Now that it’s a bit harder for me to take Vai out and about, I let him play at the school’s playground right after we send Anya to her class. Once or twice a week. For some 30 mins each time!

And though he (and me!) gets a ‘natural tan’ from the 12pm sun, he really enjoys his playtime. A LOT.

Climbing and sliding. Hiding in the ‘toy house’. Playing with sand. Sitting on tricycles or standing on scooters while Mommy does the pushing along.

And I’m happy seeing him this happy.

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I’m starting to get used to the whole routine of sending and picking Anya up from school each day. And how Vai and I basically have a relatively short twosome time together, ie. 1 hour 40 min, in between (which usually is filled with me cooking / rushing to deliver my projects, playing with Vai, having lunch and helping Vai with his lunch).

If you ask me, I do wish I can have a much much longer twosome time with him. Well, not just twosome time actually. I mean, now that both of us send and pick Anya up from school everyday, Vai hardly goes out to places that the three of us used to go together before. Like, going to the library, malls, swimming with friends or even a visit to the Zoo.

You see, while I don’t really want to be away from Anya for too long (I do miss her now that she’s not around at home as much!), at the same time I want Vai to do (more) stuff outside too. Like before.

Dilemmatic.

Sigh.

It’s a common situation all parents of more than one kid face, I guess?

Oh well. For now we’ll make do with our current situation. And I’ll try my best to ‘make better use’ of whatever limited twosome time I have with my youngest one.

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One of the many things I love about digital cameras is how it allows us to experiment.

Shoot at different angles, try out its many functions and see (or delete) the results IMMEDIATELY (read: no waiting at photolabs, no printing costs).

And so for today, I just thought I share with you these shots Anya and I took today, which you may want to try out too someday!

We used the ‘night mode’ feature on our Ixus (with the flash turned on).

With ‘night mode’, the object and the ‘camera handler’ are supposed to be completely still (for a few seconds) in order for the camera to capture all the lights nicely.

But if you focus on a particular object, click on the shutter release button, then follow the moving object, you get interesting shots with light trails. Like the one above (Anya was half-running at the playground at about 7pm when I took that shot).

Anyway.

Later that night, Anya asked for my IXUS and quitely ‘played’ with it in our bedroom while I had my dinner. After a few minutes, she came and showed me these two shots below.

She told me she ‘extended’ her arm ‘outside’ our bedroom window and took shots of the road traffic. And she was sort of puzzled by the funny results. I then explained in simple terms what’s happened and how she just used the ‘night mode’ feature. Thus, the interesting light trails.

She was excited and took a few more shots of ‘dark places with lights’ while moving her hands a bit.

It’s kinda like ‘drawing’, she said. Hehe.

[First photo below]
I love this particular shot she took. It looks like a school of dolphins jumping out of the sea together!

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Do not think that we have control over everything.

Because we don’t.

There are too many things that happen in our lives that are simply BEYOND our control. Beyond what we could ever imagine. Be it a good thing or seemingly a ‘bad’ thing.

And it all simply emphasises our vulnerability and limitations as humans, and how we should only depend on HIM, our Creator, the one and only God who is always consistent in delivering His promises and showering everlasting love for us; HE who is in control of everything; HE who never changes over time though everything else in this world withers, changes and fails.

Praise be to God.

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As our little ones grow, so is their curiosity. And the great thing about such increasing curiosity is that they get to discover new things about their world.

The ‘not-so-good’ aspect about it, well, while they test things out to see the ‘effects’ of their actions, they may venture into things that they’re not supposed to do.

Like, throwing toys around or pouring water onto the living room floor!

At first they may not ‘know’ that they’re not supposed to do them. But them being toddlers, generally even after we parents tell and explain - repeatedly - why some actions shouldn’t be done, they may choose to … not obey too.

Personally, I believe in letting kids know - since young - that there are consequences to everything. That we all need to learn and be responsible for our actions.

If they spill water onto the floor, they need to know that someone may slip and fall. And so we (including the child who spilled it) need to wipe the floor dry.

Today when Vai was drawing with crayons, he went to check out how his blue crayon would look on our dining chair!

He was vigorously colouring the chair when I realised what he was doing. I then gave him a firm ‘No no no!’, got down to his level, took his crayon, looked him in the eye and firmly told him how he’s to draw on his paper, not on furniture.

He got back to his paper. But within ten seconds, he went to draw on the dining chair, again! (This time, he chose the one next to the previous one).

After telling him again and again (the cycle happened for about 4 -5 times!), I decided to pack his crayons. I then gave him a damp cloth and explained to him how he’s to wipe the chair clean because he was the one who drew on them.

He managed to clean about 20% of it. And when I took over, I explained what I was doing while he watched me wipe the blue stains off the two chairs.

Hmm.

In such cases, yes it’d be much faster and easier if we just wipe it clean ourselves from the beginning. But if we tend to always do that, our little ones will miss out on an important life lesson - to be responsible and accountable for their own actions.

Worse, they’d gradually learn not to be too concerned about their own actions, because someone else will bear the consequences anyway!

Ah. Teaching our little ones need so much patience.

May God continually give us parents the needed persistence, consistency and wisdom in teaching our little ones.

…

Find out more useful tips on:

- How to teach responsibility

- How to teach your toddlers to do chores

- Getting your toddler to listen

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Those four legs will not dangle off those bus stop seats forever.

And so while they still do … here’s a shot of it for Mommy to get all sentimental later.

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I don’t normally write about jewellery. And I guess it’s because I don’t wear much fancy accessories myself these days.

It doesn’t mean I don’t like cute and pretty stuff though. It’s just that I now wear practical ones that don’t require much ‘changing’ (getting my two small kids ready to go out in time generally means minimal time is left for me to get ready. Hmm. A rather lame excuse, you think?).

Anyway. Today I want to introduce you to Lady Nic’s.

It’s an online store selling hand-made jewellery. Necklaces, earrings and bracelets. Pretty stuff!

What I find motivating is how the owner, the jewellery maker, my good old friend Nichol, is driven to pursue her love for crafting though she herself is busy being a mom to her 17-month-old son, Will.

I asked her a few questions to find out more about her crafts and how she struggles to juggle everything.

And here they are.

Leonny: When and why did you start making hand-made jewellery?

Nic: Started making about 6 years ago. Couldn’t find what I like and when I did find, they’re too expensive to buy. So…

Leonny: Now that you’re a busy Mom of one with no helper at home, why do you want to start the business again?

Nic: After 17 months of focusing on how to be a mother and a housewife, I feel it’s time that I can afford to shift a little attention back to ME - to do what I enjoy and to earn my keeps!

Leonny: How do you juggle the time between creating your masterpieces, caring for your son, spending time with hubby, housework and everything else?

Nic: Frankly, my hands are really full juggling so many things! I spend my days with son, playing and doing activities with him. In between his TV and short nap time, I’ll do little chores here and there (they are never-ending anyway!). Near dinner time is my busiest - cooking for the family, feeding and bathing son etc.

Hubby and I will sometimes put son at my mother’s house so that we can catch a movie or just go chill out. On most nights, we’ll have a quick chat to update our days.

When I breastfeed my son, I will think of designs and transform them into creations at night when everybody is asleep. At times I need a few nights to complete a piece as my son may disrupt my work by waking up a few times!

Leonny: Any ’sacrifices’ you can tell and share?

Nic: Sacrifices? SLEEP, of course! Have been clocking in like 4-5 hours of shut-eye per night…and it’s a cumulative number, for goodness sake!

Leonny: Last one, what makes your jewellery ‘unique’?

Nic: As long as the creator does not copy, her creations are ‘unique’!

My jewellery are essentially inspired by imagination, music, scenery, a novel I had read, my own life experiences…and anything that tugs at my heartstring. Every piece has a theme/tale. And I make them with lots of sincerity!

PS: Nic adds to her collection periodically, so do check her e-store once in a while for great new stuff you may want to bring home and wear! Online payment and orders are available too!

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Checking out the road traffic right after their afternoon nap

(just one of the ‘perks’ you get from living in a Singapore flat)

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Our little one is now just one month short of being a 1,5 year old kid!

How time flies!

Anyway, here’re a few updates:

Physical activities
When we’re in the playground, he’s one who’ll happily explore the equipments all by himself (read: doesn’t ask for ‘help’ when getting down the slides, etc).

Thus, coupled with his naturally-into-physical-activities character, he now climbs up vertical steps and goes down the slide all by himself. When he reaches the top of the slide, I’d often stand nearby though, to remind him to ’sit down’ before sliding down, as he always looks as if he’s going to ‘walk down’ the slide instead!

He’s starting to master the art of going up those not-too-steep stairs without holding onto anything.

Toothbrushing
After each shower, he’d ‘insist’ that he goes over to basin and stands on the plastic stool to brush his teeth. Despite his ‘eagerness’ to self-brush, he doesn’t really welcome the idea of me brushing his teeth though (ie. looking away after three seconds or so).

And so while I let him hold a little toothbrush, I use a finger toothbrush to clean his gum, teeth and his tongue (where possible).

Language
Whenever we’re outside, he’d enthusiastically point and call out the objects he recognises.

He understands when we ask him to do stuff (but of course understanding the instructions doesn’t necessarily mean obeying them. Hmm.)

When it comes to talking, he mostly says one-syllable words, eg. ‘dog’, ‘ish’ (fish) ‘duck’, ‘ca’ (car), ‘Tak’ (truck), ‘fy’ (butterfly), ‘get’ (for ‘kaget’, indo for ’shocked’), ‘dong’ (for ‘gendong’, indo for ‘carry’), ‘da’ (for ’sepeda’, indo for ‘bike’).

Some of the two-syllable words he can say: mama, mommy, daddy, mum-mum (eat), doggy, ini (indo for ‘this’) or ek-ek (indo for ‘poop’, hehe)

Weight
He’s now 13,2 kg.

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I get people asking me about the cameras I use when taking photos of the kids. And so I thought I’ll share a little bit about it today.

>> I (almost always) have my Canon IXUS 850 IS in my bag. And I take most of my photos with this.

And so far I’m very happy with it.

It’s compact enough for me and reasonably light-weight. It comes with wide-angle lens too (which is ‘necessary’ for my case since I take lots of self-portrait of me and the kids, hehe)

Other than its many functions, I’m pretty happy with its video function too!

Really. It lets me keep memorable actions and sounds of the kids that photos alone can never ’show’.

[This is me in December 2006, holding my one-day old IXUS]

>> When we’re at home, I sometimes use my hubby’s Nikon D200.

Fortunately, since he’s a photographer, I get to enjoy his camera lenses too, hehe.

Shots taken with his camera - like those of the kids above - naturally turn out ‘nicer’, hehe.

[oh btw, that's still-pregnant-with-Vai me taking a self-portrait in front of a mirror in May 2006]

>> I usually switch off the camera’s built-in flash and take advantage of ‘natural light’.

Colours turn out much more natural this way (when we use built-in flash, generally we get ‘brightly-lit’ objects with dark background).

>> I have certain preferences as to how I’d like my blog photos to look, and so all photos here in my site go through some colour enhancements process in photoshop.

…

Well, after sharing all that, I think I need to let you know too that I’m not a photoshop expert nor a photo expert. Actually, I’m VERY far from it! Most of the time I use the camera’s ‘auto’ settings! And so yes, I’m still learning, testing and fiddling as I go along.

One thing is for sure though, I’m passionate about capturing moments, especially those of the kids, because I feel time flies real fast, moments go unrepeated and kids grow in the blink of an eye.

And with my rusty memory, I would love to look back one day, browse through our photo and video collection (however huge they’ll be), and be reminded again of those moments our loving God has blessed us with through the years.

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