One Of The Flaws

Mine (well, at least according to this quiz) :

How about you?

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.

How Anti-Social You Really Are?

My result :

So, how anti-social you really are?

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.

A Quick, Needed, Relaxing Getaway

So we went to Krabi, just the three of us girls.

Wah, cara aku cakap macam tak berperasaan, padahal this is one of the highly anticipated things that we are looking forward since months!

SO YEAH WE FINALLY MANAGED TO HAVE A GETAWAY AND THIS TIME TO KRABI!! YAHUUU!!

Gambar wajib kot, kalau tak buat "berdosa".

From year to year from one baby delivery to another baby delivery, we still did not manage to repeat our vacation, just the three of us, for years. And several months before, tak de nak tunggu promo or what not, check je harga flight mana yang paling reasonable, book and all set. No turning back! Pepandai lah kau nak curi cuti ke, curi tulang ke, kalau tak dapat pergi jugak, halal je la flight tickets tu. Tapi alhamdulillah, despite personal things that each of us were going through, we managed to realize this escapade.

I plan to break the story into several episodes, kalau aku nak himpunkan, memang lah namanya lagi lima tahun baru siap. Tu pun kalau hidup lagi.

So I consider this post as an introduction : Ana, Fatma dan Ishah telah berjaya bercuti ke Krabi pada 25 - 27 October 2014 and the trip was not just successful but was so memorable and appreciated and we shall do this again (if not soon) girls! Gambar semua tak transfer apa lagi, walhal dalam hati begitu membuak-buak benda yang hendak diceritakan. Laters.

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!

Pemalsuan

Rabu lepas. Usai waktu pejabat.

Sedang aku berbaring-baring, langsung tak de buat sebarang pembelian secara atas talian, sekadar bermain Sudoku. Tiba-tiba dapat message dari bank :

"Your code is sekian-sekian for online transaction at website-sekian-sekian of USD205. Your code will expire in 4 mins."

Sejurus selepas itu, masuk lagi satu message dari bank :

"TQ for using your card ending sekian-sekian for USD8.56 at Antique Inn bla-bla-bla. For enquiry, call number at the back of your card."

Pulak. Bila masa aku yang tengah berbaring-baring ni sempat nak membeli-beli? Credit card pun tak de dalam tangan, semua dalam wallet, dalam bag, semuanya di bawah. Takkan aku membeli belah dalam separa sedar? Dalam hati? Membeli belah dengan niat sahaja sudah dimakbulkan Tuhan? Cannot be!

Website beli-belah tu pun sangat tak familiar, tak pernah kukunjung, tak pernah kutahu. Hati mula dilanda debar.

Papa pula pada masa itu tengah membentangkan pasal solution untuk aircond di rumah baru. Makin lama makin menjadi angin lalu suara Papa; dah tak berapa dengar di telinga dok memikirkan "Ada orang fraud-kan credit card aku ke? Damn it!"

Aku kerat sekejap semangat Papa yang sedang berkobar dalam pembentangannya itu, aku tunjukkan sms nan dua. Sah, sms dari bank tapi pembelian bukan oleh pemilik kad. Bukan aku yang membeli. Aku tidak bermimpi membeli! Aku tidak berhalusinasi! Aku tidak membuat pembelian itu, muktamad!

Segera aku telefon bank. Memang pasti ada transaksi baru berlaku, dan ianya bukan oleh aku. Kad kredit telah dimatikan serta merta. Kad baru akan di hantar kemudian. Refund untuk pembelian secara fraud akan diuruskan dengan aku perlu mengisi borang.

Pheewww! Nasib baik cepat! Nasib baik nilai fraud cuma sedikit! Pembelian USD205 tu tak lepas, sebab code dapat kat aku. Hanya lepas USD8.56 sahaja, pembelian ini mungkin menggunakan system yang tidak memerlukan code Syukur. Minimal damage.

Bersembang dengan Papa, celah mana dapat di-fraudkan kad aku itu? Dah lama juga tak buat transaksi kad kredit secara perlu memasukkan nombor kat dan nombor sekuriti kad kerana lebih mudah membuat bayaran melalui Paypal. Ada kemungkinan juga masa membuat pembelian atas talian yang lepas-lepas. Tapi dah lama kot, baru sekarang dapat detect detail kad aku? Atau fraud semasa aku buat bayaran di kedai dan ada mangkuk ambil detail kad kredit. Entah lah. Tapi bukan main lagi pembelian kau ye, dalam USD sahaja!

Lalu sentiasalah berhati-hati dengan pembelian secara online juga ketika membuat pembayaran di kedai menggunakan kad kredit. Gunakan hanya system pembayaran yang selamat, seperti yang memerlukan code untuk meneruskan proses pembayaran. Kalau bayar di kedai pula, pastikan kad kredit sentiasa di depan mata kita. Mungkin perlu membuat bayaran dengan sendiri bangun dan pergi menyerahkan kad di cashier, bukan melalui waiter. Mungkin.

Selamat berhati-hati.