Welcome to Leonny's site! If you're new at Everyday Things and you enjoy the site, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. This way you'll be notified whenever there's a new post! Thanks for visiting!

Anya’s eyes glow each time she sees a corn cob, and so I gave her one to try out today!

Loved it!

We had a VERY NICE break today.

Family time. A day out with friends. No work. No computer. No business phone calls.

It all started with a nice get-together at a friend’s house, KFC for lunch, followed by a late afternoon walk around Boat Quay.

And the weather was oh so nice!! Clear blue sky. Gentle breeze. Spectacular city view by the river. And the sun’s warm touch on our skin was just PERFECT.

We took photos, walked along the Singapore River, ate at Burger King and watched fighter planes zoom right above us. It was deafening, but it was cool!! (They’re practising for the annual National Day Parade’s air show!).

We had a great time!

Yes. Anya can hold and eat a banana by herself now!

While she learns to be more independent, she of course still shows typical toddler behaviours, like clinging to my legs, whining and begging me to carry her while I’m actually rushing to get lunch ready.

Anyway, I know parents continually search for meal ideas, so here’re some links to some baby and toddler recipes I found on the Net. Haven’t got the time to personally test them out in my kitchen though … hehe.

>> Recipes with Beef and Lamb

>> Snack ideas for big and small kids

>> A few more baby & toddler recipes from Huggies

> when your kid wakes you up with a cuddle

> when she finishes up all her meal without a fuss

> when she gives you a kiss without you asking for it

> when she gets so very excited upon seeing birds near the playground, cats on the streets, big green trees! (… indirectly reminding us adults who often take for granted these God-given blessings)

Looking forward to my holiday!

Anya now prefers to walk by herself. Still tumbles and falls, but she’d get up, clap her hands to remove the dirt and walk again.

The thing is, when she falls down both her hands are on the ground. And when I say ‘the ground’, I’m talking about the playground, the pedestrian walkway, the streets, the shopping centre, the food court, you name it. AND usually within 2 minutes, one of her fingers somehow ends up in her mouth!

I’m not a super-clean-can’t-get-no-dirt-on-my-family type of person. My philosophy is, if our kids are always super extra clean, never been exposed to much dirt and stuff, they’ll get ’sick’ easier (read: their immune system is less strong)

[Having said that, I do NOT purposely let Anya play with the dustbin of course!]

Anyway, I am always amazed at how God creates our body system. It’s so excellent that we humans don’t throw up and fall sick each time some ‘unclean’ stuff enters our body. The germs in the air we breathe. The chemicals in our vegies. The bacteria stuck on our hands as we open public toilet doors.

I don’t know how much dirt gets into Anya everyday. But I know Anya is happy and healthy.

I read about a fulltime mom who felt so thrilled when she finally had the time to sit in front of her home computer again and ‘do some work’. How she missed her busy working days in the past. How exciting it was to have activities other than ’solely looking after the kids all day long ‘.

I thought about my own situation as I read about her. There were times when I was SO busy with work that I imagined myself doing none of it. I just want to enjoy my day with Anya. No business phone calls. No negotiations. No suppliers. No meetings. No quotes preparations.

I then snap back to reality and realise how fortunate I am to be in the situation I’m in today!

I get to spend time with Anya. I get to do work that I like. I run my own business. I have an online journal. I can go on and on about the many blessings I receive, being in the situation that I’m in today. The list is endless.

We are all placed in different and unique situations. I guess it all depends on how we look at what we have. The situations we’re in. And whether we see the glass as half-full or half empty.

Some people need to get into different sleeping positions before they can really go to sleep.

As for Anya, she simply does a lot of things before she dozes off!

It’s interesting how we subjectively define time.

If you are down with flu and can’t sleep at night, time seems to creep REALLY slowly. But if you’re really tired and the alarm clock goes off in the morning, you’d think, ‘Huh? 8 o’clock already?!’

Earlier on, I was waiting for my bus when I observed the newspaper lady for a few good minutes. She rearranged the piles of newspaper and sat quietly. Alone. And unless someone came to buy something from her, I’d assume she had very little interactions with anyone.

It’s hard for me to imagine the kind of day she goes through every single day. Time must’ve seemed to be in super slow-motion for her.

Then I thought of how I have been using my time so far.

Have I been wise? Have I used my time to the maximum? Have I done enough? Have I been a blessing to others? More often than not, my answer is, not yet.

Something that everyone of us needs to reflect upon more often, I guess?