My son is 4 years old now. I have been feeding him personally while he is taking lunch and dinner until recently. He is still developing his fine motor skills and I figure we should give him more exercise of his fine motor skills by letting him feed himself. It is a bit late but better late than never.

The problem of letting him eat himself is the worry that he is not eating enough. At least if I feed him, I control how much food he eats. I guess I can half let him eat himself and half feed him. That way he practice his fine motor skills and I can force him to finish his food if there is still some food left.

I also have problem occupying him meaningfully when he is not going to school. He watches TV most of the time, Nickelodeon and cartoon network. Dora Explorer, Diego, Max and Ruby, Ni Hao Kai Lan etc and He loves watching spongebob. Nowadays, when taking his meals, I will switch off the TV so that he concentrates on his meals. My friends, if you are able to engage your preschool kids off TV, let me know how. I learnt about phonics from a Montessori teacher and is teaching him about the sound each letter makes and he manage to read 4 books from the Fitzroy reader series using this phonics method from Montessori.  These I do when he takes break from TV.

Used to be that I have to appeal to his taste when he was younger because if he does not like the food, he does not eat it. Now, I can force him to try new food and he usually listens to me. At least if he likes the food, he will continue to eat it. The important thing is he tries the food.

His usual staple now includes macaroni and cheese, rice with chicken nuggets and fish sticks, rice with scrambled egg, rice with 2 length of sausages, 4 hard-boiled eggs, 2 or 3 pancakes, bread with butter, instant noodles,  subway soups like broccoli with cheddar cheese, dumpling soup, chicken soup etc, hotdog with bread, spaghetti, pizza, rice with roasted chicken, pretzels. I am trying to let him try more food if possible.

It is a God-given responsibility of mine to feed him, clothe him and take good care of him as he is my son. I learnt from a radio broadcast that just as God the father gave man structure to his environment, parents also need to provide structure to their children in their daily routines. I guess that I need to do that and more. Nurturing my son will be my greater responsibility other than the role of a care giver.

Luke 6

niv:

⁴³“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. ⁴⁴Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. ⁴⁵The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

kjv:

⁴³For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.⁴⁴For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.⁴⁵A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

Meditations:

1) The heart is the place where a person makes decision, a place where a person fuses thoughts with feelings.  Harbouring those thoughts will sow the seeds of  a person’s speech/actions.  Hence,  a person’s speech/actions come from what is in the heart.

2) Some man is described as being good here. This does not refer to the inherent goodness of man but refers generally to a person who has been nurtured to be good.  The truth is all man is sinful (as in Romans 3:23). I have a previous article on sin here.

The Slow Leak:

For the past few weeks, the low tire pressure warning light came on in my 2009 Toyota Corolla for  a couple of times. After I top up the tire pressure, the warning light will come on  after a few days.  A family friend of ours who is a mechanic inspected the tires for us and found that a screw was embedded in our left rear tire. He told us that there is probably a slow leak in tire pressure.  We asked how it can be repaired. He said it could be repaired by a plug or a patch. A plug will take around half an hour and may come off after continuous and constant driving through difficult terrain. We asked for a quote from a repair shop and they quoted us 12 bucks. A patch will take an hour and is more durable. We asked for  a quote from another repair shop and they say it cost 30 bucks. And they say its a plug patch. So, we went for the plug patch. They took off the wheel from the car and removed the tire from the rim. They took out the screw, make a through hole of the puncture, grind the inside, put some glue on it, and apply a circular patch from the inside and seal the puncture.

The recall:

A few weeks back, I read an article that reported that there was a recall on certain 2009-2010 Corolla and Corolla Matrix relating to the brake system vacuum port.

I just received the recall notice on Monday and made an appointment with the nearest Toyota dealer to have it fixed.

The condition: If the vehicle is operated in extremely low temperatures, there is a possibility that condensed moisture from a positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) port may seep into the brake system vacuum port and freeze. The port is located inside the intake manifold and provides vacuum assist for the brakes. Should this condition continue, ice may slowly accumulate at the port and in the worst case, ultimately plug the port. As a result, power assist to the brakes would gradually decrease (eventually to zero), and the increased pedal pressure required could lead to greater vehicle stopping distances, which may increase the risk of a crash. The Toyota dealer will install a newly designed intake air connector which will relocate the brake system vacuum port at no charge to the vehicle owners.

These words were new to me:

Sucker is lollipop.

Flash light refers to torch light.

Gas refers to petrol.

Americans pronounce diaper as di-per.

Experience with american health insurance:

There was a time when my son and I did not have health insurance in the previous year and my son was running a fever. So, I picked up the phone and called a nearby clinic and asked how much would it cost to treat the sickness without health insurance. The answer: one hundred plus dollars. So, we ended up in a will county health department and ended up paying seventy plus dollars for treatment. Eventually, we bought health insurance for my son and I.

Health insurance is a must in US. Just in case when there is an illness or need for hospitalization, we need health insurance so that we don’t have to fork out a huge sum of money upfront. I heard from the news that there are many americans who go bankrupt because of an illness, even for those with health insurance because their illness was not covered in their health insurance.

We pray that God will grant us good health

Psalms 46

¹ God is our refuge and strength,  an ever-present help in trouble. -niv

¹God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. -kjv

Meditations:

1) Trouble often comes uninvited.

2) If we depend on our own strength to face the trouble, we will have a heavy burden.

3) God is the one we should turn to when we run into trouble. He provides us with the mental strength to face and endure the trial.

4) We can have access to God through Jesus all the time. God is just a prayer away.

5) Trouble is an opportunity for us to draw nearer to God.

Another blog theme came to my mind while I was washing my dishes. About a sense of importance. And it is about washing dishes and cooking. Most of the time, my wife is the one who cooks while I am the one who washes the dishes. Thoughts came to my mind that what she is doing something value added while I am not. She contributes to the fulfillment of our tummies while I am doing a menial task of cleaning up the mess. As we talked about it, my wife pointed out that we are just doing what we are best at doing, not about who is doing the more important task. Granted washing dishes is menial while cooking seems more prestigious. After all, you heard of cooking competitions to select the best chef but not competition of who best washes the dishes. But that should not make me feel less important because washing dishes is a chore that has to be done and it’s a matter of dividing the household chores to whoever does it best.

Our sense of importance should not be based on what we do or not do or not even on what we are able to do or not able to do. If God sends his Son to die on the cross to die for me, doesn’t that make me a very important person? I am important to God and that’s what counts.

John 3

¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. – niv

¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. -kjv

Rev 19

¹⁰At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” -niv

¹⁰And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. -kjv

Today’s devotional:

The Cross In Prayer at http://www.myutmost.org/08/0806.html

From Oswald Chambers

Our family just finished signing a package on our auto insurance (due to start in August 2009) when we got into the car. I reversed out of the parking lot and drove to the exit point to the main road from the car park. I was about to turn left to the main road from the side road from the car park. Traffic was flowing from my left to my right on the 2 lane road nearest to me and traffic was flowing from my right to my left on the 2 lane road further away from me. I have to drive past the lanes nearest to me to move to the lanes further away from me to turn left . As I was waiting to turn, vehicles were queueing at a red traffic light on my right on the lane nearest me and I could not  see the vehicles coming from my right on the further lanes. A trailer truck from my left stopped just on my left and the driver signalled to me to turn. Without thinking, I turned left. A car narrowly missed hitting my left door on the further of the 2 lanes nearest to me. Thank God that the car was slowing down owing to the red light. It then sank into me that I could have a car accident.

We all learn from our mistakes so that history don’t have to repeat itself. In this incident, I learned that I will rather make a right turn and then u turn back than make a left turn from a side road without any traffic light  to a busy road. Even though this situation is not new to me, it just have to be in my subconscious mind when I encounter the same situation. I also learned that I cannot surrender my judgment to somebody else when driving.

God is protecting our family. I do believe so. Theoretically, if God is protecting our family, no matter what we do, no harm can befall us. But, we have the responsibility to drive safe. God wants us to be responsible drivers too so that we drive safe. God takes over when we no longer have control. His name be praised when He protects us!

We were doing some shopping at a nearby mall and were on our way to another place when my 3 year old ran to the middle of the road in the car park. We could see some cars driving into the parking lot and our son was happily making some actions as he dances in the middle of the road. We called to him but he refused to listen. We quickly pulled him to one side and as we make our way to our car, I told him that I will spank him when we get home. He cried out of fear for the spanking for he knows when I say I will spank him, I will spank him.

Inside the car, he was still crying. This went on for some time. Finally, I told him: I will pardon him this time but only because of Jesus. My son deserves to be punished by disobeying my command and dancing in the middle of the road. If I go according to the book, I would have spank him when he gets home. But I went according to grace and he was pardoned. I gave him what he did not deserve, pardoning him because of Jesus. Hopefully, he will associate Jesus with grace.

In fact, Jesus is grace in the flesh. Our heavenly Father in heaven giving us what we do not deserve – Jesus His Son dying on the cross for us so that man may be reconciled to God. Sounds complicated but really it is simple. God is so holy that man in his sinfulness will die if God appears to us. God is such a just God that His wrath is upon us if he sees our sinfulness and we are separated from Him because of our sinfulness. But, God loves us so much that He sends His Son to die on the cross for us, so that Jesus pays the penalty of our sins and man is reconciled to God via Jesus. That is grace.

Ephesians 2

niv:-

⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast.

kjv:

⁸For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast.