This and that

Frankly... I don't quite like the title. It feels like I'm not focused. And I'm about to ramble.

But yeah... I am about to ramble. Hence, tak pe lah .... there's always an exception from time to time.

AYAH

Did he just got a windfall or durian runtuh that he's not telling me about? First the GPS. Then the waterjet (just the waterjet - not the 'ski' yet hehe..). Then the PC mobile speaker set. And he's also been talking about upgrading his handphone. He's even contemplating on the k-ok set like our friend TAB owns.

Apakah?

Isyyyhhh.... Musykil ni!

Anyway... it's his money la kan? But of course I did remind him - Bang, jgn lupa register for Qurban ya?

p/s Wouldn't it be nice for a change if once in a while kaum Ayah shop spontaneously for baby's clothings? Or baby's toys at least? I did say once in a while kan?

HAFIZ

He missed an entire section of his English final exam paper (name the body parts of an animal - an elephant). Berangan jer budak sorang ni. I always had to remind him of the F word. FOCUS!! And when I asked him how come he missed that one whole section worthy of 10 points, he replied "Sorry Ibu, I guess I forgot the F word". Hmm...pandai pulak dia menjawab. Anak siapa ni? And he quickly answered the questions - easy peasy full 10 marks - but way too late. The irony is, with whatever remaining marks, he actually tops his class for English.

And he tops his class for Science too. Sikit lagi full mark.

But can't say the same for BM. Jauh panggang dari api - though he has improved. He finally clinched a B. That I must say, alhamdulillah. It proves that nothing is impossible (other than me improving my culinary skill .... ahaks!!)

By the way, Hafiz ni 'alphabets friendly' (now that's new....) for the time being. He didn't just score straight A (Science & English so far) but also B (BM so far) and C (Bahasa Arab so far).

Awaiting Maths paper anxiously. Hopefully not D !!!!

Sony PSP is at stake here OK?


AMEER

He is definitely following my footsteps when it comes to 'shopping'. Everytime we go out, he surely wants to buy something. No matter how small or how cheap. One day it's a Bakugan. Next, Ben 10. Another, Bumble Bee or sedara mara Transformers yang lain2. Quite a natural negotiator this one. His typical modus operandi: He will first pick an expensive one. And when I say "No Ameer! This is too expensive!", he will quickly go into scanning mode and grab another one that is, say .... one fourth of the price. He will run back to me and while still gasping for air - he will grab my hand and look into my eyes like a little lost puppy; "Ni murah je Ibu!". Has he been reading my kedai runcit minutes of meeting on competitive pricing or what? Hmmm.....Anak siapa ni?

And with him accompanying me for my practice on 'detaching from Baby Alisya' this past week in preparation for returning to work - this is translated into a short 2 hour trip to downtown Rawang, hopping from Bintang to Parkson to Guardian to Popular Bookstore, etc, from time to time MUAHAHAHA....... you can imagine ntah apa ke benda Ameer has successfully ended up with. Each time using the same modus operandi as above and despite knowing this, I still fall for it. Aiyaaa....

Sometimes I managed to switch his picking to another useful item. Like a tomato plant seed. So now he's experiencing live farming. Only problem is, I now have to answer the same question every now and then, "When will my tomato plant grow, Ibu?" or "What time of the day today will it grow the tomato?" . Padahal baru 2-3 hari tanam. LOL!!!

Oh! By the way, I got myself some seeds too. Tapi yang menanamnya Bibi... no surprise there ya? And during dinner last 2 nights, Ameer asked, "Ibu.... when will your PLATYPUS grow?" Ayah & I both ... what platypus? He was quick to clarify " Alah... the seed, the plant!". Ohhhh.... PETOLA la Ameer.... PE-TO-LA!!! Bukan platypus.

He simply replied, "Whatever..."

Ameer oh Ameer....

ABANG IDIN

Safely tucked in his hostel. Still wanting us to visit him every weekend - which is kind of mutual. Each visit I have to ask him, "What did you lose this time?". Ada jer barang hilang. Track bottom. Belt. T-Shirt. I kept asking, eyyy... sekolah 'integrasi' (i.e. sekolah agama turned full boarding school) pun ada yang panjang tangan ke? His reply was, "Sekolah yang Integrasi bu. Not the students...) Hmmmm....Pandai jugak dia menjawab. Anak siapa ni? The last draw for me was a very new Adidas T which was meant as a reward for something. What was it? His TaeKwando tournament ke? Tak ingat. I said, that's it. No more branded t-shirts to be brought to school. Yang tu kalau nak, kalau Ibu mampu lagi la nak beli lepas ni, you can only wear them during school hols.

Surprisingly, he also agreed with that suggestion. Generally, they (the kids) suspected the makcik cleaner. Once they saw her wearing a track bottom belonging to one of his dorm mates. How did they know? Oii.... terpampang nombor pendaftaran dobi on the side of the track bottom. Alahai Makcik!!!

But as for the branded Ts - I think it may be some other kids la. Don't think the Makcik cleaner can fit into Abang Idin size XS t-shirts.

BABY ALISYA

Ohhh...si princess ni.... musyuk, musyuk 'sanjerrrr' ( a combi of 'sayang' plus 'manja' - a term coined by WanShana). Will have a dedicated entry on her soon :)


So there goes my rambling on this and that. Happy day ahead people!

7 week young

Time swooshes by....

Baby Alisya has lost her newborn look and smell. But still constantly commanding attention like Ms Universe.

She now appears steady and alert when held upright. She smiles back at me more frequently now during our coos and gaga sessions. Oh.. she can pout her lips too, almost mimicking Amber Chia.

When on her tummy, she can lift her head and chest for short periods, almost as if she's doing mini-press ups. And as if sneering at me, "Look Ibu... it's not that hard to exercise, up one, up two, up three... see..... if only you try!" (Sigh..... me and my non materialising exercise routines.... hehe!)

I guess it won't be long before she can roll from back to front, or front to back.

By the way, I just discovered the weighing scale is actually out of order. All these while was thinking I'm one below 60. Until few nights ago when Ayah stepped on it and the scale still read one below 60. Yikessss! I'm doomed. 7 more days to go. Don't think I can get back into my office attire..... I should really join Alisya in her press ups soon.

Enjit Enjit Semut

I am declaring WAR against those ants!!

How could they trespass our territory? Baby Alisya's territory to be exact.

She hardly cries (except for her feeding) and to hear her sudden outburst - and seeing those army of ants marching in the not so straight line in her crib really made my blood go upstairs.

How dare you terrorise and cause grievous hurt to my baby?!!

WAR I tell you. WAR!!!! (Pardon me.... just finished reading The Camel Club by David Baldacci... hehehe..... )

p/s Ayah said, must be the traces of the milk (my breast milk mind you!) that attracted the ants. Is it really that sweet? No wonder Ayah is on the watch-out-zone for diabetes now... hihihi...

Happy Birthday Ayah!

Ayah turned 42 yesterday. True, only 42. Eventhough he can pass as nearing warga emas age judging from just his silver hair alone. That is if you only look at his hair la. He still carries with him his boyish look. Albeit with a few wrinkles here and there (and the grumpiness now and then... ekekeke!).

Happy Birthday, Abang! With much love.

I managed to grab tiny tots that the boys chose for him. Those are their birthday presents for Ayah.

Moi? I haven't bought any birthday present for him (yet). I have a good excuse; 'langkah tak berapa panjang' for the time being. Still mainly around Rawang town only. Here in Rawang, we have Parkson Ria, Popular bookstore, Giant supermarket, Bintang & Mydin department stores and NSK cash & carry. Tesco is still under construction and will only open in a month or two. Which means, nothing much of manly gadget offerings or IT gizmos (imagine Imbi Plaza or Low Yatt ok?) for consideration. No - the rows of hardware shops in Rawang that boast a wide variety of gardening tools, DIY equipment and the likes - do not count for Ayah. Those kind of backbreaking and sweat inducing tools are not for him. Unless of course if they have a DIY 'rocketeer' to make one elevate or fly in style? Don't think they have that. Not in Rawang.

There are the typical eating outlets like KFC, McDonald, Pizza Hut and some others like Secret Recipe, Delifrance and Bangi Kopitiam which I can drag him, I mean invite him, for a semi romantic meal for two. However, I'm sure I would keep looking at the watch thinking; 'alamak...baby dah bangun ke?' or 'baby nak nenen ke?'. That would further discount the semi romantic meal for two.

Home delivery pizza for the whole family maybe? Except I probably only have RM50 in my purse. The last time I asked, the delivery boy didn't carry any hand held credit card swipe machine. Banyak nya excuse I can come up with kan?

I'm sure a hearty home cooked meal would be lovely, some would say. I'm sure it would be. But I don't know when that will happen in this home. So husbands from those homes with such lovely home cooked meal - be thankful. The ones that I can manage, like the ever so sedap and finger licking sambal telur that only Ayah & I enjoy (hahaha), I already cooked last weekend. In hindsight, I should have spared that for his birthday. So no special home cooked meal for Ayah from Ibu for his birthday.

Some would probably say ... alah.... why the fuss for just one day? It happens every year anyway.

I don't know about you. But I sure do make some fuss for the birthdays of my loved ones. I do, under normal circumstances, make the effort to make the one day of the year a little bit extra special for them. No matter how busy. No matter how tight financially (like this time in particular - when the tax man just sent a love letter to me saying I owe him some more still when ironically just a few months back he mailed me quite a fat cheque for overpayment.... what larrrr..... why chase me? I remit every month ma.... Chase larrrr those unscrupulous filthy rich non tax declaring business people out there!)

Having said that, to be honest - actually .... there are some windows of opportunity that I could grab to go buy him something or organise a mini birthday do with the boys (eh! and the little girl too!! ) like we usually do, if I really want to. That's it! If I really want to.

Does that mean I do not really want to - make the usual fuss - for Ayah's birthday this year?

Why?

Haiyaa..... I think I know why lah. It's very clear in my mind why this is happening this year. For me to know, not required for him to find out. (My good friend WanShana would be so not agreeable with me on this one. She would probably say that I tend to hide my feelings and that I probably should open up and tell how I feel more often. Yaaaaa right!!! Like I can do that? Feelings..... Aiya... cannot lah.... I'm certified incompetent in that department!)

I feel sad, really. For allowing myself to NOT making enough effort for Ayah's birthday fuss this year. Then again, I am fully aware why I indulge myself with not really wanting to do much of anything for his birthday this year. We didn't even gather around him at bed time to sing the birthday song. How pathetic is that?! Sad but true.

Alah... blame it on mild post partum lousy mood la senang ek? Takkan Ayah nak query lebih2 pulak? Scientifically acceptable what - though not scientifically proven why just yet. (Whether post partum mood is the real reason or not is a different story la kan?)

Eh! Hang on a minute! Maybe I can tie a big pink ribbon or pink bow around Baby Alisya (after fully bathed and dolled up in pink, dah wangi2 semua tu.....) and hand her to Ayah for him to cuddle? Hey.... that would be quite different. Ya.... maybe I would do that.

Now.......where (and how) can I find a big, gigantic, humongous pink ribbon or pink bow in a jiffy before he returns from work tonite? Tell me.

Salam
Ibu