank God for giving me a husband who is excited to give his children an amazing experience. Going some distance and over some traffic is no big deal, as long as the family gets to experience something great together.

I was amazed on one weekend that Steve decided to bring us all to Manila Zoo. I was not sure what we would be seeing but the opportunity to show real animals to the kids, especially to Joshua, meant learning! Animals in our picture books are no match to the real thing. 

  
The entrance fee was only P50. I was so surprised how orderly and clean Manila Zoo is. It is the oldest zoo in South East Asia and has been operating since 1959.

We were able to see the controversial elephant Mali. She is a lone elephant whose residence is a cemented structure. There were volunteers who were feeding her and showering her water to keep her cool from the heat. She is controversial because many want her to be transferred to real Elephant sanctuary (like Thailand) where she can live a more normal elephant life with other elephants. She has been in captivity for more than 40 years. It makes me wonder if she can still adapt with others after being so alone for all these years.

  
Daddy took Joshua to meet different animals. We got to see different kinds of birds (peacocks, flamencos, etc) and see how big ostriches are… 

 
The Manila zoo is a 5.5 hectare park. It is so nice to walk around because of all the trees and the greens found inside. You can also tell that the animals are also well fed.

   
 
  

Daddy Steve showed Joshua the deers, crocodiles, turtles, monkeys, lion and Tigers. But I think the most fun part was touching the animals while taking a photo with them!  Inside you will find a photobooth where you can take photos with different birds. Look, Joshua held a bird in his hand and Anna had one on her head! 

  
Manila Zoo also sold refreshments inside and for sure you will need water. Walking around the zoo can make you a bit thirsty!  

I love how Joshua now realizes the cartoon videos we watch on his tablet like “5 Little Monkeys” are just inspired from the real thing. He actually felt a little concerned that real monkeys don’t look as friendly as the one on his video.

   
 
I love Manila Zoo because it is stroller-friendly too. Even our little Anna can enjoy just strolling around this park. 

   

And before leaving Manila Zoo, we took another family photo this time with some albino Python snake. Joshua did not get scared, he actually held it too! 

  I recommend the Manila Zoo for family bonding trips. It was interesting and educational for our little boy, and it was good fun for us all. I was actually happy to see how clean and well maintained Manila Zoo is. 

If you plan to visit, here are some information you need:

Location: Quirino Ave., Adriatico St., Malate Manila Luzon Philippines (corner of Mabini St. and Harrison St.)

Hours: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily 

Telephone numbers: (632) 400-1884  or (632) 522-6179 

Paper Plates are fun! 

You know one of my passions is being my child’s teacher. Mothers are the best first teachers of our children… So here are some fun ideas to explore with your toddlers at home.

I have loved paper plates and have stock up on those for fun activities to do with my child at home! Pinterest has a lot of ideas on what arts and crafts you can do with paper plates. 

For now, we have done some pretty fun stuff with them and let me show you ideas that can be done! 

NINJA TURTLE

Just cut some green colored paper and paste it on the paper plate. Cut the ribbed edge of the upper half of the plate. Then make eyes on paper and cut it out. After, make the eye bandana with an orange play doh. Place the eyes in position and a mouth. And our Ninja Turtle is done! 

 

FISH

Cut a triangle on the paper plate. That triangle will become the tail of the fish so paste it at the opposite side from where you cut it.  As good exercise for the fingers of Josh, I let him cut on colored Japanese paper or tissue which will be like the scales of the fish. His job is to cut and glue these paper on the paper plate. Once completed we put an eye so you can see the fish! 

  

SEA TURTLE

Using a recycled paper plate, I  used the backside of the plate. We cut out the legs and head of the turtle from a green colored paper. To make the turtle’s back, josh uses water color and sponge to complete the look of his sea turtle.

 

These are easy activities that help grow our child’s imagination and artistry.

  

Buntis Congress!

I feel so blessed to be chosen by the Department of Health (DOH) to share about my personal advocacy on breastfeeding during the 1st Buntis Congress in Sarangani. 832 pregnant mommies from the seven municipalities were able to attend this congress. Several husbands also joined the event. Registered mommies got free check ups, free ultrasound, get family planning counsels, free laboratory consultations and Oral health services. 

  
In Sarangani from January 1, 2015 to June 30, 2015 there were over 5,800 mothers who gave birth. However, in the same period maternal deaths reported were 6. The target is to bring zero maternal deaths by advocating mothers to get prenatal check up and giving birth in proper birthing facilities. I realized that a congress like this can make a huge difference because we are educating these women who are far from far flung barangays. 

As for the statistics on breastfeeding, Sarangani has a record of 88% who breastfed after child birth. Our target is to get 100%! We are advocating hard! 

  (Photo credit: Kim Tiblani)
Why Breastfeed?

  1. Colostrum -This brown to yellowish syrup excreted from the nipple is the first milk. It is filled with antibodies and protects your child from diseases and increases immunity. This is the most important fore milk our babies should get. Before the white milk coming from the breast colostrum maybe all that will come out for the next 3 days. 
  2. Free – God prepared every mother with the ability to nourish and feed their own child. The great thing about breastmilk is it does not cost mommies anything. Families who actually breastfeed for 2 years can save up to P200,000. This can potentially be good savings for the family so long as mothers persevere and dedicate themselves to breastfeeding.
  3. Best Milk – Not even scientists can replicate colostrum or mother’s milk. It is the best milk with the perfect nutrition and even antibodies. You really do not need to even provide your child with vitamins because the breast milk is complete! It is also perfectly digestable unlike with formula milk which causes constipation and gas. In fact, even formula milk companies have already made their disclaimer – “breast milk is still best for babies until 2 years old”.
  4. Strong Babies – Babies who are breastfed have strong bones. They often have good control of their heads and crawl and walk earlier than non-breastfed babies. Since their immunity is high, they do not get sick easily.
  5. Practical – Mothers who breastfeed don’t need to buy milk bottles because they can just go direct latch. They also don’t need to carry loads of water and formula powder in their bags. They also don’t need a few minutes to make milk. Breastmilk is always available anytime. 
  6. Bond – There is a secure bond between mother and child during breastfeeding. It is good for a child’s psychological and emotional health. Also mothers actually produce the oxytocin hormone that makes one feel loved and in bliss. This is such a beautiful maternal bonding experience.

As I explained breastfeeding to pregnant mothers-to-be, I also realized some mothers are shy. They feel ashamed to actually show their breasts in public. But as an encouragement to them to still choose to breastfeed, the Governor and his team prepared breastfeeding covers to give the moms of the congress. This was our way of pushing further our breastfeeding advocacy. Plus, they made me the endorser of their breastfeeding cover! The covers were a livelihood project of the Sarangani Moro Women. 

 Instructional material on how to use the breastfeeding cover: 
The best part of the presentation was having my husband’s approval. He affirmed me by saying “excellent presentation!”. Also our children who I breastfed, Joshua and Anna came to support. I demonstrated  how to use the cover with Anna too! 

We want our mommies in Sarangani to be happy and healthy. My husband’s thrust is to really keep every Sarangani citizen healthy. And truly… breastfeeding is healthy both for baby and mommy!  

To God be the glory for this opportunity.

 (Photo credit: Kim Tiblani)