Zia at 5

My eldest daughter is growing so fast. At present she's enrolled still at Montessori de Manila as a Senior Casa student. Last week, Judith and I received her report card and we talked with her teacher, Teacher Asian.

Zia according to her teacher is a very good student. She finishes her tasks well and right, she is an advanced reader for her age and she enjoys singing and dancing. However she still often wanders around specially if her tasks bore her.

She has finished her occupational therapy sessions last May, and her recent assessment from her developmental pediatrician showed her development stage is at par with her age.

She enjoys dancing, she likes to listen to my music collections and would play them to my computer and phone over and over. Early this year, her favorites were Abba songs, then Michael Jackson songs, then she discovered MTV, and would dance to the pop songs in front of the TV. At present, she enjoys Usher, Justin Bieber, Super Junior, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and other danceable tunes of other artists.

Because we have exposed her to different books, she enjoys reading very much. She writes better now and she colors her books adequately. She can count in English, Tagalog and Spanish. She has a very sweet laugh but she does her usual drama once in a while.

Enzo is her sparring partner, they have a very good relationship. She is very accommodating to him, very Ate. Sometime she manipulates him to get what she wants, but she is very giving.

Since Iza was born, Zia and Enzo are sleeping with me in a different room with Judith and Iza. Zia is very Ate as well with Iza. Once Iza cries, she calls at once one of the yayas or either me or Judith. She always do gigil with her and kisses her all the time.

Her allergy still nags her almost daily. Her rhinitis makes her sneeze every morning, sometimes eczema is present on the back of her knees and her neck. She had 2 asthma attacks this year.

She bikes during afternoons or play in the lawn with Enzo. She even climbs a small tree in our lawn. At night, before we sleep in our room, Zia, Enzo and me have a routine wherein after they finish their milk and toothbrush, we play horsey, hayan na si Papa, and tickletime. Once the lights are off, we will watch their favorite video in my phone then it's storytime! I tell them short stories, usually made-up stories with simple lessons for them to remember. We've been doing these for the past 3 months, since Iza was born, and I've never felt so close to my 2 older kids. I can't wait til Iza joins our party!