First Illustrated Story Book

A couple of days ago, at bedtime, she surprised us with this storybook that she had put together that day. It always amazes me how detailed her drawings can be. And for the first time, she attempted to put together a storybook (about Barbie, which is her current favorite toy). 

Last summer we made a storybook about Little Bear but I was mainly the one who did the storyline. I did that to practice her use of several sight words that they are learning in school then. But now, this was entirely hers. All of it a product of her creativity. When she's at home, you'd find her sprawled in our living room floor (with scratch papers, pens and pencils scattered around her), lost in her world of drawings. And this the first compilation of those drawings and it came with a story to boot!

Good job, Maia. Keep doing what you love to do! 

Our Amazing Spider-Kid

There were several web-ropes like this around the Fun farm but this particular web-rope was inside the sand play area so the kids could just go ahead and climb when they get bored digging. For the little miss, we didn't really expect much as she has recently developed a slight fear of heights. I say slight because it really doesn't occur often but when it does she would really freeze up and refuse to move. 

This web-rope (sorry for the rather weird sounding term, i had to make something up as I really don't have a clue what it's called) went all the way up to the play area's ceiling and it was already quite high per our standards. We were quite surprised when the little miss stood at the bottom of it and started climbing. The daddy was hesitant to let her go at first but soon realized it was pretty safe so he eventually caved in and just watched and cheered his kid on by the sidelines. 

This really made me proud and I thought I should make a separate post of it for her to read later on. Maybe it can even inspire her when she's older. I sure hope it would!

Maia's Favorite: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

I like to read. As a kid, I learned to love reading because my parents surrounded us with books (albeit, historical books mostly). So I wanted to impart that to my little girl and I wanted to start by doing just what my parents did on us. Sadly, I would later realize I know nothing about kiddie books (i love To Kill A Mockingbird and thought it could be Maia's first real book but then again...maybe later when she actually learns to read). So one day, I went to a local bookstore to do my research. I skipped those that were on popular cartoon characters. I wanted the kid to love reading not because it was about a popular character. I wanted her to be attracted to reading because it was fun and interesting (and maybe because she's also learning but I wouldn't want to force that on her yet). 

As I entered the children's section, this entire row of interestingly illustrated books caught my fancy. They were Eric Carle books. I randomly picked a book to browse. Apart from liking how simple but appealing the stories were, I was really drawn to the illustrations. I then vowed to start hunting for his books on every Book Sale store that I'd visit since I don't think my wallet will every have the heart to spare for first hand books (unless they  go on uber-bagsak presyo prices). However, the opportunity to visit a Book Sale branch became a rare treat for me. One time while going through the Book Depository site, I chanced upon a small (tiny is probably a better fit) hardbound The Very Hungry Caterpillar that fit my budget (read: close to Booksale price). I immediately placed an order (hooray for free shipping) and eagerly anticipated it's arrival. The book took a long time to get to us (again, hooray for free shipping) but when it arrived I just knew (from the look on her face), it was love at first sight for our little miss reader.

Maia's precious The Very Hungry Caterpillar book(let)

So after the Puppy Dog, this particular book became a bedtime reading staple for us. Staple in the sense that just like the Puppy Dog book, I already memorized it page by page and could tell it even with my eyes closed. But of course, every story time I will still need to pretend like I was reading. I didn't realize that Maia also memorized it already. Story time have since become a rare bonding activity for us since I would usually come home to a sleeping little girl (explains why most of my stories are during mornings). So imagine my delight when I heard her telling this story to a caterpillar that we saw in our Calamansi tree this afternoon. 


Dearest Maia,
When you're older, I hope you enjoy viewing this video. Daddy and I were filled with pride while listening to you while you 'read' your favorite book today. Keep telling stories. Even if only a few are willing to listen. 

(posted this on facebook with this caption: We found a caterpillar and an empty cocoon while checking on the plants in the garden this morning. She rushed in to get her favorite Eric Carle book and went back outside. A few mins after, Tibs and I can hear her converse audibly in english only to realize she was actually reciting(describing) the book page per page from memory. I hurriedly went outside to capture her on video. she didn't seem to mind. she was too engrossed to even stop me from taking her video (she becomes extremely shy when we attempt to take videos of her in intimate moments like this)

A Happy Friday Post

I was scouring my brains for something nice to post today. Some cheerful mommy news to perk up the remaining hours of Friday and as a sort of joyful welcome for the weekend. But it's been hours...and I came up with NONE. NADA. NIL. 

So I'm just going to call it a day and squeeze myself into Maia's little space on the floor and shower her with kisses while she's deep in slumber. Ate Inday told us it has been an awfully tiring day for her having foregone naptime to spend a full afternoon doodling and playing with her village bff, Shea. She's probably even snoring in there and that would be fun to listen to. The snores are a rare treat for me and her dad because those always remind us that she played like real kids do during the day. And that's exactly how we always like her days to be. 

Since Monday, she's been looking forward to spending the weekend with us so we planned for another lazy family day for our Saturday. We're probably going to hang a DO NOT DISTURB sign on our door tomorrow so don't bother knocking okay? This household is going to be busy being lazy tomorrow!

Have a great weekend everyone! Leaving you with Maia's version of Barney's I Love You song (plus a bonus track lolz)