"is it only English in the big school? or there's Bahasa too??" ...

we're going away for a short holiday tomorrow. nowhere that far from home, but it'll do us (rather, me) good, i'm sure.

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Big Z's on his two-week Easter break. plan is to go on this short holiday this week and then hopefully next week, i could be the productive + creative mom to think up some fun home activities with him. oh, and his sister too, of course.

this is his last year in preschool before starting proper school next year. to say that i'm all ready and confident about the transition would be a lie. i'm nervous and anxious and paranoid. a bit much too, i'd say.

there's the big school + new environment + cleanliness of school + bullies + bigger, more serious school subjects + language. at the risk of sounding a bit 'orang putih', my son speaks and understands not-much Malay. in his present school, they have Bahasa Malaysia (or is it Melayu? i can never be at par with our education system and syllabus ... constantly changing their minds on one too many things!) twice a week. and on those two days, he cringes before leaving for school, just coz he knows he isn't comfortable with the subject. when i checked with his teachers, they say he does the work correctly, but is still a little fearful of the subject. he still gets his numbers wrong at times. for some reason, he can't seem to get 'lima', 'enam', 'sembilan' right. 'satu', 'dua', 'tiga', 'empat', 'tujuh' and 'sepuluh' are fine.


so. next year should be interesting, if not terrifying for us.

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*oh. and the title above (Farah, i finally got one! hehe) is Big Z's famous question(s) to me whenever i talk to him about primary school. *

vote earth ...

I'm not big on elections and the voting scene in general. (the fiasco, the ooohs and aaahhhs, the cringes and sighs that surround many a Malaysian the past day or so left me nowhere near bothered ... politically-inclined, you ask? nah .. not me) I'm not the greenest person either, you'll come to realise (my love for papers, books and magazines ... enough said!). But when something which strikes me as a simple but possibly very effective idea comes along, I'm all game to do whatever little part I can.

Earth Hour.

I'll let my knobbly index finger work extra time this Saturday the 28th March 2009 at 8:30pm, switch off the lights and VOTE EARTH. I'll be among the eager-beavers on my street, in my neighbourhood, in my state, my country, my continent, my earth, to care that bit more about our home, our planet.

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On the homefront in the past week, Zarif's picked the following book as his bedtime read.

:: On Earth by G. Brian Karas ::

He'll make me read it with him and then he has a go at it himself, under my watch. I bought the book sometime last year. This week, it suddenly got popular again at bedtime. Timely, I say. Mommies out there, this is a beautifully written and illustrated book you may like to get for your lil ones. Zarif especially likes the part on the different planets and months. He still thinks it's too good to be true that four family members (him and myself included) are August babies. And that no one in the whole famiy (that's 24 of us in total) is September-born.

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Good weekend then. And work that index finger, why doncha.

my first 'party client' ...

After the (happy) fuss that was Zayaan's birthday party, and after the brilliant photos (of the party) were made public, I received more than I had imagined I would, lovely comments from various people. From those I'm closest to as well as those I'd meet say just once or twice a year. Encouraging words through personal sms-es, personal FB messages, emails as well as FB photo comments. I thank you all very much. But, I do feel too that the good photos played a large part in making the party looked prettier than what it probably really was.


In any case, all of this response led to an old friend asking me to plan a party for her. For her daughter's 1st birthday to be precise. It's under 2 months away now. I've done only rough sketches and made plenty of notes and doodles in my lil black book of ideas. Having said that, I'm excited and thrilled to have my first 'party client'. Helps too that she's an old friend, and one who just happens to be so easy to work with.


Here's the theme ...

:: image from Cupcakes Take the Cake ::

... though I'm going for something a little different and whimsical, just because. ;-)

On that note, wish me luck!

Zayaan's BIRD-day!

we hosted a rather intimate (by definition of sorts) birthday party for Zayaan.
the theme was BIRDS, with the main colours being pink, brown, white and orange.
click here for more party photos.

photo credit goes out to the talented Nadia Fauzi.

Wordless Wednesday :: 1st Birthday!

:: photo courtesy of Nadia Fauzi; more to come soon ::

she's ONE!!

So. Our lil girl turned ONE recently. Last Wednesday, the 25th February.

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Since Zayaan came into our lives, ours (home) has been a topsy-turvy one; to say the least. Not only have my hours and time management gone all over the place; so too have all of our priorities and emotions. When before, I only had to juggle mine, the husband's, the house and the son's needs ... I now have to juggle my daughter's needs too. When before I'd be the first and only one Zarif rushes to hug and kiss after school (only coz I insist on them, not so the Daddy), there's now Zayaan who often gets the first hug and kiss. But it's all good. It's really been a good addition to the family our lil girl is.

There's the flirtatious and contagious smile she flashes our way, a very common sight when she's up to no good especially. There's the vocab she's fast building up by the day - "dadda" for Daddy, "mamma" or "mammo" for Mommy, "abaa" for Abang, "oh nyoh ... oh nyoh ..." when she's crawling/walking away from us upon being caught for some mischief, "babohhh" (read: jatuh) when something falls or when she herself falls, "hewwohh" when we walk into a room and she's there to greet us.

A very simple 'celebration' was had on her actual birthday. The day was no different than any other - stayed at home with the abang and the mommy. After dinner, the daddy took us out for a drive. Bought the Old Fashioned doughnut from Dunkin Donuts, sat her in her highchair, took the camera out, she knew what she had to do with the camera facing her, we sang to her, she took about 5 or so bites of the doughnut, started rubbing her eyes some 10 minutes after, went into slumberland till the next morning.

A happy birthday she had alright!

she had us at long before "hewwohhh" ...

It never occured to me before this. Not when my gynae confirmed the date(s), not when she was born, not over the last 12 months (to the date, almost), not even yesterday. It really only just occured to me some moments back.

Some moments back, I only just realised how our lil girl was born in the month universally known as the month of love. Non-believers (of Valentine's Day) may well argue that every single day is and should be one's day of love. Not just that 14th day in the second month of the year. I myself do not practice and/or celebrate V-day. Back in school, there were the roses and cards and lil gifts, yes. But now, it really is just another day for us.

But that's touching on Valentine's Day. And now that you know we don't celebrate it, there won't be any telling of pretty lil 'romantic' gift or dinner or the likes to report here. It's Baby Z that I'll be mentioning here in this entry, following my 'just realised she's a love-month child' moment.

Love.

Born just 4 days short of becoming a leap year baby last year, our Baby Z has definitely filled our house and lives with a multitude of traits. To say that she's been the easiest of babies to care for isn't quite true. In fact, in a number of instances, she may just happen to be that bit more difficult to pacify and please than her big brother was at this age. But, with Baby Z, you can't not fall for her sweet ways. She's mastered the art of being manja to her advantage. None taught by us, I suppose it comes naturally to her, being a girl.

You can tell her to stop touching/pulling the things she shouldn't be touching - switches, drawer handles, chair legs - and instead of crying or protesting, often, she'd tilt her head one side and give us her wide grin. Determined, confident and sweet all at once. Love.

You jump off the chair when you notice she's 3 steps up the stairs and your heartbeat's racing with time. You call out to her and tell her to stop. To stop going up any further. She turns her cute lil tooshie 360 degrees, looks at you with her signature head tilt, does the Queen's wave and smiles. Just precious the way she does it. Love.

You stroll with her in the mall. Kind passers-by smile a bit too generously at you, you smile back but wonder why the abundance of smile from them. You look down at Baby Z and see the cause of the extra attention. Dressed almost always in feminine pink only, one leg is left happily dangling outside of her stroller and the other sitting prettily on the seat, if we're lucky, OR pulled up to her chest. Quite the acrobat she may be. Quite the pretty in pink doll she may be. But an attitude of sorts she definitely has. Love.

You have some music on. Or you enter a store and the music's playing. Almost immediately, she does this routine with her hands and wrists (mental note: better record this in camera before she passes this phase). It starts with any one hand's turning of the wrist and sometimes both hands together. At times too, a very mild but obvious enough head-banging will follow the wrist routine. That will be Baby Z appreciating the music, nevermind that her dance moves does not come with the slightest twinge of a smile. When she dances, she means business. Serious business, that is. Just moves, no smiles. Love.

You don't think about first words just yet. You walk into a shop, the shop person says "hello", you say "hello" right back. You walk into 2 other shops and the same pattern follows. You walk into the 4th shop and Baby Z says "hewwohhh". You, the shop person, the onlookers, Big Z and Daddy Z all stop and laugh in disbelief. Baby Z understood 'hello' and decided to partake in the greeting when she was just 5 mths old! "Hewwohh" then became her very first word. Love.

:: the signature head-tilt ::

Now, just under 2 weeks to her birthday (and 1st party), there's no doubting the love that we have for her. She's determined, confident, sweet, loving and funny all at once. And she definitely knows what she wants.

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How did your Valentine's Day go then?