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.