Anak Mak Dah Besar : Part 2

During a site visit

The kids passed by 1Utama Shopping Center twice a day; while on the way to and fro their preschool.

I'm on duty as their supir throughout this week. And every time we passed by this building, Eirsa will say, "Asyik tak pergi Oh An Eee je, Asyik tak pergi Oh An Eee je..." Oh An Eee is for ONE which is referring to 1Utama. And every single time I'll also explain that you cannot go there everyday, you have to have money to go there, you cannot go there by yourself because mommy and papa have to work, if you go there everyday you'll get bored, yada yada yada. Explain, not bebel. They have got the chance to go to 1Utama once in while, we don't really bring kids to shopping centers often.

And yesterday while passing by 1Utama,

When Eirsa is 8 years old, Eirsa dah big, I want to go to Oh An Eee by my self.

And how do you want to go there? By bus?

Mommy gives Eirsa telephone, then I'll call mommy when Eirsa kat Oh An Eee la. Then mommy come and take Eirsa la.

Where do you get a telephone? You have to buy your own telephone first.

Hmmm... I wonder where she gets this idea in the first place.

Anak Mak Dah Besar; Fizikal, Mental dan Emosi.

Eirsa is at the phase where she can easily feel ignored and thus feel like everybody loves Eivie more.

It breaks my heart every time she comes to me saying that this person only plays with Eivie, this person only gets angry at her while both of Eirsa and Eivie fight, this person doesn't say 'good job' to her but rather to Eivie only. I will always give her a big long hug every time she comes to me, teary, together with explanation and words of encouragement, of course.

* * *

As as child, one of the worst memories that I had was to feel less loved by my father. I was quite frequently told by some of my aunties that my father loved my elder sister more than me. I did not know the reason though. I made me very sad, even though my father was no longer staying with us since I was 5 (I guess). It broke my heart every time when my sister and I fought, it triggered that I would be punished more because I was the less-loved child.

Thankfully, mak treated us all five equally. No more no less. That always gave me the strength that I was not always ignored. At least there's a person in this world loved me unconditionally.

* * *

And when Eirsa feels the same, it is totally relatable. It's my responsibility to ensure her that, no baby, we love you both equally, at least mommy and papa do. In fact we have loved you more for 3 years, when Eivie wasn't around (yet). The feeling of being ignored shall never bring you down, because you have to know that we are always here for you. Don't let others make you feel any less, because you don't deserve to. And above all, Allah loves you.

And yes, I know this is one of her development and learning processes, thus I'm determined to make the best for her.

On a more relieving note, Eirsa dah sangat boleh diharap sekarang! She helps a lot to take care of Eivie when I'm busy doing the house chores (less yelling, screaming and fighting episodes too), she helps to attend to Eivie's needs at the backseat while we are on the move, she helps cleaning up after playing (not perfectly done and sometimes with bebelan when Eivie doesn't cooperate, but still) and anything that I request her to. Anything that she can do by herself she will. Mandi sendiri, buang air kecil dan besar, beristinja' semua sendiri. Alhamdulillah. Lega sikit. Terima kasih, Eirsa!

Anak sulung dah besar. Anak kecil pun mengaku diri sudah besar padahal berak masih dicebok orang.
Dua-dua pun saya sayang sama rata.

Annual Concert 2014

Dan hari itu, yang hari-hari direngek untuk memakai sepatu hitam baru dan berbedak bergincu seperti mommy, pun tiba. Malamnya semua dikerah untuk tidur awal seperti hari-hari bukan hujung minggu, supaya semua dapat bangun awal dan bersiap dengan tidak tergesa-gesa. Lokasi konsert tidaklah jauh tetapi siapakan tahu apa yang bakal menanti di tengah dan tepian jalan. It turned out to be true. Ada pula jalan yang ditutup, menjadikan beberapa jalan hanya boleh dilalui dengan satu arah sahaja. Lokasi konsert yang tidak familiar juga menyebabkan ramai ibu bapa yang tersangkut dan menjadikan konsert hanya bermula 45 minit dari masa yang dijadualkan. Makanya, kami yang sampai tepat jam 11.45 pagi ini, perlu menunggu sehingga jam 2.00 petang baru acara bermula.

Eh. Cepat sangat pula bercerita engkau ini, tahu-tahu dah sampai ke lokasi konsert. Haha.

Pagi itu. Opah tolong masakkan nasik lemak, bekal perut anak cucu supaya tak lapar sehingga nak menyampai penyudah konsert. Konsert dijadualkan pada jam 12.30 tengahari hingga 3.00 petang. Mommy bawa juga bekal pisang sebiji dua, walaupun anak-anak akan disediakan snek ringan oleh cikgu-cikgu, tapi perut mak pun sama manja tak boleh lapar. Mau migrain karang kalau makan lambat.

Menyiapkan anak-anak pun mudah, lancar saja. Walaupun nak mengenakan gincu pada bibir Eivie ya Allah, kelakar betul. Orang suruh buat aaaaaa dia buat aaaooooaaooooo. Bibir dah la kecil, main calit je lah mana yang dapat. Puji je cantik cantik very nice very nice dia terus ok. Lipstick mak kau pulak ada warna cair-cair je, dah nak habis pula. Terpaksa pinjam lipstick Opah sikit. 

The assembles. Semua costumes, sekolah sediakan, Kasut dan stokin sahaja mak pak kena sediakan.

Orang yang tak berapa pandai pakai gincu, memakaikan orang lain memakai gincu. Lantak.

Pukul 11.10 begitu, bergerak lah kami ke lokasi konsert. Dalam kereta kena pastikan Eivie tak tidur. Kalau dia dah tidur dan disuruh bangun, ada potensi menjadi amukan sebab tak cukup. Mood Eivie adalah salah satu perkara yang perlu dijaga pada hari itu. Kalau tak, mungkin ada kejadian meraung di atas pentas. 

Sampai-sampai je dah hampir 11.45 pagi; yakni masa yang tertulis dalam guidelines untuk parent hantar anak-anak ke belakang pentas sebagai persediaan. Melihatkan tak ramai parents yang datang, mak budak-budak ni pun ambil kesempatan untuk buat final touch up. Tahu sajalah kalau dah keluar dari kereta, baju, seluat, skirt, rambut, semua senget. Tudung mak pun senget, sikit.

Dan kemudian berduyun-duyun lah kami ke belakang pentas, menghantar budak-budak. Masih kelihatannya cikgu-cikgu semua sedang sibuk membuat persiapan. Khabarnya telah dijadualkan pada hari yang sama adalah hari untuk konsert oleh beberapa cawangan yang lain juga. Cawangan sekolah budak-budak ni mungkin yang kedua atau ketiga. Perlu ambil giliran untuk membuat persiapan.

Dan apa lagi, sementara menemankan budak-budak di belakang pentas, mak bapak pun buat lah beberapa perkara yang perlu.

A ah. Perlu SANGAT aktiviti bergambar di belakang pentas macam ni. Kakakaka.

To the advantage to get Eivie to familiarize with the stage. At this point I had the feeling that she would not create any scene during her performance slot. 

Dan kemudian kami beralih ke tempat penonton, meninggalkan kanak-kanak berdua ini.

Menanti menanti menanti menanti menanti. Risau juga hati kalau budak-budak ni tak senang dan bosan menunggu lama. Bosan -> tak de mood -> tak mahu menyertai pesembahan. Kasihan cikgu dah buat segala persiapan. Crossing our fingers dan akhirnya konsert pun bermula.

Dimulakan dengan Eivie. Ramai yang tak sabar nak menantikan persembahan oleh Eivie ni, haaa.. 

I did say that she won't create any scene while performing, right? Yes, she didn't! Alhamdulillah. But it's just too literally that she did not do anything at all but just standing!

Tu, yang paling kanan, yang could not bother much.

My poor little baby!

And here's the video, capture by her Uncle Pi. You can watch up until the end of the performance, but she would still remain the same; standstill.

Ya Allah! Kesian pun ada, kelakar pun ada. She's still not even 3 years old, these whole things about getting on the stage and performing and getting big clapped from the audience, might scare her. That's what I was afraid about. Dia tak nak dance tu aku tak kisah, she'd always act depend on her mood. Tapi tu la, I didn't want this to contribute to her list of bad experiences thus affect her mental and emotion development. I hoped not. I might be all dramatic and exaggerating but yeah, that's what mothers do.

Another good thing was that she did not cry until end of the performance. Tapi masa aku jemput dia di belakang stage, mata ada bergenang air sedikit la. Hugged her tight and told her she did a good job and everything was going to be ok and mommy's here baby! Air mata aku pun bergenang sikit (mengada). Teachers were all fine about she didn't dance. What did you expect, kan. She was the youngest. Dia nak naik dan tercegat atas stage tu pon dah cukup baik. Daripada dia lari ke bawah mendapakan mak dia.

Got back to our seats, and waited for Eirsa's performance slot; 4 slots away from Eivie's. When we asked her why she did not dance. She simply said, "I don't want." Rasanya ok lah jawapannya begini, daripada katanya takut ke, I want mommy ke ye dak? Too cool, baby, Too cool.

In the meanwhile, captured and gave big claps to other participants too, they did great job at this young age.

And there came my Eirsa. YOU CAN DO IT, BABY! Biasalah, mak bapak over. Lantak.

Menjadi lumrah, tak senang duduk mak bapak budak tengok anak masing-masing nak perform. But I quite disagreed with the choreography; berderet budak-budak berbaris ke belakang. Anak-anak yang di belakang tu tak berapa nampak, until they did some formations. Dapat lah nampak sikit. Mungkin disebabkan anak aku kena letak kat belakang, aku bising lah sikit ye dak. Cuba cikgu letak anak aku kat depan, tak de la pulak complain. Eh. Tak juga. I believed the teacher could better on kids placement during the show since they knew well that mak bapak mesti mesti MESTI nak tengok anak masing-masing masa buat persembahan. So, kalau dibariskan anak-anak tu di selebar-lebar stage, lagi bagus. Tak pe lah, I hoped they would improve in this segment. The teachers had done a great job organizing this event pon, kan.

Still, I was glad she did enjoy herself during the performance. Kami duduk di depan sekali, ada potensi budak ni tak nak perform bila nampak mak bapak opah and adik dia kat depan. But nah. She's so composed and so determined to entertain us. 

Ini yang dah penghabisan. Before they took a bow.

Semangat weh berjoget. Kadang-kadang dia akan memandang ke hadapan mencari kami dan kami terkinja-kinja melambai kembali.

And the video. Eirsa yang di kumpulan belakang, kanan. Rambut paling pendek, goyang paling comel. "We are so proud of you, baby! Weeeeewit!!" Pada hampir pengakhiran video, kelihatan Eirsa tersimpul simpul senyum nya sambil melambai pada kami. Yeah! Keberanian seperti ini yang kami mahukan! Go baby, go! (Tak sudah-sudah over nya mak bapak)

Dan acara kemuncak tahunan ini diakhiri dengan majlis penyampaian sijil kepada murid enam tahun dan majlis sukaria (read : berlari, melompat, menjerit, menyanyi, dan juga tidur, seperti Eivie) oleh murid-murid lain di bawah pentas.

Graduation ceremony.

Sementara menunggu habis majlis graduasi.

Eirsa and Ibrahim Shabin.

Alhamdulillah. Settle satu benda penting untuk tahun ini. Matlamat tercapai bilamana anak-anak gembira (dan sorang tak berapa nak endah) dan memperoleh pengalaman baru yang menyumbang kepada perkembangan menttal, emosi, rohani dan jasmani (amboi). Eivie's participation is more than sufficient for her at this age, bak kata Papanya at least she participated and had got to wear cute costumes too. InshaAllah, tahun hadapan ada lagi dengan Eirsa sendiri yang akan menyertai majlis graduasi. Bagaimanakah chaotic nya? Sama-sama kita nanti!

Pre-Concert Photos

Eirsa and Eivie's first school concert ever is scheduled this coming Oct 12th. Prior to the concert, they have weeks of practices, rehearsals and also some photography sessions. Eirsa's practice sessions were usually extended even when she reached home, even when she's taking a shower. Ya. Sunggu bersemangat. Eivie on the other hand, ikut mood. Kadang sama terkinja, kadang dia buat dek je.

For pre-concert photography session, the school hired a professional team and parents will be given samples and a form and we can opt to buy our children photos 2-3 days prior to the concert. Of course we would, lebih lebih lagi dengan gambar-gambar yang sebegini menghiburkan :

Eirsa
Oh my darling! Oh my darling! She's all grown up! Look at her all looking so sweet and very good at posing! Great at singing and dancing too! Kiss hug kiss hug kiss hug, never fail to make me proud.

Eivie
And this person. This person. Even now I'm laughing ROTF (not literally, of couse) when looking at this photo! Surely she's very adorable, good at singing and dancing, but why so serious? Kahkahkahkah!

Will send the kids to their respective teachers latest by 11.45am on Sunday and we will only able to pick them up after the concert ends. The teachers strongly advise (warn?) that parents should not interfere during the preparations, we believe to avoid chaos. You know budak-budak, kalau dah nampak mak bapak, apa pun tak boleh. Masa tu lah nak menangis, masa tu lah nak terkencing, masa tu lah nak terberak, masa tu lah lapar. But when parents are not around, semua pun boleh. So let them be. Pandai lah teachers uruskan.

We choose to put our expectation low during their upcoming concert. Both ada hangin dan mood masing-masing, with Eirsa is expected to be behaving well but Eivie tu aku doakan supaya tidak menyusahkan teachers sudah. Haha. Janji dia nak naik atas stage dan tak nangis, syukur sudah. I do hope they have good time and it's going to be a valuable experience and memory for them. InshaAllah.

Her Best Friend, Gitu

Alya (left), Eirsa

This was Alya, Eirsa's best friend when she was at her previous daycare. Eirsa, when she was at her previous previous daycare, dia tak de kawan rapat. Paling paling pun dengan Hadif, anaknya si Ishah. Up to a point, the daycare owner told us that there was something wrong about Eirsa. May be she was concerned but I was a bit offended. Due to several other unpleasant incidents plus we thought that Eirsa better off to an upgraded daycare (daycare + few hours of school session), we searched high and low for her new daycare (previous daycare).

We found this AN's nursery; a surge of double the fee but looked like a more promising with 2-3 hours of short period of classes a day. With very limited options due to distance and ehem ehem, fees, we chose this place for Eirsa.

As expected, she'd face some difficulties in getting used to the place but miraculously it took less than a week to lose her morning tears. She started to love the school and after several weeks, she began to talk about her new best friend; Alya.

Eirsa didn't have many friends. She was so selective when it comes to strangers when she was around 3-4 years old. But after meeting with Alya, these two were inseparable. I thought it's just Eirsa who was talking about Alya this Alya almost most of the time, but it so happened to be Alya did the same while she was at her home too. We found out about this when we accidentally bumped into Alya and her family at the Citta Mall and that was also the first time Eirsa and Alya had that outing together (as shown in photo above), walaupun sekadar sekejap sahaja.

We were glad that Alya gave many happy memories to Eirsa, and that she learnt a lot about friendship at her very young age. Alya was a very good girl, very independent and very friendly. These helped a lot in improving Eirsa's socializing skills, indirectly. Although it was sad that Eirsa didn't able to meet Alya again, but we were also relieved that her transition to this new preschool was smooth, even though she did mention about Alya once in a while and I cried a little bit in my heart. I hope one day they would be reunited and be friend again. A lot of time I had this idea of having Alya at our house so that they play together all day long, sleep together through the night, tapi tak pernah ada rezeki untuk direalisasikan.

And I also hope that along the way, Eirsa will meet many many other good friends that will give her good memories and happiness (and vice versa) because I know friendship means a lot to a girl during her schooling years and how friendship plays big role in cultivating a person's good (or bad, na'uzubillahiminzalik) behavior while she's in schooling years. Amiin.

Tribute to Eigloo

It was dark. Eirsa and Eivie slept with us so it's one of our strategy to ensure the room was dark; easier for them to fall asleep by themselves. It had been months since they slept with each other and freed Mommy and Papa's bed just for us.

It was around 10pm, perhaps the children had fast asleep. Papa received a call. An another call. And yet another call. Eigloo's boarding place owner kept on calling Papa. Papa just knew that he had to pick up the phone. He slipped into the darkness, out of the room to answer the phone.

Hati aku dah berdebar. Kalau begini persistence, something must had been wrong. And I was not wrong.

* * *

Papa entered the room. And he seemed restless. I didn't ask him what was the phone call about. Until few minutes later. He told me.

* * *

I cried for a good 10 or may be 15 minutes. We were not that close but Eigloo had always been my 'anak angkat'. It teared my heart.

Eigloo had gone. Out of our life. Forever.

* * *

We adopted him on 23 Aug 2013. He was small, but big enough for adoption. Eirsa was super super super excited. Little kids, they always have something with animals, kan. Eivie? Well, she could sometimes be caring, a little time extra caring, but most of of the times she's just being a good companion, not carer.

I believed Papa's level of excitement was as high as Eirsa. Ini orang berdua memang punya passion terhadap binatang. Bagus. Mommy, aku tolong apa yang patut, belikan sayur, top up makanan, top up air. I don't have the same level of passion towards animals, but I don't hate them either. I'm just not good when it comes to manja-manja dan belai-belai binatang. But his company has been acknowledged and thankful for. Aku anggap dia sebagai anak angkat.

While we were at this transition phase (to new house), we had no choice but to board him for a few months at boarding center. Looking for a suitable place high and low we found this place at the cheapest daily rate. Visited the place and found that it was quite ok. Secocok dengan harga, tapi kelihatan seperti Eigloo akan dijaga baik, walau tidak sebaik di rumah kami. We bid him goodbye but Eirsa hadn't had the chance for this last farewell, because she was sleeping in the car.

And who knew that she won't be seeing Eigloo after that moment, Never.

* * *

Papa yang buang tahi dia.

Papa yang sikat bulu dia.

Papa yang jaga dia elok-elok.

Papa ada plan nak improve cage dia kat rumah baru nanti, beli cage besar sikit, letak dua bekas makanan; yang basah  dan yang kering. Improve tempat air dia.

Tu la. Eigloo tu kan gemuk, macam mana kucing bawak lari? Tak kejar ke?

Entah lah, benda dah nak jadi.

Papa sangat bersemangat dalam menjaga Eigloo. Dia baca cara menjaga arnab yang betul, makanan yang betul, dan praktikkan.

Kalau guidelines kata umur arnab sekian sekian tak boleh makan benda A, dia ikut, pi cari makan Eiglook sana sini. Diet Eigloo dijaga ketat.
Kalau guidelines kata arnab tak boleh pijak lama dalam cage, nanti kaki keras, dia cari alas,
Ada sekali Eigloo kena kurap kat telinga, dia pergi bawa inject. Kami semua pun ikut.
Dia juga yang bawa Eigloo pergi 'kasi', dia pergi dengan Eirsa.
Dia bawak pergi grooming.
Dia bawak pergi potong kuku.
Disikatnya rambut Eigloo berselang minggu.
Dia jadi member kat satu kedai binatang peliharaan, supaya dapat beli makanan Eigloo murah sikit.
Eh, memang dedikasi Papa terhadap Eigloo tinggi. Bukan sekadar bela gitu-gitu.

Mata aku bergenang lagi. Aku paling sedih bila kenang cara Eigloo mati.

* * *

Boarding place owner apologized for hundredth times on her negligence. She had some guests at home, her child's friend came over, decided to open Eigloo's cage to play with him. And suddenly a cat caught Eigloo, bawa lari. And just like that. he's gone. She said that it had never happened before. But yet, it happened. She offered to return all our boarding fees and even offered another rabbit as replacement. Tapi entah lah. We are sad. Aku yang paling 'jauh' dengan Eigloo ni pun sedih. Nanti lah kami fikirkan hal itu. It's not about money, it's not about just a pet.

* * *

Eigloo. This post is dedicated to you. For being a good company to us, for bringing joys to our children. Thank you, my boy.

Note : And no, we have not told Eirsa yet. Entah macam mana nak cakap agaknya. Dah janji dengan dia nak bawak Eigloo balik bila rumah baru siap.

Rombongan Sekolah

You have to wake up early tomorrow.

You have to listen to your teacher.

Hold your friend's hand, don't let go. Walk together.

Kalau Eirsa nampak "Oh so cute teddy bear!" and you want to take a look, tell your teacher first. Don't go alone, it's dangerous. 

Mommy put your towel here (show the inside of the bag).

If you need to change your clothes, ni baju (show the inside of the bag). "Ada panties tak?" Yes, ada.

And ada bread, if you are hungry (show the inside of the bag).

And your water bottle.

And ada lagi satu small towel, if you go kencing, use this to wipe.

And Eirsa nanti naik bas and go to Teddy Town! Yeay! (Ya, aku yang berlebih-lebih).

Jumaat lepas.

Yes, she's going for a school trip for the first time ever. Of course we are excited; parents will get excited for every first experience happens to their children. Excited and anxious. Their first experience will usually be the benchmark; akan suka dan nak buat lagi or if they're experiencing it badly in the first place, it'll stop them from doing it until they gain confidence to start all over again. Dan kau ingat mudah nak memberi keyakinan semula kepada kanak-kanak? Boleh, tapi tak mudah. Oleh itu, adalah penting untuk mereka mempunyai pengalaman pertama yang motivating. Tapi jika ditakdirkan Allah berlakunya juga pengalaman pertama anak-anak yang tidak berapa baik, berusalah mak bapak untuk memberikan semangat untuk mencuba lagi.

Mari kita lihat apa yang mak budak Eirsa ni bekalkan :

Air kosong, baju sepersalinan (dan panties, begitu penting ya), roti, tuala kecil, tuala kecil, beg kecil siap dengan tag nama.

Aku nak tunggu sampai bas datang, konon-konon nak berlambai-lambai dengan sambil bergenang air mata, tapi sampai jam 8 tadi bas tak sampai lagi. Lalu terpaksa lah beredar saja dan mendoakan supaya Eirsa selamat and has a good time. Kalau perhati kelakuan dia pagi tadi, tak de la benda yang merunsingkan dia, elok je tersengih-sengih dan terkadang terkinja-kinja. Dah lepas berpeluk-peluk, bercium-cium, berlalulah pergi mak pak budak ni.

Macam ni punya teruja rupa nya, inshaAllah hati tenang nak lepaskan dia pergi.

*   *   *

Pastinya Eirsa akan mengomel gembira perihal rombongan sekolah kali pertamanya itu.

Sepatutnya.

Tapi tidak terjadi begitu.

Sudah ditanya baru dia bercerita sedikit. Dan kemudian lagi sedikit. Mungkin dah habis diceritakan pada Atuk dan Opah sekonyong-konyong Atuk dan Opah menjemput dia balik dari sekolah. But we knew she had a great time. She recapped how she decorated the teddy bears, got on the bus, held hands all the time with Adam Omar (bukan skandal), slept on the bus next to Adam Omar, ate some bread and kenyang.

Yang tak pergi pun (Eivie), dapat juga,

And. She also drew a map from her school to Teddy Town, Kajang.

Jalan nan berliku liku liku liku.

Calories Burning - The Alternative

What did you do when you go to Ikea?

Getting some ideas?

Window-shopping?

Browsing?

Actually DID some shopping?

Budgeting?

Killing time?

Bonding time?

Looking at people's behavioral (wow!)?

Pretending to know about stuffs?

Taking measurement?

Taking measurement for a millionth times?

Taking selfies and posting it to social medias? (dengan niat bermegah-megah aku-dah-sampai-sini-hoi! atau mungkin tidak, saya tidak judge anda)

Planning for the new house?

Planning to revamp the current house?

Planning to revamp your mom's house for as a surprise birthday gift?

Dreaming?

Or.

Sleeping, like these two did?

I was actually scheduled for a 5km running->jogging->walking->crawling TM Fan Run last Saturday. But I've got chickened out several weeks prior to the event, disebabkan langsung tak training hapah benda hamjadah pun sejak bulan puasa. Kot ye pun semangat kobar, aku masih kenal hati budi stamina sendiri.

Thus, I scheduled another form of calories burning activity cum aktiviti menggembirakan anak-anak cum tengok calon-calon perabot untuk rumah cum breakfast session; at Ikea.

Arrived at 8.40am, breakfast started at 9.00am, continued buat macam rumah sendiri di seluruh pelosok Ikea afterwards until 12.30 pm. After acah-acah surveying (survey apakah namanya kalau 80% of the time entertain budak-budak sahaja), one thing for sure; we needed to find other candidates for our dining set and sofa. It's either the price didn't suit with our budget or the cheaper options were not at par with our angan-angan tinggi tak sedar benchmark. And another thing for sure, benda-benda yang pasti akan dibeli di Ikea memerlukan satu lagi sesi membeli-belah yang lebih serius dan fokus dan tenang dan waras (read : sesi tanpa anak-anak). And another another thing for sure, the kids had fun there, lalu kuota bergembira mereka telah dipenuhi untuk minggu ini.

Lagi gambar-gambar kegembiraan.

Lagi 8 minit sebelum pintu dibuka. Ni yang dinamakan pepagi lagi dah pergi beraya rumah orang tuan rumah pun tak bangun lagi.

Dah besar sikit, layankan je permintaan untuk guna pisau garfu sendiri, dengan pemantauan secara terperinci dan kadang-kala boleh mengundang sakit hati si pemakai.

Yang ini pun sama. Asalnya mahu taraf yang sama dengan si 5 tahun Eirsa, padahal awak baru 2 tahun, pisau lebih panjang dari lengan. Sebagai alternatif, mommy bagi peluang bercomot-comot menyuap sup sendiri. And Ikea was being thoughtful by supplying this disposable bib for free!

Dan ada kalanya budak-budak ni tak nak makan. Mak dan bapak kau kena la lebih kreatif bagi menampakkan aktiviti memakan itu adalah satu aktiviti yang menggembirakan, bukan setakat aktiviti bermain sahaja ya menggembirakan. Berikan kayu aiskrim/pengacau kopi, lalu jadilah lollisausagepop. 

Acara wajib, lebih kurang highlight of the day. Gitu. Sekarang aiskrim ni dah semakin murah, RM0.80 sahaja.

It Has Been A Gazillion While...

... and suddenly I write again.

Alah. Blog picisan, kau update atau tak, bukan ramai peduli. Tapi yang sikit yang memberi perhatian tu memang saya sangat sayang. 

Eirsa.

Eirsa ni sebenarnya boleh dikatakan benyek sikit la. Benyek ni macam lembik sikit; her solution to everything in the world is menangis dan merengek. May be being the first and 3+ years without any siblings dan dimanjakan. Well. Not really dimanjakan, I have to say that we are quite strict about certain things juga la. Tapi tu la, tetap mengungguli tumpuan selama tiga tahun lebih.

Dan dengan adanya Eivie, she took quite some (long) times to adjust in sharing love and attention with someone else. Not quite easy but alhamdulillah, improving from time to time. As of Aug 2014, mereka berdua kini sudah menjadi teman bermain walaupun adakalaselalunya menjadi teman berebut dan bercakaran.

Eirsa.

Kalau dia dah merajuk tu, nak memujuk memang satu hal yang berbeza yang menuntut level kesabaran yang tinggi. Dulu memang aku hangin. Sebab eh kau dah kenapa nak merajuk tak bersebab. Tapi tu lah, penyeselesaialan untuk merajuk Eirsa ni memang sangat bukan dengan marah lagi, pukul apatah lagi. Dia akan lagi buat keras, melalak lebih deras. Memang kena pujuk secara halus sambil mencucukkan jarum psychology. 

Seharusnya tiap kali dia menangis dan merajuk, perlu dibiarkan terlebih dahulu. Biar dia tahu yang salahnya tetap ada, yang menangis dulu kau kat situ biar kau sedar hidup ini tidak mudah. Dan kemudian secara sedikit-sedikit mendekati dia dengan tegas. Kemudian peluk. Kemudian bersayang-sayang. Keadaan akan reda dalam 5-10 minit. Usah terburu, tidak elok untuk keadaan emosi aku dan Eirsa. Setelah itu baru mula bertanya dan menerangkan punca, sebab dan cara mengatasi. Wah!

Dan semalam masa aku kopekkan buah duku-langsat untuk dia, kami berbual-bual di meja makan. Hanya aku dan Eirsa (dia sukakan exclusivity seperti ini). Seronok berbual apabila dia bersikap attentive. Ya, dia mahukan duku-langsat yang sedang dikopek, oleh itu dia akan menanti dan lebih attentive. Masa seperti ini adalah masa terbaik untuk kami berbincang hati ke hati. 

Why did you cry? (Mommy marah). 

Why mommy marah? (Sebab Eirsa tak listen to mommy). 

Kalau Eirsa listen to mommy, mommy marah tak? (No).

Are you a good girl? (Yes. At school, teacher said Eirsa not good).

Which teacher? (Teacher V).

Why teacher said Eirsa not good (Sebab Eirsa not good dance).

But I like it when you dance. You are good!

Did Teacher V gave you stars when you did you homework? (Yes. But one only)

But Teacher V gave one star to your friends juga, kan? (Yes)

So, that means Teacher V says that Eirsa is good, your friends are good too.

Eirsa not good in dancing, but it's ok. Mommy pun ada teacher. Teacher said mommy dance not good. But it's ok. Mommy try again try try and try. And later teacher said mommy's dancing was good! (Silent)

So, Eirsa can be like mommy too. Mommy tak cry. Eirsa's dance not good but can you read? (Yes).

Can you count? (Yes).

Can you color? (Yes).

Can you run and jump and have fun? (Yes).

Waaaa! See! You are very good! (Laugh in pride).

And the conversation was continued with things about her good time jumping and running at the playground. Distraction is unavoidable when you are talking with preschoolers. Haha.

I do hope she always come back to me whenever she has any problems. Any. 

Always be my baby and friend.

Eirsa's Sketches

Like your kids, my 5 yo pun dalam peringkat suka melukis dan menulis. Masa mula-mula tahu menulis, asik menulis je kerja, well, more to menconteng. Kemudian pandai menulis, kemudian pandai melukis. Pandai here means apa yang dilukis tu kau boleh la nak tafsirkan. So being a biased mommy obviously, I use the word pandai. Gasak.

Tapi tang mewarna, tak perlulah bercita-cita tinggi nak hantar dia ke pertandingan mewarna. Memang tak de kesobaron dia nak warna cantik-cantik. Dulu lagi la, lukisan entah ke mana, warna entah ke segala tempat. Markah ujian mewarna Eirsa mau ada yang dapt separuh. Itu pun kira untung teacher nak bagi markah kesian. Lama-lama ok sikit. Dan skill mewarna dia nampaknya terhenti sampai level ok sikit je. Tak kisah la sangat pun sebenarnya.

Lately dia sangat sangat suka melukis. Or if I can say, she loves to sketch. Not necessarily be super pretty but most of her sketches are comprehensible. She can even sketch gambar orang lidi tak tahan nak kencing, ok! Hahaha. So cute, so making-me-proud (well, as a mommy, what else), so helpful. Helpful in the sense that being gadget-less (parents' phones are for parents only. hah hah hah..) our dining-out can be sometimes disastrous. Mula-mula memang kelam-kabut tapi lama-lama ok. Sebab tu when she starts sketching (and Eivie starts scribbling. Gasak janji dua-dua sonyap), our dining-out sessions are more enjoyable.

Bukan kata kami mak bapak anti-bagi-anak-main-gadget, tapi buat masa ni budget yang diperuntukkan untuk menggembirakan anak-anak masih ke arah lain, bukan gadget. Pendek kata, bukat setakat budget nak beli iPad untuk anak-anak belum ada lagi, budget untuk beli gadget mak bapak (selain handphones) pun tak pernah diadakan lagi. Opah and atuk Eirsa ada iPad, boleh la mereka menumpang manja. Kakakaka.

And I love Eirsa being more expressive through her sketches.

Ini adalah antara hasil kerja Eirsa. Tafsirkan.

(ada banyak gila lagi tak larat aku nak scan, kadang-kadang berulang gambar-gambarnya).