[ petalspeaks ]

10 June 2009

The battle has begun

In an otherwise quiet part of Subang....


Mummy : Adan, stop it! Mummy dah lipat baju tu, jangan tarik-tarik!

Aidan : Andan nak patai..! (pelat complete with muncung & squinty eyes to show displeasure)

Mummy : No, tu baju abah. Too big for you.

Aidan : *sticks his tongue out* ???!!!!!!????!!!

Mummy : *smacks Aidan's bottom a bit*

Aidan Umar : *crocodile tears to older sister who's sitting down cradling her smelly rabbit like a newborn baby* Yaya, mummy buat!!

Alya : Dah dah dah, takmo nangis.. *conspirational whisper* Nanti kita babab mummy ye..

Aidan : *earnest nodding*

Mummy : *cannot believe what she hears* Kakak, what did you say just now to Adik..?

Alya : Takde apa la mummy *damn sweet smile*


It has begun...






Hunting tiny ketam on the beach..



My lil boy has turned 2..



08 January 2009

The Quarterly Blogger

Perhaps this space should be renamed as such, judging by the intervals of my posts. I do have things to say, funny antics and pictures of the kids to share. Between work, my workplace’s Internet filter *cough Big Brother cough* and the home situation, I have neither the time nor the energy to put down what I want to say and actually upload it..

We’ve had a few maids since before Adan was born and as of Ramadhan, we have decided to send the kids to a nursery. Yes, the nursery fees are the same as what we were paying the maid before but in terms of headaches & ‘sakit ati’ it is definitely a whole lot less.

There are teething problems, of course. The kids cried buckets until their voices were hoarse when I picked them up in the evening. Adan came home with scratches on his face & back. They seem to be okay now, Ala more so than Adan. He still merengek in the morning when we drop them off. Ala is cool as long as we perform her ‘routine’ – which is an elaborate choreography of salams, hugs with pats on the back, kisses (her left cheek, her right cheek, our left cheek, our right cheek) and goodbye waves right up until we are out of her sight. I guess to the other parents it’s a bit much as they are more businesslike – march up to the door, drop off kid & nursery bag, salam & kiss on head then off to work.

Ala is apparently Miss Popularity there, especially with the bigger kids. She makes a point to salam them & the caregivers before leaving. Even a few of the mums know her which is a bit amazing.. Adan is our Pak Lebai. He will search for his small songkok which we bought for Raya, then get one of us to bentang his small sejadah (which sis-in-law bought for them) and then proceed to go through the motions of solat. Complete with mulut kumat-kamit & all..! Ala can pretty much recite some zikirs & doa makan (with pelat) which sounds like this “Allah umma ba-bariktana fima lojaktana akina ajabanna.. Amin” followed by a booming “AMIN!!!!” from the lil Pak Lebai. Better than tv, I tell ya…

I can now have a ‘proper’ conversation with Ala where she communicates in whole sentences. She even sounds like a mak nenek sometimes, once exclaiming “Hai, atok ni..!” when my dad couldn’t quite get what she was trying to say. She stutters quite a bit, though we’re not sure if it’s on purpose. Can’t stand her brother half the time & shows it with physical violence (pinches, shoves etc). The other half, she is Adan’s spokesperson - translating his attempts at speaking & standing up for her lil brother. (“Mummy, jangan la marah Dan-dan tu.. Dan-dan main-main aje la”).

Adan is a cheeky, active lil boy. He’s practically giddy with happiness when Ala deigns to play with him. Unfortunately, he has also learned to fight back which means there’s a lot of hair-pulling and smacking when they play. He loves water so much that he often refuses to come out of the bathroom voluntarily after showers. In fact, he’d find any excuse (or trick!) to bathe again – usually by claiming “Memeh! Yak! Bok! ”. Adan usually wakes up with a smile, immediately checks if his big sister is awake (most of the time no, this anak dara of mine is a late riser) before announcing “Memeh, Yaya bom-bom”. And finally, he’s a completely shameless copycat. Every single thing Ala does or say, he will copy. What makes us howl with laughter is that in the middle of copying her, he will keep an eye out for cues on what to do next…!

As much as we laugh, it makes me feel slightly melancholic afterwards.. Our babies are growing up.

08 September 2008

After 3 months..

.. I still don't have enough time to sit down & write an actual post. Would some bulleted updates suffice? Gosh, I hope so..

  • Our home is now a warzone. Ever since Ala has discovered her 'taring', she's been constantly biting & pinching Adan. As much as we try to stop it, gruesome marks have appeared on Adan's body. She seems to feel extremely geram with her lil brother resulting in the intense attacks. It doesn't help matters that Adan doesn't understand enough to keep away from her. He constantly follows her around, trying to hug her, kiss her or grab the toy she's playing with.

  • Ala can be a lazy bum sometimes, refusing to fetch her Rabbit or bottle even though it's 2 steps away. She'll still insist "Mummy amikkan!". So sometimes when I'm heatedly arguing with her to get her to fetch her stuff, Adan will quietly fetch whatever it is, hand it to Ala with a "Nyah!", make his cheeky face & singsong "Teng!" ('thank you' even tho he was the one who should be thanked) before going off on his merry way. It was like a glimpse into the future, I pray she won't learn to make use of her brother.

  • Adan is now almost 1 year & 4 months old. His weight (according to the clinic scale, dunno true or what) is now 11kg. He doesn't look huge though. He does have kinda broad shoulders and a tough looking body. Mum calls him 'budak godang'. But this budak godang likes to sleep with his arms around his 'memeh'. (Yep, BabyBoon. Our boys call us by the same name).

  • Adan plays rough/manja. What does that mean? He loves to manja2 (like sleep on the same pillow as me) but his actions are always abrupt & rough. I now have a small bump on the bridge of my nose from the time his head slammed into my face as he was rooting around in his sleep 'nak carik spot tido'. I was bawling from the pain (I swear I heard a crack) but the lil dude carried on sleeping in his usual froggy-style. Totally oblivious.

Some pics from Auntie Sara's wedding a whole month ago. Yes, it's taking me that long to download the pics from K's camera..


Arriving at Tok Ngah's house

Hijacking of the pelamin by their parents in order to take cutesy pics of their kids

70's inspired hair (ahem, actually couldn't get her to sit still to tie it up)


See my finger?


How to pass the time at weddings..


04 June 2008

Year In Review - Aidan

(Warning!! Picture heavy post)

Aidan's birthday has come and gone. Rather than re-hash the same entry as Alya's birthday (we had the same menu & people over.. how original right?), I thought I'd put up a pic of every month so far in my little man's life as other mommies have done.


1st month - baby sumo



2nd month - the orange ball



3rd month - already showing his distaste for the carrier
4th month - rolled over

5th month - asah gigi on the walker



6th month - rolling around with mummy



7th month - first appearance of the cheeky face



8th month - my little man



9th month - climbing up the kitchen gate



10th month - targeting atok's lamp


11th month - one of our dinner outings


and finally.... 1 year old!! He had some help blowing out the candles..




So what does he do now that he's turned 1?


Grab his sister from behind and drags her around the room or to the floor - Adan's smackdown move!

28 April 2008

Red Faces

When one of your kids has picked up the gift of gab, understands most of what you’re saying and observes everything, certain situations are bound to happen. Situations where they are blissfully unaware about the cause of our discomfort.
· Alya’s script when asked “Abah pegi mana?” (pelat & all) – “Abah peji Duuubai. Naik aewoplane. Carik duwit. Beli susu Ala, susu Dan-dan. Tinggal Ala, tinggal mummy, tinggal Dan-dan.”

· We had lunch at a restaurant where she spent the whole time wiping everything down like an obsessed germophobe (tabletop, chair back, the top of the chair, my jeans). As we were leaving and strapping her into the stroller, she complained “Akit!”. Asked about the location of her pain, my daughter replied “Akit pepet!”. Waitresses within earshot started giggling furiously, K was stifling his own laughter while I told her not to cakap kuat-kuat. God only knows where she learned that word as me & K have always used another term for it with her..

· Upon meeting her uncle’s future wife (BIL is marrying an English girl), Alya freaked out, started to cry and pointed right in her future Mak Ngah’s face saying “Nanak!! Ala nanak dia tu!”. Maybe cos BIL’s fiancee looks different with her brown hair and green eyes..

· While sending K off at the airport for his 2nd month in Dubai, I had to change Alya’s diaper. We were heading to the nappy changing room when she started to run ahead of me. She turned around and, in the middle of the departure hall, shouted towards me “Mummy! Cepat mummy! Ala yayak!

Mortification is my constant companion…


05 March 2008

Single Parent (for 2 months)

K has been in the Middle East for the past week and will be there until end of April, tasked to turn around a project. In the meantime, I am handling the 2 lil chickies, going to work and looking after K's side-business. So far okay, as us 3 beranak have moved into my parents' place. Lotsa help & support around. Hopefully it'll continue to be smooth sailing for the coming weeks. Have no time to properly blog as Adan has become quite a destructive force, including sengaja carik gaduh with Alya. I shall leave you with pics of their usual evening activity and their new ride from a baby warehouse sale. Alya was terrified of the tricycle & only her atok managed to pujuk her to give it a try. After that, it was "Mummy tolak! Mummy tolak! Mummy tolak".. Menyesal pun ada gak hahahaha..

Adan's must-do : Climb up the sofa & bergayut at the window..

Alya's must-do : Give atok's 'tish' mamam (tish = fish)

Adan cool & unfazed "I'm just going along for the ride"


She was terrified at first.. but soon would not get off it!

26 February 2008

Second

We had Alya’s birthday on the 17th. Watching her sleep now, it’s amazing how far away she seems from the tiny bundle swimming in the pink SJMC swaddling cloth. I mean, 2 years ago she was a 2.14kg baby girl who managed to avoid the incubator after arriving about a month early. She was only as long as K’s forearm, a hairy lil thing whose limbs were frequently trembling.

The same little girl can now converse pretty well (but with pelat of course), runs around while giggling and saying “Lajuuuu!!” and demands your complete attention. She’s freaked out by injuries (scrapes, blisters, blood) and suka kacau daun when her parents cuddle in front of the TV (“Abah tak leh pegang Mummy, cem cem, ak alu*”. Translation : Shame shame, tak malu) I had a huge laugh over it while K looked a bit incredulous.

I spent Friday night clearing the living & dining area of the numerous piles of stuff that seems to have popped up, chucking everything I can fit into the back room. Then Saturday was spent cleaning up the inside & shopping for the lasagna ingredients. The kids woke us up at 6am Sunday morning. Getting up was no easy task. K cleaned up his car stuff outside while I managed the kids and other lil bits of cleaning. Not an easy task as the kids were practically climbing up the grille to go outside. At one point, Alya (in diapers, don’t ask) was wailing to go outside and her brother (still in his sleepsuit) decided to ‘harmonize’. K & me were tiredly looking at them then at each other, before he commented “Inilah nasib kita”. That got us laughing loud enough to stun the wailing duo. Indeed it was.

I bathed them, stuck in a bottle each and watched them slowly fall asleep. Put my head down next to Dan-dan. Next thing I knew, K woke me up saying my in-laws were here. Sure enough, they were standing in front of the grille smiling away. We had been caught sleeping on the job. It seems they had given salam at the gate and seeing it was unlocked, let themselves in. Only to find us 4 beranak pretty much passed out in front of the TV as nobody stirred when they gave salam 3 times..!

K’s mum had come early to make nasi lemak. Both grandmothers were worried there wouldn’t be enough food for 30 hungry guests at lunchtime. So the original menu of beef & chicken lasagna, KFC and cake expanded to include nasi lemak, fried rice, bihun Singapura, kuih apam and fruits. K had ordered a number 2 cake since we couldn’t get it for Alya last year. A spread that saw about ¾ of the food polished off. Alhamdulillah, grandmas to the rescue.

The birthday girl was excited seeing her Abah bring in the big cake box that she tailed him giggling and saying “Ala nak nengok”. I took off the lid to let her have a quick look at her aquarium-themed cake. Mistake. She wouldn’t let anyone cover it up and kept insisting “Ala nak jilat..!” When everyone was singing the birthday song, she got all bashful and even tried to hide her face. She wouldn’t let me cut the cake, yelling “Nanak, nanak” everytime the knife touched the cake. K had to take her aside before I could cut it up and serve it to the horde..


The birthday girl insisting on sampling the goods


She got a lovely pair of sandals which she promptly wanted to wear – declaring them to be ‘atik!!’, a toy xylophone from my sister which was hijacked and fully ‘serviced’ by Dan-dan (thanks a lot, bingit umah aku), some stuffed animals, cookies which I have stashed away for safekeeping (read: Mummy’s snacking session) and many many angpows to help fatten up her savings.


I don’t think I can do this again in May for Dan-dan’s 1st. Both grandmas suggested a party at McD.. How?

Why am I in a Hawaiian shirt and holding this noisy thing? I feel like a posterboy for a luau band

The huge mosquito bite was from 2 days before the party..

The birthday girl.. 1 year on