New Toys on The Block

The boys are into Lego Hero Factory these days. (after ultraman, hotwheels, transformers - to name a few). Something they'd found out while you-tubing. Kids these days eh?

And despite it's Ramadhan and despite he's fasting, Iman still brings money to school. At times he buys things for himself. Sometimes he buys things for his friends. And at times, he buys things for Kakak or Adam. Of late he refuses to bring his usual dose of pocket money. Saya nak simpan duit Ummi. Nak beli Hero Factory.

:D :D 

In no time the boys collection have grown into a family of five. Surge, Splitface, Evo, Toxic Reapa and Furno. See what they've done to me.. :P We don't really mind buying actually. Every each comes in bits and pieces and they have to assemble according to enclosed instruction leaflet. Motor skill. Jog their mind. And now they have gone a phase further, assemble not according to instruction and do their own versions of hero. Way to go boys, way to go..

8 Tahun Sudah - Happy 8th (Hijrah) Birthday Iman!

Back track 8 years ago.
20 Ramadhan, 1.37pm - I gave birth to Muhammad Iman. Difficult birth. Serik rasanya nak beranak lagi (Ye lah tu serik, tahun 2007 pregnant lagi.. 2009 pregnant lagi.. :P). Raising him was not smooth sailing either.

Happy 8th Birthday Iman (hijrah that is).
We love you loads!!

4d3n @ Columbia Asia Balakong

It's been more than 3 years since any of my kids admitted to hospital. Last time was a long long time ago, in November 2008 in APSH. Adam kena bronchiolitis masa tu. Read about it here.

Iman was having fever for the past 2 weeks. Bukannya straight 2 weeks but on-off. His fever pun was yoyo-ing. Jap panas. Jap tak berapa panas. On certain days, he was off fever but next day demam balik. Cam tu lah kronologinya.

Khamis lepas, after lunch, taska called me up mintak pick up Iman. High fever and purging. Rushed back to Cheras, fetched him then zoomed to Klinik Kita. Referred to hospital sebab dia dehydrated. This time tak pegi Ampang Puteri like we normally did. Columbia Asia kat Balakong. Very-very-very near to our house. Convenience.

Pegi A&E. Masuk triage area. Pasang IV. Drama okay. Nak Ummi. Nak Ummi. Ummi this. Ummi that.

Amboihhh! Sapa yang sakit sebenarnya? Adam was helping himself on Iman's dinner. Hospital food - very bland. Most of the time we got something somewhere else for Iman.

Sakit, sakit jua. Solat tak tinggal. Alhamdulillah. Solat cam TokMi ye Ummi? My MIL, whom the kinds fondly call Tokmi dah lama keuzuran. Solat atas kerusi. Iman solat atas katil because his right hand was attached to that IV machine.

I shared his bed. Nasib baik Ummi kecik je bang. Tapi time dia nak main game, 'Ummi tepi sikit, saya nak main game ni' Amboih.... dia jugaklah yang 'saya nak Ummi' 'saya nak Ummi' masa kena cucuk tangan tu.. Bertuah betul.

Not forgetting to mention, he's one boy of routine. Before sleep mesti pee-pee, gosok gigi and wudu'. Ni pun jenuh to convince him that he need not to basuh tangan yang berbalut tu. Ha.. layan games iPad sebelum bedtime juga adalah rutin wajib.

Hospital burger. Chicken patty is homemade. Healthier version. Very lean meat. Too healthy that my tastebud didn't agree with it hihi.Nevertheless telah dimakan dengan jayanya.

Finally, semalam (Ahad 15th July), Iman boleh balik rumah. Yayyy!! He was off fever for the last 24 hours so boleh pulang. Proudly showing off his hand :D

Majlis pembukaan balutan yang penuh drama.. Gam plaster tu melekat kat bulu roma dia. Terjerit-jerit dia time kena tarik menda tu :D :D

Berdarah ke? Berdarah ke? Adoilah Iman. Sikit je kesan IV tu. Siap berplaster bagai sampai hari ni walhalkan tak berdarah pun..

Hopefully episode demam kali ni berakhir di sini. Ramadhan pun dah dekat. Tak mau lah bermalam kat hospital time bulan puasa. Iman pun excited tu nak puasa. Kena sihat-sihat ye bang, kalau Abang nak puasa....

Hari Akademik 2012 SK BTHO 2

First time dapat snap gambar anak-anak in school uniforms. Iman dengan Adam tak pakai kasut sebab kasut tinggal kat taska. Thank you Hari Akademik 2012! Hari makpak pegi ambik report card anak-anak and discuss perkembangan pembelajaran anak-anak dengan guru kelas. Tahun lepas kena datang 2 kali, Kakak sekolah sesi pagi makanya kena datang ambik report card belah pagi. Iman pulak sekolah sesi petang, kena datang lagi sekali belah petang. Siap sampai bercuti kami dibuatnya. Tahun lepas, after ambik report card, makpak balik, anak-anak kena stay put sampai habis sesi persekolahan seperti biasa.

This year, Kakak masih sesi pagi, Iman sesi petang. Alhamdulillah sekolah buat Hari Akademik belah pagi for both sessions. Me and Tebby just mintak time-off from boss masing-masing. Jimat cuti :D Oleh itu, dapatlah snap gambar semua anak in school uniform sebelum pegi sekolah to 'face the truth' hihi.

Sampai sekolah around 8.00 a.m and THIS is what greeted us at the canteen. Car boot sales you ols! Bukan calang-calang barang yer, durian some more! Semerbak harum! Kot ya pun, agak-agak lah. Ni sekolah la. Apa nak kata, Malaysia Boleh! Had simple breakfast. Agak hambar tapi syukur ada jugak rezeki untuk alas perut.

Memula pegi kelas Kakak dulu. Class divided kepada 2 bahagian. Sebelah cater for sesi pagi. Sebelah lagi for sesi petang. Seen above Kakak dengan classmate dia. Sementara tunggu giliran.

She landed at 5th place this time around. Got highest mark in her class for English. If she can maintain the momentum, insyaAllah she'll be in better class next year. But to me that's not about it la sangat pun. In better class, in less better class pun, cikgu-cikgu tetap kena bagi same amount of input kan. On a personal note, Tahniah Kakak for the tremendous improvement. Last year she was at nombor berbelas-belas.

I noticed, the more I let her do her own things, the harder she'll work her school thingy. She loves art. We let her choose what she wants and does as she wants (musti tak exceed bajet and musti under close supervision supaya tak lupa kerja-kerja sekolah jugerr..)

Lepas tu pegi kelas Iman pulak. Yang ni lebih debaran sikit hihi. For KSSR, sekolah ni tak buat exam per se. They are rated based on homework, course work, simple routine tests etc. He lands at Band 3. KSSR ni ratingnya dari Band 1 sampai Band 6. Buat masa ni they are tested sampai Band 3 saja. A glimpse to result orang lain, nampak macam semua kat Band 3 jugak. Takpe, at least Iman at par :D Some other schools do have exams for KSSR students. Iman and his batch is pioneer la KSSR ni. Sampaikan dah sekolah 2 bulan pun text books lom sampai. Come to think of it, kalau bebetul dah kaji silibus and plan dengan teliti, why the delay? Anyway, Cikgu Awie kata Iman ni budaknya lurus (?? ye ke?? macam tak percaya je :D), always asks kalau tak faham. Diberi kerja dalam kelas, dia mesti buat and he has good handwriting. I once commented tulisan Iman cam cakar ayam. Cikgu komen kata cantik. I can't imagine what the cikgu has to go through reading tulisan students!! 

 

Kesian kan sekolah my kids. Lantai berlubang-lubang. Masa Iman Tahun 1, lagi teruk kelas dia. Sampaikan 1/4 of the class memang tak boleh letak meja. Berlubang-lubang!

After dah pick up and signed all necessary documents, sent back the kids to taska then off to work. Macam-macam rupa makpak. Muka stress. Muka happy. Tak kurang jugak yang tegang tangan menjijit buntil durian ha ha.

Anyway,

Anak-anak sekelian. Sekolah ni just part and parcel of kehidupan every each of you will have to go through. The bigger one awaits regardless time, day or at any age you are. School of life. Never-ending lessons. It will test more that what the school does. As a mother I can only prepare you for that so you can depend on yourselves to get through it all. Supaya anak-anak boleh berdiri atas kaki sendiri. Supaya anak-anak mampu menyuarakan pendapat dan rasa hati selama tak bertentang dengan ajaran agama. Supaya anak-anak menjadi orang yang baik-baik dunia dan akhirat terutamanya. Semoga kalian menjadi orang yang dihormati dan lebih penting lagi, menghormati orang lain...

Iman The Darling

Iman is such a darling these days.

I FB-ed last week on how he woke up at 1.37am only to kiss me goodnight.
KENAPA ABANG?
Tadi semasa saya nak tidur saya lupa nak cakap goodnight.
Though he almost make me fainted sebab terkejut, I went to bed smiling.

Yesterday, he bought 'air plastik'. (the one in tube macam aiskrim Malaysia tu)
He bought two, normally he'd just buy one.
WHY TWO ABANG?
Satu saya punya. Saya belikan untuk Adam juga.

Iman bought something for Adam? THAT, must be recorded at the back of my mind. Because Iman and Adam rarely in sync together.

Today we had dinner outside.
The elder two ordered Nasi Goreng that came with a slice of keropok in each plate.
He took his and gave it to Adam.
Awww sweetieee..
(he later took Kakak's for his own consumption anyway!)

Each time when he asked me to do something for him, I always get a warm 'THANK YOU UMMI'

This is him on our last day at Lexis PD. He finally has the gut to get into the adult pool (with ummi's very, very, very.................. very close supervision). Albeit with the float, I am glad he has conquered his fear. I asked him to race me from one end to another. Of course we both had floats, he in his swim ring, and I, a kick-board. In the beginning I was leading. Then suddenly I heard him saying, 'UMMI SAYA PERGI DULU YA' and swam on, leaving me behind by some metres.

How can my heart not melt :D *beam proudly* <-- walaupun kalah acara berenang dengan pelampung hi hi

Iman @HUKM 23/11/2011

Hari ni bawak Iman jumpa psychiatrist kat HUKM. His second last appointment at HUKM for the year (he has 4 venues for appointment in HUKM alone! what can I say, the more the merrier hi hi) The last one will be on 8th December with his Occupational Therapist, Fida.

Since mem-parking kereta adalah mencabar di HUKM and since for psychiatrist appointment, it's on first-come-first serve basis, we hit the road like any other normal working days. Registered him and we got no 2. Jumpa doktor, the usual development-related questions, how Iman is at school - academically and socially. How Iman is doing with his other siblings (that... I have a lot to say Dr!). His speech, his concentration and all.

Academically, he is doing okay. Not to say cemerlang la (cemerlang these days refer to 100% average). He scored 80% with 2 extremes, majority with flying colors. But one subject, flew downwards steeply :D Both Tebby and I decided we are satisfied, given all his limitations. But that doesn't mean we won't grill and drill you young man!

Socially, he is OKAY. He makes friends, he has good friends, he has not so good friends. On some days he would be eating alone during break. On other days, he'd be muching with his friends and later hit the field for some running to vent his energy until, most of the time, he vomits afterwards. Doctor said physical activities in order to vent out adalah bagusss. Tapi sampai muntah Iman?

Speech-wise, still not up to his age though he can get his message across and can comprehend what others are communicating to him. But doing comprehension test in Bahasa is something different altogether :D He still lacks eye contact especially with newly-met people. I am not sure if he is shy or that's autistic trait playing its part.

Attention span is still short (unless it is something he's interested in). He gets frustrated easily when he can't get things done BUT he's very persistent and will do it repeatedly while wailing and crying and the likes until that thing is done. That's my boy. With much lower decibel of wailing and crying, will ya?

By far, the last Psychiatrist we just saw this morning is the best among the 3. We've seen 3 different Psychiatrists in HUKM so far, 2 females and 1 male. Paling tak best doktor lelaki tu. Heartless, stone, not the type yang pandai engage with children. Just hurmpp.. hemmm, hammmpp. Tu aje lah. But Iman has soft spot for female gender so I would't put the blame 100% on that male doctor tho! Kalau perempuan, kena pulak yang lawa-lawa.. lagilah dia suka. Boys will be boys *eyes roll*

Next appointment with Psychiatrist will be in March 2012.

vital stats for today, good number too!
234 and 123!

Selamat Ulang Tahun ke-7 Muhammad Iman

Semalam, 7 tahun lepas. Jam 1.37 petang.

Saya melahirkan seorang bayi lelaki seberat 3.3kg. Mungkin dia tak sabar-sabar nak ke dunia koporat. Pakai tali pusat di leher. Macam pakai neck-tie. Bezanya, pakai neck-tie sekali lilit di leher. Dia ada 3 lilitan tali pusat di leher! Macam-macam teori orang tua-tua yang kami diberitahu termasuk teori gantung tuala di leher dan teori kain pelikat. Korang tanya lah orang tua-tuan because I'm not telling them. Tapi, the truth is semua teori itu tak kena langsung!

Muhammad Iman.

Nama yang Abah pilih. Muhammad itu memang wajib. Itu nazar saya. Kalau lelaki anak kedua ini, Muhammad lah sebahagian namanya. Muhammad itu Yang Terpuji. Why not? Semua orang mahu anak-anaknya menjadi Yang Terpuji. Hatta anak perempuan pun harus bersifat yang terpuji. Cuma jangan diberi nama Muhammad pulak yer. Iman itu Abahnya yang pilih (Sebenarnya nama semua anak pun Abah yang pilih. Sukahati dia lah. Anak dia pun. Janji maknanya baik-baik ajer. Plus harus simple saja) Even dengan nama mudah macam tu pun saya tersasul-sasul. Contohnya pagi tadi saya memberi arahan bak komandor waktu turun kereta dalam renyai-renyai hujan.

'Iman dengan Abang turun dulu'

'Eh silap..'
'Adam dengan Adik turun dulu'

'Eh silap lagi!'
'Boyssss!!!! Turun berdua, share payung'
Tapi ini bukan sebab-musabab nama.. ini tanda-tanda age is catching up bukan?

Mungkin itu jugak ditakdirkan anak-anak saya ada 3 orang ajer! Bertukor bimbor bak kata orang Terengganu.

Dalam demam-demam tu sempat lagi acara 'ketuk-ketuk'. Mulanya nak potong kek di rumah ajer. Dah alang-alang nak balik kampung Raya Korban nanti, kami cadangkan potong kek di kampung saja, sama Atok, sama Wan. Iman setuju.

Tapi, lepas tu dia nak potong kek dengan kawan-kawan di taska pula. Okay takpe. Layankan ajer. Dapat jugak pahala belanja anak-anak kecik makan walaupun cuma 2 biji kek besar.

Tapi, katanya kek yang nak potong di kampung tu pun dia nak juga! Adoi..

Layan.

Apapun, dia sangat gembira semalam. Katanya 'Saya tak tiup lilin sebab tak ada lilin. Tapi mata saya kelip-kelip macam ni' sambil buat mata kelip-kelip macam malu-malu.

Apa-apa sajalah Muhammad Iman.

Selamat Hari Jadi ke-7 buat Iman. Moga seluruh kehidupan akan diberkati Allah. Jadilah anak yang soleh sepanjang hidupmu.

ps - Di sekolah dia baru belajar rukun iman. Dia pelik sebab sama dengan namanya. Beriman kepada Allah, iaitu percaya kepada Allah. Beriman kepada Rasul, iaitu percaya kepada Rasul. So forth and so on. Dan anakanda Iman, membuatkan saya percaya kepada banyak perkara. Percaya bahawa kasih itu tiada sempadannya. Percaya bahawa mimpi-mimpi juga boleh jadi realiti!

tapi Iman belum jugak hafal-hafal rukun iman itu :P..

ADHD - Where What & How (Pengalam Kami) Part 2

Wotehmeyon.. I had difficulties introducing this fella to Iman as he rarely saw one in real life. I encourage you to bring your children out to pasar or gerai yang jual buah. Show them how the fruits/vege really look like.

Moving on dari entry saya terdahulu (baca di sini ya) .. ni sambungannya. In my last entry, I am glad Hanis left a short comment and Oren also. I am no millionaire to donate much in monetary term. I can only share what we've been and still are going through. I am glad and thankful, even if there's only a single person can benefit from it.

Again, please be reminded that what we've done (and still are doing), may and maynot work with other children. But no harm trying right. Please don't come and tell me 'hey, why you tell this and that and it didn't work with my child' This is solely based on our experience. It work on Iman so far. It may work for other children. And it may also not. Kawan, tiada yang pasti 100% dalam dunia ni.

Okay, continue.

Saya diberikan contact number Pn Sariah Amirin. Siapa beliau? She's the Presiden of Persatuan Dyslexia Malaysia. Selepas a phone call, cerita ceriti serba sedikit, kami putuskan untuk mencuba hantar Iman to one of its centers. Testimoni dari seorang ibu yang anaknya sama-sama di taska dengan Iman, memberikan sedikit sebanyak 'light at the end of the tunnel'. Benar, Iman tidak dyslexic. At least at that point, he was not diagnosed for dyslexia. We were assured that they also take in children like Iman, non-dyslexic albeit the name 'Persatuan Dysleksia Malaysia)

Bacakan perasaan 'lega' saya dalam entry ini. Lega akhirnya ada satu benda baru untuk dicuba. Waktu ini saya baru setkan appointment dengan Pn Sariah untuk buat assessment. Assessment di buat di PDM (Persatuan Dyslexia Malaysia) Center Titiwangsa. Bacakan kisahnya dan finding-nya di sini. Semua ni berlaku dalam bukan February 2011. Mulanya kami nak tempatkan Iman cepat-cepat tapi banyak urusan cuti dan sebagainya yang belum selesai. Oh ya, PDM buat short courses 3 bulan untuk ajar membaca in BM and BI dan Math. It is not a taska so takde lah kelas Fardhu Ain, kelas ngaji dan sebagainya. In fact, it caters for all regardless the age. Ia lebih melihat kepada keupayaan, bukannya umur. Jadi jangan terkejut jika kelas 'beginner' adalah campuran anak-anak berumur 4, 7, 9 dan 10 tahun. Kesimpulannya, kami dapat tempat untuk Iman bermula Julai 2010 untuk 3 bulan i.e. Julai-September 2010. Kelasnya 5-days-a-week (Monday-Friday), 8.30am-12.30pm. Paling senang dan terdekat dengan kami ialah PDM Ampang Hilir. Paling dekat, bukan bererti dekat. Ampang Hilir dengan Cheras berjarak 20km. Mengharung traffic jam pagi-pagi hari bukanlah perkara yang best kawan-kawan, 20km tu makan masa paling cepat 45min (peak hour) Paling lama pernah tersangkut, lebih 1 jam! Kawan, hidup perlu berkorban. Faktor masa dan keadaan kami yang dua-dua bekerja 9-5 menjadi satu isu. Setelah berbincang, salah seorang kami perlu bercuti untuk menguruskan Iman. Tak perlu fikir panjang-panjang, saya calon terpaling amat sesuai.

Setelah benar-benar pasti Iman dapat masuk PDM Ampang Hilir bermula Julai 2011, saya jumpa GM dan menyatakan hasrat untuk bercuti panjang. Alhamdulillah dia faham dan akhirnya pada 7 May 2011, beliau telah menurunkan tandatangan keramatnya (chewah), pada borang permohonan CTG (Cuti Tanpa Gaji, bukan Cardio Toco Graph yer). Baca entry saya pasal tu kat sini dan bagaimana borang saya terhilang dalam entry ini. On 1st June 2010, application saya diluluskan. Alhamdulillah.

Isnin, 5 Julai 2010, bermulalah kelas Iman di PDM Ampang Hilir. He was in group 'beginner' and was assigned under Teacher Sharifah. In PDM, kelasnya tak ramai student. Satu kelas cuma 4-5 orang saja. That explains kenapa anak-anak kita kena Q untuk masuk kelas di PDM. Smaller class, tumpuan juga lebih. Bayaran pendaftaran RM50, yuran bulanan RM450 termasuk sekali makan. Buku-buku kalau tak silap ingatan, dalam RM30. Bacakan kisah 1st daynya di sini dan 2nd daynya di sini. Not forgetting to mention Iman's first crush dengan Sofea, his classmate. Read here. Jatuh cinta sebab Sofea bagi dia sticker gambar burung.. hurmpp.

While Iman was attending PDM Ampang Hilir, I got to talk to other parents. Ada yang dah lama kat situ, ada yang 2nd time hantar. Ada yang anak berumur 5 tahun, ada yang mencecah belasan tahun. It was an eye-opener experience. Kawan, jika berasa kita susah, sebenarnya ada orang yang lebih susah dari kita. Ada one parent, mungkin ketiadaan kenderaan, atau mungkin tidak boleh memandu, saban hari menghantar dan menjemput anaknya dengan teksi. Kawan sekelas Iman (beginner) ada yang berumur 9 tahun. One particular fren, bought a 2nd hand Kancil and hired a driver untuk tujuan hantar-jemput. As I was sending one child, some parents were sending 2 of their children. Bersyukurlah (bukan bermakna kita perlu riak sebab kita kurang masalah) Of course there's people who walked around in LV one day and Gucci the next day!

Anyway, hasil dari conversation, we were advised to pindahkan kes Iman dari private practices ke goverment hospitals. Katanya it'll be easier to deal with other government agencies in future (with Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat, Kementerian Pelajaran etc, if need be) if we have proper documentation (Psychiatrist's findings, diagnosis, recommendations etc) from government hospital. Since we're in KL, we were told the best 2 options are HKL and HUKM. HKL is the best but after considering factors as queueing time, location HKL di tengah-tengah KL, we opted for HUKM. Shorter q-ing time and much nearer to where we live. Yang ini, I'll continue in other entry on how to go about registering your child at HUKM.

Let me share how I taught Iman about colors. When he was 5 or 6, he still didn't know colors. Yellow, green, red.. let alone other colors like pink, light blue, deep red etc. I bought many books on colors but back then he was not a book-person. More of action-learning type.

Here's a box of basic color pencils that I've used to teach him yellow, red, green, blue and purple. I associate every each color with something. Yellow with kubah surau nearby our house, green with leaf, blue with one of his toys and purple with grapes. First mula-mula memang limited to that 5 colors and 5 that things. Later, yellow as in potted flowers that we had back then, green with bakul kain or his little underwear, purple like his favourite yoghurt drink blueberry flavour and my tudung. I didn't use book, I used this color pencils. Ambik satu warna and ask where did he see that color. I started small. 5 colors only. I gave him few weeks to digest.

those are red, green, purple and yellow. and my desk is beautifully conteng-ed!

Later on bila dia dah grasp that 5 colors, I bought him this Kumon book Let's Color. Slowly his vocab and knowledge berkembang to black, white, orange, pink etc.

this is actually book no 2 under the same tittle

red like apple. cili.

And later on when I noticed dia ni (and Kakak and Adam too) suka menconteng, mewarna and melukis, I bought them more crayons, color pencils, color pens, water color. Of course at times Adam went overboard and conteng dinding, kerusi, langsir, meja etc (pengsan?) In a way that encourages skills as well (part mewarna, bukan skill membuat mural kat dinding) like the right way to hold a pencil and we can teach them to draw circle, square, oval and whatnots. See, we're already talking about shapes!

colors!

more colors!

some more!!

Just my one note of hope to parents out there with child of similar case - Jangan terlalu banyak beralasan. Takde masa, takde duit, takde pengetahuan. Takde masa, cuba chip in 10-15 minutes only a day. Sekejap tapi konsisten. Takde duit takpe, kita boleh buat teaching-material sendiri, tak perlu beli. Takde pengetahuan, boleh google info di alam maya. Jangan serahkan 100% kepada cikgu tadika or whoever teacher. Chip in your effort as well.

1st Ramadhan 1432H

Salam Ramadan! Alhamdulillah masih ada rezeki kita berpuasa bulan Ramadan tahun ni. Jom tambah amal ibadat. Jangan culas-culas ber-terawikh. Kalau rasa liat bangun prepare sahur tu, ingat-ingat pahala yang menanti. Uruskan rumahtangga pun ibadat jua..

Unlike the past 2 years, this year takde bibik. Domestic helper, yilek. Means I have to carefully plan and manage my time. And unlike last year, this year I am back working. Means, limited time to spend kelentung-kelentang kat dapur for iftar. And probably very simple sahur as well sebab pas sahur nak bersiap-siap ke ofis pulak. No time to scrub many pots and pans. (I will not leave things dalam sinki before going out, other than 1 or 2 small things like sudu or cawan).

Apalagi la kan, wiken lepas giat betul mengupas, menyiang, memotong, memerap (perap makanan yer, bukan memerap tidoq), memblend, merebus dan sebagainya. Ini semua bagi mengelakkan huru-hara kat rumah nanti. Punyalah bergiat kat dapur, sampai lupa basuh kasut sekolah anak ha ha. En Suami went to Pasar Kajang on Sunday, katanya ramaiii lah sangat orang. As if esok-esok dah takde jual ikan. Cakap orang, we all pun sama heh heh.

I did few thing in prepation untuk seminggu nyer iftar/sahur. Marinate ayam 3 jenis (ala Cina, ala India, ala Melayu <-- i tak racist taw.. memang dalam buku resepi tulih gitu) and one type of beef marinate. Ikan tak perap, just apportioned them into one serving in each bekas. Also potong-potong ayam and daging, ready as perencah nasi or mee goreng.

gigih melabel bagai ha ha

As for sayur, we stock up timun, incase tak sempat masak sayur. Kalau ada masa, we'll do sawi and kailan. Sayur ni pun selalunya maknya aje yang makan (despite all ceramah kepentingan makan sayur :P). En Suami is very selective when it comes to sayur. In fact he is selective of his food. Unlike wifenya yang mengketedarah je apa jua asalkan halal.

Baru je bagitau En Suami that I would not blog so much about food bulan-bulan puasa ni. See.. bad bad me.

Anyway, since Iman is 7 this year, we've been coaxing him to fast. In fact for the last one or two weeks, we've been orientating him on the importance of fasting and what to expect should one fasts. Semalam was his first day. Thank God, Alhamdulillah, getting him up for sahur was easy peasy. Getting him to eat his sahur was also easy peasy. Part yang susah ialah menahan si Adam dari menayang-nayang makanan depan Iman. Semalam, at 11.45am, he succumbed to hunger and break-fast. Boleh lah kot, as a first-timer kan. It could've been much later should Adam tak makan aiskrim keladi depan Iman *sigh*. And today, on the way to Atfal Sayang (taska) he announced 'hari ini saya cuba bertahan' tak boleh tahan ayat si Iman ni hi hi. Gambar bawah ni masa sahur around 5.00am. Gambar lagi bawaaah tu pulak 'buka poser' jam 11.45am :D

Semalam was a very simple iftar of Ikan Bawal Putih Goreng, Snow Pea+Egg Tofu and Mushroom Crisp (cendawan goreng guna tepung tempura, tapi nama cam kelasssss la konon kannnn).

Err... food again? Someone please spank me..

Al Kisah Spek... Pet Pet, Bawang dan Ikan Bilis..

Hari ni Kak Mon kulu kilir. Translate dari bahasa Pahang ialah 'ke hulu ke hilir'. Kata orang Terengganu pulak 'gi mari gi mari' atau 'mmusing ketang'. Biasanya pun memanglah kulu kilir, gi mari gi mari atau mmusing ketang tapi hari ni extra sikit. Sampai 2 kali menjengah Carrefour. Pagi-pagi tu Bibik inform diapers Adam tinggal 3 keping lagi. Adoi. Kenapalah tak cakap masa ada belen lagi 10 keping? Terpaksa lah tergedik-gedik pegi membeli. Adam pulak pagi tu sembelit sampai nangis-nangis nak keluarkan poop dia tapi tak berjaya. Mengukuhkan lagi lawatan ke Carrefour sebab nak beli prune juice. Dan oh ya, London Swiss Roll budak 2 beradik tu dah sapu licin. Kena top-up. Dan tambahannya lagik, nak membeli spek Adam. Lepas hantar Iman kat sekolah, gedebuk gedebak membeli, bukan takat Pet Pet, Heinz Prune Juice dengan London Swiss Roll aje dalam troli.. kepek, chips, air 100Plus, roti, drummet etc. Typical huh? Benda dalam list tapi tak beli ialah spek Adam. Benda penting tu.

You ols taukan my elder two tu kena pakai spek kan (baca sini dan sini juga) Speknya siap dah lama tapi sebab sebok ntah apa-apa, Rabu baru ni baru ambik kat HUKM JRMA. Mana boleh 2 orang pakai spek, sorang lagi tidak kan? Bagi mengelakkan perang saudara, makanya spek yang 2 orang tu belum lagik dipakai. Tak boleh pakai selagi Adam takde spek. Meh Kak Mon tayang sikit spek budak dua orang tu. Kos semua-semuanya RM620 untuk 2 spek ni.

Ni spek Kakak. Purple. Kat kaki (ke tangkai? ke tangan?) ada floral prints. Sesuailah untuk gegirl macam dia.

Mata kanan - distance Sph pl, Cyl -4.00, Axis 170, V/A 6/12.

Mata kiri - distance Sph pl, Cyl -4.50, Axis 175, V/A 6/12.

Apa nih?? Kak Mon pun tatau jugek. Yang cyl tu merujuk kepada astig rasanya. Lagi satu, takde rabun. Expert, sila clarify.

Kat bawah ni pulak spek Iman. Dah Kakak pepel, dia pun nak pepel jugak. Metrosexual sungguh spek ini kan :D

Mata kanan - Sph +1.25, Cyl -3.00, Axis 180, V/A 6/9

Mata kiri - Sph +1.75, Cyl -3.00, Axis 180, VA 6/9

Oh ya, berbalik kepada cerita asal, petang tadi waktu nak siapkan bahan-bahan Nasi Goreng Lobster (sila ambik perhatian, ni isi lobster kering je, bukan fresh lobster lengkap dengan kaki, ekor, cengkerang tu semua okay), rupanya bawang kecik dah takde. Jengah fridge, bawang kisar pun dah sikit. Daaaaaahhh kena buat misi beli bawang pulak. Dikuatkan lagi dengan nak membeli spek Adam. Sebelum ambik Iman kat sekolah tadi, pegi lagi sekali ke Carrefour. Lama-lama sok boleh jadi duta Carrefour kalau gini. Belilah 3 jenis bawang tu, bawang merah, bawang besar, bawang putih. Tengok spek budak-budak, gi** mahal! RM20++. Letak balik. Beli bawang je. Turun bawah, tengok ada kedai sepit-sepit rambut tu jual spek mainan. Angkat satu, RM5.00 je. Kaler mestilah pepel jugakkan. Kang tercetus perang saudara, susah.

Ni spek Adam. Rawk!! Belasah je lah. Buat syarat.

Takde gambar spek dengan tuan punya spek. Semua orang dah tidur time sesi fotografi spek ni dibuat.

Dah sebok cerita pasal bawang, ni lah bawang-bawang yang Kak Mon beli tadi. Pathetic sungguh ha ha.

Spek settle, bawang settle. Baru teringat ikan bilis baru habis semalam.. isk...

Iqra'.. Bacalah..

Alhamdulillah. Syukur. Our niat tertunggak akhirnya terlaksana jua. Finally Kakak and Iman are sent for kelas mengaji. Kakak attends kelas KAFA, one of the subject is Iqra' so we are a bit relief. Iman pulak kami tak hantar kelas KAFA atas beberapa sebab musabab. Ada satu cawangan CIC di sini ada kelas mengaji every Saturday tapi Saturday pulak Kakak ada tuition kat sekolah and Iman ada kelas kat Ampang Hilir (tough being kids these days huh?) So cari punya cari, jumpa this Tadika/Taska Nor Rehan yang ada kelas mengaji lepas Maghrib every night from Monday to Friday. Fee is RM40 per month per child. That makes RM80 per month. The taska in within our housing phase means tak perlu keluar ke jalan besar untuk ke sana. Since we're sending Iman, might as well we sent Kakak jugak kan.

I told the kids memula Ummi hantar tapi nanti dah tau cemana, boleh jalan sendiri. First day try jalan kaki. Mak aih.. jauh jugak rupanya. In the end, on the way balik, En Tebby kena dukung Muhammad Iman bertuah tu. Second day Ummi hantar naik kereta. Iman kata, kalau naik kereta dekat sikit :D Nampaknya until they get their own bicyles and can ride around safely, I will have to hantar them everyday. Bukan apa, now that I am still on leave bolehlah kan. Nanti dah keje faham-faham ajelah pukul berapa baru sampai rumah. Besides mengaji, the kids need to finish off their homework as well.

Iman is especially excited. Nak nak pulak lepas he got his own buku Iqra' and his own kopiah. Plus, dia dah kenal alif ba ta, lagilah dia suka. As if to test his newly acquired knowledge. Kakak pulak, tho dah 3 tahun attend KAFA, she still reads Iqra'. Belum baca Al-Quran. InsyaAllah. I am not complaining. Every kid has his/her own pace. Now we're trying to push he a bit faster.

kakak and Iman, on their first day nak pegi mengaji

Adam insyaAllah tahun depan boleh start. kena stop pakai diapers yer kalau nak ngaji...

I remember my own experience mengaji. Masa tu zaman-zaman Juz Amma. Similar with Iqra' sekarang tapi pendekatannya berbeza. Mula-mula kena kenal alif sampai ya. Pastu alif atas a, alif bawah i, alif depan u. Dah terer tu baru masuk baris dua pulak. An In Un.. and so on. Cikgu mengaji was arwah Wan Chu (al-fatihah). She was soft but firm. She was my close relative jugaklah. Dia tak mintak apa-apa bayaran pun. I think it was normal during those days back in kampung-kampung. Cukup membalas jasa dengan sekilo dua gula, setin dua susu atau biskut barang sepeket dua. I am not complaining about the fee nowadays because we all faham ajelah dulu dengan sekarang tak sama. Plus that was way back so many years ago in a remote kampung and now we're talking about Kuala Lumpur.

Back to my mengaji days, I cycled to get to her house. Cucu-cucu dia pulak ramai yang around my age so we had fun after mengaji session. The bonus nya pulak, rumah dia dekat sangat dengan tali air. So you can guess what we did lepas mengaji lah kan. Sometimes I slept over at her house. I miss those times. Tapi apa hal dah tua-tua nak main kat tali air kan. Anyway, back to my arwah Wan Chu ni, she's a very thankful person. Kalau kita bawak apa-apa buah tangan, she just couldn't stop thanking. She'd recite doa mohon murahkan rezeki and all. Soft but loud enough for us to hear. Sweet kan.

Back to Kakak and Iman, harap-harap semuanya berjalan lancar. InsyaAllah.

Ke Mana Tumpahnya Kuah..

My boys have things in common. Dah nama pun adik beradik kan, apa lah Kak Mon ni kan. They both cling to me. I am one proud mom when they quarrel over who should sit beside me during lunch. Other than that, they both looveeee to help around in the kitchen while I cook or while I prepare to cook.

This is Iman He'd do as told. Mintak tolong potong, dia potong. Mintak tolong basuh, dia basuh. Mintak tolong kacau, dia kacau. Kalau mintak tolong keluar jangan sebok kat dapur, dia tak layan.

Yang ini pulak Mat Kacau :D Pembantu yang amat tegar. He does as he's told and also does things he's told not to do and things I don't even mention for him to do. Pusing kejap aje, dia tambah garam. Pusing kejap aje, dia bubuh gula. Pusing kejap aje, dia masukkan air. Kreatip yer budak ni. Sampai ada resepi 'Nasi Goreng Garam'. So, those are my boys. Both me and Tebby suka masak (suka masak tak semestinya sedap okay :D), maybe ni kuah dah tumpah la kat 2 pinggan nasi ni. Mana Kakak while these two staging their commotion kat dapur??

.

.

.

.

.

Hurmph... Obviously ni kuah dari Ummi ni. Kecik-kecik dulu jejak dapur nak makan jer. But she's helpful when in comes to dishing out the meals, prepares great teh-o and does her red lemonade to perfection.