Sunday, April 18, 2010

Another 2 months to 2 years

Marissa is now 22 months! She's still very petite and can still fit into some of her Gymboree 12-18 months clothing. Her height is about 82cm and weight is about 10kg.
She loves singing nursery rhymes and whatever songs she hears on CD or TV. She recognizes most colors and a few numbers/alphabets. She's more and more vocal now and speaks in sentences.

Some of the activities that she likes include finger painting, drawing, coloring, playing with her brother's toys and reading. She's quite jealous of her brother because whenever I read a story to Evan, she will be pushing him away so that she can get some attention for herself. She is also capable of pulling Evan's hair when she is displeased plus she can scream and cry to draw attention to herself.

She loves to go walk-walk and she still loves to nen-nen - don't know when she will stop..... my production is very low now.... hopefully she will self-wean when she's two. However, she's not a fan of formula milk - my MIL has to force her to drink up whenever I go to work.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Afternoon Nap



Evan fell asleep while reading Manga Mutiny (Manga style bible on Genesis & Exodus). He was reading about Adam and Eve. Under the blankie, he's only clad in his underwear.... I guess he wanted to be like Adam in the book.

He reads his manga bibles every night with Hubby before sleeping and during the afternoon, he will read his manga bible on his own before taking his nap.

Friday, April 16, 2010

35 years old

Hubby's 35th birthday dinner celebration at Jack's Place, 1 Utama! Evan ate fish and chips & drank orange juice. He even ate french beans and carrots  like he was being fed poison. Anyway he soon reaped his reward of a single scoop strawberry ice cream which he walloped so fast that we didn't get the opportunity to nag him to finish it.
The birthday boy had steak that came with a very delicious baked potato.... and myself - Jack's special fried rice with egg which I shared with Marissa. She ate quite a bit of the complimentary garilc bread.

After dinner, we went shopping at Parkson Grand using vouchers redeemed from Bonuslink points. 
Then, we had dessert at home - french vanilla millecrepe from Humble Beginnings. Got this at a special promotion rate of RM31.00 (50% off regular price).

Hubby loves the texture of the cake. I like it too - something different. Lastly, it was present-opening time - sorry no pic - maybe next time.....
 

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Strega Nona


I bought a few books by Tomie dePaola sometime ago for Marissa and Evan. The books are a series featuring Strega Nona. Marissa loves listening to the stories of Strega Nona. On the other hand, Evan wasn't that keen. Oh well, he is very content with his Manga Metamorphosis & Manga Mutiny books.


As for me, I am sooooo into the cute illustrations and stories! I love all the illustrations by Tomie dePaola in all his books! Feel like collecting all of them! 

In case you are wondering....Strega is the Italian word for witch. Strega Nona is actually a 'grandma witch' beloved by the townsfolk of Calabria (a region in southern Italy). Strega Nona provides relief for headaches, cures warts on noses and restores hair to bald heads. She also helps in matchmaking young girls and boys of marriageable age. 

Strega Nona owns a magic pasta pot inherited from her Grandma Concetta who was also a strega. Big Anthony is her helper who tends to the goats and feeds the peacock. He is a very forgetful and silly person - and he gets into trouble whenever he doesn't pay attention. The illustration below shows Big Anthony serving pasta from the magic pasta pot.

All the stories contain common Italian words and most importantly there's a lesson to be learnt.



The books in our collection :
 Strega Nona (Caldecott Medal Book 1979) Paperback Edition

Strega Nona Takes a Vacation - Hardcover edition

 Strega Nona Meets Her Match - Hardcover Edition

Big Anthony His Story - Hardcover Edition

Strega Nona Her Story - Paperback Edition

 Strega Nona's Magic Lessons

These other titles are on our wishlist :
Strega Nona's Harvest

Big Anthony and the Magic Ring

Brava Strega Nona! A Pop-up Book

Merry Christmas Strega Nona