It seems only yesterday that I wrote my last post, and I realized that it's been almost a month since I penned down my thoughts. As much as I love the four seasons in America, I hate the fact that in every season, I have to pack and unpack the clothings in the closets. Recently, Julie and Thieu gave us 4 big bags of their boys' clothings, and I thank God for the pass it down because it's pretty expensive to spend on children's new clothings, especially when they outgrow them very fast. I always welcome pass it down clothings for my littlehon so that we can spend our money on getting other useful things for him, like books, or educational toys. Don't get me wrong, we do buy new clothings for our littlehon, just that those pass it downs are great for daily wear, paintings, and outdoor wears. It really saves us tons of money. As I was unpacking the 4 big bags, our littlehon would have so much clothings that we don't have to spend any money for the whole next year's clothing for him :). Yes, it's also expensive getting the different types of wears for the various seasons. Unlike Singapore, boys just need short sleeves shirt/Tees, shorts/pants throughout the year, and whereas in America, short sleeves are worn during Summer, and once the weather gets colder, they will be stored and longer sleeves and thicker clothings will be taken out to prepare for chilly weathers to come. And those Summer clothings that are stored usually will be too small to be worn after a year later for the next Summer. So you get what I mean? It's expensive to keep getting new clothings for new seasons to come, and I really appreciate Julie and Thieu for their boys' pass it down.
Besides packing and unpacking the closets for change of season's clothing, I have been trying to get christian books for my littlehon for our next year's curriculum. As my littlehon turns 3, he is very articulate and very opinionated in every thing now, and also being a new Christian, I want to build on his personality/character on God. Therefore, my teaching focus for next year's plan will be teaching him Godly characters, besides the academic stuff. I think it's a great timing to nuture and build strong foundation of God's value into my littlehon now before it's too late. The Christian curriculum will be a simple one for next year: memorizing simple bible verses, teaching of Godly characters, and teaching of God's love for my littlehon. I managed to narrow down to the following books which I found them very simple and easy to apply for my next year's home teaching. 
I chose the above books First Steps series, Little Song for Little Souls series, Special Time series from Stephen Elkins for my littlehon's daily devotions time, and the great thing about these books is that all the books come with a Christian music CD which I will play while reading the book. I am starting with the First Steps' Beginning lessons of God's loves for my littlehon this month. 
As for bible memory verses for next year, my goal is that my littlehon will memorize God's verses using the above "ABC Bible Verse Book" by Deedra Scherm. 
As for teaching of Godly's characters, I managed to source the above books "A Child's Book of Character Building - Growing Up in God's World: at home, at school, at play" by Ron and Rebekah Coriell. I love these two Godly teaching character books and I intend to purchase the set after browsing through the library copies. If you can get a copy of these two books from your local library, it will be great because they are for ages 3-7 years old, and I like how it is written based on the bible, and how the children can apply what they learn using the character develoment challenges at the end of each character teaching. There are so many Godly characters mentioned in the bible and in these two books, and I intend to focus on each one every week so that my littlehon has time to reflect on each character, and apply and talk about it when needed.
I have already started on the 1st Godly character: Attentiveness, and I hope that by the end of next year, all the Godly characters will be covered. I like the fact that these books share each Godly character in story form. They are kind of wordy to read word by word for my littlehon, so I have to summarize each story and he will look at the pictures. I also like the fact that the authors wrote about how each Godly character is applied in the bible,
I chose the above books First Steps series, Little Song for Little Souls series, Special Time series from Stephen Elkins for my littlehon's daily devotions time, and the great thing about these books is that all the books come with a Christian music CD which I will play while reading the book. I am starting with the First Steps' Beginning lessons of God's loves for my littlehon this month. As for bible memory verses for next year, my goal is that my littlehon will memorize God's verses using the above "ABC Bible Verse Book" by Deedra Scherm. As for teaching of Godly's characters, I managed to source the above books "A Child's Book of Character Building - Growing Up in God's World: at home, at school, at play" by Ron and Rebekah Coriell. I love these two Godly teaching character books and I intend to purchase the set after browsing through the library copies. If you can get a copy of these two books from your local library, it will be great because they are for ages 3-7 years old, and I like how it is written based on the bible, and how the children can apply what they learn using the character develoment challenges at the end of each character teaching. There are so many Godly characters mentioned in the bible and in these two books, and I intend to focus on each one every week so that my littlehon has time to reflect on each character, and apply and talk about it when needed.I have already started on the 1st Godly character: Attentiveness, and I hope that by the end of next year, all the Godly characters will be covered. I like the fact that these books share each Godly character in story form. They are kind of wordy to read word by word for my littlehon, so I have to summarize each story and he will look at the pictures. I also like the fact that the authors wrote about how each Godly character is applied in the bible,at home, 
in school, 
, and at play. 
in school, , and at play. I also like how at the end of each lesson, it has some teaching point of getting children to answer some questions to challenge their thinking skills. 
I am praying that after using these two books for next year's curriculum, I would witness some of these Godly characters magnifest in my littlehon's daily life. As for academic teaching, I will still base on my littlehon's interest, sponteneous learning, and to teach a little of what I think it's important for him to learn for his age. Besides learning about Christians' values, I will also focus on teaching of Calendar next year so that my littlehon learns about seasons, weather, days, months, date, time, bible verses, godly character reminder, Lord's prayer, and the pledge of alligence. As for Geography learning at home, I am still waiting for him to get done painting the various country flags before my littlehon learns about the 50 states and capitals of America. As for reading, I have not borrowed any books for mid Dec and January because I don't think I will be able to return the books on time if I borrow now as I will be very busy with the arrival of His Masterpiece. We will be reading Dr Seuss' books and some other books that I have bought in the past. Afterall, children love repetitions, and they won't get bored or tired reading the same books again and again.
I am praying that after using these two books for next year's curriculum, I would witness some of these Godly characters magnifest in my littlehon's daily life. As for academic teaching, I will still base on my littlehon's interest, sponteneous learning, and to teach a little of what I think it's important for him to learn for his age. Besides learning about Christians' values, I will also focus on teaching of Calendar next year so that my littlehon learns about seasons, weather, days, months, date, time, bible verses, godly character reminder, Lord's prayer, and the pledge of alligence. As for Geography learning at home, I am still waiting for him to get done painting the various country flags before my littlehon learns about the 50 states and capitals of America. As for reading, I have not borrowed any books for mid Dec and January because I don't think I will be able to return the books on time if I borrow now as I will be very busy with the arrival of His Masterpiece. We will be reading Dr Seuss' books and some other books that I have bought in the past. Afterall, children love repetitions, and they won't get bored or tired reading the same books again and again. Beside planning for my littlehon's curriculum for next year, I also try to plan for His Masterpiece's learning after its arrival. I am a right brainer, and I believe in doing flashcards, and I have no regrets using flashcards with my littlehon when he was younger. Knowing that I will not have any time once His Masterpiece arrives, I have to start preparing new sets of flashcards so that it saves me time doing that after its arrival, otherwise, I will be totally giving it up due to time constraint. We are also getting ready His Masterpiece's bassinet, bouncer, clothings, and changing table ready for its arrival. It's interesting that I am more excited for the arrival of His Masterpiece compared to my littlehon's arrival 3 years ago. I guess His Masterpiece is a very special gift to our family, it is what I prayed for since my last loss, and I feel that His Masterpiece is a miracle baby for us that I took it for granted when I had my littlehon. In fact, as I think back, Rodney and I did a lot more for His Masterpiece compared to our littlehon. I didn't really eat a lot of tonics when I had my littlehon, and with His Masterpiece, Rodney spent thousands of dollars on chinese tonics alone, especially on Codyceps which is very expensive tonics.
I bought an expensive teether for His Masterpiece, Vulli Sophie the Giraffe teether, which is about US$18, and the one I bought for my littlehon was less than US$4. My littlehon used a pass it down baby carrier which is still in great condition, but somehow, I bought a brand new one from Kate Spade for His Masterpiece. I also used a pass it down diaperbag when I had my littlehon, but for His Masterpiece, I just need a brand new one from Kate Spade too. I delivered my littlehon at Southwest Medical Center, and for His Masterpiece, we choose Legacy Hospital which is newer, and better facilities even though it is slightly longer drive than Southwest. I never prayed daily for my littlehon when I had him, but somehow for His Masterpiece, I started praying daily for its well being the minute I knew I conceived. So which means that His Masterpiece is covered with God's prayer and blessing since day 1, and God has indeed protected His own Masterpiece in me. Am I baised or what? It's not that my littlehon is not a gift from God or I don't love my littlehon enough that I treated him differently from His Masterpiece. I just feel that His Masterpiece is a miracle baby for us, and it's a very special gift from God, and His Masterpiece has already held a special place in my and Rodney's heart even before it's born. And of course, we love our littlehon deeply too, afterall he is our first born, first love, and our first blessing in life. I just feel that God has blessed Rodney and I even more with His Masterpiece coming along, and I strongly believe that my littlehon and His Masterpiece will bring us tons of joy, love and laughters at home, and to others. I pray that as I prepare for His Masterpiece's arrival, God will continue to see me through, and continue to give me strength to bring up my littlehon and His Masterpiece in accordance to God's way, and not my way. God, may you give me strength, and more strength each day, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen~.
