Wednesday, February 28, 2007

growing up...

Syira registered into SBPI Gombak yesterday. It's close enough for weekly visits (even our drive to work takes much much longer!), but still, an asrama penuh is an asrama penuh. But the parents and the girl seem pretty happy, after all, she so wanted to go to boarding school. But it's only another 10 days before the school holidays so it shouldn't be too bad. She didn't call home last night so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Kak de and Kakak cried.

Last night, Hania decided she wanted to sleep in her own room. Kakak slept with kak de, so she had the room all to herself. Last weekend, she was upset that the new shelf was put into the boys' room, so Papa said, well, you weren't sleeping in your room anyway. But to appease her, we put another shelf in her room, and she could put her stuff there without having to deal with the boys. I guess last night was fulfilling that promise made to us that on her own free will. But I did wake up in the morning feeling slightly disoriented, I guess ibu got so used to waking up with her snuggling beside me since she inevitably wakes up in the middle of the night, comes to our room and snuggles in. Notice the present tense -- I'm not sure if she's going to stay sleeping through the night in her own room, or if I want her to!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Azraf is 5

Happy birthday abang de!

our valentine baby turned 5.

weeks before his birthday, he's been trying to decide what the perfect birthday present for him would be. one day it was a bicycle. then it was a skateboard -- especially after amjad got one for his birthday. then a remote control car. then a scooter. etc etc. some days he tried to cajole us into buying him all of those!

we still haven't bought him a present yet. it really doesn't matter much to them when they actually get the present, the anticipation and the planning are just part of the fun.

we did do a little party at home as usual. the usual cake cutting and a bit of a part pack for the other kids. nobody felt they were too old for a party pack -- not even along.

azraf has decided since I couldn't be in school for his birthday, he'd do the one in school on feb 15. that's two cakes. of course he's thinking of another one where he'll ask kakak sufeeya to come also. that's three.

but at least amjad didn't insist on giving out part packs to his whole class. yesterday, a girl celebrated her birthday and to the delight of the rest of the class, she gave out mcdonald's party packs to everyone -- all 42 of them!

Monday, February 05, 2007

counting

'k', 'n' tee'

that's najwan counting 'one, two, three'

not sure where those 'k' and 'n' sounds come from but we realised he was counting when Amjad and Najwan were playing pass the ball over the weekend, and he would 'count' before passing the ball to Amjad, with the intonation as we would count 123.

when I took him and Amjad to UM, we had to negotiate all these steps, and he started counting everytime we go down a flight.

oh, and whenever I started the engine, he'd put up his hands for dua and started saying 'Allah...', definitely worked as a reminder for dua boarding vehicle, but of course when we're still reciting it, he'd decide he's done and say 'amin.'

2 for a while

Hania and Azraf went with Papa for a project visit with RSP from Feb 1-Feb 3. Amjad opted to stay home so he could do the rentas desa. So we had two kids each.

Thursday late afternoon, Amjad was already restless, 'boringlah ibu.' At bedtime, he became wistful thinking of his two siblings. No pushing around and squeezing around trying to jostle for sleeping space! And like telepathy, they chose to call then. But yeah, it was somewhat quiet, especially on Saturday afternoon, as Mummy and the gang went back to Segamat.

Amjad has decided it is more fun when there are more people around. They may annoy you at times, but they also make the best buddies.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

the climbing boy

najwan climbs everywhere.

he's now able to climb up the stools in the kitchen, and then up to the sewing table --argh!

he was climbing at the *outer* edges of the staircase.

he tried to climb up the chest of drawers, and we were all lucky it didn't fall on top of him. the moment it started teetering, he was off like a shot.

he climbs up the magazine rack to play with stuff on mummy's side console.

he climbs up to the attic.

he climbs up bicycles.

you get the picture.

once, we put pieces of the feather duster on those places, and he stayed away from them. but it worked only ONE day until he decided it was really only feather duster, it only slightly tickled, but if he pushed it away with his hand, it wouldn't tickle anymore. so much for that one.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

vocab check

just a short one.

najwan's vocab has grown bigger.

this week, his new word is 'upstairs', so of course azraf felt challenged and he also went around saying upstairs, lest people think only his little brothers knows english :).

najwan's favourite face noun is still 'nose.' okay, so that's really his only face noun, he just refused to learn the names of the other facial features. anyway, he'd go 'nose, nose' pointing at his nose, or other people's nose, and then he would try to korek hidung tu!

his word for baby is still 'ma.' the origin of that remains a mystery.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

one ramadan baby

Alhamdulillah, after hours of labour, Mama gave birth to another baby girl at 6:35 pm yesterday. She looked so tiny last night, hard to imagine Najwan came out the same weight! She seems to look like syameel but it's still too early to tell.

Mama is still keeping the name a secret. Oh, the day before, the preparation for the baby included trading in their kelisa for an odyssey -- lucky girl :).

Monday, September 25, 2006

Ramadan is here

Alhamdulillah, Ramadan is here again.

This is Hania's first time trying. We sort of took it for granted that the older ones would have no problem but it seemed that the first day was harder on the boys than on her.

Syazmi was struggling to continue fasting, Mummy had to give him his evening bath. Amjad was so tired, nak solat pun letih, nak mandi pun letih but of course he still had to do all that, but you can bet his face was all smiles -- not!

Hania was feeling the heat a little bit in the late morning, suddenly, watching Sarah ate cereal was like hmmm.... delicious. So I asked her to take a nap in the afternoon, which she did together with Syakira.

They were all looking so down that we took them to Petronas. And of course suddenly everything looked good, it was hard for each one to have to select only one item, so we spent almost half an hour there just for them to choose what they wanted. We would've spent much less if we went to pasar ramadan and let them have one kuih of their choice, but since they were so tired, the petronas environment would've been kinder to them.

While waiting for the azan, yesterday tv1 had Mawi reciting the Quran. Amjad was so tired, coupled with a dislike of th guy, that he blurted out, "Mawi ni baca lambatlah!" ha ha, as if if Mawi were reciting it faster Maghrib would've come earlier.

So Hania finally completed her first day of fasting ever. Last year she could only manage half-days, we were not quite sure if she could actually do it but alhamdulillah, she did.

Today the additional challenge would be that this is a school day.

Friday, September 15, 2006

10 and counting




A few weeks back, when mama was warded for 2 nights, we had all 10 kids at the same time. But alhamdulillah for the two maids, so the moms and dads can still maintain our sanity!

the first day, I came home a bit early thinking that another extra pair of adult hands would be needed. and this was what greeted me when I opened the door.




all 9 kids out, even the older ones who usually doesn't tkae naps. only syira was awake, and she took these pictures.

incredible.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

dry nights

Azraf has had two dry nights in a row!

WOW!!!

And it was all not pre-planned. Since his 4 1/2 already, the idea of night-time training has been somewhere on the horizon but we haven't really started anything concrete yet, after Amjad, I figured our boys would have a harder time with this night-time training so we weren't going to push it yet.

Then two nights ago, we all fell asleep without putting the diaper on Azraf, and what do you know, come morning, he was dry! So he went diaperless for his afternoon nap, and he was dry too. Alright! So we tried again last night, and he was dry, actually, he didn't even get up to go to the toilet.

And I'm probably going to jinx it by writing about it, but this is a milestone for him so he deserved his space :).

Monday, September 11, 2006

another friday night outing

tak serik-serik....

but this time around there were as many adults as there were kids.

we went to the mcD behind ampang point, didn't know there was quite a big eating area at the back there. we wentto the mamak's place.

highlights: there were five or so mini bikes on display, and azraf and najwan got to sit on them. no surprise that azraf was doing his F1 sound effect, but najwan was also doing the "ummmmmmmmm ummmm ummmmm" sound effect.

the kids except syira wanted chicken chop, and of course the cook decided that was the dish he'd cook last. hania almost cried and merajuk when she realized they were going to have to share, but luckily her appetite for chicken chop was more powerful, so they all tucked in without any other issue.

Monday, August 28, 2006

friday night outing

last friday, we all went out for pizza. it was supposed to be 10 kids and 7 adults. but uda got stuck at kl central as the lrt was down (again!), so mummy and abah went to pick her up, after depositing the 5 girls that were with them.

but it was really not bad. The kids were generally well-behaved, more intent on eating than anything else, and boy, did they eat. We ordered two sets of the family meal, so we had 4 pizzas, 12 soups, 16 bread sticks and 2 pitchers of soda, and we ordered one more pitcher just in case. everyone finished at least one bowl of soup and a slice of pizza. syazmi and amjad had 4 slices *each*.

it was after they finished tucking in that things got a little noisy. sarah decided she wanted to dance to the music. then azraf and sufeeya found themselves playing peek-a-boo with a young woman at the other side of the panel. but by then, we have finished eating so time to go.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

tkd again

I really need to remember I have a blog :).

the second lesson of taekwando, we came early. so the kids went through the whole warm-up routine. the stretching went fine, etc etc and then they had to run around the place 5 times (at least!) poor azraf. he kept up, but as soon as they finished that routine, he came out of class, ran to me, and said he was tired. I would think so! and then he refused to go back to class -- alamak!

sunday, he had a fever, just a tad actually, but enough for him to be happy to miss TKD. the next friday, he plain decided he wasn't going. we'll see this week.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

tae kwan do

As of 4 August, Azraf is now officially registered in the tae kwan do club. I think there's someone else his age, unless she's just small for a 4 y.o.

He has been so eager to enrol. This guy would be TKD'ing by himself at home, following the moves he saw when watching the older ones in their TKD class. We were thinking July but July just rolled through and we just waited for August.

So I had him registered, and he got his uniforms straight away. But then shyness struck. He didn't want to change into the uniform and joined the class that was already going on. But I managed to coax him by promising to stand just outside the training area. So he changed, and went in, I don't think the Master was quite thrilled at first to have another newbie who seemed just too young to take in his instructions :). But he was pretty patient. And a few steps (or whatever you call their moves), Azraf went into the swing of things. Too enthusiastic especially when they were doing the kicking moves in twos. His favourite part of course was when they got to shout 'tae kwon do.'

We've been teasing Hania that soon Azraf will catch up with her, and at the rate she is going, that's not impossible!

current standings.
Ilya & Syazmi: Black Belt 1st Poomse

(congratulations! they just earned their black belt this month, and are justifiably proud, they're asking to have the certs framed on the living room wall for everyone to see).

Amjad: Red
Syakira: Blue
Hania: Yellow Green
Azraf: White

the grades: white - white yellow - yellow - yellow green - green - green blue - blue - blue red - red - red black - black belt 1st poomse - (I'm not sure what they call the upper grades of black belt, I'll know when the kids move up :)).

Monday, August 07, 2006

stinky arms

did you know that if you rub your arms together, your arms will smell very stinky?

hania was doing this, and then Grandma said "nanti bau busuk, macam tahi ayam," and hania smiled and nodded, indicating that was her intention anyway.

that got everybody else's attention. so Syakira and Amjad and Hania and even Grandma were rubbing away and going 'ewwww' and then going hysterical. Poor Syazmi was doing his very best to smell the stinky smell but for reasons unknown, he couldn't smell it, even when the others were going 'ewwww'.

Mummy and Ibu were just laughing watching them doing this. We didn't know this before. So now we do, and so do you.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

new kid on the block

sarah is now back from UK for a bit while waiting for her new sibling to arrive. And since her Mommy will be working here in the meantime, the older kids will get to dote on Sarah for a bit.

she was already getting along fine with the rest. interesting to note that the older ones speak to her in english -- yes, they can when they choose to!!!

sarah brings back her baby doll with her, and the older ones (*boys* and girls alike) are fascinated with the "baby cries" doll.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

najwan I






Najwan is due for his 15 month check-up and immunisation but since he's havign a cold, that will have to wait a bit.


He's been able to go up the stairs on his own like in the pic, but lately, he wants to go up the way big kids do -- by standing upright and holding on to the railing!!! agh!!!


some of his current schemas.

see an open door --> close the door. doesn't matter if there is someone at the door, just close it, doors are supposed to be closed. So sometimes I'll be choosing my clothes and suddenly the closet door gets pushed -- ouch!, and it's najwan trying to close the door.

see ibu wearing a tudung --> run to the door and get ready to go out. this is very recent, and just ever so recently he's starting to add crying to this schema. oh, and if kakak wants to pick him up during this time --> refuse.

see along or other big people --> open up hands to be picked up. when picked up --> pat the person's shoulder.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

"goal!" or as najwan says it "doool!"

we couldn't stem the tide, so here goes.....

world cup, what else. when even najwan at 14 months has a ball as one of his favourite toys and you know he's up in the morning when you hear him going "dooool," you know you can't turn your house into a football-free zone :).

amjad's team holland is now out of the game. azraf's and along's italia is still in. so is syazmi's argentina.

amjad has been staying up late at night watching the game, usually until 12, then he'll fall asleep in front of the tv.

when they get back from school, syazmi and amjad will go play ball for a bit. syira, mindful ever so much of her coming UPSR, has toned down a bit so it's usually just the two boys, sometimes azraf and then you'll hear "adik, adik, la..." so that would be najwan trying to join in.

i'll take this gila bola over AF anytime.

Monday, June 26, 2006

azraf tales

yesterday, in the car, at one point, the odor from outside seeped into the car.

azraf: hmm.... busuk.... pap 'put' ya.
papa: no, abang de tak mandi
azraf: abang de mandi.
papa: abang de mandi kerbau, abang de mandi tak betul, mandi kerbau.
azraf: tak... abang de mandi betul-betul, abang de mandi lembu!


****

saturday morning, the rat that has been seen around finally bit and so was caught in the trap laid out, uh, one week ago.

and of course azraf, in his loudest voice, excitedly called out,

KAK DE, TENGOK TIKUS NI, DAH DAPAT DAH.

if the whole block didn't know it before, they did then.

****

today, I got gifts from a former student. as usual, I brought them home unopened for the kids to do so. as the others were in school, Azraf got to open it up.

there was a tudung for me, and a flash card set so he went to play with them, flashing them out as the teachers did in school. We started with the Arabic words, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that when prompted with the first syllable, he remembered a lot of the words. Now for a 4-year-old whose exposure to Arabic words is mainly during the short sessions in preschool, I'm impressed.

alright, enough maternal bragging for today.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

ouch! my head!

during the last week, we've had incidents involving head wounds with the kids.

head wound #1. hania fell down from her perch and hit the back of her head at the edge of the table, and had blood splattered on her t-shirt. trying to find the wound so that we could stem the bleeding was a challenge, what with her screaming, and of course the parents not quite calm -- hoping it was just nothing while thinking the worse. we found a one-inch gash, not quite so deep now but it looked bad then. we took her to the dr and alhamdulillah by then the bleeding had stopped, and it wasn't really that deep to require stitches.

head wound #2. the same day, at night, amjad came looking for some ice to put on his head. turned out he had a bump on his head. when wasked what happened, he said 'abang jalan je, lepas tu jatuh.' ok, fine. turned out his 'jalan' was this -- while playing 'power rangers' he was taking steps to high kick aqeel, and he lost his balance then.

head wound #3. hania had a boil on her head (???).

head wound #4. while playing, the older ones accidentally knocked down najwan, who then lost his balance and bumped his head at the edge of the tv bench. he got a nick right in the middle on his forehead.

alhamdulillah, they're all surface wounds. cuts and scratches are parts of childhood, but I wish they're much more farther apart than this.