My Lop Rabbit’s New Home

Teddy’s new home!

Teddy stretching up to explore his new home

Went shopping for all the necessities for our family’s new addition, the cage, hay, pellets, brush, nail clipper, new feeding bowl, water bottle, etc… phew… what a list!!! Spent over $130!!!  Except for the food, the rest are all one time expenses, so it is still ok. 

Here’s “Teddy, the Explorer”

Teddy exploring my balcony

Teddy’s Day: 

Teddy usually gets to hop around the balcony in the morning until I need to water my plants. The area under the plant is Teddy’s favorite hiding spot. Certainly doesn’t want his fur to be wet.  Which is why he is back to his cage for a while.

Another hopping time is after lunch, when the balcony is dry.  He is free to roam till night time when my helper need to give the balcony a good scrub.  And Teddy be back to the cage for the entire night.  Don’t want him to be chewing the stuffs around the house in the middle of the night.

Mr E and Ms Z:::

Yesterday Mr E was still whining about wanting the other Angora Cross Rabbit. But today, during bedtime, I asked the kiddos if Teddy is cute.  Mr E happily said “Teddy is so cute.”, and he didn’t mention anything about that Angora.  Think he is slowly falling in love with Teddy

Ms Z is more than eager to get close to Teddy, unfortunately, she is running a fever, so I only allow her to watch Teddy from the sofa.

Well, for now, I’m a little rabbit craze   Co-incidentally, both my old and current pets are black and white

Nick Vujicic – Life Without Limbs

This guy is coming to FCBC this weekend!!!  I’m looking forward to it!  Has read his story on the web sometimes ago, definitely a man who has shown the world that with God’s strength, nothing can hinder a human being’s capacity to live on.  Direct from FCBC’s website on Nick Vujicic:::

“EXTRAORDINARY is what others see in Nick Vujicic. Born limbless, Nick faces far greater life struggles than most. Yet, today, he has blessed over 1,000,000 hearts worldwide with his remarkable life story. Come and be inspired by this 25-year-old Australian-born motivational speaker who has been a tremendous source of hope and strength to others.“

My No. 3…. A Lop Rabbit

No, I’m not pregnant … But, I have a no. 3… Cause I adopted a……………

Lop Rabbit!!!!!  

Introducing Teddy, our latest addition to the family….

Our Lop Rabbit : Teddy

Another view of Teddy

For a long time, I have been wanting to have a rabbit.  Saw some very cute ones recently, but felt the Holy Spirit prompting me not to waste money.  I even told myself that probably Ms B will give me one of hers.

True enough, Ms B sms’ed me a few days back asking if I wanna adopt her rabbits!  At first, I wanted to pick her Angora cross because of its beautiful fur color.  I don’t quite like broken pattern coat.   Ethan prefers the Angora cross too.  But upon hearing about the shedding, I thought it is not a good idea.

I was a little hesitant about Teddy because of his coat pattern.  But Ms B’s daughter put him on my lap and after holding and stroking him for a few minutes, somehow, I fell in love with him.  And the more I look at him, the more I love him …

Had some objections from Ethan, but he was convinced about Teddy after some explanation.

Am I adopting it because of the children or myself?  Hmmm… I think it is more of me … Well, gonna be busy shopping for Teddy’s new ‘home’, food, and some accessories for him…

My only prayer now is that my children will not develop an allergy.

PS: There are 2 more rabbits available for adoption.  They are mainly the furry types, and will shed.  Leave a comment if you are interested.

Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden

What a full day we have today, first to Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden, next to the Jurong Bird Park.

Jacob is indeed a children’s garden!!! The whole park is dedicated to children!  Brought my 2 children, niece (8yo) and nephew(10yo) there.  The children enjoyed themselves tremendously.

What they like: The treehouse, the floating platform (cause we were playing some game there ), the suspension bridge (a very short one), the magic of photosynthesis area, and the sand play.  We forgot to bring our towels, else, I’m sure they will love the water play too.  Basically, its nearly everything about it.  It was right after a heavy downpour, so we didn’t get to try the maze which was really wet.  Even simple things like walking across a stream via the log was fun to them!

One thing to take note,  the higher slide at the tree house is VERY STEEP… even for adult, I find myself screaming on my way down the slide! yup, I played too … that shows how fun this place is ;P!!!

That is the play side.

On the educational side, with their official website emphasizing so much on its educational benefits, it falls short of my expectation… probably my expectation is too high!? …

Their website said:  “Through play and exploration, the Children’s Garden will cultivate an appreciation for plants, nature and the environment among the young.”

But, I find that there are really a lots of reading to do for the children to ‘appreciate’ something.  Probably I expect more sensory learning experience.

Overall, judging from the fun that the children have had, Jacob Ballas is a great great great place for the children in city like Singapore.  Will certainly be there more often!

So, I give it a 4/5.

Quiet Time Part 2: Mindset – QT is a help, not a chore

QTime is a help, not a chore.

And, I must add that …

QT is a necessity, not an option.

Our physical body requires food to sustain it, our spirit and soul also requires their ‘food’, and it comes from our daily QT with God.

I have to set aside time for Him, and I expect God to teach me something everytime I spend time with Him.  Cause my human mind is so easily influence by this fallen world.  Everywhere I go, I am bombarded by the worldly thinking, temptation, test, and struggles.  I face this world daily, so I need God to remind me daily, how to face this world.

A soldier need to be properly armed with the right armor before he goes for war.  I too, need to be armed with the teaching from God before I face my world.

During QT:

Prayers give me strength, faith and confidence to know that God is moving ahead of me and clearing the path for me.  It is like a daily baptism of the Holy Spirit within me, so that when faced with challenging circumstances, I know that He is with me to help me and guide me.

Bible reading gives me knowledge and wisdom when I face trials and temptations.  The world’s standard is different from God’s standard.  So how can I know what is God’s standard if I don’t read his words right?

Bible reading helps me to know God better.  For eg, I really really love this season of time when I am reading the OT on the fall of Israel and Judah, somehow, I have a glimpse of God’s pain when His people sin.  And that in turn motivates me to seek to please Him instead of grieving him.

Waiting and being in His presence, give me the love that I desperately need before I love the people around me.

As seen above, QT is a dialogue, not a monologue.  Does God benefits through QT?  Instead of benefit, I should say that God desires to communicate with me… but I am the one who benefit.  Which is why I say, QT is a help not a chore.

Quiet Time Part 1: Using Devotional Guide

Share Share Share

My current challenge::: Teaching the young man to share!!!

Have done lots of talk, lots of explaining, but… I am still not seeing him share willingly…

What makes me write this post? We have 2 episodes of issues related to this today… After patiently talking to him this morning, the same thing happen again in the afternoon!!

Parenting is really a long road of learning…

Getting Independent

Just a little note to drop down girl’s little development…

Well, for the first time, she went into the Ikea Tampines playroom and played for a good 30 minutes.

This may be a small issue, but I thought it is a little indication of her strike towards independence?

Uh, and… for 1+ week, she nurse again!!! Pheeeeeeeew!!!!!!

On 11 Nov, a Sunday night, I just casually asked her if she wanna nurse, which she said “Yes”… and she did it!  Back to the good old days…

Give me just another year.  Hopefull by than I will be ready for her to wean

Finally… we have my dad’s car to drive for the next few days!!! yippee!!! Now we can zoom area places that are hard to go without car …

Continue… Liberated Parenting…

I am taking it very very slowly with this book. After my last entry on it, I’m only at Chapter 7 now.  So why am I so slow? 

Well, every chapter is so useful and helpful that I just have to take a few days to apply what I learn before continuing with the next chapter.  Without application, we can easily forget what we learn.  Even if I’m going to take 1 year to finish it, its ok.  Cause what I have gained, and the improvements I see in my household this far, and the freedom I am having within myself is worth the time.

What I really really love about this book is reading the struggles and victories of the various mummies who were also learning to be better parents.  They make me feel so NORMAL!  For many other parenting books, I seldom go beyond the first 3 chapters, cause they make me feel so defeated that I am discouraged to continue reading. 

But for “Liberated Parents, Liberated Children”, the journey walked by the many parents there are so real, so close to many households and stories I have heard from my own friends, as well as within my household. Their life is SO REAL!!!

Okie, enough is said… so, what are the little changes in my household since I start with the book?

When the child does something not that pleasant, describe the problem

I can be very annoyed when our children consistently do something careless or wrong.  But, I am only human and even though I recognise that they are afterall children, my displeasure will inevitably be shown, and the children still doesn’t learn from their mistakes even though they know something is not right.  For example,

My boy, being a child, spills things easily, and food drops from the dining table to the floor during most meals.  Although it is common for little children, it can still be pretty annoying when it happens on a regular basis.  Now, instead of my usual grumble that sounds like “Ethan!!!!!” … I will give him a rag with a little bucket of water, and give him the “Please clean it up” look.  I specifically tell him that he has to rinse and wipe that dirty area 3 rounds so that the floor will be clean.

Well, I am happy to report that the frequency he drops his food on the floor is much lesser, cause he now understand that it is not easy keeping the floor clean, and it takes effort to clean up!

And the other day at my sis’ place, after warning him about his cup of juice, he still ended up spilling it.  I looked at him, gave him the rag, and smiled, and he continued with the rest of the task!  No nagging, no unhappy look, no crying…

Acknowledging their Feelings

I mentioned the incident at my in-laws place where I chose to resolved the issue without spanking?  Actually the key thing that day was that I acknowledged his feelings.  I asked him “You looked upset.”  to which he replied “Yes, I’m angry, that’s why I want to kick you.”, and we go on and on to talk and finally resolved the problem.

The way I praise my children has changed

“Good” Isn’t Good Enough: A New Way to Praise – That’s the chapter heading of Chapter VI.  In a nutshell, instead of saying the simple “Good work/job/well done”, praise the child by describing her victory.  By doing so, we encourage the child to continue with that victory.

For example, Zoe was cycling on her tricycle today.  This tricyle can be cycled forward and backward.  However, Zoe has not been able to cycle backward, but today, I noticed that she did it.  So, instead of merely saying “Good job Zoe”, I told her “Wow Zoe, I see you cycling backward today!”

My little girl was so thrilled that she gave me a wide smile, and continued ’showing off’ to me her new found breakthrough, and kept practicing on it.

Supposed I answered “Good job Zoe.” most likely, she will just go on cycling from here to there.

More examples were given in the book which I really can identify with when I applied this to my household.

Looking forward

I don’t know what is installed for me beyond Chapter 7.  I just hope that it will be as practical and helpful as what I have read so far.  Even if it is not, this last few chapters are already doing wonders for me and my household!  Defintely a must-read…

Romans 7:15

“I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” – Romans 7:15

Sigh… I spanked her today.  Just feeling sad and a little defeated that I spanked her today …

“Darling girl, I’m sorry… No matter what naughty thing you do, you do not deserve what you got… Mummy is sorry, really sorry.  Please pray for mummy, that she will have more self-control.  Goodnight dearie, and I love you, love you, love you dearie.”

Sentosa again!

Joined my family for a trip to Sentosa.  To the kids, the highlight is the hotel pool and the Underwater World’s latest attraction – the MAGIC-T.

The children have great fun putting their hands into the tank and feeding the fishes.  The fishes will come nibbling the feeds off our fingers.  One of the fish even come nibbling on my arm.  It does feel really ticklish, but all for the joy of being close to these little fellow dwellers of the earth. 

Ethan surprises me yet again… He is normallly a very ticklish boy, giggle over little tiny thing.  Today, I told him to put the feed into the tank, and freeze, and he really froze there till the fish “wollop” the little cube of food between his fingers.  And I forgot my camera!!!

Well, I guess those with an aquarium at home, if the fish is familiar with you, they will probably come to your hand.  But for those who do not have such fish and aquarium, you can do it at the Underwater World.  Only thing is, the feed is so expensive!  S$2 for a tiny pack!!!

Another cutie at the Underwater World is the “Sea Angel”!  They really look like angels!!! Zoe simply loves them!!!