Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

Little children are naturally sweet and adorable. But on the other side of the coin, when they’re unhappy about something, their behaviour can be rather shocking to many (usually to those who’re not their own parents!)

I mean, a toddler can be all cute and cuddly, but within minutes he may become unhappy about something and let out his best screaming performance, regardless of when and where he is at the time.

[Yes that’s us humans and our sinful nature]

Next month Vai turns two, and while he can be really sweet, cooperative and understanding, many times he does things that one wouldn’t generally imagine him do.

He can scream at the top of his lungs, test my authority, strongly assert his wants, throw toys (to the wall, to the floor AND to people – for the sake of simply finding out the ‘effect’ of his action), frown and slap my arm to show his displeasure, kick and fuss, put up his ‘i-don’t-care-what-you’ll-do-to-me’ face when I raise my voice at him and firmly reprimand him after he badly misbehaves.

[I’ll write a little bit more about his (AND Anya’s) recent emotional roller-coaster soon]

For now, though I’m very glad he still shares many many sweet moments with us everyday, somehow I just have this strong feeling that whatever tough situation I’m getting from him right now, it’s only the TIP of his ‘Terrible Two’ iceberg.

My instinct tells me to prepare myself mentally as best as I can, for there’ll be more ‘interesting’ (read: challenging and mind-numbing) things to come from this little guy as he strives for his growing independence and draws closer to turning two years old.

We’ll see how things go.

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How old are your kids? Do (or did) they go through ‘Terrible Two’ days? What were your worst ‘encounters’? How did you go through that tough phase?

Please do share your parenting experiences in the comments section. I’ll see you in there!

In our world today, it’s hard to find justice and righteousness. And so, we’re to remember this :

– Never look for righteousness in the other person, but never cease to be righteous yourself.

– When people tell us, “Do your duty”, the Bible teaches us something that is of a more noble value, “Do what is beyond your duty”.

– We are always looking for justice, yet the essence of teaching in the Bible is – Never look for justice, but never cease to give it.

We can’t change the world. But we can make a positive difference to those whose lives have crossed our path.

Let’s be a blessing.

We had our seventh wedding anniversary three days ago. Right on the seventh of the seventh month!

To some, seven years of marriage may seem like a long time. To some others on the other hand, seven years is actually very short for they know there’ll be many more years ahead that we as a couple need to go through together.

To both of us, we somehow didn’t feel that we’ve been married for that long.

We enjoy each other’s company. We talk. We listen. We try to always keep two-way open communications. We support, remind, rebuke and encourage each other.

AND most importantly I guess, we realise that we have to keep on ‘building’ and ‘working on’ our relationship as there’s still such a long journey ahead of us that we both have to go through together.

And such a journey (realistically) will not only be filled with sunshine and rainbows, but dark clouds and storms too.

Marriage is never like a fairy tale. We both never believe in such a thing anyway.

Within the past seven years, there are many occasions when we disagree and are really mad with each other. There are times when our husband and wife days just feel so like a routine, that fun and spontaneity just seem to have gone out the window.

The reality is, as years go by, couples (unconsciously) often start taking each other for granted.

Words of appreciation may not be uttered as much. Gestures of love and affection may not be seen much around the house too. The husband tends to be busy with work and career, while the wife is busy with the kids (AND work too, if she’s working fulltime as well).

Daily conversations tend to evolve around the kids, the house and work. Leaving very little time and energy for the couple to even start talking and building on their husband-wife relationship.

Being a good parent the way God wants us to be is not easy. So is being a good wife and a good husband. It consistently needs lots of work, contribution and commitment, from both parties.

AND for our case, lots of prayer for God’s strength, help and grace too.

I’m glad we both are committed to keep on working, refreshing and improving our relationship based on mutual respect, trust and sacrifice. And of course, love.

…

To my dear husband : Happy Anniversary!

PS: That’s us in Queenstown, New Zealand, in 2001. Lovely place!

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Btw, how do you work on your marriage ?

How do you keep your relationship alive and fresh ? eg. Do you have regular ‘dates’ with your spouse? How do you settle your disagreements? Do you find it tough (read : near impossible) to have ‘couple time’ after having kids?

Or, do you have any relationship tips to share?

Hope readers can start sharing and writing in! *smile*

As Vai turned 22 months some 2 weeks ago, I notice he started ‘singing’ a lot.

He likes to repeat the lyrics and follow the tune.

Anyway, here’s one song that he sort of ‘masters’ so far, hehe.

Click HERE to watch the video on youtube.

Enjoy!

PS: It’s true, ‘bathroom echo’ is the best!

We walked past this alley whenever we want to go for one of Jakarta’s well-known noodle shops.

And along the dark corridor, you get to see different kinds of sights that tend to be hidden behind such a buzzing metropolitan city.

People sleeping soundly on a wooden table with just a cloth mat as his ‘bed’.

Women cooking in what looks more like a makeshift outdoor kitchen.

People selling fruits.

Little children playing near their mothers as they observe occasional passers-by.

…

My 30-second walk past this alley always makes me reflect on my own life and its many comforts I’m able to enjoy everyday. How can I even begin to complain about anything?

Kids being kids are not always giggly and happy.

Just like us, they do have moody and cranky moments too.

But when they ARE giggly and silly, I do love capturing and treasuring these happy moments.

Just like these ones.

There are all sorts of people. Those who can inspire, encourage and make our day. And of course there are those too whose words, actions or attitudes just seem to break our day.

If we were to meet those who seem to be filled with hatred, envy and negativity, let us not be affected by their negative attitude to life.

How we see life and everything that happens – which includes the bitterness and struggles that are part and parcel of it – depends highly on our own perception and attitude to life.

Do we tend to rely on self, clinging strongly on to our own hopes and dreams, forgetting to put our life in God’s hands and simply trust that He definitely knows what is best for us.

…

Yes it is easier said than done, but I’m willing to learn. With God’s help.

Today the four of us spent our afternoon a little differently.

We went to a bar at Clarke Quay – Forbidden City by Indochine – to meet my friend Andrew – whom I first got to know some 15 years ago! – and his wife, Karen, who’re here just for a few days.

Btw, Karen is a well known blogger from Perth AND a Mom of two as well. Her boys are five and three, pretty similar to mine who’re now four and (nearly) two years old.

I love her writing and how she tries to balance her life by juggling SO many different things. From raising both her sons fulltime, gardening, cooking healthy stuff, baking, reviewing fashion boutiques, scuba diving, swimming …

Anyway.

She had her ‘Doing the Karen Cheng in Singapore‘ charity event there at the bar (click on the links to read more of what it’s all about), and it was our first time meeting up face to face.

[Thanks to my hubby who helped to ‘babysit’ the kids while we’re all there, I managed to chat with people and got to know a few new friends!]

I didn’t get to chat with Karen though since she’s naturally very very busy with everyone at the event, but we managed to take the ‘must-have’ shot in front of the mirror, hehe.

Managed to catch up with Andrew though, which was great! It’s been SO long! Still the charming and funny guy I knew.

Anyway, I had a great time.

And oh while we’re there, the kids explored the bar and made themselves feel quite at home with the cushions and stuff! Hm.