Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

Err. Except that it’s actually a playdoh-lookalike from China called ‘Dough Set’, sold for just $3 (a set of four little tubs!) from Toys”R”US! Heh.

I’ve seen siblings whose features and look are just SO similar with each other that they seem to have been ‘carbon-copied‘.

And so far I’ve had people telling me how Anya and Vai look similar, and there are those too who say they both look so ‘different’ from each other.

If you ask me, I feel there are times when they do share similar looks. When you see them at a certain angle, I mean. But then again that’s me. THEIR mother.

[Here’re their recent close-up photos, obviously, BEFORE Vai’s nose incident!]

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Anyway, it’d be interesting to hear what YOU think.

Do you think Anya and Vai both look similar, or different? In what ways?

And if you have more than one kid, do your kids look similar or completely different from each other?

It’s been a week since the skin on his nose was somewhat ‘burnt’ by the medicated ointment.

By today, parts of the scab have come off by itself. Vai hasn’t been wanting to scratch it since day 1, so I’m assuming that he doesn’t quite feel the itch (?)

Lots of people asked too if he’s been cranky and moody, and actually he hasn’t. He’s been … ‘normal’. I mean, if he did get cranky in the past, it’s because he WAS cranky (eg. sleepy but refused to fall asleep).

Anyway.

I guess (and hope), it’ll be all clear by next week.

Here are a few things we can all learn from the character of Joseph in the Bible (mental notes I made from today’s sermon):

– He might have been wronged and unfairly treated by his brothers, but he learned to forgive and accept them

– Though he was still young at the time he first arrived in Egypt, he continued to do what was right, carried his duties responsibly and resisted evil temptations.

– Despite his life’s difficulties (eg. sold as a slave by his own jealous brothers, thrown to jail for wrong-doings he didn’t commit, etc), he didn’t forget about God nor blame Him. And in the end, his integrity was proven and because of him and his role in Egypt, his brothers and his father, as well as the whole nation was saved from starvation.

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Someone once wrote to me and shared how she’s ‘no Joseph‘, and DOING what’s right is so much tougher than it seems (though she realises and ‘knows’ what’s right).

And though I wouldn’t be able to understand how tough her life is, I do understand her point.

Each time I write a Sunday’s Food for Thought post, I too am learning to ‘apply’ and ‘do’ what I’ve heard and learned. I’m too still in a process of ‘trying to consistently do what I know in my head’. And it sure is not easy.

Though we can never be Joseph, I feel we can always learn from him, his integrity and his life experiences. We can always learn how God’s faithfulness and love is unchanging and how He never leaves those who love and trust Him.

We are who we are, and our bitter-sweet life experiences (and how we face each and every one of it, holding onto God by our side) help change, mould and build our characters and mindset. Making us a better person day by day.

Went to Esplanade‘s Waterfront to watch the ‘preview’ of Singapore’s National Day Parade by the river (which btw is scheduled for next Saturday, 9 Aug).

The airshow started close to 7pm, I think, but we were already around the area from about 4 o’clock.  Waited for quite a while for the airshow to start (Anya had FOUR good rounds of scrambling and putting together her little jigsaw puzzles, and kept asking us WHEN and HOW COME it’s taking so long for the show to start!)

Anyway, glad that we managed to get ourselves a river-side spot. Vai’s friend, Nate, and his parents came to join us too soon after.

[And btw, that’s him sharing and ‘feeding’ Vai some snacks! Heh]

In one of their cool aerobatic maneuvers, the two planes created a nice heart-shaped smoke trails!

And oh, I love this ‘Daddy-daughter-love’ shot.

We were there at about the same spot last year to watch the National Day Parade’s preview too. And if you ask me, I’d say last year’s show – ‘as viewed by the river’ – (ie. performances and display of boats, planes, colourful float with decorations) were somewhat ‘better’ than this year’s. I guess I just felt there were more ‘interesting visual’ happenings last year.

Nonetheless, it was a nice day out, and the kids got to see (and hear!) so  many things going on ‘live’ right in front of their eyes.

And this is us cooling ourselves before the show at the air-conditioned and cosy Esplanade Library!

PS: Were too hungry to wait a little longer to watch the fireworks display though! (Which I heard was really nice!) And when it started, Wilson quickly took both kids out of the restaurant and they watched most of it together. A nice way to end the night, I think!

This is how his little nose looks like today. Mostly dried up and cracked.

Four days ago, Vai woke up with a rather deep scratch right on his nose.

And just before he went to bed that night, I thought of giving him some sort of an ointment or something to make it heal better.

Usually I’d just apply an antiseptic cream (eg. Savlon), but that night I thought of my recently bought medicated ointment called ‘Zam-buk‘.

It says how it provides fast, effective and soothing relief for bruises, burns, cuts, scalds, insect bites, etc.

And so I applied it on his nose.

The next day, I found out how that was a BAD decision.

His 2mm scratch now has somehow become the size of a 5 cents coin! It must’ve burnt his skin or something! The whole of last monday, it looked like his nose has ‘freshly’ been scraped! Poor thing!

By now, he has a dark red patch right on his nose. The ‘burn’ is finally drying up (it has uneven bumps too!), and though I know the skin will be okay again sooner or later, I’ve learned this lesson the hard way :

AVOID applying such medicated ointments on a child’s ‘open wounds’. Antiseptic cream / wash is better for such a case.

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Click to see a guide on when to call the doctor (for parents of toddlers)

[ADDED]

This is how our Vai looks like today. The wound is all dry by now. But it looks bigger than yesterday and it looks like it is ‘dripping’ downwards. Weird.

Our family doctor advised that right now we should just let it heal by itself (read: NOT apply anything)

Also he mentioned how Zam-buk is actually not really for little kids, especially NOT on the face!

Sigh. Mommy’s fault.

PS: When people see Vai on the street, they usually go, “Awww, did he fall down badly?”