Zoe's Moving Up Day

ISYC Father and Child Coachella at Marikina Convention Center

ISYC held its annual Father and Child Day coachella style at the Marikina Convention Center on August 9. It was loads of fun! The other moms and I agreed that this was so much more fun than the Mother and Child Day activity. 

School Snacks

Before Zoe started school, I've been researching on baon ideas for her. I want to make sure that I pack healthy meals for her instead of resorting to the usual hotdog-rice combo that most kids eat in school. Good thing that ISYC is also an advocate of healthy eating and they actually forbid processed food for snacks. Although I have yet to know what they do if they notice kids eating such all the time. For the past week and a half, here's what I've been preparing for Zoe:

- peanut butter and strawberry jelly (no sugar) sandwich
- pancakes
- seedless grapes and mandarin oranges
- homemade french fries
- cupcakes 
- cookies

I cut her sandwiches and pancakes in cute shapes using cookie cutters and she actually loves them. In fact, she always shows her snacks to her teachers before eating. 

Since I'm a working mom, I've come up with a system on how to organize Zoe's weekly menu. I prepare the menu 2weeks in advance and I shop for the ingredients. Then, I prepare most of them in advance (on the weekend) so that I would only need to reheat or to assemble them. The things I bought for the next two weeks are:

- pancake mix (in a squeeze bottle for easier cooking)
- sliced bread and spreads (Nutella, PB&J, cheese)
- corn and carrots (made from scratch)
- chicken fingers (chicken breast coated in flour, egg, and jap breading)
- San Remo mac and cheese
- assorted cupcakes, wafers, and cookies
- apples, seedless grapes, and mandarin oranges
- homemade french fries
- eggs

Here's a sample menu plan:

Mon: corn&carrots + nutella sw + sticko
Tues: rice + chicken fingers + grapes
Wed: fries + pancakes + oranges
Thurs: rice + ham + scrambled egg + knick knacks
Fri: mac n cheese + wafers + grapes

Mon: corn&carrots + pancakes + knick knacks
Tues: cheese s/w + fries + apples
Wed: rice + ham + scrambled egg + knick knacks
Thurs: nutella sw + grapes + cookies
Fri: rice + chicken fingers + oranges

This week, she will start taking the school bus by herself. It breaks my heart to do this but we've got no choice since we both have work and don't have a yaya yet. This will be a good learning experience for her but I'll ensure her safety by keeping in touch with the bus mother and her teachers. 

Zoe's First Day in School

Our preschooler :)

Preschool Orientation

Zoe's preschool orientation was held on June 7th, Saturday morning. I had a night shift schedule but I made sure to drag myself out of bed after 2 hours of nap mostly because I was so excited :)

We were given a packet as soon as we got inside the school grounds. Since we were quite early, we let Zoe play for a bit first. Afterwards, we headed to the second floor to claim her uniforms and to sit in the multipurpose hall. Zoe met another kid who was seated behind us. She introduced herself and they immediately hit it off. We were delighted to know that the girl is also her classmate, although I couldn't help but worry a little since they're both extremely talkative. Yikes.




The orientation basically discussed the contents of the handbook. An hour later, we were asked to visit the classrooms and meet their teachers. We had a chance to meet the parents of the others kids and we each shared our kid's personality and behavior. The meet and greet concluded with a snack.

Countdown to School

Last Mother's Day, we shopped for Zoe's school things just because I hate having to compete with last-minute shoppers at the mall. We actually ended up having to make three separate shopping trips because I always figure something to add to our list of necessities.

Here's a list of things that we bought for our first time preschooler:

• Crocs backpack (ordered from the US in early January)
• Florsheim leather shoes
• 6 pairs of knee high Bio Fresh socks
• 6 washcloths (to be used as hankies)
• 6 gauze diapers (as towels)
• Lock&Lock food container
• Playtex insulator cup
• hair clips and ponytails
• Spoon and fork with case
• Hello Kitty vanity pouch
• Small bottles of powder, cologne, and alcohol
• baby wipes

I also ordered customized bag tags and name stickers from Elise Ronquillo of Fun Prints Factory. Each bag tag costs P100 and the regular sized stickers are P120 for 30 pieces. She has soooo many designs to choose from that it took me days to decide.

Zoe's Pre Evaluation at ISYC

Yes, this is a late post. Zoe's pre-assessment at ISYC actually happened back in May 2nd. 

I took Zoe to her pre-assessment very early Friday. We even got there earlier than the scheduled time so Teacher Leah processed the payment validation slip first and took us to the second floor to fit Zoe's uniforms. I was told that the new stocks hadn't come in yet so I'd have to wait until end of May which is fine. She's getting four sets of uniforms which are part of the fee that we paid for. 

After fitting the uniforms, we proceeded to classroom 2 where Teacher Nina was waiting, for the assessment. I didn't even have to talk to Zoe anymore, she immediately went inside the classroom and sat on the chair. I actually felt a little bit discarded that time hahaha. Teacher Leah was amazed that Zoe didn't need coaxing nor ME inside the same room. Hmph.

So I just watched from outside and took a bit of photos. I saw them talking and Teacher Leah took out pens, strings, papers, and puzzles. They wrapped up after about 15 minutes. This was Zoe's assessment sheet and I was so proud!

School Bus Reservation

This is a month of 'reservations' for us. We've already reserved Zoe's slot at preschool so while we're at it, I also took the liberty of inquiring and reserving her seat on the school bus.

Teacher Leah, one of the directresses of ISYC, gave me the phone number of their school bus operator who lives in the same village as we do. I called her up to inquire about the rate given that my daughter is to be accompanied by her yaya daily. She said that the going rate is P2,800 which isn't pretty bad considering that this already includes the yaya. I was initially having second thoughts about sending Zoe to school through a school bus since she's too young. I didn't get to experience that myself since we had a driver who would drive us to school everyday. But Dan said it will be such a hassle for us if we have to drive Zoe to and from school everyday since we have varying schedules at work.

So anyway, I went on in reserving Zoe two seats on the school bus but I was told by the operator that there is an increase this coming school year. I hope it's not much of an increase though.