Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

Stacking Lego bricks. One of Vai’s most recent favourite playtime.

And each time he’s successfully stacked on the bricks, or created a ‘car’ – which he’d usually ‘vroom’ for a while – made of just a large lego brick and a smaller one on top of it, he’d smile and give himself a clap! (Of course Mom claps and cheers too! Hehe.)

A good way to motivate one’s self, I think.

We all are born with God-given talents and potentials. And it can be anything, really.

Playing music. Singing. Leading. Teaching. Cooking. Writing. Drawing. Ability to understand technical stuff. Listening ears. Encouraging others through our positive words. The list is endless.

We all have the responsibility to continually ‘dig’, explore and develop our potentials AND most importantly, use them for the good of others.

Potentials and talents that are kept to self are meaningless.

What’s important is how much we can contribute to others, not our financial status nor how much possessions we HAVE during our lifetime.

Because history will remember those whose lives have CONTRIBUTED well to the world.

Every year, as part of their Christmas programmes to draw crowds both young and old, Tanglin Mall holds this artificial foam-snow sessions in the evening.

Anya had her play there today. For the very first time.

And she LOVED it!

(Ah. Too bad Vai was napping in his pram at the time)

PS: The session we went to started at 8pm and ended at about 8.35pm. Be prepared to get REALLY wet and foamy.

My suggestion: bring along extra clothes for the kids, a towel and even some bath soap to wash up our little ones afterwards if you want. They’ve apparently set up a ‘shower area’ nearby (similar to those you find near any swimming pools!).

And oh, much younger kids may find the foams (and falling ‘snow’) a bit ‘too weird’ to play with. Heh.

Back in Singapore today from our 3-day-2-night quick getaway in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

And well, the main purpose of the trip was so that Wilson (and his dad, and a few other friends) could catch the Federer vs. Sampras Tennis Match there. It was an opportunity that’s simply too-hard-too-miss for those who REALLY LOVE tennis! Hehe.

Anyway, we did have a nice break from our usual busy days here in Singapore.

No work, phone or internet access! Both kids played and spent so much time with BOTH of us and their grandpa too. Anya and Wilson even went to Cosmo’s World – an indoor ‘theme park’ with rides and stuff for little kids – at Berjaya Times Square!

And oh, we even got ourselves a haircut! Hehe.

[Though a bit hard to believe, it’s been really hard for both Wilson and I to actually find the time to get our hair cut in Singapore. Our days and weekends have just been very full these past few weeks!]

Anyway. Will write a bit more about the trip and traveling with the kids.

In the mean time, here are some of our photos!

Enjoy!

I’ll be away for a few days, everyone!

Back real soon!

Meals

Vai now can help himself with food like corn cobs and peeled apples. I guess now that he has fourteen teeth altogether helps quite a bit.

Usually at dinnertime, I’d give him a little bit of his food on a plastic bowl. I’d then place his fork or spoon on his baby chair’s table, depending on the food he’s having (he now uses his fork quite well, and is still learning how to use the spoon).

After saying grace together, he’d then start self-feeding himself (and at times, he ends up using his hands anyway!). When he’s about 80% done with his food (which by then usually is quite ‘everywhere’!), I’d then sit next to him to spoonfeed him the rest of his meals from my bowl.

When he’s engaged in self-feeding (or using a spoon to stir his bowl, etc), spoonfeeding him does get a little less challenging.

Milk

He’s still breastfed. As for his formula milk, it’s either spoonfed or mixed with his rice cereals, oatmeal, steamed eggs, etc.

Just before bedtime, bottlefeeding him is slightly better these past few days.

He’d really struggle, scream and complain at first, but in the end he’s willing to drink 125ml of formula while laying down on my lap (I need to continually sing and make silly faces though, otherwise he’d want to get up and go!)

I hope to slowly increase the amount. Not too sure if he’s okay with it.

Tooth-brushing

He’s now okay with brushing his teeth (he used to close his mouth real tight!). After his shower, I’d carry him and using my other hand, I’d brush his teeth with a kiddy toothbrush (no toothpaste yet).

He opens his mouth and lets me brush his teeth, and sticks out his tongue when I ask him too. It’s great!

Language

By now, some of the words he likes to say are: ‘Go’, ‘Ta’ (for ‘stop’), ‘Ja…to’ (Indo for ‘fall down’), ‘uh-oh’, ‘Tee’ (for ‘tree’), ‘Daaa’ (for ‘dog’), as well as ‘Mommy’ and ‘Daaa-ddy’.

He understands our instructions or requests quite well.

If he holds a piece of paper and we ask him to throw it into the bin, he’d go to the kitchen, step on the pedal bin and throw it away. If we say, “Come, it’s mealtime, please sit on your chair’, he’d then go towards his baby chair and gesture to me that he’d like to sit on it.

Emotional

At times he can get very clingy. He’d be in a room full of people and he’d be okay IF he knows we are also somewhere inside the same room. If he can’t spot us, he’d start going around, looking for us with a worried look in his eyes. If he still can’t spot us, his lips will look like an upside-down ‘U’. AND within a few seconds, he’d start crying real loud.

If he’s made a mistake and I firmly tell him how he shouldn’t do it again, he can at times avoid making eye-contact with me (I can tell from his eyes though that he knows what he’s done wrong and is being told about it)

When Anya cries, he sometimes approaches her and gives her hair a gentle stroke.

Weight

He’s now 12.4kg

Here’s another pictorial climbing guide Vai would like to share with other toddlers.

According to him:

1) You need to successfully complete his ‘Climbing 101’ tutorial first

2) You need to have a plastic stool

3) As your climbing skills improve, practice can then be done on plastic stools that can actually wobble a little bit.

4) This is a pretty good exercise for your legs and arms. AND, you get to practice your balancing skills too.