Couple’s Corner : I Think I Will Get…

Actually, CC topic of this week is about the expected Christmas gift that you think you’ll get from your spouse. Since I don’t celebrate Christmas, I’ll share another kind of story, but it’s still about ‘gift’.

In my marriage, gift giving is not our regular habit. My husband never gives me a birthday gift or wedding anniversary gift. We just have dinner at our favorite dining place and then he gives and says a special prayer for me. But of course, it doesn’t mean that he never buys me things. He actually loves to buy me a little things that I like; but most of all it’s his spontaneous acts, so, it doesn’t relate with any occasion.

Last year (October 2009), there was one time that really surprised me. At that time, my husband has just recovered after having sick for weeks and it’s the first day he started doing his routine activities again. Before leaving home, he gave me a short poem. He said that it was a thankful gift for my caring while he’s sick.

I was so touched. It’s a happy surprise for me as he has never written me a poem before. The poem is in Indonesian language (I’ll share the translation version). It’s short, have no title, but it’s full of his love. I’ve shared this poem in my old post, but I’d like to share it again here.To My Wife:

You are my adoration when I want to adore

You are like blood that running in my life

You are not decent to be given love… but you deserve to have a complete love from me – with all my heart

You are not an altar…but…you are like an altar that always get compliment and worship

You are not an ordinary person…in my life, you are an extraordinary one

My beloved kind wife, I love and adore you so much

My love and affection -ordinary and special one- I want to give it all to you…

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The Bordered Bridge

I captured these watery shots around my grandfather’s house (Ciamis, West Java, Indonesia). This modest bamboo bridge borders grandfather’s land and neighbor’s fish pond.

My entry for Watery Wednesday

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Educational Daycare: a Great Solution for Busy Moms and Dads?

Nowadays, it has already become common facts that both parents, Moms and Dads, must work outside their homes. The piling bills and current hard economic situation force many parents to do this. Some parents ask their relatives to care for their children while they are working. If you have reliable and capable relatives who want to look after your child while you’re not at home, you’re lucky!

Some other parents hire a nanny. Well, it’s all up to you, parents, but I myself won’t try this option, unless I have known well the nanny before and she is recommended by people that I’m close with. Seeing news in television that showed a nanny tortured a baby makes me paranoid!

Well, if you are super busy parents who don’t feel comfortable to hire a nanny and you also live far from your relatives, have you considered taking your toddler to an educational daycare? My first time knowing a daycare facility is when I was in lower secondary school. There’s a daycare facility next to my school. Every morning, I see lots of parents came to entrust their children. Sometimes, I and several friends looked inside through the windows and watched several playing children and sleeping babies. So cute.

I agree with the importance of early childhood education, as recommended by many experts. It’s a big task for every parent. But as parents, you should realize that you aren’t specially educated and trained as educators for your child. There are lot of things about children’s grow and development process that you don’t yet aware.

For your information, there are five equally important areas of young child’s development. Remember this “SPICE”: Social, Physical, Intellectual, Creative and Emotional Development. To maximize your child’s potency, you should ensure that your child has experienced and passed through all these developments appropriately.

That’s why, in my opinion, your child also need early education from trained and certified early childhood educators at a certified preschool or daycare. Together with your children, you can learn from educators there. I’m a stay at home woman, so, I prefer to choose a quality preschool. For busy parents, a quality certified educational daycare can be the best choice.

Give your young child a valuable fun learning experience in a school environment since early age; and watch your child’s development progress in every area. You’ll be amazed and grateful!

I wrote this article as an expression of my opinion, after reading the article written by Emily Patterson and Kathleen Thomas. Emily and Kathleen are Communications Coordinators for the Atlanta day care facility, a member of the AdvancED® accredited family of Primrose Schools (located in 16 states throughout the U.S.) and part of the network of day care preschools delivering progressive, early childhood, Balanced Learning® curriculum.

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Intan, a Friendly Australian Stock Horse

Weeks ago, we spent our Sunday morning in Sempur field (Bogor, Indonesia). When we just wanted to go back home, three ‘cowboys’ with their horses were entering the field.

Soon their presence attracted many visitors, including us. When I asked permission to take pictures, one of the owners pointed Intan, as he is the friendliest than the other two horses. In English language, Intan means diamond. It’s a proper name for a friendly and handsome male horse, isn’t it?

Intan’s owner allowed me to ride him; but I was afraid. Australian Stock Horse is too tall for me, I feel difficult to jump up and sit on his back. Poor me.

When we’re talking about Australian Stock Horse, what do you have in mind? Based on Wikipedia source, the Australian Stock Horse is bred for intelligence, courage, toughness and stamina. This horse will be sound, agile and quick moving with a surefooted walk. It will have a calm, responsive temperament. Height ranges from 14 hands to 16.2 hands.

Actually, they have been especially bred for Australian conditions. It is a hardy breed of horse noted for endurance, agility and a good temperament. Its ancestry dates to the arrival of the first horses in Australia, brought from Europe, Africa and Asia.

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Educational Websites for Your Child

Your child can learn in various ways. One of the learning ways is fun learning through educational websites. If you’re interested, you may check some of them:A Walk in the Woods

This science website will teach about environment. It’s appropriate for upper elementary (3-5 grade).

Walk in the Woods is designed for third through fifth grade students to gain an appreciation of nature. Sometimes students are not able to go to a forest preserve or woods, so this brings the woods to them.

Optical Illusion and Visual Phenomena

There are some amazing optical illusions shown here through computer graphics in motion. While the illusions can be enjoyed by students of any age, the accompanying explanations will most likely require a teacher's interpretation for K-12 students to understand them.

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Tap Water

Tap water (city water, municipal water) is a main component of indoor plumbing, which became available in urban areas of the developed world during the last quarter of the 19th century, and common during the mid-20th century. The application of technologies involved in providing clean water to homes, businesses and public buildings is a major subfield of sanitary engineering (Wikipedia).

In our home, we use tap water for various purposes, but we still seldom use tap water for our drinking water (of course, after we boil the water before). Indonesia’s tap water isn’t yet safe to drink straightly without boiling it first. My father can’t drink boiled tap water, he always gets stomach ache after drinking it. Fortunately, I and my husband don’t have the similar problem. Until now, for drinking water, we subscribe bottled water. How about you? I’ve heard about the controversy between tap water and bottled water in USA; what kind of water that you choose to drink in your place?

My entry for Watery Wednesday

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Handling Your Child’s Bedwetting

Is your child still wetting the bed? Bedwetting is an embarrassing event in the life of any child. Parents, here is how you can help your child learns to conquer this difficulty, with no loss in self-confidence for your child.

For many children, wetting the bed is a usual and normal part of their life. This natural event begins to become a problem is when your child has already started to get toilet trained or even later in life for some children. Here are some tips if bedwetting seems to be a problem for your child.

Try not to scold your child or make an issue out of bedwetting. There will be no positive result at all. Simply say something like, “Oh dear, I see you’ve wet yourself again,” or something else age appropriate. Encourage older bedwetting children to take an active role in getting over the problem by having them help strip the bed.

Praise a child on dry nights, as is age appropriate. For younger children you may want to make a star chart and reward a week of stars with an extra story at bed time, an extra ten minutes staying up time or some other type of treat or reward for their accomplishment.

Restricting the fluid intake of your child before your child goes to bed can also help out. It doesn’t mean that your child should go to bed thirsty, just refrain from allowing your child to have a drink right before bed time. Waking your child up to use the bathroom before you go to bed is also another appropriate way.

When bedwetting is something that seems to be a regular problem, you should protect your child’s mattress. This can be accomplished by purchasing a rubberized sheet for the mattress or using a shower curtain.

In the event that nightly incontinence is something that has suddenly hit your child, talk to him or her immediately. This is something that you can see as an indication of a larger problem that you may need to be aware of.

Don’t be afraid to talk to a doctor either if this is a sudden change in your child’s behavior. A doctor can help you figure out what exactly is happening and whether it is a medical concern that you should be worried about or not.
Source: family.tips.net & ebeautymag.com

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