megat's 7th birthday

megat turns 7 today! unfortunately i had to attend a company seminar in sunway hotel, seberang jaya with my dad and a staff this morning. i kissed and hugged megat before i go this morning. but then he continued his sleep. whatever it is i have explained this to megat since last week. luckily he is already big enough to understand the situation. also lucky me that the function only held until lunch time. at least i could spend the other half of the day with my kids.

i asked dad to dropped-by at secret recipe in auto city, seberang jaya. that was my first time there actually. hmm... no wonder its called auto city- shops there only sell vehicles and f&b lol. i bought a lemon cheese cake. too bad by the time we reached home, the toppings melted. ahh... who cares. its the love that matters. two of megat's cousins joined us in the evening. you could see them in the pictures, so cheeky and naughty ;)

we just had a very simple celebration this time. my grandma (megat's lau po-po), one of my sister and an auntie and her family are in europe that's why. anyhow my sister did call me when i was still in sj. maybe she thought that megat was with me. but later she called puteri's fon, to wish megat happy birthday. maybe someday i still need to plan another celebration with other family members and megat's friends. that's what grandma has been thinking. anyway we'll see how...

megat already started receiving birthday messages and gifts from few days ago. my dad bought him a digital camera on tuesday. he (dad) gave it to megat straight away after he came back that day. dad really had no patience at all, can't even wait for the big day.

yesterday, we met leilanie in ipoh. we were a bit late, as we only went there after puteri finished her extra class in school. they waited for us at the parking area outside kinta city, while eating kuaci, i tell you. we then went to a coffee shop in canning garden. we didn't manage to eat ipoh hor fun as the stall already closed. sorry dear, probably because of our lateness. before we adjourned, leilanie gave megat his birthday present. megat can't wait to open it on the actual day you know. he remembered leilanie's advised to only open it on megat's birthday. he even placed the wrapped gift besides him when he slept that night. sweet huh?!! megat told me that he unwrap the gift this morning. thank you so much dear. megat loves the book so much- 366 amazing facts. puteri also received something from leilanie- two butterfly hair clips. she really loves them so much. she even wore it right away. for us, i gave leilanie the shortbread biscuit that we baked the night before. i understand that she loves shortbread!

as usual, we never forget to take lotsa pictures. here's some of the pics taken by leilanie's hubby fariz using my nokia 6680 except the second one, taken by me. please click here for more pics by leilanie.







we didn't go back yet after that. we headed back to kinta city to get some baking stuff. at the same time, we looked for megat's present. he chose it himself this time- cars dirt car track (pic above).

to my darling megat, happy 7th birthday. mama loves you sooooo much!!!

of coping with our kids' schedule...

megat has quite a number of homeworks to do yesterday. ya... he goes to a chinese school, so what would you expect right. he even already got homeworks on his first day of school. at the same time his yesterday's schedule was kinda tough as well.

megat came back from school at 2.25 pm. but i tell you what... by the time we reached home around 2.50 pm, he was still hungry! he ate rather a lot as soon as he reached home. everyone were kinda surprised, cuz its not that i didn't bring him his lunch earlier. end up we found out that he shared his pack lunch with some of his friends. well actually we were not that surprised also though.

the same thing happened from last year. actually megat already started to attend extra class in school then. but that time it was once a week only. we knew that megat's friends were not lucky enough like him. their parents didn't send them any food during lunch break, in between their extra class. they just make do with extra monies that their parents gave, and they have to survive themselves. so i as a concerned mother, packed lunch in two plastic containers instead i.e. one for megat, and another for his friends to be shared among them. the idea was for megat to have enough lunch. since the extra classes this year are from monday to friday, megat has been warned of not to share his pack lunch. its the matter of economics as well you see... but megat, being a noble boy i guess, still shared his lunch that i packed for him. oh boy!...

i wonder whether his friends' parents aware of what has been happening. or they just make dunno about it. in fact i wanted to buy a loaf of bread at a nearby mamak restaurant yesterday morning after dropped megat at his school, when i bumped into megat's senior noraini and a chinese girl. when asked, she told me that she was buying a roti canai and wanted to eat before the school hours start. oh dear... poor noraini. looks like she didn't eat her breakfast at home. when i gave this a thought, i know that my kids are lucky enough to have a proper breakfast at home before going to school. alhamdulillah... but on another thought, if i can wake up as early as 5am to start my day, why can't other parents do the same... argghhh!!!... this is all actually the matter of wanting to give the best for our youth.

so after megat had his extra lunch at home yesterday, he watched the tv for a while while relaxing. then he started to do his homeworks. he took a break for a while in between because he was too tired. while from 8 to 9.30 pm, i had to send him for his taekwondo class. he has his dinner after the class. he tried to complete his homework then after. but he was already too tired after quite some time. so i had a deal with him to let him sleep first, and he has to wake up early this morning to finish-up his homework.

pity megat. but what to do. if we as the parents don't lead him on doing things in the right path, how is he going to cope with his schedules well. anyhow, i did help megat to do some colouring while he was doing his other written homeworks early this morning hehee...

"ma... please make sure that you put back the colour pencils at the right place", once megat told me.

wahhh... banyak songeh plak dia since i already helped him *big grin*

so as for today, i told megat that he can get a quick nap after he comes back from the extra class at 2.25 pm. then he has to go back to the school about two hours later for a sports practise *phew*

tsung wah' 95 years

tonight’s function that i attended was rather a bit rare. it was tsung wah’s school 95th anniversary at the primary school’s main hall in town. the guests were all chinese except me. it’s actually because megat was performing with his other school mates. lau-se (that's teacher in mandarin) goh asked us to be there at 7.30pm. unfortunately we reached the hall almost 7.40pm instead. we break our fast first lor... megat eat a lot so i make sure that he ate as much as he could, so that he could manage himself later.

as soon as we saw lau-se goh and his friends at a dining table near to one of the side doors, all of them were like so relieved and said this in mandarin to megat— ”wahh… you are late. we were so worried if you are not coming”. i told lau-se goh in malay that we had our break fast, and then only we went there.

“ayo… akak… i thought megat won’t be coming”, said another lau-se in malay.

“megat break his fast first”, i replied.

“o ya… sorry, almost forgot”, the lau-se said.

then they quickly put some final touch for megat. it was a dinner function. the entire guest had dinner first, then it was officially started at 8pm sharp (not like malay’s promise i tell you)! first of all as usual, there were speech, speech and more speeches. megat and friends dance performance was the first one. the second one was about after 45 minutes later. i didn’t take pictures of them dancing as the hall was fully crowded with round dining tables. i only took a pic of the above. i guess it was okay rather then nothing ;)

we left the place at about 9.30pm. we dropped-by at kat kopitiam for some snacks. fyi all the chinese owners of that kopitiam are megat’s friends. he was so excited telling them about his performance. we found out that one of them was at the hall earlier with intention to watch megat dance but too bad she was not allowed to go in as she didn’t buy any ticket. we also understood that the function was organised by the MCA committee. so i told megat to say sorry to them because megat didn’t know that to get an entry to the dinner were by tickets only.

stupid fool day

yesterday was really my first bad day for 2006. i have to do things like as though i dun have any other stuff to do grr...

i felt so tired because i dun have enough sleep. my big eyes were like zombies... so no big eyes yesterday lol. my bed was ready for me to jump-in but unfortunately not myself. it was really hard for me to go to sleep the night before. i was worried about what's gonna happened yesterday. that's how i would always be like if i'm so damn nervous of something. gosh... my mind was really miserable, dunno what to

do. i tried to read, or maybe do some house chores (in the mid of the nite? lol...), etc but failed. everyone already fast asleep except me. almost 1.30... i opened my chest of drawers, took my sewing kit box (?). yes i'm good in sewing. i think i've mentioned this wayyy months before. i will post my show-n-tell session some day here. btw i ended up hand-sewn megat's school badge on to his white shirt. yup... haven't fix it so far yet although school already started more than a week ;). i did one only anyway, within 20 mins! i used white quilting thread instead of the normal cotton thread. i decided to do so because i thought that the quilting thread would be much stronger than the other one. it would look much nicer too. try it i tell you... you won't regret it. after i have completed that, then only i felt so relieves that i needed my sleep. it was 2 something!

i still woke-up at 5 as usual. puteri's school declared tuesday and wednesday as the holidays for hari raya aidil adha. not megat. he is in the chinese school, remember. so he just got one holiday. for me its not a problem at all. the most important thing is their education. megat still went to school anyway even though he is still not that well. i handed his mc to his class teacher. at the same time i told her to excuse megat for his p.e. lesson this time. although megat do not have to do anything, he asked me to accompany him during that hour. well of well... he is sweet mama's son... i waited for a while, after he went back to his class. suddenly my fon rang from an unidentified number. i mean, i dun recognized the number as its not in my list. gosh... it was from asp nazri! he wanted to reconfirm on the hearing date for THE case. and to my surprised, it was supposed to be at 8.30am yesterday. i looked at my guess watch. it was exactly 8.25! now? "taiping?", i asked him. "no no... here" *phew*. lucky it was here but still... my heart beats more faster. after i hang-up the fon, i called dad to let him know. he... as a tempered person was mumbling blah blah blah... so i told megat that... "police called mama. tok and me have to go to the court. so later if i cannot make it for your recess time, you have to eat yourself okay darling". megat just hangguk-hangguk.

once i reached home, i washed my face. i quickly put-on some make-up and perfume; changed to my black jacket suit. i wore it with my dark blue esprit camisole that i just bought in gurney plaza few weeks ago. by 8.50, we already reached the court compound. i drove my 4wd this time as per dad request. maybe not to show that his volvo was around. we sat on a bench with a policeman outside the court room. i was damn nervous, really... my eyes were watching other people walking around. the policeman (kpl rahman i think) talked with dad. while my right hand slowly took my fon from my denim guess hand-bag. i already put it to silence from home actually. so its nothing wrong with that. my fingers were quickly sms-ing my closed relatives and friends about my feelings that time. gabra giler u...

here's part of the replies that i got. tqsm friends for your support-

RAZARIZAL 11/01/2006 09:20
banyak bersabor dan tenang serta fahamkan soalan. jikalau tak faham atau tak jelas, minta ulang. jawap dgn tenang (this one really shows like it came out from a policeman's mind lol).

V 11/01/2006 09:21
gud luck. buat muka kesian sikit... (err... how huh?!!) he he. salam aidil adha.

ROSE 11/01/2006 09:21
u attend hearing apa dear? keep cool eh ;-)

SHAIDI 11/01/2006 09:46
sabo je... (yes sabo je ler...).

while my area manager asked me to keep him up-to-date. shaidi called me this afternoon anyway. we talked a bit about the case, also about my experience yesterday. he gave his full supports mann...

asp nazri came while i was busy sms-ing. he smiled at me. i just smiled back to him. i was the only female there, shy lor... it was almost 10, someone from the court room came out and called our name (my dad and me). blimey... he just wanna make sure that we were there. suddenly dad and the police man showed me to two guys who were walking around outside the court room. i saw two ladies and a girl were with them when they walked in. must be one of the guys' family. i was shocked when dad and the police man told me that those two guys were one of the culprits. gosh... they are free. that's what worries dad (and me also now). more gabra ler... not long after that, asp said (he is the police magistrate if i'm not mistaken) asked us to wait at the witness' waiting room with him. he asked us a few questions, just to rectify that we are giving the same correct answers. it seems that he wanna call three people that day i.e. the police photographer, dad and me. i saw two police woman as well. both of them were the one who received and typed our police reports. wow they have to be one of the witness too? waiting in disguise.

10.30 my staff called. it was about megat. my staff told me that someone told him that megat cried during recess time. gosh... maybe he forgot of what i told him in the morning. so i asked my staff to go to school with mom, to bring megat back. 15 mins later, my staff called again. megat dun wanna go back. pity megat. i just stay calmed. more waiting. when it was almost 11, we were told that the hearing has been postponed to a later date tba. grrr... what a waste of time!

later i make sure that i fetched megat on time. he was 'merajuk' actually. i bet that. it was really a tiring day. i was already sangap by 8.30 :P

megat's name

megat finished school late today at 3.30pm. he has to attend extra class after school hours, then co-curriculur activity where he's with the basketball team people ;) when i came over at around 1pm to give megat his lunch, he and some of his friends were so glad to show me this--

its megat's student id for his school's library. if you happened to know chinese language then you should know megat's full name. so go figure! that word 'megat' is not on a wrong alignment occay?!!... of course it has been edited by me dammit :P


and this one is megat's recent pic taken earlier today around 4+ pm. megat's schedule on a thursday is kinda tough. so his looks speak for him. he has a taekwondo class (twice a week) at night that finished at 9.30pm. so normally after reached home and taken his quick shower, he would doze off in a split second... poor megat... besides this, he also has 3 times a week' mandarin tuition class to attend, scouts on wednesday, and mengaji [translation: learning to recite the quran rigorously in its native language, arabic] on almost every nights with his pom (po-po). but anyhow thank god that megat understands that those are for his own good ;)

translate them boy...

i have been wanted to blog since morning but only He knows of how busy i am... hence now only i have some time to breath *phew*

its the second day of schools today. i am sure megat will bring more homeworks later... in fact he brought two homeworks yesterday, even it was the first day of schools. its well known that school children in chinese school in the country intense to get more homework than national school. i know some malay parents (of those who send their children to chinese school) got so many says on this but for me... no hal! at least megat would do something good at home during his past time. well if you people don't like that then don't lar send your children to chinese school kan? we could see nazmi, megat's malay friend from kindy since 2003... all his bro and sis (five of them including nazmi) study in chinese school, now the eldest is in form three. the thing is if we can't do it the hard way, then forget it! if you wanna the best for your children and you think you can get it at chinese school, then face it!

megat came back from school yesterday with so many stories. even during lunch time, he told us so many things. he's excited! yes... especially when he starts going to the main school, the one in town from this year. from what i understand from megat, the children at the main school there get to have malay bahasa melayu language teachers, not like the previous one where chinese teachers teach all subjects except agama, where an ustazah from the main school will go there when they have agama classes. a malay guy teacher came to megat's class during the bahasa melayu subject. according to megat, he got problems to communicate with chinese children. luckily megat and nazmi were there, so both of them helped him to translate to their chinese classmates, of what the teacher wanna say lol... funny or not? teheeheee...

mama is so glad of you boy! ;)

kuE's note:
pic showed this morning when megat was walking in to the main school. take note that the side entrance is just behind yut loy! ;)

welcome 2008...

this is the day children from all over the country started their school days for the year 2008.

we went out of the house about 6.50am. there were some traffic jams when we were heading to sekolah atas bukit, as expected. wa lau ley... some people still send their children to school right up to the front (i mean... they would parked the car, and go down personally with their children in to the school'
compound) even though the children are big enough to do everything her/himself. i saw that situation at puteri's school, when some parents (both father and mother occay?!!), came out from the school' gate :P don't tell me they wanna pay for the children's school fees. even megat can do it himself already. fyi megat now is in year three, while puteri is in form two.

anyhow for megat, i did send him to the classroom, since this is his first day in year three. on the other hand, starting this year, his school is located in town thats specially for year three to year six children. take note that the one near malay college is only for year one and two. while there, we discussed of where i shall drop him and wait for him every day at school from now onwards. oh... forgot to mention to you people that the school also is only few blocks away from none other than yut loy! thats even on the same row, of the main road in town occay?!! hehee... now we shall expect that i will drop-by yut loy more often :) hmm... senang ler nak order pau ek? lol...

owh... how time flies so fast... megat is such a big boy himself now. megat was busy talking with his friends when i interrupted him, saying that i wanted to go home. "okay... bye ma!", megat said while waving his right hand to me. "oik! no more salam and kissing your mama?", i asked him. megat just smiled. i know that he was shy, kissing his mom infront of his friends. but when he realized that i was a bit dissappointed, he came to me whose standing at the classroom door, then salam and kissed me.

oh yes... as you could see from the pics, megat's school is one of the oldest schools in kuale, besides rpk (sekolah atas bukit), koleq and clifford. so don't be surprised to see an old building there. nonetheless, the classroom is already equipped with projector set with slides, hang on top of the blackboard. yes... blackboard! i know i know... some of the new schools these days don't use blackboard no more but they use whiteboard instead.

guess what people... some parents were looking at me one kind only... ya lor... no other parents especially mothers snapped pics of their children at school like i did this morning hehe... let it be! they dunno that megat's mother is a blogger and like what i mentioned many times before, we bloggers NEVER leave home without a camera!!! bwahahahaaa... :D

kuE's related links: 2006' and 2007' post on back to school.

megat is 9 today!

how glad i am that megat's mini 9th birthday party is over! *phew* everyone had fun. i am more glad that megat is very happy although its just attended by very closed family members. you could see his happy faces (auww... kids!) from the pics--



like what i mentioned before, megat is currently into ben 10 sooo much! its not surprisingly indeed that most of megat's gift are of ben 10' stuff i.e. toys, figurine, tumbler, lunch box etc. so when lil' safiya saw that, she was like, "semuanya ben 10!". ya... you know... the truth is safiya hates ben 10... hah! she's into girlie stuff like hannah montana, totally spies, kim possible etc. then when my lil' sis passed the party bag to her (safiya), she told safiya, "sowey... its ben 10 again hehe...". kuE's note: i made the paper bags myself. while puteri did the ben 10 stickers herself. go here to view it. safiya just smiled.

other than megat, my lil' sis gave presents to megat's cousins too. its like xmas you know. thank you so much sis for making everyone happy too. ai... dapat bonus ke? hehe...

the best thing is megat only knew about this mini party today. we have been hiding about all the surprises all this while-- the gifts, the party bags, my sister' day trip, etc. its kinda fun you know! enough said, you could see it from the pics cuz "a picture is worth a thousand words", ya?

of my way of gift giving etiquette and more...

i have just send megat to his classmate-cum-best friend nazmi's place. they invited him for iftar. its kinda first time for megat too to receive such an invite. he was sooooo damn excited since few days ago i tell you. even this morning when i was in parit buntar, megat kept calling and sms-ing me to discuss about it i.e. when to send him there, what suitable clothes to wear blah³...

5.30 PM SHARP nazmi already called megat of why he was not there yet ahh... kids! now megat was so worried.

alright, for me its ok to be about 5 minutes late or so. clocks are usually set between 5 minutes slow and 5 minutes fast, so arriving 5 minutes late should get you there "fashionably late!" being early to someone's house is rude (unless you're going out immediately after your arrival-then be there right on time). some people wait until the last minute to finish preparations for guests. giving your host(ess) that extra few minutes is usually appreciated. being more than 5 minutes late is rude. food may get cold, time with other guests may be interrupted, and/or the host(ess) may worry you're not coming or got lost.

but for megat's case, i guess its terribly ok cuz he was there for iftar. and his friend and his brother wanted him to be there early so that they could play together first. i opt to drop-by the local supermarket to get some chocolates for nazmi's family. thanks to grandma, luckily she reminded us about bringing some sweet gift.

since i was kinda busy, so no cupcakes this time like how i used to do! i.e. i baked some last week to bring them to kl. the most importantly, for redmummy and family who was terribly down since her son was a confirmed h1n1 victim. i made a quick visit at her place as soon as i reached kl that day. i would like to take this opportunity to thank ayu and rose for helping me! anyhow even if i won't make it to kl, i will still make an arrangement for my cupcakes to be delivered to redmummy as a gesture of thoughtfulness from me.

this pic is courtesy of redmummy

besides redmummy, i also made some extras for my cousin yaya because she accompanied me during the iftar session with nuffnang. plus some others... (you know who you are) including a good school friend of mine whom we didn't meet for obviously 20 years! alright alright... i'll type a separate blog post for this one soon cuz she's so special to me ;)

for me, gifts are part and parcel of my culture and are not only for birthdays and special occasions. gifts may be given to someone who has provided a favour, to someone returning from a trip overseas, or simply out of want. the cost of the gift is not nearly as important as what it represents — friendship.

so for nazmi's family, we just grabbed a cadbury classic collection 1930's - 1960's pack. i was not satisfied yet that time because no ribbon meh... so we made an another stop to buy a ribbon to be stick to the box *phew* by that time its already almost 6pm. you could see megat's sour face lol... but it was just for a while though...

and on the way to nazmi's place, i reminded megat of the do's and dont's while he's there:

• to greet all the members of the family especially the elders first by shake and kiss their hands; it is best to see if a hand is extended or not first.


• wait to be told of where to sit.


• table manners are continental.


• you will be expected to try all foods at the table.


• expect to be urged to take second or even third helpings. it is best to eat less on your first helping so that a second helping is possible. this shows your host you are enjoying the food and are being taken care of.

megat is 8!

i slept very late and was awaken by some knocking on my room door around 7.30 am.

"whose that?", i asked.

"mama's birthday boy", megat answered.

i was like... haa?!!... i looked at the time at my fon. gosh... its already 7.30!!! but i only had less than three hours sleep. i unlock the door. megat entered, then he hugged me so tight, followed by kisses. he's really a mama's boy. i wished him happy birthday.

"okay mama, i'll see you later".

unfortunately i didn't get ready yet. i went back to bed and continued to sleep another hour lol... i came down almost 10 am, when everyone were about to arrive. auntie yan brought chicken pie and honey cake. while enda teh brought cream puff (my fav!) and my mother cooked chicken rice. as you could see, i baked the birthday cake myself. now you all know of why i slept very late ;) i didn't even wanna take pics of myself as i really looks like zombiesss!!! lol...

i went in to my room maybe around 1.30 pm and slept right away, after i threw my helpless body on the bed. i heard the sms alert tone minutes later. i checked my fon. i tried to read the sms but i can't because my eyes were really weak. when i awoke at 5.50 pm, i saw that my last sms checked was still there... it was from kimi. thank you so much. also sorry for not replying you sis. i have informed megat, and he said thank you too. o yes... not forgetting CK, thank you for the wish too sis.

guess what people. my initial plan was to go to queensbay mall in penang, after we had the brunch. what to do... bummer! i can't help myself... anyhow i went to ipoh yesterday with my mom and megat. he got to choose his own birthday present, like what he said, "i am already big and know what i want". megat chose spider-man 3' electronic web spinning blaster.

"happy 8th birthday my dear darling megat... mama wished you all the best for many more years to come... luv, mama!"

i would also like to wish my cousin totam, a happy 24th birthday. what a co-incidence he shared the same birthday with megat. i'll see you when you come back for holiday tomorrow. fyi totam is studying medical in medan. eventually he was in ukraine before. he was not allowed to enter the country when he wanted to go back there the last time. what we could say is it was dangerous too... its all now history.

how i make megat proud of me for a simple task

the title said it all -- its not that hard actually to make our kids proud of their own mother for a very simple task we did.

earlier this month i baked banana chip muffins for breakfast. megat love it (even though he doesn't like to eat banana lol...) that he requested to bring some to school. he shared some with his classmate, hakim. it seems that hakim told megat, "hmm... sedapnya". hakim was surprised of how megat's mom managed to do all those. he (hakim) even compared it with his mother. you know... kids these days. so now i know basically of how kids feel. they don't lie.

so i was at the wet kitchen this morning when megat approached me and said, "ma, i wanna the same like yesterday". ok sayang...

i packed these for him yesterday...

it was just a fried egg and buttered bread. i fried the egg in a tiny frying pan (see pic)that my dad bought in makkah many years back. once i placed the egg in the frying pan, i quickly mix the egg yolk and the egg white thoroughly. the reason was that megat doesn't like to eat the egg yolk by itself, but ok if it mixed together lol... then i covered the frying pan for about less than two minutes. check-out the tiny frying pan's cover people. my dad did it himself! we can't find a suitable cover for that pan, that's why. he's a handy man you know ;)

then i placed the fried egg on the buttered bread. this time i put a slice of kraft cheese as well. i prefer kraft than any other brand cuz only kraft cheese melted when we placed something hot on top of it. i can't deny it that my kids love it as well. the next step was to cover the egg with another slice of buttered bread. and to make it more bakery-like look ;) cut the bread crust, then cut it again into two triangles. presto! see... didn't i tell you it was easy.

megat also told me that he shared the egg sandwich yesterday with hakim. his friend praised him again and again like last time. then i guess my tears running down my cheeks a bit when megat came closer and hugged me. "ohh... i am so proud of you mom", he said :)

wake-up my dear :)

i was so terrible this morning. i really thought that its tuesday huhu...

"cepat adik. today you have an essembly in school, if not you will be late", i told megat hehe... btw chinese school' weekly essembly on a tuesday meh?

we went out of the house before 7.20. as usual i sent puteri first then megat. as usual also megat salam and kiss my hand, then both of us kiss each other. i waited for a while to see megat walked into the school. he was half-way there. suddenly i saw his classmate came with his mom on a motorcycle. i clearly saw that he wore a school t-shirt. then i thought, "oikk... why the boy wore the school t-shirt today?". my mind was boggling. "oh my god... its wednesday lar stupid". megat has p.e. classes on wednesday!!!

well megat already more than half-way there. then i thought to myself again, its not that i cannot take his t-shirt and give it to him because our house is so near. i just wanna megat to be independent. let him do his own decision. i'm sure he will make so much noise when he comes back ;)

kuE's note: the main reason i thought so was that megat just started school yesterday only, after a long chinese new year break. other schools started theirs on last thursday.

enough of mawi

i brought megat to see a local barber. he has been using the uncles' (two indian man) service since he was small. as soon as we got in the shop, i told one of the barber roughly how megat wanted - "tepi dengan belakang, bawah, number two, atas cacak". a man who has done his, approached megat on his way out. he asked whether megat wanted to cut his hair like mawi. megat just kept quiet. oh no... enough of him! those time yes... when megat was still small, i asked the uncles to cut the whole megat's hair with a number two razor. simple as that. but now, since he has already growing-up, he knows whats best for him ;)

anak pinjam (borrowed-child) ?

i really can't wait to post about this. it happened earlier today when we were eating ice-cream at baskin robbins, kinta city.

"mama, how long people can borrow anak?", megat asked me.

i was like, "haa?!!... borrow anak?".

"ya... you know... people who do not have children will borrow anak", said megat confidently ;) then he asked me the same question again, "so how long they can borrow?". by that time both puteri and i were so damn surprised and looked at each other. then puteri smiled.

"ohh... you mean anak angkat (god-child/child sponsorship)?", i asked megat.

"no... anak pinjam ler mama...". puteri and i laughed. while megat was puzzled.

"adik, adik...", i called megat while smiling. "where got anak pinjam. anak angkat got ler...".

"ohh... so takde le anak pinjam?", megat asked.

"takde", i answered. people around us looked at us one kind only. we were laughing like hell that's why lol...

i did wonder of what megat was thinking, that made him wanted to ask me that question. when i asked him, he just smiled.

of breast feeding in public

HOT! HOT! HOT!...

wohoo!!!... i really dunno that it was a big hot issue/topics to discuss there in the states. i am baffled that someone would view breastfeeding as a sexual image??!! it is a beautiful and natural moment between a mother and child and people that are offended should really grow up because breasts are displayed EVERYWHERE in an intended sexual manner yet breastfeeding is what woman's breasts are meant for. do people fear loosing the sexuality of the breast by seeing these images? hmm... i knew this someone whose alwiz wrote about his experiences in the u.s. so speak-up dude! btw... happy belated birthday (yesterday) to you hehe... saje tak nak wish him in his blog lol...

alright, for me, i breast fed both my kids as i truly believe that its the best way ever to feed our child especially when it contains colostrum (also known as first milk). i nursed megat the longest, till he was about 3+. he was already started scooling then, in jiang hua kindergarten. his lause (teacher) would asked me to practice to slowly stop breast feed him, or maybe to explain to megat to get it at home only. lause told me that sometimes megat would shouted 'nenen' out of the blue lol... well... it was quite troublesome in the first few months. but we finally managed ourselves ;)

well, i never nursed my kids in public places openly. i was then in kl. i also didn't go out much after my confinement, not until my kids started to eat solid food. if i do, i would normally stop-by baby room in malls, or else i did it in the car. it was much easier if i went to relatives place. they were very supportive. they let me use one of their rooms, if they do not have guest rooms in the house. all i could say is, breast feeding was great for me. o yes... besides that i was lucky that i could still keep my figure as it is ;) its all thanks to nursing my kids.

guess what people. megat never try to drink from baby bottles i.e. he drank his first water straight from the training cup! there's once way back when he saw his cousin shahriman drank ribena from the baby bottles. megat looked at him like so weird. so shahriman's grandfather asked megat whether he wanna try. megat took it from him and try to put the nipples in his mouth. not even seconds, he threw out everything lol...

not in the mood

i have just came back from seeing megat in school. he never requested me to do it. but me as a woman whose also a mom, feels like only my kids could make me feel good when i'm feeling down. megat was really surprised indeed when he saw me walked-in his classroom during recess time. he was standing near chai tong who was eating. while chai tong's mom was there too, accompanying her daughter. megat forgot to bring his pocket money. thats why i quickly went there. i brought along a fillet 'o' fish burger, that i bought in taiping yesterday. megat was really happy. i knew that he was hungry by then. i love you so much darling.

before that i had some misunderstanding with my dad about work. it really makes me like being out of this world. thus suddenly i thought of megat who left his money on the chair. i straight away heated the burger, took my handbag and drove-off. i felt so relieve as soon as i stepped-on the school's compound. some of megat's senior saw me walking towards megat's classroom. i smiled at them. some of them even waived at me and said, " hai, auntie". oh, children... aren't they wonderful.

alright, that was this morning. i had another thing that really makes me feel down. i do not think whether i should tell you people about it. only certain people knew about this bad news actually including V- you know who you are. i was so lucky that i had the chance to tell V personally when we met on last tuesday. we talked- basically catching-up on stuff we missed. we just relaxing doing nothing than having some snacks, while watching our favourite channel axn or star world or star movies. well, from what had happened, i could say that i was such a fool for wasting my bloody times of more than two years or so :(

friday's blessing

as mentioned earlier in my baking blog, megat and i baked some cupcakes last night, to be given to his classmates as a raya treat. megat was so excited about it. so am i. more over i was so eager to know of how would the kids react. so i let megat brought my oly to school with condition that i would come during recess time to take it back.

so these are the results—

how glad am i to see the happy faces of the children. group pics been taken by megat's class teacher lause lim. according to megat, he was a bit shy to be in the pic though. take note that megat is still in school. his school hours will be ended at 1.05pm.

of packing a healthy and cheap lunch

today is only 4th of february.
megat is only in year four this year.
upsr exam is only two years away from now.

no matter what the circumstances are, megat and his batch (year four) have already started to attend extra classes after school hours with effective today, organized by the school' PTA. take note that megat is schooling in a local chinese school. so as for now he will be going home only at 2.55pm from monday to wednesday, while on thursday and friday is at 2.25pm. parents are allowed to deliver their kids lunch during their second break i.e. when the normal school hours end (1.35pm for monday to wednesday and 1.05pm for thursday and friday).

so as for me it's not a problem at all to bring megat's packed lunch to him at those hours. normally it would be like that anyway, where i would fetch puteri right after megat anyway. so it's definitely fine for me. and the best thing is we do not have to be worried for food poisoning, as the food is home-made. home-made food are more healthy i tell you. if not why on earth we could see quite a number of chinese mothers do the same. in fact one of them who always chatted with me when we bumped in to each other in school, told me that even she do not trust canteen food. she prefer to cook her kids' packed meal herself. besides that, we can teach our kids to save their pocket money since they already bring packed meals/lunch from home.

so as you could see from the above pic, that is the school' side entrance gate. that is where i usually waited for megat. and the missing grill are meant for us parents to pass anything to our kids, vise versa. kewl huh?!!...

i tell you what... isn't it good for you people to adapt this packed lunch ideas for work., no matter whether you are single or married. lunch is the meal where most people end up scarfing down whatever fatty, greasy food they can find. but it only takes a little pre-planning to create a healthy, energy-boosting meal, at little cost to you or your long-term health.

step 1
create a healthy shopping list, with easy-to-pack, nutritious foods in mind. opt for low-fat granola, dried fruit, nuts, low-fat meat slices, whole wheat bread, fresh fruit and deli tray-sized bits of fresh carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and sweet baby carrots, eggs (you can hard boil or create egg salad sandwiches with vegan mayonnaise or olive oil mayonnaise), and peanut, soy, or sunflower butter.

step 2
strategize the night before. it's best to pack more than you think you'll eat. that way you won't run out of the food you need to keep your energy up throughout the afternoon. plus, you'll have a little extra for mid-morning and even a quick breakfast on the run or during the commute.

step 3
include three components to make a meal: a main, snack and side. a salad, sandwich or whole grain wrap is a good choice for a main. throw in homemade trail mix (see #4) or granola for your snack. add in a salad with your sandwich, a container full of bite-sized veggies, or cubes of various fruits and honey for your side.

step 4
make your own trail mix. homemade trail mix can be customized to suit your taste, and can be created as a low-fat alternative to the store brands. mix together some sesame sticks, soy nuts, sunflower seeds, a few dark chocolate chips, dried cranberries, cherries, blueberries and almonds. the result is a snack that's tasty, low-fat and packed with protein and antioxidants.

step 5
try new variations on old standbys. there are hundreds of variations just on a whole wheat wrap. try a garlic or basil flavored flatbread or tortilla. brush on vinaigrette dressing instead of plain old mustard. add almonds for a protein boost, or just switch up your standard wheat sandwich bread with a whole grain roll. that way you'll never get bored and be inclined to stray from your healthy DIY route.

step 6
pack your items in reusable containers. bags formerly containing your snack mixes, veggies and sandwiches have only one place to go after you use them: the landfill. do this for the environment, while you revamp your lunch routine for yourself.

step 7
eat with co-workers in moderation. don't completely cut off lunches with colleagues. these are good morale-boosting sessions (or venting sessions, whatever the case may be). be a team player. you may be overdoing it when your lunches out really start to show up on your account balance and your thighs.

-----

on another note, kay came over to my place yesterday evening, for us to visit the late kak fairoz' mother. i think probably that time her (kak fairoz) brother was already on the way back to kuale from klia, to bring back her remains. read more about her in today's news here, here, here and here.

"may she rest in peace"... amin.

the day when no one is at home

mom followed dad to kl this morning. she will be attending a cousin's engagement ceremony this weekend. at first i thought of going too, but megat has to go to school tomorrow as usual to replace the extra holidays for the upcoming chinese new year. megat goes to a chinese school, remember? ;)

so here's what we normally do on a friday-- puteri's school ends at 12.10pm, while megat's is at 1.05pm. both puteri and i rather spent the extra time together rounding around town instead of going back home and forth. then when its almost 1pm, we would normally be at none other than yut loy!!! hehe... told you people before that the school is very near with yut loy right :D and since no one at home today, we had our lunch at yut loy-- we approached one of the twin bros from the back door and ordered our food. then after we fetch megat, we walked back to yut loy (yes! you read me, that we walked there)... and voila... the food were all ready on one of the tables! simple as that...

i had chicken cutlet with two sets of buttered toast bread (thats four pieces altogether you know... hah!) and two glasses of iced nescafe. i was lapor giler (damn hungry) occay?!! ;)


while puteri and megat had chinese fried rice with egg and iced milo, hmm... yummy!!!...


so... can you all people see the stairs behind megat? fyi that's lead to a secret location that only budak koleq knows *glurp* lol... :)

the first day of school

i am very sure that most of the parenting bloggers i.e. here; have already posted about their experiences on the children's first day of school by now. i could see that everyone were kinda busy with their day's schedule. i guess most of the people took a day or half-day leave to make sure that everything would be okay, and tomorrow's another day.

my kiddos been warned from many days ago that we can't get out of the house later than at least 7 am even though we reached home around 10.35 pm from kl. same goes to the rest of the school days. if not, you know... owh how i hate the word l-a-t-e! puteri has to be in school by 7.15 am, while megat 7.20 am. anyhow they made do with a quick nap in the evening to readjust their timing :)

punctuality is a real sign of discipline, a practice we try to instill in our youth through school bells. not being on time is a sign of disrespect to someone or to the persons you are about to meet. we can also scold people for being late, let them go or fine them, but sometimes it can be a nuisance that people lack consideration and discipline for keeping an appointment. perhaps we need to institute some school bells even in the offices. maybe it could be effective.

this is megat's 7th year in chinese school, practically 3 years in kindergarten. its the first day of school, everyone knew it. but he already came back with some homeworks! ya... being said that chinese school pupil have homeworks to do almost everyday. that's fine for me. although its already 7 years, i am still worry about him to get good grades— 2 more years to upsr! he has to sit for an extra paper which is of course the chinese language *phew* no doubt all the teachers agreed that megat can talks mandarin very well. he was even asked to deliver a mandarin speech at his kindergarten's last year's of concert.

puteri— she will be sitting for her pmr exam this year. so this means that not just puteri has to work hard to achieve for success, but looks like her mama has to be hand-in-hand with her too. and now i could feel of how really fast the time flies... if you know what i mean *winks* now that schools started, puteri has to adhere to the simple rules i.e. NO mobile phones and NO internet during school days, except for weekends and public holidays... hah! this same goes to megat. anyhow, maybe they have the flexibilities to get online if they wanna do some research for school projects, assignments or things a like. we survived ourself without all those things during our time anyway kan? :)

kuE' note:
pic above was a part of megat's school, taken this afternoon, just before the last bell's rang. i was sitting outside the school's hall.