Focus on the family...

It's 0236hrs on a Thursday morning and I'm already up! Why? Cause I slept at 2130hrs!!! Why? Cause Mars & me fell asleep at about the same time while putting the girls to sleep! Usually one of us would wake the other up after both the girls have gone to sleep but it seems that we KO-ed! Maybe it was because of our evening run we had earlier but I'll touch on that later. We're at the stage where we're 'training' the girls to sleep in their own room. Inadvertently, both would end up on our bed sometime in the middle of the night! Usually the younger princess would stumble into our bed and 'claim' her 'rightful' corner! Her sister, discovering that there's no one around, would follow soon after, claiming that, "There's no one with me..."! Well, for tonight, we had planned to let the girls sleep on our bed first (they always seem to fall asleep there faster!) and then carry (me lor!) them to their bed... I was woken up by Lisha's tossing and turning as she tends to have very vivid dreams coupled with the fact that she is an 'active sleeper'! I woke up with her foot in my face!!!

I would like to wish a belated "Welcome to the Club" greeting to Roy on the occasion of the birth of Emma Joy. Check out the link to his blog on the right and discover how exuberant a father he is! Reading his blog brings back sweet memories of the times when our two princesses where just born... And looking at them now, life just seemed to whizz by... That is why it is important to savour every moment with the people you love, at every stage in their lives. Every stage in a child's life brings with it different opportunities and challenges. And while many may be reluctant to go on to the next stage, life will tumble along head-on nevertheless. And I find it strange that the most important job in the world does not require 'accreditation'! One needs years of schooling to become a teacher, doctor, engineer but to be a parent, one just needs to be able to produce an offspring! Whatever happens after that is left to one's own devices. I believe that even with a basic understanding of parenting skills coupled with some knowledge about child development, one would be on one's way to be a better parent. But I believe that this is not enough in this fast-paced and ever changing world. That is why it is important for us parents to keep up with the times and be updated with current teachings about child development, parenting, etc. Parenting based on "my parents did that to me too and I seemed to turn out fine" strategy and instincts can only bring one so far. With information so readily available from so many sources, it would a shame if one does not improve oneself. Parenting is too important to be left to chance!

In that light, Mars and me are currently enrolled in a "Parenting with Confidence" workshop conducted by Focus on the Family. I like these kind of workshops. They give me an opportunity to keep up with the latest, to find out more, to discuss, to share, to get to know other parents and discover that we are not alone in facing our challenges in bringing up kids. It is also a golden opportunity for some "us" time with Mars. And for the kids to spend time with their grandparents. So it's a win-win situation for all! And it's $80 well spent methinks! For those who say that there's no time, that it's too far away and that it's too draining after a hard day's work, well, "where there's a will, there's a way" is my response... I find these workshops invigorating and inspiring... Anyway, I've added more links to Family sites that I constantly check and get updated on...

One of the goals I have set for myself as part of the workshop is to spend more quality time with my two princesses... That sounds like cliche but it's a reality we have to face in our struggle to balance work and family life. And our 'homework' is to do something that we have never done with our kids before...hmmm...what could that be? Climb trees maybe?! Play in the rain? Paint our faces? Draw together? Act their favourite fairy tale? Treasure hunt? Catch butterflies? The possibilities are endless once you put your mind to it!

Lessons ended early today (1700hrs) so on the way back I called Mars to get the kids ready for cycling! By 1800hrs we were at the basement unlocking the girls' bicycles. Our SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) in this case is that I will bring the girls cycling around our place while Mars hits the gym for a go at the threadmill. Then we will switch over. For today, from 1800hrs to 1845hrs, I managed to bring the girls for a round around our place. Then we hit the playground where I showed them the intricacies of the 'monkey swing'! Then we played hopscotch. You should see Lisha trying to balance on one leg and twisting and turning away! It was precious! And we managed to play 4 rounds of hide-and-seek! Oh, and I still got my 5km run (to psyche up for the 21km Army Half Marathon this Sunday...see you there at the startline Fauzi and Glen) at the threadmill after changing over with Mars... Next major run for me after the AHM is the Singapore Marathon on 2 December... Care to join me anyone?

Leaving on a jet plane...

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go..."...

And so here I am in Changi Airport Terminal 2 using one of the many free internet terminals. I'm taking the 1005hrs flight from Singapore to Hanoi on SQ196. It will be the second time in 2 weeks that I'm flying, the last being exactly one week ago at exactly the same time to Jakarta and Bandung (hmmm, I'll put up the posts on those when I have the time ya?). These 2 trips are part of our study trips for the course. The other group has been to Malaysia and is already in Beijing, China now.

If I can find internet cafes in Hanoi, I'll continue my travel blog...till then au revoir to the cyberworld!

441 on Classic...

I didn't wanna post it you know...but Juls did it first...so here it is! And oooh...I'm beginning to see a few familiar names up in the High Scores list especially under the Classic Map (since all of us have 'decided' to play on Classic Map so that we have a common reference point for bragging rights!)! Well done Chris and Kamel...I'll beat you guys yet!

Here's what I got with Nukes and Tazers...Tazers to slow them down and Nukes to take 'em out.