I don't ever remember specifically teaching irfan any of these things...so i really wonder where he gets these ideas from...he surprises me with his ideas...maybe it's from school or tv,...im not quite sure.

Incident 1

yesterday we saw a heavily pregnant lady and i was just curious what was going on in irfan's tiny lil head. so I asked him,

ME: What's in her tummy?
IRFAN: Baby
ME: How is the baby going to come out?

I had expected him to say something along the lines of cutting open the tummy and extracting the baby...but he surprised me with this answer:

IRFAN: Come out from a big hole

ME: Hole?which hole?where is the hole?

IRFAN: Hole where the ibu kencing. Can ibu? can come out from there or not?

not quite sure what to say, i just nodded and said, "yah...something like that...hey look what's that? " and quickly changed the subject before he starts firing me with more questions, like he always does.

Incident 2:

We were watching Animal Funniest Videos on tv and they were showing some pigs doing something funny..and Irfan out of the blue , dengan bersungguh-sungguh said,

Irfan: Ayah, we cannot touch pig, you know!"

Alim: Why not? Is it dirty?

Irfan: Cause...later Allah ANGRY!

I looked at alim and asked " did you teach him that? Coz I sure didnt" alim said no. MAybe he learnt it in school ...but we often tell him that we have to pray coz later allah angry, but not about touching pigs....

Then alim asked: How about dogs? Can we touch dogs?

Irfan: ( starts thinking. i can almost see his lil brain ticking) Dog, CAAAANN.

Alim: Why?

Irfan: Coz dog good boy...dog can play with irfan..dog can help irfan..I like dogs, ayah. Can buy?

We left it as that and didnt bother to correct him, coz i honestly dunno how to explain to a 3 year old why we can't touch dogs. If I were to say later allah angry, he will definitely ask me why...and I wouldnt know what to say.

Actually, it's no surprise that he views dogs as friendly creatures coz almost all children's books portray dogs as childrens' best friends. He has books which show dogs playing with lil boys and girls, fetching toys and licking their faces in delight. So i guess, that's where he got the idea that dogs are fun to have.

As he gets older, I also noticed he's becoming more sympathetic to others and has shed some of his egocentrism. He tries to cheer people up when they are down and again, I dunno where he learns them from. I dunt remember doing this to him or to anyone around the house so i doubt its from modelling.

Incident 3

Irfan: Ibu, why your face like that? ( pulls his lips down to show me a sad face- which, by the way was really funny!)
I didnt even notice he was looking at me and i didnt even realize that my face was showing how i was feeling. I was unhappy with something but didnt know my face was showing.

In no mood to reply, I just kept quite. He came close to me and looked straight into my eyes and asked again" Why ibu? Are you ok?" N nod nod his head. By this time, I wanted to laugh but played along, and showed an even sadder face. After all, it's not always that I get this much attention from anyone. Heheh.
After a few moments of looking symapthetically into my eyes,
he said, " Smile ibu, Big smile like this." and he gave me the biggest smile ever.

The first time he ever did that to me, my heart melted till it flooded my house!! I guess its true kids are really very sensitive to our moods and they can tell if you are unhappy or not. It's really nice to have someone try to cheer you up like that.

On another occasion, well, ok, I do get my bad moods a lot at times, so he asked " Ibu, why your face like that? (and again, pulls his lips down to show a sad face). " Who disturb you, ibu?" Just for the fun of it, I pulled an even longer face and said, "Ayah! Ayah disturb me." Hehe.

He stood up, marched over to alim, who was in the toilet, happily minding his own business. Irfan came up to him, started cekak pinggang and with an almost defeaning voice said , "AYAH! Why you disturb ibu? Say sorry now!"

Of course, alim ignored him, knowing that it must be one of my silly ideas.
I couldnt help but laugh and that must have confused irfan a bit. Anyway, isnt it nice to have someone blindly stand up for you like that!!:)

I guess 3 year olds are smarter than we think. We dunt have to teach them for them to learn, they just pick everything and make their own conclusions. They probably have formed these ideas in their heads a long time ago, but only now, they are able to verbalise them. The questions are coming fast and getting more difficult for me to answer. Most times, I dunno how to simplify the answers to a level of a 3 year old. Once, just for experimental sake, I answered him using proper sentence, proper terms, like how I would explain to an adult. I am very sure he doesnt know what I am saying, and almost half of the words he has never heard before. After the 'cheem' explanantion, he kept quiet, looked at me and finally said, "Ohhh" and barely a second later, asked" Why ibu? Why like that, ibu?" Why?" Not knowing what to say, I revert to my "Hey look, what's that?" strategy and changed the subject. Luckily, he's easily distracted.

I find it really fun finding out what he is thinking and expeimenting with his thought processes. Of course, sometimes, he will give me silly answers which I never quite figure out. And at times, he is just so impossible, that I feel like tying him up to a tree. But most times, he is always there to brighten up my days. :)

Been a good, fruitful week...
got many things done!
brought irfan to watch thomas today. of course, he was super excited, despite it being his nap time.
before we left, i vaguely remember him putting something in my bag and saying something about wanting to give thomas a present.
in the middle of the show, thomas appeared and the lil fella was super excited, reached for my bag and asked for the present. for a while, i didnt know what he was asking. he dug my bag and took out this.



to me, it was just a piece of paper and i thought he took my mess of receipts in my bag, by mistake. but he held on tightly to it and asked, "When can i see thomas and give present?"
"later, and are you sure that is the present for thomas."
"sure," he replied.

of course, the show ended without us having a chance to see thomas up close, much less give thomas any presents. once the curtain closed, the lights came on and that was it.
he was dissapointed at first but as usual, we managed to distract him with something else.
soon he forgot all about it. kesian tak kesampaian nak kasi present.

later, in the car, he fell asleep and the paper fell and i was telling alim, it's funny how a folded paper like this can be a present for thomas. alim told me to open it and look inside.



haizz...kesian. he had actually wrapped the dolphin he made earlier, thinking that he would give it to thomas later.
i can imagine his lil hands putting the dolphin carefully inside and folding the paper one side at a time, hoping thomas would like it.

and there i was thinkin that it was some piece of trash in my bag. shame on me!

earlier in the day, he had shoved me a blank piece of paper and asked to make a dolphin. i was doing something else so alim attended to him and i guess he helped draw the dolphin and cut it. i was too busy to notice him wrapping the dolphin and wasnt paying attention when he was explaining to me about the present. Actually many times, I have caught myself doing a million and other things when he is talking to me. But then again, he doesnt seem to mind coz he always goes on and on all the same.

Too bad thomas didnt get the carefully wrapped dolphin. Think I'll keep it in my bag for a while. And maybe lie to him that I have passed the present to thomas and that thomas loves it very much?!

That's what mothers do right? Do a white lie once in a while...

Saw two funerals this year. For a long time, I've always said that I have 4 sets of grandparents..I have MANY grandparents, I used to say.
But this year, the number has significantly reduced. Like I said i saw 2 funerals this year and this year has not even ended yet. 2 funerals are too many.
I think I wrote an entry here somewhwre about how each of my grandparent is going through old age. Well, two of them have succumbed to their illness and passed.
To me, it was quick. It was so sudden. But in actual fact, so many years have gone by since their illness was first discovered. It's true, we are so caught up in living, that the years seemed like minutes till the minutes actually end.
It's funny how it seemed like it just took a minute for the person to disappear from the face of the earth. But the loss is forever.

I cannot ever imagine the devastation of losing someone I hold so dearly. I went to the grave and saw rows and rows of names. I'm sure each of their passing, has broken someone's heart.

It made me wonder. How many hearts were broken, when the sand covered her that gloomy, rainy evening when we bid her goodbye?

And how many realized and understood the last lesson she taught us when she passed? How many actually learnt from it and seize the opportunity to have a second shot at being better?

May her soul rest in peace. May she always be loved and remembered. For me, I will always remember her as a funny grandma, always with a kiddish laugh, red lipstick and overpowdered face. :)

You will be missed.