Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

For a considerably tiny city, Singapore works really hard on developing itself, I think.

Old buildings get a facelift, and construction of new ones is ongoing in many parts of the city.

And, pretty soon one striking landmark right in the middle of Orchard Road will appear too, called ION Orchard, said to be THE place for shopping and all.

I heard it’s supposed to be opened ‘at the end of 2008’, but when the kids and I went past the area last week, from the look (and sounds) of things, I’m guessing it’s still rather far from ready. In the first quarter of next year, perhaps?

Anyway.

As I tend to treasure ‘the making of things’ and not just the ‘final results’, I got a shot of the kids with the ‘still-under-construction-ION-Orchard’ in the background.

I guess it’s just a simple way of reminding ourselves – years later – how little the kids once were when the ‘famous Singapore landmark’ itself was still being built.

And for the kids to remember that all really nice things in life do go through ‘time’ and ‘process’ too.

It’s ALREADY the fourth LAST Sunday of the year 2008.

How time flies this year!

The big question is : how have you and I spent it? And how will we spend the rest of the remaining days of the year?

Now I’d like to invite you all to fill the last few days of this year with something which I find really meaningful.

I’d like to invite you to a Christmas Gospel Rally that’s all happening exactly one week from today.

On Sunday, 14 December 2008.

As there’ll be three languages used over two sessions at the Singapore Polytechnic Convention Centre, I’m sure practically ‘everyone’ can attend.

If you’re Indonesians, you’re invited to attend the 4.30pm session.

And if you’re Mandarin and English speaking, then you’re very much invited to the one at 7.30pm.

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I post this invitation on my site because I really believe those two-hours spent at the event will sure be one of those best two-hour moments very well spent this year.

It would be inspiring, life-changing, and thought-provoking.

And really, what is Christmas without really knowing WHO is the ‘Christ’ in ‘Christ-mas’ itself.

Anyway, we’d sure be there with the kids at 4.30pm!

And I sure hope you can be there too!

Captured by Wilson

We checked out Playground @ Big Splash – East Coast Park – last weekend. For the first time.

And we loved the place.

The kids had some sandplay fun along the beach, daddies chit-chatted, and the mommies … well, we went for a quick exercise and checked out Kangoo Jumps!

You see, Nuffnang – a blog advertising community – on behalf of the Singapore Sports Council has invited me to join other female bloggers and check out this relatively new sport called ‘Kangoo Jumps‘!

It’s part of the Sports Council’s 3-month long campaign to promote active lifestyle amongst women! Especially amongst moms who often find it hard to actually set aside some time and exercise! (errr, … like me!)

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A little disclaimer if I may: as much as it may seem rather hard to believe, I USED TO be sporty! Ya ya ya, even I find it a bit hard to believe! I feel so uncoordinated and unfit now!

After quite a bit of snowboarding and falling on my knees some seven years ago, my knee caps went bad and doctors told me to stay away from sports or activities that can put a strain on my legs! Rollerblading, tennis, badminton, running up and down the stairs. They’re out of the question. Something like swimming is good though.

Did try ‘ignoring’ the advice, and went rollerblading with Wilson at East Coast Park. I only went for fifteen minutes while he continued on, AND my knees were painful for a few days afterwards. Gee, I felt like my legs are rusting away. And I’m not even thirty five!

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Anyway, getting back to Kangoo Jumps.

I could bring a friend along, and so there we were, together with a few other ladies, putting on the springy sports shoes under the glary afternoon sun, and went bouncing away!

And hey, it was fun!

After some thirty minutes or so, we had to excuse ourselves and miss out on the rest of the programme though because we had to go somewhere else, AND I didn’t want to risk having a bad knee pain.

But you know what, my knees were completely alright! For days afterwards. DESPITE all that jumping and hopping.

Apparently it’s because Kangoo Jumps reduces the impact by up to 80%, making the sports really good for those with bad knees, like me!

Hmmm.

Now that I’ve found a sport that will surely be safe for my injured knees, the big question is, will I start exercising (read: Kangoo-Jumping) regularly?

Of course the answer is not as straight forward as I’d like it to be.

But it sure is a good food for thought for me.

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To find out more about the activities available for us women right from now till January 2009 (at special rates!), please visit http://www.womenandsports.sg/

Now here’s a little something for two lucky readers this Christmas: two cute handmade mini pouches are up for grabs!

The great thing about this giveaway is, the pouches were creatively handmade by the owner of ZakkaArt, Wynn, a fulltime mother of one, who puts her passion for sewing (and love for cute Japanese fabric) into making beautiful stuff and having them up for sale online.

And she’s specially made two pouches for you readers!

And all you need to do to be in the running is, visit her ZakkaArt blog site and leave a comment!

That’s it.

Oh btw, do make sure you leave your email address when filling up the comment form.

AND, remember to submit your quick comment latest by Tuesday, 9 December!

She’ll pick two winners from there and send the cute mini pouches over!

Anyway, do check out her online shop too while you’re there. They’re full of cute little goodies!

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[added]

It really is nice to see moms who continue to pursue their passion and love for things, even after having a kid or two, or more!

Personally I think, doing something that we love, something different, something other than ‘parenting’, does inject a little ‘variety’ to our everyday life routine. And though it’s not easy juggling it all, in the end, when we pursue our passion it can interestingly ‘keep us going’.

Try it *smile*

[added]
Results were out on 10 December, and the randomly chosen winners were : Prima and KittyCat!

Congrats!

Click here to read her post on it.

A couple of months ago I wrote a little something for us parents to consider before we send our kids for many extra-curricular activities.

Quite a few parents wrote in and shared their thoughts too, which was really nice because we get to read about other families’ thoughts and views on the topic.

Just so happen, Mother and Baby Indonesia magazine was covering a topic on kids’ activities in their November issue.

And so here are the photos from this site which they liked and included into their ‘learning special’ section.

[image from my post in August 08]

[image from my post in May 08]

Just in case you’re not familiar with the many different kinds of public transportation available in the (chaotic) city of Jakarta, there’s this three-wheeled vehicle called ‘Bajaj’ (read: Buh-Juh-ee).

I used to go EVERYWHERE in this when I was still a small girl living in Jakarta, in the 1980s. To school, to my friend’s house, to swimming lessons. Everywhere.

Okay, not really ‘everywhere’ because these bajaj can’t access ALL corners of the busy city of Jakarta, but I did go on Bajaj trips almost everyday back in those days.

I still remember how some Bajaj drivers drove like mad (though not all of them of course). Depending on the kinds of driver you happen to get, he could drive AGAINST the traffic flow, change lanes and overtake other vehicles in split seconds.

Bajaj rides are very noisy (read: noise from its machine) AND bumpy too! You see, it’s common to see small rocks and holes on the streets of Jakarta, and so if your Bajaj drives pass these, the whole vehicle shakes!

It’s quite an interesting ride, I must say. And we think the kids should experience it too! Hehe. Anyway, it’s been YEARS since I last took a Bajaj ride too!

So.

Here’s a video of how it went for us (the kids, me, and my mom’s maid squeezed into one). And if you’re not familiar with Jakarta, here you’ll see a glimpse of its streets, far-from-orderly traffic, wooden carts and makeshift stalls by the roadside and all. Hehe.

Click HERE to watch the clip on youtube!

Enjoy!