back home again

alhamdulillah, we're home again after being away for 45 days for haj.

We touched down at 8:20 pm, immigration was a breeze, as the counters were set up right at the arrival gate. But we had to wait a bit for the third bag -- it had to be in the last batch of baggage right, so we went out at 9:40. At first it was like, where are they? we saw all those people waving but none looked like those we knew. And then we saw the kids waving like crazy, and of course ibu went a little crazy waving too :).

Najwan was a bit shy. But he's making up for those times away -- he is either with ibu or papa these past 2 days. Oh, the kids had a little bit of a giggle over papa's new janggut and also new hairstyle.

My very bad cough seemed to decide to stay in Jeddah. Not complaining a bit -- still coughing a bit now and then but none of those muscle-pulling, phlegmy-filled cough.

No time for jet lag the first day as we had doa selamat after zuhur. I think we sort of self-adjusted since we left Makkah at 2:30 am, so not much sleep that night, lots of sleep the following day, and with the flight scheduled at 6:30 am we didn't get any sleep the following night until we got on the plane.

Jottings on the hajj itself will come later.

haj preparation

11 more days... okay, that's getting a little bit worrying.

not that I'm not looking forward to going for haj, it's the preparation part that's getting a bit worrying.

last sunday, we had the taklimat perjalanan. As they were showing the scenes of pilgrims checking in at kelana jaya, it dawned on me, this is for real, we are really going.

during the tea break, we got talking to a couple who seemed to be around our age. their bedroom was already full of stuff, which they haven't managed to pack because they have not collected the bag from rayhar yet. we? ummm... we haven't even got around to buying stuff.

so monday, we collected the bag at rayhar. then we went to mydin and bought pretty much most of the clothing stuff we need. the kids had fun shopping for their stuff. later that night, we went to guardian to get more stuff.

I also got a haircut. which later included a dandruff treatment. after 20+ years of dandruff-ridden, it felt a weird kind of nice to be dandruff free. no more really really itchiness catching me at unexpected times.

as I was going through the stuff at home, it suddenly felt like preparing to go back and live in a dorm again -- this high probability that the room-mates will have stuff similar if not identical to mine, and thus the urge to tag the items. haven't tagged clothing items since leaving mrsm!

and the nearer the day comes, the surer I feel there'll be buckets of tears from yours truly upon leaving the kids behind....

countdown

we have the flight date already -- check-in 9 Nov, flight itself is a little past midnight, and coming back Dec 23. According to the agent, still unconfirmed, but I hope changes won't be major like Kak Mas -- her flight changed from 25 nov to 5 nov!

Tons of stuff to get done. Papa is going to Dubai tonight, until Tuesday, presentation for a major project. Next week is the last week of class, on Saturday Azraf has his Ihtifal and Graduation day, the haj taklimat is on Sunday. Then have to finish all the gradings and submit all the grades in. I'm going to worry about clearing up the office later.

The kids are having their final exams next week.

And have to decide on the menu for the doa selamat.

haj 1429

alhamdulillah, have received written confirmation we are going for haj this year.
flight plans not known yet, should know by next week.

have to go, nia is pushing all the right buttons to make najwan scream.

Third time lucky!

We first hustled Azraf to the dentist for his first tooth extraction in April after we noticed his permanent tooth was already out. Dr Salwa took a look and said the milk tooth wasn't budging at all, and she said the permanent tooth would push to the front and loosen up the milk tooth and then it would be ready for extraction. She didn't want to have to inject Azraf and after our experience with Hania, oh yes, definitely no injection if we could avoid it.

In June, after MUCH persuasion we managed to get Hania to the dentist to extract her tooth. The previous visit, she was literally screaming when she was bundled inside the car. So Azraf also had his second visit with Dr Salwa. Nope, not loose enough. (and in Hania's case, that particular visit made her feel a little less terrified of the dentist).

This Wednesday (8 Oct), Azraf was playing with abang and he got kicked in the mouth, which knocked his tooth loose. So we hustled yet again to the dentist, with Azraf also knowing this time this was it -- he was finally going to get his first tooth out. I guess it's hard being the last kid in the class who still has all his baby teeth.

When the dental nurse called his name out, he rushed inside the room and right away went up the chair and smiled eagerly. The nurse was surprised :).

A little spray, and Dr Salwa has his tooth out. One more growing up milestone.

Azraf is eager for the next visit, he very proudly sported his cotton-filled mouth :). The person who seemed that wasn't a fun visit was Najwan who saw it all.

Hmm.. looking at the date -- he has to choose his dentist aunt's birthday -- happy birthday uda.

ramadhan so far: sahur

azraf has managed 7 full days -- or is it 8? bad mom, I know, but he's supposed to fill in his ramadan chart himself, so ibu got a bit too relaxed about keeping track.

Amjad and Hania have been going strong. And Amjad has been keeping to his words, getting him up for sahur is now no big deal, a little shake-shake and he's up like a shot, he'd go eat, pour his own drink, and go back to sleep. Hania is our side entertainment. Days she'll be like a zombie until she's halfway through her plate, and days she'll be little miss perky (but usually more zombie than perky). she eats as much as Amjad during sahur since she's too zonked out to realize how much I've put in her plate :).

Azraf is the story this year. The days he did not fast were the days he just did not (or could not?) get up for sahur. There were days he even took his food in bed with eyes closed and ibu feeding him. Only good thing was that he'd munch and munch without complaining until it's all eaten up. This week, no more of that, he's graduated to the little table -- not by his choice obviously. I think he'll be ready to join us at the main table next year :).

Ibu -- counting the days when she no longer has to wake up at 4:30 to prepare sahur. And no sleep after that either. But aghh -- not ready for raya yet though!

ramadhan1429: azraf's first

first sahur, in kelantan.
waking azraf up was papa's job. azraf was woken up and started to cry, he didn't want to eat, he wanted to continue sleeping. but he wanted to fast. so made him took his pediasure, that was all he would take.
and he managed to go on until 3 pm! impressive. if only waking up is easier.

second sahur, at home.
as usual, had everything ready before waking them up. this time, he was a bit more gentler and azraf had his sahur with no incidence. pretty good.
but he only managed up until 1, after he got back from school. it's okay, it's only training.

third sahur.
azraf refused to get up. so we left him upstairs. then, when everyone except kak ngah was done (no surprise there) he got up and went downstairs and insisted on having sahur.

it's 7:02 pm, another 19 minutes to go. so far, so good. I dare say he will make it today. he's been feeling the pangs but right now, he's watching syazmi playing computer games so time should pass a lot more quickly for him.

mummy bought otak-otak for abang de's first full fast.

ramadhan

we'll have one more 'rookie' this year with 6 year-old azraf. My kids have generally been okay with the fasting part (of course hania gets a bit lembek the first day but otherwise it's usually smooth sailing). It's the sahur part that tests my patience :).

preparing the food is easy, no one is a picky eater, very simple hot food is the only requirement. Getting the kids to the table is the challenge. Amjad will wake up easily, but woe is me if he has to wait at the table. His goal is to minimize his awake time. Get up, eat ASAP, drink two gulps of water, and go right back to sleep. I used to insist he finished his glass of water, not anymore. Hania's goal is to maximize her pre-sahur sleep-time. Waking her up is a waste of effort. Papa will just pick her up from the bed, walk her to the table, prop her up on the table, push the plate to her, guide her hand to the food and she'll take her first two mouthfuls with eyes still shut. Washing her face just doesn't cut it anyway.

so it will be fun to see how Azraf deals with sahur. The kids have promised they will be better this year, we'll see.

we'll be off to KB later today, kids want to have 2 days of non-fasting play with the cousins.

Happy birthday!

ok, so the nia's birthday party post is overdue, and this post is still not it.

the kids are going through the net and finding out their Hijri birthdays.

Abah. 6 Safar
Papa. 17 Ramadan
Mummy. 12 Ramadan
Ibu. 15 Safar
Along. 1 Syaaban
Abang. 12 Ramadan
Angah. 17 Zulhijjah
Syakira. 25 Jamadil Akhir
Hania. 8 Jamadil Awal
Abang De. 2 Zulhijjah
Najwan. 29 Safar

site: islamic-finder.org

another visit to the clinic

dum! oh no! someone fell!
it turned out to be najwan who slipped in his haste to pee.
and oh oh oh oh, there was blood dripping from his head.
oh no, ibu was the only adult at home.
but amjad was quick to follow ibu's instruction to take the kitchen towel to stop the bleeding.
the bleeding did stop, so he had his bath, and then waited for us all to say our maghrib prayers, and we made the trek to the clinic.
dr aminah said it needed to be stitched as it would continue bleeding otherwise.
and najwan was such an angel. not a peep out of the little guy, not even with the first needle for the bius.
3 stitches, and he has a little bow on his head right now.

home economics

so last night papa was writing out the monthly allowance check for ibu, and also for tok ayah.

and amjad went 'why does papa give ibu money?'

so an impromptu lesson on responsibility.

I generally said, coz it's the husband's responsibility to provide for the wife and children, even when the wife is working. so better make sure you are ready to do that before you get married.

and amjad added he'd be better off marrying someone who worked with the government as there'll be a pension, just like atok and grandma. (hmm... wonder why not him...)
and then they got interested with the check pap wrote for tok ayah.

amjad: so we have to give money to our parents too?

ibu: *ahem, ahem* well, it would be good to do so.

amjad: when tok was alive, did she get money too?

ibu: yes. *ahem ahem* it would be good to remember that.

then we had a light conversation on how much money ibu and papa would get a month with 4 kids contributing a certain sum. so we joked that if we want some more, we probably need to have more kids.

and a humorous mention to them that that's why they need to work at their studies, and also to get good income, as they need to give money to ibu and papa. :)

and azraf chimed in that he'd also give blackberries to ibu and papa, papa would need one since he would also be retired by then and no more office-provided bberry.

seriously though, ibu and papa should be ok in our old age, so as long as they can live comfortably, and I pray that they will have that opportunity, and the future is bright for them.

He's done it!

Amjad khatam Qur-an last night.

According to the kids, ustaz made them all listen to Abang, and at one point Azraf pointed out abang's mistake (since he had pretty much memorized the surah lazim). The kids were as excited as Amjad, they were too young to appreciate it when Syira khatam. Towards the end, Amjad was a bit nervous. When he finished An-Nas, Ustaz read the doa khatam Qur-an.

Pulut kuning moden. We celebrated with pizza afterwards. yeah, I know, Ibu's supposed to do some pulut kuning, will buy the pulut for mummy to cook later today :).

Anyway, the pizza is impromptu, just so that the occasion was marked and celebrated right away.

He'll go back to Juz 1, we'll wait to do the khatam ceremony until Syazmi and Syakira's done. Syakira is reading juz 20, Syazmi 18. Hania 5.

Also to start on Arabic so that they have a basic understanding of what they're reciting.

But so exciting to have one child finished.

that boy thing

no idea if it's really a boy thing.

so azraf was sitting and talking to ibu.
najwan was sitting beside him, he suddenly got up and stood with his back to abang de.
we continued talking.
suddenly, 'pot' and gleefully, najwan sat down again.
sungguh kurang sopan.

and this has to be a boy thing --

najwan was lying down after finishing his milk. me, on the 'net. and he volunteered, 'jen main pepet.'

alamak!

and abang de was sitting, najwan came by, and abang de got mad 'jen tak malu, ibu, adik pegang pepet abang de.'

*sigh* it is the stage though.

more on hajj

so as per letter received, we went to the tabung haji office to process our hajj passports.

as the lady was scrolling down computer list, she said 'still on standby right?'

so we said yes. I asked when would we know for sure, she said towards the end of ramadan.

so we went through all the process. She counted out the 10 small-sized pictures and 2 visa-sized pictures, checked our particulars, had the passports printed and pasted our pictures and then put on the protecting sheet. then we had our thumbprints checked on the mykad system and then we had to put down 4 prints. we didn't get the passports though, they kept it.

anyway, then all done, she got up and went to a box, and came back with 2 stainless steel bracelets (gelang haji), and asked us to check our particulars etched there. After checking it, we passed the bracelets back to her, and she said, oh, keep it, it's for you to wear in kelana jaya. and we went blank. kelana jaya? wasn't that the haj trip? so she said, you have an 80% chance of going, and then she asked us what package we're going with. so we said rayhar. and she said, hmm rayhar's bags are purple, so I'm going to give you the red ones, you'll get the purple ones from rayhar. and she also gave us an armful of books on hajj.

I asked about when would we actually know since there's the leave application to do, so she said the last week of ramadan, we should get the flight details already and we can get the letter issued so that the HR can start the leave process.

I'm now like, this is more yes than no, not a mere standby but make arrangements for going. Now it's like you want it so much and it looks so 'yes' already but you're just so afraid to grab it coz Allah might have other plans for you actually.

Have started to prep the kids though... and also the mummy next door!

fasting

the kids are fasting.

no, it is not yet ramadan, but the kids wanted to fast for rejab. I know, wow! it has taken me 30+ years to actually fast in rejab that is pure sunat and not qada'.

last monday syakira fasted. today thursday hania fasted. Impressive!

and the girl who had a hard time keeping her eyes open for sahur last ramadan last night did not require much effort waking up, munched without much fuss on her french fries, drank her milk and went back to sleep.

she was ready for iftar at 6:50 pm, although iftar was at 7:30.

when there's a will...

hania's teka-teki

buah apa paling berani.

give up? ibu give up?

buah pisang lah, sebab jantung dia kat luar.

and the 'l' is misplaced to

every weekend there's a person seeling jackfruit in BA. when we pass her, najwan would always request 'nak nangkel' and the others would burst into laughters 'nangka lah adik.' so he would dutifully repeat 'nangkel'.

ohmigosh, drawing a blank, he has 'l' added at more words but brain going into shut down mode.

hajj 1429

we got a letter to go in and process our hajj passport -- signature and thumb print. we also need to bring in *14* passport-sized photographs, white background, and 2 slightly bigger sized photographs for visa purposes.

that would be on 29 july (tuesday).
the hajj intensive course is on 6 & 7 Aug at the masjid negara.

we still haven't received any letter that we're going, but this is a step nearer, insya-Allah.

we also have finished our sunday haj classes. when we started in march, 18 weeks sounded like a long time, and suddenly it's like -huh, over already? it ended with forum perdana on saturday night and qiamullail later that morning at 3.30am. I didn't go to the forum as there was a wedding, so Amjad went with papa. And only papa went to qiamullail as najwan was running a temperature last night and he was sleeping fitfully and kept wanting to be held as he kept complaining he was cold. we got a set of kain ihram for papa and telekung set for ibu.

of course the kids, even hania, became very curious -- why is papa getting a towel?

side note: as I'm writing this, hania is singing and azraf is complaining 'kak ngah nyanyi nanti hujan.' not that it bothers her a whit.

the problem with 's'

more najwan speak.

smajid! smajid kistal!
spater.
spatik.
speto peto.

translation.

masjid! masjid kristal!
plaster.
plastik.
sos tomato.

amjad used to have problems with his s at this age too, of a slightly different kind.

e.g. scooter -- cooster

pen drives

no kids post.

but just grumblings. sure, I'm happy to have pen drives, I can fit in lots of files in one drive, and since it's physically small, I can put a few of the min my handbag with no noticeable effect.

and there-in lies the problem.

ok, which drive is it in? this one? hmmm no, this one then, hmm no...

oh shoot, it's in another pen drive which is in my office. ok class, you guys just hold on while I go get it.

aghh!!! where is that pen drive?

etc etc etc

najwan and solat

when the others take their wudhu', he insists on taking his wudhu' too. actually, sometimes he just does it on his own. when we hear the stool being dragged to the sink, that's najwan taking his wudhu.' he does the whole thing -- face, hands, hair, ears, legs except tertib :).

his solat will depend on his mood. if he feels like following others for the whole 3 or 4 rakaat, he'll do the whole thing. sometimes he'll just do one, sit for his tahiyat and gives the salam and 'dah, adik solat dah.' sometimes he'll pray on his own.

mummy has 'banned' him from solat jemaah @ #43 coz the kids all burst out laughing.

he's getting much better though. abah likes to take him to the surau.

last night, he decided to say his isya'. he was only wearing his pajama top and diaper.

kak ngah: eee, tak tutup aurat.
najwan: ha-ah, solat kena tutup aurat kan.

and he proceeded to do his solat :).

durian, durian, durian

after getting the invite every year, this year our calendars matched enough to make the track to suri's home in melaka for some durian binge. not exactly a binge, a binge was when we were small and had load of durians at home every day, but i digress....

anyway, for some nice pix, courtesy of kamaruld, go to http://flickr.com/photos/ks08 and click the durian fest @ suri.

marbles -- version 20098

the craze is b-daman. (google it and you get the idea)

everybody except nia and najwan has it.

what is it? main guli. main guli! what happened to the plain old using your hands to shoot marbles? no, no, you have to buy b-daman (RM8-RM20+, take you pick) spend hours assemblying it (ok, can live with that, eye-hand coordination and all that stuff), and then drive ibu crazy with all the marbles going around.

too bad if you plan to play congkak, not enough marbles courtesy of b-daman.

pokemon? what pokemon? cool kids today know all the name of b-daman. and yes, the two older boys are proud to be one of those cool kids.

mix it yourself

went out to the kitchen, and najwan was smiling ever so proudly. uh-oh. there he was, with his hands in the milo jar, making his own milo. and no, thank you, i can do it myself.

and oh ibu, i'm done making the milo, please clean up. (yes, he actually said as he was carrying his cup inside -- ibu kesat ya)

jen and nia

kak ngah and najwan can bring the house down.

kak ngah knows very well which button to push with ajen that the cry "kak ngah buat!!" is like a mantra for najwan. it has to be, when even when kak ngah is miles away, anything that makes him cry is because "kak ngah buat!!"

yesterday, najwan must have felt a bit uncomfortable when he woke up, he started to cry, and then suddenly burst out "kak ngah buat!!" yeah right, kak ngah is fast asleep in the sofa downstairs.

but today hania came home from school with a temperature. so she was feeling down, and just sitting there on the sofa. and najwan came over and offered her his truck to play with (big sacrifice there). and since kak ngah was feeling too down to take up his offer, he played the truck at her side to keep her entertained. and he was solicitious, quick to get her the comforter when she complained of feeling cold.

cereal choice

chex mix, coco crunch, cookie crisp, waffle crisp, you name it, anything but the plain old corn flakes for the kids (which only ibu and mummy seem to eat).

and this morning, while waiting to go to school, amjad reminded me to buy more corn flakes coz we have ran out of them. I was like '?' since when have you been eating corn flakes. he said, 'sedap bu, masa nak gi sekolah abang makan sambil tengok tv, letak gula sikit, sedap.' (it's nice ibu, i eat while watching tv before i go to school, put some sugar in it, nice.')

should i say i told you so? hmmm... i think I'll just settle with the rest of them losing interest in the other cereals and going for the plain corn flakes again, much better on the pocket!

a blog for azraf?

he's begging for one, should he get it?

BTW, his teeth still aren't out yet.

Our car is back!

hmmm... seems like najwan with his car obsession with two posts in a row on cars.

but i'm just glad papa's car is finally back home. it's been at the garage long enough -- a 2-week job (we then budgeted for 3 weeks) actually took 5 looong weeks.

gas price aside (oh yeah, now we are going to feel it!), our work needs are such that having 1 car is a pain.

we were away the first week, so that was fine, it was actually why we sent the car in then anyway.

second week, it was still school holidays. but I had to be in Port Dickson and then Melaka, no choice but to take the car and papa had to fend for himself. later half of the week we went to work together, picked him up later at the lrt station. and gas price went up then.

third, fourth week, school began, and we practicum supervision resumed too. we were supposed to have the car back by then but it still wasn't done. so me the driver, sent papa to work, went around for supervision, went back to um, went back early to pick up nia on certain days, then later went to pick up papa from the station. i don't think we actually saved on gas price through this forced car-pooling, only that my pocket was okay as papa was filling in the gas for the citra :).

fifth week, no supervision, just a coordination of car use, which was also a headache as papa needed the car to go for meetings. once papa went on the train and had to wait out 7 trains before getting into one but it was still packed like sardine. after the gas price hike, more people went on the train, it seemed.

and today, the car is finally done, alhamdulillah. he's not 100% satisfied, but it will have to do, our work-day schedules just don't match well. yes, we'll car-pool now and then, the time together in the car is always nice, but when you're left with only 1 car to work with for an elongated period, we don't do coordination that well I guess :).

it's probably also psychological. I know sometimes out of 4 cars, one car can be at home for many days, but isn't it like murphy's law or something, when you need 3, you have 4, when you need 4 you have 3.

I'm rambling on and on, this is probably the longest post, maybe just trying to find a diversion to the shenanigans of people we call leaders and the media .....

New Car

Mummy and Abah have a new car. Well, it's been 2+ weeks now. a purple persona, which Najwan is in love with :).

We were on our way back after picking up Papa from the train station. Suddenly he chimed in "persona best."

Papa: which is better -- citra or persona?
Najwan: persona.
Papa: (jokingly) oh? then you don't ride the citra.
Najwan: persona best.

oh well :).

And don't think he's not old enough to play politics.
e.g.
if asked : papa or abah?
najwan: mmm.... paaa-bah!

temper temper

reached home today, as we were getting out of the car, heard najwan SCREAMING.

turned out he put 3 marbles in a cup, then he filled in the cup with tap water, and the marbles dropped to the bathroom floor, and boy went flaming mad.

we turned one session into a vocabulary session for the older kids. as najwan was screaming away, I turned to the rest and said, 'this is what we call a tantrum.'

whenever I use the word 'tantrum' in class, the ECE students would give me blank stares, so might as well.

after all, boy switches on and off easily, so not quite a bona fide tantrum, it just sounded like one.

hajj 1429

so in february we submitted a request to be able to do the hajj this year.

in february, ibu and papa got on standby list, tok ayah and chik did not. but papa was already gung-ho on going, so I got to reply and say yes, we'd take the standby option.

tuesday morning, we went to rayhar to register to be under them, seemed that going under private packages improved our chances to be able to go. no guarantee, but that's okay, instead of a downright no.

tuesday afternoon, a letter from Tabung Haji came in the mail. We have a medical check-up appointment with them 30 jun. guess it's standard for all standby jemaah but getting a little excited here :).

so need to go take some pictures, and also pick up the health record book before 30 june.

the junkyard war

so there I was trying to clear those old toys and stuff under the stairs.
and then one by one the boys came and started rifling through them.
boys including papa.
and papa came up with the idea of having a junkyard war kind of thing.
and so that's what they are doing right now.

and they're blogging

after prodding upon prodding upon prodding by mummy, kids have finally set-up and *published* their own blogs.

the links are on the blogroll.

will post ibu's take on redang soon.

but basically like theirs too -- wanna go again!!!

nak ikut

najwan has very sharp ears. no matter which house he is in, if somebody opens the door of the other house, he will rush to open the door to see who is going out so that he could tag along.

abah nak go surau? nak ikut!
papa nak go petronas? nak ikut!
mummy nak go carrefour? nak ikut?
ibu nak go where? nak ikut!

or else he's other reason for checking out the door opening is so that he can go rush outside and ride his bicycle.

I get home. Najwan opens the door. Gleefully rushes outside. Every mother's dream to have this warm welcome? Ha ha. He rushes outside and gets on his bicycle and goes the few rounds he can get during the time it takes me to put away my shoes and calls him to come inside with me.

Of course, to be fair, if I get in before he manages to go outside, I do get a big hug and a wet kiss.

tooth still there

azraf has had his bottom tooth loose and the permanent one peeking up since early april. we went to the dentist who said the milk teeth should be much looser in a month's time as the permanent one moved to the front.

6 weeks already (from the time we went to the dentist, the new tooth has been out for about 2 months now, and we are not seeing much progress.

so auntie dentist, what's the verdict? been composing in my head the post on his first tooth out for some time now.

kidz on line

amjad and syazmi have been on friendster and gmail for a few months now. not that they are that active, in fact, they think all those friendster emails in their inbox are a bit too much (that requires reading!!!). syakira also has an email.

the challenge was for them to have their own blog running but no one has really put a serious effort on meeting mummy's challenge.

anyway, so azraf *really* wants his own email. not sure what a 6 y.o. would really use it for, but he was really persuasive, or let's just say he was very persistent in his bugging me for one :).

so last night we set one up for him. and he has sent his own email to papa, and today to uda. one-liners as he's figuring out the spelling and also key-board lay-out at the same time, so it was tiring for both him and me! he has learned to log in by himself, then of course we have to guide him after that.

so now all kids but najwan have emails.

azraf actually wanted a friendster account, he was like 'where are all the pictures?' but he's happy just having a little piece of the online action to call his own for the time being. besides, ibu has a bit too much on hand right now to help him with a friendster account. maybe in a couple of years' time after I've figured out facebook and those social utility sites work :).

http://www.safekids.com/kidsrules.htm

"nama sapa"

najwan has learned the given names of the family members pretty well.
abang nama... N: amjad
kak ngah nama... N: nia
abang de nama ... N: azraf (with the z and r blended together -- can't do it myself, only a 3 y.o. can I guess!) of course he still tends to say 'abang le'
papa nama ... N: zi
kak de nama ... N: syakira
angah nama ...N: syami
kakak nama ... N: sahrim (or bella! depending on his cheeki-meter!)
abah nama ... N: encik (!)
along nama ... N: syira

he has problems keeping these names straight though
mummy nama... N: Tihana
ibu nama ... N: Lihani (or vice versa)

fat? moi?

that's the sound of ibu getting pulled down to earth by her kids!

I'm small-sized, and keep getting this sort of remark 'oh wow, you don't look like you have 4 kids.'

but the kids keep me rooted on the ground (if not thoroughly nailed)!

last night, najwan sat on my lap and then suddenly patted my tummy (bulging as it was after my dinner).
mummy asked him: what's in there?
another 3 y.o. would answer 'a baby' but nooo, this one promptly said "fat!" --- agh!!!!

half an hour later, as I was sitting on the sofa with the kids surrounding me, amjad
suddenly piped in "ibu, I think you have to start exercising" while looking pointedly at my tummy. out of the blue.

aghh!!! aghh!!!

it doesn't help that I'm finally starting to do some sit-ups lately.

teeth coming out

we have got to take azraf to the dentist soon.
two weeks ago, he so excitedly showed us his two front teeth (lower jaw) were slightly loose. ok, so it was just very slightly loose but it was exciting for him, sufeeya has already lost hers.
last friday, I wanted to check how loose it was getting, anddiscovered the permanent teeth were already showing!
Alamak! time to go to a dentist.

of course uda still is not back yet. Hania developed this phobia of dentist after her first visit (which went okay by all accounts but she's now one screaming girl when it's time to go).

so we're waiting til this friday night or saturday morning. I'm not sure why, but papa wants to be available for azraf just in case (of what?) so we have to wait til the weekend.

pinggan mangkuk

pinggan is amjad's name for his pet parakeet.
so azraf wanted to name his 'mangkuk' but amjad objected.
the pair of parakeets are now officially Pinggan and T-rex.

they have a big cage for themselves.

hania doesn't want a bird, she's aiming for a rabbit (!).

last week, Najwan and me had this conversation while we were watching the birds.

Najwan: tu abang nye, tu a 'le (abang de) nye.
Me: Adik nye mana? Where's yours?

and a small bird (burung pipit) happened to fly and land on the cage.

Najwan: Tu adik nye!
Me: oh, ok, adik nye nama apa?
Najwan: Cawan!

Gotta give it to the boy :).

bebikel

that's najwan's word for bicycle.

and today, he is one happy boy for he now has his own bona fide big boy "bebikel."

no more 'cruising' around with the others' bicycles. he cruises around holding the handles and walks or runs with the bicycle, as the bikes have no more training wheel.

so today, after a few times 'intai-intai' at a few shops, papa got Najwan his bicycle.

no nap today, as he is having so much fun riding his bebikel.

my drawings

tonight, after their session with mummy, amjad hania and azraf had a drawing session with papa.

here is azraf's drawing. title: autobot (read -- transformers)


and the top one is hania's. untitled. the orientation is wrong, so crink that neck a bit, ibu isn't up to doing more editing tonight.