i find this a rather difficult thing to do… mainly cos i rarely identify out loud my own emotions but i do think this is soooo very very important for boys, especially! So i will continue to try…
2. Be a cheerleader for his life
Every kid needs encouragement. Every kid needs someone who will be there always, shouting, “Go! You can do it! Go!” Someone who will believe in him no matter what. And i can do that, i love to do that!
4. Read to him and read with him.
My favourite time with my little guy is when we crash onto my bed and he lays there while i read a big book with loads of words (no pictures) in it. He likes it too… not always, but when i insists, he ends up enjoying it… We also read before bedtime, read on the trains, planes etc…
10. Give him something to believe in
Faith is so very important. Without faith, there is no hope. Without hope, what is life? My faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is what keeps me going, day in, day out. And that is one thing i hope to pass this faith onto him, which i firmly believe will help him through his life, will give him direction and hope and purpose.
15. Let him lose
Oooh, this is such a bone with my little guy – he HATES to lose. That’s something his teacher pointed out in a recent teacher-parent meeting. He is getting better. Now he doesn’t throw the cards when he loses. He simply growls at you and says in a loud i-mean-business voice, “We’ll play till i win!” i pray hard he learns that winning isn’t everything… it’s the fun we had playing with each other…
20. Let his dad teach him how to do things
His daddy travels a fair bit for work so as much as i can, i get him to do stuff with daddy. i’ll even buy model kits for them to build so that they have something all ready for them to work on.
21. Give him something to release his energy
My little guy has soooo much energy – it’s so very amazing… but i believe i had a similar level of energy when i was his age too… This daily energy release is very important or both of us will be driven up the wall…
23. Take him to new places
i never leave him at home whenever i can. My parents took me and my brother everywhere – i mean EVERYWHERE… unless the place or invitation specifically states ‘no kids’. Babysitters were just never an option for my parents so we went with them or learnt early on how to stay at home by ourselves. So i have done the same for my boy – i take him everywhere and as soon as he showed enough independence, he stayed at home when we could not bring him with (this rarely happened).
24. Kiss him
i love kissing my little guy! He likes it too. But i have a sneaky suspicion that this “loving-kissing” stage isn’t going to last much longer – at least not in public 😉
25. Be home base
Letting him go is & will be harder for me than for my husband. But i pray that when the day comes to let him explore the world on his own, God give me courage and hold me back. i also pray that my little guy will know that i’m always here for him – ALWAYS. Just as God is always here for us.
On boat from Lausanne to Vevey, Oct 2011
Which are your favourites? Do you have anything else to add?
Here’s another fond look back at 2011; this is the Christmas Letter which was sent out to some of our family & friends. This is a tradition for me (since we started writing the Christmas Letter some 5 years ago) to post this on our blog as a sort of record & reminder to myself…
—————————————————
HI HI How are you? We hope this Christmas letter finds you and your loved ones well & enjoying the Christmas season. We are delighted that it is snowing right now & we might, we just might, get a white Christmas – i think we’ve only had 2 white Christmases since we’ve lived here, so fingers crossed 😉
Last year was a year of settling for us & this year has been a year of changes and new experiences. What a change! hehheee…
The biggest change of all is that Sandra has closed her book business. Some of you would have heard about this & the whole long rather sad, frustrating process of this, in February/March of this year. It all started with rushing to yet another great bookfair & assuming that all residential roads are 50km/h. Well, to cut a long story short, Sandra got a huge fine & had been informed that the Kanton (state) will not recognise her International Driving License & she will have to take all the tests from the very beginning to get a Swiss one. She did try continuing the business without the use of a car; but getting all those heavy books to different locations by public transport was just too hard. On hindsight, which is always 6/6, it was a good thing. God had already put in Sandra’s heart a desire to slow down & focus on the family, especially as Tobias goes to 1st grade. & without this happening, Sandra would have just tried to continue juggling everything. Now it is good – Sandra has time to focus on the things which God has said are more important at the moment – it is all in God’s good plan.
So that’s the other big change – Tobias moved from Kindergarten to 1st grade & he loves it! There are more things for him to do & learn, so much more interesting for him than Kindergarten. He has German, of course, Math, Science (or general knowledge as it is translated from German), Music, Gym, Workshop & Religion. He gets to move around & switches classrooms for most of the subjects. His 1st grade teacher is lovely & patient. i’m not sure if i mentioned it before, but in Kindergarten, his teacher insisted that there was a problem & after a few different evaluations & a fair amount of money, it was concluded that he has ADHD. But now it seems that he is coping well in 1st grade – so maybe he doesn’t have this, maybe he was just bored in Kindergarten? Well, whatever it might be, we are grateful & praise the Lord that he is enjoying 1st grade & doing well & pray that he will continue to do so.
Tobias has also picked up several other activities outside of school – all of his own choosing. Judo is on every Wednesday evening – he absolutely loves it & is quite serious about this. He will be taking his half-yellow belt test this evening. He also has swimming on Fridays & has just gotten his 5th badge a few days ago. Learning the Guitar has also become part of his weekly routine – Daddy teaches him at home so lessons are as & when Daddy is home & they have time. But he really does want to play like Daddy, even thought he complains that his fingers hurt. Walter says it will take lots of training for them to not hurt so much.
So between Tobias’ school & activities, & Sandra’s own appointments. The week can get quite full. Sandra is still attending German class one evening a week & BSF one morning a week. She’s hoping to be able to get to take her B1 level test for her German (she got her A2 level certification this past July) & then will take a break from it. She has also recently joined a book club – she is very pleased about that,; she loves books so very much. & she loves words too – this year for a second time she has managed to complete the 50,000 words writing challenge in November (NaNoWriMo). She is also still involved with the Day Away Association for Women, now co-leading the Bern team.
Looking out the window now, watching the snow fall (finally, it is so late this year), reminds us of the ski trip we took in February. We finally did the Swiss thing & booked ourselves into a holiday chalet for a week in a ski resort – Laax. We normally only go skiing for 2 or 3 days. It was nice to spend a whole week there – though i think any longer would be a bit much. It was wonderful to also have a dear friend join us for that week. We all, except Walter, took classes. Our friend had his first experience on a snowboard. Tobias went to ski school with the other kids & Sandra got to go to lessons to refresh her skiing ablities. Now Sandra can hopefully keep up with Walter, who has really gotten quite good, on the slopes.
Walter still travels quite a bit for work. The travelling comes in spurts & he has been quite a few times to the US & Canada. In the months of October & November, he was gone for almost 4 weeks straight. Walter is still involved with the worship team at church, though with his travels it can get quite difficult to stick to the planned schedule. The worship team & a few members of the church recently had a jam session, just playing great music & worshipping the Lord. It was fantastic!
Of course, one trip which we all did together was our annual trip home to Singapore in July/August. As usual, it was fabulous to be back home, where we have missed our family & friends & without a doubt the amazing Singaporean food. It was a great time of catching up and renewing relationships. Last year Sandra got a new toy. This year Walter got a new toy – a tablet! He loves it & spends a fair amount of time on it. Tobias likes it too cos’ he gets to play games on it – much better than playing on mummy’s little smartphone. All in all, it was a good time of wonderful food with family & friends. We came back well-rested.
Oh, we also did an overnight stay at a farmhouse. It’s called ‘Schlaf-im-Stroh’ – Sleep-in-Hay. There are farms all over Switzerland which offer this, from about April till October. So we booked ourselves a night in October. It was rainy & cold but we still had great fun! On this farm, we got to play with bunnies & helped the farmer feed the animals. We picked eggs & fed chickens, we (actually mainly Tobias) helped milked the goats too. Tobias also got to brush down a little pony & ride on her. He loved it so much that he has asked to go back again – this time for 2 nights! hehheee… just a little side note – if you intend on going to one of these, do check that you are allowed to help out on the farm. Not all the farmstays allow that.
As the year comes to an end & we start looking to the new year ahead, we have also re-looked at our Blog – Wir Sind Ausländern @ yoongz.livejournal.com. Sandra has felt for a while now that she really needs to keep this blog more updated; she has also been inspired by other blogger mummies & desires that this blog be more than just a record of our time here. She wishes that this blog would grow to cover issues we face as individuals & as a family, to showcase our thoughts & cares, our journey throught life & also to inspire & help others, just as she has been inspired & helped by others; so to this end, our blog will be re-lauched in January 2012 under a new name & at a new internet address. So stay tuned for more.
Oh yes, i have to mention – we have new additions to our family – Gerbils! We now have 2 little gerbils, named Nox & Puddles, who are just adorable & great fun to have around. They were given to us by one of Sandras’ writer friends who had to leave for university. Tobias has been given the responsiblity of feeding them & helping mummy to clean out their cage. You can see pictures of them on our current blog.
Us in Como, Italy, Dec 2011
We pray & wish you & your family a Blessed Christmas & a Fulfilling 2012.
Look at the seriousness with which they are tackling the task of building their very first model plane together 😉
My dad – Tobias' granddad – had bought a couple of model plane kits for him cos my brother had a few and Tobias would like one too. The plan had been that my dad would build it with Tobias while we were in Singapore. However, as it turned out, between our many appointments and my dad working, there wasn't time. But it was decided that it was better this way cos that made them easier to carry home, instead of having to fear them breaking while en route, we simply packed them in their boxes into our suitcases.
The basic body of the plane has been finished but they are still adding little bits (decals) here and there so there is not yet a completed plane to be photographed. But they enjoyed working on it greatly.
I could have done it with him too – making it a mummy/son project. But I know I'm just not as good and I wasn't sure about which decals went where – the instructions were not exact on this point.
There was another reason why this became a daddy/son project – it just seemed like a father/son thing – don't you think so? This always makes me wonder about the question of how little boys wanna be like their daddy and little girls like their mummy. Is it genetics or more than that?
Even though Tobias spends more time with me, (just because daddy works away from home a fair bit), he still loves and sometimes even prefers to spend time with his daddy. He likes a lot of the same things which daddy likes. He is a daddy's boy 🙂
trippingdifferently 