Frugal Finds at Merriam and Webster

Thank God it's June! I never thought that I'd actually hope for June to come. Normally I'd wish for summer to last forever and really hope that the month of June (er... back-to-school dread) never to come. Needless to say, we had a busy month of May.   

Anyway, I had a "blast from the past" moment when I stepped in Merriam and Webster Bookstore along Morayta Avenue a few days ago. Flashbacks of my college days at the U-belt area came to me as the sight and scent old books, intermediate pad paper as well as whiffs of dust greeted me on the first floor of the building. 

Holy time warp! I haven't seen watercolor like this (not even in National Bookstore -- or maybe I wasn't just looking) since grade school.

The old lady standing beside me probably thought I was crazy for almost knocking over a basket of rolled wrapping paper as I rushed towards the far end of the 2nd floor. Lo and behold -- shelves and shelves of Stryrofoam letters! I got a little carried away, and yes, even a little tachcardic. I have been planning on creating an alphabet wall since the day I bought ceramic letters from Uniwide. These styro letters come in either upper or lower case sets, script or print. The price essentially depends on its size, between P4.00 to P19.00.   

I also found more books to add to my children's dentist book collection. Alonzo favors the "Maisy, Charley and the Wobbly Tooth" over "Titus's Troublesome Tooth". He didn't particularly like how Titus' tooth fell off when he hit his head on a gate. While the former book gave me a chance to introduce to him the concept of how a baby tooth will eventually fall off and be replaced by a big tooth when he gets older. Understandably, he was excited about the concept of the tooth fairy. "Mama, the tooth fairy is a santa who is a dentist", he told me after explaining the story to him. 

I've been back to the bookstore two times after my first visit and got 2 more books for Alonzo. Too bad, they don't re-stock that often. I should remind myself to lengthen the time between visits.

Children's Book for Moms

This may be a late Mother's day post but I am excited to let you know about these 2 Filipino children's books for moms that I realy like.

 

 

This first one is "Hold on Tight" by Peachy Conception.

I bought this before I even became a mom. It is such an endearing and touching story about a mom who suddenly realizes that her son is all grown up.

 

The other book is "Inay, Inaay Ko!" by Segundo Matias.

The story revolves around a boy who wonders to himself why his friends always cry out for their moms. He suddenly finds himself shouting out for his own mom when his school gets all flooded and was put in danger.  

 

I tried to read both books to Alonzo but he said that the stories makes him sad. The little guy is becoming more and more expressive of his feelings right now. He tells us that riding his bike makes him happy and that he gets upset whenever his friends play with his toys without asking.

 

I have a couple of books lined up for me to read to him. At the moment he loves to stick to his favorites: "Guess How Much I Love You", "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom", "I Like It When", etc.. and I could not get past the first few pages of the books I want to introduce to him.   

"The Gruffalo" by Julia Donaldson and "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" by Judi Barrett, he said, make him scared while 

Virginia Lee Burton's "The Little House", Don Freeman's "Curduroy" make him sad. I find it amazing how books could affect a child's emotion.

Hmm...I wonder what "A Wrinkle in Time" would make him feel?

 

Potty Training

Our first attempt at potty training or potty learning (as Montessori suggests) was when Alonzo turned 24 months. 

For that, I collected a couple of potty books, took his potties out in advance (to make him more familliar with it) and purchased several pairs of "big boy underpants".

All of these are book sale finds!



My favorite potty book!



Alonzo will be turning 29 months this month and still refuses to use the potty. At the moment, Alonzo doesn't show readiness to let go of his nappy.

 He has 3 potties but only uses them as chairs for his toys. Believe me, we tried everything to convince him. We take him with us to the toilet to show him how its done. All he wants to do is flush the toilet for us!

I also resorted to borrowing his cousin's Baby Alive doll.  Not even his Lego has escaped the opportunity to show him how to use the toilet. What can I say? The little guy stands firm and is not the slightest bit persuaded.

Lego man using the toilet and bidet

What else have we haven't tried? Hypnotism???
Any other suggestions?

Books and Stones

It has been extremely hot these past few days. I could just easily lock myself and my little ruffian toddler inside the room and turn the air-con full at blast.

Tough luck.

The little guy is an outdoor person and prefers to bake under the sun (at 1 p.m.!) while playing with his toys or doing whatever. If I keep him inside he'll get cranky.

And guess who gets cranky NEXT??? 

So anyway, between the peak of heat until around 4 p.m. when its (hopefully) shady enough at the street for a stroll or bike ride, we stay outside in the garden. There Alonzo happily plays with his toys, "cuts" the grass and waters the plants, plays hopscotch, terrorizes Lolo's pet bird, bullies the dog, draws different shapes on the pavement with a chalk-y stone, rearrange all the slippers at the doorstep, touch the makahiya and watch it fold (also called touch-me-not plant). When he gets bored he'll ask me to read him a story.    

His current favorite books at the moment are "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel" by Virginia Lee Burton and "Owl Babies" by Martin Waddel (Thanks, Maqui and Aki for this!)

I try to be more creative when it comes to story telling. It may seem silly but there are times when some of his stuffed toys are arranged and seated in a row on the play mat with Alonzo at the center as I read to "them" a book. Facial expressions and funny voices are obligatory! hahaha! (will seach for photos in my file)

So anyway, one day while we were outside I ad-libbed the Owl Babies story and used drew on a couple of accent stones from the garden and used them as my "props". 

top 100 children's books of all time!

Maqui's blog post got me all excited. For those who do not know, I have been collecting children's books years before I had a baby. Although majority of the books are about teeth or dentists I have also acquired several books that I thought my future child would love and therefore, do not necessarily fall under the former category. 

We have 8 books out of the 100 on the list. Five out the the ones we have were bought for a fraction of the original price (hurray for Booksale!). 

I really regret now more than ever that I have lost several of my books because of the Ondoy flood 2 years ago. Among those that were lost are "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle and "Someday" by Alison McGhee (even had a special order for this from Power Books!) Hopefully, I could replace those books soon and I'm crossing fingers that those titles find their way to my favorite Booksale branch :)

I am quite surprised, though, that "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery didnt make it the top 100. Anyway, list or no list my son's favorite bedtime read at the moment is "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown and I absolutely adore "How to Catch a Star" by  Oliver Jeffers (thanks Chloe!) and "I Already know I Love You" by Billy Crystal.

extreme parenting

i chanced upon my sister's old comic book, "Xtreme Parenting" by Jerry Scott , a compilation of my favorite Baby Blues comic strip. i have been a fan of Baby Blues since the mid-90's! i have read this book several times over but never before having a baby. now that i'm a mom i enjoyed re-reading it even more!

here are a few of my favorite lines:

"watching your kids grow is like having front row seats to the greatest show in the world...and its only 11 years till the next intermission"

"educational toys are such a rip-off...the truth is all toys hurt the same when you step on them bare foot in the middle of the night"

" the dullest day of being a kid is the more exciting than the best day of being a grown up"

and this is my favorite one of all...

"when you have kids the years are short but the days are long"

so true! who knew comic strips could be so insightful?

children's book collection

i've been collecting children's books for more than 10 years now ---- way before i got married and had a baby. the books are all about teeth or dentists. this isnt the entire collection as i have given some away to friends while others were borrowed by patients (and never returned!). my favorites are "ay, may bukbuk ang ipin ni ani" (ani has a bad tooth) by luis gatmaitan and "magnificent benito and his two front teeth" by augie rivera.

this is the most recent one that i bought from book sale. i don't consider these books mine anymore. they all now belong to my toddler. hopefully, these would be enough to encourage the little guy to brush his teeth!