Sofea turned 7 on May 13th. Big girl she is now. But still very manja-manja and childish, at home that is. In school, she is quite the opposite it seems. She is independent and reliable enough to be elected as the Assistant Class Monitor. And without a doubt, she is very much still Ayah's Little Girl.

Keeping the birthday updates 'tradition' and for record-keeping purposes, I shall blog about her day of birth.

I originally planned to throw her a party or at least a family makan-makan like we had last year, but since Aidiin got sick with chicken pox, I was not really in a celebrative mood. Moreover, we had busy weekends the past few weeks so memanglah tak sempat (and tak larat) nak plan apa-apa pun.

Sofea was excited about her 7th birthday because this year, it's not going to be on a weekend. This year May 13th is a Tuesday, a school day. Naturally, she expected me to show up in school with a birthday cake for her to cut, in front of her teacher and classmates after they sang the Happy Birthday song. She didn't really persistently insist that I did, but she did tell me about the birthday cake that her friend had earlier this year, delivered to the school, to her classroom to be exact. She had eagerly and enthusiastically described the mini celebration. Talk about peer pressure. *rolleyes*

I don't know if it's just me (and I am sincerely not condemning or judging anybody) but I don't feel comfortable disrupting schooling hours because of personal reasons, except for emergencies. Especially since this is 'formal' school, not pre-school or kindy. When we had a small birthday celebration for her on her 4th birthday, it was in her kindy and it was during the kids' teatime.

So I told her (firmly, but as gentle as possible) that I won't be bringing a cake to her school and she can forget about celebrating her birthday in class. I explained my reasons and I think she understood me somewhat. I did catch a glimpse of disappointment in her eyes though. It breaks my heart every time I have to say No and turn down her requests like that but I hope she understands.

Instead, I told her she could bring a lil something to school for her classmates and immediately her face lit up with anticipation. Her big eyes twinkled with hope. Good thing Ibu was smart enough to have a back up plan, aye? *grin*

When I was stuck nursing Aidiin's chicken pox a few weeks ago I had toyed with the idea of making personalized party favors for her to give out to her friends. But as ambitious as I was, it wasn't easy to carry out my plans with the cheeky boy at home. On top of that, I didn't get a chance to shop around for materials and stuff, so I knew then that I wouldn't have time to complete 50 favors before Sofea's birthday. But then I had a lightbulb moment and immediately thought of CMOG and after several emails and phone calls, Sofea had birthday chocolates to share with her friends on her special day. Phew!! Thanks Rafiqah. :D




We did go out for a small makan-makan celebration at Dunia Waffle$@SunwayPyramid because the birthday girl wanted to eat waffles with ice-cream.

Mmmmm... what else ya? Academic-wise, in both schools, she is progressing very well. Alhamdulillah.

In KAFA, she's at Qiraati #4 now and her vocabulary of Arabic words has expanded tremendously.

She has started to observe solat times and with reminders, encouragements and occasional follow-ups, she is performing her prayers 5 times a day. Tapi kekadang tu, time tengah solat, mata boleh melilau tengok kiri-kanan. Apalah Kakak ni... :P

She rides the big orange bus to & from KAFA everyday, now that Ibu is confident and assured that she'll be okay.

In SK, she's coping well with studies and homework. She'll be taking her PKSR exams next week. At this point I think I am more nervous about next week than she is.

She enjoys all subjects taught in school eventhough there is too much coloring involved in homework. Her favorite subjects are Math and English. Her favorite teacher is Cikgu S who teaches BM. She thinks he is funny and he is always making the kids laugh. She also said that he'd told her that her Ibu is pretty. *cough* *cough*

She still loves the color purple.

One thing she needs to improve on is her time management, i.e. appreciating how precious time is. She still dilly-dallys A LOT, is often dreamy and needs constant follow-ups to bring her back from la-la land or whatever land she was in. I hope she knows that when her Ayah and I bebel about not wasting time (her time and others'), it is all for her own good and it is because we love her to bits.

This picture was taken before she went to KAFA. She is missing one front tooth after an accident with Aidiin's knee about 3 weeks ago. I chose this picture so that she'll remember that she is one tooth less on her 7th birthday. hee hee hee.





Overall, her Ayah and I are very proud of who she is and her accomplishments. And we pray and hope she'll grow up into a good and successful Muslimah one day, insyaAllah.

Happy Birthday, Kakak!!! Sayangs from Ibu, Ayah and Aidiin.

What she was like when
- she was Six
- she was Five

ohme ohmy. What a hectic week.

Aidiin is recovering from his chicken pox. Alhamdulillah. No new spots have formed, at least not that I know of. I think they've stopped coming out since 2 days ago. Now the spots have started drying up. Some looked like they've just reduced in size (becoming tiny dried up dots) and slowly disappearing (read: no scars, Alhamdulillah). Some garu-ed sores have crusted over. I hope those big ones don't end up leaving crater-like scars. Some crusts have fallen off, leaving little pinkish circles.

Apart from administering doctor-prescribed medications, I have been diligently bathing him with the air kunyit (I think this somehow helps dry up the poxes, don't ask me why), and applying calomine lotion after that. He complained that it is tiring for him to lie down and wait till the lotion dries up. He'd whine, Aidiin penaaaat. I told him, Ibu pun penat juga sebab kena sapu ubat kat 'dot-dot' Aidiin semua. To which he replied, Aidiin lagi penat 'besar', meaning he is MORE tired. heh heh. Kelakarlah badut saya ni.

But he has been very very active (banyak 'reserved' energy dia ni), always running, not walking from one point to another. He'd take out ALL of his toys, specifically his Th0mas & Fr1ends collection and build one railway track in his room, then another one in the family hall, and one mini track in my bedroom, betul-betul depan pintu bilik. Merata-rata ada gerabak kereta api, trucks, signals, carriages. Semestinya menjerit kesakitan jikalau terpijak salah satu.

Then there's his Th0mas & Fr1ends books; yang untuk coloring, yang easy-to-read, yang special edition (thank you aunty Zan *wink*), yang ada stickers, yang activity books, yang ajar counting, yang kecik, yang besar, yang "Look & Find", yang "Tell the Time". Yang tekan button boleh bunyi-bunyi pun ada. Pening kepala tengok. I have given up trying to tidy up after him. Nasiblah.

And of course, time-time sakit ni, TV pun dia conquer. Pagi petang siang malam, dia nak tengok VCD Th0mas. Ada kisah Th0mas jatuh dalam snow, Th0mas berlumba dengan Bert1e the bus, ada yang pasal Th0mas dan kawan-kawan tengok fireworks, ada yang pasal tertinggal trucks. Not including all the other stories about the tank engine's many friends. Ada pula VCD untuk sing-a-long. Sampai dah masuk dalam kepala Ibu lagu-lagu semuanya. Time tengah shower, ternyanyi lagu "Little Engines", masa tengah sidai baju tetiba ter-hummed lagu "Jame$ & The Red Ball00n". Time nak terlelap, terngiang-ngiang lagu about "Salty", the diesel engine and his tales. Alahaiiii.


Th0mas watches as I update my blog


One challenge I faced was trying to keep the sick sibling away from the healthy sibling. It's almost impossible actually. I can't force Sofea to stay in her room, locked up inside all the time. I tried to reason with Aidiin not to get too close to his sister because of his 'dot-dot'(s) but he deliberately ignored me. They would stay apart for maybe a while, but I'd later find them playing together (Sofea pun cannot resist playing with her brother :P) or watching TV together, or he'd be hanging out in her room while she finishes her homework. So, in the end, saya tawakkal sajalah. Allah Maha Besar dan Maha Mengetahui, Maha Pengasih lagi Maha Penyayang. I pray and hope she does not get it coz it'll mean she'd have to miss school and all that, what with exams coming up in 3 weeks, but kalau dah ditakdirkan berjangkit, then what to do. But so far, no signs of the disease spreading to another member of the family. Alhamdulillah.

The polka dot prince is asleep right now, which gives me some time to write this entry. I managed to get him to take a nap, after some err... extreme objections. I washed all his pillowcases, blankies and tilam covers today. It's a very bright sun-shiny day to hang clothes out to dry.

Helmy and Sofea are out, attending a kenduri in Putr4jaya. Remember last week's kenduri in Jas1n? Well, this week is sebelah pengantin lelaki. They'll probably be back late tonight. I was actually looking forward to go, but who'll take care of the chicky pox darling? I'd reminded Helmy to bring our camera along and take many pictures.

It's about 29 minutes past 5pm now. I'd better go solat Asar before the polka dot prince wakes up from his nap.

Anak terunaku dengan tahi lalat manisnya

About a month or so ago, I discovered a mole on the lower part of Aidiin's left cheek, on the left side of his chin. I noticed that the 'dot' seemed to get darker over time. This beauty mark is becoming a quite prominent feature of his face. However, this entry is not about the tahi lalat manis.

It wasn't very obvious yesterday morning, although he had a slight fever. Gave him Nur0fen and he was fine during our road trip to Jas1n. Spots appeared on his body later in the evening, in Jas1n, when we were busy getting ready to attend the majlis akad nikah of my nephew-in-law. The red insect-bites-like spots were dismissed as rashes due to the heat, although I was a teeny doubtful. Selesai majlis pernikahan, we drove back to BJ and went straight to the 24-hours clinic nearby. The doctor diagnosed and confirmed the spots as chicken pox. *sigh*

This morning, more pimply spots appeared on his tummy, on his back, on his face, arms and legs. I even found a few on his scalp too. The three initial spots on his shoulder, on the back of his neck and under his right arm, have already developed into reddish blisters that have torn open, quite sore-looking and slightly gross, made worse by his scratchy fingers. ohdear. I hope they don't get infected or something. I don't blame him for itching to scratch, though. I can still remember how I felt when I had my chicky pox in 1992. I will never, ever, ever forget that summer in LA when I had to miss my first B0n J0vi concert due to them poxes. Grrrrr.

I know we've had him vaccinated for chicken pox when he was 12-18 months old, and I seriously hope that'll help. It should result in a milder attack, no? Lesser spots, perhaps? Or shorter illness duration? Nonetheless, I can't send him to school for the next few days. And obviously, my normal routine will go haywire.



My poor polka dot darling

More importantly, I hope Sofea will not get it. Lagi haru jikalau famyBoy gets it too. Wishful thinking-kah ini?

---

My mom called me up (after consulting with my grandmother) and told me that until Aidiin has fully recovered, I:
- should not be doing any kerja-kerja menumis or frying in the kitchen. Takleh goreng nuggets-lah, eh?
- should not bring in uncooked meat, specifically beef, into the house. Tapau-ed, yakni already cooked beef is okay? Burger boleh tak?
- should not be doing it with famyBoy. Memang tak boleh buat apa-apa pun for the next week or so.
- should not feed him with kicap, namely the pekat one. Takut ada permanent scar/marks hitam-hitam. Meaning ayam masak kicap takleh makan ke?
- should let Aidiin drink fresh air kelapa muda. Bagi cepat keluar semua spots and cepat kering. Bagi cepat sembuhlah kiranya.
- should siram Aidiin with a small baldi/gayung of air campur serbuk kunyit after giving him his bath. Nak bagi sejuk dalaman? Can drink air cap badak or not?

Saya ada sedikit rasa musykil tentang 'should not' nos. 2 & 3, but because I didn't want to bombard my mom with "but why not?" sms-es afterwards nor did I want to question my grandmother's pesanan(s), I just listened, took notes and thanked her for the tips.

Anyways. Is there anything else that I should/should not do?

Sofea's school's Sukaneka was held on April 4, 2008, which was a Friday. I don't know why it was scheduled to take place on a weekday, but I was glad that I didn't have to go through the hassle of applying for annual leave (and the hassle of getting it approved) before being able to attend the event. *grin*




The Sukaneka (Sports Day) on April 4 was for Years 1, 2 and 3, so kira for the kecik-kecik students only-lah. Oh and the preschoolers of SKBeeJay too.

Students of Years 4, 5 and 6 had their (bigger and grander) Sports Day on April 6, i.e. on the following Sunday. Time tu baru ada macam-macam booths set up selling balloons, food&drinks, ice-cream and other goodies. Gempak lagi kot, that one. But I didn't go, so I can't really tell.

Sofea and her classmates took part in the "Rolling Stones" acara. She had to roll a ball using a hoop from the starting point, all the way to a cone set up a few metres away, go around the cone and back. Her team, the Syah Bandar team aka the Red Team, won first place.



Actual-sized Sukaneka pictures are in my multiply album. I just thought them miniature ones look kinda cute and very 'meriah'. :)