When Matti Visited the Mall for the First Time

Three hours from Guindulman to Loon, then two hours on boat, and another two hours on the road from Argao to Cebu City, it was almost a whole day of traveling but finally, we arrived in Cebu City. The familiar traffic and sound of the city welcomed us. It was also a treat that we saw the new bridge which is still under construction, we didn't see that the last time we visited Cebu City.

Being on the road for hours made us hungry and the easiest way to get dinner was to go to the mall. SM Seaside was just at the end of the road, we have to take a U-Turn to get there.

While going to the parking area, a lot of things flashed into my mind, how we spend our weekends here back when we were still a family of two. We were in SM Seaside when I felt the signs of misconception back in 2017 and the last time I've stepped here was when Matti was still a few weeks old. It was even in SM Seaside that we bought Matti's new born stuff. At some point, SM Seaside has become a huge part of our lives.

Now that we are back in the city, it is also the first thing that we visited and I am glad that kids were allowed to go inside given that the parents or guardians are fully vaccinated. We presented our vaccination cards to the security upon entry and we were inside! Finally! Matti's first time in the mall!

Matti was asleep when we entered the mall, he was tired perhaps of the trip so he was soundly sleeping until I handed him to his father as I went to the comfort room. He woke up and upon seeing a lot of lights around, he was mesmerized, he kept pointing them, he started shouting, he is always fascinated with lights!

As we entered the mall from the parking lot, our entrance directed us towards Toy Kingdom and my baby met Bumble Bee, he was surprised! He can't get his eye off this yellow transformer!

We have to go get food so we told him we have to move and so he did but he moved not because he was hungry but because he saw a car! A toy car and it was a pretty white jeep, I was also tempted to get him that until I saw the price tag.

This car costs Php 14,000 and as much as I wanted to get him that, I can't afford at this point. I told him we will find another car that's less expensive. I don't know if he understood but he said goodbye to that jeep.

I was able to get him a rechargeable ATV, it's a second hand but still works well. He doesn't like riding it, he just want to see the light when the engine starts. I believe he will appreciate it only when he is a little older.

So we proceed to dine in at Chowking. It's the fastest way of getting a soup, I badly wanted one. I was a bit worried by the hundreds of people inside the fast food restaurant. Upon going there as well, we met a lot of kids, social distancing was almost not observed, although all were wearing masks and face shields, babies like Matti were not wearing any face masks and it sent some worries, I had a second thought if it was alright to bring Matti here. I questioned our decision.

However, Matti was extra energetic while having dinner, he kept on going down from my lap, he would be table hopping! I guess being inside the house for months and not seeing this huge crowd caused this. He was waving at kids, he kept singing in loud voice and shouting too! It was his first time in the mall, I understood.

We headed to the mall's Christmas Tree display. Matti was still in awe of the many lights he has seen. We have to put him down and let him walk because he was being so active.

His father didn't want to let go of him as he would run if he would not hold him.

Taking photos of Matti was also a challenge, he doesn't want to stay still. I have to try my best to get his picture as fast as I can before he'd go running again.

I saw a lot of kids running as well, parents were also running after them. It was fun to see the mall alive, like how it used to look pre-pandemic. The mall was so lively, it was noisy, a lot of commotion happening here and there.

Our next stop was at the department store, I decided we must buy something for Matti to play with while in Cebu City, our activity the next day was cleaning up our condo unit, its been more than a year since we visited it and I know it's dirty. Gladly, we have a kind neighbor who allowed us to stay at their room which was just next door while we clean our unit.

Matti couldn't contain his happiness upon seeing these toys, he was surrounded by a whole ton of colorful toys, from stackable cups to squishy ones. He somehow found the fruit squishes interesting and grabbed a pack. And then a cute set of stackable cups too. I never had been in this section that long, but all for the baby.

One thing that had me scratching my head was how expensive other toys were. There were teething toys which costs almost a thousand pesos! I can't believe it!

After more than an hour of shopping, I bought an electric fan, some shirts and under wears for Matti, bed sheets, and a few other items, it was time to pay. And as we were on the way to the cashier, Matti found toy cars again. These are similar to those which he found at the Toy Kingdom display.

I was at the cashier when he couldn't get his eyes off these cars. He kept pointing while saying his cute "car", he can't pronounce the letter "r" that well so he sounded slang.

Then one of the promodisers came up to him asking if he would like to ride on the car. I was astonished as I thought it is not allowed to ride but she said go ahead and so Matti went on, he was quite busy in there, pushing the buttons, exploring what he could do while inside this cute white car. He was truly happy being in there.

All I could do was take videos and pictures. I know this is cool, it looks nice, it looks like Matti will have a lot of fun with it but it is too expensive, it is not practical, I bet Matti can still be happy even if he doesn't have one. And so we bid goodbye after paying the cashier the items I bought.

Fortunately, Matti was understanding, he didn't cry or make a scene after going down from the car. He just said goodbye and turned away. I was a proud mother seeing him not getting attached to the things he saw in the mall. I bet it will be different once he gets bigger and his father said, Matti might not be brought to the mall again if he would have meltdowns but so far, he was a good boy, a very good one in fact.

This was just his first time. We stayed in Cebu City for a week and we visited a few other malls in the city. I will share them all in the next blog articles.