Amri is seven years old today!

How weird to turn seven and the first year of school was already over. I meant, you're supposed to be seven on your first year.

Well...bringing up Amri was never easy. He was sickly for the first 3 years (read: high hospitalisation bill) then exceptionally super active for the rest (read : ER) . And now he was diagnosed with dyslexia (read: costly therapy). Which made him quite a high maintenance child. Fortunately, he was blessed with a highly resourceful parents and strong family support from both side of the families. Plus, we did not pass out at the sight of blood.

Amri received his birthday present from us last night, and so was Adam who insisted that his birthday was on the same date, except that, Amri was out of Ibu's tummy first. I wanted to give them skateboards but at hubby's raised eyebrow, quickly changed it to a safer Lego set.

We celebrated his birthday (and our wedding anniversary) at Colonial Times and had a really great time because the place was practically empty. To our surprise, Amri was embarrassed when the waiters sang Happy Birthday song to him and hid behind his father. So much so that he refused to blow the candle. Fortunately, Adam coolly blew the candle on his behalf because, well, as insisted by him, it was his birthday too.


Happy 7th Birthday!













Though we talked, chatted and planned about going out just the two of us to celebrate our anniversary, at the end we decided againts that. Hubby and I always met up for lunch or went out together after work. There'll be plenty of opportunity for us to have a private celebration later on. We'll celebrate this day as Amri's birthday for as long as it takes then perhaps one day he'll prefer to celebrate it alone or just with his other half...then hubby and I could sit down together and reminisce about the good old noisy times

I owed Amri a birthday party. Now, when could I squeeze one?

School holiday program

I finally found a decent school holiday program for the boys at Children's Playhouse, located at Bukit Jelutong. Monday to Friday, 9am to 12. Doing a little bit of everything including art&craft, mengaji, computer, swimming (not a lesson, just splashing in the pool) and a few more things. Cost me RM700+ for one month but the cost was well justified.

These are what happened when both boys were at home at the same time without me, the evil sergeant around:
1. Curtain rod was pulled off from its bracket
2. One mirror in bibik's bathroom was broken followed by another mirror in their own bathroom
3. Adam ended up with a deep cut on his toe because of no.2
4. My room had a drawing of spongebob
5. Most of the foods I bought for them was sold to their friends and neighbours kids. Sales proceed was used to buy ice cream
6. My house perpetually looks like the aftermath of a hurricane attack
7. My usually well dressed bibik looks like someone with a bad case of gila meroyan
8. They took turns to call my mobile phone every few minutes
....and a lot more

*sigh*

A weekend at BBR Batu Feringgi

Actually the main reason for this trip up north was to attend cousin Ira's wedding at Butterworth. But any reason was good enough reason for us to squeeze in a little bit of short vacationing.

The drive took longer than anticipated because some part of PLUS highway (Rawang-Tg Malim-SlimRiver) was undergoing some verrryyyy slooowww major upgrading works. Why now, for god sake. Expected completion date is Dec 2007, duh.















The beautiful beach seen from our balcony

Anyway, we attended Ira's wedding first. Met my parents and most of our relatives there. Seemed like half of Langkawi folks were there, enjoying the event and catching up with each other. Abg Caq was the photographer and Abg Cik the videoman.

Checked in to Bayview, which, after the slow drive, the scorching nothern heat, the superb food which I overate and the constant bickering of the two boys, seemed so heavenly. My first thought was just to crash out till dinner time. But the two boys had other plans. The rate the changed into their swimming gear was amazing :). So this makcik grudgingly hauled her heavier body down to the beach....
















Adam waiting for the wave























So we had two days of sand, sun and sea plus occasional dip into the pool. I even managed to squeeze in a wonderful massage that straightened out the tight knot at my neck and shoulder. Should have done this more often, the relaxing trip that did not involve sightseeing or shopping or rushing everywhere. The two boys were contend to play at the beach and pool. Next time I'll leave them with hotel's babysitter and get hubby to join me for 1/2 day spa :)






















We checked out on Sunday. On the way to Penang bridge, we decided to stop for a bowl of mee udang at Miami beach. The boys asked whether they could check out the beach while we were ordering, to which i said yes.















Adam and Amri checking out the beach

Next thing I knew, Adam was already inside the water while Amri was rolling happily on the sand, both fully clothed. Sigh!







Adam, covered with sand from head to toe plus pockets




















These two rascals were on their last piece of shirts. So after letting them get enough sand on their hair, pockets and underwear, we almost physically dragged them to the nearest public shower that was surprisingly clean. Much to the dissappointment of the two boys and a group of Japanese tourist who found their antics were highly amusing. Luckily hubby found a pair of spare pants each for them so they were bundled up into the car wearing just long pants and promptly felt asleep five minutes afterwards.

I had to make a pit stop at metrojaya penang to buy them shirts. Adehhhh..... where are they roadside-made-in-thailand sellers when you need them...

Selamat Pengantin Baru to Aimi Syahira

This sweet little cousin of mine has suddenly grown up to a beautiful princess and get herself a prince charming to spend the rest of her life with. Wonder when did the growing up took place. I still remember her as a five years old girl singing at the top of her voice while swinging wildly at my parents porch.

Hope you and Waffi will be blessed with all the happiness in years to come.

Eid 2007

Raya was great this year. No one get seriously sick (though Amri had runny nose), weather was perfect, enough food, no baby that needs constant feeding and diapers and nobody is pregnant.

One snag though. Amri had been asking for duit raya from people. Which to us, was extremely embarrassing. He was still okay last year so I was quite unprepared for it. It took the whole day of reminding him sternly for the message to sink in. Made more difficult by constant flow of guest with their little ones blatantly asking for duit raya without anyone reprimanding. Must have seemed unfair to him.

We went visiting relatives in the afternoon, knowing that tomorrow the traffic would be terrible so we'd better do our jalan jalan today. True enough, traffic was clear all the way

This year menu:
Pulut kuning with rendang daging (chicken was sold out...isk)
Ketupat palas with serunding
Nasi impit + kuah kacang
Sate
Nasi minyak given by Che Non
Lontong given by Mak Su

Sedih pulak tak dapat my favourite rendang ayam. Maybe I should rear a couple of chickens there then by raya next year, they will be ready to be turned into rendang.

Eve of Eid

Nothing much for me to do, everything was already prepared by Ummi. So I just crashed out till late afternoon when I suddenly remembered that I still did not have any tudung to wear tomorrow. Nagged hubbby to drive me to town who in turns nagged Cu Nan to drive us to town instead. Great. Then Amri nagged us to tag along but ended up sleeping inside the car.

Managed to get the tudung (and cheap too). Traffic was not as hellish as I expected, probably because everybody were busy doing Eid preparation at home

Saw this when Cu Nan stopped to buy ice cubes. In fact, Ummi wanted us to buy these lot too but I put my foot down (hard) on that. And asked Cu Nan to buy regular sunquick orange juice instead. Apparently, these are official drinks at most of Terengganu homes during Eid.

Change of plan

About all those travelling plans we discussed/argued? We aborted all of them and chose to drive at the stroke of midnight instead. Or more specifically, 11.46pm Thursday night. Reason being, our stuffs were miraculously packed the day before so there was no more packing to be done. Unless I wanted to pack house furnitures as well. Another reason was, after sending bibik off to her brother's house, we did not dare to turn the two boys loose on the house that was already painstakingly tidied up by bibik.

We reached Kula Terengganu about 9.30am Friday morning. 9+ hours of driving. Which was 4 hours earlier than expected.

KT was swelteringly hot. Kesian tengok Amri puasa here. Especially with cousins yang mostly tak puasa.

It is a sunny day...

With lots of drizzle..heh

Thank God the PMS yesterday only lasted a day. Used to be many days a few years back. And, no physical discomfort either. So I considered myself lucky. Just one wretched day per month when I feel the whole universe is out to bring me down is quite allright. Even that one day was usually taken care of during normal months due to my regular exercise. But this is fasting month now, and I've been busy checking out every stall at bazar ramadhan than exercising. In fact, jostling through bazar ranadhan and shopping complex are my only pathetic exercise for the last 29 days. How wonderful!

Well...enough of that. Lets concentrate on current task at hand. The topmost is, I need to get a tudung. Followed by everything else. 'Everything else' could easily filled two pages of A4 paper if I were to write them down. But being me, making mental notes and forgetting half of them then finally remember at the very last minute is more appealing. Plus, I tend to misplace list and notes. Or put in one bag/car and go out with another bag/car. Maybe I should get a PDA.

On the other note, I'm still amazed at how easy it is for Amri to fast. Frankly, I thought he would only lasted 3 days. Or perhaps half day fasting everyday. Surely there was a temptation to buy food at his school canteen. But his teacher said he was either at surau or running around with his friends. Sahur was easy as well. Some days, he'd even woke up on his own but just lie down on his bed waiting for me, face already washed and hair combed. He ate well, menu ranging from fried rice/meehoon/egg to snickers, mcdonald burger and honey star. Drinks was either 100plus or orange juice. How much easier could it get.
The truth is, I do not expect anything as easy as this. Everything about bringing up Amri were anything but easy, right from his overdued birth. Strangely though, I honestly did not mind the trouble. I had blessed with more than enough resources to see these two troublemakers through the next couple of decade, God willing.

Trivia

Am having a bad day....

No car

No iftar at colonial

Lost my mac lipstick

Company secretary lost the resolution so I cant sign cheque. No money then

Haven't talk since the past 4 hours

No trip to buy bagus cake mix

Not enough sleep

No coffee

No tudung to match my baju raya

....am getting very cranky now

This coming Friday

My plan : To wake up and have long shower and change tudung 10 times then drive off to KT about 8am something and hope to God that we could make it there before iftar.
The risk : We may end up driving for 14 hours with no place to eat

Hubby's plan: Toss the boys into the car at 3am and drive off to KT
The risk : He may have to carry and toss me in as well

Plan B : To drive away merrily after Thursday iftar
The risk : Half of Klang valley may be doing the same thing.

There is no decision yet. But thank God my boys are easy when it comes to travelling. Even more easier now since Adam is 100% diapers free and eats/drinks anything that Amri eats/drinks.

New kid on the block

Congratulation eiseai on the arrival of 3rd EAI. Hope to see you two soon

Shopping Raya

Had a busy day. I worked at superspeed from 9am to 1pm then off to 1U with hubby for our annual raya shopping. And to Ikano afterwards. Though I've completed my shopping (and exceeded budget as well) at 1U, I still could not resist buying the boys a cheap power ranger tshirt each I found at brand outlet. They could wear it immediately if they want to. Hubby made a reservation for his office staffs iftar at one of the eateries then off we went to MPH at the curve. I slumped off here until it was time for my own office iftar do. Weird eh? Initially we planned to have these two office iftar on seperate day so we could join both but unfortunately hubby's car was at workshop and sharing one car for these two persons who used to go seperate ways was so very inconvenient, thus, we did it on the same day but different place. So hubby was off to Ikano and I met my colleagues at Colonial Times.

Good food there. Their naan bread was divine. I could even eat it on its own (eh...cam bunyi iklan roti je..) But honestly, I wouldn't want that ttdi jaya bai punya naan bread after this. There was also another bread that was paper thin and simply melt in my mouth but cant remember the name. I wish I did not order the briyani so that i could feast on all kind of bread alone. (I am so into bread this year)

I want to go there again.....

Met a weird guard on the second floor of the curve on that day. The curve was so near my office that I had never need to use their surau. So, I have no idea where the prayer room is. But since this was iftar do, I decided to do my Maghrib first while waiting for the foods. So I asked the first guard I spotted, where is the prayer room. He pointed at a signboard on top of our head and said " Signboad tu kata pergi straight ke depan tapi kalau kamu jalan straight ikut signboard tu, nanti kamu tak jumpa suraunya. Jalan la sampai hujung pun, tak akan ada suraunya. Memang tak de surau kalau ikut signboard tu. Tak payah la susah susah cari surau. Balik sembahyang kat rumah"

I gaped.

One passerby noticed how lost I looked so he kindly pointed out where the surau was. Just up the escelator and turned right.

p/s Yati, if you read this, Happy Birthday!

Innalillah...

I wept when I read about the death of Nurin. I'm sure thousands, if not millions across the country felt the same way. Such an innocent life, taken brutally for reason known only to the murderer. We failed to save Nurin. Police did not seemed to have any clue about the murderer. However, that was not a good enough reason to start accusing the parents of neglect. Just try harder and save the blaming mentality for another day.

Much need to be done in order to make the world a better place, especially for our children. But lets just start with a simple one, i.e to care. And of course, to trust your instinct. Lots of things happened everyday at a crowded place but how many (if any) of us did actually care. A child was left alone inside a car while the father was busy buying kuihs from bazar ramadhan and all the people that bypass the car ever did was gave a two seconds glance and kept on walking. What if somebody just get inside the car and drove off? Or the child decided to venture off somewhere? Would the publics who walked past the car still remember it and cared enough to try to help by providing information? Or would the memory of it been wiped clean once in the vicinity of mega food feast that is bazar ramadhan.

I am pretty sure that in the case of Nurin, many people would have seen a girl walking alone to the pasar malam. And surely after the abduction, many more would have seen her somewhere. But nobody cared enough to actually took notice that; a girl was unaccompanied, somebody had grabbed her, she might have screamed and struggle and a lot more that would have looked suspicious. Out of the many people there, some would have the instinct that something has gone the worng way but did not feel like following through the intuition. We had become a self absorbed community (that only become busybody if there was a road accident). I wonder what the powers that be could do to change that bit of mentality. But I think they would suggest to put our poor kids under lock and key at all time.

I hope each and everyone of us had learnt something from Nurin's case. I hope she did not died in vain. That other children would have a better world to live in because of her.

Al Fatihah. This was a very sad time.

I hate the way media published Nurin's dead body on the front page and in the news. Did they asked her parents for permission?

Ramadhan Day 5

Amri is still fasting, which has began to amaze me. Sure, there were some accidents. On Friday morning, he woke up and went straight to fridge to drink his soya bean, which was his usual routine. Yesterday he was helping me with lychee pudding and inadvartently (I'm assuming) put the lychee in his mouth. Again, this was his die hard habit. Other than that, he took it quite well. With the exception of Sunday afternoon when I went on cooking binge. The whole house smelt of nasi tomato and of course, the lychee pudding cooling on the kitchen table plus some murtabaks brought by Cu Nan. Amri understandably, whined. Especially when he caught Adam eating nasi tomato, curry and watermelon in the kitchen.

I had removed all kind of tempting food from fridge and cabinets. And I've decided to leave the cooking to bibik and spend the time entertaining Amri instead.

Other than that, I think it was not as difficult as I imagined it would be. Amri did not complained of tiredness, hunger or thirst. He was his usual playful self, bickering with Adam non stop and made me wonder whether he secretly managed to eat a few square meals even under four pairs of watchful eyes. It was also surprisingly easy to wake him up for sahur and he ate well enough that I do not have to be worried about nutrition. He did not gulped down gallons of drinks during breaking fast either, which was a lot better that myself (and hubby too). He went to solat terawih as and when he felt like it and it was pretty much okay with us. Having said all that, I think I had underestimated Amri.

Ramadhan 1248H

Amri was born on 1st Ramadhan 7 years ago so we could say that yesterday was his 7th birthday! I still found it hard to believe that he has been around for seven years.

Anyway. Amri managed to complete full day of fasting yesterday. Well, I was overly proud! I knew other parents only had to inform their children that tomorrow is Ramadhan so please wake up earlier for sahur and no eating/drinking till Maghrib. Not so easy for me. I had to explain the concept of fasting for about a million times while stating firmly that it has nothing to do with power rangers and its equivalent. I had bibik cooked his favourite nasi lemak but he only ate one spoonful but ate chocolates instead. With tea. Whatever. He went back to sleep after subuh prayer and we let him sleep as long as he wanted to. His ustazah was not coming during fasting month anyway. He looked pretty tired after school so to keep his mind and hand from food, especially that bibik was cooking up a storm at the moment, we took him and Adam to pasar Ramadhan. Which was a bit of a mistake. Amri immediately asked to buy a drink. Okeh....we bought everything he wanted but only to be eaten during buka puasa. Adam on the other hand, was listless. He looked like he was the one whom is fasting. We cut it short and walked home. Since bibik was setting up the table, we put both boys in our room, switch on the aircond and watched tv together. Hadn't done this for the longest time. The boys were always out somewhere playing with their friends. I was always at seribadan. Hubby....ermmm...everywhere I guess :) Alhamdulillah.....Amri lasted until breaking fast time. With a lot of extra attention, pujuk pujuk, RM5 reward (positive reinforcement), some flattery and big boy ego booster. Hopefully I can do this for the next 29 days.

Something wrong with Adam though. He kept on vomiting and at times had a little bit of high temperature. What's up?

Congrats to Cu Nan

Congratulation to my youngest brother in law, Hasnan on his graduation day at UM. Another accountant in the family. We certainly are very proud of you. Seen here with his future partner-for-life, God willing :) whom is also a distant cousin and his kindy sweetheart.

A dip in the forest

Nowhere to go so we decided to go trekking at nearby bukit cerakah. We've been here many times but the boys still insisted on riding the park bus. I guess when you were chauffered around everywhere by car, riding a bus is a novelty. Even though it was not a proper bus you see on the road. Did the our usual routine - feeding the deer, climbing the lookout tower and when we arrived at the pool, it was starting to rain. We had the pool to ourselves for hours. It was cloudy so nobody get sunburnt this time.

My not so little chatterbox

Adam called me on my mobile while I was at work. This was what the chatterbox talked about:

Adam : Ibu, I have two balloons. One big and one small. The big one is the elder brother, named strawberry. The small one is the younger brother, named blueberry.

Ibu : Wow....you are so clever. Did you blow the balloons yourself? You must show them to me once i get home.

Adam : Erm...but bibik kept them away. So, will you buy me blueberry chewing gum?

Ibu : Chewing gum? What for?

Adam : Like the one inside your handbag.

Ibu : *sudah blur*

Told hubby about the conversation, just in case he knew anything that I did not. He laughed out loud and said " Didn't you get it? That was pantun empat kerat from Adam, requesting for a chewing gum actually".

Really? Why can't he just tell me that he wants the same chewing gum that was inside my bag? Why the baloons?

How does this adorable shy little boy become such a chatterbox.....he speaks more that the rest of us combined.

Safety first

I was exiting NKVE towards Kota Damansara when I noticed this blue car in front of me, both back windows fully opened and two small heads poking out on each side. OMG! This is one daring parent I guess. While i was considering a possibility that the driver was too engrossed in driving that he did not noticed his two kids halfway out of the car window, they did an even more amazing stunt. It was nearing the touchngo toll booth and the daughter let herself out from the window a little bit more until I could even read the full name of her kindergarten emblazoned on the back of her t-shirt and to my surprise, touched the TnG card to the reader. And while the sister was doing that, her brother, also wearing the same t-shirt from kindergarten, was lolling his head outside the window and at times, touched his forehead to the exterior part of the car door. Amazing eh? Training the children to perform at circus maybe, just in case twenty years from now, regular jobs are too hard to come by.

I'm probably the least qualified person to write about safety, particularly child safety, seeing that at least one of my boys will come home everyday with at the very least, scrapped knee. Of course, lets not forget the OT drama which I can't guarantee will not be repeated. I let my children jump, play, cycle, run, climb, roll around, dance in the rain or whatever they feel like doing. However, I draw the line, a very firm line at road/car safety. No compromise. Well...I may open the sunroof and let the boys poked out their head once in a while but only when I felt safe enough. Like when I drove from my house to Azida's house, which was two streets away. But never ever on the main road, let alone a highway during morning peak hours.

I may have been too quick at judging the driver, but honestly, there are a lot more safer ways to entertain a couple of kindy going children.

Transformer

Finally managed to get tickets for the boys to watch transformer. Instead of our regular place of gsc, we went to Cineleisure nearby the curve. I like the place and hubby like it too, I guess. Mainly because there was no way Amri & Adam could get lost there. Not much crowd, even though it was Saturday. Not too many shops that would catch the boys eyes (or my eyes for that matter). It was so stress free. There was no need to grip the boys hand to prevent them from running around. They could run wild as much as they want to and I could still see them. Nice eh? I wanted to eat somewhere inside the curve but Amri spotted a cafe with menu so big he could read from afar and it has nasi lemak ayam goreng on the menu. Naturally, Amri refused to go anywhere else. Nasi lemak ayam goreng seemed to be Amri's staple of the month and he needed to have it everyday, period. Alahai...that's what happened when your baby grown up and learnt to read.

Transformer was terrific but the cinema was so so. Seats were pushed into rows with no isle in between. The tickets were bought by my pretty office secretary so she assumed we'd love to be in the middle. Unfortunately, with two young boys it was quite a chaos. One needed to go to the toilet. The other wanted drinks and popcorn. Aiyooooh....it was not easy to squeeze by dunno how many hundreds of seats to get into the aisle. And get back inside after our toilet visit. Fortunately, transformer was so good that the boys almost didn't make a big fuss.

And honestly, transformer was really good I felt I wanted to watch it again (minus the two boys).