Gambling

I am blessed for I was born and raised up in a Christian family. I DISLIKE gambling and do NOT enjoy any conversation on gambling. My brain is automatically adjust to "hibernate or shut down" mode whenever the "statistician" starts their conversation.

At times, I am surrounded by some "statistician" who enjoys talking about betting on numbers (i.e, 4D, toto), betting on soccers, casinos, jackpot, etc. and these "statistician" can talk about it whole day long! I mean, literally talk about it the ALL the time when they are awake! And.. actually even in their dream. "Statistician" can talk about what they dreamt about last night (maybe a car plate number, animals, etc.), and interpret their dreams (the animals) to a particular numbers. I have even heard of "statistician" asking the children to pick the lucky numbers for betting during birthday. They are not just creative (in the wrong way?), but also addicted to gambling!

I am sure you have heard of parents leaving children in the car while they go in a casino to gamble, or parents were busy gambling inside the casino and children were left outside for hours. My thoughts - if parents have so much time to spent in casino, why can't they spend some quality time with the children instead?

Parents, who are experiencing gambling-related problems are often unable to provide their children with adequate attention because of the amount of time they spend gambling. They are also blinded and not able to see gambling as a behaviour that can lead to serious problems. Is hard to imagine the impact of parental problem gambling on the children and a child growing up in a home with gambling addiction and not being affected. Research has shown that children who grow up in a household where there's problem grambling have a higher risk of facing the problem themselves later on.

I was rather disturbed by the gambling conversation over the weekend. Anyway, if you are rather disturbed by family and friends of a problem gamblers. Do reach out to National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG). Casino exclusion can stop the problem gamblers from entering the casinos in Singapore!

Lift the veil

The weather is so unpredictable, especially for the past few weeks. Because of the rain, Gracelle has to stay indoor, and no outdoor activities. It was a gloomy raining weekend, she decided to drag her favorite blankie along, just like the Charlie Brown. And play her favorite peek-a-boo. She will cover her head with her blankie like a veil, stand still and wait for me to lift the veil.

I have to say, this is definitely not the best way to have a game of peek-a-boo; what if she trips and falls? I prefer not to kill the creativity inside my child. She enjoys it, so I can only take extra steps to make sure she don't walk or run away with her "veil" on.

Where is Gracelle?

She never fails to keep us entertained with her intelligence and creativity. Thank God not just for His creation, but for people's creativity.

The caddy or the golfer?

In golf, a caddy (or caddie) is the person who carries a player's bag and clubs, and give insightful advice and moral support (source: Wikipedia)

How to be a good caddy? I guess first of all, it helps if you play. A good caddy will certainly make the golf more enjoyable. How to be master or perfect a skill? According to Malcolm Gladwell, he mentioned the "10,000 hour rule", claiming that the key to success in any field is, to large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours. Wow! If you only spend 2 hours a day, you need 14 years to master it!  That is indeed a  huge investment! To summarise it, it simply means, practice, practice, practice! That's how Tiger Woods became a championship golfer.

Gracelle just got her first golf set. A gift from her daddy. She is so in love with it and she even wants to bring her golf club to bed. She really enjoys "swinging" (I mean "sweeping"?) her club. Okay, here's a post of my future championship golfer? Pleasant look with a great smile :)

Baby and Egg

The one most common question asked:"When can my baby eat eggs?" My baby was first introduced to egg after 12months of age. By God's grace, she is not allergies to egg and she loves egg. At times, the creative side of me just simply beat an egg into her porridge. I am glad she enjoys egg.

I talk to her, all the time. I often tell her what am I doing, where am I going, what is the items, etc. Whenever she is with me, especially in the kitchen, we will have our very own "show and tell" session. I show her the egg in its original form and tell her - egg. After I crack the egg, I will throw the egg shell into the bin. She often peep into the bin, point or even grab the egg shell; she will then get a firm warning not to pick up the egg shell! When I feed her porridge or rice, I will show her the cooked egg and tell her - egg. After a while, she can point out egg in our rice bowl. It seems like that she is in love with egg.

One night before she goes to bed. She just grabbed a story book and started "reading" them on bed. She flipped to page one and pointed to the picture and she said EGG! I am thrilled! My "show and tell" effort pays off :) [happy] I requested her to show papa where is the egg? And she flipped to page one of her book, showed and told her papa, EGG! [happy]

Oops.. How many times is the word "egg" being mentioned?

Time

Looking back on the year, didn't it seem like it flew by in the blink of an eye? Time, this is the one thing in life you can give, and you can't get it back. It is easy to find excuses for time wasted, opportunities passed you by, and many other things. Time, just slipped through our hands.

Who or what deserve the very best of your time? Don't give your leftover time to people and things that matters; otherwise, you may turn into the person's leftovers some day.

Time of reflection - you will always make time for the things that are important to you?

Even more long lasting than Duracell bunny

Question. What is a Duracell bunny? Well, if you know what is a Duracell bunny, we are probably born in the same era. Duracell bunny is a pink rabbits powered by batteries, used to promote Duracell brand batteries. Here's a glimpse of the advertisement. The advertisement shows that a bunny powered by a Duracell battery can continue to function for a longer amount of time.

I have a "Duracell bunny" at home - baby Gracelle. Sunday morning, she woke up at 8am, get ready and went to church. She don't need a nap in the nursery simply because there are many 16-24 months babies around and also toys around, she will just walk around and have fun. Back home, she was supposed to take her usual nap at 2pm. I always make it a point for her to take a nap, otherwise she may be grumpy and cranky when she is sleepy. Having spent 1.5hours with her in the room, she just REFUSED to sleep. Failure to get her to nap, I let her out of the room and she happily ran off to the living room. And... and...  and... and she started dancing.

Baby Gracelle has endless energy!

To me, she is even more longer lasting than Duracell bunny. The one person who will agree with me - the daddy! We entertained her till 9pm before she finally knocked out and sleep.

Talking about sleep. Baby Gracelle is a light sleeper. She is easily woken up by noise. Recently, she also refuses light out during bed time. The minute the light  is off, she will make noise, the minute the light is on, she is alright. She is like mummy, can sleep with light on, but not the daddy. Having said that, we are happy as long as she falls asleep before 10pm.

Do you have a baby with endless energy too who refuses to nap?

Toddler refuses to eat vegetables?

Parents often heard about toddler will not eat any vegetables. Studies suggested to disguise the vegetables in all sorts of ways - puree it, "hide" it in pasta, etc... Have you ever thought of stop offering veggies? Do you have face a similar problem? I am glad to say - I don't! My 19months+ baby simply adore veggies.

During one of the dinner, she finished all the carrots from daddy's bowl, and the daddy shouted:"Mummy, she ate all my carrots!" (What can I do? Cook more carrots? I just couldn't stop laughing!!!) She also adores the broccoli, is like a dessert to her. She eats her broccoli like how we enjoy our ice cream. Having said that, we are having a hard time trying to enjoy our dinner in peace. Every time during our dinner, she will come and stare into our bowl and wants to have a share of it. We gladly share our veggies with her in her very own small bowl. She understands most of the thing we said, when we are done with our dinner, we will show her the empty bowl and said:"Finished, no more." Baby Gracelle will reply:"No more." It does not end here. She will goes about prying open daddy's and mummy's mouth.

She creates a mess during and after dinner. She either dropped bits and pieces here and there or leaf the remaining on the sofa or the floor. Is messy, but rejoice anyway, simply because she is just a baby and she adore veggies!

Kiddie ride

If you have a kid, you will agree with me, most kid loves kiddie ride! Am I right? Kiddie ride is the coin-operated amusement ride for small children, frequently seen in shopping malls.

My 3 years old niece, Rachel, always requests for a minimum of 3 rides to satisfy her needs. Doesn't the ride feels jerky and makes one feel uncomfortable? I don't know... I am just guessing. My baby is no exception, she is attracted to kiddie ride too.

For this particular one, I wonder if she is attracted to the kiddie ride or the purple dinosaur? Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination... By the way, Barney is one of her best friend.