Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

Okay.

This is a little bit ‘overdue’, but I’ll share it anyway (and really HOPE to get your support, again! *smile*)

Close to two weeks ago, I received an email from a reader, Zhiqiang, who shared with me how he’s nominated Our Everyday Things for two categories, Best Parenting Blog and Best Hidden Gem, at the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards!

Awww. It was such an encouraging email.

Especially when I was (so very) down physically with tonsillitis (strep throat) at the time I read it (thanks again Zhiqiang!)

And now that I think about it, I guess there are two main reasons why I only get to share the Blog Awards news (which is still open for nominations btw!) here on my blog today :

First reason: it’s because after I shared it on facebook, quite a few people came to tell me how they could NOT nominate my blog online due to some ‘captcha issues’ (the part towards the end where you need to enter the words you see in a box).

I then went in to check it out myself and faced the same issue. And I just don’t want ‘more’ people to face the same ‘hassles’ when they go and nominate my blog after they read my blog post on it.

Second reason: The Awards is open to the whole of the Asia-Pacific, and hey there are tens of thousands of other blogs out there (and LOTS of really good ones I personally know too!), and I can’t help but think, ‘… will there even be a slight chance of winning it?’

Ah.

Perhaps you can help and prove me wrong.

So I decided that I should just share the news and again (shamelessly) ask for your support! *smile*

Here’s more info:

1. Click HERE to read more about the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards

2. To nominate, you don’t need to register or anything. Just fill in the form and that’s it.

Click HERE to go straight to the Nomination page.

3. Nominations are still open till 13 September (next sunday!)

4. The top 5 nominees from each categories will be shortlisted based on your nominations and Nuffnang’s panel which includes Nuffnang, their partners, and industry experts.

5. The selected top 5 nominees for all 12 categories would be announced on the 16th September! And voting will then start from 16 September to 11 October 2009

6. The Blog Awards Ceremony itself will be held on 23 October 2009 at the Pan Pacific Hotel.

…

So I now leave my blog’s nominations in your good hands ya! *smile*

THANKS everyone!!!

Here’s one news I’d like to share with everyone,

The Singapore Blog Awards Prize Presentation will be held in less than 2 weeks!!

Date: Wednesday, 16 September.

And all the 10 winners for the 10 categories will be announced there and then!

The timing was just SO good because my parents happen to be in Singapore at the time and they said they’d help babysit Anya and Vai *Yay* while Wilson and I attend the ceremony and find out the winner for ‘Best Photography Blog’ (the category in which I’m one of the finalists!)

Can’t wait!

I was hanging the laundry out to dry when Anya started taking out our recyclable stuff (put aside for us to recycle later).

She sat under the spread-out bedsheet and arranged the different items.

Anya: ‘I’m opening a shop!’

Mom: ‘Oh … what are you selling?’

Anya: ‘I’ve got a lot of things … milk powder, tea, fresh milk, eggs!’

Mom: ‘I’ll have some eggs and a bottle of fresh milk, please’

Anya: ‘Do you also want to buy some tea? It’s nice … ‘

Mom: *while washing the dishes* ‘Hmm okay. I’ll have some eggs, a box of tea bags and a bottle of milk’

Anya: ‘Okay! The eggs cost $15, the tea is $1, and a bottle of fresh milk is $2’

[haha … how interesting things would be if kids were allowed to determine prices at supermarkets!]

Mom: ‘And how much do I have to pay you?’

Anya: *started to slowly count with her fingers* That’ll be $18!’

…

I love this shop idea!

It makes our recyclables-waiting-to-be-thrown-into-the-recycling-bins more useful, AND Anya gets to learn counting while having role-play fun too!

…

Anyway.

I went on to ‘order’ different things from her as I continued doing this and that around the kitchen.

And I think Vai ‘bought’ a few things from Anya’s little shop too!

A couple of weeks ago the four of us went for our very first family movie outing.

We went to see ‘UP’, in 3D, the latest animation movie by Disney Pixar, at Vivo City’s Golden Village.

AND.

We all LOVED this movie!

(Even Vai sat up straight for at least the first half of the movie without saying a word!)

We love the story line. The jokes. The superb animation works. The characters. The pearls of wisdom shared throughout the movie. Everything.

Oh we’re so looking forward to getting the DVD when it’s released!

Definitely one highly recommended animation movie of the year.

…

Btw, have you seen the movie?

We planned to take the kids to Sentosa’s Palawan Beach today for some water and sand play fun (note: there’s no school today as it’s Teacher’s Day).

BUT.

Upon reaching the Beach Station, it was pouring with rain!

And I mean, really really heavy rain.

We waited and waited but it didn’t stop nor get better.

So we went back to Vivo City, had our lunch with our friend and her two kids, and by the time we finished, it was … drizzling.

I still remember how I loved it so much when I played in the rain when I was little, and since the kids were so looking forward to some waterplay and were more than willing to have it at Vivo City’s 3rd level instead of the beach, I thought, … neh, why not?

And since my friend shared the same thought as well, the three kids got changed and had fun at Vivo City’s rooftop water area for a while.

Yup, in the drizzling rain.

[errr … surely not a common sight especially here in Singapore, but I’m happy that they did and enjoyed the experience. And just in case you’re wondering, no they didn’t catch a cold *smile*]

We all know that parenting is a journey.

There are ups and there are downs.

As much as we don’t quite look forward to the challenging ‘down’ moments of being a parent, the reality is it’s part and parcel of being a parent.

And I recently was reminded again that what’s more important is ‘how we respond’ when we go through those tough moments in life.

Last week, right after I started taking my antibiotics (read: Sunday night) for my Tonsillitis, things felt like they went from bad to worse.

I couldn’t take one little sip of water without struggling to fight the stabbing pain on my throat.

I paused, cringed from the stinging pain, and shivered to the point of crying when I tried to munch a little piece of vegie (that happened to have some oyster sauce on it).

I could hardly ate anything from Monday to Wednesday.

AND, I could NOT talk nor whisper (because I’d feel as if thousands of needles were jabbed onto my throat).

Now that’s the MOST challenging thing to me.

I NEED to be able to talk in order to ‘communicate’ with my kids. To get through the day.
(well, unless you’ve been communicating with sign language since day one with your children of course)

Anya, let’s brush your teeth.
Vai, please come over and have your breakfast.
Anya, please finish up your milk quickly or we’d miss the school bus.
Vai, stop banging on the glass table.

And gee, it was so tough!

Especially when one night (when Wilson’s not home), the kids chose to ignore my requests, talk back rudely, and LAUGH upon seeing me cry at the dining table from trying to bear the overwhelming pain of swallowing my dinner.

At that moment, I really felt incapable. Helpless. Discouraged.

Right after I whispered to Anya how I felt sad and disappointed about the attitudes they’ve been giving me that evening, I went to my bedroom and just IGNORED EVERYTHING. Including my kids’ pleas and requests. Even Anya’s (perhaps regretful) cries as she lied in bed next to me.

I think it was one of those really low points in my parenting journey.

[Thank God Wilson came home within about twenty minutes after that and took over everything. I so needed that!]

…

Now that I look back to what’s happened last week, I’d like to share these few things I learned:

– Kids are kids (and sinners too) and they’re learning.
If they say or do hurtful and insensitive things, they might’ve done it unintentionally. We are the adults and we shouldn’t ‘regard’ what our kids do to us too seriously (though it sure hurts our feelings)

– God never leaves us to fight alone.
We can always pray and ask for strength. There’s always hope at the end of all struggles. Just like how there’ll be clear skies after the rain. And you know what, that was what kept me going, ie. knowing that my struggles won’t last forever (though it might feel like forever at the time!)

Also, I learned how it was when we’re down that we got to see how other people help, encourage and support. And I’m so thankful to God for all that.

– We are never capable of doing anything unless God gives you the strength and capability.
The ability to swallow, eat and talk is all taken for granted by most of us. Including me. We just do it every time, and we don’t think about it much.

It’s when the ease or capability of doing such simple tasks is ‘taken away for a little while’ that we realise how incapable we basically are. And how we get to appreciate it a lot when we gain it back AFTERWARDS.

I guess the same thing applies to everything else in life.

We so often take things for granted (and fail to appreciate them) when we still have them. And boy, how wonderful it is if we all can learn to remember to always appreciate what we have today.

Our health. Our faith. Our family. Our spouse. Our kids. Our work.

Everything.

I’m learning.

Learning to go through the downs in life with the right response and attitude and treasure every single thing that happens in life. Both the ups and the downs.

As I watch them walk hand in hand,
I am again reminded,
how little boys treasure their Daddy so much.

They observe.
They copy.

They want to be just like Daddy.
They want to be just with Daddy.