May I borrow $25

I was heating my lunch today in the lunch room, and saw this posted on the bulletin board... I was crushed after reading it. I hope you will enjoy reading it too.

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

SON: 'Daddy, may I ask you a question?'

DAD: 'Yeah sure, what it is?' replied the man.

SON: 'Daddy, how much do you make an hour?'

DAD: 'That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?' the man said angrily.

SON: 'I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?'

DAD: 'If you must know, I make $50 an hour.'

SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.

SON: 'Daddy, may I please borrow $25?'

The father was furious, 'If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don't work hard everyday for such childish frivolities.'

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down , and started to think:

Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00 and he really didn't ask for money very often The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

'Are you asleep, son?' He asked.

'No daddy, I'm awake,' replied the boy.

'I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier' said the man. 'It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $25 you asked for.'

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you daddy!' he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.

The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.

The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

'Why do you want more money if you already have some?' the father grumbled.

'Because I didn't have enough, but now I do,' the little boy replied.

'Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.'

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $50 worth of your time with someone you love.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours. But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

My little baby Part II

Yesterday, I took Jack to the pediatrician who gave him some medicine that will clear his congestion and help with the cough. After seeing the doctor, I took Jack to the bakery and got him a piece of sponge cake, which he loves. We got home early, so I cooked him U-don noodle, which is his & Emma's favorite food for dinner. He ate very nicely, we had a good time together watching Dora and reading books. Then came 8pm, Jack was very sleepy and start rolling on the floor. I thought it would be good to put him to bed.
I tried every method you can think of. All the methods you read in books and watch on TV, I tried, and Jack still wouldn't go to bed. He would climb out of his crib, come out and keep crying. He wanted me to sleep with him on the sofa, just like the night before when he wasn't feeling well. The battle went on until 11:30pm. Derek suggested that he stand by the wall until he is willing to go to bed. So he stood there for about 2 hours. YES, 2 hours and he insisted mommy sleeps with him. By 11:30pm, he suddenly crash and fell asleep on the floor. That's when I picked him up and put him to bed. He slept through until 8:20am this morning.
It was an heart-breaking experience. If it wasn't for Derek's encouragement and persistence, I would've given in. Watching my little baby cry with his half opened eyes... it was heart-breaking. One thing I know, Jack is a very headstrong kid and given the right motivation he will persevere until the end.

My little baby

Jack is not feeling well. He was coughing the whole night last night and couldn't sleep well. He would try to sleep and then wake up coughing badly. My poor baby. The only comfort he finds was with mommy holding him, patting on his back and walking around. So we sat on the sofa the whole night, drifting off to sleep from time to time and when he coughed, mommy would pat on his back and Jack would drift back to sleep. I guess this is the time when Jack learns that he can trust mommy to be there for him whenever he needs her. This is the bonding time. I keep on imagining 10, 15 years from now, when Jack is all grown up, will I still have a chance to hold him like this? To give him support whenever he needs it. Maybe 20-30 years from now, he would be the one patting my back when I cough.

Thought for the Day

Have you thought about the things/ people that matter the most to you?
Have you thought about how much time you spend doing those important things or time with those important people?

What do you think is least important in your life?
How much time do you spend doing those "least important" things?

How much time do you spend watching TV, playing video games?
How much time do you spend with your family? (i.e. spouse, parents, children)

Children Learn What They Live

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn to respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

-- by Dorothy Law Nolte

Princess Emma and Prince Jack Jack Part II

Tuesday nights, Emma has ballet lessons and usually Mommy will take Emma to the ballet lesson and then go grocery shopping in the meantime.
Mommy took Prince Jack Jack along once, thinking he might like some alone time with Mommy. It turned out that Prince Jack Jack wouldn't leave the ballet studio and had to stand at the door watching other kids take ballet lessons. He would immitate their moves and keep knocking on the door asking the teacher to let him in. After that exhausting experience, mommy learnt her lesson and keeps Prince Jack Jack at home with King Daddy. On Tuesday night, while mommy was out with Emma, Prince Jack Jack was at home with King Daddy and had a real bad accident. Prince Jack Jack forgot that mommy was out with Emma, so he tried looking everywhere for mommy. Climbed up the stairs desperately and ... slipped ... bit his tonge and scraped his knees. Luckily he didn't fall all the way down the steep staircase but King daddy said the bleeding on his tongue took a long time to stop. The day after that, whenver Prince Jack Jack eats, his tongue would start bleeding again. Of course after that traumatic experience, Prince Jack Jack wakes up 1-2 times at night. On top of that, mommy took Emma out for a walk on Wednesday night without him... another traumatic experience... Prince Jack Jack is just going nuts at night.
Mommy is so exhausted from waking up at night, so at 3:30am Thursday, mommy couldn't help but let out on Prince Jack Jack telling him how tired she was and he needed to let her go back to sleep.
Prince Jack Jack, usually screams and cries and kicks when things don't go his way and when mommy "sounds mean". But this time, he just kept quiet, crawled up slowly onto mommy and rub his face on mommy's cheek. Hugged mommy really tight and fell asleep on mommy.
Mommy felt sooooo guilty, thinking "he probably will not hug me like this very soon. And so I have to wake up but this is my quality time with my precious prince. This is our own private time together"...

Princess Emma and Prince Jack Jack

First, let's start with Princess Emma.

Princess Emma likes to talk. Whenever mommy asks her to stop talking for a minute, she'd stop for barely one second and start talking again. When mommy doesn't respond, Emma keeps asking "Mommy? Mommy? are you listening? Mommy? Mommy?....M...." until mommy gives in. Princess Emma can talk consecutively without break for at least 15 minutes. Then maybe a sip of water and start all over again. What she talks about? "what's that sign we just passed?", "I love princesses and I wish I can be one", "When can we go to Wonderland again?", "what's for dinner tonight?", "why can't I eat noodles every night?", "can I go to Chloe's house?", "you know I really like that skirt of yours, can you keep it for me?".... YES, 90% of her "talking" is asking mommy questions. It's irritating enough when mommy is driving in afternoon peak hour traffic trying to weave through the traffic quickly to get home and make dinner, it's even worse when Jack Jack is around because Princess Emma's talking becomes "Mommy, Jack Jack took my toy without asking!", "mommy, Jack Jack hits me", "mommy, Jack Jack pushed me", "mommy, Jack Jack is climbing up the stairs"....etc. What is mommy doing at the same time? Mommy is trying to cook, wash dishes, do laundry, bath Jack Jack...etc. Mixed in with Emma's "inquiries" and "complaints" is Prince Jack Jack's screaming, crying, and hanging on mommy's leg.

So yesterday, after dinner, mommy suddenly had an idea. Mommy finished washing dishes, grab Princess Emma and went out for a walk. Yes, leaving behind Prince Jack Jack, whose screaming and crying broke mommy's heart but mommy left with Princess Emma anyway.

It was a 20min walk (or less), mommy devoted 100% attention to listening to Princess Emma and suddenly she realised Princess Emma is telling her what happened at school. They had a magician came in to entertain the kids, Princess Emma told her all the little details about the magician's tricks... and for the FIRST TIME asked mommy, "so mommy, how was your day? what did you do at work today?" It turned out to be a TWO-WAY conversation, not just "one-way talking, you answer me". Mommy felt so guilty about leaving Prince Jack Jack behind (with King Daddy) but it was good quality time with Princess Emma.



What happened with Prince Jack Jack?... to be continued....