HUKM - Speech Therapy Iman

Penat 12 jam perjalanan KT-KL semalam still terasa. Banyak kali stop, pi toilet, makan, hantar anak sedara then pit stop kat Temerloh jap. Bertolak jam 9.00 pagi, sampai BTHO jam 9.00 malam. But then kena jugak pegi HUKM hari ni for Iman's speech therapy. His second session. This time he was assigned to another therapist as Haslina (Iman's case under Haslina actually) was away bercuti.

Well, the session was a lot livelier, merrier and Iman did almost everything without hesitation. In short he cooperated and even told her that his favorite color is purple (yes peep, my son loves purple!)

The therapist whose name I didn't get, I, the socially-incapable-being forgot to ask, told us to do few things to help improve Iman's speech (plus what I saw she did during the session).

1) Always try to lengthen conversation whilst adding up adjective, nouns, verbs to a sentence. Example beads - say big blue oval bead, the black cat tries to eat the white mouse.

2) Using visual card, practise 'what's missing'. Example, in card 1, a boy is brushing his teeth but no toothbrush on card 1, instead on other card. After mathing them correctly, ask him what the picture tells i.e. the boy is brushing his teeth using a toothbrush. For this, we'll need few mathing cards.

3) Using visual card as well, play memory game. Ask for 2 or 3 cards. Give me an umbrella, a duck and an elephant. See if the child can remember.

4) Sticker book. Done with the stickers, ask him to tell about the pictures.

5) Widen his vocab with new words as well as things with same function but with different names such as kerusi, sofa, bangku. All is used to sit on right tapi nama lain-lain. Same goes to helo


Always, use rewards system. If one thing is done correctly, give him something to play with such as blocks, building a robot etc.

these are what I made him read while waiting

8-4-2, Dari Kijal Ke Dungun

Last-last kat Ulek Beach Resort Dungun!

To summarize them all, it was a '8-4-2' holiday.

8 for RM800 per suite per night at Awana Kijal. This was our initial booking. Bibik was still with us at the point of booking. Demi menjaga kesopanan dan kesusilaan, we usually book a suite (with bedroom inside the room). Little that we knew she planned to run away (*^$#!$% - I am still holding grudge). Before I could cancel, Awana called up apologizing cause the suite we booked earlier, udah masuk air, banjir sebab hujan berhari-hari non-stop. We got another room.

4 for RM400 per room per night at Awana Kijal. The room we were transferred to. She asked if it was alright. I said okaylah since my Bibik baru je lari dik, so we don't need a suite no more. Sempat lagi dia gelak before apologising again.

And there we were, all packed in 2 suitcases (I'm a heavy traveller due to my pathethic-ness), 2 plastic boxes (filled with toys, books, crayons, swimsuit, goggles, bathrobe) and 2 bakuls of food ration. And sepeket diapers pet-pet yang masih belum dibuka. Kalau boleh nak bawak tilam dengan bantal sekali, seriously because I rarely tidur lena other that at home. The kids made sure I pack along their swimsuits, goggles, bathrobes and sunscreen. They even brought along kain selimut dari rumah. Need not say whose trait that is kan. Pretty obvious. And off we went.

Remember that wedding we intended to attend? Well, we did attended. Tebby met a friend there, who was staying in Awana. He told us the swimming pool is closed sebab masuk lumpur. With all swimsuits, bathrobes, goggles and sunscreen, what is life without pool right? We made a confirmation call to Awana (on the swimming pool) and later cancelled off our booking. We then frantically searched for another hotel, further back to Cherating (none - Impiana, Holiday Villa, The Legend and the likes fully occupied). Then we searched further up and found Ulek Beach Resort on the net. Masih ada kosong and we booked a room right away.

RM200 per room per night in Ulek Beach Resort. Small resort and sangat tak ramai guests. Okaylah jugak, quite nice.

The room came with a queen bed, TV, fridge, aircond, fan, tingkap boleh bukak (it's like a house actually), water heater and a jacuzzi! The door near that jacuzzi can be folded and we could 'jacuzzi' while menghirup udara luar. The kids done that. I dare not, despite the wall.

anak-anak ku, depan bilik kami, MS 02

jacuzzi you ols. sambil gosok gigi. sampai nak melimpah2 air dengan buih depa kerjakan. pintu belakang tu la buleh bukak.


permandangan sebahagian dari bilik. excuse the mess, baru masuk bilik, anak-anak dah sebok korek beg, korek mainan, korek makanan

Item paling penting.. swimming pool. One adult pool (bukanlah saiz olimpik yer, kecik aje) and one kiddy pool. Kakak and Tebby in adult pool while the other two in kiddy pool. Ummi hanya menonton while resting atas kerusi kayu yang tak berapa nak selesa. Sebenarnya bulan baru mengambang, I dare not masuk berendam.

puteri kolam renang. makan hati ai tengok dia dah pandai swim


kuak lentang lah pulak...


Iman says 'I can swim'.. more like menggelupur sebenarnya. it took him ages untuk berani selam kepala dalam kolam.

my boys

Next day, before checking out, pegi beach depan resort. Kakak nak collect seashell and the boys made 'volcano' out of sand. Yang tak bestnya pasir kat sini kasar-kasar. But easier to get rid off from baju anyway. Then we had one more dip in the pool and later checked-out.

seashell collector. she secretly wished to stumble upon dino fossil. really? well, you never know..


Iman, always busy


Adam

the boys and their volcano

their father and suspected someone's silicon implant! :D
i told the boys, ni hingus ikan paus ni, besar amat. they went 'euwwww'!

Awana Kijal.. Here We Come

It's nearing end of school holidays already. We haven't gone anywhere yet. Budak-budak dah restless, especially Kakak. Kawan-kawan dah merata pegi, kami masih terperuk di KL. Takat ke MidValley, Mines, IKEA tu semua tak masuk definition as holiday. We have to go somewhere, with swimming pool to be exact. That's Kakak's definition that we all have to comply to.

En Tebby pulak ajak balik kampung. To make everyone happy, plan nak singgah di Awana Kijal, overnight. There's a wedding we would attend in Kemaman so kira almost perfect la plan tu. Lepas wedding, check in. Then terus serang swimming pool.

Anyway, now that we don't have a bibik anymore (and yet), I acquired back my middle seat for long journey. Perfect. To manage the other 2 at the back seat and to layan the driver in front. Not forgetting Adam whose seat is beside me.

Ladies and gentelmen, our 'on-board' movie for today is Tinkerbell. Kakak immediately lighten up. Iman *yawn*, Adam *otomen* *otomen*

En Suami, you nak air? Would 100Plus be okay? Some more cheezel? Want roti kaya? We also have cheese sausage if you want it.

Adam yang tak puas hati he has to sit in car seat. Sori Dik, tiket kat belakang for 2 persons only. Dia nak join Kakak and Iman kat belakang. Please remain seated and fasten your seat belt at all times. See, muka masam, hisap puting comforting himself.

Two at the back seat. Cosy huh? Kept on ordering keropok la, air la, suruh tukar CD la.

Will update more. Tunggu ya.

I Love You Too

En Tebby made a surprise today. I found a box of choc, a rose and a card on my side of the bed. For someone who puts practicality above most things (read as not romantic), he suprised me really.

Owhhh... I love you too!

Recaps

Been occupied with 'I-also-donno-what-I-was-so-busy-with' last week. Here's recap:

Hari Isnin bawak Iman pegi HUKM jumpa psychiatrist. Sampai kat HUKM, parking lot ada dalam 1/4 lagi yang kosong, alhamdulillah. This time Iman kena buat Learning Disability Assessment. Tulis ABC till Z in caps and small letters. A bit of math and reading. Also some vocab assessment. Almost all dia tak cooperate. He wrote so big sampai kertas tak muat and at times he went under the table as protest. Part dia paling excited was the time he was asked to name animals that can and can't be eaten.Findings? He's showing some dyxlexic features but it's too premature to confirm (based on just 1 test would not conclude anything yet). And oh, btw, since En Tebby was not on leave, Kakak and Adam were left at Aftal Sayang, their previous taska. When I left, Adam macam terpinga-pinga but he didn't cry.

And Adam pulak kena chicken pox! Jangkit abang dia si Iman la tu. Dia ni takde simptom demam panas, tau-tau je ada small blisters kat belakang dia. Dia punya bintil were smaller than Iman's tapi lagi banyak. Bila pecah je, mulalah 'atit' 'atit'. Suruh letak ubat (calamine losyen). Ada one time tu blisters dalam mulut dia pecah, dia nak tuang calamine dalam mulut! Alhamdulillah dah kering dah. I hope no one else will get it after Adam.

So, as of today, I haven't been out for 8 days! In fact since x-bik ran away, I haven't been out much. So jimat duit heh heh.

So, that's about it lah my life for the past week. Other than doing laundry and folding them afterwards, mopping, dishing out meals, nagging etc. Interesting? Hurmppp...

Professor-ToysRUs-MPH-Chilli

Amboi Kak Mon. Makin takde Bibik, makin kencang mem-blog yer.

Hari ni melabur kat Professor MidValley. Sapa-sapa yang ada anak bersekolah tentu fimiliar dengan brand name uniform Professor ni kan. Untuk sekolah rendah, menengah, sekolah kebangsaan, KAFA, ko-kurikulum, semua ada. Kasut sekolah aje takde jual. For Kakak just 4 kurung tops. She still has the past years tops yang masih elok lagi (reason why I prefer Professor, memang tahan lama). For Iman 5 white shirts and 3 pants. Each got 6 pairs of socks (jual in pack of 3). Kchengggg... almost RM500. Anakanda sekelian, belajar baik-baik ya. Abah dah sediakan yang terbaik untuk anak-anak semua. Oh btw, I don't like Professor's sarong tho. The kind yang ada zip tu. Kakak suka kain yang getah keliling pinggang so that one I go for Jusco's Alpha Kids.. something like that lah namanya.

[Read about our preparation masa Kakak nak masuk Year 1 back in 2008, here. ]

After Professor, singgah kat Toys R Us, further damage to Abah's wallet. Iman beli transformers hak kenit-kenit tu. In a pack, dapat 4 biji. Adam pulak mana boleh kalah, he picked a red Power Rangers. Kakak, beli Crystal Growing Kit. I am interested how Kakak's project will turn out tapi belum ada kesempatan nak buat.

Then adjhoured to MPH cari stationeries. Kat rumah dah ada sikit-sikit, just nak top up je. Too bad takde jual in bulk. I normally buy a box of 12, a pack of 6 and the likes. Next time must go to Jusco ke, Popular ke. Oh ya, some useless point, my favourite stationery brand is Faber Castell but for crayon, I prefer Buncho above else.

For lunch, we ate at Chilli. I had meant to belanja for lunch but En Tebby gave a smile. Yelah, kalau ai belanja pon, guna duit dia jugak kan. Time bil sampai tu buat-buat bizi korek beg duit jugak.. eh, tak cukup pulak :P. Since Tebby and I had adult size meals, we got 2 kiddy meal FOC. For Kakak we ordered another meal, which she barely ate. Alhamdulillah, things were not as bad as I thought it'd be. The kids behaved (of course ada salt and pepper yang tumpah, berebut crayon, nak belon and the likes but overall, they were okay in the sense that we managed to eat in peace... and habis). Okie dokie, some photos..

mine. something happended when I finished eating this. my khakis button popped out!


my eldest two. dua-dua tutup mata lah pulak.


Adam kembali ceria selepas seminggu di tinggalkan.

Of Tidying Up & Kids Art

I've been busy for the past week. Biasalah no helper, more chores to do kan. Projek going on (almost finish anyway) ialah mengemas the kids' toys. Kakak decided not to keep many things, which in a way is a blessing because the boys' toys sahaja dah ada 3 tong. There's a tong of baby toys which are of no use anymore but too cute to be given away. But, it is better to give away and put a smile on some babies' faces than to keep them collecting dusts dalam stor kan. Hurmp.. Why do I have to be so kedekut?

Here's one of the categories (owhh.. ku sungguh pathetic, toys anak2 pun ada sorting system), toy cars. These are what I decided to keep. Half is going for donation. Ni pun rasanya dah banyak sangat hilang ntah ke mana.

Btw, my SIL was here for some of the medical courses. She came to my house semalam and brought the eldest 2 to Jusco Bukit Mahkota Cheras. Balik tu both has their hands on their back with wide proud smile on each face. Ingatkan belikan Ummi hadiah ke apa.. rupanya they went to an art session (unplanned, coincidently ada session running) and had fun trying their hands on some canggih play-dough and these are the result..

*drumroll*
LADYBUG by Kakak.

Btw, kaler sebenar bodynya ialah biru. Memfoto dengan HTC tak berapa canggih beserta dengan lampu mentol kuning adalah tidak digalakkan.

*drumroll*
CROCODILE by Iman.
I was doubting if he did this himself until Kakak said 'I saw with my own eyes Ummi. Iman buat sendiri'.

Nampaknya lepas ni kelas play-doh Ummi (read here) mungkin tutup terus lah, now that they know there's a more canggih option.. nearby some more!

Iman's Progress

Dah lama tak update progress Iman. I am now teaching him the 'ng' and 'ny'. Kucing, bunga, nganga. Nyanyi, nyamuk, penyapu. He hasn't quite grasp the whole thing of 'ng' and 'ny' but we're working on that. InsyaAllah.

This, is something that puts a smile on my face tonight. He spelled and wrote them all correct, with very minimal supervision. Alhamdulillah.

Doakan ya kawan-kawan, agar dipermudahkan.

Sekadar petikan dari Langit Ilahi, tulisan HILAL ASYRAF (boleh layari www.langitilahi.com)

Tuhan tidak lupakan kita
Walau diri sering alpa
Walau dibeban segunung dosa
Walau jauh dari rahmat-Nya

Thankful

I have always believed everything happens for a reason.

It's not even a week yet and the kids are behaving relatively well. Less quarelling, less spilling drinks, less tantrums. I was suprised (and very thankful) that Iman even let Adam share his collection of transformers and they had good time playing those ultraman. And goofing around. Together.

Kakak helps around more. Whenever Iman or Adam suara kuat sikit, cecepat dia datang and ask what's the matter. She prepares tumbler after tumbler of orange drink and keeps them in the fridge. Bila habis je, dia buat lain.

The only downside now is that, I can't teach at home Iman consistently as I used to. Maybe I should include Adam as well so that he doesn't kacau so much.

But, by writing this, doesn't mean I am thanking x-bik for running away.

Salam Maal Hijrah

Alhamdulillah.

Tahun baru.

Masih panjang umur meneruskan dan menguruskan kehidupan di muka bumi ini. Salam Maal Hijrah kepada semua yang beragama Islam.

Hari ini banyak perkara baru. Mencemaskan tetapi berakhir dengan penuh kelegaan.

Saya sendiri menjalani TSAHM full fledge sebagai suri rumah tanpa helper. InsyaAllah. Penat sedikit tapi hati puas. Lantai bersapu dan bermop. Kain siap berlipat. Mainan anak-anak bersusun (ada lagi 3 beg besar nak kena sort, never thought we had THAT much!). Kain baju yang sepatutnya bergosok, dah pun digosok. Anak-anak pun alhamdulillah tak makan megi aje! Anak-anak order makanan itu ini. Iman nak donut, pau inti kelapa, apple pie. Kakak nak agar-agar kaler coklat. Agar-agar done. Inti apple pie done. Lain-lain tu, sabar ye anak-anak. InsyaAllah Ummi buat.

Iman pulak, dah baik dari chicken pox (ingat entry saya di sini?). Makanya bermulalah tuition cuti sekolah untuk dia. Jam 9.00 pagi saya pasang semula car seat Adam dalam kereta kecik tu. Berangkutlah ke pusat tuition empat beranak. Mula-mula inform kehadiran (dah register minggu lepas), lepas tu temankan dia ke kelas. Adam pun sibuk sama bawak beg and duduk kat meja. Orang keluarkan pensil, dia keluarkan ultraman! Waktu kelas nak mula, nasib baik Adam nak keluar tapi Iman dah mula berkerut-kerut nak nangis. Nasib baik tak lama kendian, cousin dia datang (I live berselang beberapa rumah dengan my SIL), terus ceria, babai suruh balik. So off we went, Ummi dengan Adam balik rumah.

Part yang mencemaskan ialah, hari ni first day Iman naik van. Walaupun dekat, risau amat. Bimbang dia tak naik van. Bimbang dia main turun je kat mana-mana. I entrusted Iman to his sister, Kakak. Kakak kena ambik Iman from his class, then make sure naik van sama-sama. I had faith in Kakak but still, I paced to and fro at our living area from 11.30am (the time class ends) right up to the moment they showed up at front gate around 20 minutes later. Okaylah tu, brisk walk dalam rumah! Alhamdulillah. Selamat sampai anak-anak. Tanya Iman how was school? Dia kata tak best. How's the van? BEST! Oh well.

Anyway, ingat my complaint here? I saw the person in-charge and conveyed my concern. Accepted with open heart and promised to look into the matter. I was not trying to be-little anyone. I think when there's something wrong, why should we ignore it kan.

Thanks to frens who left comment on Bibik thingy, in FB and those text messages. Really appreciate your concerns and thots. *hugs*

Bibik Sudah Kabur!

Bukan kabur mata. Tapi kabur cabut lari.

Iya, Bibik Ros sudah cabut lari. Ntah apa lagi yang dia nak. Nak cuti sebulan sekali, dah dapat. Nak gaji naik, dah dapat. Tup-tup lari jugak. Dengan baki kontrak masih setahun lebih. Susah payah kami tebus dia dari majikan lama. Susah payah tukarkan permit dia. Dah dapat semua, lari pulak. Memang dasar ^$#^^*&*!! Memang terkilan dengan sikap dia yang tak mengenang budi dan mungkir janji. Paling terkilan ialah si Kakak. Dah le bla without saying goodbye, she didn't even take the cards Kakak made for her all the while she was with us. Bayangkan hati anak 9 tahun yang rasa disayangi, rupanya tidak.

Dia lari either malam 2 Dec or pagi 3 Dec but I think malam tu kot. I slept a little later than the rest, dengar cam pintu berbunyi. I just thought maybe Bibik check pintu kot. Memang pun, dia check out terus! Dia punya plan ni memang baik punya. Siap minyakkan engsel pintu/gril/pagar supaya tak berbunyi kuat. Handphone semua dia tukar nombor (dia ni bangsa tak leh takde hp so musti dah beli no baru) Paling sakit hati, dia diam-diam ambik passport dia, from my handbag. Dasar penceroboh. Part kelakarnya, dia sempat ambik sebekas sambal dari peti ais! Dalam sakit2 hati tu, ada gak boleh kami tergelak2 kan pasal sambal nih. I guess she told Adam beforehand. Cause bangun je pagi tu Adam terus tanya 'Bibik mana?', dia memang tak pernah tanya macam tu. Bukak pintu, botol susu Adam takde (biasanya ada susu dah standby depan pintu), turun bawah gelap. Adam dah melalak-lalak 'Bibik mana.. bibik mana' Ikut hati, memang tak halalkan kontrak dia yang belum habis tu. The rest terserah pada Allah.

Apart from she herself yang &^$#^$ itu, I blame it on her frens kat belakang nun. Yang menyebok tanya gaji la, makanan la, hapa lah. Plus sedara mara dia ramai kat sini, buat kepala dia sedikit besar. Knowing that she has a place to go to. Walhalkan masa dia nak datang sini, satu sedara mara pon takdenya nak tolong dia. And one big possibility ialah suami dia dah datang Malaysia. Dia ada mention one time dulu. Bibik belakang yang busy body tu pun ada suami kat Malaysia tapi takdelah busuk hati nak cabut kering camtuh jek. Or the other bibik yang dia kutuk-kutuk tu, elok aje kerja sampai sekarang, takde lari-lari pon.

I am still thankful she didn't take any money or barang berharga (I think dia dah sorok2 cari passport dia kat sana sini before she ended up finding it in my handbag). Or worse, take my kids with her. Alhamdulillah anak2 saya tak apa-apa. Itu paling teramat penting. And we were at least home when she made her move. But she endangered us with leaving the back doors unlocked the whole night! Ada barang yang saya bagi dia, dia tak ambik. Yang elok-elok dia ambik. Yang dah lusuh dia tinggalkan. Yang kami hairan, gambar dia dengan suami, dia tinggalkan. (Ini contradict pulak dengan pertuduhan saya dalam perenggan sebelum ni.. hemm).

Anyway, how's our life now that we're back to bibik-less? I've done it for good nine years before we took her in so things are not so awkward. Plus point, I am on leave (I know some will say, rilekslah, kan cuti). Cuma I had to make some arrangement with taska to leave Kakak and Adam at when I need to take Iman to Ampang Hilir or his theraphy sessions at HUKM. The rest, insyaAllah. Like I have posted before, InsyaAllah we'll find the way. But after 2 days, the house is in much orderly manner. The kids are behaving way better (as opposed to Bibik Ros's pledge that the kids misbehave when I am at home).

We are taking all these positively. Maybe Bibik Ros was not the person we thought she is. Maybe she's bad or something. Maybe. Maybe we'll get better replacement. Maybe this is the sign for me to just hang my office wear for good. Maybe.

More story on Bibik, click here.

Domesticated?

Tak lama lagi boleh jadi domestic goddess. Kalau tambah 2 tahun dok rumah, harus boleh buat buku cam Martha Stewart or Mrs Beeton. Sila google.

I made Pau Kacang Merah last Saturday. The kids were excited until they took their first bite. Mana kelapa? Inti kelapa? Ayo.. banyak komplen pulak. Letih tau ummi uli tepung. Kasi pujian lah sikit.

pau rumah hijau. menunggu turn untuk masuk steamer sambil menggebukan badan dengan bantuan yis

pau rumah biru

Isnin buat donat pulak. Disertai dengan bismillah dan doa moga-moga donutku gebus. Alhamdulillah menjadi. Sedap, gebu dan lembut. Cuma shape tu kena improve. Dah guna mulut gelas nak tekap, pastu tutup botol nak buat lubang tengah tu, mau tak berkedut-kedut doh heh heh. Conclusion paragraph ni ialah saya perlu membeli donut cutter.

ini batch yang paling comel rupa bentuknya. manakala yang tidak dipaparkan disini adalah yang sunburnt dan yang penuh stretch mark. sounds like me okay.

munchkin. Iman loves these.