Guess Who’s Come to Stay?

I told my friends Cynch, Allen, and Anna  that I wasn’t going to buy any new Hello Kitty dolls, and when I told them that, I meant every word I said.

I did, honest.

After all, I have enough Build A Bear Hello Kitty dolls (and her friends) to keep me company. How many more did I really need?

Of course, A♥ always makes me eat humble pie…

because guess what came in the mail over the weekend?

18-inch PInk Hello Kitty in black sequinned dress and 18-inch Halloweem Fun orange Hello Kitty

*squeals*

Meet Pink and Orange, my newest Build A Bear dolls. I thought I would hate them (I told Cynch that the patterns distract me) but I guess it’s true. Nothing given with love is ever unloved. So, distracting or not, these patterned, colored Kitties get a new mommy!

Thank you, dear A♥, for the surprise! I love that you love to bring out the child in me.

And before I end this post, of course, I do have to share a photo of my gorgeous Hello Kitty friends. I borrowed it, with permission, from Anna.

Thank you, Anna, Allen, and Cynch for the wonderful time I spent with you.  We should do it again soon. Hugs!

When You Sleep With Kitty…

I didn’t sleep too well last night. The bed felt too cramped and overcrowded. I could not find a decent position that allowed for REMs to come on. Besides, after bruising my arm and left knee from a hard fall the other day (I tripped on uneven ground and landed on one knee but the momentum pushed my head down till I almost scraped the ground with my face; luckily, my right forearm broke the fall), some parts of my body still feel sore.

Of course, it doesnt help that when you sleep with Hello Kitty…

Kittymama's Hello Kitty Build-A-Bear Collection

you sleep with all her friends too.

Some of them don’t even take their shoes off. *Ouch.*

The Mini- Reveal

I only have a few minutes in front of the PC as our household is shorthanded these past few days. Two nannies are in the hospital right now; one is sick and the other serves as bantay (literal translation: watcher or guard). Since I am unable to leave Alphonse for long stretches of time, I call them regularly to check on their needs and visit daily to bring food and clothing.  With our household decimated and short of manpower, we’ve had to do a lot of double-casting and role reassignments. Alphonse senses something is amiss in our home, and as such, feels very unsettled and insecure, sometimes even acting out. So even as I worry about the nannies in the hospital, I have to be on my toes with Alphonse all the time.

With the flurry of events overwhelming the entire household, we all seem to have very little time to destress. I am taking my little window of Me time right now with a little cake (itty-bitty, Mommy, I promise!) and coffee. As you can see above, my sweet husband also gave me Kitty cake from BreadTalk. It was bee-yoo-ti-ful! We tried to hold off eating it till the last possible moment, but the kids insisted that cake is always their territory. I saved the ribbon for today and while I am waiting for the spaghetti sauce to simmer, I savor these few moments of relaxation.

I did finally get the boxes opened and boy, were they everything I wanted and more! Unfortunately, I haven’t had enough time to sort them out and take lots of pictures. Late last night, when everyone was asleep, I got some photos sorted out, resized, and labeled. I hope you all bear with me as I do a mini-reveal first. I’ll try to update as often as I can get pictures loaded.

My Sanrio friends are here!  These three furry Build-A-Bear creatures jumped right out of the box upon opening. I can’t believe they endured all that time in that stuffy brown box. They were squished and a little manhandled so they were not too friendly at first, but a little kiss for the booboos made them a lot more friendly.  Everyone, I introduce you to KerokeroP-Noy, Jejocat, and Mai (as in Mai Melody, haha, this play on My Melody’s name courtesy of Alex- thank you, baby).

 A didn’t get me Hello Kitty anymore because the new Kitty was virtually the same as the last one, but he did get me new clothing for her.  Aside from the leopard print PJs (rawr!), Kitty got the ruffle tee, the tropical tank top, an extra 35th anniversary shirt, and another 35th anniversary dress. You can also see the bag clips that he bought extra (BAB did not give the freebie clips and it was too late to complain about it, the box having traveled all the way to Manila by then).

I only have one more picture in this lot and these gifts did not come wrapped. These were just there the next day, the way they seem to magically appear before me, haha. It seems I only have to think a thought and voila! There they were!  

Seriously though, I love that my husband outdoes himself each time. Not only that, he gives them with such flair that I never really know what to expect. Some girls get petals on the bed and candles on the tub; I get magic boxes strewn around me. Best of all, I love that he loves me still, today, 19 years after, with warts and all (figurative warts, mind you), cellulite and thunder thighs included (literal fat, honestly), bossiness and mushiness not exempted.

Honey, if you are reading this, I want you to know that as seriously mushy, maudlin, mawkish, and schmaltzy as this sounds,  ikaw pa rin ang pangarap ko. Thank you for wanting to grow old with me.

The Name Game

Three more days before the Sanrio Friends Build-A-Bear dolls become available and already, I am thinking of names for my new friends.

Naming BABs is a very personal rite, as my experience at the Build-A-Bear store has taught me. It may seem silly to many that the act of choosing, stuffing, grooming, dressing, and naming is an honored ritual among BAB lovers, but it teaches people, children, in particular, that value is a subjective experience and that even seemingly inexpensive things become objects of value with love.

As such, all my BABs have names that are theirs alone. Take the case of the white Hello Kitty BABs. The original 2008 Hello Kitty, which was actually my second doll, retained her original name in my home, Kitty White. I didn’t think then that they would make different versions of her, thus, the seeming shortsightedness on my part.  My second white Hello Kitty was christened Kitty Corazon, or Cory for short. The heart in her bow decided it for me, and I chose to name her in Spanish because she says “Te quiero” when you hold her hand. Last of the white kitties (for now), the 35th Anniversary Hello Kitty is called Kitty Christmas, or Chrissy, because she was a Christmas gift last year.

Chrissy

Cory

Kitty White

My Tropical Hello Kitty dolls (and I have two of them), on the other hand are Kitty Browns or Beeone and Beetwo. And because I got a third one only recently, she is the youngest of the Bees or Beethree.

And now while I wait for the rest of the gang to make their way to my home, I’ve been thinking of appropriate names for them already. KeroKeroppi was easy. I will rename him KeroKero-Pnoy, in honor of the new president. (Told you I wanted a Noy.) And even Chococat’s new name isn’t a stretch from what he looks like. His new name will be Jejocat, after PNoy’s vice-president. I was all set to name him Jojocat until a dear friend reminded me of the vice-president’s real name. And I thought she was referring to Jejemons, jejeje. Oh well, with the new name, Chococat gets his own inventive tag line, too: “Jejemon na, JojoB pa.”

KeroKero-PNoy

Jejocat

Still, my brain is taking a beating with My Melody. A recommends to keep it simple with the very unimaginative ”My Melody.” But after exhausting my neurons with witty names for the Sanrio boys, how can I not do the same for the only other girl in the bunch? If you have any suggestions, friends, please tell me. I have a few more days left. So, help, please!  

Name that tune, ehrm, Melody!

CATS in Manila: Meowr!

I was awakened by the loud mewling and yowling of cats this morning. Yes, these were a cantankerous lot, the kind that are most likely to scratch your eyes out and bite you with razor-sharp teeth. They are also rather spoiled, as I could not, for the life of me, get angry at them. And as much as I wanted to throw my shoe at them to shut their yaps, you see, they had every right to get mad.

What was the fuss about? Well, they’re mad because I did not bring them to watch CATS.

Yes, CATS the Musical has finally made it to Manila.   

It wasn’t really my idea to leave them home. Blame A and Alex, who both didn’t want to be seen carrying small furry creatures of the stuffed kind. If I had my way, I’d  have lugged all of them around and posed them everywhere for pictures the way I used to. However, common sense ruled my head (why? oh, why?) and I decided to have them stay home and simply watch the DVD. Big mistake, it seems now, especially when this unruly clowder* threatens to wake up the whole household with their loud, desperate cries.

CATS for Cats!

 

“We want to watch CATS! ” cried the Chrissy the cat, obviously the most belligerent and most dramatic (takes after her namesake, I think) of the lot.

“We are CATS too!”shouted Kitty Beethree, the youngest and a certified crybaby.

“Cats for CATS! CATS for Cats!” they chanted in unison.

My, I have a full-scale cat strike in my household. I turn my head and see the Bee sisters adamantly waving our used tickets to the show. They insist I buy them new tickets, persistent kitties, they are.

Kitties White, Cory, and Chrissy, on the other hand, try to appeal to my good nature by impressing me with their most outrageous Jellicle garb for the show. But wait, kittens, why are you dressed like Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker and Sleeping Beauty? You must be in the wrong show!

Definitely Not Old Possum's Practical Cats

It must be tough on them, knowing that the run of CATS (Now and Forever) in Manila will end in  eleven days. Tickets are hard to come by as shows are always full and tickets are sold out, from its opening on July 24 to its final show on August 22. When A, Alex, and I watched last Friday night, CCP’s Main Theater was filled to the rafters. We had good seats for the show (orchestra, right, six rows down) so we had quite a lot of interaction with the cast members. Mr. Mistoffelees even flicked his tail a few times in A’s face (good thing A didn’t end up coughing a hair ball) and we got to see the cats up close, with their fabulous make-up and wonderful costumes. When the cats sang these lines: “Do I actually see with my own very eyes/A man who’s not heard of a Jellicle cat?/What’s a Jellicle cat? What’s a Jellicle cat?” they all pointed to A, causing him to shift and squirm uncomfortably in his seat, haha. As for me, I think I had my mouth open in awe the whole time as I marveled at how lifelike, ehr, catlike, their costumes were.

I can’t single out a favorite cat in the entire show. They were all very impressive and in full command of the stage. Ms. Lea Salonga performed the role of Grizabella the Glamour Cat and did it with the ease of an old stagehand. Always technically proficient, she brought the audience to near tears as she sang “Memory.”  John O’Hara as Rum Tum Tugger and Adrian Ricks as Mr. Mistoffelees stole the show with Rum Tum Tugger’s lovable swagger and Mistoffelees’ magical dancing feet. Was I the only one who noticed that Adrian Ricks never sang, not a word? He let his whole body- his face, his head, his waist, hips, arms and legs- do the work for him and he was absolutely superb. And lastly, there was Alyse Jai Davies as Sillabub, who was met with thunderous applause when she stood up and sang the poet Pete Lacaba’s Filipino adaptation of Memory (Moonlight/Turn your face to the moonlight/Let your memory lead you/Open up, enter in/If you find there the meaning of what happiness is/Then a new life will begin):

Liwanag, harapin ang liwanag
Ang iyong ala-ala ang gabay na sundin
Sa liwanag, ligaya ay matatagpuan
Bagong buhay ay darating

I sang along with the songs of the show, the lyrics suddenly coming alive in my head as years of CATS indoctrination finally came into good use. I remember long afternoons when my younger sister played the musical on cassette tape over and over again, such that even now, I still know much of the libretto by heart. Seeing CATS come alive for me and sharing this experience with my son and husband was another dream come true. It was just too bad that the “real” cats couldn’t come, heehee.

~0~

*clowder- group of cats, also “clutter”; larger groups can be called a “clan” whereas babies from the same mother is a “litter”

Sanrio x BAB = Super Cute!

I adopted my first Build-A-Bear doll in late 2008, a full year after the first release of Hello Kitty Build-A-Bear in the United States. She was an eBay purchase, and A had to pay a premium to acquire her, from actual cost to shipping charges. Since then, I’ve managed to acquire all different editions of the Hello Kitty Build-A- Bear dolls, from the original 2007 white Hello Kitty, to the 2008 Tropical Kitty and Hello Kitty Heart (named as such because her ribbon comes with a heart), the 2009 35th Anniversary Kitty and the Sunkissed Kitty (another version of the Tropical Kitty, with a different flower on her head), as well as an extra Tropical Hello Kitty from my trip to the BAB Store.

I’ve shied away from collecting other Sanrio stuffed dolls when I started acquiring HK Build-A-Bears. Not only do they make the best dress-up playmates, they are also the comfiest bed companions. Right now, I have three tan kitties vying for bed space in our already cramped bed while the white ones are kept in storage. Build-A-Bear dolls are easy to maintain and easy to clean (just wipe them with a wet cloth) that even the white kitties get their time out in the sun. Besides, their fur aren’t as delicate as those of the Dress Me Kitties, which seem to absorb dirt and dust very easily.

And here comes the best news ever- in ten days’ time, Build-A-Bear will launch the 2010 Sanrio Build-A-Bear dolls to celebrate Sanrio’s 50th anniversary. These include, aside from Hello Kitty, Chococat, Keroppi and My Melody! While I always express a preference for Hello Kitty, these current releases are just so cute that I am sorely tempted to get them all! Don’t you agree that these are super cute?

Christmas Is Coming!

It’s confirmed! I now have it from a very reliable source- Christmas is definitely coming. It’ll probably take a few weeks, but she’ll be here.

And you thought we just had Christmas? Sorry… Am I confusing you?

Let me give you clues. Limited edition. Great gift. Got an idea yet?

Okay, here’s another one: She’s cuddly, soft, and weighs as much as three apples.

 Kitty Bee, what are you doing??? Why are you dressed like that???

Sorry for Bee’s interruption, folks. She’s been like that ever since she got the news about Christmas. Me thinks there’s a little sibling rivalry going on here. heehee.

Anyway, let me explain. Christmas is the name of my brand new Hello Kitty 35th Anniversary Build A Bear. A got her for me on the last day of the holidays (he was able to avail of free shipping to anywhere in the US), and because she was intended as a late Christmas gift, I have named her Christmas, or Chrissy for short. I already have a HK BAB named Cory, so Chrissy (yes, Chrissy with a CH and not a K–that would have been too obvious) was a logical choice for a name; I hope to get a Noy soon. (See where my loyalty lies?)  Here’s what she looks like.

Instead of the frilly 35th Anniversary dress or even the star pajamas, Chrissy will arrive dressed up in Jedi knight fashion. While Chrissy is all girl and as such, loves frou-frou clothing, I decided on this to give Chrissy an extra boost in the Force as she helps battle evil and corruption in this year’s elections. Don’t feel too sorry for her, though; she’ll get the rest of these clothes as well, fashionista Kitty that she is.

Jedi Knight rules!

What I really want for her, though, is a yellow campaign shirt. Would anyone know where I can find one, infants’ size small? I think she’ll look absolutely patriotic in it.

Plushie Girl

These days, I’m not much of a “plushie girl.” When sales of plushies (what we oldies simply used to call stuffed toys) are advertised on my Hello Kitty social network, I no longer get this compelling need to buy each and every one I see.

Buried in a mountain of dolls (Kittymama at 17)

Collecting plushies used to be de rigeur for teenagers of my era. Back in the days of my youth, it was fashionable for young men a-courting to give their beloved gifts of stuffed animals. Flowers were okay but they wilt so soon and nothing said “I♥U” better than a  cute stuffed toy. I had a rather large collection of stuffed toys, most of them donated by my generous father, the rest given by friends and, ehrm, “would-be” friends.

As I grew older, moved homes, got married and settled down into a life of domesticity, most of my stuffed toys were given away to friends with small children. Others were sold at my garage sales, their beneficiaries extremely ecstatic at scoring plushies in excellent condition for throw-away prices. And still others were given to charity. I have kept the ones with the most sentimental value (except for the ones given by ex-boyfriends, as a sign of respect to A ) but I have had to stop adding to them in recent years. Aside from collecting dust and occupying major space in my cramped home, it seemed such a waste to keep buying dolls when I do not have a daughter to enjoy them with. Well, Alphonse is another story, but my husband doesn’t want to encourage him too much with Hello Kitty.

And so, while I drool and salivate over the extremely interesting variety of dolls and plushies (particularly the new lines of Hello Kitty stuffed dolls) available in the market, I stop myself from acquiring those that do not belong to the Dress-Me Kitty (DM Kitty) family or the Hello Kitty Build-A-Bear (HK BAB) series.

Pretty babies all in a row

As such, I only have six stuffed dolls in rotation inside the house right now — three of the Dress-Me Kitty varieties and three HK  BAB stuffed dolls. Of the six, three are white, one is pink, and two are tan.  The tan ones get the most mileage as they are more resistant to dirt, aging, and excessive cudding. The rest get kissed every once in a while or have their fur brushed. Of course, the best time I have with them is when I play dress-up and change their clothes (but never while Alphonse is watching because he sometimes tries to fit into doll clothes and then gets mad when they are too small for him. But that’s another story altogether). 

Playing With My Past

This was originally published in HerWord.com on July 31, 2009, following my blog piece My Hello Kitty Build-A-Bear World. I had wanted to cross-post this as soon as it came out, but weighed against national events, this seemed inappropriate at the time. I am sharing this now with you, dear friends.

I grew up faster than most of my peers. At a time when we were supposed to be perfecting the art of imaginary play with dress-up or dolls, I had already said goodbye to my toys. At 11, I felt too much like an adult in mind, body, and spirit to enjoy anything beyond reading. As the oldest girl in a brood of five, I stood as Big Sister to everyone, even to my older brother, and I willingly took on responsibilities in our household, never mind that we were a spoiled lot and we each had our own nanny to answer our every beck and call. I was big for my age, and my mind, even bigger. And so, I left my toys behind, as I did my preempted childhood.

I can only remember her now through pictures from the Internet.

Years later, I would think about it and remember how I boxed up my dolls for the very last time. My favorite doll was a “My Friend Mandy” from Fisher-Price. I slept with her every night, bathed and dressed her, and played with her every single minute of the day. The last time I saw her, I gave her a farewell kiss and packed her in a storage box with her things. I didn’t realize until years later that the day I packed away my toys, I had thrown away a very important part of my childhood. I miss being a child now.

This sudden shift from child to young person came at a point in my life when I felt lost. I had just moved to a different school and the adjustment was very difficult. I made few friends in that period of my life and, for the most part, I was a very lonely child. I couldn’t play. I ate too much. For close to three years, I thought about dying constantly. I dreamt of different ways to end my life. Yet the thought of leaving my family crying always deterred me from acting out on my impulses. The only way I could cope, without killing myself, was to fashion a new personality—a stronger, more capable person from who I was then.

Having decided upon that, I grew up that day. I stopped playing, stopped being a child, and stopped hurting. Even when I found new happiness a few years later, it felt too late to ever go back to that time in my life when all I wanted was to be my doll’s keeper. And then, with more serious studying required in high school and university and medical school, there simply was no time to recover the lost years. I simply kept moving forward. Later, I got married, had a family, and dedicated my years to raising my children.

One day, however, I realized just how much I missed. That was the day my husband gifted me with a Hello Kitty Dress-Me doll. My husband is always like that; he indulges my caprices and whims, he buys me all sorts of unexpected gifts. The doll was supposed to be just another addition to my growing collection, but to me, it meant so much more. I took the doll to bed with me that night, my husband amused at my childlike giddiness, and I dreamt I was 11 again, holding on to my favorite doll.

I woke up the next morning with a sense of rediscovery and wonder. I felt young and carefree. I carried my doll everywhere in the following weeks, oblivious to the stares and, sometimes, the whispers. Then my husband, ever my enabler, bought me a nicer, bigger Hello Kitty Build-A-Bear doll weeks later, with matching clothes and accessories. I was head over heels in love with my new toys. Now, I have six of them, all dress-up dolls that I pretend are my babies.

I know I cannot hope to find “My Friend Mandy” anymore. The last time I ever saw her, she was in a big brown box in a storage cabinet near the laundry area in the old house where I grew up more than thirty years ago. Between moving houses and normal aging and deterioration, it is unlikely she made it all this time. Most probably, she had been given away to charity. I like to imagine some little girl still playing with her after all this time.

I suppose that is why I love my dolls, my Build-A-Bear dolls (I have three, all Hello Kitty) most of all. They remind me of Mandy, and how I can dress them up like her and play make-believe, and pretend that loneliness never came into my life. Now that my children are almost fully grown and I am in my middle years, I have found new freedom to reclaim a lost childhood. And this is what my dolls give me beyond fun and pleasure—a sense of completion for having remade a past I once could not escape.

My Hello Kitty Build-A-Bear World

I was going to post this last night but thinking about what BAB means to me- and they are just more than dolls to me- led me to write a full-length article. I’ll post it as soon as possible.

I am deeply grateful to my husband; he has made all these possible and more. He is the one who buys all these, and his good eye for BAB fashion has made my babies beautiful. Many thanks to you, dearest A. Your generous spirit fuels this passion.

Please click on the thumbnails to view the pictures.