HRH Maia & the Paper Crown Daddy made for her

Maia's dad bought a couple sets of construction paper one day and he even used the first few pieces to make little hats for our daughter and her toys.  This time around he made bigger-sized ones to make a big crown for Her Royal Highness, Maia.

For this "project", Cupid not only used construction paper, but also pens for tracing, scissors for cutting, and a stapler to hold everything together.  He would have decorated it some more but Maia took the crown away from him as soon as she saw it!

Maia's Playdate with Ernie

Hi everyone!  Who among you love Ernie from the children's show, Sesame Street?

I remember when I was a little girl, I used to prefer Bert over Ernie.  I used to think how unfair it was that Ernie always put one over Bert.  Ernie was never consistent...he was sometimes naughty but, at times, sweet.

My Maia seems to like him though.  She especially likes his unique snicker.

Hats!

My daughter Maia is now in that stage where everything is a potential "fashion accessory".  A ribbon can be a necklace; a blanket can be a scarf; her bath towel can be a shawl; and my bracelets can either be upper arm bracelets or anklets.

I don't know where she got it from, for I have "zero" fashion sense, and I do not like staying in front of the mirror too long.  I'm more of a wash-and-wear, shirt-and-leggings kind of girl.  Maia, on the other hand, prefers wearing long dresses, and from time to time, likes to wear sandals and sneakers even when she's inside the house!  There are days when she would don on her Mickey Mouse headband ALL DAY and refuses to take it off!

Maia's First TimeZone Experience

I'm posting here some photos and a couple of videos from Maia's first ever visit to TimeZone (in their branch at Techno Hub) last month.  Before this, we used to only make her go to padded play centers and gyms specifically designed for toddlers.  So it was really nice to see that my daughter was "all-game" for this new adventure.

I will admit that I wasn't "sold" on the idea, at first.  Though TimeZone is categorized as a Family Entertainment Center (FEC), just like any arcade, they can get really noisy and "busy".  So, I was worried that Maia might get overwhelmed by all the noise, and with all the "grown ups" playing, that she might throw a tantrum.  But my husband assured me that she would be okay.

An Interview and an Afternoon at the Yapyuco Family Aviary

My husband and I were asked by a family friend to be respondents to her son's college paper in Theology.  The topic was about Marriage.  The interview was held at our cousins, the Yapyucos.  Our young interviewer is in his 3rd year, and he asked about things like how we met, how we knew we would end up together, our marriage expectations, how things are now that we are parents, the responsibilities involved, and the like.  I admit that I felt a little weird about the whole thing because:  (1) Cupid and I have only been married for 4-and-a-half years, just relatively new in the game; (2) It's our first time to be telling our story "publicly" and "on print" [our responses will be included in our interviewer's Theology paper]; (3) I didn't like my marriage being the topic of discussion in a college class, and many other reasons. In short, I just felt a little uncomfortable.  But as it turned out, everything went on really well.  I think our interviewer was more nervous about asking us questions.  I don't think he has plans of getting married soon after college, after we stressed the importance of responsibility, and how there is more to marriage beyond the exchange of "I DOs". *smile* *wink!*

Christmas Shopping (Part 1?)

Cupid and I finally decided to do some christmas shopping yesterday.  First stop was at the Toys "R" Us store inside Robinson's Galleria.  It was a joy seeing Maia's eyes light up when she saw all the many toys, and more so when she got to "sample" playing with them.  She tinkered with the toy grand piano, pointed to some kiddie bicycles, slid on some slides, but spent a good part of her time banging on the Dora the Explorer drum set (I tell, you, she was a natural!).  It took a bit of effort to pry her from everything (which was expected when you put a 2-year old inside  a toy store).  But it had to be done because pretty soon she seemed to want everything she could put her hands on.  And we couldn't allow that.  We needed to think long and hard to ensure that the gift we will soon buy for Maia will be worth it and one that she will actually love and enjoy playing with.  Good thing we still have enough time to decide.

In order to actually start buying gifts, we had to take Maia and her Yaya Ann to Austin's Land, the kiddie play area inside Tom's World.  Good thing we did just that because it made Maia forget all about Toys "R" Us!  Inside were padded and water-inflated (that's right...water!) ball swims, see-saws, and slides. which just aroused my little toddler's curiosity.  She wanted to see where the water was coming and going, and wondered how come she wasn't getting wet...she kept asking her yaya, "Where's water?"  Hahaha...cute huh?! :-)

Maia's Megamall Day!

The weekend that my husband came home from Yokohama, we decided to take Maia for a stroll in SM Megamall.  We've never taken her to Dave's Fun House but finally did so that day.  Thought that she would enjoy it there since it was like a "mini" community with a grocery store, hotel, police station, hospital, burger joint and beauty parlor; and she can pretend all she want.  Boy, were we right!

Maia loved it there!  Apparently, so did her Yaya Ann.  We had to lure her with Shakey's Mojos so she would come out.

From there, we took the elevator down to the mall's activity area so we could take a look at the christmas decor.  Maia's eyes grew with curiosity and amazement.  Then pointed and shouted out, "Castle!"