Reading

Aly reading a book that she borrowed from the school library.

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I love how Aly borrows book regularly from their library.  She doesn't watch tv in the afternoons anymore because she'd rather sit on her favorite chair in the living room and read.  I love it when she does that.  I'm really impressed.  Full credit for Aly's reading habits go to my dear hubby. Richard loves to read and it's something that he taught to his princess early on.  He started buying her books even if she didn't know how to read yet; she would just look at the photos or scribble stuff on the pages.  Their nightly ritual includes reading bedtime stories no matter how tired Richard is from work.  When we're at the mall, we always stop by Kinokuniya.  Richard and Aly can spend hours browsing through the books there.  I think this is one of the best things that Richard has taught Aly.  Great job there, sweetie! :)  

Disney Live!

Aly and I went to Paragon Mall yesterday for three reasons: 1) to check the Samsonite sale; 2) to see if Lacoste is on sale; and 3) to buy tickets for the Disney Live show.

The third one is actually a surprise for Alyannah. She didn't know what was happening or what I was buying at the Thai Ticket Major booth until I told her that we will watch the Disney show on Saturday. Parang ayaw pa nya maniwala so I showed her the flyer. When she saw it, she gave me a big smile that brightened up the entire booth :) She was really happy and excited! She thanked me when we were going down the escalator. Then, when we were at the Gourmet Market, she suddenly reached up to me to hug and kiss me. Awww... I told her that she should thank her dad too.

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She asked me why we're watching the show. I told her because she's a good girl and that's what happens to good girls...their mommies and daddies surprise them with nice things.

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When we got home, she just kept staring at the flyer. Kakaaliw! Tamang-tama, she will be wearing a Cinderella costume on Halloween. Aly said she also wants to wear the costume when we watch the show. Haha! Die-hard Disney fan talaga!

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Speaking of Cinderella, I really wanted to watch Lea Salonga's Cinderella. In fact, I've been waiting for their show to arrive in Bangkok for months. Kaya lang, show dates are on 16-21 December 2008 and we'll be in Manila by that time. Sayang. Good thing there's Disney Live.

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Oh, and while we were at Thai Ticket Major, I saw this...

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Oh. My. God. I want to watch!!! Kylie! Kylie! Kylie!!!

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I hope Richard is game for KM. Not Krisan Manalo, but Kylie Minogue. Haha!

Alyannah's Reward for Being a Good Girl

Richard and I promised Alyannah that if she's a good girl, we will buy her a teddy bear at Build-A-Bear. It was actually more like a bribe just to make her eat more and faster. So now that her eating habits have improved -- she asks for more rice, second servings, eating at record time -- we had to keep our promise.

Allow me to share our Build-A-Bear Workshop experience with you.

First, you will chose what kind of stuffed animal you want. Aly chose the Beary limited edition Collectibear friend amethyst teddy in purple.

Next step was to choose a sound that will be inserted in your teddy bear. Aly wanted her bear to say I love you.

Now, it's time to stuff the bear!

To turn on the machine, all Aly needs to do is step on the pedal and the sales assistant (SA) will do the rest.

Next, you put a heart in your teddy bear and the SA will close it up.

Then, you go to the bear bath where you fluff the bear and brush the fur to make sure it's clean.

Now it's time for my favorite part! Dressing up the bear! There were so many outfits to choose from!

We got a shirt, panties and bunny shoes.

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Let's put the clothes on teddy...

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Isn't she pretty?

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While the SA is packing up Aly's new teddy bear, we'll work on her birth certificate :)

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We named her Chelsea! And she has the same birthday as lola Aple :)

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It's time to bring Chelsea home! Thank you, daddy and mommy for my new teddy bear! I love it! :)

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Sabi nga ng mommy ko, kahit ano gagawin ng mga magulang para lang kumain yung anak nila. And she's right. I think I tried all kinds of tricks, gimmicks...even minor threats like "if you don't eat fast, hindi kita isasama mag-shopping mamaya!" just to make sure that Alyannah is eating properly. Truth be told, I think Build-A-Bear is quite expensive for a stuffed toy but the big smile on Alyannah's face was worth it! Plus, the fact that she's eating well and growing up fast is truly priceless.

How (Not) To Raise an Athlete

Last week, we found ourselves at the sports section of Central Department Store. This is actually the last place that I will go to in a department store since I'm not really big on sports (that's an understatement!), but since I was with mom and dad at that time and we had a couple of hours to chill until Richard picks us up so what the heck? We saw this huge rack filled with balls of different sizes. They had soccer balls, basketballs and plastic balls with cartoon characters on them. Standing beside the rack were a couple of kids playing with the balls -- dribbling them around and stuff. So I asked my daughter Alyannah to try it for herself. Little did I know that what's about to happen will have a big impact in my career as a full-time mommy. Alas! My little girl does not know how to dribble!

My dad suggested that I should buy her a ball para matuto. In my mind, I was thinking: if I buy her a ball does that mean I should teach her how to dribble too? Gosh! Hindi ako marunong! Pwede ba turuan ko na lang sya magluto? Hehe! To get me off the hook, I just told Yan to ask her dad to buy for her -- para si Richard ang magturo! Haha!

So how did this incident have an impact on my career in "mommyness" (imbento ko lang to: this means being a mommy)? You know the saying like mother, like daughter...how the traits of the parents are supposed to somehow be reflected on their children? If this is the case, then my daughter's future in sports is doomed. As my bestfriends Pat and Ria would say about me, I hate P.E to death! Siguradong absent daw ako pag may P.E. I dunno, but I just wasn't born with the sports gene! My siblings though, know at least one sport. My brother Mick knows billiards, my sister Angel can kick ass in basketball (she used to be basketball MVP in highschool!), and my youngest brother Jofe plays basketball too. As for me, I cannot even run to save my life! Do you remember the scene in the movie The Day After Tomorrow, where the people in New York City were trying run away from the big wall of water? If I were in that situation, ako na siguro yung una sa mga nalunod. I'd rather walk briskly and risk drowning with poise and grace, than look silly running. I don't really know how I look like when I run but I figured that since my body's not accustomed to it, I probably look goofy. When my cousins and I were younger, we would play cops and robbers, agawan base and langit lupa in my lola's garden and guess who would always be it? Syempre ako kasi ako pinakamabagal tumakbo.

In spite of that bad childhood memory (don't you just hate it when you're always it? I'd rather play lutu-lutuan.), I still tried to get into sports. In gradeschool, I joined the softball club. In highschool, I joined the volleyball club (but I didn't last a month) and the taekwondo club (here I stayed longer -- too long in fact, until the whole class got promoted to yellow belt and I was the only remaining white belt so I quit). In college...oh, let's just skip that! There's nothing much to say except that I flunked almost all my P.E classes! I mean, who fails P.E? I guess ako lang. Hehe! When I was working in Highlands, I also joined the employees' volleyball tournament (I know, what was I thinking right?) and that ended up in my "If I Could Turn Back Time..." list. I tried so hard to like sports, but sports can't seem to like me back!

Just because I lack athletic skills doesn't mean Alyannah should be like me. So, when we were at Tesco Lotus last weekend, I bought her a new ball. Bahala na si Batman! I'm sure that she will eventually learn some ball handling skills -- I just hope she will not break any of my decors at home! Haha!

I took some photos of Yan playing with her new ball. Sorry if some of the photos are blurred, I haven't finished reading the manual of our new camera yet!

Look at my new Strawberry Shortcake Ball!

Ok, let's see...

Ooopssie!!

Let's try that again...

Oops again!

One more try. This time, with knees bent.

Ayayayy!

Aarrgh!

This is better (applying a technique that her daddy taught her -- bend knees, legs apart)! Wanna ba like Mike! Woohoo!

Oh my goodness!

Mommy, ang kulit naman ng ball!

Watching Yan running after the ball more than dribbling was hilarious! We ended up laughing.

Mommy, I'm tired.

Mag-modelling na lang kaya ako?

Hindi pa sya nakuntento, she put down her ball so that she can...

Dance!!

Oh well, looks like Yan's only hope is her dad -- or her titos. However, based on the photos that you've just seen, mukhang gustong mag-artista na anak ko. Haha! Patay tayo jan!