Half Moon & Tutti Frutti

So, apa bikin during the long weekend? We had planned for getaway actually tapi due to some reasons, it was cancelled. Nasib baik gak kensel sebab the boys were not too well. Kalau pegi mana-mana hotel alamatnya harus berendam mandi kolam kan.

Since dah lama tak dine in makan Nasi Arab, we ols pegi ke Half Moon. Tak femes kot kedai ni. It's either you know it or you don't. Kedainya kat Seri Kembangan. Coincidently sebelah dengan klinik Rose Peng (Iman's ex psychiatrist). Pekerjanya mostly berbangsa Arab. Tak fasih BM or BI tapi cukup lah to get messages through. Customer pun ramai set-set Arab. Service laju je. Lagi murah dari Saba'. Dan lagi sedap.

Ahad lepas we ols order nasi for 2. Selalu tengok orang Arab ni makan dalam dulang kan. Konon nak merasa. Ambik kau,.. punya banyak nasi macam nak makan 4 orang! Pulak tu si Adam demand nak makan roti Arab. Hambik.. amat lebau. Tapi sedappp. Ni ai share 2 keping gambar. Takleh nak posing-posing makanan banyak-banyak pasal sorang nak pi toilet, sorang heboh pasal air Coke dia tak sampai-sampai, 2 orang gaduh berebut nak tengok Transformers kat henfon. Tak nyempat maknya nak beraksi memfoto lauk-pauk. Ya, hidup ai memang meriah. Alhamdulillah. The more the merrier bak kata orang ni. Eh, takdelah, no more coming.

Kalau set-set diet tu, mau 7-8 orang kongsi makan ni. Lauknya khabsah lamb sama dengan roast chicken. Ada salad which consisted of kubis+ tomato, sambal cili and soup. Semuanya very light, unlike nasi beriyani. Tapi kalau makan 2-3 pinggan pun sama je macam makan nasi beriyani kot kan.

Roti Arab. Crispy kat luar, dalam lembut. Ai selalu order dengan fried liver. Fried liver ai prefer Saba' nyer. Lagi sedap.

After Half Moon, ke Tutti Frutti pulak. Sebenarnya I was full and it was raining tapi dah janji dengan anak-anak and they were so excited about it, ku gagahkan jua. Tu pun tunggu 5 minit dalam kereta pasal hujan lebat sangat. It's frozen yoghurt pastu tabur-tabur lah topping segala. Harga adalah by weight. Kalau tamat letak macam-macam, siap sedia lah membayar yer. We took 3 cups kaler green. Budak-budak ni makan few scoop pastu sebok main pulak. Dah tu mak pak le kena habihkan. As someone yang akan minum teh-o suam even on sunny days, it was a shivering and freezing experience for me. Tambah pulak huja lebat masa tu. I literally shivered my way out!

Bergotong royong makan frozen yoghurt. We took the green cup. Masa tu ada pink and green only. Rasanya pink tu paling besar kot. The smallest orange takde. Kalau ada haruslah ai suruh budak-budak ni ambik yang oren je hihi.

Secara negatif nya pula, poket adalah cepat kempis kalau selalu sangat buat lawatan ke Tutti Frutti ni. Tengok resit ni ha.. Lebih RM10 semangkuk beb. RM37 kalau layan Baskin Robbin lagi syiok. Tapi takpelah... tak salah mencuba. En Tebby suka pasal rasanya light. Unlike me, I like something yang lemak berkrim.

My opinion?
Bronze medal goes to Tutti Fruitti
Silver medal goes to Baskin Robbin
Gold medal goes to Mc D's sundae cone - sedap okay. lemak berkrim. murah pulak tu..

Bright Not Broken

image credit to www.amazon.com

Yezza.. Kak Mon dah mula galak ber-blog semula :D

This is my current read. This may appeal to just some of us. Having gone through a bit of experience raising a mild-ADHD, this is an inspiring book.

I urge all of us to take action when your detect a delayed milestone (which is not in normal range. as I said in my older entries, don't be pressured if your 3yo can't read yet when your neighbour's can) Early intervention is very very very important. Ini permulaan penting yang akan membentuk masa depan anak-anak. Even for normal children. What more children with special needs.

I bought my copy from Kinokuniya KLCC for RM76.00.

Written by Diane M. Kennedy, Rebecca S. Bass and contibutions by Temple Grandin

Here's an excerpt from the book. Credit to http://www.josseybass.com/

The future of our society depends on our gifted children—the population in which we’ll find our next Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, or Virginia Woolf. Yet the gifts and talents of some of our most brilliant kids may never be recognized because these children fall into a group known as twice exceptional, or “2e.” Twice exceptional kids are both gifted and diagnosed with a disability—often ADHD or an Autism Spectrum Disorder—leading teachers and parents to overlook the child’s talents and focus solely on his weaknesses. Too often, these children get lost in an endless cycle of chasing diagnostic labels and are never given the tools to fully realize their own potential.

Bright Not Broken sheds new light on this vibrant population by identifying who twice exceptional children are and taking an unflinching look at why they’re stuck. The first work to boldly examine the widespread misdiagnosis and controversies that arise from our current diagnostic system, it serves as a wake-up call for parents and professionals to question why our mental health and education systems are failing our brightest children.

Most importantly, the authors show what we can do to help 2e children, providing a whole child model for parents and educators to strengthen and develop a child’s innate gifts while also intervening to support the deficits. Drawing on painstaking research and personal experience, Bright Not Broken offers groundbreaking insight and practical strategies to those seeking to help 2e kids achieve their full potential

Bebelan Kak Mon on Interview

Adoilah..

Nanti-nanti kalau korang nampak blog ni senyap sunyi dan sepi, sila tanya 'Kak Mon tak mau tutup blog ke?' Laju pulak mem-blog ha ha.

Anyway, ni pun one of my vent-out session. Stress okay.

For the past 3-4 years (diskaun setahun cuti, jadilah 2-3 tahun yer), my job requires me, at times, to be panel of interview for new recruitment, rectuitment after upgrading and whatnots. Bukan peringkat tertinggi yer pasal ai pun level-level gitu-gitu ajer. Takkan lah level-level ai nak interview orang yang nak jadi GM pulak kan.

There's a few things that bothers me. Why? Interview is very much like a first impression. Cam korang nak jumpa bakal mertua. Takkan nak pakai jeans ketat walaupun memang everyday itulah pakaian u ols kan. Kenalah sopan santun penuh adab. Unless your bakal inlaws pun memang pakai jeans sendat, I can't say much la kan. Ingat tau pepatah 'first impression is often lasting'.

Off track?

Okay, back to the topic.

Ai agak kecewa dengan calon-calon yang datang interview. I am participating as a panel for few times now and I feel banyak calon yang fail to pay attention to the details. Contohnya, kalau borang yang very straight forward pun tak boleh nak isi betul-betul, how can we entrust you dengan kerja-kerja pejabat yang jauh lebih kompleks? Or when you klik-klik kat online form, silalah klik betul-betul. I just can't accept 'eh silap laaaaa' pastu senyum-senyum gelak gelak. Grow up peeps *eyes roll*

Meh ai listkan..

1. Isi borang dengan betul dan lengkap. For that, it is good to bring your alatulis. Bukannya nak suruh bawak gunting lurus, gunting bengkok, pensil warna pun. Pen, liquid paper, pencil, gam.. cukup. Gam? Kot nak tampal gambar kat borang kang senang. Gambar bukan cam setem boleh jilat-jilat kasi lekat. Kadang-kadang CGPA pun tak tulis, language literacy pun tak tulis,.. jantina pun tak tulis. Semalam I asked a candidate apa jantina dia. Obviously dia tu lelaki. He was perplexed. Told him borang dia takde catitan jantina.

2. Kalau isi anything online, klik betul-betul kat tempat sepatutnya. Ini keje kat A, klik kat B. Level C, klik D. Adoi. Those are basics. Kalau itupun tak leh nak comply, apalagi yang lain-lain.

3. Gambar tu tolonglah buat proper gambar. Tak kisahlah nak senyum nampak gigi ke, nak senyum sikit ke, nak posing senget ke.. janji gambar yang proper for isi borang and terkini. Ni ai tengok gambar kat borang muka lonjong dan kurus, tup-tup yang masuk muka bulat pulak. And Konfius ai taw. And pleaselah jangan letak gambar dengan background ala-ala sambutan hari raya or the likes.

4. CV and documents and certifications. Have one proper specific folder for the interview. Have documents organised secara kronologi terbalik. I dunno what's the term. I mean kalau kelulusan tertinggi is degree level, letakkan degree dulu, pastu baru letak diploma kalau ada, pastu sijik-sijik sekolah menengah and so on. Ni jadi satu kerja pulak panel nak belek-belek folder you all tu mencari documents. Pastu jangan lah campur sekali dengan EPF statement, surat mintak keje, loan statement and whatnots... Ni semua common sense

5. Dressing tu biar bertempat. I don't expect you to come in power suit lorr. Pakaian yang sesuai je. Pants and shirt pun okay. Baju kurung pun ok. Just don't overdo sampai macam nak pegi dinner.. kelip kelap. Or too underdress macam nak pegi Carrefour beli roti Gardenia pukul 9.30 malam (eh, bunyi macam ai je tu, I mean pegi Carrefour beli roti). Atau seksi tak ingat pakai spaghetti strap atau sleeveless.

Sekian yer Kak Mon membebel (lagi). Hari ni berapa haribulan? 20hb? Owh, excuse my PMS.

Tonggek??

I know I know.
Konon nak tutup blog, tup tup buat entry balik.

Nak luahkan jugak hati dan perasaan ai nih.

I'm okay with people wearing and selling all this trim and slim corset or whatever yang sewaktu dengannya. Sebab ai pun pakai. Tapi ai tak jual.

Tapi perlukan ayat-ayat motivasi seperti..

'Nanti boleh pakai kebaya ketat, slim fit jeans yang dan 6 tahun tak muat or kemeja pendek dah 7 tahun tak muat tu pegi ofis'

Atau gambar motivasi seperti ini.. eh gambar takde.. korang imagine je lah ek..

Gambar before - berbaju kurung, bertudung tutup dada. Tutup aurat lah senang cerita. Posing ala malu-malu.
Gambar after - baju kebaya kecik, kain batik ketat belah depan, tudung pendek. Posing tonggek-tonggek okeh.

Pastu kalau nak ajak ai join bisnes tu agak-agak lah.. anda pun baru pakai semalam, belum tau kesannya, dah ajak ai join. I have my own principle. Ai cuba dulu, kalau berkesan mungkin ai akan promote. Kalau tak berkesan, I am gonna be veryyyyyyy frank.

Pastu nak promote kat orang-orang macam ai ni, tengok-tengoklah sikit. Nak suruh aku lose weight lagi ke bendanya?? I am only 48kg taw. Nanti tak nampak terus ai kat ofis nih pasal dah kecik halus kurus amat. I need to lose inches, not weight. Toksah sebok nak suruh lose weight. Kalau cerita pasal hilangkan flab tu, ada lah jugak my interest kat situ.

Boleh tak korang positionkan promotion benda ni lain sikit? Ni macam mensajes and menteliurkan orang lain untuk buka aurat je. Nak position cemana? Pandai-pandai lah korang pikir sendiri.

Ni tak semua okay. Segelintir only.

Kepada yang dah bersuami tu, berhiaslah by all means, untuk suami anda. Feel nice about yourself in good and rightful ways. Nak mendada ke, nak punggung padat ke.. dadalah, padatlah. Tayang kat suami aje yer.

Ni posing tonggek-tonggek ni, kesian akaun cik abe tu.. Kalau cik abe sendiri suker u ols posing tonggek-tonggek di khalayak ramai, I dunno what to say anymore lah.

Ganas kah entry ni? Kalau you all kenal ai, ai ni sebenarnya malu-malu kucen orangnya ... auwwww!! *buat mata kelip-kelip*

Gone...

Mood mem-blog dah ke laut. Bakal ditutup. Tapi saya ada di FB yer.

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.

Cincin Kerawang for Sale

For sale jugak.. 4.26gm. Saiz tak ingat tp boleh tengok gambar bawah ni untuk agak-agak berapa diameter.