Water Fun, Children's Healthy Lifestyle

my son's water playground.

I see you in September when summer is gone. Hahaha! That is a beautiful song. This week, the Dutch people are savoring the very hot weather. It is like a last hurray to the Dutch summer. My son has no school today and I made his day at home very enjoyable. Weeks from now and the weather will gets colder until it is autumn season again.

I started the day talking with my husband before he flies from Katowice, Poland to the Netherlands this morning. I washed our laundry and hang them again in the sun. At 9 o clock this morning, my son started to play in his portable swimming pool. Me and my son are still in the garden while I am typing and composing my blog today... Water fun. The importance of water fun to our child's growth development.

preparing his swimming pool

we both love the outdoor.

fun at home is not that complicated :)

a child that loves being in the  water.

Active kids are not only more likely to be healthy, but also are more likely to develop into healthy adults, and the best kind of activity for kids is an activity they find fun, something they will want to do often. Playing in water provides an addictive way for kids to get outdoors and moving. Swimming pools, water parks, and beaches are perhaps the most common places kids learn to love the water by swimming, diving, and splashing to their heart's content, yet families need not travel away from home to enjoy water activities.- Ebay

with his cars, trucks, train, bus, and boat :)

water becomes his favorite enjoyment.

This is very much true. Since the day that our son was born, the nurses in the hospital, put him in the sink, with their help, he let him float in the water. When we took him home, almost every day he has a bath, regardless of the weather. Yes, our son, had a regular bath since then. My mother in law gave us a good baby bath tub. My son comes to love the water, and is a very active boy. He is not afraid of the water, in the shower, even the waves on the beach.

There is also proven health benefits that come from getting outside in the sun. While it was never believed that sitting indoors all day and every day was particularly healthy, little was known about the health advantages of getting outside regularly. The primary health boost of being outdoors comes from sun exposure. My day to day life with my son includes a lot of time outdoors. When I brought him to the Consultatie Bureau, the doctor noticed my son's color. Her comment is: mooie kleur, in English: beautiful color. She said, it is good that my son loves outdoors.

enjoying the summer :)

sun, water, outdoor: a healthy lifestyle.

Let your child play in the water, give him some safe toys while he is playing there. Expose your child in the sun, it is a kind of healthy lifestyle. In the process, the child with gets healthier, and it will become a habit that our child will enjoy for a lifetime.

Ways How I Cope Homesickness

Homesickness is not necessarily about home. And neither is it exactly an illness. Instead, it stems from our extensive need for love, protection, and security-feelings and qualities usually associated with home. -CNN

There was nothing but excitement for many people who went abroad, either to work or to stay for good. It was like, everything is wow! New surroundings, new people to meet, a new kind of dishes to eat, and looking how bright is the future ahead. Things at first normal, you might be enjoying almost everything but most of the times by the third week or more, the novelty of the new surroundings worn off. I came here to the Netherlands for good. My husband is a Dutchman. Even so, I am not exempted to the word "homesick." There were times that I found myself lying in bed, with the lights turn off, and gazing out the window into the sky. I see the faces of my family and my former close friends. I am half of the world away from them. It is nice here in The Netherlands, I have my family here, but forgive me if there are times that I really wish I have wings to fly, so I can go to the arms of my parents anytime.

I cherish those times.

even a photo like this is a piece of happy news from home.

Very few emotions stay with us all the times. In my experience, they all come and go, or it depends which emotion would you like to harbor for a long time.
I have my husband and my son who are both happy seeing me happy so I am trying to not get caught off guard when homesickness strikes me even at times I think there is something with me that is terribly wrong.

How I cope my homesickness:
I am an expat but remains as a tourist. It helps me a great deal in coping boredom, loneliness, and homesickness. Even just here in our city, I love to explore its sights and attractions. I am trying so hard not to have many dull moments to remember those things that I left back home.

An expat but always a tourist :)

touring around our city with my Filipina tourist friend, Maggie.

Create a routine. It helps me to plan ahead what I am going to do as a daily and weekly routine. It excites me when I have something to look forward to,  be it shopping for a new recipe ingredient, meeting in school with other moms, or a new blog. Things that keep me going.

a happy routine: bringing my son to school everyday.

learning to cook helps me a lot to cope homesickness

Expose yet protect yourself. Being an immigrant means that I come to a country where I was not born in order to settle. It is like going back to scratch. In this world that is full of imperfection, it is easy for us to feel alone, or sometimes even a victim of prejudice and discrimination. Protect yourself. Simply choose to be with people who will treat you fair and without any discrimination. And learn that it is also okay to be alone.

I choose to be with people who treat me well.

It is always a joyful occasion to be with my spiritual sisters.

Try the local food. Even there is a Filipino store just in the next city where I live, I manage to learn to eat the local way. Yes, I eat Dutch foods now and I can even cook some Dutch foods. I can cook boerenkol and  andijvie, and it helps me to adapt in my new home. I don't like it that I have a separate food from my husband. I eat what he likes to eat and I am also happy that he eats rice now more often.

I also love the Dutch cooking of my husband.

Adopting to a new country includes try to eat their foods.

Taking a break from Yahoo Messenger or Skype. Even I always miss my family in the Philippines, I don't like it that I am being too tied with technology. The Netherlands is now my home, it would fair that I spend most of my time to my dealings here. Being too much connected by talking to our family back home almost everyday will not help with the adjustment. As long as I know that all is well with them, I am happy.

My internet life mostly because of my writing and photos.

3/4 of my time devoted to this boy.

Hide behind a camera. This is one of my most favorite. I don't notice how days and years passed by when I am busy making photos. My free time for myself, I usually spend it in making photos, appreciating beautiful things and documenting them through photos. This is a very effective strategy to divert my thoughts, instead of getting lost in my own thoughts and feeling homesick, I pay attention now to the world around me.

No dull moments when I am with my camera.

paying attention to the world around me.

Learning new things to cope boredom, loneliness, and homesickness.

Making new home a home. We cannot bring our entire room or cabinet abroad. If you are working abroad, the time would come that you will go home soon. It is different if you are an immigrant. There are a lot of big changes in our life.
Home will always be where your heart is. I decorate some in our home that reflects on what I am and what I love. My husband and I, repainted our bedroom of the color that I like. It made me feel that here where I belong and it is my home.

A dear friend gave it to me as an appreciation to my role as a plain housewife.

They are my home.

The people I once relied on are no longer a short jeepney ride or a short walk away. I am trying to re-create the same support network from my Dutch family and from a few friends. I am getting "adopted." I am learning new things and doing things that I love. I am counting just a few months and I will see my loved ones again in the Philippines. Homesickness is a very real anxiety issue. I am getting through the feeling, but I am not rushing it. I am surviving.

I Want To Talk About Friends and Friendship

a friend vs just being friendly

Quotes, sayings, and tales about friendship seems endless. And around the world, many people are desperately searching for a warm friendship and when their expectation failed, it leads to their disappointment, loneliness, and they withdraw completely from the world. 

In order for us to become a friend, we also must know how to tell the difference between being a friend and acting friendly. Not all acting friendly can be a friend. And I can be a real friend too without acting too friendly.

One of the questions that I want to consider is, how do your friends make you feel when you are with them? True friendship requires time, getting involved without being clingy. 

Another one is, do you look forward to seeing your friends? Even we are married now, I still feel the excitement in seeing my husband again after he has been away even only for a couple of days.

Likewise, in friendship. If we are comfortable in the presence of our friends, to see them again is something we intently look forward to.

Friendship starts in the family

One of the best things about having a friend is we can share our joy to them. Can you share your joy freely to your friends? Or do you feel you need to be quiet about your good news when you are around with them? You can measure true friendship on how far they can accept you for who you are. True friends rejoice in your success, true friends push you to hit your dream. And only true friends feel it what does your silence imply.

my best friends, my priorities

True friend asks how are you and they know when you are lying when you replied you are okay. They are rare, but be thankful if one of them get crossed in your life.

While I am writing this, faces flooding in my mind. I think of the friends I have in the Philippines and the friends I am having here. I am not expecting anyone to stand on my side as my bff. I have new priorities now. Only to have someone that I can turn to and someone who can turn to me as well. Because friendship is a two way street. In order for a friend to truly consider a friend, they have to believe that we are their friend also.

Only true friends can surface when you are in the lowest part of your life 

I was away for quite a long time from my friends when I met my husband and when I choose to share my life with him. Thanks to Facebook, I was able to catch up with some lost friends. Honest, I can tell it that only true friends can surface when you are in the lowest part of your life.

I am thankful I have true friends.

Measure the friendship by telling them how dark is  your past. Only true friends can stick with you now matter what.

A true friend is appreciative, has told you that you are a friend or has introduced you as their friend. 

A true friend like you get involved and do not like you to feel you were left out. 

A true friend has a sincere ear when you spill the beans about your life.

A true friend is consistent, but respect space.

Before I end up, I want to cite one of Leo Buscaglia's quotes: a single rose can be my garden, a single friend my world. And one of my favorite songs is Dan Hill's One Friend. The lyrics say: sometimes the world was on our side, sometimes it wasn't fair. Sometimes it gave a helping hand, sometimes we didn't care... Whatever, I am grateful to all my true friends! They know who they are.