Irfan's school


On wednesday, since alim and I ended at 10, we managed to pick irfan up from school. He was ever so eager to show us around his school, pulling us immediately to his favourite part of the school; the "BIIIG playground" and "imming pool".





He had water play earlier in the day and I could not imagine how the teachers manage to bathe and clean each and every tiny, squirmy, noisy toddler...and then pack their belongings back neatly in their bags, one by one...phew..must be tiring.

I took the opportunity to ask the teacher how he is like in school. I did see him the first few days when he started school, and he was extremely active and totally ignored what the other kids were doing especially during circle time. He was up and about, rolling the play mats and turning them into 'guns' and started pointing at everyone. I must admit, I was pretty worried when i saw that and was not sure if the school setting was suitable for him.

The teachers did not shout, scold or force him to behave (like I do )..instead quietly tried to bring him back to the group and when he wiggled to be free, they just let him go. after a while they tried bringing him back again and again....no voice raised, no wagging of the index finger and no mention of the overused "NO!"
I doubted if the teachers' methods would work on Irfan but I decided to give it some time.

And to my relief, the teacher said he is getting better and he is more controllable now. She added that he is very imaginative and creative during play and cited some examples. She also said he is bright and did well for his practical assessments. Hmm Im not quite sure about that since I really cannot imagine how the teachers managed to keep him still for a practical assessment. I left it at that and didnt want to ask too much although Im very curious about so many things like, if he is able to interact well with others, does he follow instructions, can he play on his own for long, does he throw tantrums but I suppose I have to wait for the termly report.

I did notice some changes in him eversince he started school but Im not sure if it's the effects of schooling or just coming of age. For example, he is more independent now and listens more. His concentration level has also improved and he can sit still for a longer period of time, concentrating on one toy at a time.
I do agree a lot with the teacher about his imagination and kids his age are indulging a lot on imaginative play. The things he says and his opinions are really beginning to surprise us more these days.

Some people have warned us that Montessori education has too much play and kids might have difficulty adjusting in a school setting in P1. I don't know how true is that, especially now that most Montessori education is not purely Montessori anymore. Maybe to a certain extent, it is true. At this moment, I think I want irfan to enjoy school and play is crucial and extremely important for him. In this school, at least he gets some form of constructive play as compared to home and he gets to interact with his peers. The exposure he gets from the wide variety of activities, outdoor play and monthly excursion makes learning more engaging and meaningful. And that really is the best way to learn.

Let see how it goes.. in the meantime, im happy to know that he wakes up at 7am every morning, eager to wear his school uniform, songkok, put on his bag and shoes, carry his bottle bag and hops on the van and enthusiastically waves my mum goodbye.

THE BIG BOY



This year,
1)Irfan will turn THREE *gasp*
2)I am turning THIRTY *gasp*gasp*
3)And a few days ago, my dad has just turned SEVENTY! *gasp*gasp*gasp*

Unbelievable....

Pictures taken from some time back.

SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE

We've been parents for a lil more than two years now. There's still plenty to learn and much more I have not gone through. For sure having a kid makes you think about the future a lot more and also makes you doubt your capabilities from time to time.

For me the hardest part about being a parent is being a good role model. Especially now that irfan is two, he copies everyting and absorbs everything like a sponge. He's sounding more and more like us and it's scary. The intonation of his words, the phrases he uses..those are words said by people in the house. He has learnt so much from us, without us even specifically teaching him and he will continue to pick up habits, he will pick up our reactions and react almost the same way.
He is already doing that now. Im recognising more and more of myself in him.
The other night, he wanted to take his toy car from the middle room so he asked me to switch on the lights for him to find it. I was already almost dozing off on my bed and so I said, "(yawn)Ibu tired...I want to sleep..." Yes, the typical response from si pemalas ni. :) He insisted a couple of times and in the end I had to go swicth on the lights so that he would just let me sleep.

And what do I know, the other day, I asked him to clean up his toys and what did he do? You guessed it...he walked nonchalantly to my bed, plonked himself on the bed, yawned a loud fake yawn..and said," Iman tired...want to shleep.."

And now that i think about it, Im sure he must have heard me say that a couple of times, even to his daddy coz that is my overused phrase at home. I never before gave a thought to that phrase till I hear someone else say it back to me.

I can cite so many other instances...but thank god, not all are bad habits. The other day, while we were at the airport, he was running around as he always does at the airport. And of course, like an accident waiting to happen, he bumped into an uncle and irfan fell flat. The uncle helped him up and after getting up, he looked up at the uncle and said, "Sorry!"
Firstly, I didnt expect that from him and secondly, the intonation of that sorry is so familiar.

So I learn. ANd I am more aware now of the things I say and do. This is just the beginning and we still have a long way to go. At the end of the day, do I possess the qualities that I expect out of him? Or would I just be all talk and show all the opposite actions?

I suppose being a parent helps us in that constant ongoing struggle towards becoming a better person.

So the other day, when we were at jakarta, alim and I had a lil squabble in front of irfan. We were in our room and now, i cant even remember what the squabble was about. So anyway, in the middle of our squabble, I realised that the lil boy was pretty quiet so I glanced over and saw him leaning against the coffee table. His arms was crossed, he had a long face and he was rolling his eyes. You know lah, kids his age are really tiny copy cats and they want to do everything we do, even including getting angry. Obviously he didnt want to be left out in our squabble and was eager to join in. He then went, "hmph!!" , folded his arms and rolled his eyes again in his attempt to be included in the argument too!
he looked damn funny and we were trying our darnest to contain our laughter coz we were supposed to be in the middle of a squabble mahhh....must maintainnn

so anyway, rite after that, we went to alim's parents room coz we were going out for lunch or something. You know how irfan is talking so much now and expanding his words into phrases and sentences, ...So the minute we entered their room, irfan opened his big mouth and said,
" Ibu angry"
%#@*!At that point, I wished he couldnt talk yet!
So I said, "Ya ibu angry WITH YOU coz u very naughty!"
!!!!!!!!!
Pfft!!!
Betul tak boleh simpan secret lah budak ni!

And Im sure one day very very very soon, he would be able to complete that sentence with just two more words that can make the whole difference: "Ibu angry WITH AYAH" and I'd be dead. Habislah, smua secret dia bilang nenek and atok dia!

Being able to talk can be dangerous hor!!
Now must teach him how to keep secret....how ah?
every secret leaked, go to naughty corner?
*scratches head*

Debut performance

For obvious reasons, this one didn't quite make it to the Asian Idol...:)

Sabah- Land below the wind
It's all about culture and nature...

We went for a short trip to Sabah. This time round, we had more people going..as they say the more the merrier:) irfan was excited to have company which means double the kecohness!

Monsopiad Cultural Village
Kadazhan Head Hunters









On the way to Mount Kinabalu.
The sky was grey and cloudy and it rained along the way. So we couldnt get to see much of the highest mountain in SEA.


Glad to have each other.... :)

Oh and by the way....

Happy Birthday QistiNA-NUT!!!!!!
:)

Ok...so another year is ending and the holiays are here again. Yes, the much awaited holidays are here. Life is really a cycle..or maybe it's just for me, maybe i really need to do something radical to break this monotony. Sometimes i feel like i should sidestep from the conveyor belt a little and see where I land..but of course, as always Im too chicken for that.

so life goes on as life always does. and im grateful for that. that i must say.
but it's getting a lil monotonous and expected. The year was a hectic one, nothing new to that. i felt like i accelerated at full speed and going at that bullet train speed, i couldnt really see what was in front of me but all i had to do and all i could do was press on and accelerated through the madness. And then end of the year comes, like it always does and I slow down, take a breather only to expect the same tornado to hit me again come january. And life goes on like that.

I sound like im blabbering...and the reason im doing so is coz, the other more sane half of me is away in some jungle, doing his part for the beloved country. so irfan and I are on our own, left to entertain each other and drown our sorrows in elmo dvds and toy cars and trains. We take comfort in each other for these 2 weeks and right now, irfan is asleep so i'm left alone, which as u can see resulted in me blabbering.

irfan is really growing, though i keep forgetting that sometimes. Everyone is bugging me with the 'when is the next one?' question...i suppose it's just human nature. i guess now is a good time, the age gap is ok, and besides im itching for that 3 mths leave. but for some reason i keep putting it off..oh well.. we'll see.

yesterday was our 3 years anniversary, and i kept asking myself, " only three years?" I felt like we've been married forever, ok not forever but maybe 6 years at least? Not sure why I feel this way...anyway, he was in camp, so we couldnt celebrate and i spent the day with irfan, helping him put out imaginary fire from his fire truck and then looked for ants halfway through. exciting huh? actually it's either that or sit down and chat with my mum about family squabbles..oh man, save me from that! I had enufff of analysing and reanalysing one poblms after another with her for the year! at times, I just don't get what the problem is..but basically, evryone wants to think they are right. that is always the case. I dont get why it's so demeaning to be wrong...dont they see that at the end of your life, when you are old, weak and peeing in your own pants, it doesnt even matter! ( sorry for the strong emotions displayed, im just tired of hearing about the mindless squabbles)

orite, i'll continue with that some other time, when im in a bad mood. for now im just counting the days to sat, when he will be back...and he can go look for ants instead. :)

With September drawing to a close, it would be incomplete if there is nothing in the entries about the many important dates in September.
3 wedding anniversaries; my parent's, brother's and sis's and 3 birthdays; haris's and of coz, irfan's and mine.
As usual, it was a family affair with mostly us entertaining ourselves and of coz the youngest fella got the most hoo haa. Knowing how much he loves birthdays; singing birthday songs, blowing the candles, cutting the cake and opening up the presents, we could not let the day go uncelebrated. So the usual people came over to make his day....and mine too;)


with party hats and banner, no less :) hehhe


with his fav people


waiting for his birthday song


singing his birthday song

and they made me open up layers and layers of newspapers, only to find that my present was not even in the box! and then they planted clues around my house, (entah bila masa buat keje ni smua)and made me find the clues leading to my present. macam treasure hunt gitulah.
Nasib baik worth it! Loved the present!


No..not in here...it's not a printer..Thank God!!

irfan got mega huge presents this year. all kinds of transportation lah dia dapat for his birthday.
from cik zali and cik ros


from alim's parents


alim's parents was quite sweet to remember my birthday and they brought us to buka puasa at carousel the following day and got me and irfan pressies. i didnt quite expect the present this year....


Do u see goldheart?:) hehe

And on his birthday itself, alim's mum came to our place after buka and brought him a cake and his uncle gave him yet another humongous present.... a fire engine thingy.
he was elated beyond words of coz while i was like...mana nak letak lagi satu benda besau ni?!!!


Happy giler!!!

i think he need to park all these at the carpark outside coz my house looks more like toys r us now.


Super excited- AGAIN!


Sing birthday song- AGAIN! and still excited

cake blowing-AGAIN!- and still with so much gusto

he refused to take out the helmet and the CWO lookalike vest..sampailah tertido...gasak dia lah.

so that's getting another year older...:)

September Morning

It's so nice to wake up to a wet monday morning and not be anywhere.

It's so nice to wake up to a rainy day and be greeted by a small round face, with a big smile revealing lines of funny looking teeth,
followed by wet, splurging kisses complete with sound effect.

He's happy we are not going anywhere this morning, looks into our eyes, as if in disbelieve and then smiles a huge smile, before planting 2 kisses each for the both of us.

And he said and pointed, "Ayah, Ibu, Iman(he can't pronounce Irfan, so Iman is how he calls himself for now), stressing the point that we are indeed together this morning, in bed.

Isnt it a great morning?

We laid there for much longer, relishing the fact that we don't need to be out of bed, that our attendance is not being recorded today, that the hours and minutes belonged to us, just for now.

the bed is just so comfortable, he hugs us again and again, then gets bored and crawls under the sheets and made both of us do the same. He made a haunting sound which meant to scare but sounded just so silly that we burst out laughing and starting tickling him all over. He tumbles on us, giggling uncontrollably.

Every morning should be like this.
Every single morning.

The story of the busy, buzzing bumble bee
The search of one's own kind..

Do you recognise this bumble bee?
He was spotted in a school recently.


HELOOOOOOOO!! Teehee hee:)



Me? Im the bumble bee?

He was invited to a fairytale ball at TKP
Not sure which fairytale has a character of a busy buzzing bumble bee
But he didnt care did he?
Upon reaching, he spread his wings under a tree
And tried to find his new identity.


Then he met a princess.
She gave him a ball


he accepted it gleefully.


No wonder they call it fairytale ball. We get free balls! Yippeee!

Soon he was surrounded by more princesses.



But alas, none of them wanted him as prince.
He was a little too short for them.
besides, none of them wanted to have anything to do with yellow stripes, squirly antennaes and a yellow pointed tail.
But he didn't care did he?
Coz he was proud to be a busy, buzzing bumble bee.

he wondered if there is any of his kind around.



Off he went and he met,
a witch, snow white and a dwarf,none of which are bees...



a fairy and a human auntie..not bees either.....



Tigger..he was almost fooled by the stripes!



he drew a little


and darted off again




Soon he was tired and rested for a drink
and THEN he spotted one of his kind!!!! he smiled from antennae to antennae!!!!



he ran to her...
only to find....
she isnt a pure buzzing, busy bumble bee!!
she had a head of a bee but a body of a fairy!
he was disgusted. before he could escape, the giant fairybee grabbed him and took a snap!


Yucks! A crossbreed!!!!

so disgusted was he that he wanted to leave...



but this bee is indeed a funny bee.
barely a minute later, he forgot that he was angry.
Off he went again, buzzing busily as bees would be.
And soon he found a tree.
With flowers, all so pretty.
He smiled cheerfully
coz he's just so happy to be a bee, flying free in TKP.





THE END!

hehhee..well, my school had a fairytale ball, an event for primary 1 pupils. The kids and parents are supposed to come, dressed based on a fairytale theme. So I menyebok and brought Irfan along. We rented the costume 30 minutes before the ball started and straightaway brought him to my school. he refused to take the costume out even after we reached home. He really looked liked a busy bee, darting around being his usual tak tau diam self.
When he first put it on, we really had a good laugh coz he really looked so funny in it. He was looking in the mirror at the costume shop and going, "lawaaa, lawaaa". Terus bekenan, tak nak bukak.It was the first costume he tried coz I asked the sales guy if he had any costumes for 2 year olds and there wasnt that many. They had peter pan too but after trying the bee, he refused to take it out and didnt want to try anything else. So dengan costume tu jugak we went straight to the ball.
Of course, he was one of the smallest at the ball coz it's for primary 1 after all, so he got quite an overwhelming attention from others. After a while, when he saw people coming towards him, he just starting running the opposite direction.

Heh, he just looked funny to me.:)

Yes, we were some of the thousands who thronged the streets to catch the fireworks and bits of the parade. Very the on, hor!


Happy Birfday Singapore!!


The Usual Suspects. Kesian Irfan terselit.


Apa pesen ni?


Nenek's classic camera.


Waahhhh...

I was so dead tired when I got back. Felt like the sun sapped me off all my energy...
Crowd and heat is a bad combi for me..luckily the company saved the day. :)

Anyway, this is really a basi entry. Next up, would be a story about a bumble bee. Don't miss it!!!!

I can't wait for national day to be over. That would mean I have one major task to strike off from my 'to-do'list this year. I am in charge of National Day this year and it's my school's tradition to have entrepreneurship day on the same day too. And we didnt employ any vendor this year so I had to come up with the training booklet and look into the logistics and all that stuffs..which is giving me major headache and makes me wonder time n time again, WHYYY exactly am I doing all these?!

im feeling more and more like an events manager these days. maybe i should change my profession. do they earn more?

so im really looking forward to 8th August, 12pm, when the whole entrepreneurship day cum national day would be over. and then the looooong weekend!! yes I can't wait!
I just need the break to REST!

And on to something random- THE CURE didnt quite cure my 'blues' away last nite. But for a while, it did take my mind away from some unnecessary thoughts.

Irfan really surprises me sometimes. Opening the door as I reach home from work and seeing him just brightens up my day, no matter how shitty I felt just minutes before that. It's amazing how being tiny and cute has that effect on people. Today, when I got back from work, as usual I asked my mum, "Irfan naughty tak?!" My mum was busy watchin some filipino drama serial and so as expected, she ignored me. Instead the lil twerp answered, "POK POK" and showed his hand. Ok let me translate that to you. It means someone hit his hand. So I asked my mum, "Mak pukul tangan dia tadi eh?" Of course I had to ask her 2 or 3 times coz, like I said she was engrossed in her filipino drama. When she finally heard my question, she was quite shocked and asked how did I know. True enuf she did coz Irfan was being naughty. He actually threw his toy fishing rod out of the window when both his nenek and atok were not fast enugh to grab the rod!

Tak sangka pandai ngadu!!
And i suppose he understood my question when i asked my mum if he was naughty. And that he knew the repercussions of being naughty. you get 'POK'!

Slowly Im discovering that he knows more than we think he knows and that is indeed a pleasant surprise!

My poor parents, having to be on their toes all the time. I suppose one lil fella is enuf to make them huff and puff ....

Ok tll later!