my constant 'Wonderland' ...

we were away the first 2 weeks of December.

it was, in some many ways a holiday of firsts. first long flight for Zayaan - her previous flights had been to Bali, Hong Kong, Jakarta and Bangkok. first UK trip for Zayaan. first least-spent (shopping-wise) UK holiday for me - been back 4 times since coming back home for good, and this recent trip saw me spend the least. shocking, but it was somewhat planned. i decided to make it more of a walking-down-memory-lane kinda trip, rather than a shopping spree one. the husband was there mainly to attend some meetings - hoping for post-meetings good news during the first half of 2010. *fingers crossed*



below, my personal picks from the hundreds of photos i took.

: watching London wake up :

: picture perfect from our apartment balcony :

: happy lounging kids :


: tired mummy + sleepy Zayaan :

: Flashdance! :

: when in the cold, sing your lungs out! :

: kitsch-vintage-y Christmas on Carnaby St. :
: after the rain on Regents St. :

: Leceister Square magic :

: Daddy + Zarif after some bumping fun :

: the Z-sibs :

: Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland 2009 :

: at St Pancras Station - Z1 teasing Z2 :

: Z2 defending herself :

: Z2 walks away a champ! :

: the trusty daily :

: the trusty transport :

: grandeur at the Natural History Museum :

: our lil man :

: o'curious one :

: favourite breakfast :

: reunited :

: very London - pretty petals :

: very London - bikes parked in a rush :

: very London - pigeon line-up :

: very London - red + black :

: very London - cold platform + lonely cup :

: the old address :

: the park facing the old apartment :

: the arrival home :

down to the last 2 weeks ...

the school holidays have already begun ... for most kids, at least. Z's school closes for the end-of-year break in 2 weeks time.

last weekend, i found myself in a store looking at clothing items i last had close contact with some *ahem* more than 10 years ago ... let's just say lah.
my 6 year old is now the proud owner of 4 white shirts + 3 dark blue pants ... all set to officiate come late December (on the orientation day). that's right. rather than wait till the mad rush period later on, my friend and i decided to bring our boys (best friends to each other, they claim to be, by the way) out to get their (big) school uniforms, ready for their first day in January.

this second last week of his school term, they'll be introduced to the less-fortunate kids, those living in special homes + orphanages. there'll be talks + activities related to this topic and parents are encouraged to contribute certain items - mainly food stuff and toiletries - to the pre-selected homes. i'm looking at getting them bags of rice or sugar and possibly Milo and some simple plain biscuits. i should really find out if they'll welcome some old books and toys as well. what better way to let go of your unwanted things.

next week, his very last week in CH, there'll be a little farewell do for him. i'll be handing out some gifts for the teachers, as well as his classmates. they aren't big gifts, rather, ones that i hope will come in pretty handy at some point. more on this later on.

next week is also when we leave home for a much-needed holiday. well, work and holiday, though the work part only involves the husband really. i have yet to pack our things, the most i've done is to take out and air our suitcases. there's still more than a week to go ...

till the next update ...
to all moms with schooling kids, my thoughts are with you. having them at home those extra hours can always get a little ... challenging, shall we say? happy holidays to all!

sibling love

a common sight at home will be of the Zs teasing each other, picking on each other, sharing food + snacks, fighting over the same toy or a limb of mine, laughing together and if luck's on our (my) side, soundly asleep next to each other. oh so rare! but we hope still and cherish the two, three times that that actually happened.

here's a typical Z-sibs moment together ...

: that'll be her laughing, not crying :

the Zs at Big Lime ...

no excuses this time. i got to a point where i realised i just never was prompt and efficient enough to update this blog. each time i had a 'story' in mind to share, i got distracted by someone or something. kept putting it on hold, till finally last night i decided to 'pretty up' the blog's look a little. now that it's slightly more lively than was the previous layout, i may just be more inclined to update it as regularly as i did before (which was never all that regular to begin with).

will summarise the Zs' developments in this entry.
so. picking up from where i left you ... May, was it? talk about 'putting things on hold'!

..........................................................

: on Zarif :

: he's all of 6 years old now, attending his last month in kindie

: he'll start the big school come January ... it's the Mummy who's feeling anxious + excited, he's mostly just excited, especially now that his best friend's been accepted to the school too

: he's showing more sides of him that make me go "aawww ..." (even if just silently to myself), growing more independent by the day ... of course, with that comes a lot of "but i know it already, Mummy ... you don't have to keep telling me how to do it" moments

: he was in the hospital for 4 days, for severe dehydration + food poisoning + high fever back in June ... 2 weeks of bad health, was a real champ in the hospital though despite going to the loo over 20 times in a day! it was heart-breaking to watch, especially when he kept apologising for being ill, thanking me over and over for taking care of him ... (insert "aawww..." here)

: he's finally started his menagji class which he seems to enjoy ... granted, it's also a once a week playdate with his best friend

: had "the best birthday party ever, Mummy" when he turned 6 couple months back, where i indulged in planning + hosting a (very!) last-minute Transformers party for him

: he is his sister's biggest fan, but manages quite a bit of sibling fights + jealousy just the same

: has a few times asked me to have another baby, ".. because ... i already have a baby sister, i need a baby brother now ... so that i have 1 girl and 1 boy .. and then enough, Mummy. no more babies!"

: is starting to show some interest in football now .. pretty late, considering the Daddy's such a footie fan

: still eats anything and everything, and still is fussy with drinks .. only water, occasionally Milo or chocolate milk

: started to puasa this past Ramadhan ... though only puasa makan, he still drank ... and only for 3 days


some random photos of Zarif since May ...

: enthusiastic :

: focused :

: his 6th party :

: precious #1 smile :

.......................................................

: on Zayaan :


: she turned 20 months few days back

: as far as weight charts go, her current weight at 20 months is at the very peak of the curve ... healthy, let's just say *wink*

: she's got as much enery as her abang has, and then some!

: she's very alert + observant, which as a result can impress + amuse you and then annoy you soon after when she mimics every.single.thing you do, i kid you not!

: her vocab's pretty good though, dare i say ... she's definitely picked up language at a faster rate than the brother did at this age ... as much as i can recall now, some words + phrases she can say now include mummy, daddy, abang, nak, tak nak, no, ya, here, there, this, that, what's this, what's that, who's this, who's that, where's this, where's that, apa tu, come, open, tutup, cushion, bam (when she wants to lie down), baby, car, daw (doll), susu, te-gen (Vitagen), ball, shoes, duduk, take out this, u'oh, jatuh, tow (throw) bottle/botten, spoon, bowl, cat, eyes, teeth, tummy, poo-poo, Pooh, Emma (Elmo), bear, tees (fish), atok (my dad), nana (her girl cousins), ama (all maids), book, down, one, too (two), tee (three), kaiiss (five), teex (six), sebben (seven), A, B, tee (C), hewwohh (hello), bye

: she adores and idolises her big brother too much ... she'll follow his every move, making her quite good at the whole Transformers acts and poses and "boom-ing" of cars and such

: she fights considerably with the brother too, often bullying him ... the bullying is more her to him, rather than him to her

: she has very little toys ... after noticing her favouring everyday household objects (bowls, colanders, spoons, cups, books, boxes) more than she does pretty girly dainty toys, we basically haven't bought her that many toys ... but she does like them wooden puzzles and building blocks though

: besides her occasional reaction to extreme heat and certain foods with high egg content, she pretty much eats anything and everything ... i'm blessed, i suppose, having kids who eat anything, nevermind that it's almost constantly too!

: her current favourite cartoon characters will be Pocoyo, Elmo and Pooh

: she's very much her Daddy's little girl ... everytime he's out of town for work, she will almost immediately fall ill, leaving me with mad sleepless nights, he comes home and she's back to her healthy self ... it's weird, but according to my parents, i was just the same as a little girl; would be down with high fever when my dad went away for work, he gets back into town, and i'm fine again ... funny watching how your kid(s) inherit your certain trait(s)

: she'll be turning 2 in 3 months time ... this time last year, i was already busy preparing + making little bird things for her 1st BIRD-day party ... this year, i haven't done a single thing yet for her party, but have finally decided on a theme ... yay me! (more on this as i progress along with the party preparations)

some random photos of Zayaan since May ...

: observant :

: intrigued :

: meticulous :

: focused :

: precious #2 smile :

...........................................................

quite a 'summary' that was!

reuse + recycle

In the spirit of "reuse + recycle" and the whole general concept of utilising everyday things around the house, I found the Z-boy in this state on his bed sometime last week.

:: busy arranging ::

I had asked him to practice some maths - addition and subtraction work. As I juggle my time between the two Zs (just two and already they make quite a circus the pair of them!), I often find myself not able to sit down with the Z-boy while he does some written work. Normally, I can manage some 10 minutes before having to watch over the Z-girl, who's determined to be the busiest 14-month old girl this side of town. Honestly, there's the bookshelves, the toy boxes, the kitchen cupboards (where only plastic containers are stored), the cushions on our sofas - all of which she sees her responsibility to fiddle with, arrange and rearrange a good dozen times a day. To save all from accidents and falls, I must have at least 3 pairs of eyes on her at all times. That'll be my real eyes, my glasses and that magical pair of eyes moms normally have at the back of our heads. ;-)

Back to the Z-boy then ...

He had taken a stack of his Thomas and Friends books (ones he no longer reads since "Thomas is not cool anymore, Mummy") and laid them out on his bed, adding to and taking away from the whole lot where appropriate. I wouldn't say it was the most affective method to the sums. He was very much into the play part of arranging and tossing away of books. But it also got him finishing 4 pages of sums that afternoon with no complaints.

He did pause a few times though when suddenly realising he's got a certain book. Kind of like how the Mummy is when trying to toss out old clothes ... pauses a bit to reminisce how a particular shirt once fit her so well or how she bought it on her way back from college all those many years back (a little too sentimental at times, yes).

:: ready to toss a book away ::

:: recording the answer ::

That's the tale then of how the Z-boy practiced some "reuse + recycle" concept into his homework. Old stuff put to new use.

Do you have a greener "reuse + recycle" tale to tell? I'm sure you do. Do share! :-)

wordplay

I'm possibly one of the few moms around this end of the world (the competitive Asian end :P) who hasn't yet enrolled the Big Z in some enrichment class after school hours. Aside from reading books, the most extra bits he does will be the workbooks and some random homemade-by-me worksheets. In a good week, it'll be a daily thing. On a not-so-good week (shame on the mommy too), it'll be say twice a week.

Off late though, when it comes to copywriting work, he gets a wee bit too cheeky. The Daddy begs to differ though, citing his cheekiness as a sign of intelligence. Hmm ... we'll see. So, what I've spotted to date (some that i can recall, that is), were the following:

:: he had to write the word "saw" under a picture of a saw ... he wrote the word, but then flanked the 'saw' with two other words. it then became a simple short sentence "I saw you". ::

:: the word was 'well', under a picture of a well, yes. not too generous with his words this time, he added just one word before 'well'. more of a statement, it read "not well". ::

:: writing the names of animals' young ones ... when it came to a goat's lil one, instead of writing just 'kid', he wrote "skid". the illustration was of a running kid, so he possibly found the word 'skid' somewhat apt? ::


Little things then to illustrate further just how my 5 year old is by nature. Give him a task, he'll do it, yes. How he does it is a different story though. I still say it's his way of annoying me and the Daddy still says it's the genius in his son showing through.