Alyannah's First Contest

Meet the new jigsaw puzzle world champion -- Alyannah!!

Actually, she won third place but as proud parents (not to mention stage parents, haha!), we call her the jigsaw puzzle champ! To us, she's #1 :)
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The contest was held last Sunday at Toys "R" Us in Central World Mall. Richard and Yan went to the mall to buy books -- sadly, I wasn't there to see my dear daughter's momentous feat because I was at the Platinum Mall shopping for pasalubongs, but my husband filled me in; describing the event with such passion that it almost felt like I was also there. He spotted the contest and quickly signed her up. Lakasan lang talaga ng loob for both Richard and Alyannah because she was the only foreigner among the contestants and she was the youngest! They barely understood the instructions so Richard told Yan what to do based na lang on what he understood. Well, it's a contest for kids five to 11 years old so how hard can it be, right?

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There were four elimination rounds and our little champ won in all four that's why she made it to the finals. According to Richard, the locals were also cheering for our girl because they noticed that she was the youngest. Pero syempre yung daddy ang pinakamalakas mag-cheer. Seems like the locals were impressed with our little big girl.

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Here's our champ in action...

Here's our girl receiving her prize from the mascot...




Alyannah's loot...

She won a new toy plus a gift certificate worth THB3,000 at the Ramkhamhaeng Advent International School.

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My description might look exaggerated to some -- world champion pero third place naman pala -- but to the people who know our little girl, they will agree with us 100% that joining this contest is indeed a big leap for Alyannah. She used to be shy, quiet and introverted, but now she has completely changed. She's now friendly, very talkative, very brave (although she cried a bit when she found out that she was only in third place!) and outgoing. Before, you can't make her join contests like these; you can't even force her. But now, she didn't even hesitate! She is very competitive -- sometimes to a fault, that's why she cried when she didn't get first place (paging teacher Dee and teacher Pat, how can we work around this? Hehe!).

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Every night, before we sleep, my husband and I would talk and our topic is usually about Alyannah. I'd share with him the things that she did during the day, the new things that she learned, etc. I am happy to be part of Alyannah's growing years, and I am happier to be loved by this little girl who brings so much joy in our life. She has this certain something that makes everyone around her crazy about her. My parents are crazy about Alyannah, even my relatives! They shower her with gifts and they all just want to hug and kiss her when they see her. Sometimes, when I tell Richard about Yan's achievements, I would get teary-eyed. You see, she may be my stepdaughter but I treat her as if she were my own. She may not be born from my tummy, but she was born from my heart.

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Last night, when Richard and Yan went to 7-11 to buy some groceries for the house, she bought me chocolates. She told her dad to buy me Cadbury Roasted Almond kasi daw it's my favorite. How sweet is that? I never told her about my favorites. She probably just observed it. That's how smart our little girl is! And that's how malambing she is. Everytime we'd go out, she wants to buy pasalubong for everyone. Even for our family in Manila.

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To our jigsaw puzzle world champion: your daddy and I are extremely proud of you! We love you, Alyannah!