Notes for My Children

1. Always make do'a and work towards husnul khotimah.

2. Always thank the person who serves you.  This will include teachers who scold you. Not kidding. A scolding is a lesson; a harsh lesson but a lesson nevertheless.  Thank the person and learn from it. Thank everyone including the old lady who cleared your plate for you. Even if she never responds.  Keep on thanking.

3. Brush your teeth with toothpaste twice a day.  Brush in a systematic way and make sure every tooth has received attention from the toothbrush on all sides. Brush your teeth before you meet people.

Somewhat random.  More will be added to the list.

2D1N at KSL Johor

For the first time in our lives, we are doing a kinda-like-a-staycation in Johor Bahru. This staycation is brought to you by the good people of KTM Berhad.

We have never seen the value of having a staycation. It's like, we are so close to home. Why bother paying $x on a hotel room?  We go in and out of JB quite frequently so the idea of a staycation never quite appealed to us.

This long weekend, TheHusband wanted to go to JB. I said, we'll do it if we can get the train tickets. TheHusband looked for the tickets.  There were tickets for the way back on Saturday. 6.55pm. Ok, can.  But the way there, no tickets. There were still tickets for Friday, 4.30pm.  And that's how we ended up here in KSL.

For those with no cars like us, we took a taxi from JB City Square (just beside the train station)  to KSL for RM11.

KSL is a big hotel comprising 2 towers. We booked our room from the KSL website for SGD101.  Ours is a Superior Triple room. There are a queen bed and a single bed.  At night, we pushed both beds together so the 5 of us could sleep comfortably. This hotel has mixed reviews but so far, things are okay.

For breakfast,  we did not opt for the buffet breakfast. There's so much to eat here so it's a waste if we were to fill our stomachs at breakfast. We had our breakfast of roti canai (aka prata in Singapore) at a kedai mamak beside the hotel.
(How to get there: Walk out of hotel, turn left, then turn left again.  After walking past  the hotel rubbish dump, cross the road and you are there.)

Your stay at the hotel includes complimentary entry to the dinosaur theme park which is actually a big pool with various slides.  Otherwise entry is a ridiculous RM50 for adults and RM30 for children. It looks quite fun but I leave the kids to TheHusband while I sit by the pool and write this entry.

After this, we are heading to KSL mall. KSL mall is not much to shout about but there is Tesco.. I have a thing for supermarkets.  And Tesco has a good selection of herbs. The Tesco brand herbs are cheaper than McCormick and another-brand-whose-name-i-cannot-recall now.

We asked for a late checkout and we were given 1pm.  Good enough considering it's the Labour Day weekend. After checking out, we will go to City Square and Komtar for more eating and shopping. Pretty vacuous activities, I know.  Heh.

That's about it!

Almost 21!

Ihsan is almost 21 months old.

He is taking a nap now so that explains what I'm doing here.

He is now very capable of tearing the house down. God knows how many times I have to tidy up the house in a day. It's difficult to ignore the mess because most of the mess is in the living room. Stepping on books and toys is not exactly fun.

More about TheBoy himself:

1. At 21 months, he weighs a mere 8.5kg (on a good day). But after Huda, I am not that concerned about weight. His doctor is, though, so I must do something (or at least comfort myself into thinking that I amd oing something). We are seeing a dietician although past experience shows that it doesn't really help. Presently, his favourite food is pasta and so he has different types of pasta with whatever the rest of the family is eating. If he hasn't eaten much vegetables for a few days, I'll prepare some roasted broccoli; he can eat quite a substantial amount of that.

2. He's still being breastfed. I'm left with 3 months of that. I will miss it so so much even though I constantly complain about the 6 times a night that he wakes up for milk or dunno-what-nonsense-reasons.

3. He is at a stage where he understands funny things and repeats them for our entertainment (or perhaps his). Two days ago, we bought thosei from a nearby coffee shop. The man serving us acknowledged him, calling out "Adiiiiiik!"

Our dear friend was so tickled. When we ate the thosei at home, he kept on repeating "Adiiiiik", laughing hysterically each time.

4. He is sympathetic towards his sisters. Whenever one of them cries (normally it's because the other one is supremely annoying), if he is not too busy, he will join in the crying. Then whichever annoying sister it is has to placate both siblings. However, if he is busy, he will not bother.


As my time is limited and I suspect he's going to wake up soon, I will let pictures do the talking.

This is the Ihsan-pretends-to-read series of photos. He copies his sisters. Macam paham. But it never fails to tickle me funny bones.

Ihsan, the tukang kacau orang solat.

"Just a regular day. Putting my feet up. Not eating."

But when Kakak eats, I insist on sitting on her lap. 

And that's the other Kakak. 

-The End-

DOTD

رَبَّنَا لاَ تُزِغْ قُلُوبَنَا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَيْتَنَا وَهَبْ لَنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ رَحْمَةً إِنَّكَ أَنتَ الْوَهَّابُ

Robbanaa laa tuzigh quluubanaa ba'da izh hadaitanaa wahablanaa milladunka rohmah
Innaka antal wahhab

At different stages of my life, certain doá will emerge as THE doa of the day/week/month. This is the top doá of the week, or maybe month.

Our Lord, let not our hearts deviate after You have guided us and grant us from Yourself mercy. Indeed, you are the bestower. 

Takut seh, kalau lepas mati kene barbecue. 

May all of us, our loved ones, our children, and all our descendants be given His guidance and never stray from it. Amin. 

16 February 2016

This update will be all about Ihsan. (To be fair. Cos the girls had frequent updates when they were babies.)

1. He had a rough week last week. Vomiting on Monday. Followed by 2 days of diarrhoea: watery poo et al. And 4 more days of twice daily wet poo. Thank God, it was all over by the following Monday. Whew! He hadn't pooped since yesterday but it's okay, boy. You did more than your fair share last week so it's okay if there's no poo today. 

(We all (except TheHusband) got some form of vomiting/diarrhoea over the weekend which left us completely pooped.)

2. He is becoming a lot more chatty. He will talk a mile a minute if he feels like it. He can string 2 concepts together. For example: kakak, duduk. 

Words that he can articulate include:

mak

ayah

kakak

atuk

nenek

amiya (favourite cousin, nabilah)

cititi (fearsome aunty, cik jiji)

duduk 

lari

bola (pronounced buah)

burung (but pronounced as boooo)

dog (i kept on teaching him the malay word, anjing. he was using it for quite sometime. then someone taught him the english version. and he's been calling it dog ever since. tsk.)

gajah (pronounced ajah)

fish (sigh. tried to teach him ikan. but failed)

aying (favourite neighbour, miaoying)

and various body parts and a couple more verbs

Considering that the minimum number of words he's supposed to know at age 18 months is 6, i think this is fine. I don't have to worry about language development. 

3. He has a preference for healthy food. Like, oats, wholemeal bread and mee sua in clear broth. Rich, creamy sauce does not tickle his tastebuds. Perhaps too rich for his young tongue. 

4. He refuses to tell people who he is. I tried so hard to make him repeat his name. But, he refuses. If you point to him and ask him, "Ini siapa?", he will gleefully answer, "Ini mak."

5. His clinginess has reached a new level. When there are only the two of us at home, I cannot disappear from view. He will go on a merciless hunt. "Makmakmakmakmakmakmakmak," he will call out. He has no qualms breaking toilet doors to get his mother. Yesterday, I was in front of a hot wok, preparing lunch. He wailed miserably, asking to be carried. (To call it mere wailing, is an understatement.) Today and tomorrow, I have revised my cooking schedule so I don't have to deal with both wok and tot simultaneously. 

I think that should be all. Cant risk little boy waking up now. Still more housework to be done before he wakes up from his nap.

3 February 2016

1. It's 8.05am and Ihsan is still asleep! He is normally up by 6.45am but today, he is possibly going through the effect of a sedative he had yesterday. He had his heart scan yesterday. It was supposed to be his last heart scan before he is discharged. Last August's scan showed good signs so this scan was supposed to confirm that all is good and off you go, lil boy. Unfortunately, no. His left coronary artery is at the borderline of normal/dilatation. So, no discharge. We will come back in 6 months for another scan.

That sedative? He had to be given a dose of sleeping meds to make him sleep during the scan. Prior to the sedative, he was an active little boy, running all over the waiting area. Then, the sedative kicked in and he fell asleep for 3 hours. His regular naps are 2 hours long. When he woke up, he had to be accompanied everywhere because he was still feeling woozy from the sedative. But an hour later, he was bouncing off walls again. 

Additional medical info: The sedative was chloral hydrate. I was concerned about the side effects and read about them while waiting for his turn to be scanned. But the doctor assured me that the only one time when there was a side effect was when an overdose was given. Before the child can leave the hospital, he has to be roused from his sleep and has to open his eyes. Close monitoring by parents/caregivers for 4 hours after the sedative is given. Throughout the night when he is asleep, I check on him periodically. He still wakes up for milk, anyway. So, other than extra sleepiness this morning (which I dont mind; it makes up for all those times when he slept less than he should), I don't foresee any further issues with the sedative.

(I love you, Ihsan.)

2. Farah. Farah has shown that every child is different. Farah hardly ever buys proper food during recess. She buys snacks. Particularly, a snack called Corn Toes. Not exactly that spelling, but it sure sounds like that. (Insert angry mom emoticon) If it's not Corn Toes, it will be some other snacks. (Insert another angry mom emoticon)

She does this because:

a. She loves junk food.

b. Recess is at 9am, too soon after a hearty breakfast.

Besides spending her allowance at the snacks stall, she also spends her money at the bookshop. (Insert a gajimillion angry mom emoticons).

Her life goal is to be able to read storybooks all day and all night. This includes her time in the classroom. One day, I checked her schoolbag and found 4 storybooks in it. 4. Four. Empat. Hardcover books, mind you. 

And her papers often come back kiam chye. Ronyok. Crumpled and dog-eared. 

Does she organise and sort her things neatly? No. 

I have a looooooooong way to go with this girl. 

I lectured her once and asked her, "Do you think you will ever be selected to be a prefect if you cannot even be responsible for your own things?"

Her reply? "No. I don't want to be a prefect. I don't want to be responsible for other people."

Hati manyak sakit. Heart very pain. 

(But then again, she only wanted to be a prefect so she could hold the mic and lead the school in pledge taking. So, that's not saying much about her prefectorial ambitions.)

(I love you, Farah.)

3. Huda has become more and more responsible and dependable lately. There are still many areas of improvement  - toothbrushing and washing hair, for example. But she will pick up the slack if she has to. 

She is still obsessed about reading but I intend to add more value to her reading. Quizzing her on the books she reads and more importantly, I will make her write down a paragraph that she enjoys from the book. I want her to not just pick up story ideas from her reading but for her to improve in her language abilities, there must be some higher order thinking/activity that goes on after she is done with each book.

(I love you, Huda.)

Must stop now. Boy is awake.

21 January 2016

So Ihsan is now 17 months old. If I were to stop breastfeeding at 24 months, I am left with only 7 months in this breastfeeding journey. Oh nooooooo! This will be my last ever breastfeeding journey! Boo hoo hoo! I shall enjoy it and not complain about the lack of sleep or how frequently he wakes up at night. (If I ever tell you that he sleeps through the night, I define night as between 2am and 5am.)

17 months and a couple of days. What can Ihsan do?

He can climb. A lot. I don't remember the girls climbing our dining and computer tables. I don't remember having to push all chairs against the wall to prevent the girls from climbing the tables. This boy requires constant supervision.

Consequently, the simple meals that I cook have become even simpler. I really cannot afford to be in front of the stove and watch over the onions that I have to tumis sampai naik bau. So, baked stuff are convenient. And I start cooking really early. Vegetables are actually the most cumbersome dishes because the prep work takes some time. So, I start preparing the vegetables immediately after I'm done with his breakfast. On a normal day, by 9am, the vegetables for lunch and dinner will be ready. (If you want to tell me about nutrient lost because of the early preparation and et cetera, it's okay. At worst, we get the fibre from the vege.)

The Boy. He still hates eating and I don't know how to get him to swallow the food. I normally manage to make him eat the first 3 (tiny) spoonfuls of his lunch/dinner. But trouble often starts from the 4th spoonful. He will start spitting out the food the moment the food enters his mouth. It is infuriating! To avoid wastage, I scoop back whatever he spits out and shove it back in his mouth. We have to do a few rounds of this before the food disappears (most of the time it's because there's too much stuck to his clothes to be scooped up).

He is underweight. Way below the 3rd percentile. 8kg for a 17 month old baby. Sigh. On one hand, I am not *that* worried (unlike during the era of my firstborn) but on the other hand, I am somewhat concerned that he may not have enough nutrition. I have tried out so many recipes. Last year, my 12yo nephew whom I tutored often helped to finish his porridge especially if it's cod porridge. Sigh.

Developmentally, there is nothing alarming. Other than his less-than-steady walk, everything seems to be on track. Alhamdulillah for that. He is getting very cheeky these days and can follow commands. Ask him to make muka kiyut and he will cup his cheeks with his hands. He can point to his body parts except dagu and dahi. He can call out to his immediate family members and his favourite cousin. One day, the favourite cousin was at the door. He ran to the door and called out, "Ämiya! Amiya! Amiya!" Cousin's name is Nabilah.

He only salam people when he wants to. And when he wants to, he will salam you repeatedly. Likewise for kisses. He hates to see me sleeping. Everyone else can sleep but if I dare close my eyes when he's wide awake, he will immediately resuscitate me with a few smacks on my eyes. He likes to pretend to read. This is an influence of his sisters. He opens up a book and pretends to read by pointing at the words. He likes being read Llama Llama Red Pajama and any books that feature Elmo, pronounced Eh Mmmm. He also likes to tear pages off books. (let's pause for a minute and mourn the books that were sent to The Book Hospital)

He likes playing ball games - catching and kicking. He perspires a lot and needs the fan all the time. Thank God we don't have airconditioning at home; otherwise, our utilities bill would be astronomical. He has developed a penchant for magnets, stuffing them into his mouth whenever he managed to pry one off the fridge. (yes, they are placed higher but with this boy, short of putting the magnets on the ceiling, there's no place high enough) Sadly, he has outgrown his thing for durians. Was hoping to fatten him up on a regular dose of durians once they are in season.

Okie dokie. I must stop now. The Boy is sleeping and I have to do a couple of things online before he wakes up. I have about 30 minutes or so left before his nap time is over. Til next time, goodbye!

6 January 2016

1. Farah started primary school life just two days ago. So far, no issues and we hope that it remains that way!

 

2. I am glad that we did not go into a buying frenzy prior to her starting school. We have a lot of things lying around the house. So she used things that we already have instead of buying brand new stuff. Other than her socks and schoolbooks, everything else has been used by others before her. I hope the kids will always be as practical as this.

 

3. This reminded me of an exchange I had with Huda sometime last year. There was a sale of stuff by a Science vendor in her school. I am Mother Scrooge and I am always fearful of accidentally raising spendthrifts so I discouraged her from buying anything from there because it is either not practical or Amazon sells it cheaper. She eventually settled on something that costs 50 cents and she bought two of them. On the way home, she talked about what she bought and demonstrated it. She wasn't too happy with how simplistic the toy was and commented, Ï wasted my 50 cents on this."

Music to my ears. She could come up with the conclusion that it was a waste of money.

 

4. Let's go back to Farah and her first day of school stories. I didn't accompany Huda to school on her very first day because I also had my own first day of school. So, this was my first experience in being one of those anxious parents. Only thing is, I wasn't anxious. Farah could hold her own. Stories that Huda had shared prepared her for school. I was a little bit worried that she would eat too slowly during recess but she managed to finish her food in about 10 minutes. At home, she often takes so long because she is the chattiest and has so many stories to tell.

 

5. Farah was assigned a P4 buddy. During the P1 Orientation in November, Huda was shocked to find out that P1 buddies would come from P4 instead of P2. She prayed hard to be assigned anyone except her own sister. Both of them were pretty sure they would be hauled to the office if they were buddies. They painted a lot of scenarios of possible fights that could take place. Thankfully, they were not partnered together.

 

6. This afternoon, when I fetched them from school, Farah excitedly shared the news that she was appointed group leader for the month of January. Hooray for her!

 

7. Ihsan is now 17 months old! He is feeling very lonely when his sisters are in school. He becomes extremely clingy and does not allow me to leave him for even a moment. Just this morning, while I was answering nature's call in the toilet, he banged at the door and wailed at the top of his lungs. He banged te door so hard that part of the lock flew out. Thankfully, it could be fixed.

 

8. He is at a rather mischievous state now. All he wants to do are things he should not do. Like, climb the computer table and fling things about. The house now looks like we are preparing for a kenduri. All the chairs which used to surround the dining table are pushed against the wall, far , far away from the table.

 

9. While he is walking, he is not too steady on his feet. He still looks like a drunkard when he walks - swaying this way and that and eventually stumbling.

 

10. Eating is a nightmare. A complete, absolute nightmare. But that will be contined later because he's awake now.

7 November 2015

The girls and Ihsan are playing at a neighbour's house. 2 doors away. Everything seems well and good now so it seems like I may have some time on my hands. Yipppeeeee!

Time for some quick updates.

1. Pictures? I have done the first step of transferring all my pictures from my phone to our storage system. The next step will be to select pictures to upload here. And finally, the actual uploading of pictures. To give you a better idea as to when this will happen: I started uploading pictures to our storage thing sometime in September. Heh.

2. Ihsan has started to gain weight. Alhamdulillah. But, his weight gain is still so slow. So slow that he is now below the 3rd percentile, ie, off the charts. At about 6 months old, he was 6.6kg. Then KD happened. At the end of the KD episode, he was 6.4kg. Then, his weight stagnated there for a long time. At about 11 months old, he was only 6.7kg. Although he is now 7.7kg at 14 months, that is much too light. To be at the 10th percentile, he has to be 8.75kg. Oh God.

The dietician gave some good advice but this boy has a preference for food that is much too healthy and more suited for his father. Hur hur. Like oats. How to get fat when he has oats for breakfast. And to entice him to eat his lunch (rice porridge with vegetable and either fish or chicken), occasionally, I lace every spoonful of porridge with oats.

3. Ihsan has recently picked up a new skill. He has made the realisation that furniture can be manipulated to get what he wants. This is a skill which I have not been looking forward to very much. He moves stools all the way to the kitchen sink so he can play with the sponges. Or to the kitchen cabinets to fiddle with all the buttons on the rice cooker. I must always remember to lock the kitchen window grilles and pull the key out. Too many scary stories of little boys who fall out of kitchen windows.

Oh dear. I hear the sounds of little feet. They are back. To be continued another day. Or another week. Or another month. Not another year, hopefully.

Blessed Life

It is so easy to take so many things for granted and so at times, in the midst of doing something, I have to pause and count my blessings. When I was hanging the clothes one day, I thought of how my arms were in perfect condition, good for lifting those poles. Not too long ago after the Implanon insertion, I could barely raise my arms. And how good it is to be able to bathe with no restriction; hands that could reach the back of the neck and no wounds that must be kept dry.


Ihsan had another heart scan last week. It was only 6 months ago when he was struck with KD but it really felt like a lifetime ago.

Alhamdulillah. Whatever issues he had with his heart are all gone. The dilated arteries & the aneurysm - all gone. Masya Allah. God is good. And with that, no more daily aspirin.

We are so very blessed. Thank you Allah. May all of us be granted good health and a steady iman always.