Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

Anya totally LOVES her pettiskirt!

The elastic waistband, the satin ribbon, and ESPECIALLY the super soft ruffles (made of at least 10m of nylon chiffon)!

She’d twirl, run around and shake it all about.

One of her wardrobe favourites!

And psst … they are available for sale at my online shop too!!

Check it out at www.springkids.com!

[note : they’re snapped up pretty quickly and so if you’d like to these pettiskirts, let me know and I’ll check my stock]

It is often easier, and somewhat ‘preferred’, to believe in Jesus Christ who is the glorified King of kings.

But the thing is, there’s another aspect of HIM that is equally important (yet, often ‘forgotten’).

Jesus Christ, the most glorified in Heaven, is also One who’s been humiliated and who’s suffered the most on earth. For our sake.

And the question is, are we willing to know Him more from these TWO different aspects? Or, are we willing to know and love him ONLY from HIS ‘glorified’ and ‘majestic’ side?

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Without the Cross, there’s no resurrection.

Without Calvary, there’s no empty tomb.

Without suffering, there’s no glorification.

We were walking back to our friend’s car – after the blog contest’s two-hour tennis lesson ended – when the kids started running about on a grass field nearby.

And the afternoon sun, oh my it was beautiful!

I love the ‘golden’ afternoon sun rays. I love the greens. And I love it too when the kids threw brown leaves up in the air.

And so I let the kids (Anya, Vai and two of their friends, Andersen and Lindsey) play a bit longer at the field, while I myself had a great time capturing the moments, hehe.

These are some of my favourites.

Vai LOVES this little fireman hat – a little gift from his friend, Della, who also went for the tennis lesson. He wears it to the market, and he puts it on his bed too at night!

And after quite some time, the little brother seemed to say, ‘Jiejie, … let’s go home?’ as he casually walked back to the car.

Perhaps it’s one of the most talked about health-related topic these days.

Well. Especially if you live in Singapore.

With the flu virus spreading like wildfire all around the world during the June school holiday AND kids going back to school again last Monday, the media talks about this. A lot.

And naturally, quite a few parents wonder whether they really should send their kids to school, whether it’ll be safe, whether traveling overseas is a good idea, whether what the Singapore government is doing is an over-reaction, OR in fact, a good precautionary measure.

[Go to http://www.h1n1.gov.sg to read the latest updates of H1N1 in Singapore]

Mmm.

I too was a little unsure about whether or not I should let Anya start school last Monday.

I thought of letting her skip her Monday class, just to see how things go when all schools re-opened.

And if you ask me, it’s not about contracting the H1N1 virus itself actually, because I know although it is contagious, it’s considerably mild (well, at least that’s what the media’s been telling us too lately)

What I’m totally not looking forward to is getting the quarantine IF any of us got the virus.

(Just in case you’re not familiar with how Singapore tackles the virus : if it’s confirmed that you have the virus, you might need to stay at a hospital or a designated quarantine centre for 7 to 10 days. AND, even if you’re told to go home, you DO have to be home quarantined, for 7 to 10 days. And all the while, your health will be monitored).

In the end, Wilson and I decided to just let Anya go to school as usual last Monday.

And what do you know.

The school bus auntie actually had one of those ‘thermometer guns‘ and she checked every single child’s temperature BEFORE they boarded the school bus.

[She pointed the ‘thermometer’ towards the forehead, without touching it, for about three seconds, and she’d know the kid’s temperature]

I was utterly impressed.

AND, the school staff checked everyone’s temperature again BEFORE they go to class.

Well.

I don’t know if people call this an ‘over-reaction’ or not, but as a parent, I feel somewhat reassured. You know, that at least the Singapore government and the people out there who’re in charge of our little ones try to do their part in keeping the virus at bay.

And.

I really feel this whole H1N1 virus situation serves as a gentle reminder to us too, that we are ALL vulnerable.

That there’s only so much that we can do to prevent things from happening to us.

And that IF we are still good and healthy today, that is PURE BLESSINGS from God, and is totally NOT because of how ‘in full control’ we are of our own lives.

Let’s learn to count our blessings. In all kinds of circumstances.

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What are your thoughts on H1N1?

Did you have any concerns before school started last Monday? How does your kid’s school handle the whole situation? And if you live outside of Singapore, how are things in your country?

An interesting food for thought.

When we are curious about something and go all out to find out MORE about it ourselves, the chance of us REMEMBERING what we’ve just found out and learned is HIGHER, as compared to having the information ‘spoon-fed’ to us.

And if you ask me, I think the same principle applies to little kids and their learning style (and, how they discover their surrounding and their ‘world’)

Yes, some info (ie. knowledge) does need to be ‘fed’ to them and yes, kids may be curious about something ‘harmful’.

But, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we as parents can encourage (and guide) these little ones in staying positively curious about things, about their world?

Because through curiosity, we learn and discover.

And remember. More.

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Someone once said to me,

Stay ‘stupid’. Because when we feel we know nothing much, we keep on learning. But when we feel we know enough, that’s when we stop knowing more.

And I couldn’t agree more.

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[Photo Info]
When checking out the depth and textures of white sands at Cottesloe Beach (Perth, Australia), somehow some ended up ‘near’ Vai’s mouth too! (not sure if the sands got INTO his mouth as well. Now that’s a crunchy discovery!)

Last week we had a contest where, if chosen, your kid can enjoy a free two-hour tennis lesson (thanks to VVIP International!), with Wynne Prakusya as their main coach.

Now. The contest ended at midnight last Sunday and the winners were chosen yesterday!

And … here are the ten lucky parents :

1. Olivia
2. Mimi
3. Meina
4. Shing Yen
5. Rachel
6. Juita
7. Imelda
8. Jossie
9. Jo M.
10. Ben

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

And, THANKS everyone who participated!!

(If you haven’t quite won this time round, we do have giveaways and contests from time to time, and so please do join in again next time, yes? *smile*)

Here are a few important notes :

1. If you registered two kids in one entry, please let us know the one who’s going for the lesson

2. Please drop me an email (latest by tomorrow – Wed, 1 July) to let us know :
a. if your child DEFINITELY can make it to the session this Saturday, 4 July, 4pm-6pm at Kallang Tennis Centre (as we’d need to ensure that all of the ten spaces are filled)
b. Your contact no.

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And that is it!

Do share the good news with your kid A.S.A.P., and we’ll see you on the court this Saturday!

Hope you guys are as excited about this weekend’s tennis session as us!

Check this out.

Straight after our very first fishing trip at Punggol Beach, we got ourselves ready for our next family outing.

Courtesy of the Singapore’s Blog Awards (who gave away 10 pairs of tickets to 10 lucky finalists), we went to catch the one-time Magic Show at Jurong Bird Park called ‘Magical Wonders with Birds’, featuring Singapore’s own illusionist Priscilla Khong.

It was our very first time watching such a magic show LIVE!

AND, it was our first time visiting the Bird Park AT NIGHT! (Lots of ‘firsts’ for our family today!)

Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been somewhat sceptical when it comes to magic shows.

As I watch, I’d think, ‘Ahhh … she must’ve had the cards up her sleeves!’ or ‘Now there, they didn’t show the back of THAT box! The bird must’ve been placed THERE!’ or ‘She must’ve had the keys to the handcuffs inside the box!’. Blah blah blah.

[It sure is EASY to be the spectator who gives comments than the one performing on stage, huh!]

Anyway.

Despite my attempts to guess HOW magicians do their tricks and illusions, I do find magic shows entertaining. Especially when I totally have NO idea how they did it.

Like, when Priscilla ‘teleported’ a chicken from a box (placed in the middle of the stage), to a wooden bucket that was held by a man from the audience (and he was standing at least five meters away).

I was totally amazed by that trick!

Another trick that I thought was a good one was the ‘sewing a man in half’. A classic one that we all know and have most likely watched on TV.

The guy was picked from the audience, and I could really see how both his legs ‘slanted’ downwards and there’s ‘nothing’ underneath the box that was lifted up!

After I downloaded the photos to my computer, I zoomed in to see the trick in ‘detail’, and I still can’t figure out how it was done!

And you know what, Wilson happened to meet the guy (who was ‘halved’) on our way out after the show, and he said he ‘didn’t feel a thing’! Now THAT was interesting!

Anyway. The kids loved the show too, and I guess it’s also because of the music, the dance and the birds involved in the show.

As we watched the show, Vai did say things like, “Look! Look! She’s going to make that man disappear, Mommy!’ (and he was pointing at the crew holding the cable in the background, haha)

And Anya did ask us her many questions as usual,

‘How did she do it? How did she make the birds appear? What is she going to do now? How did she halve the man? Wow, she made herself disappear from the box, how did she do that?’

And to her questions, we explained how they’re all magic tricks, how they’re not real, how the magician has learned how to do the tricks well and how one day she could learn to perform simple tricks too if she knew how they’re done. She’s happy with our answers.

Now guess what else happened at the show.

We met a blog reader and her family, who happened to sit next to us and said Hi when they recognised us! Now that was nice! (Big Hi to Kar Fung, Bryan and their two little ones!)

Yup, we had a good family time at Jurong Bird Park today! Loved it!

The very first time we went fishing as a family was when we took the kids to Fremantle during our visit to Perth last March.

And frankly, somehow I didn’t think we’d go fishing again once we’re back in Singapore. At the back of my mind, somehow I imagined that we would need a car to drive to places where we could fish.

And.

I was SO wrong.

We went fishing at Punggol Beach with our friends today, AND hey we took public transports!

[You’d simply need to catch bus no. 82, from Hougang MRT Station’s exit C!]

We reached the jetty at about 4pm, when the sun was still very glary. But the tide was apparently pretty high and our fishing expert friends wasted no time and quickly prepared the baits!

The kids intently watched the ‘big boys’ got the rods and baits ready. And, they tried fishing too!

As for me, I thought I would most likely just shoot and watch the guys go fishing. You see, I love the togetherness, but not quite the fishy preparations (or the releasing of the hook from the fish’s mouth afterwards!).

But hey, when one finally caught a fish, one might start liking it. Hehe.

This is (super lucky) me, with my very first catch! A baby garoupa! (which we released back to the sea since it WAS small)

There’s a little strip of sandy beach nearby and the kids and moms went to have some sand-play fun there! (errr … or to be exact, Anya and Vai went with the rest, while I stayed with the guys at the jetty, hehe).

Anyway.

It was a totally nice Saturday afternoon fishing trip with friends!

Definitely THAT little relaxing break I needed!

…

A few things to note :

1. Do bring along your hats and sunscreen lotion

2. After the kids tried their hands on fishing, letting the kids have some sand-play fun while the men go fishing was a totally GREAT idea (because the little ones would otherwise be too bored!)

3. There’s no toilet (the nearby blue portable toilet was locked!)

4. Bringing along wet wipes would be handy, especially to clean the kids AFTER they play with sand

5. There were two young guys selling ice creams AND cold drinks (for a dollar each) from a cart near the beach entrance. They said they’re there ONLY in the weekends.