Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

Our little guy just recently had a haircut at a nearby home saloon, and I must say I’m glad it all went without much horrific screaming and kicking.

You see, he had his very first haircut in March this year, and it went pretty okay (read: we managed to go through it all with minimum screaming from him but maximum ‘distract-the-kid’ efforts from me!)

But somehow after that one occasion, he’d completely go mad whenever we take him for a haircut.

He’d cry and scream to the max and jerk and throw himself everywhere! It was bad. Really bad. And we had to cancel a few of his haircut appointments too because of his total rejection towards ‘people with hair clippers and scissors in their hands’ being too close to him.

I slowly found out that he actually hates the prickly feeling of getting bits of hair on his skin.

And so the other day, he sat on my lap, and both Vai and I wore the ‘covers’. I continuously talked and told him stories while he cringed and gave me ‘worried looks’. At some points he was a bit restless and he did complain towards the end, telling me ‘Udah… udah!’ (Indo for ‘done … done!’).

It’s good enough that he didn’t scream nor kick a big fuss this time. I guess the fact that he’s now more familiar with the home saloon and the friendly lady’s face really helps.

[And one of the best things of it all, the haircut only costs us THREE dollars!]

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I do wonder though, are your kids afraid of getting their hair cut by other people? Any tips? I know of some friends’ kids who can sit still throughout! What a blessing! Hope to hear from some of you!

All good things must come to an end, and the Polliwalks Shoes Giveaway contest is ending in ONE WEEK’S time!

I’ve seen giveaway contests where close to two hundred people left comments and took their chance to win the prize : ONE pair of Polliwalks shoes. And right here, there are TWENTY PAIRS to win!

So yes, your chance of actually getting a FREE pair of Polliwalks shoes – worth S$48.15 – in the mail is VERY VERY HIGH! (especially as there are – only – eighty entries so far!)

[There’s a saying that’s stuck in my head : “If you are not IN it, then how can you WIN it!”]

So, here’s another reminder to everyone out there in the Asia Pacific :

Leave your comments now. Tell us which style, colour and size you’d like to get if you were to win a pair. Write something. Anything. A short and simple comment, or a more elaborate one. It’s up to you.

SEVEN MORE DAYS LEFT before the contest ends, everyone!

Hurry!

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Click HERE to read about the Polliwalks Shoes Giveaway and enter the contest!

Last weekend we took Wilson’s family for a night out at Chinatown as they’re looking for souvenirs to bring back to Jakarta.

It’s a pretty nice place for tourists (even locals) to visit I think. You’d find stuff like two-dollars fridge magnets with the word ‘Singapore’ on it, merlion-shaped keyrings or some eight-dollars chinese tote bags.

We were (obviously) not looking for anything in particular, but we did enjoy the overall atmosphere there.

And we checked out Chinatown Food Street on Smith Street too, where more than twenty food stalls sell all sorts of yummy food stuff.

Afterwards we walked for some ten minutes or so towards The Central shopping centre at Clarke Quay. Enjoyed a nice stroll by the Singapore river and watched people going mad on ‘Reverse Bungy‘ and ‘Xtreme Swing‘ too!

It was a nice night-out for everyone, I think!

Children will not be with us forever. As they grow up, they’ll increasingly be independent, the way they all should be.

And so as weeks, months and years pass by, our time with them and the opportunity to teach and influence them will gradually become less and less too.

If we’re entrusted with little ones right now, then our time is now. The time before they venture out and learn (all things good and bad) from friends, teachers and the world, without us by their side.

And so while we still can, let us all learn to treasure our limited moments spent with our little ones.

Loving. Holding. Teaching. Bonding.

Yes, while we still can.

When we know what’s right from wrong, do we tend to keep quiet so that we appear to remain ‘neutral’ to others? Or do we stick to what we know as the truth and fight for it, even though almost everybody else goes for the wrong?

Do we consciously choose to not speak out for the truth for fear of being ‘not like the rest’? (for fear of conflicts with those who may not share the same view)

Like when everybody else says ‘telling a lie is normal’ and ‘being unfaithful to our spouse once or twice is understandable’, do we nod together with the others, or do we stick to what we believe as right (despite being the ‘minority’)?

The apostle John – who wrote the book of John and four other books in the Bible – was one example of a man who lived in an era where false beliefs and teachings were more popularly accepted, even amongst believers (who didn’t have a strong understanding to begin with, and thus were more easily swayed by whatever prevalent teachings they heard)

He chose to stay true to his faith in Jesus Christ and fight for the truth, though it was against what was commonly believed at the time.

With a discerning heart, he wrote and pointed out what’s right from wrong.

And what he did was (obviously) against the majority and he was persecuted, excommunicated and later exiled to Patmos Island.

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When we choose to believe, do, say and fight for what’s right, we may most likely be the minority. We may seem to have gone ‘against the flow’. And we may even face ‘difficulties’ for having made that choice.

But what struck me the most as I sat and listened to today’s sermon by Rev. Stephen Tong was the statement that we should ‘comprehensively understand the truth and whole-heartedly fight for the truth, for that’s what living faithfully for Jesus Christ truly means’.

Such a big statement to swallow. Such a big challenge for me to follow.

Thank God for people like the apostle John whose life is a living testimony of God’s wonderful grace too.

More than a year ago Anya made a paper crown after learning about the biblical character ‘Queen Esther’.

And a few days ago, after Anya re-read about how brave and dependent upon God Queen Esther was, we made crowns again. But this time round, Vai and Keira – their 3yo cousin who’s here on holiday – joined in the fun!

What we used :
– Green-coloured paper carton (to go around the head as the crown)
– Glue, scissors, crayons, masking tape
– Any recycled paper cartons as ‘jewels’ (we chose a light bulb box from our to-be-recycled bag)

Optional:
– Coloured paper and ‘pattern cutter’ (we used a pink-coloured paper and our ‘tree pattern’ cutter)

What we did:
– I cut out long strips (about 3.5cm wide) from the green carton and made one side of it ‘spiky’
– I cut out square-shapes (the light bulb box) and the kids coloured their ‘jewels’ with crayons
– Kids glued the ‘tree patterns’ and ‘coloured jewels’ onto their own ‘crown’
– I wrapped the green strip of paper around each of the kid’s head to roughly gauge the head’s diameter, and taped the two ends together to make a crown

That’s it!

AND, to make things more fun, we did some role-playing afterwards.

Anya was Queen Esther, Keira held multiple roles and Vai was the King (and I guess that made him a ‘Vai-King’? hehe)

Vai wore Anya’s bath robes (!) while Anya and Keira had plain clothes on their back, with the front bit pinned near the chest (I used clothes pegs!)

I created simple dialogues and the kids tried to follow what I said word by word. They laughed themselves silly while the adults watched and giggled. We all had fun!

And most importantly, I think the kids remembered the story better too after that session!

We’ve been to the Singapore Zoo for quite a number of times but I don’t think we’ll ever get tired of it.

We get to see and learn about God’s beautiful creatures – big and small, cute and weird-looking – AND we simply love its open concept where we don’t have ‘cages’ between us and the animals, as well as the fact that it preserves its ‘green’ landscape well too.

The kids and I took Wilson’s family there today and we were there for a good six hours! They loved it!

And I must say, one of the nice things about Wilson’s family is that they love photography!

I mean, when we go out, everyone except my sister-in-law actually brings along a camera! Even my mom-in-law carries a video camera with her during such holiday trips!

[Top photo was taken by my father-in-law]

And so there, thanks to my brother-in-law, I had that shot of me and the kids! [left photo]

It was one of those times when BOTH Anya and Vai wanted to sit on the pram.

They whined and argued about who ‘should’ sit and I knew I had to carry one of them in my sling. After all, we did walk quite a lot today.

Btw, I don’t usually carry my kids on my back with a sling. Somehow I just feel this position puts a heavier strain on my shoulder than carrying the kid in front and on my left side like I usually do.

Or, perhaps it’s simply because I’ve yet to figure out how to best wear the sling for this position.

Anyway.

We had HEAPS of photos taken today and here are some of my chosen ones.

[Last photo]
Vai personally asked me to take a photo of him sitting there by the ‘actual-sized hippos cut-out posters’.

Btw, here’s one interesting fact I learned today :
According to the info sheet, each pygmy hippo (the smaller one) is, on average, about 160 kg in weight, and it’d take TEN pygmy hippos to make one Nile hippo (the bigger one in the photo)!

AND, since Vai is now 15.2kg, that means it’d take ten to eleven Vai to make one pygmy hippo and about one hundred Vai to make just one Nile hippo!

Cool stuff!

We had such a nice time at East Coast Park yesterday!

The kids enjoyed some sandplay and went on playing and running along the beach.

We rented some bicycles too and cycled quite a fair bit till we’re away from the ‘public holiday’ crowd. And how I LOVE the forested cycling tracks and the whole ‘close to nature’ feel! It was awesome!

Anyway, here are some more of our captured moments of the day! Enjoy!

[Info]
– Bicycle rental : $6 per 2 hours (for single seater, with and without child seat); $8 per 2 hours (for tandem ones). You get a bottle of mineral water too upon returning the bikes.
– As it’s a public holiday, there’s quite a big crowd along the beach nearest to the eating area. The available ‘shower area’ was packed with people too and so we roughly ‘cleaned up’ our kids off the sands near McDonald’s, which was ALSO crowded.