Kids Archive

What my kids are like, and how to raise your child/children in this day and age.

Teaching Kids To Write Using Dotted (and lined ) Font

And the little boy will be in pre school this coming school year… he knows how to count from 1-100 (which he learned in a day! the math genes baby, his genes! haha) he knows some of the alphabet.. but he doesn’t know how to read and write yet.. and he’ll be in prep (kinder 2) in June. Teaching him is easy but i’s the preparing the lesson plan that’s taking most of my time.

So we’re taking it letter by letter, incorporating phonics and writing on it. We’re starting with letters L, T, I and V. Yes, not from A, B, C.. why? well, I learned from my first born’s tutor that it is better to teach it from letters that have straight lines, starting from the easiest which is letter L. Phonics are included as pictures/ images starting with each letters are introduced. Looking for images we can use was time consuming. You see, I can’t just use any images/ pictures that starts with the letter we are working.. it has to be phonics friendly.. like we can’t use ice cream for letter I.. since we are introducing the short i sound at first, it can be confusing seeing an ice cream that starts with a long i sound. Same goes with most of the letters, like A for Apple..the ending sound will confuse the kid.. so as much as possible, I only images/pictures that have a standard (or normal) starting, ending and middle sound. More on how to teach your kids to read when Chico starts reading.

Here’s a sample of our work sheet:

Disclaimer: Images used in the worksheets are not mine.

The dotted and lined fonts, which is the highlight of this post is from Kimberly Geswein. You can download the font HERE.

The KG Primary Dots comes in 3:

This is a very helpful font in teaching your kids how to write. It is dotted and lined, just how I want it to be. Before I discovered this font, I was using a paper pad image then writing a letter on it using GIMP.. and it was time consuming! Thank goodness there’s Google and thank goodness there’s Kimberly (which I would like to call the Goddess of Fonts). I hope in time she would develop a dotted font for cursive hand writing.

Upon discovering KG’s works, I found out that she is also the artist behind some of my favorite fonts.. Love yah like a sister and a lot more.. You can find her works on her website and you can even download all her fonts from hthe site. And you can see a few of her works on her FB page.

Chico’s Diet Shift And How We Overcome It

There was a time when my two older boys would eat nothing but their favorite meals.. sinigang na hipon for my oldest and corned beef for my second. A few months after, they were back on track eating healthier food, vegetables, fruits and the likes. I think it was just a phase and thank goodness, my two older boys went through that phase without me worrying that much.

The story is different with my 3rd boy.. well you know, we had a situation before where I almost neglect him..it was kinda hard dealing with him, specially with eating.. since bumabawi ako sa kanya sa lahat ng pagkukulang ko, I have this tendency to give him what he wants.. There was a time when he’d prefer eating donut over meals o minsan naman mas gusto pa nya ang popcorn kesa kumain ng kanin..it was a hard phase.

Later on, I learned that this kind of phase is normal to kids ages four to seven years old.. it’s called the “diet shift” phase, where they develop a preference for unhealthy food and therefore, becomes at-risk of important nutrients he needs for proper growth and development. Obviously, my two older boys went through this phase too.

Medyo madugo with my 3rd son.. ang hirap niya iplease! But now, he’s better in the eating department.. through a series of experiments and close observations, I was able to handle him better. For one, I noticed that he eats a lot when our ulam is soup based or if the dish has a lot of sauce. So, I started preparing dishes that he would like, sinigang, kare-kare, menudo, and anything with sauce. Little by little, he learned to love eating more.. and though he still loves eating donut, he knows now that he can only eat those after eating his meal.

he even eats like his dad! how a true blood novo ecijano eats!

I know a lot of moms have a hard time battling this phase, here are some practical tips on how to overcome diet shift:

Know your kids, just like what I did, observe and observe. Take note of the healthy food that he likes and from there work your magic
Always make sure that you eat with your child. It will encourage him to eat better since he can see you eating, but make sure that what you are eating is healthy. This was effective with my third born, he would sit beside his dad and eat whatever his dad eats, hence he now prefers Filipino dishes (it’s daddy’s favorite!)
If your child does not like vegetables, slowly incorporate veggies on his food.. like a fried rice with a few carrots, spaghetti with more veggies.. just make sure that he won’t see the veggies.. minced everything if you can.
Establish a routine in terms of eating, do not commit the mistake of giving them snacks before meal time. Make sure that there is time for meals and time for snacks.
In terms of snacks, ask them to prepare it with you, give them healthier options like sandwich instead of chips.

Another thing that helped me overcome my 3rd son’s diet shift is the fact that his older brothers eat healthier food.. aside from his dad, he have his two kuyas to look up to in terms of eating.

The One Who Will Open The Door

This post is dedicated to my one and only princess…

I saw this story a few weeks ago in Facebook and I just can’t help but smile every time I remember this story or every time my little princess proves that it is indeed real.. read on:

A couple made a deal the night of their Marriage to NOT open the door of their room to anybody who comes knocking in the morning for any reason!
In the morning the parents of the husband came & knocked on the door, the husband & the wife were looking at each other & as they agreed before, they didn’t open the door.
After a while the parents of the bride came knocking at the door to check on them, the couple were looking at each other, then the bride dropped a tear & started crying she said: “I cannot keep them knocking & not open the door, I miss them already”The husband didn’t say anything & he let her open the door for her parents.
Years & years passed & the couple had 5 children, the first ones were boys & the 5th was a little girl, when she was born the father was extremely happy that Almighty blessed him with her, & he threw a Huge Party for her in Grand style, people were so amazed with his joy & his happiness that they asked him, why are you so happy with her more than you were before with her older brothers?
He answered simply: “She is the one who will open the door for me” Baby girls are the comfort of the eyes of their father!They hold the key to their mother’s hearts!Daughters are really unique.They care for their parents even after they are married.
Its rightly said, “A son is a son till he gets a Wife, a daughter is a daughter all her Life!”

Sweet no?

With my four kids, I noticed that it is her that is more thoughtful. When she sees me in pain, she’d rush to my side and massage my head. When I am angry, she’d kiss and hug me and would ask me to smile and stop getting mad. She’d give me water even if I don’t ask for it.. she’s always there to comfort me and make me feel alright.. even with her kuyas, she is thoughtful like that..

Oh my, she really is our angel. I am so glad (that’s an understatement) she came in to our family. And yes, until now, I sill cry whenever I remember how lucky I am for having a pretty, wonderful, loving and thoughtful princess.. which is every night .