Aqil, a week to 3yrs old.

Poor Aqil having chicken pox. When seeing doctor, he said children has been coming to clinic with chicken pox for past 2 weeks. Asking the nursery, apparently 2 weeks ago, there was a kid had chicken pox. I was sure Aqil had been immunised for varicella at 1 year old like Zaky. Umar had chicken pox at 8 months old, from a visiting friend whom their daughter just recovered. This was in summer 2004! I totally forgot how to deal with chicken pox kid, so i have to ask everything about it from the doctor. Even the receptionist at the clinic just recovered from chicken pox! So it's quarantine time for Aqil, and Mummy! :P Now it's the 4th day and Aqil recovering fast, Alhamdulillah. Only about 2days that he had the blistery 'pots' (Aqil said, "chicken pots!"). Alhamdulillah it's mild and bearable for Aqil. Aqil who's going to be 3 soon likes to talk. Everyday he always talk about lotsa things, especially about his Thomas and friends! and ask funny questions. This is some of his conversations.

- Mummy, "Aqil, do you want to have Thomas's set for your birthday?" Aqil with serious face, "I don't want Thomas sad, I want Thomas happy!"

- Aqil, climbing on the stool to listen to the washing machine closely, "What is happening Mummy?" Mummy, "It's the washing machine, washing up the clothes Aqil" Aqil, "Owwhh" - While having noodles on the breakfast table, Umar was saying that he felt like at the cafe or restaurant and Mummy is the waitress (yeah..you'r certainly right, it happens everyday, every meal! :P). Then suddenly: Aqil, "Mummy, you have to be careful with my two brothers" Mummy ??? "Why Aqil?" Then Zaky answered, "Because we are ninjas!"LOL

- Aqil,"I wanna watch Emily and the New Coaches" Mummy" (one of his many thomas dvds) Mummy, "ok, but you have to ask Umar to shower first" (it's 7.00pm) Aqil with his serious face and on top of his lung, "Umar! Go sho-wer!" Mummy told him again that he has to say it with please, so he did it again with please. Then he came to me, "Umar doesn't want to shower! I am angry!" (with serious face!) Mummy, "Can you be patient Aqil?" Aqil, "No I don't want to! So I will transform! (Mummy?) I will become bad guy, allergy bad guy!" (Laughing in my heart! coz he was so serious!) our Aqil..funny 'lil boy who's allergy to cow milk/dairies :-)

- Aqil wanted to pray Maghrib with Mummy, putting on his sajadah. He did not follow at all, except 1 al-fatihah. After solat,

Aqil, "I cannot finish the prayer because it's so hard"

Mummy, "U mean the solat?"

Aqil, "Yes..I cannot finish solat. It is hard, the solat"

Our 2 yr old Aqil

This morning Aqil came to me and say, "Sun-day, Mon-day.." I was surprised and say, "Monday, then?" To my surprise he said, "Tuesday" (in 'pelat' way). Then he sing the song! "Sunn-day, Monn-day, Tuess-day, Wednesday-Thursday. Frii-day. Saturday..." Half way we sang together. Bless :-) (This is from the cd in Mummy's car, since we were in San Diego) This moment made me miss all those time when I spent more time with my kids, when they were only one, then two, then three; Umar, Zaky & Aqil. Umar had the most time of his early years with his Mummy, time to teach him anything and everything for early learning (Alhamdulillah). Not anymore that I can have the luxury of time, but I still grab any opportunity, meaning whenever they are interested in anything, be it reading, painting, scribbling, playing. Teach them kids something. Mum is the best teacher, because we understand our children in different ways from their teachers. (Don't start on this topic now that Umar is at Primary :P)
Aqil who just turned 2 on March 26th, can count 1-10, sometimes he miss 1,2 number, sometimes he add the teens! and 20! Guess he must have listened to Zaky counting ;-) He's the 1st of his siblings can speak Malay words at earliest, yea..coz he went to Daycare that most kids speak Malay or mix language, Malay-English, ending with 'lah'...Mmmm..so Aqil have all sorts of mix language that he speak. We prefer one language at a time. It's a bit sad when you can't have anymore control on your child development, due to many reasons. However parents can still make the best of the time when they are with their children, but it may not be enough. One day, we will see that our children has grown to have the personalities, strength from what he has been through his childhood life. We become who and what we are, rooting from our early childhood experience.

Germs Died

"Zaky, have you brushed your teeth today?"
"I don't have to! The germs already died!"
"Huh? How did the germs died?"
"I 'tui-tui' (spit) them!"
(our 2nd boy who just turned 3 1/2 yrs old)
Happy New Year 2010!
(it's 01012010 but the post said 31122009 as in San Diego. missing it )

Zaky @ 3yrs 4mths

I've been wanting to write about Zaky from months ago. Seemed like he's been going on through lots of changes, or rather development of his own, positive and negative! While writing this, he's bullying Aqil on the bed while Aqil thought it's fun play! Gosh! :P "don't push him!" "Zaky! Don't push him!" Zaky,"he thinks it's funny!" i'll stop first then... ................................
Continue now. Everyday Zaky always say sentences that's funny and sometimes amaze us. eg few days back, "Mummy, praying mantis says "AllohuAkkebarr" LOL and good that he relates 'praying' with AllahuAkbar. One day at the swimming pool, "Mummy! there's a mosquito at the swimming pool." where is it? Then I saw a huge grass hopper at the place :-) LOL Lately after sending Umar to board his school van, we (Mummy,Zaky,Aqil) will spend time at the park/playground (this is why we opted to stay at condo) for breakfast and play (and Mummy had foot reflexology walking, hehehe) and Zaky will always bring his craft butterfly he named 'Sally' (he thought Sally is not a girl's name! :P) whatever Zaky. Arguing with him, you'll never win! So he always look around for Sally's friends, other butterflies. On good days we may find a few of different type of butterflies. Mummy's feeling good again living in Malaysia when my children can learn from nature, like the time we were in UK and States. How much nature, everyday life can teach our children. For free!
And everyday, Zaky & Umar (after he came back from school) will always like to play with bristle blocks and typical lego blocks. And their favourite thing to create is, the transformers! We parents are so amazed on how both of them can create such a transformer that can transform and with many things, like wings, propellers, shooters (yeah, boys! :P), changable arms/feet, and all of these will be described by themselves, on each parts. Language, explanation, imagination, creativity and all sorts that's been learned in this Transformers play. Sometimes it can be as big as their small chair ;-) Umar said, "We don't have to buy the Transformers toys Mummy. We can do it ourselves and i think it's better." (that's Umar, which Mummy has to always remind him of being boasting...may be kids age hopefully). And I think this interesting play between the brothers has made Zaky & Umar does not like it at the nursery. Everytime coming back from nursery at late afternoon, once they enter the house, they both will rush to their toys! and play, play, play as if they haven't seen it for a long time! :P Sometimes I feel so blessed that my kids really love staying home with their mum.
About Zaky, he could count to 20 and only from a week ago we started to get him to 30, nearly there. But he always said, "I can count to 100!" Ok, Can you say it? "1,2,3,... ,18,19, 100!" Hahahhaha.. he wished he can count to 100 like his big brother which he always follow suit whatever Umar does. Sometimes too much, "Can you help me with this Umar, can you help, can you help" bothering his big brother while trying to do the same as what Umar does :-)
In reading, Zaky now managed to recognise simple/common words that he sees in book. We are still trying to get him to be able to read :-) With 3 super heroes in the house now..hhmmm.. wherever, whenever there's opportunity. May Allah give us strength to teach our 3 kids to their best potentials. Amin. (got to stop, appointment for Umar's report book at his school, can't wait to meet his 6 teachers of each subjects. tarra.
* Alhamdulillah at Umar's report day, discussing things out with teachers of each subject and the principal (I was the last parent so time was all on me, hehehe), the school conclude that Umar has huge potential academically and hopefully will improve to his mischief. We know already that we are dealing with a kid that will test things surrounding him, including people! and would like to see what's the reactions we shall take to tackle the problems he created. Talk about school I'm happy with the way they handled my son, Umar, academically and in islamic adab&akhlak. Although Umar started this islamic montessori preschool only from last July, he had learnt so much about Islam, our religion, about why Allah created us, how to be a good khalifah to the world and all other aspects of daily life that Islam has set the guidelines for the right path. Will we be able to direct our children to the right path, with the so many duniawi things parents need to do to survive the family life nowadays, the surrounding environment that always make us forget our creator. And now I'm talking about living in the country that majorities are Muslims, with athans heard at 5 prayer times a day. But as individual, how much have we done for Allah swt, the way we live, the things we do everyday, the human relationship, the inner self cleansing in trying to lead a blessing life from Allah swt and others. I've been living in non Muslim countries for nearly 12yrs, and those experience had made me learnt so much, and it's so strange that life in the country that majorities are muslims is filled with lots of things that can astray you and sadly the muslims behaviour around does not reflect muslims at all, in public or secretly. Ya Allah, show us the right path. Amin. (ops.unintentionally)

Zaky is 3!

Our 2nd boy turned 3 on June 29th. 3 years ago at a different time zone, in Poway, California, Mummy still remember in the best labor room that I have ever been, with jacuzzi (aka for water birth:P) etc, baby Zaky came out on the 3rd attempt of vacuum, minute to be pushed to OT for C sect. Alhamdulillah you came out eventually with yr umbilical cord 3 times around your neck, which explained the hard hours of pushing ;-)
On his 3rd birthday, Mummy realised that this boy has not started on potty training yet! Unlike his brother that a week before his 3rd birthday, he's off diaper, but with lotsa accidents for the next year! year! :P hehehhe.. So for our 2nd, Mummy decided to wait until he's ready, but he did not show any sign of that except for demanding to use nappy whenever we asked him to use pull ups!, let alone underpants :P So a week after his 3rd birthday, on one fine day, Mummy got the chance to help him to change his nappy, and I got the idea and told him,
"Zaky, we are running out of nappy. We forgot to buy nappy, they are all at the shop. I only have this underpants. Hey I got two that u can choose, one is the star and the other one is the car. You can choose which one you want to wear."
Then he answered with his grumpy face, "No! I want my nappy! Nappy is good. No underpants!" Yea, Zaky, with his strong opinions, always! Then I thought for a second. Well, I will leave him to think and put the 2 underpants on the floor in front of him, then I left the spot with a prayer to Allah for this potty training attempt. While I was walking down the stairs, I heard Zaky saying, " I want my nappy! I want my nappy!" I ignored and hoping for the better. After half an hour I went again upstairs but not to attend to him. I went straight to the room and in a minute I heard him, "Mummy. Can you help me with this please" while holding the star underpants. So I just said, "O.Ok. Good boy Zaky. You are a small boy! Small boy use underpants, only little boy like Aqil use nappy.(he never liked to be called a big boy. For him Umar is big boy, he's a small boy and Aqil is a little boy)"
Ops, then he said, "Can you go to Giant and buy my nappy?" LOL
"Ok Zaky, we'll see ok" Then he went away continue watching tele. I went near him and tell him, "Zaky, if you want to wee2, tell Mummy or Aunty Precy (our helper) ok?" "Don't make your underpants wet ok?" After that, with a bit wetty underpants, to full wet underpants, to wet the floor for a few times, and poo2 in underpants, on and off with on time and accidents for few days, so we decided to give him pull ups but with intention to keep it dry.
It has been about 3 weeks today and he's getting better at it. Sometimes he wanted to go potty for wee2 almost every hour! With praise and encouragement, he understood now to go to the loo for wee2, but poo2, only few times now :P
One night we went out for dinner and he drank like a full 1 1/2 glass of water. When we came back, he wanted to go to the loo every 10 minutes, but hey! he got it right..he wanted to wee2 too many times because he felt it, with too much drink! hehehehe... :-)
InsyaAllah we hope that our Zaky will be diaper free soon.

Zaky..Umar..

Mummy was feeding him, Zaky, a piece of chicken and it fell before reaching his mouth, so Mummy said, "Sorry Zaky" Then he answered, "Not sorry. Sorry about that" So Mummy said again, "Sorry about that Zaky", then he answered, "That's better" "It's ok Mummy"
Macam-macamlah si Zaky! :P At 2yrs 22mths.

Umar, Mummy and Zaky were reading a book about Food Chain. Then came to the page about plant needs sunlight, water and air to grow. And I asked Umar again what did the plant need to grow. Umar, "Sunlight, air, water and patience" Mummy, "Patience?"
Umar, "Patience because they have to wait a long time to grow big"
:-) How much surprise can you get from your children's language, everyday!

Update for kids 1,2,3

Aqil just turned ONE yr old, Zaky 3 mths to 3 yrs old and Umar 3mths 40days to 6 yrs old. Aqil can say 'there' and point out what he wants, too many times in a day! clap hands when prompt, do twinkle-twinkle little star with his tiny fingers (asking us to sing it while he does the action ;-), say 'aw-wahh' for hello, C phonic 'khhe' when he sees C or cat! Can say phonic A, Aaa.. and 'papa' for apple. B, bbaa for ball; whenever he's on ABC on starfall.com. Enough 3 letters for a start ;-) Aqil loves the mouse and keyboard so much. And Aqil is one active, adventurous baby, climbing everywhere! even stand up on chair (his small chair), rocking horse and anything that he can climb and stand on, and take advantage if somebody close to something that he can step on our feet, hand, shoulder to get to his target place! Hahahha...
Other than that he basically understand simple command, ask him to take certain toys, ask him to show where is the bird! ask him to give it to you and few others.

Zaky is 3 mths to 3 yrs old, waiting for him to be able to read :P for now he can recognised few words like 'exit' (his favourite, at car parks, malls etc), 'shapes', 'bakugan' (one of fav toy!), 'fish' and 2,3 more. So we r trying to get him to be able to read, as it's just that 'click' hasn't got into his brain yet..he knows all the phonics and all, not new for him. In numbers, he can count to 20, to our surprise. Like Umar, teaching them in daily life things..however he can recognise numbers until 11, and still not get 4 is 4 things and further, 1,2,3 things he's ok. It takes time and practise. Other than that what is interesting about Zaky is his language ability, his vocabulary, he's far ahead from his peers (he's not started school yet, hehehe :P said that because everybody here will start their kid at school at yr they r 3yrs old, but i wanna wait a bit more longer). One of the reason is because he always play with Umar and have conversations with Umar when they r playing together. We love to hear them communicate with each other. So cute and funny when Umar had to explain, describe things to him when he asked. When playing pretend, computer games etc. But this boy is really good at politics with people around him. He will create a conversation or asked you things first before he tells you what he actually wants. "Can i see what's up there Mummy?" "hmmm..i like that biscuit, can i have some please"..and he's always with please and thank you. Bless you Zaky. But with that opposite he got tantrum 2 that Umar never had before. New experience for us when he's crying, struggling in the car, lying down at our feet in the car etc, one incident just this evening when we all ready to have dinner picnic (6pm)at the beach next to playground. We told him we r going to playground and he actually thought the playground down the block. So he didn't want to get in the car :P struggling in the car, crying while saying, "I wanna go playground" repeatedly. Even we say we r going to the playground Zaky, it's near the beach. "No! Not near the beach!" "Don't drive! driving is boring" another word from him since a month or so ago, 'boring'. "Shower is boring" "Eat is boring" "Ribena is boring" "Biscuit is boring", whatever he doesn't like at that time..is boring! Hahahahhaha... but when you say to him, "Are you boring Zaky?" he will open his eyes wide while thinking and say "No I'm not! You are boring!" Sabar je lah si Zaky ni... Hahaahahahaha...

Umar..who can't wait for his birthday, wishing that his birthday falls on January because he said he'll be the 1st to celebrate birthday every year! Hahahhaha.. Now he got to wait for Mummy's, Aqil's and Zaky's b'day before his turn :-) And still like before, Umar, who is so hard to get one thing done in his daily tasks, because everything has to have reason behind it, for him! Why shower? Why eat? Why wash hands? Yea, after all the explanations done, he went, "I don't want to.." Uurrggghhhh.. After few years of struggling with him, just few days ago (after Mummy got e-mail about iblis/satan who tells their secret to Nabi Muhammad saw.) when I don't have other points for his arguments, I told him the story about satan, that they always make us do bad things like disobey parents etc. Alhamdulillah he did listen for that time ;-) And on the way to his Iqra' class, Mummy continue the story of Prophet Adam, the 1st human being and how Allah sent him to live on earth because he listen to satan and disobey Allah. He listened to the story with surprise. So now we use, "don't let satan win Umar..you have to fight, come on..satan tells you not to shower.. " At least he listens after some arguments too! :P Hhmmm to that extent that we have to explain to him to listen, to do his daily tasks..
Another one, one day he came back from madrasah showing his work. Ustazah asked to draw Allah's creation, and in his picture is television, computer and another one looks like a person but he said it's a robot! OMG!.. He thought everything is Allah's creation including the machines that is part of life today. Children nowadays..they hardly relate the difference from Allah's creation. So we have to explain to him. And the picnic by the beach this evening had given us the chance to tell him more about Allah's creation when u'r out, seeing the sky, the sea, waves, trees, grass, birds etc. And Umar asked, "Does Allah make kuey-teow?" (we brought for dinner picnic!) then another explanation, where the kuey teow originally came from. Then he said, "So it's like the food chain, and Allah is the top of the chain.." so we say, "sort of..but for sure Allah is the greatest Creator"
Mummy's no1,2,3 boys..May Allah bless you, protect you and you become a soleh person, Aminn.

Zaky..funny..

At breakfast this morning, we had murtabak or kids still call it canai..
When seeing a dot of curry spill on my plate, Zaky went..
"It's messy. on your plate Mummy" with his 'pelat' and still American :P
"Ok I'll wipe it" And after Mummy wiped it out,
"Are you sure?" ????? what do you mean Zaky?.. :P
Yea..he really takes it after his Mum! :P No mess, not a single dot :P And this actually makes it more work to look after him as he will call you to clean up when there's a tiny dot of spill or when he think his one finger is dirty! :P
"Wipe..wipe..wipe please... Mummy." :P
But with this, Zaky always create funny scenes to us :-)
After he finish his breakfast, then he asked Mummy,
"Where we go?" he meant where are we going today Mummy.
"We don't know yet Zaky"
"Go taxi" LOL Hahahahhahaha...He really is a fan of taxi in S'pore! since he came back for last year's trip, even when we went back to San Diego, he's still likes them, taxis of different colours, shapes etc.
"Yea of course, we haven't got a car yet :P :-) We will go on a taxi first to go anywhere.." :-)

Zaky..when he starts chatting with you, it's so interesting how this 2yr 4mths old toddler think and speak the language. He knows all alphabets and its phonics but doesn't know the abc song at all!
Now only Aqil got his toy that sing abc song, so Zaky started listening to it, sometimes :-) With less time spent on him individually (yea..with Umar and baby Aqil on the other hand! :P), it's amazing how much he has learnt in his 2 yrs of life. He knows to count and recognise 1-10, and 11, 12, then Mummy will say 13, 14, then to our surprise he said, "15!" so now he's in the level of learning 11-20. Well done Zaky.

Another funny thing, when he plays "knock-knock" game with you.
Zaky, "Knock, knock"
Mummy/Ayah/Umar/Others, "Who's there?"
Zaky, "Banana.."
Mummy/Ayah/Umar/Others, "Banana who?"
Zaky, "Ice-cream for you..." with his cute 'pelat' sounds like this "Ice-kim forr you.."
Anything he answers will be ended with "ice-kim for you.." LOL

Mummy only have a short time to write about them, my boys in this bloggy; lotsa other funny things with them, wish I can record them all. To be able to write this length of story, it took about 2 hours while doing other stuff at the same time, like giving bath to Aqil, Zaky!, shot a short video of Zaky playing on his own, with his imaginary stories etc, so cute... and macam2 lagi. On-off the computer to get things sorted with the kids :P

Now Zaky's coming to me and saying,
"I'm hungry..Soya, Soya" "I'm hungry, Soya, soya please.." LOL
He will say hungry for food and drink..
we r trying to teach him to use the word, "thirsty" :-)
.pause.

He has his own I-Spy game lines, a bit different from the usual I-Spy, this is what a 2 yr old I-Spy! :-)
"I spy a robot" zaky and expecting you to ask more! :P
"where?"
"In the tree" zaky
"What colour is it?"
"it's yellow" zaky
"And what is it?"
"It's Bumble Bee" zaky (from his transformers! :P) :-D
and this conversation will be on whenever he feels like asking it! Can be a number of times everyday! LOL :-)

3 funny things today.

Mummy was using skype with Ayah who was at his office. Umar took over and Mummy went away from the computer. Suddenly, Umar shouting at me..
"Mummy! Mummy! Ayah is smoking!"
Yea Umar, he does smoke. But how do you know he is smoking at his office?
"He says he's smoking!"
So Mummy went to the computer then saw the 'person smoking' emoticon that Ayah typed responding to what Mummy just typed to him. Hahaha..LOL Umar..Umar
"It's just an emoticon Umar..doesn't mean he's smoking"

Then after like 5mins, again..
"Mummy, Ayah said there's a bandit at his office!"
Ha?...Really?.. (I thought Ayah surely did type the story to him, as he can read..)
So again I went to the computer, and asked Umar. "Where did Ayah typed it?" It was already a number of lines of words and emoticons (esp. Umar he used emoticons all the time, he only know typing his name, Zaky, go, bye and few simple ones! :P)
So eagerly Umar scrolled up, "It's here Mummy.." "Where is it Umar?.."
I never thought this time, it's a bandit emoticon! LOL LOL
It's just an emoticon Umar, it doesn't mean there's a bandit at Ayah's office. LOL

And the 3rd funny thing, at the end of the day. After Ayah came back fr work, talked to Umar, knowing he did nothing today except for computer, television and playing with toys. So Ayah decided to create a spelling game with him. He's not interested at all! :P So Ayah suggested to give him a quarter for every word he can spell. Still not interested! :P (even asking, "How about a dollar!?" :P) Although with Mummy's encouragement at the background (was busy in the kitchen! :P) Then Ayah said,
"U know what..four quarters will make a dollar that can buy you one hot wheel car! And you can choose whichever you like!" "If you do good, you can buy it every week!" Hhhmmm sounds like a good deal to him now.. :P Then know what he said?..
"But if they ask me for the credit card to pay, I don't have one!"
LOL LOL (then Ayah had to explain to him about credit card! :P)

The other day we were talking about him going to school from morning until 2pm, where Mummy or Ayah will pick him up after school. Then he said,
"I don't have a mobile phone that you can contact me to know where I am at school.." LOL probably at this age 4/5, the way they think is kinda funny to us, parents! .. Hahaha.. :-)

Preschoolers speak.

Umar with his preschool teacher, Teacher Mary; on his last day of preschool.

Umar always claimed he's a big brother (he'll be 5 in 25days!) and wanted to do things by himself. Since Mummy got 3 to look after, I let him do/try things on his own. Eg he can get ready by himself now, from brushing teeth, shower to putting on clothes. He can get his own breakfast, that is cereal with milk. One day, he poured juice for himself (normally i asked him to do it on the floor, in case it spills (it happened!:P), then Zaky wanted it too. So Umar helped to pour for Zaky too. Then Zaky wanted more after he finished his. Mummy told Umar to just give him a little bit more.
Umar, "I'll give him one drop".
Mummy, "I think 3 drops is ok"
Then I saw Zaky bringing his cup with more than half cup full! :-0
"Umar, Mummy said only 3 drops"
Umar, "That is 3 drops!" LOL

On a different occasion, it was a field trip day to a Nature Reserve for Umar's school. It was when Aqil's only about 6wks old, so I wouldn't want to bring him in the woods. Therefore, Ayah brought Umar for the trip. Before he left the house, he asked Mummy,
"Will there be a geizer there?"
Mummy was surprised he used the word geizer, and so I asked him what is geizer and where did he learnt it from.
"Geizer is something that shoots out hot water" "And I learn it from Jay-Jay The Jet Plane"
At least he got something from watching too much television! :-) :-P

On a different day Umar, Mummy & Zaky having our meal. Umar suddenly brought up a subject of a family. Umar said,
"One day I will have my own family like you Mummy"
Mummy ???
"You marry Ayah. Who will I marry?"
Mummy, "A girl that you like"
Umar, "You mean like Antonia..?.."
Mummy, "yes.." Antonia is a very sweet, polite girl in his class. Umar onced poured sand on her long hair, and she was all ok! did not cry! And she always talked/asked teacher Mary lotsa of questions but on her own!.. A very good girl! yeah Umar, I don't mind if it's Antonia.. Hahaha.. LOL

One day Umar was playing games from one of his websites (eg NickJr, PBSKids etc), and a spaceship goes through Milky Way galaxy. And he said,
"I bet there's a lot of milk there.." LOL

On a different day, he decorated his scooter (yes, we play scooter in the house! and sometimes bring it outside) with whatever he can found in the house. And he came to Mummy with the scooter and said,
"Look how I customized the scooter!"
sometimes it surprised me the vocabulary that he has, and we never thought a 4yr old can use those words.

And today, while having lunch. Umar said,
" Mummy, why don't we buy the x-ray machine and see what's happening when the food goes to our stomach. We can see what's happening inside our body"
Mummy, "I think it costs us too much to buy that Umar, probably tens of thousands, which we can buy a car with that money..and bla, bla, bla..." mummy pun explain nyer sampai ke visiting doctors, hospitals, they charge us x-ray fee etc etc. LOL

*Mummy put some key word notes on a piece of paper to be able to remember some of those moments of his speech. Until one day I have a bit of spare time like this to write it down for our family memory, and now Aqil started crying! gtg....

All about Umar

Umar just turned 4yrs and 9mths last 2 days. Our 1st boy is going to be 5 yrs old this year. How time flies. Have not written about Umar for a long time.
He's getting smarter each day, and also getting harder! to listen to Mummy&Ayah especially to do educational things. Mummy is a bit scared because he's started to say boring, and don't like all the educational things i.e. his activity books that has been abandoned for a while, his colouring book that Zaky has used them all! (I pray to Allah he's going to be fine learning at school starting this September!)
Umar is more into computer games, which 90% is from the children's website (Noggin, Disney, CBeebies etc), which is not so bad. The 10% is the car racing game etc, which he got to play with his dad on weekends conditionally! when he does 2,3 pages of his activity book, be it Maths or others (this started since 2 wks ago and it worked)
However Umar always amazed us with his speech and thinking. One day at school, the topic at circle time was about Energy, source of energy and how to save energy. When teacher Mary asked about energy, Umar told the class about electricity, energy from the sun! batteries! and how not to waste them! I was surprised that all that Mummy talking (and nagging! :-P) to him spontaneously in daily life made him think and be part of his knowledge. Alhamdulillah.. And next Ayah told us about geo-thermal energy! Mummy also learn new things! :-)
Another day when he got to put number 2 for May calendar at school. He showed me and said, "Hey Mummy..this looks like number 2 in Arabic!" (when he turned it the other way) I looked at it and "Yes! it is.." I was surprised myself how did he remembered it. I only showed him the pages number (in Arabic) when we read Iqra'.
All in all I think talking to your children about anything and everything in daily lives makes them think and think. They might not ask you anything at that time but you never knew how much knowledge that is absorbed to their brain each day, if not it is practicing their brain to think, resolve things and memory! that is vital for future use when they start school.
When teacher Mary asked how did you know about all the months of the year? Umar said, "from the song in the car!" I nodded to the teacher when she looked at me.. We have few children's cds that is about basic learning, alphabets, numbers, Simon says game etc. Mummy turned the cd on alternately and it's fun for them and unconsciously they got it! easily!.. Now they also got dvd to watch in the car. Short journey, we TRY! not to let them watch dvd :-P
One day, few weeks ago Mummy got the chance to get Umar interested to do odd & even numbers, and Mummy's intention was to make him learn more about numbers after 100. Alhamdulillah..like playing game with him, we did it until 200+, that is until there's no more space to write on the board! Mummy also tried to get him understand about quarter, half etc. It's good enough to get him into the ideas first, not forcing him to know lotsa things at one go.. But! When there is opportunity, teach them as much as we can! (Ha,ha,ha!:-) )That's what Mummy does... Especially when I got 2 children, now 3! It is so hard to find the time to teach Umar alone. But what is good is that Zaky always interested in whatever we do. Any activity with Umar we got to involve him! In a way Zaky learn a lot for his age.
This is what Mummy got Umar into for about an hour or so. While having fun with him of course. If he doesn't think it's fun and games, Mummy won't be able to do this! So there r times that we got things for 10 minutes, sometimes more.. It's all depends on how long we can get their attention in having fun in learning.And this is when Mummy tried to get him to start to draw. The 2 paper are on a different day! I told him that drawing shapes make you can draw lotsa things that you can imagine. There was Diego&Dora storybook next to us, so I flipped and showed him a picture of trees and flowers and how easy it is to draw them, with shapes. So I did and he followed suit.. And we play the games of how many different types of green and brown can we create for the trees..(making him wanted to do varieties! meaning more trees to draw! and don't forget to praise them!) and same goes with the flowers. So at least I know my son can draw a bit now... The next week I encouraged him to make a Teacher's Day card to teacher Mary. I told him girls love flowers, so does teacher Mary, and how happy will teacher Mary be to get a card full of colourful flowers. So he did... the project over 2 days to finish! :-P But he did it:-) (it was.. a big card.)
In teaching him to read Quran, Umar now is at Iqra' 3, another 10 pages to finish and he can start Iqra' 4. Mummy always trying to get him interested (whenever I have time, when am not busy with baby Aqil!) , but sometimes failing to do so.. Wish we can finish the 6 Iqra' before he starts school in September.. just go with the flow. Ops! I got to return call for Umar's placement test for his new school in September! We hope you can get to the Islamic School Umar... Aminn...

Zaky at 22 months

Just received e-mail fr BabyCentre.co.uk to remind this hands-full Mummy that our 2nd boy, Zaky is 22 months today. And this is excerpt for the topic,

Sets Goals.
Your toddler will begin to have very particular ideas about what he wants to accomplish, such as pushing his car down the path or fitting together all the pieces in a puzzle. The outcome will be important to him. He will be pleased when he's successful and frustrated when he is unsuccessful.

Ooohhh...I remember his everyday plays involve around this. He can fit Thomas' rail tracks together! it was to our surprise that one day he did it until it goes outside the room! he just continue as long as he likes! Hahahaha...He tried puzzle (Umar's) on his own..although it's not right, he was happy with it! hahaha...(at least he got the idea!), He mastered shape sorting puzzle. His favourite is lining up his hotwheel's cars together, can be up to 8 vehicles at one time, nicely arranged! :-) And lots more other interesting things for this toddler! Well done Zaky!

On the language part, he can do 2 word sentence..most of it still with his 'pelat'..so cute, that we have to translate them ourselves! Hahaha...He knows lotsa animals and how they sound (he got it most at his 'song time' with Ayah at his bedtime..he will go, "Song, song.." then Ayah asked what song do you like? He will say, "Fish.."
"1 2 3 4 5, Once I caught a fish alive..6 7 8 9 10, the I let it go again...,...." (Americans don't know this, British do!..) And the Old McDonald song, he will choose what animal, and making the sound with Ayah.. (he also knows turtle, hippo, frog(1st animal that he recognised!), alligator..and duck of course! :-)
And also to our surprise, he can count (or rather say!) 1 to 5!, after that jumbled up..up to 10. But at least he always use 1,2,3 to count things! Good Zaky!.. He knows some colours, sometimes he got it right, sometimes he says whatever he likes! Hahaha... he recognised simple shapes too. Other words are aeroplane (air-pane), helicopter (coper), fire truck (fa-yer!) yeah, a number of these vehicles he encountered here! everyday! hehehe... and not to forget his old time favourite, until today.."Taxi!" he got it from our S'pore holiday last year! Until now whenever he sees cars, he will likely say taxi!..Hahahaha...
Nowadays when he heard any sound that's not familiar, he will say," What's that?" or rather u hear 'wat-thet?"...hehehehe.. Also another phrase of his is, "Watch Out!!"..(with full facial expression!) he must have got it fr any of children's programme on tele! :-P Other funny one is "Find you!" to people and things! His blankie as usual.."Bankie, bankie.. r.... u....?.." (where r u? with leeenngthhy echooo...hehehe...) then when he found it, after searching the whole house!.."Find you!" or u may hear "Find-ju".. Hahahaha... :-) So funny to see Zaky using "find you" to basically anything!..Hahahaha.. :-)
Another thing, He always pulled you to the kitchen for food! And choosy!! Urrghhh..:-P Never said please..but always say "Te-ku" (thank you!)... Good boy Zaky!
And he can interact well especially at playing computer games with Umar. It's so funny to see esp. when Umar asked him what does he wants to choose for his car colour, wheels, pattern etc at hotwheels car games. He will say the colour, then Umar tried his best to scroll thru, asking him each of them..and Zaky will say a different colour fr what is shown...and until the last choice, Umar will ask, "Is it this one Zaky?" And Zaky will go... "No..".. Geleng kepala si abang Umar!.. :-) Hahahaha..
Lots more funny, interesting things with Zaky... Guess this story sums up our 22 mth old toddler that is growing each day, becoming smarter each day... And more cheeky! Like to tease you! (running away with yr things etc!) Zaky..Zaky.. :-) We all love you dearly..

Coming home with baby Aqil...

After birth pain & contraction...Hardly heard Mums talking about this. And I just knew from chatting with nurses at the hospital. The more numbers you give birth, the more after birth pain & contraction you will get! It's because the uterus works/contracts harder to get it back to usual size. No wonder.. And of course I do experience this, for this 3rd child is the worst!..At least during labour, u can opt for epidural. But after birth only the pain killer, which u can still feel the contraction pain! So much pain!..(sabar..) And also since I had forcep delivery the soreness at your pelvic area...Aarrgghhh...My gynae sister said it's the forcep tool that give abbrasion to the inside of vagina! I felt all these pain, soreness.. However this time I only got a bit of episiotomy cut. Thanks to Dr Simpson (male gynae). Naz said he's very good, even comparing to my previous female gynae when we had Zaky (I got 4th degree tear then!:-P)

2 days at the hospital after delivery...then Mummy&baby can come home. Our first ride in the car with baby Aqil, altogether 6 of us, with Aunty Nun, that flew fr S'pore to give Mummy a helping hand for 3 mths! Thank you Aunty Nun! Thank you so much!..:-) Umar was willing to sit at the back row, so excited that the new baby's coming home. Every few minutes, asking Ayah to drive slowly, in case baby's not comfortable if it's bumpy ride! Hahahaha....
And I remember his 1st conversation with baby Aqil at the hospital...He was looking at baby Aqil and said,
"Soon you will have a set of teeth like me Aqil.."
hahahahha....

On 5th day, Baby Aqil's 1st appointment to see paediatrician. First time for Mummy to get the bottle for him to pack his milk, breast milk! As usual, my milk is already over flowing, so it's handy to get them in the bottle for going out. This is just in case of situation of not the right place, and time (I need at least 20-30mins for a session of breast feeding!)
He's all well except for jaundice. Umar&Zaky both got jaundice for about 4 wks when they were born. So straight to the lab for blood test (it seems like we r used to this before with Zaky!). Doctor called and the results was 16. It was high but less than 20, so doc advised baby to be put under sun ray 4 times a day. Unlike Zaky before, we gotta go to clinic every 3-4 days for another check up on jaundice. Ohh..we forgot to ask for circumcision. Zaky had circumcision at the hospital, but new recommendation is to do when baby is about a week old. So we got baby Aqil's circumcision appointment on his 9th day.

Umar, Zaky, Arissa & Sofea...Holiday together!..

These pictures from Arissa&Sofea's Daddy of http://kitab-atok.blogspot.com/

Watch this video of Umar&Sofea, the 4 yr old friends..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLjckN28zjI

19Dec07-1Jan08

13 days of Happy Holidays for the 2 families...Used to live not far from each other but now separated by the Atlantic Ocean. We have not seen each for about 2 yrs since we moved to San Diego from UK.
What do we do..where do we go...
Eating, shopping, sight seeing...and children having fun time together..
San Diego attractions.. SeaWorld 3 times! La Jolla shores, La Jolla Cove, Downtown San Diego, SeaPort Village, Coronado Island, beach; Old Town San Diego, Laguna Mountain for the snow!, Wild Animal Park, Viejas Outlet, Las Americas Outlet, Carlsbad Outlet!..(not to mention other shopping places nearby!)..
Hollywood!!!..Boomers for the kids..And we managed to have mini bbq, with Satay & chicken wings, 3 times eating at Belacan Grill at Redondo Beach in Los Angeles!..Indian buffet, Seafood buffet! and other halal places... It wasn't feel like 13 days, when u have loads of happy times together!... Thank you Allah for this wonderful time..
Our holiday pictures at http://zienaz.fotopages.com/