Each time we go to a shopping mall, Shaynna loves to go to the shoes and clothes department more than the toys‘ section. She had never earnestly asked me to buy something until she saw this cute little puppy moving forth then back while barking on top of a table:

I don’t want to spoil her so at times, I just tell her that mommy doesn’t have money anymore. But then I realized that I had never bought her something like this before! So we grabbed two puppies, one for her and the other for her 2-year old cousin. Look how delighted she was…

God knows how I want to take Shaynna with me to wherever I go. Thanks to the constant sale of air tickets to and from Singapore. Shaynna is finally here to visit me! I still cannot afford to make her stay here for good, but this visit is already a huge thing not only for her, but me. It was her first time to board a plane and to get out of the country. Our flight from Manila to Singapore was at 4 o’clock in the morning. I forced her to take a nap the day before our early flight and I was glad I did. Out of extreme excited, she didn’t sleep nor take a nap hours before the flight, ignoring all my dark eye circles threat. Here she is fighting off sleepiness while in the boarding gate:

She was still wide awake a few minutes after take off
Then here she is until we stepped foot in Singapore

I used to love chocolates (I no longer do). When I was still a child, my parents “bribed” us with chocolates. Even the cheap bars could lighten me up. But my favorite were the chocolate gold coins, so I was pretty sure that Shaynna would love them, too. But I was wrong. I don’t know if I would be relieved or not, but Shaynna just does not like chocolates. She just loves the look of the gold coins that she doesn’t want to eat them! Here she is looking like someone who has just won the lottery.

One of my goals during Shaynna’s visit was to make her eat a lot and gain weight. But it is so hard changing her appetite. I made her eat my food of indulgence, all those fattening food, to no avail. I just could not get what types of food she likes. Well, there’s the gyudon from Yoshinoya but after a few meals of gyudon, I think I’m gonna throw up. It wouldn’t help also if I just eat fruits and make her eat a lot of something different. I have to “show” her. The result? My mother, my sister and I gained weight! If I could only find food that burns fat, I would have eaten a lot of it while making Shaynna eat the fattening ones.

My mother, sister, and Shaynna have been here with me in Singapore for three weeks now. I would say that my routine has changed drastically. I have to be at the office on or before 9AM so that I could go out at 6PM and take the company bus home. Do fun things with my daughter before preparing for bed. On weekends, I take them to places here in Singapore that would appear interesting to them. I definitely don’t have time to read blog or read about weight loss supplement reviews. Despite having my hands full, it is so much fun that I don’t want to let them go home next week. I’ll definitely miss her and our bonding moments.

Time flies so fast.  I could not believe that it’s almost been 6 years since Shaynna came to my life.   My daughter is turning 6 in October. I now seldom take trips to the baby clothes section each time I go to a shopping mall. Now, Shaynna chooses which dress she wants. The final decision still falls on me, but I do hope that she will still go shopping with me and ask my opinion in the future. Anyway, our company’s annual Dinner and Dance is over. Will talk about that embarrassing event later. I did buy a cheongsam for the party because the theme was Shanghai Night. When Shaynna saw the dress, she wanted to have one, too.  I bought one for her and here she is, so comfortable in front of a camera:

The school year is almost over in the Philippines and I’m looking at few activity options for Shaynna during summer break. She once asked me if she could join in one of those ballet dance lessons. She might have been bored last summer, but what attracted her most to ballet is the tutu! She even asked me to buy her one when she saw some tutus at the mall. If I were to decide, I would love her to take some horse-back riding lessons. Little girls really look good in an equestrian apparel! Unfortunately, there’s no such lesson offered in my hometown and if there were, it’s definitely costly. So I am left with: ballet, piano, painting, or swimming lesson. But for Shaynna, it’s definitely the one with the tutus.

Shaynna knew how to operate the DVD player since she was three years old. If you are busy and you want to prevent her from following you around, then tell her to watch cartoons. It’s like Sponge Bob revolution at home, because Sponge Bob is her favorite and Kiera’s (my niece), too! Dora and Barbie are also their favorites. But sometimes, I blame these cartoons because I often have a hard time answering Shaynna’s questions. She asked me why the sun (the real sun) is not smiling, while in Dora it is alive. Or, is the sun a male or female? How about the moon? Or why is sponge bob alive when he is just a sponge? At least in Barbie, she learned some songs.

Preferences do change. When I was in highschool, I prefer to act more feminine. I love what most girls want: jewelries. Then I entered the university. Exposed to male-dominated student population, it is hard not to act a bit tough. So I shed off some of the things I liked. From then on, I took off earrings, bracelets and rings from my normal getup. I also started to prefer pants over skirts.

My little Shaynna is undergoing the same thing. As of now, she’s really a girlie girl that all the things she wants as gift are colored pink or red. When I recently asked her what she wants for Christmas, the first thing that she blurted out was: pink-colored necklace! Now, where shall I look for that? When she grows older, maybe she’ll prefer something like the ones at Couture Jewelry. Maybe by the time she’s a teenager, she’s done with anything pink and shift to blue. We’ll see…