Amber: The Graduate

27th March 2008 marked Amber's graduation from Kindergarten. The end of her pre-school days and the beginning of her grade school years. She begins the bridge course for grade 1 this 6th April.

We're all excited and arrived at Al Ain Juniors' School at 5 minutes before 5:00 pm, Amber went to her classroom and we parents had to sunbathe for a while. Oliver actually managed to sleep! It was hot and everyone was sweaty but quite patient on this special day, parents all sat down and chatted, cameras and videos ready.




My Supervisor, Mark Suares is the school's guest speaker. Talk about Al Ain being such a small world.

Being the stage mom that I am, I managed to wheedle my way into the very front of the stage. Amber saw me and pointed me to her classmates.

Capturing that perfect Kodak moment was a total failure...sorry Amber...where are the professional photographers when you need one?!

OK now it's time for her speech!

Taymur spoke something and Amber replied, "Thanks Taymur, that's wonderful!"

Jehan said something and Amber replied, "That's right Jehan, good answer!"

Mrs. Hemalatha spoke a few words, telling her pupils that she will miss them all too.

No stage fright! Speech went well, didn't forget her lines....a future in showbusiness or politics?

Some picture-taking just after they went off the stage.






At home, the happy graduate showed off her make-up which one of the teachers put on her while waiting for their turn.
Congratulations Amber! Her overall grade is A+, she is at the top of her class and won 2nd place in Story-Telling Competition. Final Exam papers, official graduate photo, graduation certificate and special awards will be posted on this blog soon.

Amber the Artist

Watercolor Expressions by Amber Declan

She's now 5 and still loves painting or doodling with crayons or oil pastels. Amber has also learned to write love notes to family and friends. Here's her very first exhibit. They are all water colour paintings on A4 paper and she has actually named each one. Enjoy!

This first one she named, "Man jumping" There does seem to be an image of a man in black.

This one is simply, "Blue skies" (parang song ng Hale)

This one she calls, "Earth and Sky".

This one, she cannot make up her mind whether to call it, "Pusit" (and laughs out loud!) or "Soy Sauce". I didn't make this up, the child has a quirky sense of humour (thank God!).
This one we named together, I called it "Straight Lines" but she said, no, "B lines" and painted a yellowish B on the paper while correting me that not all the lines are straight. (Oo nga naman!)

This one is called, "The Farmer"


Finally, this one was made especially for her dad who got sick with the flu. It is meant to be a 'get-well' painting with flowers she first drew in pencil and water-coloured. There's a Get Wel (missing one L) message at the bottom of the page.



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Meet Amber (4 years old - March 2007)

Cueshe's "Walang Yaman"

My family has been watching GMA Pinoy TV's Asian Treasures for a while now and we really enjoy this particular program. My 4 year old daughter also likes the show. Recently, my husband was able to get a copy of the show's theme song, "Walang Yaman" by Cueshe (pronounced Cue-shay), the band who sang it and I've been listening to the same song in the car while driving around Al Ain.

There's this part in the lyrics where the band inked: "Di man ako tulad nila, Walang porma, walang pera"

My daughter listening at the back of the car suddenly exclaimed, "Ay kawawa naman pala yan sha mommy!" (Oh he's quite pitiful mom!)

I couldn't help but laugh because she was so innocent thinking that the singer indeed is poor and destitute.

ILYSFTBOMH*

I’m always thankful for my lunch breaks. Since my daughter has been coming to school, I get to drop her off and pick her up everyday. We’d share lunch at home and it has given me time to forget about work for a while and enjoy my daughter for at least an hour during these mid-day breaks.


But my favorite time is when I’m about to leave and return for work. One cannot describe how my heart swells as I see her little form standing by our door, blowing these imaginary kisses to me while saying “See you later mom!” or “I love you mom”. This is the time I send a short prayer of thanks to God above for giving me the gift of motherhood and an extra prayer for my daughter’s well-being.

Last night, I was snuggling with my gift, Amber, while watching Naruto (a Japanese anime) when she just blurted, “I love you mommy, straight from the bottom of my heart*.”

I had to fight the tears from falling as I know now, what it exactly feels like when “my cup runneth over.” This moment I will forever keep in my heart. And when there will be times in the future that you would do or say something hurtful to me, I will recall this moment so I will not forget that you are my sweet child and nothing could tear us apart. That whatever you may be then, does not change what you were – right in this minute where you are mine and you uttered these words that made me cry of intense happiness.

I close my eyes and send a prayer of thanks again for being able to experience love at this level. I count myself one of the luckiest people in the world to have found a love like that of a mother and her child.

Bye Buluts! Hopefully by May-May?

Amber's better now, her chicken pox have all dried up and have slowly gone away. She's been outside of the house, both to Jimi Mall and Al Ain Mall to scour her favorite shops for new toys and books that amuses most four-year-olds. She's declared herself to be "cured"! And celebrated by eating a whole pouch of Maltesers, her favorite chocolate junk food.

She is now checking out the pock marks and have been making sure they go away by telling herself that Hyuga Neji (a character from famous Japanese anime, Naruto) will come and erase them all. She's also declared that she has a huge crush on Kiba! (another character from Naruto) but I suspect that it is only becuase Kiba has a cute, tiny dog named Akumaru. She is afterall, fond of dogs and cats and sleeps with a plethora of stuffed animals dominated by dogs. Her favorite stuffed toy "May-May the dog" which she's been hugging and tugging along wherever she goes (yes, even outside the house but only up to the car) has been with her since she was one. She is now four.

I've been trying to wean her off Maymay and have offered newer, cuter options to the toy and still she refuses. I've even gone the scietific and clinical explanation that constant use will wear and tear Maymay and she should be given a bit of R&R to live longer; but I was met with an adamant, "No."

Obviously the toy had been washed and sun-dried through the years and has been looking rather sorry lately. Despite this, it is the most loved and most hugged critter of the bunch. I remember my favorite shirt, worn thin from laundry and constant use, seams gone at some parts, color - an undefined beigey hue...and yet I wore it until my husband, fed up, used it to wipe my daughter's vomit one time she got sick. I still miss the soft, comfortable feel of that shirt and hesitate to end Amber and Maymay's relationship. OK, perhaps not just yet...

Chicken Pox

Amber's got the chicken pox and has been whining about how itchy her "butligs" (the postules) are! She called them "wheezy patchouli" the evil cousins of her normal "itchy patchouli" (what she calls he ticklish parts and brother to "outchy patchouli" (the name she gave the bumps and bruises she gets).

In the hospital last Thursday, I took her immediately as soon as I saw several pimple-like formations on her neck for I had suspected she will get it from the classmates as half her class have had the same illness going round. She's been particularly close to one girl who had just had it and I was sure she'd also get the same being exposed to this classmate of hers.

She immediately told her doctor, in a matter-of-fact way that she doesn't want any injections and that she only wants to have the stethoscope used on her. Then she said that she only wants Calpol as her medicine as that tastes like strawberry.

The good doctor from Oasis Hospital, Dr. William Kuttrum, gave her Calpol, antihistamine and calamine lotion for the itchies. She was very happy with the way her hospital visit turned out, being not too scary at all, compared to her previous visit where she had to do an x-ray as well as blood tests!

She's been looking at herself in the mirror, vain girl, and saying she wants all of these patchoulis to go away. She's also been using the pox as an excuse to eat more ice cream and chocolate claiming they are the medicines to this illness, as if I don't know any better :-)

So far she's doing OK despite some itchy episodes and is enjoying the time home. More updates and pictures in my next post.

Amber's Very First School Picture

So this wasn't exactly the best shot and imagine taking a photo of more than ten wiggling, constantly moving, eyes always roaming, heads forever turning, fidgeting, jumping bunch of kindergarten kids?! But here it is, Amber's class picture with her Junior KG-C classmates. Her teacher was Mrs. Sabina Sharif but she had to go back to India. Now, her new teacher and the one on this pictures is Mrs. Fatimi.

The Poser thrives

It seems she's enjoying her camera poses and so she's been at it again! This time we had consumed an entire memory disk as she won't stop posing and smiling at the camera (how showbiz!) and later, I found out these print-outs cost a fortune! So here's a few that I chose to show how Amber Declan is such a poser at the age of 3 years and 11 months!

Poser!

I'm not so sure if my daughter has what it takes to be in the public eye. When she was younger, about 2 - 3 years old she'd dance or sing at a request, more promptly so, with a bribe of candy or toy. Now she's beginning to feel a bit shy and admits to it by saying, "Oh I'm a little bit shy!" She admits to being a little bit looney too - scary stuff.

So here I was asking to have my picture taken to renew licenses and stuff when she asks if she can have her picture taken too. She chose her own chair, sat and striked a pose and viola....Amber Declan Casas-Eliserio, folks.

Philippine National Anthem

As Filipinos living abroad, it is often dificult to introduce our children to Filipino culture. Recently, I have been teaching my three-year-old how to sing the Philippine National Anthem. Since this has been my interest, I went online to search for a sound file that I could use for her to listen to. Oh boy, did I find out a lot about my country's anthem.

I knew that the Tagalog version was composed by Julian Felipe to use for the establishment of the first Philippine government under Emilio Aguinaldo. However I did not know that the lyrics weren't written by Felipe. The original lyrics was, in fact, written in Spanish by Jose Palma, a year after the marching band anthem was played in 1898. Later, a bloke by the name of Felipe de Leon translated it into Tagalog in the early 1900s.

During what my grandparents called peace time and after the Japanese war, an English version of the Philippine anthem was written and had been what my grandparents sang in school.

Here are the webpages that helped my in my anthem quest:
an MIT page
The Wikipedia
And a site that has an MP3 audio file

But the main reason of this posting, and why it is here under "Amber's Nanay" section is because it seems, my daughter has had a new take in the songs lyrics and even a bit of deviation from the original melody.

Here side by side are the original Tagalog (first stanza) and my daughter's own:

The Tagalog version Bayang magiliw Perlas ng Silanganan Alab ng puso Sa dibdib mo'y buhay

Amber's own Bayan may giliw Pera sa Silangan Lab nya ang puso Sa didib may Dubai

But she later changed Dubai to buhay when everyone guffawed at her attempts, sensing not only dischordant notes but irregular lyrics as well. But it was a blast listening to her. Hmmm, maybe an audio file of Amber's version? In the next post perhaps....

Meet Amber!

Most recent picture of Amber Declan, taken on 19th May 2006 at the Al Ain Palace Hotel swimming pool.

Amber Declan - a new thread/blog

My daughter, Amber Declan, is quickly growing up and I have to catch my breath sometimes and just hold still for a few moments to wonder and ponder at how quickly she is growing, changing, developing into this person that she is trying to become.

From birth to present - she is 3 years old - she has been a joy and a marvel. A truly positive force in my life. She was a happy baby, not very fussy, only when she felt tired would she cry. She seems to be fighting off sleep, impatient to learn about her world, not wanting to miss anything.

So I'm creating a separate blog thread just for her. To recall her infancy, which was just a few years ago, and to give an account of how she is growing up. To share with family members and friends and parents who like me, just feel so blessed to be able to have a child.

Finally, this is also for my daughter - so she never forgets her past and where she came from.