Brotherly Love?

Rare moments indeed.

My boys, it's a love-hate relationship between them (contohnya, read here). They giggle. They fight. They laugh. They scream at each other. Of course, Iman being the elder has to mengalah (he's been winning for almost 6 years anyway! Winnning over Kakak and Adam). Pretty easy for Adam eh. Adam was the one who has been 'mengalah' for some years until few month back, he decided not to anymore. He has discovered that me, Tebby and tears can actually be used as weapons against Iman :D

Being bongsu does has its priviledges. Getting that little extra leeways from the parents for one. Just blink his eyes and we went 'okay'. Just give me a wet little kiss and I said 'bolehhh'. It has disadvantages too. Hand-me-down's! But still, Adam was (and still is!) lucky. I had given away all those babies' things after Iman's birth because we thought 2 was enough. So he got all new mittens and booties, botol susu, blankets, towels and whatnots. Since Adam is a good 4 years younger than Iman, I don't see the point of keeping Iman's clothes for 4 years until Adam can fit in. Adam, despite being 3.74kg at birth, he is now a small boy. Or at least we think that way.

Phew.. panjangnya menceceh. Actually I wanted to write about this photo..

When they held hands (because they don't hold hands, they just don't), something inside me melted until ................................................ Adam came running 'Abang kata hari ni boleh beli mainan?' *slaps forehead* (The deal was not to buy any toys that weekend) If Adam uses me, Tebby and tears against Iman, Iman uses Adam against us. Being pregnant with Iman whilst Tebby was serving the company's Corporate Strategy, proven to have effect on Iman :D :D Strategize! If you can't get something this way, there's always other ways.

Nevertheless both of them didn't get the toys pada hari tersebut. Sekian.

Bila Terpaksa Memilih

Kalau boleh memang tak mau.
Tapi terpaksa.

Iman is not doing well, health-wise. He's been sick on-off for quite sometime. Measles la, demam la, batuk la, selsema la. He's asthmatic, thus he's prone to sickness. Especially when the weather is not being kind. Last week, baru je baik demam and semalam he was 39d!

It is not that we've been saved from all these all these while. When he was about 1-3 years, he was always sick. In fact those phases were more difficult than what we're facing now. Imagine being admitted in hospital for 4-5 times a year and each time, it was for a period of 2 weeks, on the average. And it was always both of them (Iman dengan Kakak, Adam takde lagi masa tu).

But when he begged us to stay home together, I could feel I was breaking into pieces. He hit me just at the right place. How more cruel can a mother be when she leaves for work while her child is sick? What more when the child begs to stay home?

Iman, to you, I may seem to put my work before you but it is not. It never was and insyaAllah will never be. You don't know how hard it is for me to stay in the office while every second I remember you're being sick. But life isn't always like we want it to be. We may plan things the way we want them to be but how they will turn out, it is always Allah's decision. After all these years, I have learnt apa yang Allah takdirkan upon us, are exactly the things we need, no matter how hard or sore things were in the beginning.

Rest assured Ummi dan Abah sayang Iman, Kakak dan Adam, so much more than you all could ever imagined.

Iman, I miss the happy-go-lucky you. I miss my little chatterbox. I miss those sparks in your eyes and the cheeky smile. Please get well soon.

Moga Berjaya Anak-anak Ku

Moga Allah permudahkan anak-anakku menjalani sesi peperiksaan akhir tahun 2011. Moga boleh recall apa yang diajar di dalam kelas. Moga boleh faham soalan dan arahan dengan baik. Moga dielakkan kesilapan.

Jumaat Kelam Kelibut

-gambar hiasan aje- credit to duniasepi.blogspot.com

Jumaat baru ni merupakan hari kelam kelibut. Nak gugur jantung rasanya. Darah rasa cam habis semua turun kat kaki pun ada. Gara-gara si Kakak tertinggal van.

Petang Jumaat lepas, macam petang-petang Jumaat sebelum ni, Kak Mon akan keluar jam 5.30pm. Iman habis sekolah jam 6.00pm. Jarak rumah ke sekolah dekat aje tapi sebab takmo parking jauh-jauh, makanya keluar awal. Si Kakak, walaupun Kak Mon tak keje sekarang ni, dia tetap naik van pegi balik sekolah kebangsaan dengan sekolah agama. Kadang-kadang aje Kak Mon hantar jemput dia.

Berbalik kepada peristiwa tu, elok aje parking tepi jalan, henfon berbunyi. Ada nombor Makcik Sabariah (driver van). Katanya Kakak takde dalam van. Waktu tu dia dah jalan dah. Beg Kakak ada dalam van tapi Kakak takde. Berderau rasanya. Pastu Makcik Sabariah kata dia dah round semula cari kat sekolah agama, kawan-kawan Kakak dan carik kat kedai-kedai (sekolah tu occupy lot kedai) tapi tak jumpa. Dahhh... luruh jantung rasanya.

Terus pesan dekat Mokja (adik ipar yang rumahnya sederet dengan rumah Kak Mon) mintak ambikkan Iman. Kak Mon terus drive menuju ke sekolah. Dalam hati Allah aje tahu apa rasa masa tu. Desperate. Hopeless. In mere seconds rasa kaki tangan dah sejuk dah. Tup-tup nampak Kakak dengan kawan dia berjalan kat seberang jalan nun. Nampak aje dia, I broke into tears.

Rupanya lepas dia letak beg dalam van, dia keluar balik untuk beli air. Keluar dari kedai van dah takde. Nasib baik dia dengan kawan dia. Buatnya dia sorang-sorang. Or anak sapa sapa aje for that matter. Dia jalan kaki ke sekolah Iman sebab she knew time tu I may be there untuk pick up Iman. That was why Makcik Sabariah tak jumpa dia when she turned back and searched. Nak kata jauh tu taklah tapi as a protective mom (I can be such a mother hen okay), plus a paranoid one as well, macam-macam terlintas kat fikiran ni. Zaman-zaman sekarang ni bukan boleh buat main-main soal keselamatan anak-anak. Alhamdulillah waktu tu belum jam 6.00pm plus cuaca baik. Dan Kak Mon pulak masih belum bekerja so I could search for her there and then. Kalau dari Bangsar nak balik Cheras.. dah berapa lama tu? Time orang balik keje pulak. Nauzubillah.

I have my own 'safety procedure' tapi hari tu, Kakak macam 'stunt'. Agaknya dia panik bila tengok van dah takde.

1. Hafal phone number Ummi, Abah dan driver van by heart. Ni memang dia ingat.

2. Kalau tertinggal van, masuk ke pejabat sekolah dan pinjam telefon. Telefon Ummi, Abah atau driver van. Stay put. Jangan merayau tempat lain. 3. Kalau pejabat sekolah dah tutup, pegi ke kedai-kedai yang Kakak dah biasa beli barang. Mintak pinjam telefon orang kedai untuk call Ummi, Abah atau driver van. JANGAN mintak pinjam dari orang Kakak tak kenal.

4. Pesan pada maid (kalau ada maid) atau pengasuh kat taska (kalau transit), kalau anak-anak lewat aje balik, terus call. Jangan tunggu 20-30 minit baru nak call. Especially kalau yang naik bas. Almaklumlah kalau bas ni populasi penumpangnya ramai. Mungkin driver bas tak cam muka setiap sorang.

Sepanjang masa dari Kak Mon nampak dia berjalan kat tepi jalan tu sampailah kat rumah, dia senyap aje. Mungkin dia terkedu. Mungkin terkejut. Mungkin panik tak habis lagi. Takpelah Kakak, jadikanlah ni pengajaran. Lepas tu Kak Mon ambik Iman (selesai kejadian tu, Iman masih belum habis sekolah). Masuk kereta, berjaya lepas kesesakan, tengok-tengok bag lukisan Iman tertinggal kat sekolah. Dahhh.. masuk semula sekolah cari bag. Pastu jalan lagik, tengok-tengok botol air pulak tercicir. Haihh. Mulalah rasa nak bukak ceramah sesi kedua pulak. Tengok muka anak-anak kat seat belakang, kesian pulak. Kakak senyap terkedu, Iman pulak merah padam kepanasan dengan haus. Terus berenti kat Petronas beli air sebotol sorang. Botol air yang tercicir tu tak pegi ambik pun. Takpelah, botol tu pun dah buruk.

Kak Mon ada cerita kat atas yang Kakak senyap sunyi sampai lah tiba kat rumah kan. Sampai aje kat rumah, terus berambat pegi padang like takde apa-apa terjadi jap tadi :P Kak Mon pulak, malam tu terus pegi dinner kat luar. Tensi. Stress. Makan dengan En Tebby nasi berhidang kat Q-Thai. Nasi, Dancing Fish, Dry Butter Prawn, Prawn Omelette, Tomyam Seafood, Kangkung Belacan. Licin. Hambik. RM100++ makan berdua.

Oh ya, Iman pun dah dapat botol air baru.

Dan Kakak kena dengar ceramah kedua dari Abahnya pulak...

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.

School Prep

Semalam Kakak bawak balik buku teks for next year. 13 buah termasuk 1 buku praktikal sains. I foresee a busy time for the next 2 months so whatever can be done immediately, will be done immediately. Teruslah membalut dengan jayanya. Thanks to instant book wrapper. Sangat mudah dan menjimatkan masa dan tenaga. It comes in clear plastic or embossed. Your choice. Ai ambik aje whatever baki wrapper from last year. And thanks to Kakak yang dikerah memotong selotep. Instant wrapper pun kena selotep gak, kasi kemas. Cam pakai tudung instant, kena pakai gak serkup, baru kemas.

By the way Kakak, bila dapat buku aktiviti nanti, sila balut sendiri yer. Better still, tolong balutkan buku-buku Iman sekali :P

gigih memotong selotep

wrapper yang sedia ada yang tak cun, semua dibuka


sila cari di kedai-kedai buku berhampiran. di carrefour dan tesco pun ada.

done. think gambar dolfin dengan si-hos tu kena tukar lah. ni buku tahun 4, bukan tahun 1.

Kepada kawan-kawan yang ada anak-anak yang bakal memulakan tahun 1, ai cadangkan yang berikut:-

1. Beli buku tulis, buku rampaian dan extra books yang diperlukan semasa cuti sekolah. Jangan tunggu hari pendaftaran. Alamatnya beratur panjang la.

2. Siapkan barang keperluan anak-anak awal-awal lagi. Kalau stationery mungkin boleh tunggu (mungkin dah dekat2 nak bukak sekolah, ada yang jual longgok kan) tapi kalau bab baju, eloklah setelkan awal-awal. Hujung-hujung nanti susah nak cari saiz.

3. Kalau rasa-rasa nak beli extra workbook, boleh pilih Longman, Sasbadi, Oxford atau Pelangi. So far, from the 4, ai cuma pernah guna Longman and plus few others (not in the list). Longman best, siap ada nota ringkas. These books usually come with answers so kalau rasa-rasa anak kita tu ada ciri-ciri spy, sila koyakkan dan simpan kat tempat lain. The 4 suggested adalah hasil siasatan ai based on pengalaman kawan-kawan dan sedara mara yang berjawatan pendidik. Tapi, yang paling penting, dah beli tu, jangan lah perap pulak (like me hu hu). Silalah gunakan.

4. Always have ample stocks of stationery. Pensil, pemadam, sharpener, pencil color, water color, brushes, plastesin, crayons, drawing bloks Biasa lah budak-budak hilangkan pensil semua tu. I always have minimum 2 dozens of pencil, a dozen of rubber, another dozen of sharpener. Pathetic huh? Tak koser ai nak pi kedai semata-mata nak beli pensil sebatang. Lagipun these things tak expired.

5. If money is not an issue, get loads of baju sekolah. Kakak has 10 white tops, 5 green bottoms, 5 blue bottoms, 5 socks and 3 pairs of shoes. Masa mula2 tu sebab takde Bibik, takut tak sempat nak basuh so memang ada cukup stok seminggu. That habit is hard to break. Sampai sekarang I make sure baju dia esp. the white top, cukup 10 lai. If your child is a girl and pakai tudung, boleh cari tudung selapis. Senang nak pakai. Better still, scout around for tudung instant yang ada awning tu. Jangan risau kepala anak panas pakai tudung. Good things eloklah dididik awal-awal.

6. If money is an issue, walaupun year end ni sales berlambak-lambak, terpaksalah tutup mata kejap. Banyak nak pakai duit bila nak bukak term ni.

7. If you intend your child to board van/bus to-fro school, make sure you ambik ample leave to monitor his/her movement. Stalk your child if need be (like I did, for 3 years!)

So, good luck to us mommies.

Macam Macam Iman

I said 'Iman, jom kira'

Okay Ummi...

One, two, thwee, four, five, shix, sheven, eight, nine, ten

Lagi?

one-teen, two-teen, thwee-teen, fourteen, five-teen, shixteen, sheven-eighteen, nineteen, twenteen...

owhhh... he's getting there nevertheless, isn't he?

After two months, he now reads Bacalah Anakku Series, book 4 already and for Easy Read, coming to book 3. I also bought him the similar series from Ameen Books and he's now reading the first book. Slowly but surely. InsyaAllah. Tak lama tak apa Puan, tapi kena konsisten. Lima minit pun cukup. Teacher Sharifah assured me when I told her about Iman's short attention span. (short = 1 page and he starts to look around and fidgets). But the consolation is there, he has the motivation to read. When at its peak, banyak pages dia baca. I remember one time when we just got back from Fibrecomm's Family Day and he hasn't finished one of his homework, and he was sleeping and the clock showed almost 10pm. Tebby woke him up and he did his homework without any fuss.

Math-wise, bad mommy that I am, I don't really concentrate on Math. Well, he can count (albeit tak berapa betul lagi for numbers after 10), he knows which is more and which is less. Which is bigger number, which is smaller. Now he's into addition. First there was small buttons corresponding to the number. You know, 4 + 3 and you draw 4 buttons on one side and then 3 on the other and then you total up the buttons and get 7. Now just numbers, so I asked him to draw the buttons. And he draws lotsssss of them. When I tegur him, he just said, 'Iman suka button banyak, Iman lukis banyak'. Well, it took me sometimes to explain and thank God, he understood between what is needed to be done and what he wanted to do. Well, for now that is.

Anyway, remember Sofeya? (read here) Well, it's a love-hate relationship now. One time he told me to drive faster so that we could catch up with Sofeya's car and that he wants to bring Sofeya back home, while the other time he told me he doesn't like Sofeya coz Sofeya's not wangi. They still run together to the swing after classes and call each other out if me and Sofeya's parent happen to send or fetch the kids at the school at the same time.

So, what about me? Am fine, thank you. I told Tebby the other day that I want to quit for good (which he is still considering). The satisfaction of getting that extra thousands to spend on things I don't necessary need or splurging on another 2 tubs of facial mask just because I don't have that flavour yet or buying another pair of black shoes because this one comes in different design is just not comparable to the satisfaction of staying home, helping your kids with their school works and just browsing the net for goblin shark, precious gems, transformer and all, and preparing meals for them. Perhaps because I have a maid at home. Perhaps because I got enough allowance from En Tebby. Kalau takde maid, haruslah ku stress jua kan!

10% = 35 Days

It's been 35 days! Means I have already spent 10% of my one year leave.

35 hari nan indah (well... mostly). Kinda loving it staying home and manage my household affairs (well, with Bibik Ros's assistance anyway). To say dok rumah takde keje, well, is wrong. Who says so? I am now officially in charge of domestic affairs, field activities and liason officer. I am a far cry from domestic goddess (yet, I hope!).

Iman has been going to Dyslexia Center for approximately 4 weeks. He's under Teacher Sharifah with 4-5 other students, mostly his age. There's Alia, Arish, Omar and Sofea (Sofea is his monkey love at the moment). He's still at beginners level but I guess that would be most appropriate since he did not know a thing about abc 123 when he first started there. From what I gather so far, they use phoenetic technics, similarly to Bacalah Anakku. But then since the class is small (and the teachers are trained to manage kids with special needs) everybody gets fair amount of attention and nobody gets left behind. Homework is a must everyday. Weekends means more. Revision is needed on daily basis. 10 minit pun dah cukup. That 10 minutes rule isn't mine okay. I am told, that long is enough.

Let's see how Iman is doing after 4 weeks in Ampang Hilir, shall we?

Alhamdulillah, he has shown lotsa progress (by my standard) since he first went there on 5th July 2010. From not knowing head-and-tail of abc, he now knows a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, m, s, o and u. He can read simple sukukata ba bi bu be bo, ca ci cu ce co, da di du de do and fa fi fu fe fo. Masih merangkak-rangkak lagi but insyaAllah, he's getting there.

As for English, he can read bat, cat, fat, hat, mat and sat. He can spell those as well. So far alhamdulillah, for every matching exercise for the first letter (eg, connect m to picture of mug), semua he can do on his own. Writing wise masih agak slow and he writes really BIG, sampai terover-over dari garisan.

He's quite good at numbers (must be the genes from his father, that one). Knows 1 to 10. Knows that 2 balls are 2, 3 cakes are 3. Hari tu saja-saja je tanya dia, If you have 3 homework and Teacher Sharifah adds another one, how many do you have now? I saw 4 fingers raised. Happy? Indeed I am.

At times, even he himself looks perplexed and suprise, as if 'hey, I can do this', as if dia sendiri tak sangka. Pat him on the back, good boy. What a proud mom I am of you, Iman.

Syukran Ya Allah. Insaf saya. Despite all kekhilafan setiap hari, Allah mempermudahkan perjalanan kami menguruskan Muhammad Iman.

By far this is the most difficult homework. Difficult in terms of preparation. Iman was given a long strand of string then he has to cut it into shorter ones and shape them and paste them. Bersememeh okay. He, got 'very good' for that.

Spelling. He did that on his own.

Also on his own. This is among his favorite kind of homework.


Additional aid I bought for him. Almost run an amok that he couldn't find 'C' for crocodile. He doesn't know there's similar animal called alligator. Now when I show him this, he said 'eyyigehter'. Adam added those smudges, takmo kalah. Apa Abang buat, dia nak join.

Additonal aid I bought. These are for Math.

These are for alphabet recognition

Iman Kawan Soffeyyaaaa Ajerrrr

Today is the 9th day Iman at Ampang Hilir. Unlike Kakak, he makes friends fast, can put names to faces. He knows that Arish has been absent for 2 days due to fever. He knows the one who sits beside him is Omar (Teacher Sharifah has to seperate these boys as they get too naughty when they are together). He showed me a small birdy sticker which Sofia gave him few days ago. I am glad his social skills has improved a lot. In his previous kindy, he often spent time outside the class, alone.

I make small conversation during our journey back home. You know, about school, about friend, or if he gets a star sticker that day (that is given as a rewards btw).

Hari ni Arish datang? me asked
Datang. Dua hari Arish demam.
Iman main naughty dengan Omar lagi? (they were caught playing swords using pencils the day before)
Takkkk...
Who's your friend? Omar? Arish?
Takkk... Iman kawan dengan Soffeyyaaaa jerrrr.
Kenapa?
Sebab Soffeyyaaaa bagi Iman tiker buyummm (sticker burung)

Owhhhhh... anakku.... bertuah sungguhh!!

Of Baby Ariff & Confinement

Went to visit Smah (better known as Sikulat in cyber world). Kami sama pregnant tahun lepas dan sama-sama keguguran after that. She decided to try again while me and Tebby decided not to anymore. She got pregnant again later and just given birth semalam.

Name is Ariff Farhan. Mama Ariff said, it's with 'i' not 'e'. Am not sure if the name has two 'f's or just one. Mandai-mandai aje letak Ariff. Born at 3.12kg, this little bundle sure full of spirit. Time kami visit, kalau dia marah, merah-merah muka and meronta-ronta sampai keluar tangan kecik dia tu dari bedung. Baby Ariff, good boy now okay. Jangan grumpy-grumpy okay.

In my live (i must add, so far), I have been pregnant with 5 babies. Iman had a twin but the foetus never made it even in 1st trimester. Adam almost got a younger sister (my instinct strongly says it was a girl). Among the 3 children I gave birth to, Iman is the smallest and lightest at birth while Adam was the opposite. Giving birth to Iman was the most difficult thing to do (as well as the most painful) while Adam, despite his size, was the easiest. Kakak? All in the middle between the boys. Caring for Iman, well, was the most difficult stage when he was a baby. Menangis. Tak lapar. Tak basah. Cuma menangis. Alhamdulillah, I am blessed with such a wonderful husband yang sanggup melayan kerenah Iman yang didodoi sambil berdiri sampai terlelap semula. Besar sikit, mengamuk pulak. Since communication used to be limited, tak tau kenapa dia mengamuk. Difficult? You bet. With Adam, it was all easy. The kind of baby yang letak kat atas tilam, terus doze of tanpa perlu ditepuk-tepuk or dodoi. Kakak? She's in between the two. Difficult or not, painful or not, I love them all the same.

Anyway, confinement was tough during my 1st and 2nd tho I spent those back at my hometown. Those were emotional and full of tears. My 3rd, albeit being spent here in KL, minding 3 kids without any help (Yes, my husband did help but he has to go to work after paternity ended. He left me and the kids with enough cooked meal tho, thanks Yang). My mom is a strict dietician, the old way. Little water, no fruits, everything must be 'dry'. I can't blame her tho as that was how she was taught how healing process was after child birth. I ended up weak, not hydrated enough and a good case of constipation. During my 3rd confinement, it was mainly due to survival tho, I ate balanced diet. Of course kena jaga-jaga for food that are 'gatal' and 'sejuk'. I took bread, milo, horlick, vege, fruits and loads of plain water. Had soup, singgang, grilled chicken and all. In short, I was well-fed and well-hydrated. And I recovered relatively quicker than I did during my 1st and 2nd confinement. Of course I took all those medications as well as a good dose of jamu. After a week bersalin, I already did the laundry, masak, sapu rumah and all. It was mainly for survival, like I said earlier, but hey,.. I survived!

This is purely based on my experience. How you want to deal with your confinement issues are totally yours to decide. I am not against traditional method and nor am I against modern ones. Have it in anyway as long as you can keep yourself healthly and fit enough to care for your baby (and other children too!!)

I know Smah pon is more or less like me. Janji sihat kan, Smah..

Dan yang penting.. jangan stress!!!

Artsy Beadsy Day

Who says you'll have lesser thing to worry about and work on when your kids are older? All the same.. when they are baby, you worry about their umbilical cord, when they toddle around, you worry if they fall and hurt themselves. When they are pre-schoolers, you worry if your kids mix around well with their friends or not. When they go to school, you worry about their grades. Been there done it. I can't comment more since I have none older than a primary school-goer. But I bet I'm gonna worry about what course they gonna take when they start college or who they are dating after that.

That's what mom does I guess. I worry (and spoil) my kids.

Such as recently. Kakak just sat for her mid-term. It started last Monday ended today. Her art (better known as Pendidikan Seni Visual) exam falls on the last day and from all the options, she wanted to make a bracelet from beads. That's the easiest one anyway (I think).

So, naturally I went worrying if she can actually do it or not. We had 2 practice sessions, an hour each. In each session I showed her how to do it and later she did it twice, under my super-close and super-irritative supervision.

Oh, btw, here's what I bought for her..

3 small tubs of beads, a roll of stretchable cord and went a bit further by buying a storage box to ease her up.


So, I went showing her what is the should-be length of the cord and that she has to tie one end to a pencil or something so that the beads won't fall off. I showed her the beading process and finally how to tie the ends together.

'Keep your beads according the colors. Green-yellow ones in a slot, the yello in another slot and same goes with the pink ones. Remember to tie one end of the cord to a pencil or pen' Say me.. more like membebel kot..


'Oh.. if the end gets messy, just snip it off with a sharp scissor but don't bring mine to school. Mine's new and I paid a lot for it. It's super-sharp too and definately not a kiddy-scissor'.. Me say again..



Done! Cantik kan. But....

But.. but... the beads are to heavy for the cord's tension. It went like this when held up. Buruk! I actually specifically bought these beautiful beads so that I can make my one for meself once she's done with it.

opsie... all droopy

So, we took some plastic beads from her sempoa instead hu hu. No photos, I was too frustrated heh heh.

I bought the items from Art-Friend (and almost went gila nak borong semua benda)

Note: -

She came back today announcing she had done the bracelet just the way I tought her. And the teacher took it away too. Thank God we switched to that sempoa beads!

Kisah Meminjam Tudung

Anak dara saya, alhamdulillah dah mula bertudung secara konsisten. Kata orang ni, sejuk perut ibu mengandung. Syukur.

Sebagai galakan, saya belikan dia tudung-tudung yang saya fikir dia akan suka dan pada situasi situasi tertentu, saya benarkan dia buat pilihan sendiri. Contohnya baru-baru ini, saya pesan tudung online dari http://www.asteriskboutique.blogspot.com/, si Kakak tumpang order dia sama. 5 helai untuk dia saja! Saya pun order jugak lah untuk diri sendiri (what's new kan). I assumed we can share so I made sure takde color yang duplicate between my and her order.

Baru-baru ni, saya pinjam tudung hitam dengan edging corak zebra dia. One of the 5 she ordered. Sebenarnya saya ambik, pakai, baru saya inform dia. Bukan mintak permission pun. Kena sound dengan abahnya. We have to be what we want her to be. You kata dia kena itu ini tapi you tak buat, macamana? Heh heh.. sorry Kakak.

Then I decided to pinjam one more, kaler pink. This time I wanted to do it right so I asked for her permission. Kerut-kerut muka dia tak berapa nak bagi pinjam. Katanya hari tu Ummi ambik je tudung Kakak, Kakak belum pun pakai lagi Ummi dah pakai. Yes, bad mommy. So, dia taknak kasi pinjam. She's and individual with her own rights on her things plus she's 9 already, so I backed out from further negotiating. Pi lah bawak diri ngemas almari hu hu. I saw she turned off lampu dalam bilik dia shortly afterwards. Lepas tu dalam 10 minit, dia keluar semula and extended her hands.

Minta maaf katanya pasal tudung tu.
Takut Ummi kecik hati.
Kalau Ummi nak pinjam yang pink tu pinjamlah.
Tapi lepas pakai Ummi mesti basuh terus dan lepas kering terus simpan dalam almari Kakak.
Dan.. jaga elok-elok, jangan kena kicap.

Ayat last tu yang tak tahan tu. Kicap is not my feveret, unlike you my dear. So, berjaya jugaklah saya pun menggayakan tudung pink yang dipinjam dari Kakak.... dan tak kena kicap! dan dah basuh dan dah simpan dalam almari dia heh heh.

inilah tudung kontroversi itu..

on being a mom

I did my Maghrib the other day. Berdoa. Doa seorang ibu untuk anak-anaknya. Doa si ibu untuk dirinya sendiri juga. Secara spesifiknya ~ mendoakan si Kakak agar lebih minat ke tadika dan mampu untuk catch-up sebahagian besar yang dia ketinggalan dan mendoakan Allah kurniakan sebanyak-banyak kesabaran kepada Umminya untuk buat ‘kelas tambahan’ di rumah.

Dalam semester 2 ini sahaja, Kakak tidak ke tadika selama 6 minggu! 3 minggu sewaktu dia sakit pertengahan Julai lalu dan 3 minggu lagi baru-baru ini sewaktu ummi dan abahnya ke Korea. Dia jauh ketinggalan. Kawan-kawan sudah pandai membaca, dia belum. Kawan-kawan sudah pandai mengira, dia masih ter agak-agak. Melalui panggilan telefon ~ petugas tadika maklumkan dia tergolong dalam kanak-kanak yang cerdik (alhamdulillah) tetapi dek sebab terlalu banyak hari tidak hadir, dia ketinggalan. Mungkin sebab itu dia semakin kurang semangat ke tadika.

Malam itu. Selepas solat Maghrib. Selepas berdoa. Dimulakan dengan Bismillahirahmanirrahim. Ya Allah, berikanlah aku kesabaran untuk mengajar anakku. Umminya short-tempered, Kakak pula mengalami short-attention-span. Dia asyik menonton Justice League. Bila dipanggil jawabnya ‘alaaaaa…’. Teringat pula perumpamaan ~ give and take. Si Kakak dibiarkan terus menonton dengan janjinya lepas tamat nanti Justice League, harus buat homework. Malam itu matematik. Topiknya – addition. Alhamdulillah, dia dapat menyelesaikan semua soalan di bawah pengawasan umminya. I know her strength lies in art. She finds it hard to understand through numbers and letters. So we drew. 4 dots here. Then came another 3 dots. That made one, twoooo, threeeee, four, fiiiiive, siiixxxx,.. sevennnn dots. Tulis nombor 7 di kotak hujung. Dia senyum. Ummi usap kepalanya. ‘See, bukan kakak tak pandai. Kakak kena dengar betul-betul Ummi cakap. Kakak tak boleh kocoh-kocoh. Kena sabar’. Selesai 20 soalan, ummi tanya ‘Siapa good girl???’ Berdengung satu rumah dengan jawapannya ‘SSAAAYYYAAA’.

Sebagai ibu, ummi perasan kakak banyak ingat melalui gambaran. Ummi tunjukkan muka surat bergambar kucing dengan cerita Ana dan Jiji. Dia bercerita. Bulat-bulat seperti tertulis. Ini Ana. Ini Jiji. Ana suka Jiji. Bila ditutup sikucing itu, dia hilang punca. Jawabnya ‘tak tauuu’. Si kakak juga suka berimaginasi. Ia baik untuk minda kreatifnya tetapi kadang-kadang dia ‘hanyut’ dalam khayalannya. Membesarkan si Kakak perlu banyak bermain psikologi. Orangnya mudah merajuk, cepat membentak dan amat perasa. Sukakan puji-pujian dan suka diberi keutamaan Namanya sendiri memberi makna ‘utama’. Perjuangan umminya belum selesai. Harus di latih membaca pula. Hujung minggu ini akan dibeli kadbod untuk buat flashcard. Minta-minta Allah permudahkan.

Kepada Kakak ~ ummi harap kakak jangan rasa inferior dengan kawan-kawan. Kakak budak cerdik. Ummi pasti kakak boleh kejar balik segala yang kakak tertinggal. Walaupun Kakak bukan top 5, top 10 atau top apa-apa pun, Ummi tetap sayangkan Kakak. Tapi kakak kena bantu ummi untuk membantu kakak. Kakak perlu luangkan masa 15-20 minit setiap malam untuk belajar dengan Ummi. InsyaAllah kita akan buat tiap-tiap hari. Kakak nak jadi big girl yang pandai kan. Nanti Kakak boleh baca buku-buku kakak, boleh kira mainan kakak atau CD yang kakak ada. Okay?

3 Ramadhan 2047



Anyway, semalam sampai rumah pukul 6.50p.m. jugak despite keluar 15 minutes earlier than kelmarin. Sempatlah buat bihun sup. Semua bahan-bahan memang dah siap, tinggal nak menumis dan buat sup saja. Bihun yang siap direbus dan tos, Ummi steam balik. Che Abang tu pulak ada beli ayam bakar pantai dalam 1/2 ekor. Nasib baik Che Abang tu simple je. Ada jugak isteri yang mengadu, suaminya mesti nak ada gulai itu ini bila berbuka. Mau pulak yang freshly cooked, yang panas-panas semula ni tak main lahh. Takpe, dapat pahala tu bila menggembirakan suami. (Photo 1~view at the parking lot yesterday, on my left. Photo 2~we were static in this position for a good 15 minutes)

Ayam Bakar Pantai Dalam

Bihun Sup Sempoi

ps ~ drummet tak sempat goreng..