Happy Birthday, Abang!

Abang turned 4 today. Such a big boy! Feels like just yesterday that I was headed to the hospital all jittery and nervous, checking in at the labour ward and getting my blood pressure checked, the drip put in, etc. And now look at him ...

For a couple of months already, he kept saying that he wanted to have his birthday party at home. Daddy and I preferred the Megakidz or Kizsports option where the kids can go nuts playing and the adults can just watch. When decision time came, we made a deal with him. Birthday party at home means immediate family only. If he wanted his friends as well, then it would have to be Megakidz or Kizsports.

He chose home.

Here he is, enjoying his 4th birthday.

I think I may have also inadvertently confused him. Last Friday, I had a surprise birthday cake for him to share at kindergarten. It was a nicely done Batman cake from the nearby bakery and I sent it to his kindergarten just before their break time.

So, because he "already had 4th birthday at school" (as he pointed out to us), he kept saying that today was his 5th birthday! Whatever it is, he certainly enjoyed himself.

When it was bedtime (Daddy and I put the boys down for a super early bedtime of 7pm), he went up to Adik, took both his hands in his own, kissed them and then gave Adik a big bear hug. He then did the same with Daddy and me. Obviously feeling very happy and very loved.

Happy Birthday, Abang!

Is that Abu?

Abu was one of the 4 kittens born at our house, a sibling to Harun. He had a sort of dark grey/ white coat and fairly even tempered. This was what he looked like just over a year ago. (Yes, I know, I used this picture before but this is his best one!)

As I've mentioned earlier, I had my eye on New White Socks at Nenek's house but it gone taken, together with a sibling, to a new home in Kuantan. NWS was also one of 4 kittens in that litter. So that left us with 2 kittens. Well, I'm using the term "us" rather liberally, I guess what I really mean is that there are 2 kittens left.

One of them looks just like Abu! Codenamed Abu 2, it has similar pattern and colour as Abu. Here it is, together with the other sibling that's left. I call the sibling Tipah 2 because it reminds me of Tipah, one of the other kittens we had. From birth, Tipah was the smallest and had always been rather sickly and Tipah 2 - although it doesn't seem sickly and isn't completely orange - certainly is smaller and shows more bones than Abu 2.

Today, during our weekly Kepong Run, I got a chance to feed them. There's an entire family of cats behind Nenek's house which Adik likes to feed, although he's a touch scared of them because they swipe for food. So today I fed them. I guess they were hungry enough that when I patted them, they just flinched but didn't protest and kept on eating.

That's when I felt brave enough to pick Abu 2 up and confirm that it's a boy. Boy, was I wrong! Abu 2 is a girl! Slight dilemma with the name, but I have that covered: I'll call her Aburina. Now that I got that right, I just had to check Tipah 2. So I gave even more food, patted Tipah 2 and hoisted her up and confirmed that Tipah 2 is, indeed, a girl. So no name change needed for her.

I'm working on getting Daddy to agree to adopting Aburina and Tipah 2, although the phrase "You don't have enough stress is it" doesn't seem too encouraging. I figured I need some allies - with 2 male cats, 2 sons and a husband, the ying-yang is slightly out of balance.

And for those of you who are thinking what I know you're thinking (and you know who you are), let's just say that 4-legged kittens are much easier to look after than 2-legged ones!

Let's Talk!

Poor Adik, he's trying really, really hard to talk but just can't get the words out of his mouth. Our conversations usually go something like this:

Adik: Mom?

Me: Yes?

Adik: Um.... um....

Me: Yes, Adik? Did you want something?

Adik: Mom? Mom?

At this point I usually just try to get him to use hand signals or some other form of non-verbal communication to tell me what he wants. I have also started the process of toilet training him, since he can, sometimes, tell us that he is peeing or is pooping. Or, has already done it.

But that's when he's in his diapers. Now that I try to put him in underwear most of his waking time at home, it's more like this:

Adik: Mom?

Me: Yes?

Adik: Uh-oohh... [as he looks down at the puddle of pee slowly accumulating at his feet]

It's even more amusing when he's partially hidden and all I can see is his face but not his body.

With a budding vocabulary, he tries to string words together. But he only does this with names of people that he knows. For example, he would say, "Daddy-Adik-Mummy." Or, when he's held his breath long enough, "Daddy-Abam-Atok-Cikgai-Daddy-Adik-Mummy." He hasn't quite got the "ng" sound for "Abang" so Abang becomes "Abam".

He's also getting quite insistent about what he wants and doesn't want. I could ask him if he wants to eat and he'll give me a very firm and fierce "NA-NAK!" (as in "tak nak"); or if I asked if he wants to go to Atok's house and his tone changes to a manja, "Naaaak..." Just to be sure, I ask him several times, in English and Malay and I always get the same response.

Abang still needs to be reminded that Adik is still learning to talk and can't say very much. This is because sometimes Abang gets a bit impatient (he who could do 3-word sentences at 18 months old) when Adik calls him but doesn't say anything after that.

Adik: Abam?

Abang: Yes, Adik?

Adik: Abam?

Abang: Yes!

Adik: Abam?

Abang: Yesss...!! What? I say yes already...

Adik: [Silence]

Don't worry, Adik (and Abang), soon you'll be talking a mile a minute and nobody can stop you! In fact, we may even appreciate the silence we now have ...

The Developmental Derby

The Developmental Derby starts way too early for my liking. Recently, I got a message in his message book informing me that he "still hasn't improved his colouring, therefore could you please give him more practice at home".

I wasn't in the mood to write a lengthy reply telling his teacher that while he can colour well, it's usually a question of whether or not at that particular instance he wanted to and had the patience to colour nicely. So I just put "OK" and signed it.

The next time I went to pay his school fees, the principal mentioned again that his colouring is still "not very good". Being the non-kiasu parent that I am, I shrugged it off and told her not to worry about it because from my observation, he has improved and that's what matters. So she softened the blow by agreeing with me that although he has improved, it's not as good as some of his classmates.

While we're not too concerned about comparing him with his classmates, we gave him "more practice" anyway and applauded his efforts, as well as his technique of colouring the edges first and then filling up the middle sections of the drawing. This lets him avoid what in kindy speak is referred to as "colour chi-chi cha-cha", i.e. scribbling.

In addition to the colouring, the picture on the right shows some numbers which Abang wrote by himself (or, as he likes to say, "by his own self"). I'm quite amazed that he can write numbers and most alphabets.

Today he built a tall Lego tower, counted the number of pieces he used to build it (40) and wrote "40" on a post-it note and stuck it on the tower.

My favourite is the fruit basket below:

It's so nice and colourful!

Playing Pets

My sister told me a really funny story the other day. She told me that Cuz told her he's starting to play with the girls in his class.

"That's ok, right? I mean, he's nine and a half now, so that's about right, isn't it?" I asked her.

"Well, yes," she replied, "except that when I asked him 'What do you play' he said 'We play pets'."

I raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Ya that was pretty much my reaction too. But I know that if he sees I'm freaked out or he suspects I think he shouldn't do it then that would just make him do it more," she told me. "So I just asked him calmly what he meant."

She told me he said,"We play pets! I'm their pet dog, see?"

"What do you do as a pet dog?" his mother asked him.

"Oh, I beg for scraps and they give me treats when I'm good. I follow them around and sometimes they just pet me on the head."

Hmmm.

"Yes, I know," she continued, "so weird, kan? Anyway, that would explain this jar of beads that he has. I know he likes beads and it figures that the girls would give him some beads whenever he's been 'good'."

And it also would explain why the knee area of his school uniforms are so torn up, because he goes around "begging for scraps" and "sniffing out the environment".

Like me, his mom isn't sure either whether this is necessarily a good development or not! The other thing that bothers her is that he doesn't seem to feel embarrassed at all.

"Honestly," she said, "I know girls much younger than him who get so easily embarrassed!"

Just the other day at 1Utama he was walking sideways, like a crab, while leaning back against a glass wall. Stop that, you're going to fall, stop that, you're going to fall, his mother warned him repeatedly.

"I'm not going to fall, giggle giggle giggle. I'm not going to fall, giggle giggle giggle."

SPLAT!

He didn't realise that the glass wall ended and the store entrance began. The store owner was horrified, his mother slapped her forehead 'DOH!' and onlookers were wondering what was going on.

Ah, so much fun for us to look forward to!

Those Ferocious Storms

The storms lately have been really fierce. Today it rained quite heavily and there was some thunder and lightning, but not as bad as yesterday's. Luckily, yesterday we were in the comforts and safety of our home.

The boys as usual wanted to curl up with me downstairs while it was storming away outside. Our maid told me that she had closed all the windows upstairs, but I decided it was worth a check because the strong winds were just lashing the heavy rain directly onto the windows. So I put the boys down on the couch and told Abang, "Abang you teman Adik for a little while. Mummy needs to just run upstairs to check that the windows are all closed, ok?"

He said ok so I rushed upstairs to do a quick check. While I was up there, there was a very bright flash of lightning followed by a loud clap of thunder. Fully expecting to hear a piercing scream from either or both boys, I rushed downstairs to be with them only to see this:

So cute, they were both snuggled together and not in any obvious distress, although they definitely would have preferred it if there was no storm. That's when I managed to sneak up on them and snap the picture.

Of course, as soon as they saw me then Adik got all whiny and Abang, upon seeing me take pictures, started making all sorts of funny faces.

Last Saturday, however, we were caught in the thick of the storm while driving to my parents' house. Wow, that was nasty! When we left our house it wasn't even raining. By the time we got to PJ the rain was coming down in sheets and the wind was so strong that while we were stopped at the traffic lights, our MPV swayed! In fact, at one point the wind was blowing the rain directly onto the windscreen and I had to pull over and stop because I couldn't see anything beyond the car bonnet.

Hope we don't get caught in another one of these.

Apples and Oranges

You know how you can't compare apples and oranges? Well, here are our very own Apple and Orange, through the months and years.

Here they are, as newborns.

These pictures were taken during their respective "kekah" ceremonies.

Yes, Adik is wearing the same robe that Abang used for his kekah.

A few months later ...

I took the pictures at exactly the same spot, although the sofa had been re-upholstered by the time I took Adik's picture, and at the same age.

Here they are when they were 8 months old.

Interestingly enough, in both pictures, it was Nenek carrying them.

And this is the latest apples-and-oranges comparison I can do.

These pictures were taken when they were 20 months old.

We have a Breakthrough!

Adik likes to eat. I think I've mentioned that before. His appetite is generally good, even when he's unwell. Feeding him his meal normally takes around 10 minutes; if he fusses maybe 15-20 minutes.

Lately I tried to get him to feed himself his lunch and it worked so well that now he wants to do it all by himself without any help from me. My plan backfired. I used to be able to "help" feed him once he started playing with his food - when he was not hungry anymore, but not quite full yet - but now he very firmly pushes my hand away. I can't even get the spoon from him!

So now we have both regressed and I don't give him the bowl and spoon anymore, I just feed him.

He does well, except when it comes to fruits. Since he started on semi-solids, I've been trying to introduce fruits into his meals. Before he had teeth, I tried giving him mashed bananas, and mashed papaya and small bits of watermelon. But he flatly refused.

Later I tried to do it differently, for example offering them to him when he was really hungry.

"I'm sure he'll take it," I thought, "he's so hungry, he won't turn it down I'm sure."

I was wrong.

When he had more teeth, I tried giving him the banana to bite. All I got was a scrunched up face. The only way he would take any fruit was bananas blended with milk and ice cubes, making a nice banana milk shake or smoothie. He only likes that. Which is fine, since it has real bananas in it, except guess who has to finish the leftovers?

And then, a few days ago, I was eating some grapes. As usual, I offered Adik a bite and as usual, he declined. So I sat down and put him on my lap (we were enjoying the movie 'Cars') and munched away at those yummy grapes.

After awhile, pointing to my bowl of grapes, he said, "Nak. Nak."

"Adik nak grapes?" I just had to double check.

"Naaaak."

So I peeled one, dug out the little seeds and let him bite a bit off and he liked it! In fact, he finished about 4-5 grapes. We have a breakthrough!

When I told his paediatrician about his reluctance to eat fruits and this grape incident, the good doctor said at this age children just love to "copy what we do".

"So you want to try and trick them into copying you eat the fruits. Don't offer it to them, you just eat it yourself when he's around and soon he will probably want some too."

I'm waiting for our next batch of home-grown papayas to ripen to try out my newly acquired doctor-approved method. Wish me luck!

More Adventure!

It never occurred to me that I would have so many adventures, being a full time mom. Regular stuff like fetching Abang from kindergarten and going to Tesco can, in itself, be an adventure.

Yesterday, on our way home from kindergarten, Abang said he wanted to go a "different way". He does this all the time, and I usually let him lead and tell me which way to go since he has an excellent sense of direction and I know we won't get lost.

Just around the corner from the house, he said, "Mummy I need to kencing." Yes, we've read about this before, haven't we? A-ha! But this time it's different. Of course I rushed, and as I clicked to open the gate, he said, "Mummy, I'm trying very hard to keep the kencing inside my ko-teh."

"Ok, ok, just hang in there, we have to wait for the gate to open." Luckily the gate worked!

As we pulled into the garage, I heard a "shhhhhhhh...." sound coming from his booster seat and Abang had "uh-oh" written all over his face! Good thing his booster seat held most of his pee. Anyway, no major damage, save for Abang's ego but I think we both handled that well.

Today, when I fetched him from kindergarten, he was already walking away from the gate and I tried to get him to wave and say "bye-bye" to his friends. So he turned around and yelled "BYE SITI! BYE ISHAD!" but instead of stopping he continued walking, and then he tripped and fell.

Aiyaa ... make me feel like a real heel, why don't you? He didn't cry, but in the car he showed me his knee which was grazed and had started to bleed (just a little tiny bit). ALL the more I felt so bad, so when he asked for a Winnie the Pooh plaster from Tesco I readily agreed. Need to ease my guilt, you know.

Remembering what happened yesterday, I asked if he needed to pee and he said no, he had gone to pee at kindergarten. Ok, we should be safe until we get to Tesco. Unfortunately, while we were pushing the trolley around the toiletries section he made his dreaded announcement.

I was getting tired of saying, "Aiya." We rushed to the loo but on the way there he said, "Mummy, my shoes are wet from my kencing."

Aiya! So we cleaned up as much as we could in the loo and went back to the car for his spare clothes which he always brings to school. Good thing he wasn't using them already.

After that it was fairly adventure-free for us.

Then, of course, we have Adik walking around with a pail over his head. I took a video of it too, and I'm going to have fun showing it at his wedding many years from now.

My Little Crooners

Abang and Adik have pretty good ears for songs. They love the songs on Little Einsteins and Abang can hum along quite well. Adik tries, and the intonation is not bad but obviously he can't hit the actual notes yet.

In fact, Abang can even make up his own lyrics! Lately he's been quite competitive, always going on about how he can "finish first" and "do XYZ before you", etc. Even brushing teeth has become a competition. So he sang I-finish-brushing-teeth-first-because-you-are-so-late to the tune of Mozart's "Horn Concerto No. 2 in E flat Major" which he learnt from watching Little Einsteins. (The only reason I know the full name of the piece is because I Googled it and it's in Wikipedia! How cool is that!)

Now, the name of the game is Mas Que Nada by the Black Eyed Peas. Yes, that track is set to 'repeat' in the car because both Abang and Adik just love that song. Abang can sing along - tap tap hum hum MUSH-KEH-NA-DAH! - while Adik does the Ah, Ah, Ah, La-la-la-laaa!

Sometimes, I try to sneak in a different song because that La-la-la-laaa part is stuck in my head, but Adik will say - nay, Adik will repeat - "Nak. Nak. Ah ah ah. La la la la." I've tried my best to pretend I don't know what he means but he knows that I know exactly what he means. He's on to me.

We contemplated sending Abang for some music classes (obviously Adik is too young) but we're worried it might be a chore for him and will lose interest. So maybe we'll just let the Black Eyed Peas and Little Einsteins teach him about music and who knows, maybe in a few years ... he'll be writing his own concerto?

Ha ha. I think not. I'm content to hearing them hum along to tunes they recognise and to just enjoy the music.

No Pain, No Gain?

It’s like going to the gym. It seems like in order to get maximum cuteness (i.e. “gain”) out of the boys, I have to referee countless Toy-Tugging Matches and help calm tantrum storms (i.e. “immense pain”).

Tuesday was a good day seeing as both boys had a solid 2.5 hour nap in the afternoon (and Mummy caught a 1 hour nap, too). Well-napped boys (and Mummy) make for happy and less cranky boys (and Mummy).

Wednesday, however, was a different story. Both boys refused their afternoon naps. And Mummy really desperately needed one. So I tried sending both boys to be under the care of the maid for a little while but it was a no-go. Every few minutes a scream would pierce the afternoon calm (and my intended nap).

Pain #1
So I took them outside for a change of scenery. Within a few minutes of playing, the fighting started. Abang ramming Adik's stroller with his bicycle; Adik getting his own back by toppling Abang's bicycle when Abang pushed Adik's stroller far out of Adik's reach. You get the gist of it.

Back inside the house we all went and I realised they were probably slightly hungry. As soon as I mentioned "jagung", suddenly I had 2 little boys following me quietly and eagerly to the kitchen. I felt like The Pied Piper.

Gain #1
Since they were happily eating their jagung, I tried to sneak upstairs to pray. Adik saw me and followed me up the stairs. I came back down and asked him to stay downstairs while "Mummy goes upstairs kejap saja".

Abang stepped in and said, "It's ok, Mummy. I will teman Adik downstairs, you can go upstairs and sembahyang." So I took him up on the offer, but before I could go to the kitchen to let our maid know that I'm going upstairs to pray, Abang beat me to it.

"Bibik, boleh tolong teman Abang dengan Adik? Mummy nak naik sembahyang."

So cute!

Pain #2
Towards the evening, I thought it best to separate the boys for a bit and took Adik out for a walk in his stroller. Abang was happy watching Channel 63 so, not wanting to disturb the "chi", I went off with Adik. As we approached the house on the way back, we could hear Abang crying away, "Nak mam-meeeee, nak mam-meeee!" Evidently he wasn't happy being left behind.

This storm was relatively easy to calm because, lucky for me, the putumayam man rode past on his motorbike right at that moment.

"Abang, look! Putumayam! Would you like some?" Mummy tried to buy her way out of a tantrum.

Abang just nodded, tears still streaming down his cheek. Of course the putumayam man was very pleased at making a sale (I just realised that he rides a motorbike now, and not a bicycle. Putumayam must be a popular cuisine in our area!). He was trying to make conversation with us, while Adik was howling away in the stroller because he was a bit scared of this stranger, and Mummy didn't have a clue what he was saying. I just nodded politely and hoped I didn't agree to anything terrible.

Gain #2
Gain #2 came hot on the heels of Pain #3 which I'll just briefly describe as Abang having the Mother of All Tantrums (MoAT) when I took Adik upstairs to be put to bed. I still don't have a clue what exactly the problem was, but when Adik and I were already in my room, Abang came in and joined us, all teary and upset.

As soon as he saw his Abang distressed, Adik immediately broke free from me and offered Abang his pacifier. "Nah. Nah." He popped his pacifier out of his mouth and handed it to Abang, (which of course Abang didn't accept cos he never took to the pacifier). Such a sweetie.

I took the picture below when they were both all snuggly and ready for bed. Right after that, I switched the lights off. I turned around and Abang scrunched up his face with a disgusted expression and said, "Mameeeee.... Adik try to put his pacifier in my mouth...." Ptooi. Ptooi.

Adik firmly believed Abang needed it!

Today was another no-nap day but interestingly enough, the "chi" was not bad. Save for this one episode when Abang attempted to get the orange juice out of the fridge by himself and our maid tried to help him. He was being stubborn about accepting help but she still tried because she knows who has to clean up the mess when it spills on the floor!

That's when he kicked her. I was helping Adik wash his hands but I saw and heard everything. Mummy swooped into action and landed a very hard and loud SMACK on his leg, adding, "Kicking is VERY RUDE. We do not do that." I'm surprised he didn't cry because it was pretty hard and my hand still smarts as I type this.

Instead, he offered a very feeble, "Bibik, laaa... Always want to help me ...."

"Yes, she's just trying to be helpful because she's worried it might be too heavy for you."

"But I don't want her help."

"So next time just say 'No, thank you' and don't kick, or push, or scream."

I think he got it. Who knows what goes on in the mind of a 4-year old!

Doing the Unthinkable

Wow, the storms lately have been pretty fierce. On Saturday night, there was a lightning strike very near our house and the loud "BOOM" scared all the kittens - the 2-legged ones as well as the 4-legged ones. Then, yesterday, although not as fierce as Saturday night's storm, there was another lightning strike pretty nearby and I had Abang and Adik both taking comfort on my lap.

I hope the lightning strikes weren't meant for me (and hence missed me!) since I did the unthinkable last week. Yes, I confess, I ... sigh ... parked at a yellow line by the roadside, obviously not a designated parking spot, just to run in to the bank and deposit a cheque.


Abang would be appalled and disappointed if he found out (all you potential ratfinks out there - don't even think about it!). He's always going on about people "not parking properly". In fact, several times he has said, "Some people just DON'T KNOW HOW TO PARK" really loudly when the car owner who's blocking our car comes and moves his car.

Once we were having lunch at Pizza Hut at Tesco Mutiara Damansara and we sat at the table that looks out to the open air parking lot. There was a Satria parked at the side of the curb, obviously not in a "proper" parking spot and he stared at it for the longest time before saying, "Mummy, that Satria is not in a parking spot, kan?"

So I had a good look and agreed with him, "Yes, you're right. That's not a parking spot."

"Naughty Uncle Satria!"

Early last week, I was out and about with Abang and we had to turn back at some point because we forgot something. When I went straight at the traffic lights, he asked why I had not made a U-turn there. So I informed him that there was a "No U-turn" sign (an upside down U with a slash across it) at the traffic lights. He wanted me to show him the traffic sign but it was long gone so I promised to point another one out to him.

Since then, everytime he sees a "No U-turn" sign, he announces, "CANNOT make a U-turn!" He has also become very eager to learn other road signs. So we've taught him easy signs like the "Can make a U-turn" (a blue upside down U), "No parking" (a big red X), "roundabout" and others like "Dead end road".

Anyway, the good thing about all this is that I find myself obeying traffic rules more consistently (read: I don't break the law as often!) since Big Brother (literally) is constantly watching my every move.

Hence why I keep expecting lightning to strike me anytime.

Cat Blog Again!

As I've mentioned before, Percy is one of our regular strays. He's become comfortable enough to hang around our patio and sometimes in the garage under the car.

Today, I saw him sitting quietly next to my car. Since there was some food left over in the food bowl, I called him over to come and have some. Adik was with me and once he saw Percy, he ran straight to him. So of course Percy bolted, but being a rather clever cat, he bolted in the direction of the food!

I tried getting Adik to give Percy some food, as in put some on his hand and put it in front of Percy. As soon as Adik got close, he backed up, hissed really fiercely and ran off. As expected, Adik ran off chasing him. I thought Percy would just run off and out the back gate. But to my surprise, when I went around the corner, I saw Percy sitting down and Adik standing next to him. (Neither looked very threatening to the other.)

Then, Percy actually meowed at Adik! A rather manja meow, in fact. So Adik bent down and put the food he held in his hand on the floor next to Percy. Then Adik went back to where we keep the cat food and Percy followed him. He spotted the leftover food in the tray and helped himself. Adik was actually looking for the cat brush which, in all honesty, he doesn't use to brush their fur with but for reasons unknown to mankind he prefers to just smack it on the ground repeatedly. I could sense he was ready to smack it on Percy repeatedly so I held his hand firmly and told him, "Comb Percy's hair, ok? Gently now."

He managed to a little bit, but preferred to stroke Percy with his hand. Later, I felt brave enough to also try doing that - when Percy was too busy stuffing his face to notice.

Percy will henceforth be known as "Adik's cat" since Percy seems to let his guard down around Adik more than anyone else!

And, on a separate note, I'd like to bid a 'Hello' and 'Goodbye' to New White Socks. It's called New White Socks so we don't confuse it with White Socks.

I saw New White Socks for the first time at Nenek's house last Wednesday. So cute! Before we could adopt it, it got adopted already. So never mind, hopefully it will thrive at its new home in Kuantan. (Yes you read correctly - it got adopted and taken to Kuantan. Must get updates from Ant J on its progress.)

Ah well, plenty more where that came from! We'll just wait a couple of months and then there'll be a Newer White Socks.