Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

I have to admit. I keep ‘junk’.

After we bought a small household appliance for example, I sometimes can’t bring myself to throw away the box. Or its styrofoam padding. I just feel I might use it again when crafting with Anya. Or something.

And hey, on a day like today, my ‘junk’ DOES serve its ‘recycled purpose’.

I cut some leftover styrofoam into different shapes and Anya worked on the colours. And she chose to use some watercolour today.

She learned how to apply the colours evenly on the surface, how to carefully hold the foam and used to brush at the same time. And oh, she even put on her arts and crafts ‘apron’ – given by her cousin – today!

After she’s done with the colours, we laid them all on one side to dry. I plan to do all sorts of stuff with the coloured foams later on. Anya can sort them according to shapes or even stick them to a piece of thick carton and create another piece of artwork.

Ah. I’m always happy when my junk can somewhat be useful (before going to the bin for good, I mean).

Happiness is to know the Saviour,
Living a life within His favour,
Having a change in my behavior,
Happiness is the Lord.

Happiness is a new creation,
Jesus and me in close relation,
Having a part in His salvation,
Happiness is the Lord.

Real joy is mine, no matter if teardrops start;
I’ve found the secret, it’s Jesus in my heart!

Happiness is to be forgiven,
Living a life that’s worth the living,
Taking a trip that leads to Heaven,
Happiness is the Lord!

– – –

Words and Music by Ira F. Stanphill

Happy are the people who are in such a state;
Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!
Psalm 144:15

So far Anya knows how to write the alphabets ‘U’, ‘S’, ‘C’, ‘X’, ‘Q’, ‘O’, ‘I’ and ‘V’.

As for numbers, she can write one and zero (most likely because it’s just like writing ‘O’ and ‘I’. Hehe).

Anyway today’s the day she started learning how to write more numbers.

And it’s just amazing to see how much she needed to concentrate in order to create the right strokes that we adults understand as the number three.

I’m not sure if many of you know this, but Wilson and I run our own business here in Singapore. We have a cosy little studio where we produce creative works for our clients. Design. Video production. 3D. Animation. Photography.

As for my role in all of it. Well, actually after we had Vai, my ‘workload’ has been reduced. By a LOT. Wilson handles our projects together with his staff at the studio while I handle some work from home.

Frankly, at times I do find it tough though. You know. Juggling everything. Kids. Housework. Cooking. Grocery. Clients. Deadlines. And there are times when I feel like … exploding to little tiny bits. Like when I’m not feeling too well, my deadline’s within an hour, my client’s calling my mobile, Vai is sleepy and needs to nap AND Anya’s giving me a hard time.

Good thing such a moment doesn’t come too often, or I’d sure go mad!

[Wilson and I often kind of remind each other how we should always be thankful for each situation that we get to face. However tough. And really, when we think about it, such a situation doesn’t last ‘forever’ (though it sure does feel like forever at the time!), and so we need to learn to endure, persevere and get through the period. Easier said than done, obviously. But we know it’s not an impossible mission.]

Anyway.

The event I’m organising is happening tomorrow and I need to check out the setup and everything. At times like this, I’d usually be leaving the kids to Wilson. But Vai’s been keeping himself awake way past his nap time and I could already imagine how the kids would give their Daddy a rather hard time later on (especially since Daddy can’t breastfeed Vai and get him to sleep!)

And so we brought the kids along.

We let them play on one area. Anya ran around collecting dead leaves and throwing them away from Vai, while Vai crawled everywhere trying to find one so he could munch on it! (I had to ‘rescue’ two dead leaves from his mouth while we’re there!)

It was a tiring day. I got sore feet from walking around too much. But it all turned out okay. The kids were alright and the tent and everything looked wonderful.

Much to our relief.

PS: I like this photo above because it shows off Vai’s chubby legs, how he’s only as high as the chair and how Anya is still soo much taller than him. All this is going to change very very soon.

We know that no two kids are the same. But still, I always find it interesting to see how Vai is different in so many ways when compared to Anya.

One simple example is his feet.

Anya’s feet are long and slim. Vai’s are chubby and wide.

Since she’s a baby, Anya can wear one pair of shoes for a VERY long time. Her feet grow (of course!), but somehow the growth is kind of gradual, over a longer period of time.

Now, unlike her sister, Vai can’t fit into just any pair of shoes. Because his feet are wider and chubbier, when I try on a pair on him, I sometimes can’t push his feet further to the front because the opening is just too narrow (never had this problem with Anya!). His feet seem to grow quite fast too.

Anyway. Will see if we can find a pair for him soon.

Four days ago, just before dinnertime, Anya and I managed to spend some quick ‘arts and crafts’ session together.

We made (what should’ve looked like) a cat. Hehe.

We used:

> Styrofoam cup
> Glue, scissors
> Brown and black paper cartons
> Crayons

Basically Anya did the glueing, pasting and drawing on the cat. I did all the cutting, held her hands and drew the eyes, nose and mouth, and helped her here and there with the pasting.

And as we did the works on our dining table (so that Vai can’t reach and ‘eat’ our craft stuff), he kept himself busy playing with his boxes of toys.

Anyway. It’s another quick yet nice crafting time with Anya.

>> Do we strive to do what’s right and honest only for the sake of ‘not getting caught’ and when ‘no one is looking’?

We should fear God, live and do what’s right, regardless of whether or not anyone is watching.

>> When we help and are kind to others, we shouldn’t expect that person to always return the same favour back to us.

The (sad) reality is, when someone receives ‘goodness’ frequently from a particular someone, the receiver tends to take things for granted and ‘forgets’ to appreciate the giver.

We can be who and where we are today because there are other people who give, support and sacrifice themselves for us.

Let’s remember to be more grateful and appreciative towards others.

These past few days have been so amazingly HOT!

We still go out and about with the kids though, and they’d have their hats on MOST of the time.

Oh btw, since some three months ago, Vai always pulls his hat off whenever I put it on him. But (somehow) he’s okay with it recently!

*big smile*

But hmm. He pulls out his socks instead.

Oh well.

As they usually say, you gain something and you lose something.