once upon a norza

And a few minutes later...

Competition is good as long as its just a bit of friendly push and shove. But it can be rather chaotic when the lil one has learnt how to assert herself and knows she can hurt her sister with her nails and her toothless bite. We've been quite lucky that Aisyah is a sensitive girl who can take great care of her younger sister although the screamings for Sarah to get out of her way can be a bit out of control sometimes. I don't blame Aisyah because Sarah is at a stage when she wants everything her sister have and follows whatever Aisyah is doing. It gets really annoying when Sarah grabs whatever Aisyah's holding and tears it apart.

Well, I really really hope that they will grow out of this screaming phase when they're bigger. Maybe it's in their genes (definitely not frm the hb's side because mil kept telling me that hb+siblings didnt quarrel much last time...lucky her!). I remember quarelling with my sister when we were in our teens (pulling each other's hairs even!!!). Perhaps what my mum says after our quarrels, "One day you'll feel what I'm feeling right now.." is becoming true...*eeps!*

How to prevent sibling rivalry?

The approaches for preventing sibling rivalry vary for different situations. In other words, a single approach may not work efficiently for all situations. All that it requires is a combination of ideas that works best to stop sibling rivalry. So, here are some of the ideas to help prevent the attacks of sibling rivalries in your family.

- Never try to compare the siblings’ capabilities or skills to one another.
- Frequently show your children that you love them equally with lots of kisses and hugs.
- Praise children for their getting along behaviors.
- Spend most of your time with the children. Pay close attention to each child by allotting special time individually.
- Never label the children as “the brilliant one” or “the irritated one.” Always encourage the children to develop their own inherited talent.
- Don’t be partial in solving the siblings fight. Never react excessively to sibling fights, as it encourages them to complain against one other.
- Be a role model in problem-solving style. Discuss about rivalry with the children separately and make them understand their mistake by emphasizing it.
- Educate children about compromising and cooperation and how to do it on their own.
- Assign household chores to siblings equally and encourage them to share their tasks/feelings with each other. This develops a sense of unity, cooperation and responsibility among siblings.

Working towards these simple ideas can help prevent sibling rivalry and provides peace in your family. However, remember that sibling rivalry can strike at any time. So, be ready to confront it!

from The Parents Zone.

Beautiful words and photographs at Days With My Father by Phillip Toledano. Very heartbreaking. I remember a fellow SH07 member did something like this for her grandmother; something different from her usual conceptual style. As for me, I did a documentary on the girls in my life (before Sarah comes along); my mother and Aisyah. I needed to find the connections between them. My mother used to babysit Aisyah when I worked fulltime a few years back and they have a rather close relationship.

I had the amazing gx100 but its af can really get on my nerves on some days. But to me, a compact camera is one which has to fit into my lifestyle and gets shoved into my pocket. The gx100 is just all that. It takes wonderful pictures and there's always noiseninja for the hi-iso. I wouldnt want my camera left back at home or becomes a burden. Heck, I wouldnt want to carry my dslr around. I already have sarah in my sling and I have only the other hand to take the girls' pictures.

However I already sold gx100 to someone who will continue using this wonderful camera. Call me sentimental but I still miss it sometimes (although the feeling is disappearing cos I'm looking forward to get a replacement...hehe). Of course, I was ecstatic when I saw the video of ricoh GXR. It's going to be expensive and I have a budget to get another good compact so I'll give this a miss. But isn't this revolutionary?

Just a couple of pix (out of many) that I took with the gx100 before I sold it off recently. Shall blog about it in my next entry. It's 2am and I just finished designing a logo. I'm tired and it's time to sleep now. Nite!