life of a mummy writer in Singapore
I dug this out yesterday and just couldn’t stop laughing. Do you think Vera could be a singing talent one day?
She didn’t get all the lyrics down pat, so here’s what it’s supposed to be. (It’s one of my favourite sunday school songs btw.)
Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red and yellow, black and white
They are precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world
~~~
Her first ukulele performance.
(The notes may all be off, but it still sounded quite angelic to me. A mother’s bias, they call it.)
Praise Him, praise Him, all you little children.
God is love, God is love.
Praise Him, praise Him, all you little children.
God is love, God is love.
God is love indeed, and one of the most obvious reasons I know it is not just because the bible tells me so, but that he gave us this darling little girl (and of course our little boy too).
I can’t help but chuckle as I recall the first time we presented her with a ukulele. She took to it like she’d always been a ukulele player. She strummed, created her own imaginary songs, and basically just sat there without being distracted by anything else. I remember standing at the corner and marvelling at the sight.
Really, I shouldn’t even be surprised? She’s always had the song and dance bug in her. She’s constantly singing at home the songs she learnt in school, at church, or nonsensical, made-up ones. She loves dancing too, and her improv moves never fail to crack me up.
I love you, my little dancing queen.
May you never lose that wiggle and jiggle gene.
May your musical talents be nurtured and grow, that they may be used for His glory.
I recently brought Vera for her routine dental check-up. This was her second time visiting a dentist, but her first visit to this particular dentist called Dr Tay. (We decided to change because we found the first one a bit on the expensive side.)
Through the process, I found out some interesting tidbits about teeth and thought I would share them with you.
1) Don’t rush to switch to fluoride toothpaste for toddlers
Why? Fluoride causes fluorosis when swallowed, which leads to the discolouration of adult teeth.
So this dentist advised to wait till your child is more mature, closer to 4 years old or even above, as they need to be able to gargle properly (they should be able to swish water around the mouth) and spit out the toothpaste.
2) Pacifier is better than thumb
Why? Simply because the thumb is harder to wean off than a pacifier, and may actually cause the teeth to shift out of alignment if the frequency and extent of thumb-sucking is high. (In this dentist’s opinion at least.)
3) Gaps between baby teeth are good
As adult teeth are bigger than baby teeth, they will fill up more space than when the baby teeth were around. So if your child has gaps between his teeth now, don’t fret, it’s actually a good thing.
Vera actually has very little space between her teeth now, which looks good but actually means that the chances of having adult teeth that are overcrowded are high.
Read more: All about toddler teeth
4) You should floss your toddler’s teeth
This is something that most of us know we should do, but procrastinate. How many of us faithfully floss every day anyway? (At least, I know I struggle with that.)
But there are definitely benefits of starting to floss when young. First, you build a good habit for your child. Second, it gets rid of the icky stuff that hides between the teeth, which leads to better hygiene and less plaque/cavaries.
All we need to do is lie them down facing up, use a thread of normal floss and gently go in and out between their teeth. For starters, we don’t need to use any zig-zag action, nor do we need to go too deep beneath the gum-line.
5) Get rid of plaque using soft cloth
Vera has a yellowish stain on one of her front teeth, and initially we were quite worried that it was caries. Thankfully, it turned out to be a stubborn layer of plaque. The dentist advised us to use a clean cloth and rub against the tooth enamel area often. This is more effective and less abrasive than using a brush to brush against her tooth.
He also asked us to make sure that her teeth has a shiny surface after brushing.
By the way, I must say I really like this dentist. He’s everything a mum would want in her child’s dentist.
Granted, his clinic occupies only a small space, and doesn’t boast added frills such as a dedicated TV for distracting the children while he works on their teeth. (There is a TV showing cartoons at the reception area though.) But I guess this is why his prices are very reasonable too.
I’m not advertising for him (and I’m not even sure he wants to be publicised given his rather long booking schedule), so I won’t be sharing his details publicly on this post. But if you’re really really keen to try him out, drop me an email to ask okay?
What have you learnt about caring for your child’s teeth?
We have begun praying together with Vera for quite a while now. And Vera has started to echo whatever we pray.
One particular evening, things started to get quite peculiar halfway through.
Here are the words to our prayer…
~~~
Dear God,
Dear God,
Thank you for the wonderful day we had.
Thank you for the wonderful day we had.
Thank you for the time we can spend together as a family.
Thank you for the time we can spend together with our family.
Thank you that Vera was such a good girl today,
Thank you that Vera was such a good girl today,
and Javier was such a good boy.
and Javier was such a good boy.
We pray for the week ahead.
We pray for the week on the head.
[Daddy and I swallow back our chuckles.]
We ask, Lord, that you be with us.
We ask, Lord, that you play with us.
[Laughing out loud now...]
In Jesus’ name, Amen!
In Jesus’ name, Amen!
~~~
Isn’t it funny how this goes to show what the important things really are to a 3 year old? Anyway, I think God’s pretty cool about it, after all, He created us with the desire to have fun, right?
Though I’m still not quite sure about the praying on the head part. Maybe it’s an expression of her desire to learn head-stands?
Have you had any funny conversations with your child lately?
We recently dug out a treasure chest of funny costumes, headgear, and toy guns. Vera pounced on it like a hungry tiger. Or maybe more like a rabbit princess…
Mummy says smile. Okay, I must smile.
Here’s our budding ballerina…
And now, a zorro-ine. (With an appropriate watcha-looking-at face.)
Obviously Javier is not a fan of the gauze skirt. Or maybe he’s just not in the dressing-up stage yet.
The daddy is obviously enjoying it though…I guess some kids just don’t grow up. 
Does your child love playing dress-up?
The Daddy and daughter were playing star jumps…
Her daddy turned away, and she was left standing
in the same spot where the
jumps had been.
Mummy led the crying girl to her room, saying,
“You can stay here until you are ready.”
There were some screams and a pail of tears.
Lost in their moment of folly.
After the episode, we hugged and made up, and Vera said: “Sorry, papa…sorry, mummy”, without being prompted, for the very first time.
I learnt a big lesson that day. That we don’t need to let anger take over when something goes awry. And it need not be a battle between the big people and the little people. Sometimes, our little people just need a bit of help processing their emotions — which can be humongous by the way.
And because we stayed relatively calm through the entire episode, she was able to regain her feelings of normal-ness quicker and with less drama.
But it’s not always easy. I lose my cool more often than I would like, and I have to keep reminding myself to be more patient. What’s more, Vera seems to be at a stage where she can turn moody pretty quickly, when things are not done in the way that she expects. It’s a real challenge trying to get her to see things a little differently, but I guess as with everything else, she will learn. We just gotta keep at it, and hopefully it’ll be sooner rather than later.
Funny how something as innocent as star jumps could trigger a tantrum so quickly. But thankfully, this one went away as suddenly as it came.
Here is a photo of our little Shrek in a fit, taken at about 12 months.
What do you do when your little one throws a tantrum?
Read also:
These magnetic alphabets were taken off the fridge and lined up like a railway track.
Can you make out any words?
I thought for a moment that I spotted the word ‘eBay’, but oops the ‘I’ is where the ‘B’ should be.
Or maybe abacus spelt wrongly. ABYKS.
Anyway…
Nothing happier than a toddler who’s simply just playing with her alphabets.
Hmm, if we can’t find any words then this would be a very wordless Wednesday.
It recently hit me. The realisation that I sometimes act like a military mum at home.
Vera, pick up your toys!
Vera, brush your teeth!
Vera, go to sleep now!
Hup, two, three, four, hup!
I sometimes secretly wish I could get her to drop 10 for me. Ahh, the unspoken thrills of a military mum.
I know I sound a bit smug, to think that I can wield this sort of power over my child. But guess what… I think I actually stop communicating with her when I go into this mode. I can even see her eyes glazing over, or switching attention to something else (anything for that matter). She may after some minutes comply with the instruction, but mostly when she catches mummy’s signature I-mean-business look.
But what do I mean when I say I stop communicating?
A close friend of mine recently shared with me what she picked up from a communications course. She shared that most of us are used to communicating as a means to an end — what we call task-oriented communication — as part and parcel of the busy lives we have grown accustomed to.
In the process of seeing communication as a means to get things done, we forget that communication, at its most basic, is all about loving and building relationships.
Particularly so in the home, and with our kids. If we only communicate when we need them to do something, and neglect that part of communication that is love-originated, and love-focused, can you imagine how our relationship with our children will be like?
Don’t get me wrong, I know rules and regulations have their place, that our kids need to learn obedience and to take on greater amounts of responsibilities as they grow. But in the midst of that, perhaps it’s good to call time-out everyday — just to love and to communicate out of that love.
No strings attached.
Unconditional love. Unconditional communication. Essentially, communication that is centred on the other person — my child. And usually, no words are required. More like a hug. Or two. Or just sitting beside her, watching her draw or fix a puzzle. That’s all I really need to do. The challenge is to be fully present, and I mean hundred percent, not multi-tasking or trying to reply whatsapp messages at the same time.
It’s hard, I know. Every fibre of my being screams out “I need to do ____ now, I can’t just sit here and not do anything!”
But it can be done. If we intentionally set aside time and energy to be fully available. It could even start with a few simple minutes a day, at a time when you feel most relaxed and unencumbered by your to-do list.
I don’t know about you, but the next time I’m tempted to do the military mum thing, I will come back to this quote.
