Sunday, October 7, 2007

Lessons from my Son's 1st Field Trip




The permissions slip said, " Attire: PE t-shirt and jogging pants or jeans." What is so hard to understand with that? Or am I just too neglectful and I just told the yaya, wear PE. Hans was the only one wearing shorts at his 1st outing! I didn't bring any extra shorts because I though he will be as clean as can be, having a mom beside him all throughout. Unfortunately, that's wishing for the stars! At our 1st stop at Manila Zoo, they all made a beeline for the slides. With just a few turns, the back of his red shorts was a dirty as a rag. Hay! Ano ba yan hans! Nag-slide ka pa kasi! :) Blame childhood not a mom's neglect! The other moms told, didn't you bring any extra pants? "No." "Sayang, my son's pants are too big for hans. Otherwise we would have lent it to him." "Thanks for the thought Tita." (Auggh.. it placed me notch lower than the yaya's on Skills Scale)





We've already gone to this Kinder Zoo before when Hans was just two. But it seems Hans has forgotten all about it. He's excited seeing the alligators, the snakes, keeps asking where's the elephant is. Which at the moment, doesn't feel like showing itself. There's an unexpected silence among moms, when we came to a glass cage of two Komodo Dragons (Iguanas) on top of each other, in an undoubted sexual position. The silence was broken when Hans said, "mom, he's scratching the back of the other Iguana." Good thinking Hans! Kids really love animals, no matter how the smell sticks to your shirts. No matter how many zoos you've been to. Seeing another open-mouthed alligator, or a nosy ostrich will never fail to ellicit Wows and Shrieks.





On the rented bus, they all took out their baon. The mother & daughter team beside us had hotdog sanchwiches. The mother & son behind us had chocolate chips cookies. I took out our French Baker Muffins. It's actually yummy.. and expensive ha! I was confident last night, that my son won't be able to resist them. Ooops, field trip day, Hans doesn't like them. He keeps looking at the hotdog that the other mom is feeding her daughter, and whispered to my ear, "Mom, can i have chocolate chip cookies?" "But hans! I already declined the woman's offer awhile ago!" Hay... I should have asked Yaya to cook that 1 kilo hotdog at home, and brought it with us! What else do i have in my bag? Cheetos, pretzels, jelly beans, pringles. None of which, interests his palate.


Next stop was Onstage Greenbelt to watch the play Cinderella's. There were so many kids from all other pre-schools. Buti na lang Hans' uniforms are red & white. Wouldn't be difficult to miss him!











It was Hans' 1st time to watch a play. He probably thought we were just watching a movie. But when the lights went up and a chorus of actors & actress sang in the stage, he was taken aback. "Ma!," He uttered, surprised at the turn of events and move over to my lap. From then on, he was transfixed. Buti na lang, I had told him the story of Cinderella in one of our nightime storytelling days ago. At least he can follow the follow the plot.


After the play, we had lunch at Jolibee at the mall just downstairs of the theater. I just able to converse with the moms. Most of them knew one another. They said they are more familiar with my husband Ted, since he brings Hans to school everyday. (Ya, the absentee Mom) The SAHM usually wait for the kids until dismissal time. One of the moms told me that she plans to transfer her son to montessori. Apparently due to the several number of NI. (Needs Improvement) comments her son got in the card. (What? Don't you want to think about what's wrong why he's getting that instead of just tranferring him to another school?)
She said that her son just turned 4, it was his 1st time to be in school. He's not yet as behaved as the others. She said the school should base their gradings on the learning alone not behavior. (gosh, this is just playschool! should isn't this the time to teach kids how to behave? )
Next we went to the Science Centrum in Marikina City. After our visit to the Palace of Arts & Science in San Francisco, CA; this visit to the local copy is really, really disappointing. The place is so hot! There's no ventilation. The displays are dirty. They scheduled field trips at the same time. There were lots of sweaty, rowdy elementary students. It's noisy. Hans is also bored. Good thing that they have this air-conditioned & carpeted area for the younger kids. There was a wall for climbing & I was amazed at how hans was really good at it. He's strong & climbed until the top most! So much energy...

After the dismal Science Centrum, we walked towards the mall to view the Biggest Shoe in the World. It's displayed at a shoe store who sponsored the shoe. They're huge. The kids had fun sliding down to it. Until we were asked to stop! It's an exhibit not a little tykes slide!

We went home.. tired.

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