It was Huda's birthday yesterday! We always pray for our children to be good, upright Muslims and always to seek Allah's pleasure in everything that they do. Amin.
And (as one of my friends on facebook put it) - my C-section scar had turned 7 years old.
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I like that my kids enjoy reading. I'm quite sure that it's partly a girl thing and partly the absence of TV. While Huda can read fluently now, Farah is still at the beginning stage but with the memory of an elephant that she has, I'm quite sure that she'll be reading simple books on her own in less than a year. However, now, she has a tendency to memorise stories. Read to her the story more than 3 times and she'll be able to recite some parts of the story back to you. This ability is not very helpful for her to begin reading, though.
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Ngaji. Farah is giving poor Kak Mal - her ngaji teacher - a lot of grief. She refuses to read sometimes and when she finally does, she reads everything in an exaggerated sing-song way.
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School holidays. It's the school holidays finally and 10 3/5 weeks of being in class is sheer torture. As a testament to my ageing self, my body is taking a long time to recover from ailments that had their beginnings in the final week of the December school hols. The sore throat is still a problem and the after-effects of the cold sore at the bottom of the lower lip is lingering still. I can live with the sore throat but that cold sore scar looks awful. I don't know how parents I spoke to last Friday managed to keep up a decent conversation with me when I have a raw open wound staring at them. That wound is taking its own sweet time to heal thanks to the nature of my job. Couldn't possibly keep my mouth closed on the job, could I? So, the poor wound, just about to be sealed after 8 hours of beauty sleep got ripped open the moment I got to work.
But, today, as I was putting things away, I chanced upon a small bottle of propolis which a kind neighbour gave for my sore throat. I decided to apply one tiny drop of the propolis on my cold sore wound and hopefully, in the days to come, it will heal completely. (After I had this stroke of ingenuity, I googled and found out that propolis cream is used to treat cold sore and wounds. But, this is pure propolis that I'm using. Recovery should therefore be almost immediate?)
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The daughters are asleep. TheHusband has gone to Johor with his friend. It's actually time for me to start on my much-delayed work. But, but.. oh the laziness of it all!
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The kids in school had to update their blog as part of the ICT curriculum and one of the kids very confidently announced to his classmates that he was very sure Mdm N had a blog. Errrrr, yes kids. I do. But seeing that none of you could sniff out my fb account, I doubt any of them can find this. Hur hur hur. (My fb account is a case of I-find-you.You-don't-come-looking-for-me.)
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Blog. I need to find out how to put links here. And how to change the appearance of this blog. And start going through every single post and weed out the drafts and the privatised entries which were all exported here from multiply.
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Okay. 10.42pm. The bed beckons. Forget about school work already. :D
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
February 2013
Happy new year, y'all!
Hur hur. Some 2 months after calendars all over the world were changed.
I am somewhat inspired to write after being stuck for 2 weeks writing a review as part of the reflection process in school. We actually have a review template to help us direct our thinking but after being soooo incredibly inspired by Paul Tough's How Children Succeed, I told my RO (that's Reporting Officer), ie, my supervisor, that I want to do a review for my reflection. But, oh my oh my, how I was so terribly constipated in my (many) attempts to even get started. I just could not believe it. Me, constipated.
But today, after successfully completing the review - seriously, not a great one, not even a good one - I realise that not writing in my blog has resulted in a severe lack of writing practice. After all, didn't someone famous say 'Writing maketh an exact man'? So if I want to be precise n what I have to say, writing is the way to go.
Anyway, if you are looking for the review I wrote, you're not going to find it here. I'll just tell you, read it.
This verbal constipation doesn't just affect my review attempt. It also affected my ability to share my thoughts when I met up with my friends. I met up with 2 groups of friends and coupled with my scratchy voice (2 months of un-cured sore throat), I felt terribly ineloquent. The only time I could talk in a sensible way was in the classroom. Well, I hope I was talking in a sensible way.
What happened to my life so far? Huda started primary school. She was pretty okay about it. Still is. Alhamdulillah. Huda and Farah are still typically sisters - which means that they fight a lot. Argh! The headache of it all.
Farah says the funniest things sometimes. Like, the other day, Huda - being the typical sister - quietly and sneakily placed her hand on top of Farah's hand which was on the coffee table. Then, with all her might, she pressed her sister's hand really hard. Farah looked at Huda and said with a quizzical expression, "Kakak, do you think my hand is the table?"
Farah also thinks she's English because she speaks English. This just means that it's time for us to go back to our Malay-only policy but it's hard. If we don't speak correct English, the children will not get to hear correct English being spoken. The only reason why we started using more English in our conversations with the children is because of the Singlish-ness of Huda's speech. Not that Singlish is bad. Singlish is fine if you can speak good English. It requires a lot of effort to speak in Malay, without switching back and forth to English within the same sentence but with practice and with a bit of effort, it can be done. Maybe, I'll speak Malay and TheHusband, English.
Okay. Abrupt ending. Yet again. But sleep beckons. Well, not sleep yet. But, the ironing board. At 11.47pm. How I hate ironing and how I always always push it to the last possible moment. Ack.
Hur hur. Some 2 months after calendars all over the world were changed.
I am somewhat inspired to write after being stuck for 2 weeks writing a review as part of the reflection process in school. We actually have a review template to help us direct our thinking but after being soooo incredibly inspired by Paul Tough's How Children Succeed, I told my RO (that's Reporting Officer), ie, my supervisor, that I want to do a review for my reflection. But, oh my oh my, how I was so terribly constipated in my (many) attempts to even get started. I just could not believe it. Me, constipated.
But today, after successfully completing the review - seriously, not a great one, not even a good one - I realise that not writing in my blog has resulted in a severe lack of writing practice. After all, didn't someone famous say 'Writing maketh an exact man'? So if I want to be precise n what I have to say, writing is the way to go.
Anyway, if you are looking for the review I wrote, you're not going to find it here. I'll just tell you, read it.
This verbal constipation doesn't just affect my review attempt. It also affected my ability to share my thoughts when I met up with my friends. I met up with 2 groups of friends and coupled with my scratchy voice (2 months of un-cured sore throat), I felt terribly ineloquent. The only time I could talk in a sensible way was in the classroom. Well, I hope I was talking in a sensible way.
What happened to my life so far? Huda started primary school. She was pretty okay about it. Still is. Alhamdulillah. Huda and Farah are still typically sisters - which means that they fight a lot. Argh! The headache of it all.
Farah says the funniest things sometimes. Like, the other day, Huda - being the typical sister - quietly and sneakily placed her hand on top of Farah's hand which was on the coffee table. Then, with all her might, she pressed her sister's hand really hard. Farah looked at Huda and said with a quizzical expression, "Kakak, do you think my hand is the table?"
Farah also thinks she's English because she speaks English. This just means that it's time for us to go back to our Malay-only policy but it's hard. If we don't speak correct English, the children will not get to hear correct English being spoken. The only reason why we started using more English in our conversations with the children is because of the Singlish-ness of Huda's speech. Not that Singlish is bad. Singlish is fine if you can speak good English. It requires a lot of effort to speak in Malay, without switching back and forth to English within the same sentence but with practice and with a bit of effort, it can be done. Maybe, I'll speak Malay and TheHusband, English.
Okay. Abrupt ending. Yet again. But sleep beckons. Well, not sleep yet. But, the ironing board. At 11.47pm. How I hate ironing and how I always always push it to the last possible moment. Ack.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Stories
1. Yesterday, somehow, the kids got interested in the story of their birth. And it got me thinking about this blog.
2. This afternoon, I took them to my school. They have not been to their own school for more than a week. We went to Bandung and after that I happily let them ponteng. It's December, after all. Their job was to collect the printouts from the printer but changes to the security system meant that I had to go to the printer myself to activate the printer. So, instead, the girls - after about 10 minutes of quiet work - spent the rest of the 1 hour 50 minutes we were there tearing the place down. Thankfully, I was the only one in the staff room.
3. Bandung shopping is best. It's perfect for makcik-makcik like me. I got myself 5 long-sleeved top. Should have gotten more. What's significant about the tops is not the quantity (I often end up with more at gmarket) but the colours. Finally, my wardrobe has more than just three colours. (It used to contain just black, grey and maroon.)
4. Farah said this just now:
F: Mak, you said you are going to take me to see a doctor?
Me: Huh? For what?
F: My voice. It's so loud.
I might have told her that I wanted the doctor to remove her vocal chords. She really has a major problem speaking softly. I keep on telling her, "Telinga mak sakit tau?" But, aching ears or not, she's as loud as ever.
5. My attempt at speaking Malay is finished. I'm speaking more English now because I got to combat the bad English that the children are using.
2. This afternoon, I took them to my school. They have not been to their own school for more than a week. We went to Bandung and after that I happily let them ponteng. It's December, after all. Their job was to collect the printouts from the printer but changes to the security system meant that I had to go to the printer myself to activate the printer. So, instead, the girls - after about 10 minutes of quiet work - spent the rest of the 1 hour 50 minutes we were there tearing the place down. Thankfully, I was the only one in the staff room.
3. Bandung shopping is best. It's perfect for makcik-makcik like me. I got myself 5 long-sleeved top. Should have gotten more. What's significant about the tops is not the quantity (I often end up with more at gmarket) but the colours. Finally, my wardrobe has more than just three colours. (It used to contain just black, grey and maroon.)
4. Farah said this just now:
F: Mak, you said you are going to take me to see a doctor?
Me: Huh? For what?
F: My voice. It's so loud.
I might have told her that I wanted the doctor to remove her vocal chords. She really has a major problem speaking softly. I keep on telling her, "Telinga mak sakit tau?" But, aching ears or not, she's as loud as ever.
5. My attempt at speaking Malay is finished. I'm speaking more English now because I got to combat the bad English that the children are using.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Mid-November 2012
Completely unimaginative title, I know.
1. H is about to start primary school now and I hope I've made the right decision putting her in this school. The only viable alternative is to put her in the school I'm teaching in and the reason why she's not here is because I was planning to get pregnant and did get pregnant at the time when registration was in session and so I thought I was going to leave forever. But now that the pregnancy was a short-lived one, it seems like I'll be with the school til forever (or at least, until I leave the service). I'm trying not to fret about the decision. I must convince myself that there is a reason behind everything and so I must be at peace with this. I MUST. (Saying that slightly louder to quell that noise at the back of my head that goes "Transfer. Transfer. Transfer.")
2.We just had the P1 Orientation and the P said that there are no exams in P1 to ease the pupils into school life and to let them enjoy learning. We also had the final Parent-Teachers' Conference with H's teacher the same afternoon during which she said that Huda can read, write and do her Math well. Alhamdulillah. The teacher said that we had nothing to worry about. No. I think not. A parent's job involves a whole lot of worrying and it's somewhat unnatural not to worry. Huda is, thankfully, like me, (and confirmed by the teacher to which we pretended to be somewhat concerned but we really are not) not at all blessed in the performance arts. So, with that, she can't join any of the time-consuming things like dance ensembles (have you seen how much time they spend preparing for SYF?). That leaves her with academic pursuits like reading, writing and arithmetic. Hur hur hur. All nerdy pursuits given stamps of approval by both parents.
3. I am thoroughly upset about the student care that we had picked for her. Initially it was owned and managed by AMP but AMP decided to sell it off to focus on the school-based student care which presumably are more profitable than under-the-block type of student care centres. With this, I am in doubt about my own working future. I know for a fact that I'll be working for the entire of 2013. But, I am really not too keen on using this student care service for more than a year so one good alternative is to transfer H over to my school by 2014, go on half load so that I can finish all my work by dismissal time and then go home with her. See? This is the "Transfer. Transfer. Transfer.'" noise that's going on in my head since today's P1 Orientation.
4. ME & Kindle
I bought a Kindle last month and have been obsessed about it since. I've downloaded USD130 worth of books in it so far. Some - I'll never read. Like, J.K. Rowling's Casual Vacancy. I don't read to get depressed and I couldn't get past the first page. But, because the book costs quite a bit of money, I won't delete it from my Kindle. Serves me right for buying based on the author's reputation alone. I thoroughly regretted it after I read reviews and synopsis of the book.
One good read is One Day by David Nicholls. It was good until I hit Chapter 18 and that's when I used up one entire box of tissue paper and caused some kind of flooding in Woodlands. I don't read to get depressed and I hated, hated, hated David Nicholls for a good 2 days before I (and another box of tissue paper) went back to the book anyway and continued reading.
Now, I thought I would love to go back to a physical book but Kindle has spoiled it for me. I used to think of myself as a book snob (not in that way) but in a way that physical book is superior to any form of technology. I've always felt that way when I read from the iPad. But, Kindle has changed that for me. Have you seen a Kindle in action? It looks just like a real book and for the old fogeys like me - it DOES NOT STRAIN your eyes!
And then, there's the dictionary function. I was aware of this function when I saw my friend's husband using a Kindle and he showed me the dictionary function. You just have to touch the word whose meaning you want to know for 1-2 seconds and the dictionary will pop up with the meaning of the word there. To go back to the book, you just press one button and there you are, back to your story. It's just too easy!
And of course, nothing can beat the convenience of having all the books you want in one device. I am in between at least 5 books now. I go back and forth between books depending on what I feel like reading. It's such joy. Just make sure you are the only one using the Kindle cos if you are sharing the Kindle with someone and the other person is reading the same book you are, the Kindle will open up the book to the last page you read. That's a bit annoying so I'm grateful that I'm the sole user of Kindle at home.
H sometimes uses my Kindle to read Fantastic Mr Fox but that's the only book she reads from my Kindle. I downloaded some picture books for her (Harold's Purple Crayon etc) but picture books are best viewed in the physical form. Besides, the Kindle is a black/grey and white/off-white device so children's books and Kindle don't go well together. Unless you get the Kindle Fire. Which is not really as great because it is not a dedicated reading device. If you get a Kindle to read, then you should just get the e-ink readers. This will prevent you from doing something else instead of reading.
Back to children and Kindle. No, I won't recommend it for young readers. Some still need to point at the words while reading and if you get the Kindle Touch or Paperwhite, the device will go to the next page. So, no go.
Let me wax more lyrical about the Kindle, okay? The battery life - it lasts! And lasts! Energy is consumed only when you turn the page so can you imagine how long the battery lasts? If you take this with you on a one-week holiday, you don't have to worry about charging it! I had to charge it quite frequently in the first few days because I was used to charging my toys the moment I see a less-than-full battery bar. And also because I was toggling between a lot of books in the first few days of ownership. But now that I have overcome the early euphoria, I cannot even remember the last time I charged the Kindle.
5. On the topic of reading. There's F's reading. H started off reading on a diet of Baby Can Read. It works as long as that is the only moving images your child sees. No other TV shows or videos. With F, I started her off on Baby Can Read and Baby Signing Times. Baby Signing Times were a whole lot more exciting than Baby Can Read so very quickly she developed a preference for Signing Times. Naturally, I killed off both. Now that she's almost 4 and in my warped world, at a rather late age to start reading, I'm starting with sight words for her. And I spell out the words. So she knows how to spell the/is/you/my etc and can recognise these words but there's not enough recognition on her part for the words to form a coherent meaning. Lesson learnt: Do not show any other videos other than Baby Can Read. In any case, F is read to often enough and I hope she picks up some words there.
6. F is also not using the Iqra' books to learn how to read the Quran. She got started on Iqra but I switched to the Tilawati series. There are only Tilawati Books 1 & 2. So far, F is halfway through Book 1. It's challenging teaching her, just as it was with H. But, I've learnt my lesson here. Stop before the child wants to stop and do not make it miserable for both mother and child. So, I go at her pace. Thankfully (and for this, I thank God each time this happens), she's self-motivated. She'll take her book, place it in front of me saying "Nak ngaji." Then, I must stop everything I'm doing and teach her. Each page takes about 5-10 minutes to cover. And then, that's it. I don't try to fore her to do more than she wants to do lest she gets sick of it (and me).
It's 12.18am now. I'm going to sleep. Good night, all.
1. H is about to start primary school now and I hope I've made the right decision putting her in this school. The only viable alternative is to put her in the school I'm teaching in and the reason why she's not here is because I was planning to get pregnant and did get pregnant at the time when registration was in session and so I thought I was going to leave forever. But now that the pregnancy was a short-lived one, it seems like I'll be with the school til forever (or at least, until I leave the service). I'm trying not to fret about the decision. I must convince myself that there is a reason behind everything and so I must be at peace with this. I MUST. (Saying that slightly louder to quell that noise at the back of my head that goes "Transfer. Transfer. Transfer.")
2.We just had the P1 Orientation and the P said that there are no exams in P1 to ease the pupils into school life and to let them enjoy learning. We also had the final Parent-Teachers' Conference with H's teacher the same afternoon during which she said that Huda can read, write and do her Math well. Alhamdulillah. The teacher said that we had nothing to worry about. No. I think not. A parent's job involves a whole lot of worrying and it's somewhat unnatural not to worry. Huda is, thankfully, like me, (and confirmed by the teacher to which we pretended to be somewhat concerned but we really are not) not at all blessed in the performance arts. So, with that, she can't join any of the time-consuming things like dance ensembles (have you seen how much time they spend preparing for SYF?). That leaves her with academic pursuits like reading, writing and arithmetic. Hur hur hur. All nerdy pursuits given stamps of approval by both parents.
3. I am thoroughly upset about the student care that we had picked for her. Initially it was owned and managed by AMP but AMP decided to sell it off to focus on the school-based student care which presumably are more profitable than under-the-block type of student care centres. With this, I am in doubt about my own working future. I know for a fact that I'll be working for the entire of 2013. But, I am really not too keen on using this student care service for more than a year so one good alternative is to transfer H over to my school by 2014, go on half load so that I can finish all my work by dismissal time and then go home with her. See? This is the "Transfer. Transfer. Transfer.'" noise that's going on in my head since today's P1 Orientation.
4. ME & Kindle
I bought a Kindle last month and have been obsessed about it since. I've downloaded USD130 worth of books in it so far. Some - I'll never read. Like, J.K. Rowling's Casual Vacancy. I don't read to get depressed and I couldn't get past the first page. But, because the book costs quite a bit of money, I won't delete it from my Kindle. Serves me right for buying based on the author's reputation alone. I thoroughly regretted it after I read reviews and synopsis of the book.
One good read is One Day by David Nicholls. It was good until I hit Chapter 18 and that's when I used up one entire box of tissue paper and caused some kind of flooding in Woodlands. I don't read to get depressed and I hated, hated, hated David Nicholls for a good 2 days before I (and another box of tissue paper) went back to the book anyway and continued reading.
Now, I thought I would love to go back to a physical book but Kindle has spoiled it for me. I used to think of myself as a book snob (not in that way) but in a way that physical book is superior to any form of technology. I've always felt that way when I read from the iPad. But, Kindle has changed that for me. Have you seen a Kindle in action? It looks just like a real book and for the old fogeys like me - it DOES NOT STRAIN your eyes!
And then, there's the dictionary function. I was aware of this function when I saw my friend's husband using a Kindle and he showed me the dictionary function. You just have to touch the word whose meaning you want to know for 1-2 seconds and the dictionary will pop up with the meaning of the word there. To go back to the book, you just press one button and there you are, back to your story. It's just too easy!
And of course, nothing can beat the convenience of having all the books you want in one device. I am in between at least 5 books now. I go back and forth between books depending on what I feel like reading. It's such joy. Just make sure you are the only one using the Kindle cos if you are sharing the Kindle with someone and the other person is reading the same book you are, the Kindle will open up the book to the last page you read. That's a bit annoying so I'm grateful that I'm the sole user of Kindle at home.
H sometimes uses my Kindle to read Fantastic Mr Fox but that's the only book she reads from my Kindle. I downloaded some picture books for her (Harold's Purple Crayon etc) but picture books are best viewed in the physical form. Besides, the Kindle is a black/grey and white/off-white device so children's books and Kindle don't go well together. Unless you get the Kindle Fire. Which is not really as great because it is not a dedicated reading device. If you get a Kindle to read, then you should just get the e-ink readers. This will prevent you from doing something else instead of reading.
Back to children and Kindle. No, I won't recommend it for young readers. Some still need to point at the words while reading and if you get the Kindle Touch or Paperwhite, the device will go to the next page. So, no go.
Let me wax more lyrical about the Kindle, okay? The battery life - it lasts! And lasts! Energy is consumed only when you turn the page so can you imagine how long the battery lasts? If you take this with you on a one-week holiday, you don't have to worry about charging it! I had to charge it quite frequently in the first few days because I was used to charging my toys the moment I see a less-than-full battery bar. And also because I was toggling between a lot of books in the first few days of ownership. But now that I have overcome the early euphoria, I cannot even remember the last time I charged the Kindle.
5. On the topic of reading. There's F's reading. H started off reading on a diet of Baby Can Read. It works as long as that is the only moving images your child sees. No other TV shows or videos. With F, I started her off on Baby Can Read and Baby Signing Times. Baby Signing Times were a whole lot more exciting than Baby Can Read so very quickly she developed a preference for Signing Times. Naturally, I killed off both. Now that she's almost 4 and in my warped world, at a rather late age to start reading, I'm starting with sight words for her. And I spell out the words. So she knows how to spell the/is/you/my etc and can recognise these words but there's not enough recognition on her part for the words to form a coherent meaning. Lesson learnt: Do not show any other videos other than Baby Can Read. In any case, F is read to often enough and I hope she picks up some words there.
6. F is also not using the Iqra' books to learn how to read the Quran. She got started on Iqra but I switched to the Tilawati series. There are only Tilawati Books 1 & 2. So far, F is halfway through Book 1. It's challenging teaching her, just as it was with H. But, I've learnt my lesson here. Stop before the child wants to stop and do not make it miserable for both mother and child. So, I go at her pace. Thankfully (and for this, I thank God each time this happens), she's self-motivated. She'll take her book, place it in front of me saying "Nak ngaji." Then, I must stop everything I'm doing and teach her. Each page takes about 5-10 minutes to cover. And then, that's it. I don't try to fore her to do more than she wants to do lest she gets sick of it (and me).
It's 12.18am now. I'm going to sleep. Good night, all.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
The Kids
Huda is going to start school for real in less than 2 months while Farah will be moving on to N2 come December this year. How my kids have grown!
What have they been up to?
In no particular order, here are the milestones they met and the grouses I have.
1. Farah can speak quite well for a 3 year old. She speaks more English than Malay, unfortunately. And unfortunately too, a lot of Singlish creeps into her language. I have no issues with Singlish if they can codeswitch efffectively but not if that is all they can speak. Her speech is clear and she can use complex sentences in her speech. Hooray!
2. Both kids are eating well. Huda - too well. Huda's eating habits are a bit strange. She eats A LOT. For dinner (which is at 5.30pm on schooldays because she comes home absolutely famished), she has at least 2 full servings of rice. We are not talking about 2 tablespoons of rice per serving. We are talking one entire rice bowl per serving (and more sometimes). She will eat that and ask for seconds. And thirds sometimes. And occassionally she wants even more and I will discourage her.
The surprising thing is, despite this huge amount that she's eating, she's still terribly underweight - at the 3rd percentile - so the checkup last week showed. At 1.06m, her desired weight should be at least 21kg but she's only 16kg. But, I no longer worry about her weight. I'm happy to see her eating well. The only thing that perplexes me and anyone who sees the amount she eats is, where does it all go to?
3. Huda has problems with her teeth. The front upper teeth have some decay in there. So, she's been going to see a dentist (the one at the polyclinic) about it. She has to start using adult toothpaste which she abhors. If I don't supervise her nightly toothbrushing ritual, the toothpaste will end up all over the kitchen sink. (Toothbrushing takes place at the kitchen sink cos it's so much bigger than the bathroom.)
4. Farah can be so adorable. She'll make the funniest of faces when she wakes up in the morning, all on purpose.
5. But she can also be so contrary. Being a kid, she has very little respect for hygiene. So she has no qualms picking up ice cream sticks, sweet wrappers or just about anything off the ground. I'll get so mad. The madder I get, the more she will do exactly what she's not supposed to do. In fact, when it comes to anything that makes me mad, she will do exactly what she's told not to do. I am not going to try reverse psychology on her just yet. Instead, I will keep calm, tell her succinctly what she's not supposed to do and move away. I am hoping for that (the keeping calm part) to work.
6. She is also completely off diapers now. Her nighttime diapers went away after a few nights of dry diapers. One night, I truly forgot to put on her diapers for her before she slept and the next morning came without any incidents. So I tried again, always making sure she goes to the bathroom before she sleeps. And what do you know? We're saving a bundle without diapers now!
7. Farah picks things up quickly. She gets irritated by her sister when her sister goes "pink colour". She'll tell the sister, "Teacher Inah says pink is a colour. You don't have to say colour, right Mak? You just say 'pink'."
Each time she tries to teach her sister something, it's always preceded with a 'Teacher Inah says..'. That's her teacher in N1 who deserves a whole lot of credit for Farah's language development.
And then, there's her loyar buruk-ness. How do you translate that to English? Once her sister snapped at her, "Padan muka." Serves her right, the sister said. Her reply? "Don't call me padan muka! My name is not padan muka."
8. Now, while Huda goes for her wushu on Sundays, Farah goes for her madrasah at the same time. Kids Alive's madrasah programme is only for kids in K1 and above so until Farah is old enough to join the programme, she'll be going for this other madrasah conducted by Little Muslim Readers. While both kids are away, I intend to start jogging. The keyword here is intend.
9. My father and sis-in-law bought the special Quran Waqaf from Pergas and Masjid Al-Raudhah and Huda has been using that for her nightly Quran reading. No more ipad cos it was getting pretty annoying with the screen moving everywhere when we accidentally touched it or when I'm jabbing at the letters in frustration. She's now starting from the back where all the chapters are shorter. She spends up to two weeks per chapter (slow progress is mostly due to my laziness in insisting on a more regular schedule) which also includes memorising. At one point in time when I was pregnant, I was just too tired to teach and left everything to the Ustazah who comes in twice a week to teach her. Now that I'm in the pink of health, I have gone back to daily reading (no discounts on weekends either). I set myself a target of 6 times a week which means I can only slack a bit once a week.
10. I've left Huda to read on her own these days but realised just now that I must get her to read aloud to me to check on her pronunciation. I saw her buried in a book when I went to pick her up from school this afternoon. I asked her what she read. She said, "Danger on the High Seas." Only that danger was pronounced da-nger, like the nger in singer.
11. She doesn't want to nap in the afternoon on weekends so I told her that she could stay up when Farah is napping as long as she is quiet and allows me to enjoy my Kindle Paperwhite (this one, I may just dedicate one whole entry for it). One afternoon, after Farah slept, she sat beside me, took out her English-Malay picture dictionary and started reading it for the entire 2 hours that Farah napped. Huda loves her picture non-fictions. She loves the Disney's Words books - Words that Tell You about Things, Words that Do Things and Words that Name Things. (Those books are tough to find and I definitely did not pay Grolier $3000+ to get those books! I'm glad she loves them!)
12. Farah was reading her Iqra' book. ah, bah, bah she went, recognising the basic sounds the letter makes when a stroke is placed above the letter. Suddenly she went, "Ba ba ba balik kampung. Oh oh oh balik kampung..." breaking out into a Sudirman song.
Okay. That is all for now. I am going to spend some time with my Paperwhite now before turning in.
What have they been up to?
In no particular order, here are the milestones they met and the grouses I have.
1. Farah can speak quite well for a 3 year old. She speaks more English than Malay, unfortunately. And unfortunately too, a lot of Singlish creeps into her language. I have no issues with Singlish if they can codeswitch efffectively but not if that is all they can speak. Her speech is clear and she can use complex sentences in her speech. Hooray!
2. Both kids are eating well. Huda - too well. Huda's eating habits are a bit strange. She eats A LOT. For dinner (which is at 5.30pm on schooldays because she comes home absolutely famished), she has at least 2 full servings of rice. We are not talking about 2 tablespoons of rice per serving. We are talking one entire rice bowl per serving (and more sometimes). She will eat that and ask for seconds. And thirds sometimes. And occassionally she wants even more and I will discourage her.
The surprising thing is, despite this huge amount that she's eating, she's still terribly underweight - at the 3rd percentile - so the checkup last week showed. At 1.06m, her desired weight should be at least 21kg but she's only 16kg. But, I no longer worry about her weight. I'm happy to see her eating well. The only thing that perplexes me and anyone who sees the amount she eats is, where does it all go to?
3. Huda has problems with her teeth. The front upper teeth have some decay in there. So, she's been going to see a dentist (the one at the polyclinic) about it. She has to start using adult toothpaste which she abhors. If I don't supervise her nightly toothbrushing ritual, the toothpaste will end up all over the kitchen sink. (Toothbrushing takes place at the kitchen sink cos it's so much bigger than the bathroom.)
4. Farah can be so adorable. She'll make the funniest of faces when she wakes up in the morning, all on purpose.
5. But she can also be so contrary. Being a kid, she has very little respect for hygiene. So she has no qualms picking up ice cream sticks, sweet wrappers or just about anything off the ground. I'll get so mad. The madder I get, the more she will do exactly what she's not supposed to do. In fact, when it comes to anything that makes me mad, she will do exactly what she's told not to do. I am not going to try reverse psychology on her just yet. Instead, I will keep calm, tell her succinctly what she's not supposed to do and move away. I am hoping for that (the keeping calm part) to work.
6. She is also completely off diapers now. Her nighttime diapers went away after a few nights of dry diapers. One night, I truly forgot to put on her diapers for her before she slept and the next morning came without any incidents. So I tried again, always making sure she goes to the bathroom before she sleeps. And what do you know? We're saving a bundle without diapers now!
7. Farah picks things up quickly. She gets irritated by her sister when her sister goes "pink colour". She'll tell the sister, "Teacher Inah says pink is a colour. You don't have to say colour, right Mak? You just say 'pink'."
Each time she tries to teach her sister something, it's always preceded with a 'Teacher Inah says..'. That's her teacher in N1 who deserves a whole lot of credit for Farah's language development.
And then, there's her loyar buruk-ness. How do you translate that to English? Once her sister snapped at her, "Padan muka." Serves her right, the sister said. Her reply? "Don't call me padan muka! My name is not padan muka."
8. Now, while Huda goes for her wushu on Sundays, Farah goes for her madrasah at the same time. Kids Alive's madrasah programme is only for kids in K1 and above so until Farah is old enough to join the programme, she'll be going for this other madrasah conducted by Little Muslim Readers. While both kids are away, I intend to start jogging. The keyword here is intend.
9. My father and sis-in-law bought the special Quran Waqaf from Pergas and Masjid Al-Raudhah and Huda has been using that for her nightly Quran reading. No more ipad cos it was getting pretty annoying with the screen moving everywhere when we accidentally touched it or when I'm jabbing at the letters in frustration. She's now starting from the back where all the chapters are shorter. She spends up to two weeks per chapter (slow progress is mostly due to my laziness in insisting on a more regular schedule) which also includes memorising. At one point in time when I was pregnant, I was just too tired to teach and left everything to the Ustazah who comes in twice a week to teach her. Now that I'm in the pink of health, I have gone back to daily reading (no discounts on weekends either). I set myself a target of 6 times a week which means I can only slack a bit once a week.
10. I've left Huda to read on her own these days but realised just now that I must get her to read aloud to me to check on her pronunciation. I saw her buried in a book when I went to pick her up from school this afternoon. I asked her what she read. She said, "Danger on the High Seas." Only that danger was pronounced da-nger, like the nger in singer.
11. She doesn't want to nap in the afternoon on weekends so I told her that she could stay up when Farah is napping as long as she is quiet and allows me to enjoy my Kindle Paperwhite (this one, I may just dedicate one whole entry for it). One afternoon, after Farah slept, she sat beside me, took out her English-Malay picture dictionary and started reading it for the entire 2 hours that Farah napped. Huda loves her picture non-fictions. She loves the Disney's Words books - Words that Tell You about Things, Words that Do Things and Words that Name Things. (Those books are tough to find and I definitely did not pay Grolier $3000+ to get those books! I'm glad she loves them!)
12. Farah was reading her Iqra' book. ah, bah, bah she went, recognising the basic sounds the letter makes when a stroke is placed above the letter. Suddenly she went, "Ba ba ba balik kampung. Oh oh oh balik kampung..." breaking out into a Sudirman song.
Okay. That is all for now. I am going to spend some time with my Paperwhite now before turning in.
Saturday, October 06, 2012
Not Multiplying Anymore
Before I started my Multiply account, I had one account at blogger.
No one knew of its existence except TheHusband and 1 or 2 close friends. I penned my thoughts down but of course as with all online activities, I was careful not to reveal too much information.
I liked Multiply because it was a simple all-in-one package.
But, now that its death as a blogging site is looming, I have transferred all my blog contents to my old page, onedayinnovember.blogspot.com
You might find the 2005-2009 entries a bit confusing because I was writing on both blogger and multiply during that time. If you find the entry darker, then that must have been an original blogger entry. But then again, who has the time to plough through all those years of writing.
I really hope blogger is not going to bite the dust too. I think someday, I have to copy all these in a format which the kids can access easily. After all, most of the entries here are about them and wouldn't they love reading about themselves.
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1. I'm impressed that exporting the blog exported almost all the comments made. I thought all the comments would be gone but surprisingly, most are intact.
2. I don't like how much space there is between paragraphs. Must find a way to make it smaller.
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1. I'm impressed that exporting the blog exported almost all the comments made. I thought all the comments would be gone but surprisingly, most are intact.
2. I don't like how much space there is between paragraphs. Must find a way to make it smaller.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
August 2012
So here are some updates:
1. Aftermath
The miscarriage is long over and alhamdulillah, I'm feeling so much better now, both physically and emotionally. Will have another appointment with my gynae later and things should be okay.
And now, back to regular programming - the kids.
2. Huda's Mengaji
I have pulled Huda back. She was midway through Al-Baqarah but I stopped it (long ayat, reading getting progressively slower etc). Now we are reading from the last surah of the Quran. Much easier there. Shorter ayat and I can also make her memorise every surah that we read. Unfortunately, my 4 times a week schedule was firther cut down when I was pregnant and after the mc. So, now we are starting again and progress is sloooooooow.
But, at least, I have sought the help of my sis-in-law who managed to get an ustazah ngaji for her. The nice lady comes twice a week and fixes her tajwid and pronunciation.
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Wrote the above in my Multiply account but did not finish it - as always. And now that I'm forced to migrate to another platform, I just exported all my entries - the published ones, drafts and protected ones. Now I have to go through each one slowly and see if I ought to delete any. I do have plenty of drafts sitting around, not published so it looks like it's culling time now.
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Wrote the above in my Multiply account but did not finish it - as always. And now that I'm forced to migrate to another platform, I just exported all my entries - the published ones, drafts and protected ones. Now I have to go through each one slowly and see if I ought to delete any. I do have plenty of drafts sitting around, not published so it looks like it's culling time now.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Week 9
Thursday, 26 July 2012
I felt some tightening in my womb, a bit like the Braxton-Hicks contractions I felt in the later parts of my previous pregnancy. But I didn't think much of it.
Friday, 27 July 2012
I felt a couple more of those false contractions. Since my appointment with my gynae was scheduled for the next day, I didn't see the need to rush to KK. In fact, after the episode was over, I forgot about it.
Saturday, 28 July 2012
Huda and I woke up at 4am to watch the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. Huda has been looking forward to the Oympics for so long. We then had our sahur and watched the rest of the Opening Ceremony. After that we got ready - me heading to KK Hospital for my appointment while my husband sent Huda for her madrasah.
I reached the hospital and everything looked so familiar. I headed for the clinic where I was gonna see the gynae. As it was my first appointment, I was asked a lot of questions at the counter and a lot of forms had to be filled. That I have 2 kids and one miscarriage. That the kids were all born at the same hospital and that the first one was a premie. That I breastfed each of the 2 kids for 2 years each. That I would breastfeed this 3rd child for a similar duration. And after all the questions were answered and forms were filled and more forms were signed, I was given a gift pack comprising newborn diapers and other newborn paraphernalia.
After the routine tests - height, weight, blood pressure, urine tests - I waited for the doctor to call me. There weren't many people at the waiting area. Perhaps 9am appointments on Saturday mornings were not the most popular slots.
Barely finishing the first article in the first magazine that I took, my name was called. I entered the doctor's office and she confirmed my details and history. 2 C-sections and one miscarriage. Then, she told me to climb onto the bed for the scan.
She applied some gel on my tummy and started running the scanning thing all over. Immediately, I noticed something amiss.
During my first pregnancy with Huda, I was sent to the hospital at Week 8 with a terrible case of dehydration. Despite the non-stop vomiting, the moment the doctor scanned my womb, the first thing I noticed was the strong heartbeat. There it was, pulsing madly to tell me, "Mak! Look! I'm okay!"
This time, I could clearly see the outline of the baby but where was that pulsing heartbeat?
The doctor told me that she had to do a vaginal scan since the normal scan didn't show the heartbeat. At the back of my mind, I knew things weren't right. This is Week 9. The heartbeat should be easily seen by now!
The heartbeat didn't show up during the vaginal scan either.
The doctor then told me that she'll get me to do my scan at the second floor scanning centre where "the machines are bigger and stronger."
While waiting outside her room for someone to take me there, I started tearing. No heartbeat.
I sent a few texts to TheHusband but forbade him from calling me because I would not be able to stop my tears from pouring if I were to start talking.
I went to the scanning place and thankfully, again, a relatively empty waiting area. Tears fell but I tried to stem the flow.
It was time for me to have my scan. I did not see anything pulsating. I saw a clear outline of a baby who is dated at Week 8 Day 5. That's when the baby stopped growing. No FH, I saw the sonographer typing. No Foetal Heartbeat. I asked, no heartbeat? No, the sonographer replied.
I could no longer control the flow of my tears. They just came pouring out. The sonographer passed me a wad of tissue paper. Texted TheHusband again who would join me as soon as he picked Huda up from the madrasah. Told him to inform my parents because I could not talk.
After the scan, I returned to the gynae's waiting room. There were a lot more people by then. Happy pregnant women. I hate to cry when the people around me were so cheerful. I must have cut quite a sad figure, all alone, frantically wiping away my tears.
When I saw my gynae again, I just started crying non-stop. She was very patient with me, explaining my options. In between my sobs, I managed to ask her if the heartbeat would ever appear at a later date. Knowing then that the baby was dead and that there would be no hope at all, I opted for immediate 'evacuation of the womb'.
She asked me repeatedly if I wanted to wait for my husband to come before I made my decision but my heart was set. I didn't see why I should prolong my agony and make a return trip to KK for the procedure. Besides, TheHusband would respect whatever decision I made.
I was taken to another room where I would have some blood taken and be given something to open up the cervix. This would allow for the baby to be sucked out from the womb.
A familiar nurse, Nurse Christine, who had been around since the time I was pregnant with Huda, escorted me to the counter to make payment and escorted me to the admission counter to settle my admission to the hospital. At the first counter, I took out the gift pack I received earlier and whispered about not wanting it. Nurse Christine tactfully got someone to take the gift pack away.
During the admission procedure, I started shivering uncontrollably, a side effect of the medication to open up the cervix. Between my heaving sobs and the shivering, I was a wreck.
A porter came to take me to my room. TheHusband and kids would only see me there as they were still on the way to the hospital. In the lift, a newborn baby was being wheeled to another level. The baby cried. My eyes were completely blurred by tears.
In between all the waiting and while my eyes were less blurry, I whatsapped my siblings and my RO in school. My P immediately sent a kind text and my VP called and even came to visit. (How can I ever think of leaving the school like this?)
TheHusband and Kids came shortly after. No kids ever want to see their parents ill. Mine too. Both Huda and Farah didn't quite know how to react. They just stood at the side of the bed and the script my husband had prepared for them went unsaid.
A couple of minutes later, the Operating Theatre was ready. My family escorted me to the OT. Once there, we said our goodbyes and Farah reminded me to recite my prayers.
This was my third visit to an OT in my entire life. For this, I was given a general anaesthesia. Only pregnancies of 14 weeks and above are given the local anaesthesia. Just as well. I really don't fancy a jab on the spine. For what I thought was a simple procedure, there were quite a few people in there. Maybe they were just passing through but I passed out much too soon.
When I woke up, it was 1 and half hours later. The procedure was done. My baby was gone.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
#3: Week 8
25 July 2012
According to various online due date calculators, my due date is either 28 February or 2 March. (I don't know why they skip 1 March)
Like I've said in the earlier entry, at this point, I'm feeling quite miserable. I can't help feeling this way. I am normally positive but having morning sickness all day long is pretty sickening. It sucks to wake up twice a night just to vomit. *wails*
Tomorrow I should be entering Week 9. It took forever to get there! But I don't see the end to the morning sickness in Week 9. Sigh.
I'm going for my gynae's appointment on Saturday. Sticking to my same gynae and same hospital.
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My morning sickness started to get really bad last Friday, just one day after entering Week 8. I was waiting for a cab after school and vomited all over the grass patch. The stuff that comes out is thankfully not food. Just plenty of fluid. Foamy saliva and bile. But, it does feel good for about 30 minutes after a vomiting episode. Unfortunately, it also turns my legs into jelly.
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I was on medical leave on Monday and Tuesday this week. This was my first time taking MC this year. I felt so terrible. So weak. The doctor said that I was dehydrated. I cant take that much water. I can't even take water. I need to sweeten everything before it can get past my throat. I broke my fast on Monday but Tuesday I felt a bit better about continuing my fast. I doubt I can fast much this Ramadhan.
I don't know how I'm going to survive the rest of Ramadhan and Syawal. I don't think I'll do much visiting or have many guests over this Hari Raya. I'll just have my 2 basic groups of guests: my parents and siblings and TheHusband's dad and siblings. After that, I shall vegetate at home. If my children want to enjoy having guests, they can go to my parents' place. There's no shortage of guests there.
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Farah and Huda have both been so kind to me. Farah will ask me, "Mak, mak sakit?" (Mak, are you sick?") Then she'll kiss my tummy to make me feel better. (So sweet, I can cry.)
Huda has been touching my tummy at every opportunity and she keeps on talking to the baby. Occasionally, she'll put her ears on my tummy to listen to the baby. So cute lor.
Huda insists that the child in the womb is a boy while Farah wants a girl. Huda's rationale is she already has a sister so it's now time for her to have a brother. Farah only wants a girl because she says boys are naughty. (She should take a good look at herself.)
For me, it doesn't matter. If it's a girl, I chope the name Nuha and if it's a boy, I was thinking of the name Aqil. Incidentally, I asked Huda what should we name the younger sibling and she immediately said, Muhammad Aqil. Of course, all these names have not been approved by TheHusband so we shall see. Unfortunately, my brother already named his daughter Nuha so actually I should think of other names. But, I really like that name!
They kids knew about my pregnancy after I tested positive for it. The next day, the entire childcare centre knew about it and one of my friends (whose daughter is Huda's best friend) texted me to congratulate me. The girl even told her mother that they must now have a younger sibling as they are best friends and therefore, they should have the same number of siblings.
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The weather now is horrid. It's hot hot hot and it's making me sick just looking out of the window!
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Thursday, July 12, 2012
Two Lines
One day in June, we were in the kitchen and Farah patted my round tummy.
Huda: Mak, ada apa kat dalam? (Mak, what's inside?)
Me: Lemak (Fats)
Farah: (Completely ignoring what I said) Babyyyyyyyyyyyy! Baby! Baby! Baby!
She then went on to kiss my tummy, claiming that she was kissing the baby inside.
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Then I found myself thinking of bread and buns and other yeasty matters as repulsive. They made me unbearably bloated and uncomfortable.
Later on, there was an unexplainable backache.
I developed a craving for all things beef. I just had to have the spaghetti + beef steak at Block 26, Teck Whye Lane.
When my period didn't come, I knew it.
But, I still took a week to take the test. I suppose because I already knew.
And it was positive.
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25 July 2012
Now, I'm in Week 8. I'm uncomfortable, vomiting foamy saliva, bile and feeling generally miserable. Why must morning sickness be so horrid?
I will try to chart my pregnancy diligently, similar to what I did for my pregnancy with Farah. But, now, all I want is for this episode to be over and into a vomit-free second trimester.
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