J Summary (10Y10M5D): Removed Muffin from His Lunch Box

I made this mini-cakes or muffins for Daddy FECS' birthday. Our Little FECS complained that his lunch box was getting too boring, so I decided to surprise him by place this muffin into his lunch box. For the first day, he ate it. For the second day, before he went to school, he took it out and placed it back to the fridge. I noticed it after he was gone, when I opened the fridge, and was impressed. But wanted to know, if he was having self-restraint, or because Mommy's muffin tasted so bad.

He got home, and I asked him. Or was it him who asked me, whether I have noticed that he didn't take the muffin, I couldn't remember. But I remembered that he said that it was too unhealthy to eat cake and he decided to save it for later. I was impressed at his ability to resist temptation. In fact, we all have been so guilty about eating the cakes that I had in the end threw away half of it - they were getting too old (as can be seen from this picture, the fresh cream was getting way too stale, as we haven't been eating them fast enough, although I only made eight of them for the four of us.

Actually, I have always been reluctant to bake cakes. This was one of the first time that I baked a real muffin. The store-bought cakes got thrown away as well for getting too old in our family. I think from now on, I should really consider spending time to bake cakes again.

On a similar note, our Little FECS requested for a sweets Christmas calendar, and we relented. It is half way through January, and there were still half of the candies not eaten. I am very impressed at his ability to resist temptations. It is common in Denmark for families to have "Fredags slik", meaning Friday Candy time and Danish parents and kids can eat a big pack of sweets each. The Danes must have good genes not to be susceptible to diabetes. Singapore is currently fighting a war on diabetes. I hold it close to my heart of our Little FECS' attitude towards the sweet stuff and pray that it will endures forever.

Friluftsbadet Badesøen in Albertslund - Open-Air Swimming-Pool

The summer is over, and I am just archiving this information for my family for next year. 

If you only have a couple of hours to spare, and your kids want to go somewhere that they can have fun playing with water, but you don't want to spend a bomb driving a few hours to a faraway water theme park for only a couple of hours (for some reason, water theme parks in Denmark are far away, although there is plan to build one in Copenhagen), then Friluftsbadet Badesøen in Albertslund is a good choice that is fun for the kids. It is a relatively quick drive for us (less than 30 minutes from our place).

Currently, it costs 50 DKK for adult and 35 DKK for child 0-14 years old. There is BBQ evenings on Wednesdays where you can bring your own meat to grill for free. The water is always capped at 25 degree celsius. It is open only in the summer and last day was end of August. This year ,it was August 26 2018.

Here is the details:

Skallerne 14

2620 Albertslund

Tel: +45 43687288

Email: idraet@albertslund.dk

Website: https://xn--badesen-u1a.albertslund.dk/

 There is a Sauna, which is the wooden house behind, for you to warm up, should you get too cold after getting out of the water in the open.

 Here is a kiosk selling sandwiches and ice-cream.

 There are some slides for the fun factor.

 Here is the simple Baby pool that Baby FECS was very pleased with :-)

 There is also a playground for kids with slides, see-saw and swings

Here is the jumping float and some trampolines (not pictured)

A Story by Our Little FECS on Cow-Monkey

11 March 2018 (9Y6D)

Our Little FECS is into writing small stories recently. He would come up with storyline himself. He would sometimes write 3-4 stories in a day. Then Daddy FECS and him would sit down  at the computer to type it out. And Daddy FECS wand him will search for pitcutres from the internet. Our Little FECS wants to compile them into a book.

Here is one of the small stories by our Little FECS... I read it and asked him, is he writing about himself??? He refused to give a direct answer, but just grinned from ear to ear... hmmmm

Here is the English translation:

Once a upon a time, there was a cow... 

... it was married to a monkey.

They got a child.

"See," said the cow. "It is going to be a cow."

"No," said the monkey. "It is going to be a monkey."

They got angry with each other and asked the doctor.

The doctor said, "It is a cow-monkey."

So asked the monkey, "What does one such creature eat?"

"It eats bananas and grass," answered the doctor.

So home they went.

Years passed and the cow-monkey would  soon start school.

They couldn't figure out which school, he should attend.

First, they tried the cow school. That didn't go so well.

So they tried the monkey school. That didn't go very well too.

Then they tried the mix-animal school, and the cow-monkey got a friend, which was a monkey-cat.

We are catching this moment. Usually, he is quite sloppy when he writes his alphabet... and it exasperated me. No matter how I nag, correct, etc. him... we only get into a power struggles, and it is a kill joy. I can only pray for wisdom how to guide and teach a child.

But since he got interested into writing essays, I could see that he takes more pride in writing his letters more neatly. It also helps his spelling.

I thank God for this moment He provided to encourage and build his self-motivation, for definitely it is not by me.

How great and wonderful our God is. When moms get down on our knees and pray for our kids. It's the best parenting. It's humbling. It means that we are not in control of everything. But God is in control. We need to surrender our loads to Him, especially in the area of parenting. Well, I am still learning how to give our cares of God. This little encounter serves as a testimony for me to remember always to pray and leave God to the rest.

Happy 9th Birthday to Our Little FECS

5 March 2018: Time flies... our Little FECS turned 9 today...