Water Babies

These are my 3 girlie water babies, busy kicking in the water during their lessons last night at Pus@t Aku@tik Sel@ngor.

Aliya can actually do breaststroke well, but she never finishes her free-style, so I guess she might as well start again. The class was pretty basic for her but I guess she’ll just have fun then. When she goes up her levels, then she’ll start getting competitive.

Asha refused lessons with Instructor Lee, 2 years ago together with Aliya and since she’s the free willy type, very the adventurous and jumps into deeper water with just the chest-squares-body-harness float which only she is comfortable to use, I guess she’d better start learn proper swimming strokes and she loved it from the wide grins on her face last night.

Adani is the cautious one, look before you leap kind. But we’re taking a chance here since both sisters are in, let’s just slot her in. She’s not afraid of water, none of my babies are ever. But she’s very safe. She wouldn’t thread on places she’s never ventured before i.e. “I’ll stay in my float if I can’t feel the bottom of the pool” or “I’ll hang out at these steps”. True enough. Last night, she refused to join the class but in half an hour’s time, she came and said that she was ready to join and there she was having a bubbly time. I was glad that she took hold of her fear and realised it herself cos I don’t think forcing her would do it.

By the way, the entry level is called the JellyFish level. They’re not expected to do much, just emulate what jellyfishes do, with extra pair of hands and a few tentacles short.

Now, Ariz, Ariz, Ariz. He’s the fearless type. We introduced water to all the 4 kids as early as 6 months old and almost twice a month, so I guess if they’re fearless, they were trained to be so. None of the was afraid of water at all. But with Ariz, lucky us, we drilled into him to put his ring float on when he jumps into the water. So that really a comfort to me,though you can’t blink when he’s in the water. He hops, he jumps, he runs and jumps into the pool. He flip-flops and he splashes. He really has a whale of a time in the water, this one is.

And if anyone needs swimming classes, he and Asha do. But they’ve refused Ariz. Too young, won’t be able to take directions. True true true. So, there he was last night, swimming around by himself.

By the way the pool was abuzz with activities last night which suprised me tremendously. There were about 7 lessons simultaneously in the 2 pools outside, from beginners, intermediate and even advanced swimmers. I did not peek into the indoor pool. My oh my! Shah Alam kids sure are busy in the water, eh?

She Is Curious

Aliya is 9. Way too early to me to be having periods. No, she hasn’t got hers yet. But her cousin, Nor who’s 2 months older got hers about 3 months back.

That piqued Aliya’s interest a lot lately.

She’ been asking me when she’s getting hers. Told her that some girls get it early, some maybe later. I got mine when I was 12 going 13. And that seemed to be the norm in those days. These days, girls are getting matured much much earlier than we used to. Either time, relatively is flying faster or they’re growing much too fast. In the olden days (maacm la lama sangat dah tu!), if you get your periods in Standard 5, it’s early. Standard 3 is unheard of.

Anyway, turning this educationally, I reminded her it’s not about getting periods early that matters. It’s a big responsibilities and that one which she needs to prepare from now on. She merely nodded, deep in thought. Oh anakku sudah besar!

Anyway, was at UKS and found an email on how Lily explains to her kids about periods.

“Show them a diagram of a woman’s womb. Tell them that is where babies are created and where they grow. Every month, a woman’s body will build up lots of blood tissues in the womb so that when there is a baby in there, it will be protected from harm like bumps and stuff. If there is no baby, the body needs to flush out the blood so the womb is clean again, so that is why girls have their periods.

If they ask how are babies created? I just tell them that the mommy’s egg and the daddy’s egg meet in the womb. So far, haven’t gone much further than that… “

Hmm .. interesting. I’ll try that!

Isnin Is Monday

Aku tengah tersengih ni. Bukannya apa. Hari ni hari Isnin. Teringat that Ariz was born on a Monday and my Tok, who’s been quite successful in getting us (my brother alone, actually, us, the sisters have not been compliant enough) to name our children, her cucus.

It started with Faiz, then Firdaus. Good names I thought. Then my brother’s youngest baby girl was born and she insisted that he named her, Saodah. I remembered rolling on the floor, breaking out into a hysterical laugh and shed a lot of tears when my mother was regaling us with her conversation with my Tok. Lucky my grandmother wasn’t there to witness. Otherwise, I would be forced to content myself just a chuckle quietly. Saodah was vehemently veto-ed by my brother, as expected. Saodah is now a Shakirah.

A few names later, I gave birth to Ariz. On a Monday.

So, her being helpful, proclaimed that we should name the only boy I have with .. MUHAMMAD SENAYAN !

First, I had that disbelief look on my face which quickly turned to horror. You see, it was easy to laugh at my brother when he was confronted with such problem. When I was in one myself, it wasn’t very funny.

The thought of breaking her heart by telling her ..

“Hmm Tok, nama Muhamad tu sedap Tok, tapi kan Tok, Senayan tu kan, kan .. ala Tok, tak rock la Tok. Nanti kat sekolah kawan-kawan gelakkan dia. Nama lain boleh tak, Tok? Tok marah tak ? “

Not pretty.

Finally, I came with with Ahmad Ariz Zuhayr and I think she’s okay with it.

Now, loose cannon was what that little Ariz was last night at PeeJayHi1ton. Arghhh! I never fully understood the meaning of loose cannon, until Ariz came along. It’s like he’s gone just crazily happy, hopping hear and there, roaring playfully at everyone, crawling under the tables and chairs and singing Pricilla, the Mighty Gorrila at the top of his voice.

Nak Makan Apa Malam Ni?

See!

It proves my point again and again.  That point being, me Mothers will always take our lillte charges’ interest at heart.  When fathers go berjolly-lolly dengan kawan-kawan bukak puasa, while we, Mothers it out with our headstrong, precious dahlings!

What about the principle we had?

If one goes, everyone goes, and if none’s going, none goes.

But if you must know.  MrGart was away for bukapuasa with friends last night and tonight too.  To be fair, last week we trailed him to a do.  I don’t really fancy buka puasa at hotels and such.  Well, first of all, my kids are not the type who sit at their seats, munching food and listening to adult-ish conversation, peppering it with intelligent anecdotes from a kiddie point of view.

No sirree!

First Ariz would sit for a total of 45 seconds.  Then he would run off somewhere.  Or he’d be climbing off some ledge or grills.  Or he’d cajoled the sisters for a hide and seek which will end with a run-around the place, sending waiters with trayful of glasses looking absolutely aghast.  And I would look AGHAST too, apologetic more like it.

People say food’s great, especially when it cost you some RM65 per head.  But do I have time to eat?  I’d be spooning some fancy-named food in my mouth, with eyes scanning the place trying to locate Ariz’s bobbing head.  I’d be munching on some chicken amidst issuing instruction to Aliya to go fetch Ariz or run after him.

Then the Maghrib prayers.  Despite the constant shhhhhhhh, everybody suddenly has things to discuss in the surau.  And I mean everybody comes with me, not with the Daddy, but with ME.  And I’d go apologetic again to the other jemaah when Ariz runs and hops and giggles.

So, I always get hungry.

Yesterday, MrGart asked me if we wanted to come.  Rebung is the new Chef Ism@il’s place.  But it’s cramped and it’s right in front of a main road.  SO I’ll pass.  So we had mac n cheese last night.  With oven baked fries, garlic bread, kuah durian and bought roti jala.

Som what do I cook tonight when MrGart’s not around?

Kids and Puasa

Today is the 13th Ramadhan and so far so good for the kids.

Aliya has fasted for 10 days and only missing 3 days when she was sick. She started fasting when she was 7, but she has no qualms about it. Waking up at dawn for sahurs is fussless with her. Initially she would get very uptight over people eating in front of her but now she’s gotten used to it.

Ayisha on the other hand, has fasted a total of 2 days. With Asha, it’s the sahur that’s the toughest. She wants to fast though. So, on days when we tried to wake her up with no luck, in the mornings she’d be banging her head, accusing Daddy of not waking her up and that she WANTED to fast. Grrrrr! But today she’s fasting and was smiling at sahur. It’s all in your head. With kids, you’ve got to tell me before they go to sleep, then it gets easier.

Adani has now gone off her Sust@gen but has become an eater. And she’s been telling me that she’s fasting but opps “I dah minum air tadi, kejap lagi I puasa balik, okay?”. Hmpph! She’s the matsalleh girl in the house. She refers to herself as I most of the times and during masa-masa injury, baru Adani this and Adani that.

Ariz does not fast, obviously but is interfering with my fasting.

First, weekends are hard cos he’s draining me with his constant, demanding nursing sessions.

Second, his Mummy-s-not-here sensor is working overtime during Ramadhan. like this morning when I was finishing sahur with my sambal udang & petai, I heard the rustling and moving upstairs. Then a minute later, came the distress yells, “Mummmmyyyy”. Normally after 2 calls, he’d be off the bed for a search & rescue. But not this morning.

Aliya helpfully offered to get Ariz downstairs, since I wasn’t done. She came down with Ariz clinging to her, eyes closed and hands scratching head, mouth cebik-ed. He saw me and immediately extended his arms and wriggled free of Aliya.

He pulled my kaftan and wanted me to take it off and wear my nightwear, biasala tu, easy nursing to him. Ajak tengok TV kejap while I finish, tak nak. He insisted to go back to bed. Adoi! So, kenala Mummy makan kurma while atas katil.

Anyway, I hope Aliya will complete this Ramadhan with ease and Ayisha can fast as many days that she could. I hope I’ll be able to fast throughou the month. Insyallah.

Tonight MrGart’s breaking fast at the Rebung. I wanted to come too cos I know the food’s good. But the place is kinda small and cramped and it’s right in front of a main road. And I don’t think my kids would stay at their chairs for long. So, I passed on tonight. Instead, we’re having mac n cheese, oven fries and garlic bread. Need to think of haiwans, now.

Tara!

p/s I’ve been updating 3 blogs actually. This one, the wordpress and also the efx2blogs. Somehow I can’t seem to post anything in the efx2blogs. Maybe connection is snail-paced these days. Not helping sungguh, especially when everybody is over there and I can’t blog.

A Hectic Weekend That Was

Letsee if I can recall what we had over the weekend.

Saturday is always a busy day cos Aliya & Asha have their mental arithmetic classes and now Adani too has her English class with her fav Teacher Claire.  So, once the girls were off, we took off to the wet market for the week’s supply of haiwans & dauns.

MrGart commented mesti orang kata kesian, dah tua anak baru sorang.   Perasan!  Well, nak buat camana.  Persuaded MrGart to hop over to the baking supplies store in Shah Alam.  Mak oii!  Ramainya manusia.  Nak raya punya pasal, manusia semata.  There were truckloads of those red-topped cookie containers for people who sell cookies.  Uish!  Beriya-iya sungguh mereka ini.

MrGart pointed out the Kuih Samperit mould and said that he wanted me to make them.  Errkk!  Hmm.  Ni kena google ni.  Challenges, challenges.  I like.

Ayisha fasted today for the first time and full too.  Aliya was whispering to me how she caught Asha eating entahapaapatah but I chose to ignore. Cooked laksa johor to bring to my mother’s but she’s tired from the tadarus classes, so next week we’ll go there.  I made the William-S0n0ma choc chip cookies and I thought they were gorgeous.  Especially as Ariz was munching 2 in the mouth and another 2 in each fist.  Leleh air liuq kakak-kakak yang puasa.

Saturday was also the day I pored and read the news on Nurin Jazlin.  Sedih tengok pictures the parents burying their little girl.  The picture that broke me was Nurin’s friend, a biy with tears streaming down his face.  Sungguh sedih.  Reading about the details of the murder, sickened me. Hanya binatang saja yang mampu buat begitu kepada kanak-kanak.  Kepada ibubapa Nurin, ingatlah, anak-anak bukan milik kita.  Dipinjamkan sahaja.  Sampai masa kita perlu pulangkan kepadaNya.

Sunday was spent at the new Tesc0 Extr@.  Besarnya mak oii!  Ariz insisted to run around the place and akujadi gabra.  Ish!  Geramnya.

Balik tu, I made the Oatmeal Choc Chip Cookies, recipe courtesy of Frog Commissery in the States.  I included raisins too.  That night we had a berbuka puasa do with friends and I gave some to them.  Mintak-mintakla sedap.  Memang sedap rupanya.  Perasan!

Well, that’s it.  Asha completed her 2 full days of fasting.  Aliya missed 3 days due to her being sick.  Adani fasted and unfasted so many times, I lost count.  Ariz still thinks he’s a lion.  He roars at people and he lunges at people.  He sondols people’s back and he crawls on the floor.  Oh anakku!

Lost in PKNS

Hmmm.

I don’t intend to publicly humiliate myself again, and again and again. Not since I-blinked-and-Ariz-walked incident last week. Not after I absentmindedly left Adani asleep in the car. And definitely not after WE lost Ariz in the lift of a hospital.

No siree. I never sell myself short.

But this time, it’s kinda different.

I lost Ariz as well as MrGart.

The place was abuzz with people. I wanted to get baju kurung for the girls and since Ariz was in his I-can-run mode, MrGart was reining him in. I had the girls and we soon were separated.

Fine. Got the girls their baju kebaya and went to find them. None of us carried our phones tho. Idiots, really. So, common sense told me to go hover around the main front of the mall, in front of McD. The area was less crowded and that makes sense if I was lost. Furthermore, the stairs leading to where we parked our car was just THERE! And more, as it’s Raya sales, there’s a pony-tailed DJ there, blaring raya songs.

The girls were getting tired. We went traipsing all over looking for them and not finding. So we went back to sitting at the main entrance. Common sense rules! A lost boy was announced on the PA system and I saw the father looking cross claiming the smiling kid.

Aha!

So, I went there (after 1.5 hours of staring at him) and nicely asked the pony-tailed DJ.

“Kalau hilang suami dengan anak, boleh mintak tolong page kan tak, bang?”

He smiled and pushed a little notepad for me to write their names.

Kepada Encik MrGart dan anaknya Ariz, sila datang ke kaunter penerangan di hadapan McDonald’s kerana keluarga anda sedang menunggu.”

Ha ha ha ha ha. The four of us laughed so loudly at hearing it. All the aches of standing there for hours just dissipated at hearing such bizarre annoucement.

The announcement was repeated for 3 more times and each time, we laughed out loud.

People must think we’re such backwards people.

Tak reti pakai handphone ke ?”

Ni mesti prepaid dah habis ni ?”

Maknye la ni dok shopping tak inta dunia, sampai lupa laki pegi mana?”

Then, I saw them. MrGart carrying a sleepy Ariz with a rather idiotic grin on his face. Apparently he was sitting at some centre of the mall waiting for us and Ariz was asleep and how the heck didn’t I see him?

I was annoyed so I just didn’t answer. For all I care, he was sitting at the center of a small shop and tak pakai common sense ke ? And for all I know, he was sleeping behind a clothes rack and blamed me instead of not FINDING him. Hellewww!

Anyway, that was yesterday. Cooked soto for iftar and I thought it was uish sedap giler.

p/s Aliya & Asha are getting me worried now. Last week Asha had to be neb-ed for wheezing and last night Aliya pulak was breathing rather rapidly and coughing a bit, so another kid of the neb. Aku sudah risau.

Another Blog & Cerita Bazaar Ramadhan

Heh!

Tak habis-habis lagi. Disebabkan I’m like almost zombie-like today, I spent the whole morning looking at peoople’s blogs. Even Keith’s comment that he’s now moving to wordpress. Hey!! I just set mine up at blogspot. Cehs!

So, I went over. I know Combi’s there, and now OLAB is there and Nonah too.

And I was quite impressed actually, especially as I got my http://gartblue.wordpress.com back. Hehehe.

But I guess, I’ll update both now.

Anyway. Ngantuknya!

We went to the Bazaar Ramadan at TTDI Jaya about 6pm yesterday to get some additional foodies. Last year, the bazaar was not bad and there weren’t any rush. But yesterday, punyala ramai manusia. Lagi banyak orang dari makanan!

We couldnt’ get close to any stalls. Kesian MrGart tak dapat his murtabak and popiah. Me no kuihs!

Well, I took Aliya & Ariz to a kedai nearby when MrGart held on to the other two. While I was busy spooning kuah durian into a bag, I told Aliya to keep a watch on Ariz. She nodded.

Once I’m done, I looked around and there were no Ariz around. *Gulp*

Damn! I hissed at Aliya and almost in tears cos there were a lot people around and I had no idea where to start looking. Images of the lost girl, Nurin Jazlin swam in my head.

I looked around and stepped off onto the roads and suddenly I saw Ariz coming to me FROM the bazaar. OMG! He must have wandered there alone and came back for ME! He just strolled along with no worries on his face whatsoever. Aliya was almost in tears too. But alhamdulillah! Tak terbayang rasanya if I couldn’t find him. Rasa-rasa macam nak letak the body harness on him. Geram pun ada, lega pun ada, sedih pun ada.