30. we visited t. leah today and g 'introduced' prince eric to her. g moved around confidently in her classroom though she didn't interact much with her summer classmates. she participated on and off the group activities and constantly ran back to us (we were seated in a nook). she loved riding the swing though i continue to get nervous because she once fell backward--good thing it was a very slow fall and she didn't hit her head on the ground. she manages herself well on the slide with close supervision of the children taking turns climbing up so that they don't hit others' heads or faces while doing so.

27. g immersed herself in the many surprising, wonderful stuff that prince eric brought for her today. they played together in the sala, starting off with the minute beauty and beast castle, the bunny tray of paints and a cuddlesome beast stuffed doll (which g slept with every night). she also posed under the round glass table for a couple of dig cam shots. what a great quiet time for 'knowing each other' better :) as for me, i got two free huge dove body wash for g!

26. today, the princess met her prince! warming up in each other's company was a nice simple thing to do on an early afternoon just before taking a nap. g looked adorable pulling her portable lavander kitchen that's complete with all the cooking amenities i grappled with for the past and the coming weeks.

24. a morning wade in the pool and after-dinner buntot time at kimpura. g discovered gindara teriyaki and sukiyaki pleasing to her taste buds, but she'd rather draw with bold pentel pens (hand-me-down's from kia and danz--still with ink!), sip the watermelon shake and sit on the sofa at the waiting area.

23. g greeted everyone a sweet and nice "hi!" as she climbed down the staircase in the morning. she helped me wash some pechay tagalog leaves where we found a fat, gray, dead caterpillar. i showed g other small green rolls which maybe the caterpillar's uu. g said her fish lugaw and oatmeal mixed with mashed strawberries were "yummy! sawap!" i feel good :)

22. g visited gramps this evening after dinner. she enjoys this short trip though i can feel my upper leg and buttock muscles tear as i climb a three-storey-high staircase carrying g!!!!!

12. by this time, g makes requests about who she likes to do things with, for example, to feed her (mama iyan tsia tsia?), to bathe her (mama iyan wein-wein?), to watch tv (mama iyan watz?), to walk with outside (mama iyan blas? that's "labas" hehe), to swim (mama iyan wing? "swimming"). at times i'd answer her "yes"; at times i'd say "yaya nalang, mama has to write/go to the computer". sometimes she'd agree, at times she'd whine. g has grown adept at sitting still at the back of the car though! before driving, we'd "review" who sits in front (mama) and who sits at the back (iyan). she also knows that when the car is moving, she is to sit down and not stand up. because of that, she's gotten free trips to the drug store, grocery, fruit stands, etc.

11. i gave g an 8-piece "counting with dinosaurs" puzzle to see if she can put it together. well, she hasn't fully grasped how to work on it...or maybe it is because the puzzle pieces contained so many details such that she couldn't focus on one attribute, ex. a body part or its color, as her clue to put one piece and another piece together. before their schoolyear ended, i noted that t.leah has put out many new manipulatives for them...maybe attending the summer program for the 2's would do her well :) she also had a fun time this afternoon with the biggies imitating her every move. she was the follow-the-leader...only that she made the same actions over and over again till the biggies got bored, haha!

9. g hung out at gramps' house this afternoon. she finished a pack of vegetable sticks (ala pretzels), watched cartoons, run around the sala (slipped twice on the floor, hehe), ordered "apal jush" and posed and smiled for danya's dig cam. she found it funny seeing me on the dig cam's screen. danz took a video of me and my funny antics. now watching that 'crazy mother' file sends g giggling over and over again.

8. the biggies and i did some "spring cleaning" today--cleared the cabinets of books, sheets of paper, mementos and what-nots. it was a very busy day. g joined in the busy-ness :) she walked around carrying the long roll of plastic cover! she was thrilled to have been handed (hand-me-down) a kit of chubby pentel pens and a small drawing book!

7. it's amazing how g has easily picked up the grammatical rule for possessives. when asked whose an object is, she'd say "mama's" or "iyan's" or "atsi's". maybe she learned it through imitation but she was able to generalize the same rule in her conversations with us. her language development is growing rapidly. in fact at times she wants to speak more words than her capacities would allow her :) her three- to four-word sentences are illustrative of what she wants to convey.

6. when g wants me to do something for or with her, she'd say it. "mama wein-wein" (mama, bathe rain-rain me), "mama tsia-tsia" (mama, feed me. tsia tsia means to eat), "mama ta-ta iyan" (mama, put me to sleep. ta ta means to pat), "mama pe-pe back" (mama, scratch pe pe my back).

5. g had fun in the wading pool with zacky boy! she 'dove' and kicked her legs like "ariel" :) i learned that she stayed in it for about an hour (limit was to be 1/2 hour)

4. g tried making the 10-piece puzzle with blue and magenta dogs. she can match the same shapes but can only pronounce "circle".

3. hmmm, lola told me she offered g a cup of water from her outdoor play. g didn't like to drink from it and threw the cup on the floor. when lola told her sternly to pick it up, g pounded on the table! although yaya rina told me a different and milder version of the story, it remains an observation that the princess is turning to be a very assertive (emotional) little girl....hmmm!

2. ohmigosh! g woke up at 3.30 am and didn't get back to sleep till 5 am! she turned around and around iyan's bed then asked to be transferred to mama's bed then went back to her bed, then back to mine...3x! :P if she has my bed all to herself, she could easily sleep from one end and wake up on the other!

1. g stared at me for a few seconds when she woke up from her afternoon nap. she must've thought, "this lady looks familiar...i wonder where we met...i'ts mama!!!!!!!!" then she asked to be carried and performed attention-getting tactics like jumping, running around, laughing (fake one, hehe). i opened the box of antiquated duck sharpeners for her to play a bit ("iyan, don't throw these, ok?). she gently took each one out and put them on a step. she hugged and patted my back every now and then. isn't she really sweet?...