Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

It was all rather unplanned actually.

A few mommies and their preschoolers came over to watch Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf DVD – the ballet version (which I personally find very good! Highly recommended!)

Then after lunch, it rained so heavily. It was pouring. With thunder storms too! (The weather’s just been VERY wet lately)

And so rather than getting ourselves and the kids stuck on the sofa in front of the TV for too long, we went and did some crafting! (Vai was fast asleep at the time, so the timing was just perfect!)

And we made colourful caterpillars!

What we used:

>> Long balloons (as the body)

>> Crepe paper

>> Scissors, straws, scotch tape, markers

We pumped the balloons up. Then the kids twisted the balloons while the mommies tie some crepe paper on each twisted part.

We cut the straws, used two parts of it as the antennas and stuck them on the ‘head’ part with a scotch tape.

And the final touch. We drew the eyes and the mouth using our black marker.

And oh, the kids made faces with white beards too (like the one Anya and I made earlier this month!)

You see. It’s always been just me and Anya during our crafting sessions. And to have our friends and their kids around on a day like today just doubles the fun!

It was nice!

… they can be a great help in times of need.

>> When we’re open to accept new things and are willing to learn, that’s humility.

>> When we know what’s right but we still accept the wrong, that’s foolishness.

>> Quite often, we know what’s right. We know what we should’ve done and avoided. We know how we should’ve behaved in front of our children. Or how we should’ve reacted when our children misbehave. Etc.

But. We somehow stop at only ‘knowing’.

It’s as if the ‘path’ that links our knowledge to our action is ‘broken’.

With our ears we hear, listen and learn. It then goes to our brain (processing the information), and to our heart (reacting to the new info we’ve just received).

From there, we’d then decide whether we would ‘carry out’ the information through our action.

The problem is, carrying out what we know is right is a completely different thing. And realistically, it is a difficult task.

One who is a teacher may even be someone who’s not willing to learn. And one who’s a Professor who teaches Sociology may be someone who’s indifferent towards the society in which he lives.

And so this is the challenge we all face today.

To not stop at only knowing.

To battle with self and strive to do what’s right.

…

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead
James 2:17

For Vai’s birthday we had a simple get-together with a few friends and their kids.

Here are some of the photos! Enjoy!

Oh btw Vai had a little accident.

He’s hugging Anya when she sort of moved backwards and him still holding onto her fell forward. A cut on the upper and inner lip and scratches on the nose and chin.

Oh well. His ‘growing-up’ marks, I say. Hehe.

I’m sure there’ll be more to come as this little guy gets more and more active.

Anyway. Thanks so much for the warm wishes as well as the gifts!

We’re so blessed to have a nice and warm Indonesian community here too!

This evening Wilson and I went to see the musical – The King and I at the Esplanade.

[we’re producing a short Christmas musical for our church and so in the name of ‘seeking-more-inspirations’, our friend suggested that I see the three-hour show and offered to look after the two kids. THANKS Juita!]

But you see, when it comes to leaving the kids to someone else, something (nearly always) happens PRIOR to it. And this time round, … Vai simply refused to nap.

And not wanting him to be extra cranky at someone else’s house, I did everything I could just to get him to nap in the afternoon.

I sang slow songs. I went ‘sssshhh…ssshhhh…’ till my mouth went dry. I breastfed him for so many times throughout the afternoon till I felt I’ve fully emptied my tanks. I rocked him back and forth (which I don’t normally do). And I even softly blew towards his eyes to make him blink and (hopefully) go sleepy.

NOTHING worked. And the kid still refused to sleep.

And so as I expected, when we reach our friend’s house, Anya happily went in to play. And Vai, sleepy yet not wanting to sleep, once carried by someone else started wailing and crying so desperately, flinging both arms forward towards me.

I went and said bye, kissed him and left feeling SO VERY bad. And sad for seemingly abandoning him.

Sigh.

Anyway.

Here’s my quick personal review of the musical.

The character who played ‘Anna’ sang and acted well. The King however was somehow depicted as rather casual and comical. Doing silly things at times. There’re funny and beautiful moments, but I sort of felt that the script pushed a lot of western idealogy and message rather too strongly.

I liked the dance performances though.

PS: Apparently by the time we picked the kids up, close to midnight, both kids were still wide awake! And this means Vai only napped for 30 mins since he woke up this morning!

The big sister’s been keeping me busy lately.

With her daily (and rather frequent) Terrible Three moments.

It’s actually been quite alright these past few months. Of course there are times when she’d make such a huge fuss about simple things and throw tantrums. But it’s not on a regular basis.

These past few days she’d ask for unreasonable stuff and go against my requests. She delays her naps and takes a (very) long time to fall asleep.

She makes so much noise (read: screaming, crying, thumping her feet on the ground or on my bed), I’m not surprised if my neighbours have started to stuff their ears with cotton balls.

I do notice that all this started last week when my parents were here for a short visit.

At first, we thought she’s not interested to sleep or nap because she preferred to spend time and play with her grandparents.

Then after observing her even more closely, we sort of felt it’s probably due to her emotionally feeling insecure too, since she’s not getting as much attention and time from her grandparents as she used to (now that there’s Vai around and not JUST her).

Thing is, my parents’ve gone back to Jakarta last Sunday and she’s still giving us the tantrums. Everyday.

And it’s pretty bad.

She screams on top of her lungs. She’d frantically ask me to carry and hug her. And although I speak to her calmly, tell her how we love her so much, explain to her why she can or cannot do certain stuff while cuddling and hugging her real tight, she’d still be crying and screaming.

And it’s been happening not just at home, but also in public (and in taxis too! Poor cab drivers! Her screams and cries probably bring back their long-forgotten migranes).

Sigh.

She’s going through her ‘hormonal’ phase again, I guess.

And I tell myself that as long as her drama-episodes last for less than an hour each time, I should be able to survive this.

I’m pretty drained.

And I hope she’d go back to her ‘normal’ self real soon.

Yeah. It’s Vivo City. Again. And this time we went with Nic and Will.

[We chose the place because of their nice outdoor playground]

Anyway.

Anya ran around, went down the slide, pretended she’s asleep on it and inside the tunnel, while the boys crawled, climbed and picked up stuff from the ground.

Moms took photos and had to frequently stop the little boys from eating the stuff from the ground.