How I outsmart my Mommy
By Dominique | July 23, 2008
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This week I am tooting about my 19mth old. I’m amazed by the antics he can come out with just to get around the house rules that I set.
#1- Do not come into the kitchen while I am cooking
What he does ( and I swear he must have learned it from his older brother as Ryan did the same thing before). He doesn’t walk in he backs in… turns around crawls or walks backwards into the kitchen.
#2- Finish your food before you can go and play.
“Mommy come!!” he will yell. As I approach him he will take his spoon and shove the remainder of his bowl of food into my mouth.
” Finish! No more!” he will announce. Roy would be happily showing me the empty bowl while grinning away. [Mission accomplished!!]
#3 No helping yourself to the food in the refrigerator without permission.
” Mommy ,carry please” he will ask politely. When he is carried he would hold my hand on the fridge and make me open it for him. Next he would guide my hand and make me pick out the item that he desire to eat.
Rationale: I can’t touch the chocolate but mummy can. I’m not taking it out of the fridge, mummy is 
#4 Do not bring your toys outside the house.
” Roy leave you teddy bear at home, do not bring it out with you as you may lose it while we are out shopping.” I tell him nicely.
He goes to his room and brings out the biggest teddy bear he can find. ” Mummy carry.. big bear bear” he says as he stuffs the teddy bear into my arms.
Picking up his teddy bear he points as the teddy bear in my arms and says ” Big bear bear… small bear bear..go”
Rationale: I know that i can’t bring the bear out but if mummy is bringing her bear out it should be okay right? I’m just following what she is doing.
*Roll eyes and end up tongue-tied on how to combat his counter measures.
Anyone want to share what their kids do to get around the house rules?
Feel free to fill in Mr Linky if you are sharing. Do drop a comment too for extra Linky Love.
Topics: Roy, Tuesday Toots | 2 Comments »
Bonding with the boys
By Dominique | July 21, 2008
As part of my new monthly resolution I am trying to get hubs more interactive with the boys on the weekend. We have decided to bring then roller blading or bike riding at the park.
Last weekend was a blast. We have been going to different parks every weekend to spend a fun filled afternoon with the kids. We are blessed to have so many different parks with a large playground section around. On Saturday we visited the Pasir Ris park as I wanted to let the boys go on the pony rides available there. We didn’t go to the pony section but ended up at the playground instead.
The boys went wild at the slides and swings. There were plenty other slides and even a 3 storey spider web to climb but they were for older kids and we had to give those a miss.
Being a park by the sea the view was breathe taking. It was a pity that I do not have a D80 or similar camera or I certainly be able to take nicer photographs.
How was your weekend?
Topics: Roy, Ryan, personal muses | 4 Comments »
Need some Milk?
By Dominique | July 18, 2008
Flickr Photo by Elsewhere
Milk, the main source of nutrient for growth in babies. Both my babies were breastfed when they were young. The elder boy, Ryan, was breastfed for 5months before moving on to formula milk. Younger boy, Roy, has been breastfed for 19 months and is still in the process of being weaned. He strongly rejects any form of powdered milk so I have resorted to give him fresh milk. Full Fat fresh milk.
Moo Milk is an interesting and educational website explaining the origins of milk. It has a comprehensive FAQ section and some fun games for kids.
Another site which I found about raw milk gave information about the composition of milk and the controversy about it.
Recently I chanced upon this article at GlobeHealth Life stating that it is ok for toddlers to be given low-fat milk. They findings show that toddlers who are at risk for heart disease should switch to low fat milk. I’ve decided to give the boys a combination of both full fat and low fat mil for them as there are.
What type of milk are your kids taking?
Topics: Parenting Views, Roy, Ryan | 2 Comments »
E-book Copywriting & Proof-reading Tips
By Dominique | July 17, 2008
I have been working on a few projects since the start of the year and writing my own E-book is one that I am trying out. One of the e-book that I am writing about is Multilingual Parenting. It is a topic that I am deeply interested in as I aim to groom my kids into multilinguists.
I mentioned about my idea for this book during the Mother’s Day interview I had a few months ago.
There has been two questions which I have been searching around for answers. I was fortunate to have the assistance of Denise Willms on queries I had about writing the E-book . This is the reply I received from her from the e-mail I sent.
This is the question I posed to her
“I want to know how to get people to proof read it (without stealing the content) and how to market it .”
This is what she replied:
Finding a Good Proofreader
No matter how good a writer you are, it’s always wise to have someone else proofread your work. We often miss mistakes we make in our own writing, but they leap out at a fresh pair of eyes!
If you need a good proofreader, I would suggest looking for a Virtual Assistant who provides a proofreading service. Ask your networking groups if they can recommend anyone. Before you hire someone, though, you should ask for samples of their work and find out what other projects they have worked on. This will help you find out how much experience they have. If your own skills in English are a bit rusty, you can ask a friend to review the samples too.
Content Stealers
People stealing your content is a valid concern. It seems to be happening more and more, so it’s good that you’re aware of the danger.
All your original work is protected by copyright law, and you can learn more about that here: www.copyright.gov
The good news is, if you do your homework and research your proofreader before you hire them, you probably don’t need to worry about your proofreader stealing it. Someone who is serious about their business will probably not be willing to ruin their reputation by stealing your work.
You can also help protect yourself and your content by adding a copyright notice to each page of your ebook and/or your website. Your work is copyright protected without this notice, but a notice like this reminds people that it belongs to you.
If you continue to write for the web, someone will eventually try to steal your content. So, it’s important to know what your rights are, and what steps you should take when this does happen.
You can find a lot of information about protecting your online content at www.copyscape.com/plagiarism.php
How to Market Your E-book
One of the easiest ways I’ve found to market an e-book is article marketing. In fact, e-books are a perfect fit for article marketing.
You can take a chapter from your book (or a portion of your book) and turn it into a reprint article. You might want to rewrite it a little, but I’ve known many authors to just take a chapter from their book and give it away as a reprint article. In your resource box, direct them to your e- book for more information.
Do you have any research on your topic that didn’t make it into the e-book? Maybe use that as a basis for an article, or turn it into a free report. Then invite your readers to purchase your e-book if they want to know more.
Denise Willms is owner of WAHM Articles, http://www.WAHM-Articles.com, a directory of free reprint articles for moms. She also ghostwrites articles for people who sell products and services to moms.
Topics: Personal Learning | 2 Comments »
Is respect for religion doggone?
By Dominique | July 15, 2008
Photo by Carf
Last weekend we went to a different church from our usual place .It was a real eye opener for me. The church service was “Hellish” for me. I was greatly sadden at how the fellow worshipers were being irreverence in GOD’s sanctuary. During the mass they were busy chatting among themselves on unrelated issues , replying to text messages on their mobile. I could close an eye if it was a young child asking questions about the sermon that is being preached or parts of the mass he didn’t understand, but these were teenagers, adults and even the elderly!!
What BAD Attitude and examples are they showing my impressionable toddlers?
First of all aren’t we all in church to pray and worship the LORD? Instead of taking in the word of GOD and pondering on how to improve your spirituality. I frown upon such ” Sunday Christian” who can’t even commit themselves to the 1 hour worship session.
I strongly feel if you,the parent, have decided to introduce your child to your religion the least you could do is show by example how you pay respect to the GOD that you have chosen to follow. If you are unable to show respect to Higher Authority how can you expect your child to understand and learn to appreciate this spiritual being when you are blatantly behaving otherwise? It is even stated by the church the importance of being silent during mass. There are even announcements made on screen to remind church goers to turn off their mobile or switch it to silent during service.
Talk about the breakdown of the proper church etiquette.
Topics: Parenting Views | 2 Comments »
New Header
By Dominique | July 13, 2008
My 1st Header
2nd header
3rd Header (used briefly last week)
Do you like the new header?
After spending nearly 2 days last week on the blog template design, running through the different pages which had various free Wordpress Templates I decided to continue using Duct Tape Marketing Blog design.
I removed a few PPC ads that I had which were not $$ generating. I made the look more streamlined and shifted some directories which were in the footer to the Blogroll page so it did not take too much time for the page to load up.
The unfortunate thing is that I seem to have lost my Page Ranking. I guess it has to do with accepting IZEA and other similar assignments to $$ this site. Nevertheless the income generated will help contribute to maintaining this blog. I have been looking at the reivews for those sites and realised that they were not meeting what they have promised.
Topics: Personal Learning | 4 Comments »
Fabulous July Giveaways
By Dominique | July 9, 2008
Over at Skimbaco Katja is throwing a huge series of giveaways to celebrate the month of July. She has a lot to celebrate this month. For those of you who do not know her, her online boutique, Skimbaco, has won recognition by famous celebrities like Tom Cruise. Her husband landed a job in NY and they are moving across the state and she has been discharged from the hospital and is on the road to recovery.
Ambajam August 2008 Cutest Baby Photo Contest is the latest promotion she has on her blog.
win a 75$ gift certificate by Ambajam if your child’s photo is picked. Katja, herself, has added a 150$ AMBAJAM GIFT PACKAGE from Ambajan which you can win check out the details of the giveaway on her blog.
My 2nd Giveaway
In the spirit of giveaway I have decided to giveaway to the lucky reader a change to win 4 personalized baby/kid scrapbook collages (Refer to the samples above)
How to participate in my giveaway:
1) Leave a comment which and a link to your blog or your e-mail address so I can reach you if you win.
2. Deadline July 28th, 12 PM SG Time (GMT +8). *It’s my grandma’s 82nd birthday on that day.
3. EXTRA!!! Get another chance to win by blogging about this giveaway. Write a blog post and link it to my blog. Do return and leave your link for extra credit and doubling your chances to win.
Good luck!!
Topics: Tuesday Toots, contests | 2 Comments »
Busy mom’s guide to shopping smart
By Dominique | July 8, 2008
Shopping has always been a favourite past time for me. Ever since the kids came along the time I have for slowly browsing through the various aisle at the department store has greatly lessen. Now each time we go shopping with the boys in tow it will have to be a 5 min pit stop grab and go outing.
Lingering along the aisle may bring along with it unwanted purchases by the boys ever eager grabbing hands. They will be busy picking up stuff to examine or even attempt to unwrap/open.
Having a shopping guide is a good time saver. It not only tells you what items are available, it also helps you pre-select the items you may need. A lot of useful information regarding how the items are used and other helpful related items and sites for further research are mentioned. I am also able to get the best priced for the product I have chosen as the information about the lowest price together with which store it is offered in is displayed.
ShopWiki is a very comprehensive site which lists several of shopping guides for busy moms. It is a one stop referrence which makes it easy for me to do a comparison of the different products based on ther reviews made. The prices and places were each item can be bought are clearly stated. It saves me a lot of time that I will have needed if I was doing the bargain sourcing on my own.
Topics: Parenting Views, Recommendations | 1 Comment »
Reflective Monday- Walk down Evolution Lane
By Dominique | July 7, 2008
Photo by Unforth
Last weekend we visited the Evolution Garden at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. It was the 1st time that we brought the kids to this part of the gardens.
It was a good opportunity for the kids to learn how our earth was made through walking along the part in this garden. Even though i the concepts of evolution were a bit too much for a 4yr old to understand I managed to explain to Ryan that the earth started out with just plants. Later on they had the first flowers and from that the various fauna and flora that we see. Much later came the animals and humans. After many millions of years later then we have the earth as he sees it today.
I think that I will have to bring the boys back there when they are much older so they can really appreciate the creations at the Evolution Garden and the richness in the history that its exhibits portray.
Topics: Personal Learning, Reflective Monday, Roy, Ryan | No Comments »
5 Greatest Parental Mistakes
By Dominique | July 4, 2008
I have been reading this book - Kids are from Jupiter by Mark chamberlain and have picked up many good tips from his book
In summary it talks about the 5 greatest parental mistakes
- Giving into guilt by taking upon the mistakes of the children as your own. It is okay if children make mistakes. It is only bad if they do not learn from it. It is not possible for your child not to make mistakes or be infallible as you personally are not.
- Striving for Perfectionism. Stop!! Don’t do that you are not bringing up robots. If all your kids problems/battles are being solved by you catering to their every need they will not be able to adapt to the real world and the how to be independent and face their own battles. They will not know/learn the techniques/skills needed for survival.
- Being Overindulgent. Do not be afraid to deprive your kids. Sometimes they have too much of a good thing to learn how to appreciate it properly.
- Failing to admit that they as parents foul up sometimes. Do admit your mistakes to you child if you commit any. It will only help to strengthen your relationship . Your child will give you plenty of changes to apologize, ask for forgiveness and try to do better.
Problems and errors are inevitable; how we handle them is up to us. We can be critical of ourselves or our children, or we can see our mistakes as opportunities to learn and grow. - Shutting off the child. Irregardless of what tactic you try in an attempt to guide your child, make sure that you also keep the lines of communication open, be as perceptive as you can, and then trust your intuition about what’s best for your son or daughter.
Topics: Book Review, Parenting Views, Personal Learning | 1 Comment »
