The Apple Of My Eye

Last Friday was my sister’s birthday, and I had a chance to chat with her for a good half an hour. The whole time we were talking, I kept hearing my niece on the background screaming for “Mommy”. My sister passed on the phone to her to talk to Tita & she just blabbed to me for a good minute. I was laughing so hard after our short dialogue.

The last time I saw my niece was January 2007, a few days before we flew back to Dubai. A couple of days after we arrived to Manila for our wedding in 2006, Ryan & I borrowed Ysha for a whole weekend so that the eager Tita could spend quality time with the princess. She was a year & a half then. I was so thrilled having a toddler around the house walking and running and making us lose sleep at night…LOL! She was a fairly good girl -- not picking out the Christmas balls from the tree and quite careful not to topple any other decors in the house. She was just happy she had big space all to herself where she could run and stretch those little legs.

She also discovered the joy of live music since Ryan’s family owned a drum set and a few other musical instruments to complete a rock band. Ysha greatly enjoyed the pulsating sound from banging the drums. and the Tita just had to take pictures!

give me a beat, baby

On a Saturday afternoon, we brought her to the mall to let her enjoy the rides at the Quantum Amusement Center. I can’t say she loved the whole experience because she was obviously so bored to death with most of the rides she’s gone for.

Exhibit A:

She hated the carousel!! Too unexciting for her. I tried to persuade her to smile for the camera, but I guess you can’t force a little imp to flash on her bright chompers especially when she’s uninterested with what she’s doing. She couldn't wait to get out of it, I tell you!

We moved to the other side of the mall to see what other rides and attractions for kids are available. Because it’s the weekend, a lot of families are in the amusement section so most of the kiddie rides were taken. We opted to have her hop on this cute little car, which was a bumpy ride that jerks from front to back while swaying from side to side. I had to hold her firmly, afraid that she might get scared, or worse, fall off the ground. Surprisingly, she liked the car ride so much! We took her to try the others but the only other ride she liked was the elephant ride, and the rest she was extremely bored with. She kept picking out the first car she’s ridden. She literally hogged the car, not giving the other kids a chance to try the ride. The girl wanted something that would elicit excitement not some kind of melancholic ride that most girls would want. When we got home later that evening, she was totally knocked out!

With all these reminiscing about the little miss pretty, I’m starting to miss her even more. She’s definitely my ultimate favorite niece in the world (well, she’s the only one, anyway so she wins by default!) and when we come and see her on December, I promise we’d gad about and enjoy lots of fun time under the sun, too. For now, I’ll have to prepare all my loots for her. From my list of Christmas gifts to my family, she’s the only one getting 10 gifts from me :)