and she's 1..

Yesterday (07 Feb 2011) was Izz's first birthday...

A year has passed... my little girl is no more a baby...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAREST IZZ...

semoga panjang umur, murah rezeki & menjadi anak yg solehah..

may your life will be filled with laughter & happiness...

ibu, ayah & abang will love you always!

Little Miss Adventure...

I have been updating a lot about Iman, but few on Izz. It's not that I forget about her, but she's still in the early stage of learning, so not much to tell.... NOT!!

I must say, this little girl of mine is really really really active (read: naughty)... Let the photos tell the story..

A very very cute little girl huh...

People would just fall in love with her pretty smile & big eyes & long eye lashes...

A very friendly girl but she hated it when people touch her...

BUT!!!

Don't fall for that cute face.... This girl is full of mischief!!

Her favorite place.. the stairs!!

Once she's up, she'll stop (dgn muka bangga).. and call you so you can chase her!!

Next favorite place... the door...

You should see her when the door is open and the grill is closed. She'll pick up (from inside) all the slippers and shoes from outside and put in it the house!!

Smiling proudly because she's at the driver's seat..

(Notice her hand, reaching the wiper to 'clean' the window... sebab tu cermin kereta Ayah sentiasa bersih (read: basah).. sampai habis air wiper tu dikerjakan si kecik ni..!)

See what she did to her stool...

And how she sat on it.... !

This is when she refuse to take her nap...

among few other times she tried to escape..

This was taken in our hotel room in Melaka last month...

She tried to climb up the chair...

(Abang baik je, siap letak kaki nak hadang kerusi (sambil tengok tv), takut adik jatuh.. tapi hampeh, at last jatuh jugak...)

Time tido pun muka still menunjukkan kenakalan dia...

This girl has fell more than her abang in a year... Ruang tamu dah penuh dgn tilam & bantal sbb nak elakkan dia dari terhantuk kuat... Tapi budak ni bukan setakat lasak, kebal pulak tu.. Setakat jatuh/terhantuk skit, no hal punya lah... Ada satu gambar dia berdiri kat baby chair (yg mcm IKEA punya tu..), tapi dah terdelete pulak... Selamba je berdiri situ sambil tepuk tangan... Terjun dari baby cot dia & jatuh kat katil kitaorg, dah tak heran dah... Dah berapa kali rasa mcm nak kena heart attack bila tengok aksi budak ni...

But....

.... at the end of the day, she's still Daddy's Little Girl....

Iman si Ringan Tulang...

Yesterday I had to take leave because my babysitter called the night before, saying she's stuck in heavy traffic jam in Bandar Melaka. So she was thinking to go back to her parents' place, stay for the night and go back to JB the next day.

So I stayed at home with the two kids and planned to cook for lunch.

At 10.30am, I put Izz for her nap & went straight to the kitchen. Iman was left playing alone and watching TV. Then suddenly he came with his stool and said "Ibu, boleh Iman tolong Ibu masak hari ni??"

He asked the same question few times before, but since Ayah was at home, so I told him to go play. But yesterday, I said "OK"...

Rajin tau anak Ibu... This is actually his second time helping me. The first time was for his Ayah's birthday, he helped me baked the cake (click here)...

First I let him helped me cook the vegetables...

He was super excited when I let him stir...

Then I asked him to help me crushed the ginger...

He called this "cecah cecah..". Again super excited...

And lastly I asked him to do the dishes..

Bersungguh-sungguh kan...? Then susah payah dia nak letak kat dish dryer tu... :)

He even scolded me when I wanted to take photos... "Ibu ni.. tak payah amik gambar.. kite masak-masak je.."

But he was super cute at the kitchen and I just can't resist! Especially time ni...

macam comel je duk tumbuk mcm tu... hehehehe...

I know most people won't let their kids to help. Yes, it can be very troublesome... kerja senang jadik lambat sbb nak kena ajar & tunggu dia buat sendiri. But I believe in the process of learning & educating. And I believe by letting him experiencing this himself, he's not actually learning to cook but learning to give a helping hand...

After the vegetable was done (and he believed that it was him who cooked it), he gave me a high-5! Then he said "Best la buat macam ni Bu.. Nanti kite masak-masak lagi ok Bu.. Iman tolong Ibu masak ayam..."

Try to imagine how excited he was when he told Ayah that he actually cooked that day!

And seeing that happy face of him is priceless!!

simple math

a simple math for today...

yup.. we have been married for 6 years!!

Happy Anniversary my dear....

Thanks for everything

I love you more than yesterday and never less for tomorrow...

3.3.3.3.

Did you noticed??

Today he's 3 years, 3 months, 3 weeks & 3 days old...

once in his lifetime.. :)

what is your postcode....?

Something funny happened few days ago...

Since I moved to our home in Pulai Perdana few years back, I found it weird that our home postcode is 81110...

Because I noticed that UTM (which is not far from our home) & Taman Sri Pulai and Taman Teratai (just across the main road) is using the postcode 813**. I mean all these places just few KM away, then why we have different postcode.. eeerrmmm....

Then few months back, my brother send me a snail mail, but he put the wrong postcode (81100). So I got a call from the post office, to pick the mail from them. When I was there, I asked them, where does the postcode referring to. He said all 811** is for Johor Bahru district (Tebrau, Majidee etc). Again, that made me thinking.

This thing, even though it's not that important (since all my mail arrived safely), but it still stayed in my mind (thank you to myself for being an OCD)...

So as I was waiting for my parcel yesterday, I kept on checking the reference number on the Pos Malaysia website. And I noticed there's a 'Postcode Finder' on the website.

Saje je gatal-gatal tangan nak try kan.... and I typed in our postcode... Guess what??

DOES NOT EXIST?? (check out the spelling 'does't not'... what's that?? huh!!)

What do they mean it does not exist?? I have been using that postcode for the past 6 years... it's in my IC and all my important documents...

All the road signs in my area are using that postcode! Even one golf resort next to my home..

see.. they too are using 81110!!

Then I searched for the name of my place... see the result..

It should have been 81300!!

Gosh... this is really weird... then I posted this to my FB

Few friends commented on my status, even friends in Kangkar Pulai was given the postcode 81110...

I wrote an email to Customer Service Center for Post Malaysia...

And their reply:

And now we can just wait & see...

Maybe for some people it's not that BIG DEAL, but it is too me... wouldn't it be weird if someone who does not know your postcode, using the Pos Malaysia postcode finder service, then found the postcode 81300 & use that one instead of 81110 ?? So will the letter arrive?? Will the postman know that 81110 & 81300 is the same place?

Or if someone knew my postcode and just wanted to know where that is & using the postcode finder to search for 81110, and found that the postcode does not exist????

Or if the Pos Malaysia noticed that we have been using the wrong postcode, then does that mean that we have to change ALL of our documents, including IC, driving licence etc???

I think for some country, postcode is very important (and I thought that it's important for this country too...!!) It's a way for them to group their people, just by knowing the postcode, then they can know where a person lives...

So who to blame? I know it's not me!!

a mother's dilemma...

Iman is going to be 4 next year....

So both of us are thinking to send him to a playschool.. but we still have not decided where or do we want to send him...

Iman dah sibuk nak sekolah, keep asking when he can go to school...

I wanted to send him... but it's just so hard to find the RIGHT school for him... and truthfully I am frightened...

Not that I'm afraid he could not adapt, but I am more afraid of the syllabus that they offered to a 4-year old!!

For now, I just want Iman to learn the basic skill of communications, learning how to make friends.. He should be developed to know what he likes/dislikes, he should explore all things so he can think of what he want.. and because learning is suppose to be fun... I don't want him to be pressured or forced to learn.. That is not right for kids.. again they suppose to understand that learning is fun!!

Character building & exploring is very important for this age... but I see most kindergarten or play school (actually there's no play school in Malaysia, try google it... you'll find mostly offer pre-school education) in Malaysia emphasize too much on (exam-based) education & somehow forcing kids to learn too much before their age...

I mean at 4, there are kids afraid to go to school because they have not finish their homework (buku tak payah cerita la, tebal mcm buku sekolah rendah), having exams & teaching kids multiply or a 3rd language (BM pun tak lepas tatabahasa lagi..)???

I mean, yes it's good exposure, but that's too much.. What happen to drawing, singing, playing clay, dancing, role play etc??? I thought kids that age should be playing more because that's how they learn... (seriously.. am jealous of my friends in oversea because they have that kind of play school for their kids...)

Iman is a smart kid, he already know alphabets & numbers... he know how to spell simple words & knows how to count.. I'm thinking of teaching him simple math, you know 1+1, 1+2... so he knows the concept of adding... because I see he likes numbers more than words..

But one thing I notice is, he does not like writing or colouring... maybe because he too has OCD (blame me..). When he's coloring, he does not like the colors to be out of border or when he's writing (follow the dot..), he does not want his writing to be messy.. So when he saw that he's not writing perfectly, he just gave up!! Then he'll said "Iman tak pandai la.. susah.."

We are still encouraging him to write more, actually to make him understand that doing something a bit messy is OK (I am praying hard he doesn't get carried away with this OCD)... and to let him know that it's OK to fail, as long as he try his best...

That's why we're thinking to send him to school... Maybe when he sees other kids are trying too, or getting compliments from his teachers, he can be encourage (not forced) to write or learn new things...

And that's why I am looking for a place where he can have fun learning. Because I'm afraid, if he's not being encourage that way (being scolded or punished if he fails), then he will be afraid of schools...

So anyone have any idea where I can send him next year?? (suggestion in Skudai area only please...)

Dia nak kawin pulak....

Remember my post on Iman's first show?

He was singing Maher Zain's song for his uncle's wedding...

And after the ceremony, he told me that he wanted to get married!!

With who?

His cheeky cousin Arissa, of course...

Iman with his bride-to-be????

The conversation as I remembered it:

Ibu : Kenapa nak kawin? Iman kena belajar dulu.. kerja dulu.. Baru boleh kawin...

Iman: ooowwhh.. mcm Ayah, mcm Ibu eh???

Ibu : A'aa.. kalau tak nanti, macamana Iman nak cari duit..

Iman: eermmm... Iman pikir jap.....

(silent for a moment, I thought the issue will stop there...)

Iman: Tak nak la Bu.. Tak nak la belajar... nak kawin je....

Ibu : Kenape?????

Iman: Iman nak jadi penantin (pengantin)... mcm Pakcik dgn Makcik hari tu....

eerrmmm.... Dia nak kawin sbb dia ingat kawin tu jadi pengantin jeee....

Well, bad news my dear... getting married is much more than a wedding... one day you'll learn... :)

she's allergic...

Last week, little Izz was sick.

Started with a mild fever... doctor gave her antibiotic...

Then she's OK, but started to have rashes on her tummy...

We taught it was measles....

But it got worst Tuesday night, she looked like she was burnt! Her skin was red-hot all over & her feet started to bloat. She's couldn't sleep, maybe because she's not comfortable.. but her temperature was normal & she was still active playing.

We decided to bring her to another clinic, it was 12.30am. But the doctor told us to bring her to a hospital, it may be an allergic or virus infection..

Arrived at the hospital at 1.00am, kesian Iman sbb terbangun masa sampai hospital...

The doctor was good, even he's still an intern (I think).

Just as he looked at it & asked me few questions, he said "It's allergic and I think because Augmentin (the antibiotic)...". He prescribed Izz with allergic medicine & reminded us few times of her allergy.

Went back at 3.00am & both of us was extremely tired & I have 9.00am meeting that morning!

The next day Izz was back to her old self, as loud & as active as usual...

But we need to be alerted with her medicine from now. Luckily I skipped her antibiotic few times, kalau tak lagi teruk kot!!

So no more Augmentin for her & we have to be more careful on antibiotics given to her.

His first

Last two weeks, we went back to Kuching to celebrate my brother's wedding. It was great to be home, I really miss my home town.

Something surprising happen during the wedding, at least for me & hubby.

Iman actually pick up the microphone & sing on stage!!
Since the MC announced that it's an open stage for anyone that wanted to sing, he keeps asking me when can he perform. At first I just ignored his request, because I'm afraid that he just wanted to be on stage then I guess he'll freaked out. But no... just watch the video to see what happen...

After he sang, people started to call him "Maher Iman"... :)

I'm so proud of him, obviously I know that he does not have any stage-fright... and this will not definitely be his last..