Muy Inteligente!

"An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge." (Proverbs 18:15)

The photos below were taken on our roadtrip vacation to Torrance and Palm Springs. I was just getting into facebook, so at the time, I was experimenting with giving status updates. Alas, I will not blog about it, but if a picture tells a thousand words, I'm sure you could see Naomi and us had a great time.

The blog entry below is about Naomi's smarts :) They say "Read between the lines".... well, I say: READ BETWEEN THE PICS!

CHECKING INTO THE SHADOW RIDGE RESORT IN PALM SPRINGS

It was a while back when Naomi's daycare teacher Adela first said to Richie and I, "Mimi es muy inteligente! She's very smart!" Yes, indeed, I know kids nowadays are super sponges. They learn so fast and are so aware of their environment. Technology has a lot to do with that, no doubt. I think that it's partly to do with over stimulation... there's so much to take in, but their minds learn to adapt and before you know it, they're smarter than we are! Naomi never fails to amaze me with her desire to learn and explore the world. Her memory is super sharp, too. I'm most impressed with her vocabulary... Mimi knows A LOT of words!


RISE AND SHINE WITH NAOMI AND ARABELLA

When she first started to speak, these are the words that she knew the best and said most often: Mama, Papa, Amen, woo-woo (dog), shoe, de-de (breastfeed), si (yes), bubble. For a while, those words were the only ones she said without being prompted. Naomi learned a whole swarm of other words once she started the "Your Baby Can Read" dvds. I don't remember if I mentioned that Richie and I bought the YBCR system. I first talked about being convinced here when Mimi and I had a playdate with Malaiya, who was 14 months old at the time and was reading words all the words on the dvd and even words that she had never seen before.


WITH PAPA AT THE AIR MUSEUM


HANGING OUT IN THE PLANE HANGAR

Naomi first started the Your Baby Can Read program at the beginning of August, when she was 15 mos. Since then she has watched 3 of the 5 dvds in rotation. It's been almost three months and I'm impressed with the number of words that she really knows. Her understanding of the words that she sees is just as important to me, if not more so, than her being able to "read" the word.


VISITING AUNTIE LIZ AND HER DAUGHTERS ADELINE AND CADENCE

Let's take a look at the category of "body parts." Naomi knows very well where her body parts are. If you ask her, "where's your eyes, nose, arms, etc," she'll point or touch the correct part right away. Of course, she has her moody days when she can't be bothered, but for the most part, she enjoys that game. The YBCRead also comes with word books, sliding picture cards and flashcards. Before when I showed her a flashcard, I would have to say the word first and she would repeat it after me. Now, there are several words that she knows right away and says the word out loud or performs an action: hi, wave, clap, keys, nose, mouth, ear, eyes, dog, gorilla, tiger, smiling. I'm sure there are others, and I can't won't even be able to keep track once she's talking non-stop. I will be so proud of her when she reads something totally random off a billboard or something, when I least expect it.


DADDY, CAN I BORROW YOUR HAT?


MOMMY'S TURN!

When it comes to animals, Naomi like playing the game "what does a animal say?" The animals that she knows what sound it makes are: dog "woo-woo", cow "moooo", cat "meeee", duck "wah-wah", horse- she really does a great neigh!, elephant- similar but distinguishable neigh like the horse ;). Of course, since she's bilingual, she also knows perro, vaca, gato, patito, caballo y elefante. There are a couple of animals that Mimi prefers in spanish: rana (frog)- a good deep croak!, pollito (chick) "pio-pio."


CHECKING OUT THE DUCKS "PALLITOS"


TEAM DIMALANTA IN PALM DESERT

Lately, she's been a little parrot and will copy a word that you say, with or without prompting. Her pronounciation is very clear, too... for a toddler who's not even 18 mos yet. Another thing that we've taught her that is kinda silly, is to say, "YO! SUP!" and when we ask her "How are you?" she says, "COOL." Another way that she's too smart for her own good? Me and Richie: "You're so cute and smart".... Mimi: "I KNOW!" =D


"IS NAP TIME OVER ALREADY?" Stttttrettttttch!


ARABELLA AND NAOMI ARE ALREADY "DRINKING BUDDIES" ;P

Naomi is also really good at knowing people's names. Cute story: Naomi was looking through a photo album of pics from her 1st bday while Rich and I were having dinner. She starts saying a word over and over. I look over at her and she's pointing at her cousin Josh in a photo: "Josh! Josh! Josh!" :) then she sees a pic of Dean: "Dee-dee!"

So I said, "Yes, that's Josh and Dean-Dean!" Then she starts clapping and saying "Bravo!" Cuz she knows she did good :) She's probably really proud of herself because a couple of weeks ago, Josh was the only one of the Boyz that she couldn't/wouldn't pronounce.

Then I start flipping pages and she points to her godmothers, Jasmine and Cathy (in separate pics) and says "Ninang!" (the tagalog word for godmother) Then when I asked "Who's that?, Auntieeee....?" She said "Leia"! WOW! Rich and I smiled big and she "bravo"'d herself again.


DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION AT REDONDO BEACH


ALL ABOARD!!!

Our little Princecess can even count... not all by herself, but with a little help. Believe it or not, she counts better in Spanish! For some reason, she just listens to the "uno, dos, tres" which the part I would have guessed she would know first, but instead, she chimes in from quatro through diez =)


MIMI AND BELLA HANGING OUT AT TOYS R US


IMAGINE WHEN THEY REALLY ARE SWEET 16! WATCH OUT!

One thing that I wish she didn't know so well is the names of all her fave TV shows/characters. Sometimes, she wakes up and the first thing she says is "Barney!" Once the purple dinosaur is over she asks to watch "Minnie" on Mickey Mouse Club House or "Manny" as in Disney's Handy Manny. After school, one of her favorite channels to watch is "Sprout!"... she knows how to say "Caillou", "Elmo", and she sings the Thomas the Train song. When this group of muppets called the Pajanimals comes on, she's in love! Mimi likes to sit on my lap or cuddle when their Lulluby song comes on and she sings along quietly.


THE LITTLE GENIUS CREATING HER LATEST MASTERPIECE

Pretty soon, she's gonna be combining words and then speaking sentences and then reading Harry Potter and writing book reports! EEK!

Mimi es MUY INTELIGENTE!

The Biggest Little City

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)

June 11-13, 2010

One of the best perks that I enjoy about living in California, and the Bay Area specifically, is that you can drive a few hours away from town and feel like you're going on a real vacation. So on the weekend before Richie's birthday, that's what we did. Jasmine and Ken invited us to join the Dolar family on their weekend in "The Biggest Little City" in the world: RENO =) And where is the best place to stay with the kiddies? It's CIRCUS CIRCUS, of course!

If you look very closely, right above Naomi's stroller, you can see the RENO sign in the background...

From Circus Circus Reno

If you haven't already noticed, I always take pictures of the little Princess on the bed at the hotels where we stay first thing. Before we tear the place apart ;) It's fun seeing how much bigger she's getting with each trip:



Right above the bed frame, there was a painting of some elephants and horses pulling a circus-style carriage. Naomi stood up to the picture, pointed at it, and said "Wooh, wooh!" I've heard her say wooh wooh when talking about dogs (as in woof woof) but apparently, all animals say "wooh, wooh!" I think that she was specifically looking at the horses, because when I pointed to the "horsies, like the one at home" that's when she would bark. We recently were given a darling rocking horse, that at the moment was a little too large for her to sit comfortably on top of, but she knew it was her Horsie. I love that she noticed them in the painting, too. Mimi is quite the observant little sprout. Too cute!

So, it wasn't just the three of us on this mini-vacay, we drove the mini-van with Naomi's Nana Lily and Tita Angie on board. Mimi is really sweet with all of her auntie's and uncles, but I love the special way that she smiles at Angeline. Ang can be quite shy at times, but Mimi knows how to bring a beautiful smile to both of their faces:



We were invited to celebrate the Kevin Dolar's recent graduation from nursing school - he's my bro-in-law Ken's younger brother. This was the first time that Naomi and her cousins Andrea and Meleia got to share in the games and prizes experience together. We all took turns strolling the little ones around "Midway" and winning a bunch of stuffed animals for the girls.







I usually don't play too many of the "hard" games but Richie encouraged me to try my hand at the game toss a ball into a large basket, if the ball stays in, you win a prize. I figured out the technique that worked for me and to my surprise and enjoyment, I kept winning! I lost track of how many times I won, but Naomi had two large prizes and I won several prizes for Leia and Drea, too. Who needs blackjack when you can toss a ball in a basket!



The girls had a blast playing with all of the stuffed animals. My sister really wanted to trade some of the smaller ones for larger prizes, but Andrea wasn't havin' it! The more the merrier, right? Now, I totally understand why my dad always tried to win just one jumbo prize. All of those toys are just gonna add to the mass of toys already at home, but winning them is so much fun!



My absolute favorite moment of the weekend was classic Naomi at her cutest =) I was noticing that my nieces had some duplicate toys. Jas told Drea that the girls could have up to two of any toy and if there were any extra, that Ken would trade them or they would give them to Mimi. I think I noticed that there was a small teddy bear that looked similar to Naomi's security-"baby"-bear. Jas then brought out a large plastic/garbage bag and dumped its contents on the bed. Santa Clause had just stepped into the picture: another 5 or 6 more baby bears came tumbling out of the bag. Naomi didn't skip a beat: her eyes got wider and she said loud and clear, "WOW!" No, lemme rephrase that, it was more like "WAAAAAAAAOOOOW!" Super drawn out and full of amazement =) Naomi has no idea what the super lotto is, but in her innocent eyes, she had definitely hit the JACKPOT!



The girls danced and sang along to Beyonce.
Andrea: "All the single ladies! All the single ladies!"
Meleia: "Oh-oh-oooh, oh-oh-oooh, oh-oh-oooh, oh-oh-oooh!"
Naomi: dancing and trying to sing along with her cousins!

The next day, when Naomi woke up, the first thing she said was, "oh oh oh" =) Me to anyone whose listening: Hey, did you guys hear that!? Looks like songs can get stuck in the minds of babes, too!

On Saturday night before heading back to the room, we took a pit stop/photo opp at the little stationary rides that they have in the arcade for the tykes.







Sunday morning, it was time to head back home, but not before snapping one more pic of Naomi cheezing it up on this little sail boat.

Arabella's Carnival

Many sacrifices were offered on that joyous day, for God had given the people cause for great joy. The women and children also participated in the celebration, and the joy of the people of Jerusalem could be heard far away. (Nehemiah 12:43)

Last weekend, Naomi went on another roadtrip down to LA... Torrance to be exact. We drove down to celebrate cousin Arabella's first birthday. It also happens to be Anthony's birthday, too, so a super-sized Father-Daughter festival was surely in store. Along with Tita Angie and Grandma Lily, we left the Bay Area on Friday at around 8pm and got to Torrance at about 2am. Mimi and Mama sat in the back and slept while Papa and Grandma were on a journey... not only down the I-5 but spritually as well! They talked about their faith and our Savior Jesus with open communication and the Holy Spirit present among them =)



On Saturday, we had a lovely breakfast compliments of the hotel and in the afternoon, we headed to the Carnival. From a distance we could see the giant astro jump on the front lawn. When we got to the house, we saw the face painting booth and the cotton candy machine! Guests were encouraged to dress up w/ a Brazilian or Carnival theme in mind...Grandma wore a festive costume and The Boyz were fitted in green Soccer T-shirts =)



In the backyard, not only was there tons of delicious food, but to set the mood, a Samba band was playing their instruments and singing along to Brazilian tunes. Before we got around to the Dora the Explorer pinata, two lovely Samba dancers grooved to the beat... definitely proof that this was a party just as much for Anthony as it was for Arabella! There were also two delicious cakes to enjoy. Later the Manny Pacquiao boxing fight ended the night.

From Arabella's Carnival

The next day, while Papa and the uncles golfed at the Trump Resort, we enjoyed Pink Berry frozen yogurt. Mimi was in love with the tasty delights and she was being such a sweet heart.

My favorite moments of the entire weekend had to be when Bella and Mimi were interacting together. Both babies were about to take a nap, but woke up when they realized they were in each other's presence. Arabella and Naomi started smiling at each other. They ended up wrestling playfully and it was totally a "Kodak moment." Auntie Leia and Auntie Genina grabbed their camera's and the girls were hamming it up! The Birthday Girl gently placed her arm lovingly around her baby cousin and they struck this pose for a whole minute! So CUTE!!!





The photos above are from BBM. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera at home (plugged into the charger!) Grandma Lily brought her camera, but we still have to borrow it to upload her pics. Bella's personal professional photographer was there so I will definitely add a link to those pics when its available, =)

THANKS COUSIN ARABELLA FOR A FABULOUS CARNIVAL EXPERIENCE!

I believe I can FLY!

The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach. (Revelation 12:14)

On December 28, 2009, Naomi Hope Arapeles Dimalanta made history. Okay, so maybe, I'm exaggerating a little, but the first time on an airplane is a big deal! Especially if you're only 7 and a half months old when you first fly! Sure, it took Richie and I ALL DAY packing and getting ready, but it was well worth saving the time (and torture!) of driving from the Bay to Las Vegas.

We arrived at the Oakland airport early enough for Richie and I to take turns checking in our bags. Then I had to verify Naomi's birth certificate. Fortunately, there were hardly any people there the Monday after Christmas and we made it through the security gate fairly quickly. Our flight departed at 8:50pm and we arrived at the gate just in time for "pre-boarding" (which is actually false because you board after group A... but before group B.)

Even though it was just about time for Naomi to go to sleep, she was wide awake and super excited! She was just as stoked to be on the airplane as I was =)

From Viva Las Vegas

She was such an angel baby on the flight! She shared an apple juice with me and took a tiny nap before we landed. If they didn't see her, the other passengers wouldn't have even known a baby was on the plane =) When we arrived at the Las Vegas airport, we had to take the tram to the baggage claim. The other tourists were smiling at Mimi and it was the first time I had ever seen her waving back to "strangers" who said hello!



By the time we made our way to the baggage claim, I could tell that Naomi was getting tired. But because of all of the hustle and bustle, she was fighting to keep her eyes open.



She got another wind of energy when her Ninong Craig picked us up and carried her to his van. He dropped us off at our timeshare: the Tahiti Village resort on S. Las Vegas Blvd. Once we got there, I couldn't help but take pics of the princess in her temporary home before we made a mess of everything. Here she is enjoying her new surroundings:




Then it was time to get her undressed and comfy for a good night's sleep. But not before a couple more cute photo ops and a little bit of tummy time =)






Then it was finally time for little Naomi to go to sleep her crib. I didn't have any trouble getting her down. She sure is gonna need a lot of rest for all the partying that she's gonna be doing in the upcoming week. Afterall....

WE'RE IN VEGAS, BABY!

From Viva Las Vegas

Puppie Love

Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. (Jeremiah 33:6)

Naomi has a security blanket... well, it's actually a combination of a blankie and a stuffed animal. And she has two of them. The first one that she received as a present is a purple teddy bear that has the texture of sheep skin. My dear friend Melissa gave it to Mimi because her daughter Cathleya has one just like it, but pink. For a while, the bear was the only "lovey" that I would slip into Mimi's arms while riding in the car, or tuck into the blanket while she sleeps at night.


I read an article in a magazine that another mother wrote about how traumatized her daughter was when she lost her security doll. So much that even after the original was found, the mom bought another identical doll... just in case, heaven forbid, the doll would get lost again.

That's when I decided to bring another blankie into the mix. Someone also gave Naomi a lovey at her Welcome Home party. It is a light brown dog and the fur is super soft. I've named it Puppie... at least until she decides to name it something else =)


In the beginning, she didn't really seem to even notice that they were there. Now, she really hugs them and kisses them, too! As of lately, Lovey-Bear has been hanging out in the car seat and Puppie chills out in her crib. When she starts to fuss while taking a nap, I simply nuzzle her with one of the blankies and she usually takes a whiff, holds it tight and falls back asleep. So sweet =)



Last week, Naomi got her H1N1 flu shot. She hardly cried and even smiled at the nurse once I picked her up from the examination table. It's probably because it was only one shot as opposed to three or four, but she's quite brave nevertheless. The next daywe went on a mini-vacation to Carmel. Richie had a few job sites to visit so Mimi and I came along to celebrate her 7 month bday. The last time I went with Richie to Carmel, I was pregnant. Now Naomi gets to enjoy the Carmel Mission Inn with us as a family. She's always the princess of the bed, of course!

From Carmel

It was super cold and it rained, but while it was dry, Mimi and I strolled around the quaint boutiques in the area. We also enjoyed the fireplaces at the lounge in our hotel. We were there for 3 nights and I could tell she really enjoyed being out and about. Naomi was bundled up in her turtlenecks and winter coat. She was just as bummed to leave Carmel as I was... even with her Puppie in hand to keep her company on the ride home.