Baby Z’s First Books

Even before I got pregnant with Baby Z, my husband and I would daydream about how we would be raising our future kids. I guess doing this somehow lessened our pain as we battled infertility for years. We both agreed to be the kind of parents who will try to inject some of the old-fashioned stuff that we grew up with. My husband said that he would teach our kids to play piko, patintero, and tumbang preso. And yes, he vowed to teach our kids how to ride a bicycle! So malamang, sabay niya kaming turuan ni Baby Z! :p

I have nothing against the use of gadgets for kids. For as long as the child is learning something, it doesn’t matter what the medium is. But Boyet and I agreed that we will try our best not to expose Baby Z in gadgets at a young age. Even if we both work in the IT industry, buying gadgets has never been on top of our priority list. We only have our mobile phones and a personal laptop. Again, I have nothing against the use of gadgets. Hindi lang talaga namin hilig, or maybe because we focused on the big rocks first like investing and buying our own home. Anyway, in our attempt to minimize Baby Z’s exposure to gadgets, we thought of starting to build a collection of things to fill in the gaps.

Years ago, we bought Monopoly and UNO cards for us to get reacquainted with the old-fashioned card and board games. Boyet said that he’ll teach Baby Z how to play chess. (Magpapaturo na rin ako, since hindi rin pala ako marunong mag-chess, harharhar!) I know that Scrabble, Jenga, Pictionary and Snakes and Ladders will not be appreciated by the kids of this generation, but we want to take our chances with Baby Z. Haha! Boyet is also collecting Lego toys. I am not sure if Baby Z will also acquire the same hobby. It will probably take a couple of years before we find out. So for now, we are trying to introduce her to Nanay’s hobby – reading books!!!

I read somewhere that reading books to an unborn child is a good practice. So before we even bought her first clothes, I already started to build her future library. I searched online for recommended books for young children. I followed FB pages and IG accounts that sell children’s books. And I stalked fellow bookworm mommies! Hahaha! I visited Fully Booked in BGC because that one is the closest to my work. I was just so grateful that two of the staff members of Fully Booked BGC assisted us and answered all our questions! I just handed them the list of books, and they gladly searched the shelves for us.


You’ll never go wrong with Dr. Seuss. Even before I bought Baby Z’s books, I already started reading The Lorax and The Cat in the Hat to her. We got these board books for her as per the recommendation of the staff members of Fully Booked. They said that these will be perfect for early readers as they can read these types of books all by themselves without the parents worrying about paper cuts. Boyet and I just said, “Ahhh!!!” That was how clueless we were! Hahaha! We also got some story books. Two of which are published by Pamana Books and are written both in English and Filipino. Ang cool lang! Just last week as I was shopping for birthday gifts for my godson, I bought some Disney illustrated storybooks! The book originally costs PHP110, but Toy Kingdom was having a SALE during my visit. ^_^

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A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I started reading the books to Baby Z. I thought my husband wasn’t up for the task, but a few nights ago, he started reading to Baby Z, too, with matching voice acting! There are just too many times when he ended up mixing the voices of the different characters! Baka malito si Baby Z! :p But I am just so grateful that my husband willingly and lovingly does this. =)

A photo posted by Jerellt Abenoja-Andrade (@dahwanderer) on

I vividly remember asking my mother why she never read me bedtime stories. She told me that I learned to read before I reached 3 years old so there was no need for her to read to me. I didn’t take it against her and Papa because 1) they homeschooled me very early so I learned to read at a very young age, 2) we were not well-off so buying books (outside of those I needed for school) were the least of their priorities, and 3) they needed to get up at 2:30 AM daily to attend to our family business so they didn’t really have the energy to read to me. But because Boyet and I are both working more than 8 hours a day, we really want to develop a habit of reading to Baby Z every night. It’s not only to train her to read or to help her expand her vocabulary. It’s to show her that we want to spend quality time with her. If she decides in the future that she doesn’t want to be a bookworm like her Nanay, then we’ll play Tatay’s Lego together. If she feels like building things is not for her, too, Boyet and I will still find a way to be a part of whatever hobby she chooses to. But for now, we need to fix our book shelf! Boyet and I decided to build a giant bookshelf which also houses his Lego toys. But with the baby coming and with her sharing (and probably monopolizing) the space, we need to find a way to keep things organized. For starter, I told Boyet to put my books starting on the second layer of the shelf so Baby Z can have the first layer. In that way, she won’t be able to reach my Young Adult books! (I think I made the right decision not to read 50 Shades of Grey!!! Hahahaha!!!)

4 comments :

  1. Agree on buying board books. Skye's board books are the ones na nasa toy box nya..I had th mistake of taking out the regular story telling books na made of paper, ayun! Awa ng Dyos punit punit na sya. Hahaha! But her board books are more of pictures and shapes and colors. Not really stories. Isa lang ata ang story, si Peter Rabbit. :) Enjoy mo muna ang pagbabasa kay baby..kasi pag medyo malaki na hindi mo na mababasahan..Si Skye, pag start na ng bedtime stories..aagawin na ang libro at "magbabasa". Eh kumusta naman? Sinolo na! But at least mukhang bookworm din ang bata. For sure si Z din. Hahaha!

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  2. We have the complete set of disney story books but its on paper (since grade1 pa ko un). I've tried reading it to my twins ayun punit punit na! Hindi ko na inulit. I am still thinking to buy the board ones pero mas mahilig silang mambato ng mga gamit dahil sa hilig nila sa basketball. Hay. Pero sarap noh? :)

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  3. I'm inggit! I wanted to buy books din for my daughter but they're quite expensive here! Pag umuwi ako sa Pinas makapag hoard nga! Hahaha! I know i should start developing in Maddie a love for books. Pangarap ko yan for her but it's quite hard to do it from far away :( I just pray that by the time na kasama na namin sya, it still ain't too late :)

    Happy for you, Je! You and baby Z take care!

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  4. Wow, ang daming books! Mukhang magiging bookworm din si Baby Z paglaki, ah. :)

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