My England Is Broken Too

Me and Tebby decided to send Kakak and Iman for a school holiday tuition at a nearby center. For Kakak it's gonna be Math, Science, BI and BM. For Iman, the 3M (membaca, menulis, mengira).

Today is Kakak's first day. Iman is supposed to come along but since he's down with chicken pox, Kakak went alone. Naik van. As usual, this pathethic mom stalked to ensure she's safely in her class. Then I went to the office, paid for the fee and was offered an english enrichment tuition (cam tulah lebih kurang namanya) (for Kakak) but I declined. Don't want to push her too much.

When she got back and showed what she has learned, I almost fainted when I saw these sentences

---> the tree are growth well

---> the tree are die

You know these are wrong right? I asked. A ah tapi cikgu suruh tulis gitu.

Thank God it's Science. The facts are right but those are so grammatically, glaringly wrong. Should that be BI, I'd go there and then and claim my money back.

I am not bragging of my command of english whatsover. Mine is broken too. I don't use bombastic english words. I come from a non-english speaking background and use pantai timur malay at home. So, please don't get me wrong. But, if I paid xxx much of money, then I expect to get back xxx worth in return.

Now, who should really enroll in that english enrichment tuition thingy? Hurmp...

Poks Ayam

Kolam temporarily closed until further notice.

Confirmed.

Iman kena chicken pox. Ummi, Kakak dengan Adam dalam mode berjaga-jaga pasal tak pernah kena lagi.

Get well soon ya Iman

Ke Pasar Dengan Kak Mon

permandangan dari our feveret gerai daging

Jumaat is usually my pasar day. Dulu Tebby and me selalu pegi Pasar Sungei Besi but after going to Pasar Kajang, there's no turning back. Lagi banyak barang jualan. Now that I am a TSAHM, I prefer Friday than Saturday and Sunday. Less traffic, lagi senang nak parking, orang tak ramai sangat kat pasar and I can make my purchasing dengan tenang. Cuma kat Pasar Kajang ni, tukang jual memang buat promotion sokmo. The moment you step in, mulalah amoi mau apa? ikan cantik-cantik ini hari. murah-murah, tengok dulu takpa. mau apa amoi, kerang? elok-elok ni. fresh.

our feveret gerai daging. kalau datang ajer, budak ni tanya 'akak nak apa minggu ni? ni daging ni banyak urat' memang ai selalu beli daging yang berurat2 sikit. plus, bakso depa ni sedap. cukup lembut dan cukup lemak

Since kat rumah ni cuma ai sorang je makan sayur tanpa mengira suku sakat sayur (En Suami cuma makan sayur2 terpilih saja). For lunch, budak-budak ni memang tak makan sayur, only me aje lah nampaknya. Untuk menjimatkan masa dan sumber tenaga, ai beli ulam-ulaman aje. Kacang botol, daun selom, pegaga, timun (yang ini orang kata tak elok makan banyak, nanti sejuk. tak elok untuk para isteri. sejuk kat mana? you figure that out. orang kata, bukan ai kata) dan terakhir sekali ai beli ialah ulam tenggek burung. Memang selalu nampak kat kedai and pernah makan. Sedap. Cam lemak-lemak sikit. Kata orang elok untuk buat ulam ibu-ibu baru bersalin, untuk kecutkan rahim. Orang kata, bukan ai kata ya. Tadi nampak orang jual, terus tanya apa ke namanya. Tenggek burung rupanya. Seikat singgit ajer.

rasa lemak-lemak (lemak lagi??). sedap. seikat tu sekali hadap je. tengoklah tangan ku yang berlemoih dengan kuah. tengah makan sebok nak memfoto bagai

Nota Kak Mon - Iman demam pulak! Berair-air mata. Risau jugak pasal semalam 3 jam kat Ophtalmology. Ramai pulak tu yang pakai spek hitam time tu!

Iman's Vision Test HUKM

A busy week indeed. Today I brought Iman again to HUKM for vision test. New cases will be entertained between 7.30 - 9.00 am. Hit the road at 7.00 am, reached HUKM around 7.40 am. Alhamdulillah I didn't have to resort to abang valet as half of the lots were still empty. I took my time rear-parked my little car and leisurely walked with Iman. Sampai kat Ophtalmology, well.. well.. well.. orang sudah ramai. Dropped Iman's referral and waited.

I have to mention here that there was a notice on the wall stating one should make sure to eat before coming or bawak bekal. I got an uneasy feeling reading that while rummaging thru my bag to make sure I did indeed brought sepapan potato bread and a tumbler of plain water for Iman. Thank God I did.

After almost an hour, Iman's name was called and we got number 1011, room 10. This is for emergency or walk-in. Tunggu lagi. Nasib baik bawak notebook and a pen for Iman to scribble in. When it was finally our turn, Iman refused to cooperate. Whatmore dengan nurse yang sangat tidak pandai mengambil hati anak-anak kecik. We were sent to Room 12 then. Petugas yang lebih child-friendly and took a bit of time asking me what exactly Iman's case is all about. with all smiles and no frown.

We were then asked to go to room 1. Kena tunggu lagi for our turn. This one sangat lama. Iman habis makan sepapan roti potato, drank 1/2 tumbler of plain water, drew approximately 10 pages of cartoon, read 2 sets of flash cards, almost threw a series of tantrum.

When we were finally called in, Iman sangat bosan and again, refused to cooperate. I had to sit down with him sitting on me. Nasib baik Dr tu child-friendly and knew how to 'connect' with a 6yo boy. Ultraman, robots and all. The test went well and the results were okay. Nevertheless, we were referred to HUKM's branch near HKL for further assessment. Next appointment with HUKM Cheras will be 30th March 2011. But before that we need to go to HUKM's branch near HKL first.

The whole process in HUKM took around 3 hours, plus journey back, almost noon sampai rumah (singgah beli pretzel sama jco donut sat) Nasib baik I am on long leave, kalo idak, harus stress!

Octopus Ampang Point

After sending off Iman to Ampang Hilir, Kakak and I went to Octopus, @Ampang Point. Sushi time. Too bad tak banyak choice left. Maybe sebab it was after lunch and nearing teatime kot. I had to order for the ones with orangy fish roe on top (which usually rolling away in abundant on the conveyor). That's Kakak's favourite. She had 2 servings while I had 2 for myself. She had strawberry ice blended while I had hot green tea.

We both had good time.

Iman - Terapi Pertuturan HUKM

kalau hari tu (baca sini) pintu mreah, kali ni pintu biru pulak.

After good dose of playdough-ing time, I brought Iman to HUKM for his speech therapy. Between his motor skill and speech, I think he's lagging in his speech more than his fine motor. He speaks, he converses but still at times, he stammers, as if searching for the right word from his database. Vocab-wise, is improving a lot. Inquisitive, I'd say. The other day he asked me what hypnotised means.

I left home at 10.30am. His appointment was at 12.00noon. Finding an empty parking lot was almost impossible. Every corner, every curb semua ada kereta. Under that water tank as well. Even the valet rejected my small car (which I think he could easily selit2 je kat mana2). At last, I made second round, battering eye-lashes and the valet guy akhirnya took my car. It was more like he pitied me than my eye-lashes actually. Must be all the sweats and my tudung senget that he kesian so much ha ha.

Since this is the second time, I already grasped the process. Hantar appointment card, bayar RM10, take that slip and send to speech therapy unit. And tunggu sampai dipanggil. One big relief is that, it is based on allocated time and not turn. If your appointment is at 10, then you'll be called in at 10.

The session went well until Iman found out the puzzle that was given to him, has one piece missing. He went totally angry, refused to do anything, refused to say anything. Instead he picked up my bag and pulled my hands towards the door. Therapist Haslina said 'input' is okay, almost his age. Means he processes information given to him as per his age. But given complex intruction, he did just one or two. Example, take 2 red pencils and 2 small cars and put them in the box. He put 2 red pencils only. 'Output' is on the low side. He used 2-3-words sentences mostly. Tapi kat rumah ayat dia lagi panjang. Therapist Haslina suggested we coax him to talk longer sentences. Example, while watching TV, ask him what he sees on screen and what the persons in the movie do. Things like that.

Back to my car. The traffic was horrible (well, they say it is like that everyday!). The valet guy took almost 20 minutes getting up my little car dari parking kat bawah nun ke lobby. Adeh. Balik tu makcik pulun tido. Penat wei!

Iman leisurely drawing while waiting


RM10 for first 3 hours.

Play-Doughing Thier School Hols

ain't no babyfood y'all!

Little something to spend quality time together. I kneaded 1/2 kg of flour (mix with salt, water and cooking oil). Made six different colors for the kids to enjoy. I used the ol' food coloring our moms used in the olden days to make raya cookies. I had the kids teased their creativity at our car porch.

Kakak, Adam & Iman.


Adam kata latt.. latt (ulat)

Iman trying to do a dino. Therapist Ayu suggested making small balls but he decided on something more complicated. Layan je lah.

The result? Good time (albeit some frustrations when things didn't turn out they way they wanted), nice creation and lotsa scrubbing!

butterfly by Kakak

Ummi's

Iman's volcano (gunung hijau with pinkish red lava) and pinkish red pearl on top of clam. For Ummi, he says. Owwww..

rattie rat by Kakak

cattie cat by Kakak. kucing siam ni, mata biru!

ready untuk dijemur

Kids & Swimming Pool

Now that the school holidays has just started, the kids has been pestering us to go somewhere. Particularly yang ada swimming pool. But we can't just yet. En Tebby tak bercuti until end of December. Coincidently, a promotional pamphlet from Toys R Us arrived in our mailbox. The kids studied from page to page and later on pestered us on a infalatible swimming pool. The one with the slide on the side somemore.

Tapi pegi Toys R Us MV, yang depa nak tu dah habis. Iman choosed another type. The bonus is, yang dia pilih tu is a cheaper one he he.

That Toys R Us pamphlet pun dah selamat dibuang he he.

Lepas solat Asar, proses mengepam pool dimulakan oleh Kak Mon and dihabiskan oleh En Tebby. Letih woo nak kasi penuh angin sampai wall jadi rigid. Lepas tu baru proses bubuh air pulak. Kalau gini sampai habis cuti sekolah, habis le melambung-lambung bil air nanti nih.

Jom jengah aktiviti depa.

the boys could hardly wait. ummi, pasang pool. ummi, masukkan angin. haihhh.. tunggu dulu. ummi nak bubuh sunscreen kat muka ni ha jap.


owh Iman, you need to cut down ur carbo intake dear. perut dah berlipat-lipat.

Adam. pose kening berkerut. Frens, ni cam muka abah ke muka ummi?

Kakak practising breathing underwater

Iman - Terapi CaraKerja HUKM

Iman is attending 2 of those, Terapi CaraKerja and Terapi Pertuturan
Unit ni kat basement level, HUKM.

18 November 2010.

Sesi Terapi Carakerja (Occupational Theraphy) pertama Iman di HUKM.

Kalau sebelum ini dia ke Gleneagles Intan di Ampang, kali ini dan seterusnya InsyaAllah di HUKM.

Why? Based on my communications with other parents and pihak-pihak berkenaan, SHOULD Iman need any supporting documentation for his school later, the documentation should come from government hospital. Personnel from Dyslexic Center highly recommended Hospital Besar Kuala Lumpur but the earliest date we could get was sometime in March or April 2011! (Peeps, we need more Psychiatrists!). The other alternative is HUKM and we got the first appoinment on 8th November 2010. (Read my entry on it here). (after sending relevant documents to get an appointment date sometime in August 2010).

The session took around 45-50 minutes. Iman is assigned to Therapist Ayu. She will be handling his case from now on and *ahem* since Ayu is quite good looking, I doubt that Iman will give her much fuss cooperating he he.

Cuma yang tak laratnya ialah, despite having a file in Psychiatric Unit, we still needed to open another one in Unit OT (and later in Unit ST pulak). Me and En Tebby pon dengan gigihnya merepeat segala history Iman from my pregnancy sampailah ke current date. I think they should really work on having a common file.

Payment for each therapy session is just RM10. If we have guarantee letter then the payment will be waived. The process is not a one-stop thingy. Upon arriving, you'll first need to register and make payment and leave your appointment booklet there. They'll issue a slip and the slip needs to be given to respective counter (OT, ST or Physio and the likes). Habis sesi, bring that slip back to set a future appointment (which is manually written down in a big book) and later to the counter you first register to have your appointment date key-ed in and then collect back your appointment booklet. Mula-mula tu pening gak makcik. Ke sana, ke sinun.

Next appointment will be on 13th December 2010.

Anyway, sharing some homeworks Therapist Ayu suggested us to do at home.

1. Shape play-dough into balls.

2. Flatten play-dough and write or draw on it using tooth-pick.

3. String beads. Begins with big ones and gradually to smaller beads.

4. Tear papers into small thin strip.

5. Shape papers into balls.

Bunyi cam takde apa2 kan but based on what I've gone through, it helps to enhance motor skills as well as concentration. Even if your child doesn't have special needs, do try this out. Bermain sambil belajar.

mula-mula register kat sini. tinggalkan appointment booklet, bayar RM10. you'll be given a slip.

you then take the slip ke sini pulak. leave it at the counter. after session, register for future appointment sini and then take the slip back to counter hak gambar atas pulak. sila jgn lupa ambik semula appointment booklet anda.


Iman yang semakin tembun

Salam Eidul Adha

MasyaAllah, sejauh mana saya telah membuat pengorbanan sepanjang bernafas di bumi Allah selama lebih 36 tahun? Terasa kerdilnya diri ini. Jarang-jarang solat di surau, sesekali berjemaah terasa satu keheningan yang sukar digambarkan dengan kata-kata.

Ya Allah, berkatilah hambaMu ini.

Salam Eidul Adha dari K Mon.

Adam - orang semayang, dia pulun minum air.

Iman - partner in crime


Para jemaah muslimat. Ada anak kecik, terpaksa duduk di saf belakang sekali.


Salah satu dari enam lembu korban.


Dah kena sembelih

Kakak - Org kalu takut tutup mata, dia tutup telinga he he.

Adam.

Sesi melapah bermula.

Syukur. Kakak No 3.

We went to Majlis Ihtifal & Khatam Al-Quran held by KAFA Al-Waani, sekolah agama which Kakak is attending. Alhamdulillah, syukur Ya Allah, she got 3rd place in her class. (For her sekolah kebangsaan, she got 4th. Prizes are given to 1st-3rd place only).

The event was held in Sekolah Agama Menengah, Jalan Hulu Langat. I thought the event would take up 2 1/2 hours the most but we ended up going back way after 5.00 pm. Blame it on the long speeches delivered. Me think, this is an Ihtifal then just have your speeches short and sweet. Just congratulate the students and give some moral encouragement. Me think, it was like attending some kind of briefing. They held lotsa persembahan as well. But those persembahan were wayyyy entertaining than those long speeches.

When she went up the stage, I felt a lump in my throat. This is the girl whom her teacher bluntly told me 'dia slow' way back in 2008. So mommies, never lose hope on your child. Never lose faith. As Maher Zain renders 'InsyaAllah, InsyaAllah. InsyaAllah we'll find the way'.

proud parents attending


just arrived. meant to just photo her alone. but Iman will never miss menempel. and kikkor too.

waiting in line

that's my girl

PJ For Kakak

I am so gonna be domesticated.

cottons at RM8 per meter. i bought 2.5m for each patterns.

This is my PJ project for Kakak. She's in difficult age where baju is concerned. Biggest in kids' section, tad bit too small or short for her. Smallest in adult section, tad bit too big or long for her. This calls for mummy's scissor-project yet again.

As compared to Adam's PJ bottom project, this is going to be extra tricky as I am making the top as well. And I haven't done any projects for top for such a loooooonnnnnggggg time. Nasib baik masa kat sekolah dulu ada belajar SRT (Sains Rumah Tangga, which people my age or older had to go through from form 1 to form 3). Most classes were ordeal especially sewing but look at what those ordeals had taught me.

Kakak requested the top to have two pockets, which gonna add to the trickiness.

Let's have a look at the project so far..

some cheap laces to go with the pockets

taraaaa... finished PJ bottoms. kain berlebih tu for the tops. hope the tops will turn out as good as the bottoms.

i am one proud mummy heh heh

Red Wok Kajang/Bangi

Now that I am a temporary SAHM, me and Tebby spend less time together, the 'just-us' time. When I was working, we usually had our breakfast together and occasionally lunch. Friday was the 'groceries-day' which later we had quiet dinner together before heading home. We love our kids to bits but after years of marriage we decided that we need to have some 'just-us' time. Just like we need 'abah-ummi-kids' time.

We have 'pasar Kajang' time together. So un-romantic is may sound but doesn't dating means doing something we like in common? Plus, it's like killing two birds with one stone. Dating, and all the provision is done for.

And recently we started dating back on regular basis on Friday night. No good movies to catch up, we ended up on good food. After three weeks in a row of Saba Restaurant (read here and here), we tried out new place earlier today. Red Wok in Bangi. We acccidently saw this place en-route back home from Saba the other day (while being sesat sebenarnya). Tried out thier Korean Sizzling Steamboat (grill+steamboat). They have Steamboat alone as well. Met Tebby's friends there and they recommended ala carte as well. Maybe next time, InsyaAllah.

Oh, browse here for more info on Red Wok http://redwok.wordpress.com/

but the wok ain't red y ols!

steamboating and grilling.

my first plate of food that night