Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

Again I learned a LOT from today’s Women Fellowship. Here’s some that I’d like to share with everyone.

>> Do not demand and expect other people to do things FOR you. Instead, demand highly of yourself in everything that you do, to self or to others.

>> We all go through bitterness and sufferings in life. And yes, God may allow them to happen to us. The most important thing though is not the suffering itself, but what we learn from it. Our response to the experience itself. We become wiser as a person only if we learn from our life’s experiences.

>> When we compare ourselves to others, we’ll tend to focus on how ‘their grass is greener than ours’, on how theirs seems ‘better’ than ours. We focus on ourselves and we often are led to feel that our situation is THE worst in the ‘world’.

This, unfortunately, will only lead to us complaining about everything.

Let’s learn to count our blessings instead, and focus on the lessons we should’ve learned from whatever experiences God allows us to encounter in life.

…

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. HE will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, HE will show you a way out so that you can endure.

1 Corintians 10:13

I often hear people say to me, “Aawww, your kids have grown so fast!”, to which I often smile and reply, “That’s because you don’t see them every single day.”

But really, though I’ve spent my every hour with my kids since the day they’re born, I DO feel time flies real fast.

And when I look at Vai, he’s really not that little anymore.

Anyway, before my memory goes all rusty, here’s me doing a little summary of his developments so far.

Standing
He’s able to stand alone, unsupported, quite well now. Like, for more than 20 seconds. He is not really into taking any step forward alone yet though. Nor does he ask for me to hold his hands so that he can practice his walking steps. He cruises well and likes to push our stool (or box or chair) all around our house.

Mealtimes
He eats quite well nowadays, to my surprise (especially when compared to how his mealtimes were some 2 months back!). He does blow some of his food at times though *hmmph*

Sometimes I still need to keep him occupied (read: distracted) with something interesting so that he’d face me and take his food without much wriggle and moving about.

At home, I’d usually be feeding him at the same time as when Anya has hers. She self-feeds at our dining table while Vai uses the high chair.

I do still strain stuff like vegies, carrots and pumpkins, while I mash potatoes, egg yolk and chicken liver.

He takes about 10-15 minutes on average to finish his meal.

[and yes, I still need to sweep and mop the floor for any crumbs and food drops afterwards]

Sleeping
He’s still a light sleeper. He naps about 3 times each day. In the afternoon and at night time, he goes to bed at the same time as Anya. He naps for about 45 mins – 1.5 hours in the afternoon (and for about 30 mins – 1 hour at any other time). At night, the kids are usually already in bed and asleep between 10 pm – 11pm. They wake up at about 9am – 9.30am on average.

I don’t rock him to sleep. I breastfeed him while lying down and just get up and leave when he’s asleep (their mattress is on the floor now). Sometimes he stops nursing, crawls here and there for a few minutes, then crashes onto my tummy, and just falls to sleep by himself.

Vai (still) wakes up once at night on average, between 2am – 4am, asking to be breastfed.

Teeth
Four at the top, two at the bottom.

Weight
He’s 11.2 kg now.

Took the kids back to Vivo City for some water fun.

This time round my parents – who’re here for a few days visit – came along.

PS: Look a bit closer and you may be able to spot Anya in the background. Heh.

Anyway, more pics below…

And oh. It’s my Mom’s birthday today … Happy Birthday!

Way before I had kids I used to imagine having a home where my kids grow up listening to music. It can be anything, really. The radio, CD, or just you humming and singing songs.

Till now, when we’re in our bedroom, the radio is (almost) always switched on to the classics on Symphony 92.4FM.

[Listening to classical music – its regular beat and rhythm – does have a kind of calming and relaxing effect on the listeners]

Anyway.

Today Anya and I tried something different. We put on some children song and we just … danced ourselves silly (I thought it’d be good for me to burn some calories at the same time too!).

We jumped up and down, wiggled our hips, held hands and hopped.

Even Vai looked up and giggled.

After the ‘ABC’ and ‘Do-Re-Mi’ songs, Anya wanted to continue on, BUT I was too exhausted. My throat’s dry, my head’s spinning a bit and I had to go and get a drink.

[Thank goodness the next song was the rather slow ‘Twinkle twinkle little star’, so we did some slow movements instead]

After the third song, I let Anya continued on by herself while I went to the kitchen to prepare her snacks.

It made me think though. Three songs and I’m out of breath. That’s not good. And it’s either because I didn’t do any warming up or I’m just SO unfit right now (or I’m just getting OLD!)

AND oh, by night time, my right knee kinda hurts! (note: I do have a history of bad knees)

Oh my.

And I’m not even forty yet!

Daddies, generally being the busy ones working, tend to spend less time with the kids. Naturally.

And this usually means they miss out on witnessing many of the children’s firsts – milestones – like the time they first smile, giggle, crawl (or fall!)

But anyway, Wilson and I had a good chat over lunch today about daddies’ roles in the family.

And basically he shares how he feels daddies – not just the moms – should see the importance of educating and raising their children too. And how – amongst their busyness – they should try and make themselves ‘available’ for the kids (read: being there for them, spending quality time with the kids whenever they can).

And I completely agree.

It takes both a mom and a dad to fill the role of parents. It’s never just about ‘leaving everything in Mom’s good hands’.

I know he’s a better Daddy today than some 3 years ago. Through ups and downs, he continually learns and becomes better. A better Dad. A better person.

Anyway.

Here’s to all daddies: Happy Father’s Day!

Got a basket of fresh flowers delivered this morning with a note saying, ‘Thank you for blogging for us’.

Thanks Thinkfamily.sg for the nice gesture.

Btw, they’ll be having their roadshow next weekend, 23 & 24 June at IKEA Tampines, from 10am onwards.

Come and check them out.

I’ll sure try to drop by too!