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"

2011

It's the new year and lots of things have been happening, in fact the past 22months in Malaysia was really a different experience for the family. Alhamdulillah we learnt many, many things throughout, be it the boys themselves and their mum and dad. We should be thankful to Allah for everything, even if say Alhamdulillah/praise to Allah every second we breathe, it's still not enough to thank Allah, for life He give, for rezeki; of food, happiness, calmness, time; for the spouse He give, the children, for 'ilmu..list will go on. Everything is rezeki from Allah. Praise to Allah.
And yesterday I had the rezeki to meet up my old girlfriends, one of them I haven't met since 19yrs ago! another one I only met July last year after 15yrs! another one I only met last raya open house after 18yrs! and another one I only met dec2008 in S'pore, after last time we met in London in 2001! SubhanAllah. Allah is so great, rezeki of time and happiness lies within, and this one is when i live in Malaysia :-)
Hey girls, don't forget to visit me across the border after this ok :-)

s.m.i.l.e.

got this interesting facts from fb

SMILE.The Messenger of Allah Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "To smile in the company of your brother is charity. " (Bukhari)

It seems that nothing has more power to elevate a mood than the impact of a genuine smile. The benefits of a smile extend not only to the recipient of the warm gesture but also to the smile's originator. "A smile is a little curve that sets a lot of things straight." Here are some of the many ........ Benefits of Smiling!

1. Smiling Makes Us Attractive- People are spending millions on cosmetic products and procedures to make them look better.If you want to look better, try adding a genuine smile. Its cheaper and mush more attractive.The muscles we use to smile lift the face, making a person appear younger. Don't go for a face lift, just try smiling your way through the day -- you'll look younger and feel better.

2. Smiling Changes Our Mood-Next time you are feeling down, try putting on a smile. There's a good chance you mood will change for the better. Smiling can trick the body into helping you change your mood.

3. Smiling Is Contagious-When someone is smiling they lighten up the room, change the moods of others, and make things happier. A smiling person brings happiness with them.

4. Smiling Relieves Stress-Stress can really show up in our faces. Smiling helps to prevent us from looking tired, worn down, and overwhelmed. When you are stressed, take time to put on a smile. The stress should be reduced and you'll be better able to take action.Smiling helps to promote release of a "feel good" group of hormones called endorphins. These are the same group of hormones responsible for the runners high you hear so much about. If you don't have time to get to the gym for a hard run, try adding a smile to boost these natural, stress relieving hormones.

5. Smiling Boosts Your Immune System-Smiling helps the immune system to work better. When you smile, immune function improves possibly because you are more relaxed. Prevent the flu and colds by smiling.

6. Smiling Lowers Your Blood Pressure-When you smile, there is a measurable reduction in your blood pressure. Give it a try if you have a blood pressure monitor at home. Sit for a few minutes, take a reading. Then smile for a minute and take another reading while still smiling. Do you notice a difference?

7. Smiling is medication-Studies have shown that smiling releases endorphins, natural pain killers, and serotonin. Together these three make us feel good. Smiling is a natural drug and leads to a healthier immune system.Various studies conducted over the years have shown that smiling can boost the functioning of the immune system. This may help to reduce your risk of developing everything from the common cold to chronic diseases such ascancer. Could there be a less expensive medicine than this?

8. A smile inspires others-When you smile you also send a positive message that can potentially change someone else's mood for the better. The person you graced with your smile may go on to pass the kindness to someone else. Who knows how far your original smile will travel?

9. Smiling promotes Success -Smiling people appear more confident, are more likely to be promoted, and more likely to be approached. Put on a smile at meetings and appointments and people will react to you differently. When you smile, you appear confident and capable. Given the choice between two equally qualified job candidates, the smiling candidate is going to be perceived as being more of a team player and easier to work with. Who do you think is more likely to get the job offer?

10. Smiling Helps You Stay Positive-Try this test: Smile. Now try to think of something negative without losing the smile. It's hard. When we smile our body is sending the rest of us a message that "Life is Good!" Stay away from depression, stress and worry by smiling. Smile..!!!.. .It does not cost a cent and can make a persons day! "It takes seventeen muscles to smile and forty-three to frown".

The greatest reason for smiling is because it is a sunnah [practice] of our Beloved Messenger of Allah [peace be upon him]!!!. The Messenger of Allah[pbuh] had a smiling face and advised us to entertain our guest with a smiling face and good conduct. To smile is an act of charity!

can we smile when we are in stress? in sadness? we gotta give a try?..

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 )

11 years

as man & wife. 6 years as mom & dad for Umar, Zaky & Aqil. 12-12-2009 it's the 11th year anniversary. Alhamdulillah. Praise to Allah for everything.

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.

Back to home country

of Mummy's :P So welcome to live in Malaysia Naz, Umar, Zaky & Aqil. After 8 mths transition of weather and culture in Singapore from California, from England. And I can't believe it that the weather, air quality has changed so much from 12 years ago! So now our body system's struggling to keep up with the hot weather and obviously 'not good' air quality. All i can think of is, it's like summer in the dessert of Las Vegas! but worse with the humidity. For the first time, Aqil got runny nose for days, Umar & Zaky with coughing. Mummy with sinusitis. Dad? Daddy cool? :P He's used to life of drastic change of weather as he's been travelling to all sorts of different weather in short notice for the past 7-8yrs. From summer, spring temperature to thick snow etc. Good for you then
;-)

As of the kids, 1,2,3. No.1 Umar-Finding his new kindy and taekwando, No.2 Zaky-Getting him to school too? we'll see. He can recite Al-fatihah on his own now, before 3yrs old. Yippee! And last night he cried in his sleeping, on and off, Mummy already thought it's due to unfinished business with us just before he slept ;-) So i asked him today, "Who cried last night?" "Me" with a smile :P "Why did you cry Zaky?" "Because I need batteries" yea..he wanted batteries as laptop switched off due to battery nil. We purposely did not plug it in so that they wouldn't play too long, as what always happened. Now Umar gotta see optometrist after initial check-up at his kindy last month.
And our No.3-Aqil..he can sing Thomas song his way! :-) And he is so keen, too keen on what he wants, be it to go out from the house, type of food etc. If he did not get what he wants, he will try to knock his head on the floor and throw his body to the floor! My goodness. I got 3 kinds of superheroes here, and my helper need to deal with all these everyday. When I'm around, I make sure I give her every single tips i can think of on how to look after my children, how to handle different arguments, battle situation, resentment at meal time etc.

We pray to Allah that our family can survive the weather, the culture and Malaysia.

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.

Happy New Year 2009

Well.. the new year, the new beginning of kids/our life, the family in Asia. Umar started his K2 (Kindergarten 2) on Jan 7th. First 2 weeks was really a challenging time for him especially. The new school environment, new friends-to-be who he cannot understand well their English (Singlish!) and Malay and vice versa. And we did not know how is the school system here, early childhood school. Mum kinda worried when Umar seemed not happy at all at first. When asked, he's not telling what we would like to know. Luckily the communication book between parent/teacher been given few days after school started :P Management. Talking about it, on his 1st day, a parent should be with their child on the bus for the driver to know the exact place to pick up/drop off. And not to our knowledge we were on the wrong bus, following the information given on the orientation day! :P Another management issue and they really apologize to us, new comer that they thought have the same experience like the old students who are used to different buses! :P Sabar...

So Mummy started to write to teacher about what I see in Umar and so forth (including some incidents with him and friends-to-be that is worrying). After 2-3 times Mummy wrote in the book, with concerns, comments, suggestions etc. Umar's teacher called Mummy, and we basically discussed things out when I convinced her that I just want to make sure my child can learn alongside with other children, happily without the feelings of been left out in social circle. Yea..after a week and a half, eventualy he can name out one of his friends in class! (hey! they did not use name tags at all (can be just stickers as i suggested! :P) and most of them have been friends with each other since a yr or 2yrs ago! Umar is all new to everything here, the culture of the school, the children, even teacher said that the way I brought up my children is not the same like they do it here. I totally agree, which out of the conversation/discussion with Umar's teacher, we understand that Umar is in adaptation process to the whole situation, the culture and all, even the food at school! (I never thought school can give chocolate spread for bread, jammy/choc biscuits at snack time, token sweeties from teacher (doesn't matter if it's end of school), junkies from bus driver assistant, friends giving sweeties to friends, OMG. What happen to the fruits, healthy food for the children? Even parents allow sweeties/junkies to be brought to school. Umar is surprised, so is Mummy! :P So this is one of the culture. Are we suppose to adapt to this unhealthy habits?...We gotta choose wisely here, which culture for the children, for the family etc. But it's not easy for a 5+yr old to understand this whole culture thing.

Come to the 3rd week, his 1st spelling assessment. Alhamdulillah, as teacher said (after I asked in the communication book, coz i'm not taking Umar's every words yet! :P) "he did the spelling very well both in English and Malay!" I thank to his Ayah for the spelling at home. Yea..it's the parents homework; but we are used to teach Umar at home. Then his 2nd spelling, which i knew he would have done it well too. And that Umar said, "I did well Mummy" :-) At the end of the month, he brought back the book that proves he did very well indeed, with good writing, which Mummy thought he's a bit behind in that; as here, they enhanced the writing skills from age 4!

And Zaky at 2 1/2yrs old?... still home learning in playing. Yea..whenever we got the opportunity, not everyday as we got Umar & Aqil in need of attention too. Can't help not to send him yet to 2hr daily school (Nursery 1=3yrs old) as I don't want him to be culturized (yet!) with the too systematic early childhood school programme here and the 'local English'. I've read lotsa expat forums that they agree the early childhood school here is too systematic/rigid. But the advertisement of the school tells you the opposite! Probably the context of learning through play here is a bit different from the one in UK, US. And so far, at any playground, i can't see any 8yr old can ask politely (with a simple please and thank you that is..), teenagers considerate to younger children, let alone the younger ones, going towards the same path!? So what's going to happen to my kids?..We can't be there all the time with them, mmmm.... Shouldn't it early childhood education emphasize on civics, social behaviour, imaginative thinking skills, freedom of opinions/speech. This is where the politeness of the Malay culture become useful ;-)

Back to Zaky..Hey! He started recognizing words! His dad (again ;-)) discovered when they went out from the car park and he pointed to his dad saying ,"Exit". Yippee! We always wonder (may be Mummy! :P) when can he start reading, will it be like Umar a week shy of his 3rd b'day? We were not convinced at all with Zaky, esp when most of the time he plays with Umar of 5+ age games! But they do have fun, enhance his speech, vocab and thinking skills when playing with Umar. And just yesterday when his dad asked us to get any book that he likes to read, he took this book and said, "Shapes" and dad was surprised he can read the title of the book. May be he recognized the word itself through memory, including a few more others. But that's the start of the reading stage. We are happy for you Zaky, and we still gotta work with you more on reading or reading on Starfall.com! Yea, he prefers games on other children websites :P Unlike Umar he got more reading for himself (actually the daily bedtime story reading with Dad) until the age of 4+. When Zaky became a toddler, Dad gotta put 2 boys to bed, so ended up only with Surahs and doas (it takes a while for Umar to read 8-9 surahs and his own long! duas) , which Zaky is yet to pick up. He can now say 'Bismillah' that's when we sing to him, "Before we sleep we say (Bismillah)." And he can follow us reading Al-Fatihah. May Allah give us strength to teach our children to make the best out of them. InsyaAllah.

Excerpts from a newspaper recently,
Said one of the local politician "..a vast difference in the scale and depth of efforts in improving the primary education teaching force as compared to preschool teachers. When can we do the same for early childhood education?"
A new fastrack course in kindergarten education will be launched this year to attract quality preschool teachers and raise standards in the sector.

10th Anniversary

12-12-1998 -----> 12-12-2008
HAPPY 10TH ANNIVERSARY to us

10 years in marriage, now with them 3...Umar, Zaky & Aqil; 5,2,8mths, growing day by day, year by year..
Some conversations with them last few days.

While Mummy drink up her drink in front of tele with Umar who's watching Ben10 on CartoonNetwork (can say he only 'got in' to CartoonNetwork from weeks ago, we prefer other kids channel)
Umar, "This episode is not only about Ben10 fighting, it's about how Ben10 got his Ben10 alien watch and how to use it to go to the planets that got aliens; So Ayah is right that I can watch ben10" while looking into my eyes..
Mummy, (??) "Owh..really.." :-)
Umar is actually taking a defending mode to make sure Mummy is ok he's watching this Ben10. Hehehehe... (Mummy wouldn't like his kids to watch all the fighting stuffs, be it in cartoons at early ages, 2,3.. (but Zaky watch what Umar's watching? :P) :-)

Mummy said to Umar,"Come on Umar, finish up your drink if you want to follow us to Giant" Mummy just wanted to bring him, leaving Zaky & Aqil. Right after saying that, Zaky came in front of me and looked deeply into my eyes and said, "Can I fowow you Mummy, can I..can I..." It's so cute moment! :-)The 2 year old asking. Lately he's always aware of any conversations around him, and understand the language very well, to our surprise.

At one time while Mummy was holding Aqil, Zaky came to me and said, "Cuddle me, cuddle me, Mummy.."
Mummy, "I'm holding Aqil Zaky.."
Then Zaky hold my hand like dragging me somewhere and said, "Put Aqil on the bed..Put him on the bed.." (??)
because he wants Mummy! LOL He thinks so well on how to tackle the problem! hahahhaha..
He always use politics to ask for things..."Can I.." "How about..." "May be.." He's not even 2 1/2 yet, but he's ever so good at language. Sometimes he said long sentences clearly to our surprise, from his thoughts, to ask things etc. Cool Zaky! Keep it up!..

And Aqil can understand if we ask him to clap and wave his hand, or most of the time his hands will be in the actions of "Come here, come here, come here.." :-) So cute :-) He's inputting the language vocabulary to his head at the moment. He can respond when you talk to him, probably you can hear, "Ah, ah.." "Ba, ba.." or "Ahhhhh! Ahhhhhh! " when calling for somebody! LOL

Mother

A baby cried at night, Mum wanted to train her for sleeping through, so tried to ignore as much as she could (trying to follow few different ways on how to make baby sleep through by various child experts, from books etc!). Thinking of how much sleepless nights Mum have had since baby was born, and how it will affect her working day tomorrow.
While trying to ignore the crying baby, Mum thought.. Allah makes baby cries at night, when a mother wakes up to attend her baby or feed her, the reward is like going to the war of fisabilillah. SubhanaAllah..it's a huge reward that no other woman can gain except for a mother! How could we resist that?..How much the duniawi has ruled us, women, which mothers have to think more on other stuffs, eg work. Looking after your zuriat, bathe them, feed them, teach them 'Bismillah' and other foundations that will benefit them and us, mothers; as the rewards of ilmu yg diamalkan is rewarded everytime they use it, like "Bismillahirrahmanirrahim", imagine that word that you teach is used everyday in life! What more if the parents can teach their children more and more.. imagine the pahala from Allah, although we should be doing things sincerely because of Allah, but at least thinking of the pahala will make parents wanted to strive to teach their children, the duas, surahs and the akhlak.
A drop of mum's milk is a pahala for Mother, all from Allah. Imagine the most natural thing, the beautiful moment that Allah grant Mother and baby, is also rewarded pahala! SubhanaAllah.. So many things, natural motherhood that Allah designed for a woman that will gain back benefits to themselves, ourselves..Mothers.
After giving birth to a baby, Allah makes us, mothers like a new baby too, taking away all the dosa. Isn't that wonderful? The pain that we go through, gets the benefit of taking away our dosa. SubhanaAllah, how great is Allah, his creations and his way of designing every each things for everything, and for women, mothers. Yes..Allah put us to test, to gain his rewards in bringing up our zuriat, the patience, the tawakkal. May Allah give barakah to the Mothers.
"Who should we listen to..after Allah..and Rasullullah.."
"Who next?" "Your mother"
"Who next?" "Your mother"
"Who next?" "Your mother"
"And then your father.."
lyrics from a beautiful muslim children song. Again how high is the darjat of a mother that Allah has put us, from what we have been through, and will go through. SubhanaAllah. And that mother instinct that only mothers have for their children, when they are happy, sad, healthy, sick, hungry, thirsty etc etc, even what your child thinks, a mother knows! Isn't that amazing 6th sense, instinct that Allah granted to us, mothers.
MasyaAllah, SubhanaAllah...I'm so thankful to Allah for giving me the chance to be a mother.
*this is what i only know, may be others can add on more ilmu to be shared among us. thank you Allah.

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 :-)

20 days in Asia

It's 20 days today we've been living in Asia, SG. After 8 1/2yrs in UK and 3 yrs in the States.
Adjusting to;
1) weather
2) culture :P
3) food! Yum, yum.
4) bathroom! :P
5) circle of family&friends
6) night life!
7) less child friendly spaces :P
8) tight space for strollers! basically anywhere.. :P
9) supermarket is a no-no place for children :P we miss them wander around, learning things at supermarket :-(
10) less pedestrian priority in the urban design! :P
11) my kids cannot understand why adults like to tease them, kids :P (i can't understand either, totally different culture how society treat them kids..teach them, not tease them :P)
12) big, long grass at greens...not a place to look for bugs Umar! u might see a snake! :P
13) spider, lizard! Yikes! :P
14) rain! Big rains!
14) more laundry! :P
15) driving attitude! :P
ETC ETC ETC
However you cannot buy the time you can meet up your big family members more often than ever before! priceless.

Good Morning and Good Night

Today, when Umar was putting on his clothes, after Mummy helped him putting on some lotion; Zaky came to us still with his pyjamas and said,
"Mm-morning A-mar.."
"Mm-morning hair." Looking at Umar's hair.
"Mm-morning feet." Looking at Umar's feet.
"Mm-morning socks." Looking at Umar's socks.
"Mm-morning Mummy!"
hey..I'm the last one?... :P
That is Zaky who's 2 yrs and 1 mth old! He's a funny boy! with funny toddler's language! :-)
At night before he goes to sleep,
"A-night A-mar.."
"A-night train."
"A-night car."
"A-night truck."
"A-night Ayah."
"A-night bankie."
And whenever he accidentally bump into you, or things! when he's running or walking..
"Sowwy A-mar."
"Sowwy Mummy."
"Sowwy A-yah."
"Sowwy E-kel"
"Sowwy train."
"Sowwy car."
"Sowwy truck."
"Sowwy chair."
and many more...sometimes a few "sowwies" at one time.. Hahahaha... So funny Zaky is! :-)
If things go wrong to his cars, trains, trucks; he will come to you and said,
"O-o..'boken'.." "fix..fix.." LOL
And he's becoming more and more better in using sentences...3 word sentence. :-) Or sometimes you can just hear what's the first and last part of a sentence!
eg.."Look me Mummy.." (Look at me Mummy..)
"Where you A-mar..?.." (Where are you Umar..)
:-) Everyday Zaky will make us all smile and laugh. Thank you Zaky! :-)
Apart from learning to speak sentences, Zaky is also into writing. 2nd child always follow what the elder one does, therefore he actually can learn faster. Zaky loves to scribble, do colouring, all sorts. Sampai habis semua colouring book Umar habis di'colour'kannya, pasal Umar pun tak buat! :P I can tell that his motor skill is better compared to Umar at this age. This is all because he does lots of things by himself..pasal Mummy busy! :P With baby Aqil and everything in the house! :P

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....

Umar's 1st Person!

At last...I can see the 1st person drawing Umar draw on his very own! Happened earlier this month. (there was 1,2 occasion Mummy tried to ask him to follow the stick man drawing that I did, but to no avail! :-P) I always wonder when can he start to draw a person, which that's what normally a child be able to draw using their memory and imagination. Like Umar's preschool teacher said, to be able to draw a person, it will require such a skill from a child, not by teaching them on how to draw it. It's by their memory and imagination. Be it stick man, with/without hand etc. Today, at the clinic! While waiting for Aqil's turn for his 1st imunisation, he wanted to have a paper and a pen to draw because there were 2 siblings age 6,7 were drawing! :-P After he didn't like what he started on the plain paper from the receptionist, Mummy gave him the doctor's notes, and asked him to draw at the back of it. Then with a bit of encouragement, he started to draw a circle, soon he said, 'hey, this looks like a rock'. 'Isn't it great to have a big rock at the park Mummy?'.. sure it is. 'So what is that rock for Umar?'... 'Mmmm...children can slide down the rock'. Soon he drew a rectangle that he claimed to be bouncy so that children will land safely! LOL Then Mummy said, 'may be you can draw somebody using it'.. Luckily he accepted my view and drew one person on top of the rock! (clap,clap,clap)..Mummy was so excited to see it! :-) Then that person has another friend at the bottom of the rock, but soon he claimed this person is actually the father because he's tall! LOL And he drew another person who he claimed as Mummy who's waiting for the child on the rock to slide down and waving at the child! LOL
'So how's the park that day Umar, is it nice weather there?'...'Mmmm...it's a sunny day so children can play all day long' LOL so Umar drew the sun! Eventually he thought that the rock is too high so it needs a rope to climb up, and an arch to get thru it! LOL So there is Umar's 1st drawing of person! Well done Umar!..