The Naked Barbies

July 21, 2012.


There was a bagyo (storm) that day.


The kids woke me up so early even though it was a Saturday. I had forgotten that their idea of a well spent Saturday was waking up early so they had more hours to play. No amount of explaining that I had slept at 2AM that morning would make them stop bugging me to wake up. I tried sleeping in the living room, but Ada and Téa followed me to the sala and started singing Firework. I decided to eat breakfast and told them that if I passed out on the floor not to wake me up. After breakfast, they somehow forgot to bug me, but I had already gotten over my lack of sleep. 


I remembered that a few days before that rainy Saturday, I was forced to play with naked Barbie dolls. Téa did not seem to mind that the Barbies we were playing with were all naked. But I found them so disturbing! The whole time I was playing with her, my mind kept saying, 'Cover up their freaking bodies!' I guess I am used to seeing Barbies with clothes and the only dolls that are fine when naked are real dolls. But Barbies? They look disturbing when they don't have clothes on.  They look like they just had sex or they just came out of their bath. My brain kept thinking, 'How gross is that? Téa looks like she's playing with a Barbie that just had sex with Ken.' What a thought. 

My friend's dad, Tito Mar, saw my post earlier that week on Facebook and suggested that I cover up the Barbies by putting band aids on them or by wrapping them in plastic. And I kinda did that. I went around the house looking for any kind of plastic I could use. I begged the yayas to give me old plastic bags that were clean. I grabbed the kitchen scissors and went to work on the floor of the TV room. My original plan was to just make one dress for the Barbie that Ada and  Téa  let me use. I had no intention of making plastic dresses for the other Barbies. But then, the kids saw what I was doing.

Ada: 'Uhm, what's that Tita Anna?'   

Me: 'Am making a plastic dress for my Barbie.' 

Téa: 'Let me get my Barbie. You have to make one for her too.' 

Ada: 'Mine also! She needs clothes too! Wait!'

And that is how I ended up making three plastic dresses. 

Boy, was it ever tedious! Cutting little strips of plastic, making sure the plastic stays in place and getting the plastic to cooperate with the design in my head took up so much time. Every five minutes, the girls would come by to ask me if I was done with the dresses for the Barbies. And I would be like, 'I just started! Come back later.' They would forget about it for some time, but when they remembered they were back to bugging me to work faster. The yayas thought that it was the most brilliant thing! Yaya Cora kept on checking up on me to bring me more colored plastic. I had to tell her to stop bringing me plastic because I was drowning in supplies. The news about me making plastic dresses for the Barbie dolls reached the bedroom where my Manong and Manang were. Manang Rina came out and was like, 'Anna, that is so funny!'


It was so funny! I spent half a day making three plastic dresses. I was so dizzy by the time I finished making those dresses. Ada and Téa decided to have a Barbie fashion show. I made the stupid mistake of saying, 'But only three Barbie dolls have plastic dressed. What will the others wear?' I am now commissioned to make more plastic dresses for the other Barbies until my friend Jani can hopefully find her stash of Barbie clothes. Ada and Téa promise that if I make more clothes for their Barbies they will repay my kindness with lots of kisses and hugs. Sounds like a good bargain!

Show Instead of Tell

Ada, Téa and Gusto,


Mama learned how to play Angry Birds today! 


Finally, after months of arguing with her that the game is fun, she decided to check it out. I do not know where she got the idea that Angry Birds is an angry game. Each time I tried to tell her about it, she would just say, 'No, Anna. It sounds like an angry game. How can something that sounds so angry be fun?' Of course, I would try my best to explain it to her. She would not believe me. So while we were waiting for our lunch at Batangas today, I asked Manong Renzo to let mama play some Angry Birds. And this time, she played.


To get her to somehow understand the game, Manong Renzo explained it in terms of geometry and math and science and school related stuff. On mama's first game, she lost. On her second game, she lost. On her third game, she lost. She just kept on losing, but she kept on playing it also. I dunno how she managed to win, but she did and then she moved on to the next level. I think she played the game the whole time we were waiting for our food. And that was a long time!

Three Balloons

Ada.

As soon as she saw me walking in, she got up from the little table and yelled, 'Tita Anna!' I was trying to get the three balloons through the small door. When I got to the TV room, she was already jumping up and down in anticipation. Yaya Cora said, 'Say hi first to Tita Anna and Mama and Papito.' Of course the excited Ada
could not contain herself. When I finally made my way to the TV room, the first thing she said was, 'Hi Tita Anna! Is that for us?' Duh. Who else would I get the balloons for? I nodded my head while she hugged me while the two other kids looked on.


Originally, I was planning to give her the shark because it was Téa who was into ponies. But then, the Manang Ada had other ideas. She quickly grabbed the string that was attached to the pony balloon. I tried explaining to her that I had planned to give that one to Téa and that she could have the shark. Eventually, Téa just agreed to let Ada have the pony balloon. And once Ada had the pony balloon, she forgot that she was eating lunch and ran out to the living room. I just knew that I had once again messed up her schedule as I always do. Instead of her eating and then doing her Kumon, I had made her so excited! So what did she do with the balloon? Ada danced around the living room while singing one of her made up songs.


Before Ada left for Kumon, she said, 'Tita Anna, I don't want you to leave anymore.' I found it so cute and so adorable that she did not want me to leave. I had not been in Makati for two weeks because I was sick. So I guess she really missed me so much. In fact, every Thursday, I have to remind her that I am leaving for my other house for the weekend. She hates that. And she knows that summer is almost near which means that I will not be with her for around two months. Blame the fact that I totally missed the registration for summer class. I don't know how to tell Ada that for two months I will not be sleeping with her, going to the park with her and giving her baths sometimes. I guess I'll just have to visit her 'cause I'll miss her so much!

Borrow, Please

I came home and found weird pictures in my camera.  

Tea loves borrowing my camera.