Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

Nowadays Vai walks a lot.

[He still stumbles at times – especially when he’s really sleepy and tired but simply is NOT interested in resting – but he’d get himself up again and continue on walking about]

And so now that I have TWO kids who are growing in their independence, I somehow come to a realisation that my ‘total-number-of-words-spoken-in-a-day’ sort of goes UP, even more than before.

From the moment we all wake up to the time the kids are fast asleep at night, I find myself saying stuff like …

Please don’t touch the bin. Please don’t put the toy inside your mouth. Please eat your meals quickly. Please share your toy. Please don’t snatch the book off your brother’s hands. Please don’t scream. Please say sorry. Please be gentle. Please turn off the TV. Please sit on the sofa. Please don’t sit on the water puddle. Please … Please …

I explain. I give instructions. I rebuke. I remind. I negotiate.

And by the day’s end, it’s amazing how one can actually feel ‘verbally tired’.

I’ve heard it from other moms. I’ve read it somewhere before. But really, before I had Vai, I never thought I’d find these stuff inside my own child’s mouth.

Things (read: bits and pieces) I’ve found – and immediately removed – from Vai’s little mouth just within these past thirteen months (to name a few):

– Rubberband
– Crayons
– Paper
– Hair
– Carton box
– Plastic bag
– Cloth
– Toy
– Coin
– Leaf

AND hmm … a piece of Anya’s balloon. TWICE.
(you know, the ‘knot’ part where you tie your balloon)

I found out about it because I SAW the bright blue balloon IN his soiled diapers!

*Mom shakes her head nonstop*

And who knows what ELSE has gone in – and OUT – undetected! (other than what’s SUPPOSED to go in, of course)

Really. Now that we have two little kids in our family, we get to see even more frequently evidences of how God constantly cares and watches over us.

Over our curious little ones, especially.

Went out with three other moms and their kids today. All Indonesians.

And the interesting bit. Everyone got to know each other from a ‘cyberworld’ called ‘Multiply‘. Hehe. (For my case, it’s my first time seeing them all in person)

Anyway.

I think it’s great that today’s digital era can somehow broaden our social circle – across the globe, even – letting us meet, know and befriend with more and more people from different walks of life.

Cool!

Although I’ve always lived in a city, I’d somehow still choose to see more greenery than skyscrapers.

It feels fresher on the eyes too.

The thing is, Singapore being a small island is filled with more buildings than parks. More cars than trees.

(A couple whom we met in New Zealand told us how they once flew over Singapore and saw its many buildings, and somehow wondered how people ever managed to live in a place that looked so much like a ‘LEGOland’. Heh.)

Anyway. We came across a bit more greenery today. Though we’re in the middle of town.

And it was nice.

PS: [in the pic above] Anya’s pointing at a huge waterbottle air balloon and she said that if she ‘drank’ from it, she’d get really bloated and ‘airy’!

>> There are some who receive goodness from others and they respond by making ‘further’ use and continually manipulating the givers. We should stay away from such people.

>> And there are some who realise the goodness of those who come and help, and respond with gratitude and appreciation. And these are true friends.

>> When someone is kind to us, we should remember their kindness. And when we continually receive goodness from others, we should continually remind ourselves about it, because it’s so easy for us to start taking things for granted.

>> And most important of all, we who’re continually showered with blessings from God should always be thankful to HIM by living a life that’s pleasing to HIM and is according to HIS will.

…

Always give thanks for all things to God the Father
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:20

Just like any other preschoolers whose language skills are already quite developed by now, she too expresses her wants very clearly nowadays.

Like just these past few weeks, we get to hear countless “No, I don’t want to’ and ‘Now!’

At times she prefers to not share any of her things with anyone else. And at other times, she shares everything with everyone.

When she throws a tantrum, it ranges from an ‘easy to soothe’ kind, to a ‘full-blown-far-from-rational-and-fully-emotional’ type.

Overall though, she’s still a cheerful type of kid.

She loves to laugh out loud, hops around and plays silly games.

She looks forward to spending time with Daddy just before bedtime. From playing ‘horse riding’ and going ‘upside-down’, to quieter sorts like reading and saying her nighttime prayers.

She can sit on our sofa just with her books for a very long time.

And her memory skill, it’s often beyond what we can ever imagine.

Other than the alphabets, numbers, songs or car models (she tells us what the car is by looking at the car’s ‘logo’), she can recall stuff like where we last sat and dined when we enter a restaurant, and even minor incidents that happened one or two years ago.

She too remembers the names of people who gave us stuff. She’d say things like, ‘Oh, can I play with the sticker book given by Auntie Andrea … you know, the one that she gave to me as a birthday present when I was two years old!’

Ah kids.

Though I’m often exhausted by them, I still do feel privileged for having been given the opportunity to see them grow up, be with them throughout their early years, guide and teach them and share my tears and laughters with them.

And I’ve got to say, such moments can never be repeated nor exchanged with anything.