Bedtime crying

Candra's been crying more lately at bedtime.

She just resists going to bed and sometimes cuddle me like a koala bear.

She cried very badly tonight, although she was already very tired (after having only napped 20mins for the whole day because of the zoo outing). For a while, I thought should could be suffering from a tummy ache because the crying was so bad. I felt bad leaving her in the cot to cry. So I switched on the air con and picked her up. But she continued crying super loudly. I discovered that it was not a tummy ache when I asked her, "Candra, you don't want to sleep huh?" and she nodded her head.

No matter what I said or did, she just did not want to stop crying. When I asked her, "Candra, do you want to be a good girl?", she shook her head vigorously each time I asked her that. Eventually, I cradled her in my arms and prayed aloud, "Oh Lord, Candra's struggling with bedtime, please teach her that there's a time for everything and that she needs to exercise self-control and put herself to rest, in Jesus' name, Amen."

First of all, she stopped crying immediately when I started to pray (as usual) and after the prayer, she stopped altogether. Then I started to talk to her gently, explaining to her that there is a time for everything. A time for bathing, a time for diaper changing, a time for eating, a time for playing and a time for sleeping. This amazing little one kept nodding her head in acknowledgment. And finally, when I asked her, "Candra, do you want to be a good girl?", this time, she nodded and agreed to let me put her down.

Praise the Lord! No crying when I put her down and off she went to sleep on her own.

Two things which I learnt from this:

1. When a child is crying in protest, don't get angry, agitated etc., pray with her and let the Lord teach her.

2. Little children have an amazing sense and sensitivity towards the presence of God and they do know the fear of the Lord.

Although it took me a while to settle her for sleep, but I thought it was all worthwhile. The interaction was precious :)

Thanks be to our God who hears every cry of our hearts! Amen!

Candra at 16 months

We noticed that Candra's like daddy in the following ways :

1. She is a girl of few words

2. She loves mechanical stuff

3. She is super observant about what goes on around her

4. She looks more like daddy

And she's like mummy in the following ways:

1. She LOVES food...

2. She loves to dance..

3. She has a loud voice

4. She is rather affectionate

Traits we think she probably inherited from extended family members:

1. A little fiesty

2. Impatience

3. Strong-willedness

4. Left-handedness (for now)

Whenever hubby and i chat about our girl, we just can't stop talking about her and laughing over her behaviours.

We were amazed today when she cooled her food by blowing!

2 days back, I showed her a short youtube video on God's creation during our devotion time. Yesterday, when I tried to do a short review of what we learnt a day before about God's creation, she pointed to the computer immediately. It's amazing what they can remember. And when she saw the video again at night, she pointed to her devotion bible story book :) Wow!

She kissed my tummy (kisses meant for the baby) numerous times today.. :) And she loves to kiss her stuffed toys.

Last sunday, at my parents' place, when it was almost time to go home, this little girl went to daddy and pointed at his watch, as if she was trying to remind him that it was time to leave.. haha!

She loves to dance especially to O, MacDonald and I'm a little teapot. She also loves to do the actions to Insey Weensy Spider :)

She loves to imitate a piano player :) And that makes me feel like getting her a mini piano.

So much more I can say about this girl.. I hope I can retain all my memories about her now.. if I don't manage to blog about everything :) haha

The Invincible Stitch

This is really funny.

Candra's uncle recently gave her a "Stitch" (from Lilo & Stitch) and my sis in Shanghai has a similar one.

There was once, we video-called my sis over Skype... and Candra's naughty daddy deviced a game :) He wanted to pretend that the Stitch in Singapore was passed over to my sis in Shanghai. The trick was this, he pretended to push Stitch into the screen (then immediately kept it away), the my sis in Shanghai pretended to catch Stitch in the screen (when in actual fact, all she did was to raise her own Stitch and show it to Candra .. haha)....Candra was so amazed......hahaha

Yesterday, we skyped again... This time round, Candra for some reason kept on wanting to pass another toy to her Aunt in the screen... :p haha.. she was under the impression that it could be done. Well, then we did the Stitch thing again twice and she was like "WOW"... and clapped her ends each time... Funny!

It's amazing how kids can be so innocent and imaginative in their own ways... :P

Well...we know.. she will outgrow this game pretty soon.. haha!

Good

Haven't put up a post for a long time, thought i should just put up something for fun since I have nothing to do now at 11pm at night.. and I don't feel like touching a piece of work. :)

I still haven't started feeling any movements in my tummy..:) I am waiting in anticipation because the feeling of movements is really the most exciting part of pregnancy. For now, I try to remind myself to talk to the little kiddo inside more, so that he/she does not feel neglected..hee

Candra's still as lovely as ever. Still such a joy and blessing to us. She's becoming more and more interactive. Absorbing information like a sponge. She communicates with us a lot more through the nodding and shaking of her head. I love the fact that she is generous with her hugs and kisses. I love the fact that she connects with us... It's hard to describe what I love about her because I just love her. :) We once borrowed this storybook from the library and I really loved the contents. I love how the book ended, "I love any way you feel no matter what you do, I love you just the way you are, I love you because you are you!" That kind of sums up my feelings about my little darling.

Marriage life is still fantastic and we are really looking forward to another addition to our family :) I appreciate hubby for making time for us in the midst of all his heavy commitments. We really enjoy every moment spent as a family, and we love the times we spend with our extended families as well. We have been talking extensively about this topic of, "authenticity". It's hard to put everything we have discussed on the blog.. but suffice to say, we feel super strongly about it.

Well..all in all, despite some of the difficult things we are going through with some ppl in our lives, we are still glad and satisfied in our good Lord, and for that, we are truly thankful.

not over yet?

:(

I do feel more energetic these days now that I have gone past the first trimester.. But.. I still do puke occasionally.........the puking's not completely gone although the frequency has greatly reduced.

Especially these few days, cos I am down with a cold.. that makes things worse.

Oh dear.. will the puking disappear completely at some point?????

Sometimes I wonder why this pregnancy is so different from the 1st one...... have I grown weaker physically or what? Will I be able to prevent this from happening in a subsequent pregnancy?

But oh well.. it's still all worth it I guess :) When I think on the day of this little one's arrival... I know i am going to be so sure that everything was worth it :) haha.

And that's the thing about mummies... after baby's arrival, we can sort of forget all the pain and the trouble of the pregnancy.. and then... GO THROUGH IT AGAIN!