Ramdoms

This is a random post of collective thoughts and experiences with Eliza:

~ We bought $450 worth of milk powder. 12 1.6kg tins of milk which i estimate will last us till the end of the year. We saved about $60. and got more free sachets of milk powder that will last us another 2 weeks. + a $10 NTUC voucher. It hurts buying in bulk. but if i divide by the months...actually that's about how much i'll spend too. gosh...the milk company ppl must be happy.

~ We would have spent another $120 buying 3 boxes of Pampers Active diapers that can prob last us 1 3/4 mths of diapers. but it was such a good deal (50% off for premium diapers), that it was gone when we got there. gee. (have i also mentioned that i got 6 packs of Pampers babydry & 4 packs of Pampers active at home?) talk about stocking up! I don't wish to buy diapers and milk powder for a loooooooong time.

~ I sense Eliza entering the TERRIBLE TWOs stage. It's the beginning. I sniff a bit of it. Oh let me enjoy the compliant her as much as i can while it lasts. She occasionally breaks into terrible tantrums if she doesn't get her way. Very stubborn at getting what she wants sometimes. I'm saying sometimes because it doesn't happen much, and i had recently found myself doing a lot of negotiating with her that i'm so drained out after that.

~ Eliza is sensing her freedom to move. Her walking is getting better and better such that she can walk fast, though not yet run. She has also mastered getting up and down one step, ie at the kitchen and balcony. At the same time she also started going up the stairs on her own. As out house isn't at the lift landing, usually we'll need to climb one storey up to take the lift. Earlier on, she'll zoom out of the house, to the stairs when we go out (leaving me to quickly lock the door and pick my things before she moves up the stairs). I'll usually support her as she 'walks' up the stairs, one foot at a time. She has no time to stop at every step. This weekend she realized she can do it on her own, by holding the railings. which means she'll be up 4 steps by the time i reach her.
On top of that, she's reaaaaalllly happy to walk on her own....just tottering around...like how she walked from our home till almost near tamp jumction...it's the last hdb before we reach the main traffic lights...still it WAS quite a distance for a little toddler!

~ Eliza's into playing on her own. She can keep herself well entertained doing some things she gets engrossed in. ie. arranging the things on the coffee table to the sofa, throwing off the table mat and arranging the things from the sofa back to the table. great.
Today, she arranged the stacking containers into two similar groups, a set of yellow, blue, red, green containers each. Nice...
she also stacked the coke cans we couldn't finish for CNY.
We are always so amazed by what she does....

~ the power of imitation...or more like actions-speak-louder-than-words phrase is powerful. i mean we teach her loads of stuff, ask her to do this, do that. throwing away diapers was one of that. obviously she sees us throw away diapers and other stuff in the bin, so she follows suit too. though the diaper throwing garners a lot of praise and encouragement from us...so much so she'll also do it without being asked to.
saying grace before dinner was another powerful one. i pray with her during bedtime and mealtimes but she is always so distracted with something else that she pays little attention to me (or that's what i think). but once, Ww and i prayed before our dinner (and Eliza usually joins us)...and the rest is history. She'll always put her hands to prayer when we come to eat, it lasts only a few seconds but it's a great reminder for us.

~ PART OF LIFE stuffs. these are things that Eliza sees as part of our daily life stuff, part of routine stuff. she has seen it so often, experienced it so often that it's normal. ie it's normal to pray before we eat. it's normal to read before bedtime. it's normal that we change into home clothes when we come home, it's normal to read frequently. in one of the sermons by Mark Discholl, he was sharing about family life, and what he does at home that his kids see becomes ingrained in them that it's a normal thing to do. like for them, that it's normal to discuss the bible over dinner, it's normal to read a lot (like their daddy). i felt so impacted by the fact that our actions or more like our life is a living testimony to our kids, right from day one.

The goal of parenting is to have children whose hearts love Jesus.