I Love Your Deep-Set Eyes

And your blue eyes too! That's my dh, he has these deep-set blue eyes. *sigh* My kids got the deep set part but not the eye color. Now, I am just worried that my daughter will have those dark circles under her eyes. She doesn't have it yet but if it shows up, I will surely google how to remove dark circles. I don't want her to have an inferiority complex just because of that. She has enough pressure growing up in our society who puts too much emphasis on physical looks.

Too Early to Think of College?

My daughter is now in 5th grade but she already has some ideas on what she'd like to study when she's in college. Actually, she's been talking about it even before she started school. I don't think any age is too young to talk to about what they want to be when they grow up. I believe that we should open up the idea to young children so that it would stay in their minds. I grew up in a family where the only option is to go to higher education after high school, no IFs or BUTs. The only question is 'What course will you be taking?' and "Where will you enroll?'. That is why even my son, who is only in Kindergarten, is already talking about what he wants to be when he grows up. I kept on telling my children that they can be anything they want to be as long as they set their mind to it. They can be an astronaut, a veterinarian, an engineer, a lawyer (even one who specializes in asbestos mesothelioma cases) or even a doctor or a teacher. As long as they love and enjoy what they're doing, then I will be a happy mom.

Tweens...Career

Is it too early for a tween to think of what career to go into? My girl just turned 11 years old a couple of days ago, time sure flies by too quickly! During dinner time, one of the topics discussed is what they want to be when they grow up. Even our 5 year old son is participating in the discussion. I think it's a good way to instill in their young minds that having a good career in which you are doing what you love and enjoy is very important in life. Right now, my daughter is leaning towards being a software engineer, considering both dh and I are engineer, of couse, we're happy with that. There are a lot of opportunities out there like designing project management software or maybe even video games.

Lose the Computer Room?

Now that my daughter is entering the 'tween' stage, I am seriously considering moving her computer downstairs. Right now, all the computers are in the computer room with the exception of my notebook which is in the kitchen counter. We use a wireless Linksys router so I'm still connected to the internet. Back to the kids' computer, since we all hear about these horor stories of kids and the internet, I want to be able to monitor their computer use. She doesn't use any chat programs and she's not in any social networking sites. She's not interested and even if she is, I won't let her use those. I don't know how long I can keep it this way but I want to take all precautions necessary.

What To Give a Tween?

My daughter is now a tween. I think tween years is between 10 and 12 years old. The age where they're not a kid anymore but they're not a teenager either. It's an awkward stage I think. I remember when I was at this stage, I didn't want to wear little girl clothes anymore but my mom said I'm too young to wear teen clothes. Another problem at this stage is buying gifts. What do you get kids this age? They don't play with dolls although my daughter does not want to part with her toys. When my daughter gets invited to her classmates' birthday parties, I get this problem on what gifts to buy. Since I volunteer in the library where I see her and her classmates, I usually ask what they want for their birthday or what they're into. Sometimes, I opt to buy craft kits like scrapbooking and rubber stamp kits. For boys, maybe some Pokemon cards if they're into that or some Bakugan toys. How about lotions and body sprays? Any ideas on what gifts to give tweens?

Cleaning Up for the Holidays

Thanksgiving is next week and soon the holidays are upon us. For parents like me, it means additional junk toys for the kids. No, it's not all from us. We will get them one or two toys but the rest will come from relatives. We've sorted out the toys they want to keep and the rest will be given away. I have a bag of Barbie cars and other accessories, a big Bratz head and a Little Mermaid head and a bunch of stuffed toys. She does not want to give away the Barbie airplane and big doll house though. She still plays with her Barbie and it's two dozen twins. LOL She also plays with her Littlest Pet Shop collection. I also cleaned up my daughter's bookcase and put some books in my son's room. She has the complete Barbie book set and this will be donated to her school's library. Her old textbooks meanwhile will be stored in the attic along with her school and art work. It's amazing how much stuff kids accumulate these days. How about you? What do you do with your kids' old toys?

Mustela Skin Care for You and Your Baby

Having two kids, I know how stressed moms can be when it comes to medical problems that involves children. I remember when my kids were still babies, I had to always call their pediatrician for advise. Good thing that they have been healthy. My sister meanwhile, has a child that has a skin problem called eczema. Her son's skin is so sensitive that she has to be careful as to the kind of products he uses. She cannot even use the popular baby bath liquid soap that is known to be one of the gentlest products on the market. One product that is safe and gentle for babies with eczema is the line of Mustela Stelatopia products. These Mustela products have been tested on babies with eczema under the guidance of dermatologists and pediatricians. These are safe to use on babies and small children and will not dry their skin and cause more problems. If you are not sure of what product to use for your child, they have a Parent's Corner with helpful tips, FAQs, and other useful information that can help any parent, experienced or otherwise. Mustela also has products for expectant moms, lotions and creams to prevent stretch marks and such. For yours and your babies' skin care, use Mustela.

Starting Them Young

My son likes to help his sister unload the dishwasher. Whenever I ask my daughter to do this chore, he will run down the stairs and beat her to it. So now, both of them do this chore. I think it's important to give children chores around the house. It could be as easy as putting used dinnerware in the sink or unloading the clothes dryer. This will teach them responsibility, not to mention giving us moms extra time to do other household work.

A Fun-Filled Day

Last Friday, we went to New England Six Flags Amusement Park. The last time we were there was two years ago for Intel's Family Day. Dh's company have it every year but we didn't go last year because of a scheduling conflict. This year though, we went with my good friend Lanie and her family. It was a hot day, it felt like it was in the high 80's. Even so, the kids, most specifically, Tyler enjoyed it the most. I just noticed while looking at the photos that I didn't have any of Amber. It was all photos of Tyler this time unlike when we were in Europe were you'll see Amber in almost all of the photos.


There were a lot of rides for small children in the park. For kids smaller than 36 inches, an adult has to ride with them. For most of the rides that we went to, Tyler was tall enough to ride by himself since he's already 40 inches tall

What's Tyler's favorite ride? It was the kiddie rollercoaster. He rode with his dad and dh said that Tyler laughed the whole time. He definitely took after me since I love rollercoasters and have no qualms about riding even the tallest, fastest and scariest ones. Amber meanwhile is like her dad, not too crazy about it. Amber loves the water rides and enjoyed riding the Big Splash with dh. As with any water rides, they got very wet but it was refreshing for a hot day.

Mareng Lanie and I communicated via cellphone all day long. Her husband and son brought their swimsuits and enjoyed the waterpark instead. It's a good thing that they only had to pay one entrance fee for both parks so they had a good deal. We used a coupon from the Luncheables pack and received a $20 discount for the adults and free tickets for the kids. Good deal!

My Straight A Student

Congratulations to my daughter, she finished the school year with all A's just like the preceeding school year. She also got a Composite national percentile rank of 99 in the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS). This means that she scored higher than 99 percent of third grade students nationally. It said that her overall achievement appears to be high for third grade. I'm thankful that she does not have any problems academically. I hope it will be the same for my son too.

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