how to beat older chess opponents

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RJ's favorite bonding time with me is playing chess. I taught him how to move each of the pieces when he was 7 years old. From then on he always tries to find the time to play chess with me. Usually when he's not busy with other things or right before bedtime.

He very smart, tricky actually. He knows the right time to play when he will surely beat me. So he usually challenge me to a game of chess when he knows that I'm not in the mood to play.

But he's really good, he's very smart, there are days when I actually am in the mood to beat him in chess but he still wins. If your child is into video and handheld games, buy a chess board. It's a good exercise for the mind and a good diversion from those gadgets that kids love playing these days.

it takes a real man

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Mommy knows best. It takes a real man to wear pink.

That's my nephew T. He's a very smart boy. He was awarded  Best in Math, Best in Computer, Best in Science and Most Neat during his school's culminating activity.

He's a very obedient boy also. Look how bored he was when he and his mom went shopping for clothes for his awarding ceremony. His mom, and aunts, let him try out lots of clothes before finding the perfect one. He was so bored! But since he wants to eat out after shopping, he's smart enough to know that he has to obey his mom.

Mommy's right after all. He does look good in pink. He's the most handsome boy during the awarding ceremony.

my picky eater

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RJ is a very picky eater. Because I don't allow him to eat unhealthy food, like chips, candies and soda, I make sure that we are well-stocked with his favorite food that's not bad for his health. He doesn't like vegetables, so I'm really thankful that he loves fruits. I usually mix his fruits with yogurt because he loves that as well.

There are days when I find ways to make him eat his vegetables. Just the other day, he ate broccoli. I put steamed broccoli on a microwavable dish, put quickmelt cheese that's enough to cover the whole vegetable when it melts and then sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. He ate it! He said it's yummy.

I'm looking forward to the day when he'll eat his veggies without complaining, frowning and saying it's yuck. I want to cook more healthy food because all the fried chicken and fried fish, that he likes, are making me fat.

long airport queue, i don't like

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I was planning to spend Holy Week in the province. But the thought of going to the airport 3 hours before the flight, to avoid the long queue at the entrance and at the check-in counter, made me decide to just buy a ticket for this coming month. People in Manila are taking advantage of the weeklong celebration of Holy Week to go home, visit their families and relax in the province.

onlinehiatus

I learned my lesson when I went home during Christmas break. That's the first, and definitely the last time, that I'm going to book a flight during a holiday season. The flight was even delayed!

Hopefully we don't experience that on our flight in May. RJ is looking forward to one more month of fun before classes begin in June.

new book for my baby RJ

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Sweet Valley High, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Choose Your Own Adventure. These are the reason why I visit the school library when I was in high school. Not to study or do some research but to check if new books are available for me to borrow.

While me and RJ were browsing a second-hand bookstore one time, I found a book entitled Abracadanger. It's one of the books in the Scream Shop (Pick Your Path) series. It's just like my favorite Choose Your Own Adventure books.

The story in these book series are written from a second-person point of view. The reader makes choices that determine the main character's actions and the plot's outcome.

The Abracadanger book is RJ's current favorite. What he loves about the book is there's a different plot and ending each time he read it. And he already read the book more than 10 times!

RJ already know which book to look for next time we go book shopping.

rj's 8th birthday

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I was looking for RJ's 9th birthday pictures but I can't find a single one. I may have downloaded the pictures that's not labeled properly. I will look for it later.

Here's a post originally published on 2009 June 22:

Today is my son's 8th birthday. He asked me to wake him up at 12 midnight, so I prepared something that will make it memorable. I cut out a big "8" out of a sliced bread, the first one looked like a snowman with a small head so I made another one. I spread Hershey's syrup on the bread and this is how it looked like =)

RJ can barely sit up. He just blew the candle before the "happy birthday" song was even finished and went right back to sleep.

When I woke him up at 5am to prepare for school (service picks him up at 6am), he saw the bread with the candle and asked me if I woke him up at midnight. He didn't even remember blowing the candle =)

how to draw a flower

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My son really loves to draw. He likes drawing cars, dinosaurs, pirates, aliens and wrestlers. "It's my specialty Mama." Who am I to argue, I'm not the "artist". There are days when he does draw something that doesn't have bulky muscles. But that happens only once in a blue moon.

I found an image that shows how to draw a simple flower while I was doing my usual blog hopping this morning.


howtodrawfunnycartoons

I'm very thankful because he followed the guide and drew this nice flower for me. Something colorful for once -he likes using black pencil most of the time. He doesn't like to color his drawings so I am really happy whenever I see him color his drawings.

Afterwards, he asked if he can use my mobile phone to search for how to draw videos on youtube. He was drawing the whole morning. He found some really amazing videos that has a step to step guide on how to draw cars, trees, animals, flowers and his favorite cartoon characters.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for another fruitful day tomorrow. Hopefully, he'll find more videos that'll help him improve his God-given talent.

more famous for all the wrong reasons

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Willie Revillame is more famous than ever.

March 12 - A six-year old boy was seen dancing like a "macho dancer", Filipino slang for male stripper, on Willie Revillame's Willing Willie show at TV5. The boy was dancing suggestively, with his family encouraging him and cheering with the audience, to win 10 thousand pesos.

Even ECPAT International and UNICEF are already doing an investigation about the said incident. I don't understand why everyone is blaming Willie and TV5. I think the boy's parents had a major role in the said controversial issue.

I am not defending Willie Revillame. What he did can have a lasting bad effect on the child's emotions. It's just right that his show goes off the air. But the parents, they we're supposed to protect their child. The boy's family even encouraged him to keep dancing in exchange for money, that's not right! If offered to win the most expensive car, by letting RJ dance like a male stripper -I will say "over my dead body". Not just because RJ can't dance like that boy but because it's my responsibility, as his parent, to protect him.

 

ECPAT International - a global network of organisations and individuals working together for the elimination of child prostitution, child pornography and trafficking

UNICEF - an organization that works for children's rights, their survival, development and protection, are already  

RJ the blogger

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I wasn't able to go online this morning. Even if I wasn't busy with household chores, I still can't use my netbook anyway. RJ asked me, out of the blue while eating breakfast, if he can go online to check and update his blog. I was more than happy to let him use my netbook, if and only if he will update his blog and not play online, instead of him watching tv or playing nintendo or psp the whole day. It will help him improve his grammar and writing skills so I said yes.


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 He created his own blog a few months back but never opened it again. I was so happy that he finally decided to write his first post. He also changed his blog's layout. He's into warcraft these days so it's no surprise that he chose a warcraft theme for his blog.

I am inviting you all to please follow and link up Kid's Island. He'll get more motivated, to write everyday, if he see more followers instead of just me - his mom.

don't ever give up

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Everytime RJ feels like it's taking a long time for him to do something, he always end up saying "It's so hard". I always encourage him not to give up. This time around, I have to say that to myself. Don't give up on your blog, RJ's Mama.

I've been lazy in updating my blogs lately because I don't like the layout. I was able to find simple layouts but I'm not still satisfied with the overall look. The sidebars are so cluttered. Everytime I look at my blog, I feel like I've done a half-complete work because of the cluttered layout.

If there's a will, there's a way. I will save this coming week in fixing my blog layouts, learning more about SEO and also wordpress. 

Most people give up just when

they're about to achieve success.

They quit on the one yard line.

They give up at the last minute of the game

one foot from a winning touchdown.

~Ross Perot

my son's summer activities

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My son's school was one of the earliest to end school year 2010-2011. I made a list of summer activities for him but just as the saying goes -the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. These are his daily activities:

I bought a table easel, poster paint and lots of bond papers for him. He has a boxful of watercolors, colored pencils and crayons. I have been buying second hand art books for kids, so he has lots of those also in his bookshelf. I enrolled him in an art class, at Museo Pambata, last summer vacation but I wasn't satisfied. Although RJ did enjoy making arts and crafts, the lessons were appropriate for preschoolers and he 's already 8 years old at that time.

I've noticed that he sneezes nonstop  in the morning and easily gets cough and colds since he stopped swimming June 2010. He started swimming when he was just 2, trains with a swim team daily and has been joining swimming competitions. I didn't want him to hate swimming so I allowed him to have a swim-break for a year. Since the start of summer break he's been swimming daily again.

Basketball during weekends.

Running at night.

And we watched Kaos. If you haven't yet, do watch it. My son had so much fun watching the acrobats and magical illusions. I'm 101% sure your kids will love it too.

We will have a one month vacation in the province next month. Hopefully I can find a good tennis coach and will also enrol him in guitar and piano lessons.

 

favorite morning show

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While I'm doing my usual morning online routine (updating my blogs, checking my facebook account, and reading interesting articles online), my son is also busy eating breakfast and watching his favorite morning shows.

Supa Strikas - Disney Channel

Supa Strikas is a soccer-themed comic and animated television series about the world’s greatest football team. The comic’s global headline sponsor is Chevron (the Caltex  and Texaco brands appear on Supa Strikas’ match and training apparel). Supa Strikas combines humour, action, technology and exploration in the context of a real soccer challenge. The stories are usually positive life messages that deal with self actualization, fair play, teamwork and respect. ~wikipedia

Phineas and Ferb - Disney Channel

Phineas and Ferb is an American animated television comedy series. Originally broadcast as a preview on August 17, 2007 on Disney Channel, the series follows two kindhearted suburban stepbrothers on summer vacation. Each day the boys embark on some grand new project, which annoys their controlling sister, Candace, who tries to bust them. The series follows a standard plot system; running gags occur every episode, and the B-Plot almost always features Perry the Platypus ("Agent P"), acting as a secret agent to fight an evil scientist named Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. The two plots intersect at the end to erase all traces of the boys' project just before Candace can show it to their mother. This usually leaves Candace very frustrated. ~wikipedia

Ben10 Ultimate Alien Force - Cartoon Network

Taking place a few weeks after where Ben 10: Alien Force leaves off, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien follows the now sixteen-year-old Ben. The Omnitrix has been destroyed and Ben must learn to master the secrets of the new Ultimatrix, a gauntlet-like version of the old Omnitrix that not only gives him access to all of his original powers and abilities, but also allows him to evolve his alien forms into even stronger and even more powerful versions (called "ultimate forms"). ~wikipedia

He does watch other shows, but these are his favorite shows in the morning.

What cartoon shows does your kids watch in the morning?

top 10 house rules for kids

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When my son was in preschool, I read an article about one house rule that covers all other house rules on the face of this earth. I adapted that rule in our own house.

No Hurting

That's the one and only one rule in our house.

No hurting yourself, others and the things around you.





This one rule in our home didn't confuse RJ when he was still a little boy. Very easy for a preschooler to remember. Up to now, same rule is still followed in our house.