Dhani Goes To School!

It's March.

Wow.. Time flies so fast huh? In my mind i have written this super long blogpost about Dhani going to playschool. i thought i have written it and published it. But when i go to the Blogger homepage and saw that my last post was actually dated last November, i came to a realization that "Man, you are not a blogger anymore!"

Anyway, yes, my baby Dhani is a playschooler!

Initially my husband and i did not plan to send Dhani to school. He's barely 3 for God's sake!

But my SIL has to go back to Kuching for like, almost every month and we can't leave Dhani with my 97 years-young Grandma and 70-plus years young aunt at home (both live with us) so we thought why not just send Dhani to playschool together with Afif.

In December we started telling him wonderful stories about school - about the fancy toys they have, about the wonderful teachers he'd meet and about the fun friends he'd make. Hearing all these and seeing that Afif loves going to school, he got so excited to go to school himself. Everyday telling us "Adik nak pergi sekolah!" He even didn't wanna take his school uniform off when we first asked him to try it on.

First Week

So on 3rd January 2018, the school life of Dhani Nur Iman began.

We woke up bright, early and excited. The boys ate their breakfast obediently and skipped off the ground into the car and off to school. We dropped Afif at his class on the ground floor first. Holding Dhani's hand, we made our way up to the first floor to the playschool class.

 First day of school!

 Senyum paksa ke Dik?

Upon reaching the door, i saw his face changed. His smile vanished and he hid behind me.

"Oh God, don't let him cry. Please don't cry.." i remember praying in my head.

i smiled encouragingly at him and said things like "Oooo look at the class! Ada toys!"

A friendly, smiley teacher then greeted us and took Dhani's hand and distracted him with oooh and ahhh and "What is your name?" and "Cantiknya beg".

And just like that, without looking back at me, his first day of school began. i followed him behind walls (dengan sedikit menyorok-nyorok) and looked at him through a glass window. He sat down at a table with a couple of boys and started playing blocks.

Yes! No crying! No looking back!

i went out the school and went for a date with my husband.

At 3pm we picked the kids up from school. Afif is okay with scool already so nothing to report la. But Dhani told us that he cried at school.

2nd day no drama at school drop-off.

3rd day no drama at school drop-off.

But fourth day he started crying at the school door. Same goes for the fifth and sixth day.

*insert emoji menangis sambil ketawa disini*

Anyway.. Lepas tu okay la. Takda drama depan pintu sekolah dah. But for the rest of January when they pick me up at the LRT in the evening, Dhani would report "Adik nanges kat sekolah sebab Mama takde.." *pastu teresak-esak..talk about a drama king*

Then miraculously in February when i asked "Adik buat apa kat sekolah hari ni?" he would say "Adik tak nanges kat sekolah!"

Alhamdulillah. Yay!

Dhani at School

He loves going to school. Everyday he would be singing nursery rhymes that they sing at school. His favorite teacher is Teacher Marwan (lately it changed to Teacher Amy). When asked about friends' names he would say "nama dia kawan" (-___-). Every Thursday the teachers would bring the playschoolers to a playground and naturally it's the day Dhani most look forward to. On Fridays they do food-related activities (there were cookies making, pizza baking, smoothie making..) and those are his favorites too.

 Yayyy pizza!

Choc rice krispies cookies!

Teachers reported to me that Dhani kuat makan. BAHAHAHAHA. Tak lama lepas sampai sekolah dia mesti pergi kat one of the teachers, one hand rubbing his belly and he would say "saya lapar.. Nak makan biskut!" and when asked kat rumah tak makan ke? He would say "Tak!" padahal dah makan telur separuh masak/french toast/cereal with milk/waffle/etc sebelum ke sekolah. Bertuah punya budak! For that reason i always pack some food for his school snack.

Recently he also started to speak in English. His usuals are "Mama.. Where are you?", "Mama what is that?" "Mama, it's a pink car! (pointing to his toy car)"

One night we were preparing for bedtime.. Out of nowhere, he took his pillow with 4 owls on it, he pointed a finger to the furthest owl and say "Mama.. Ni teacher Zuzu. Pastu ni (the furthest owl to the left) teacher Siti. Ni (two owls in the middle) teacher Marwan dengan ni teacher Amy!" i was so touched and i asked "Adik sayang ke teacher?" to which he replied "Betul. Adik sayang sume teacher.."

MY BABY IS ALL GROWN UP HE LOVES HIS TEACHERS AND SOON HE'LL LEAVE ME FOR COLLEGE!

*uncontrollable sobs*

Anyway, that's Dhani for you.

On a totally non-school related note, Dhani talks a lot, MashaAllah. He is at the stage where he asks questions, loads of sometimes questions that maked you go "Whattttt?"

Like he would ask over and over again "Mama kenapa mama achooo?" "Mama masak apa?" "Daddy pergi mana?" to which i replied "Daddy jumpa kawan" and he would ask back "Napa jumpa kawan?"(about 50 times in a minute).. Sometimes he would ask "Sapa beli baju/mainan/cawan/kuih/pinggan ni?" another 39 times.It's all new to me as before this Afif didn't talk this much (with his hearing loss and everything..) so sometimes i'm so amused with his questions but other times i'll be like "Kan mama dah cakap Mama yang beli baju niiii". Even Afif get annoyed with Dhani potpet potpet. Haha. But i'm so thankful. Dr. Basha (Afif's speech therapist) said that Dhani's speech and language is advance compared to peers his age, perhaps to the way we talk to Afif. Or maybe it's just because of the fact that each kids are different.

Penat main pon potpet potpet

Afif telling him to shut up "Adik diam la.. Dengar tu ada azan Allahu Akbar!"

Dhani if you're reading this, Mama apologizes for not writing more about you. i'm busy raising you and your brother, playing with you guys, teaching you guys and holding you guys that i barely have time for blogging. But please know that Mama loves you and i believe that you will become a smart, wonderful, and loving man.

Beijing Winter Trip 2016 (With 2 Kids Under 5, No Kidding)

Ni gambar introduction. 

Haha.

Tak mau ulangi kemalasan berbelog pasal Seoul trip, hakak akan cuba untuk berbelog dengan komprehensif trip ke Beijing kami baru-baru ni. Okay, it's not exactly baru-baru ini. It was 4 months ago *face palm*

Anyway, ceritanya begini.. 

Kitorang memang tak pernah terfikir atau teringin pon nak pi China. Mungkin sebab banyak cerita tak berapa best yg aku dengar pasal China kan. Plannya hujung tahun nak balik rumah PIL di Kuching. Tup tup MIL ajak pi berjalan ke Beijing. Ada kawan dia ajak.. Ikut tour katanya. Kitorang on je la asalkan dapat bersama keluarga. Gituh. *calon menantu terbaik please*

Usually when we travel, we prefer a DIY traveling. From air ticket to accommodation to transportation and food.. Semuanya plan sendiri lah. Bila semuanya DIY, memang aku control freak habis. Bukan apa, nak elak tak cukup duit, tersesat and segala macam ketidak-best-an berlaku. You are fully equipped.

Tapi bila ikut tour ni aku jadi cam tak senang duduk. Not much information were shared pre trip (mungkin sebab aku tak banyak tanya.. ye la semua MIL handle. Tanak jadi control freak plak) so banyak bende yang aku tau tak tau. Bila ikut tour ni, semua orang dah sediakan. Aku tak lah research and google apa-apa sangat. Ikut je la. Yang bestnye dah terjaga segala transportation (naik tour bus), makanan Halal and important tourist spots memang ko akan pergi. Kalau sendiri, segala harga tiket, train route, kedai halal ko selidik sendiri maka ko banyak la belajar tentang tempat tu. Gitu la sedikit sebanyak pros and cons DIY travel or tour-guided travel.

Our tour schedule looked something like this:

 Itenerary by our tour agent, Flyworld Travel & Tours

Though the itinerary looks like this, the actual order of program wasn't 100% as per the itinerary. It depended on what day of the week it was. For instance, we were suppose to go tho the Great Wall on a Sunday but the tour guide shifted it to Monday to avoid weekend crowd.

We reached Beijing at midnight. The next day, our tour started at 10am. Macam biasa, kitorang memang lambat lah. Dengan bebudak dan mak bapak tak cukup tidoqnya kan. i don't really remember our exact schedule so i'm gonna comment based on the placed we went to.

We are the back seaters of the bus.

Tiananmen Square

We went to Tiananmen Square on our first morning. It was so cold but sunny at the same time. Dhani cried for the first few minutes of walking towards the square because of the sun got in his eyes. Drama anak aku ni. Afif refused to sit in his stroller, instead he insisted to push the stroller all the way. Haha. Once we got into the square compound, we're a bit relaxed to let the kids roam free because there weren't that many people around. Seronok la diorang berlari.

Overall, Tiananmen Square visit with kids would not be too much hassle. Afif and Dhani enjoyed the space and they were in constant amazement looking at how huge things were (huge gates, huge statues, huge doors, lots of space to run freely..) but they wouldn't care much about history. i had to breastfeed Dhani but couldn't find any nursing room close to where we were at that time, so we sat down on a bench a bit hidden from people and do our business. Only down side is we had to walk a bit, about 15 minutes from our bus to enter the Tiananmen Square. It was a challenge because the kids got excited to walk (and run) along with all the people.

On the way to enter Tianmen Square. In an attempt to carry him instead of letting him run wild.

Marching of the guards and my husband and Dhani were in the middle of it all.

Entering one of the many doors

The kids went crazy here because of all the space.

Running wild

Dhani with his beloved Atok

Half-frozen river

Walking in the park.

Yours truly.

The Summer Palace

The Beijing Summer Palace comprises of a huge land with a big lake, gardens and palaces in it. We went to the Summer Palace on our second day. It was a bit hazy that day but it wasn't too bad. I'd say it's a good recreational place to go for a stroll on haze-free day. Afif and Dhani like the place because they can roam free. There's this long huge padestrian bridge which Afif loved and kept singing London Bridge is Falling Down when we walked on the bridge.

The main bridge at Summer Palace compound.


The Summer Palace.
We only viewed it from across the lake. Look how hazy it was.


Afif's 'London Bridge'


Girls and selfies :/

The Great Wall at Juyongguan

It took us around 2 hours to get to the Great Wall of China at Juyongguan Pass. Okay, honestly i'm not sure which Great Wall that we went to (was it Badaling or Juyongguan?) but based on my search on Google, our photos look like the one at Juyongguan.

There are ample of parking space for buses and private vehicle, two or three coffee shops just by the entrance and a mini photo studio where you can pose with traditional costumes. And of course, the Great Wall of China..

The Great Wall look as majestic as i imagined it would be.

It was a cold day. Temperature was around 3C. The kids were well behaved at first. They just had their lunch, so Afif was his usual jolly self and Dhani was half asleep in his stroller. Butttttt the Great Wall, being the Great Wall with steps and all, it is NOT suitable for stroller usage. We parked the stroller at the little photo studio but as we began our walk, Dhani cried and cried. He just wanted to breastfeed and nap. He demanded that we return to the bus. It was not an ideal situation for a hike up the Great Wall. My husband and i decided that i go back to the bus with Dhani and he went up the wall with Afif and the rest of our family. i admit i was so bummed to have missed hiking up the Great Wall but a crying baby will make the experience even worse.

When we got to the bus, our driver was nowhere to be found. Upon seeing the bus is locked (and a bit of explanation from me), Dhani suddenly forgot that he needs milk and a nap. He was suddenly okay again and wanted to walk (-_____-)

So i made my way up the Great Wall AGAIN, carrying a 12kg baby in my arms (i fully regretted that we left the baby carrier at home). So up we went.

At first i carried him..

..and then we walked.
The walk is the good part. The stairs is the hard part!


Half way through the wall, we finally saw Mr. Chenta and Afif climbing up the stairs.
Look how steep the steps are!


Afif and his Atok

Bertabahlah sayang mengangkut anak naik Tembok Besar Cina


Jendela istana konon.

Family!

Moh balik. Penat dah!

This is my review of our Great Wall visit in Tripadvisor.

Beijing Snow World Ski Resort (Caution: Scammers Alert!)

Before we went to the Great Wall, we went to Beijing Snow World Ski Resort (BSWSR). It was a bit of a joke, really, because 1) even though it's winter, it wasn't snowing. So instead of real snow, we have man-made snow at BSWSR, 2) there's no resort whatsoever. Just 2-3 buildings and 2 snowy slopes for skiing.

It's a good thing that we had our tour guides. We were informed that the workers at the resort will charge you for every little things they do for you. It is their way to earn a living as they can only work during the winter months because only in these months the ski resort is opened. If money is not a problem for me, i won't mind but i'm not a rich girl so yeah.

Scammer alert #1:
After you put on your rented ski boots, the ski resort workers will escort you to the 'travelator' that will bring you up the slope and  will offer to teach you to ski down. While they don't really speak English, they all looked so friendly and sincere but this won't be for free. They will charge you for the ski 'lesson'.

Instead, we straight away refused their offer to accompany us. We climbed a little bit up the slope (our first time skiing actually so we're nervoussss) and tried to ski down on our own with guidance from Ustaz Shahul, our tour guide. Even for first timers, none of us fell down. This built our confidence so we took the travelator to go higher up on the slope.Not to boast or anything but even for first timers, we didn't fall on our asses at all. i mean i'm so natural at skiing i should compete in the Winter Olympics *blows nails*

Scammer alert #2:
After you've done skiing, make sure you receive 3 cards upon returning your ski gears; one for the ski sticks, one for the ski, and one for the ski shoes. Only when ALL 3 cards are collected by the gate bouncer, they'll let you leave. USD25 will be charged if you miss a card and believe me, they'll make you miss a card. My husband didn't receive his ski card after returning the ski and after we really insisted on it, the old man finally gave him the card.

Baru sampai

Fefeeling jadi teenager balik.Excited laki bini.
Thanks Mama and Babah for entertaining Afif and Dhani while we ski!


Travelator that takes people up the beginner slope.


Teehehe.

Keras di situ.
Ok belum cukup layak bertanding Olympics.

There's also this little hill for sledding at the ski resort. Unfortunately it has a separate entrance with the main ski area and you have to pay 10 Yuan for 2 rounds of sledding. Memandangkan kesian Afif excited nak main snow tapi tak dapat sentuh snow pon kat tempat ski tadi, kami bawak la dia pi main sledding ni.

The sledding area.

Preparing to sled down.

Jyeahaha!

He asked me to build Olaf. But notice my ungloved hands there? i only managed a small snowman and Afif wasn't impressed at all (-___-)

Dia paling bahagia bila jumpa salji. Sampai skang ajak pi main salji.

Panda Visit at the Beijing Zoo

What's a trip to China without looking at the pandas right? We went to see only the panda at the Beijing Zoo. Dhani missed all the fun because he slept all through the visit. The panda center biasa je la nothing wow to shout about. But i guess visiting zoo in Beijing is much nicer than our KL zoo trip because it's so hot in KL. Kat Beijing nyaman ja. Gituh!

Pandas are so lazy they just sit around. i don't know how they came up with Kungfu Panda. Haha.

Tengok panda dari jauh.

Dhani tido don't care about no panda

Silly picture is a must.

All in All..

.. we had a blast during the Beijing trip! i think you'll have a blast anywhere as long as you're with family right? A few things to note tho:

- Beijing air is always polluted because of the limitless factories in Beijing and its surrounding area. Some days you'll get clear day, but most days are hazy. It's always a good idea to bring face masks to Beijing.

- Traveling in winter could be a challenge if like us, you're from a tropical country. During our trip, the temperature ranged from -7 Celcius to 7 Celcius. Naturally, the kids were our main concern. For each of them (for 6 days duration), we brought 3 sets of thermal inner and long johns, 2 winter outerwear (fleece and down jackets), 1 pair of fleece lined jeans, lotsa gloves, 1 pair of scarf and winter hat. Other than that, we brought their normal jeans/khakis and long sleeve t-shirts. The key to winter wear is LAYERING. Layer your usual outfit with thermal wear and jacket and you'll be fine.

- Also bring along lipbalm and moisturizer for the kids. And feed them lots of water. It can get pretty dry.

- Trips to Beijing memang tak sah kalau tak melawat kilang teh, kilang sutera kilang jade dan kilang bamboo charcoal. These are like a requirement for all the tour agents to bring the tourist to these places. Kitorang tanak pon, diorang kata kene jugak bawak. Dah la barang mahal kat tempat-tempat ni. Haih.

- I'd recommend our hotel especially if you're a Muslim looking for affordable accommodation in Beijing. They serve halal breakfast spread, a halal noodle restaurant and Tesco are next door.

- There are LOTS of Halal Chinese food in Beijing if you know where to look. Because we traveled with a travel agent, our meals are all taken care of. We went to various Halal restaurants but unfortunately i didn't really take note of the restaurants' names.

My Tripadvisor review of City Inn Beijing Hotel.

Beijing on hazy days.

That's all for now. Til next post!

Dhani's First Birthday

I am such a horrible mom.

My baby Dhani turned 1 LAST APRIL and I didn't even mention it in my blog.

Forgive me baby. It doesn't mean that I love you any less than I love your brother. My lack of update simply means that I'm too busy looking after you guys that I don't have time to blog. 

Dhani's first day on Allah's earth.

At 3 months old. Temankan afif kat spital masa buat cochlear implantation surgery.

Okay. let's talk about Dhani.

Development

The last time I blogged about Dhani's developmental milestone when he was 5 month young. Time tu dia baru nak start merangkak. He is an early crawler I think, sebab at 6+ month dia dah merangkak ke sana-sini. Masuk 8-9 bulan camtu dia pandai bangun sendiri dah pastu meniti keliling rumah. Mane leh berpaut dia berpaut lah. Paling feveret dia berpaut kat lutut kitorang pastu takmo lepas sebab mintak dukung. Haha.

On his majlis Aqiqah in Kuching.

Time ni la dia tetiba pandai merangkak laju pulak tu.

Masa 9.5 bulan dia dah try melangkah. 1-2 tapak jatuh. Lepas tu 2-3 tapak jatuh. Wan dah confident gila kata Dhani ni nanti umur 10 bulan dah boleh jalan la niii.. Tapiiii sampai 11 bulan pon tak jalan sendiri lagi. Haha. Dia ada demam skali right before his first birthday. Lepas demam tu terus tanak bertatih atau cuba jalan dah.

Start nak berjalan masa umur 11bulan. 2-3 tapak jatuh. Almost 2 mths later baru berjalan lancar. Huhu.

At last, finally 1 month ago, dia berjalan banyak tapak dah. Dhani is officially an independent walker at almost 13 month old. teehehe! Skang memang berjalannnnn je la keje dia. Terkedek-kedek daripada hall ke dapur, berjoget bagai. He can even walk up and down the stairs (berpaut kat railing, of course).

Dhani likes to talk. He can say a few words already. "Nak nenen" is his favourite. Haha. His common words are ata (atas), pah (kipas), daddy, ngah (mak ngah) along with other words lah. Dulu masa dengan Afif, he can't say much at this age (obviously because of his deafness) but I thought normal la budak setahun takleh cakap langsung. Skang dah ada Dhani baru tau yang at 1 year, babies really should have had a few words already.

Likes & Dislikes

His favorite person is me, of course. Berani dia suka orang lain lebih? Afif is also his favorite person. Kalau Afif gi sekolah nampak la dia bosan and lost. Quite surprisingly, my Mak Ngah is also his favorite person. Mak Ngah is almost always on the couch, bila Mak Ngah bangun gi dapor dia mesti sebok nk ikut. Pastu suka randomly datang and hug mak ngah. Haha. Daddy dia pon dia sayang. Randomly datang kat Mr. Chenta mintak cium. Haha.

Wefie with Mama at 10mths old

*excuse my bare face tak cukup tidur itu*

Favorite show was Cars then it's Planes: Fire & Rescue and now it's Pororo (after our recent trip to Seoul).

He loves plain water. Hates baby food since he was 11 months old. He eats whatever we feed Afif. Senang la jugak keje aku takyah buat and blend porridge, puree bagai. Walaupon dia tembam, dia makan tak banyak. Tembam susu agaknya budak ni. Dia suka makan biskut, keropok ikan dan roti. Aiskrim pon dia suka woih. Nampak orang makan dia akan cakap "Nak, nak, nak. nak ni!"

He loves to hear me sing. Favorite songs are Twinkle-twinkle (sambil dia buat tangan twinkle bila aku nyanyi), Old McDonald, Row Your Boat, Johny Johny.. Kalau aku nyanyi pastu stop, dia marah. Soh nyanyi lagi sampai lebam. Haha.

He also loves to read. I think it's because of our routine bedtime story session. Asal nampak buku je membelek. His favorite book so far is Dot & Dash Go to Bed and any books about Lightning McQueen.

He loves looking at the cats and say "yawww"

Alhamdulillah Dhani seorang yang mellow dan tak banyak ragam.Tapi clingy nya ya Rabbi. Kene tinggal sikit, nanges. Walopon aku ke jamban je.

Hobbies

He loves cuddling with me. Hehe. Pastu suke ajak org keluar. Asal aku balik keje dia mintak dukung and ajak kuar. Lagi satu benda dia paling suka adalah baca buku. Can you believe it? Randomly he'd point to a cupboard where we put their books in our room and say "Ku! Ku!" (buku!)

Latest, dia suka menconteng. I was at work one day when my SIL whatsapp-ed me a picture of Dhani's hand covered in blue ink with a caption "Anak ko conteng dinding rumah. Habis ni haaa". True enough, I came home to find a wall covered with mishmash of scribble.

Suka bubble bath berdua.

If i have to choose the caption for this photo, it'd be THE TROUBLEMAKERS.

Skang hobi dia memanjat. I cant leave him unattended kalau tak habis lah.

Breastfeeding Journey

What can i say.. He loves the boobs and the milkies. He sucks for comfort and for food. i still pump and express milk at work but sadly i can't produce much anymore. Sebenarnya boleh je kot tapi memang kene extra extra effort. Kalau setakat pam 2 kali sehari dapat la 6-9oz je. Haritu seminggu aku selsema demam batuk, seminggu la production merudum sampai 2oz je per day. Stok kat rumah memang takda so dah campur la dengan fm. Boleh je aku tak pam langsung dah and fully fm while i'm at work and bf in the evening je. Tapi sebagai mak, aku ade attachment issue jugak. Cam kesiannyaaa anak aku takda susu ibu. Sikit pon better than nothing la kan? And it helps me maintain my weight. Hehe. So selagi mampu, aku continue jugak bf and pump at work.

Misc

For his birthday, we didn't have any party or big celebration. Just beli brownies fro A'ai pastu nyanyi happy birthday and tiup lilin kat rumah. Reason being are:
1) kami pemalas nak party jemput orang bagai.
2) bukannya bebudak ni ingat pon first birthday. Ada gambar dengan kek cukup syarat dah la kan?
3) instead of a party, we wanna make it a tradition to go for a holiday for each and every child's birthdays. Yes, they might not remember it but we remember. It's like a celebration of look-we-survived-his/her-first-year! That's why we went to Perth for Afif's birthday.

So for Dhani's first birthday, we went to Seoul! Actually agak belated la sebab aku kene gi kursus 2 bulan masa birthday dia tu. End up, almost 2 weeks after his birthday baru gi. Hehe.

Gambar passport katanyaaa

A very small birthday celebration to mark his first year. 

Dhani & Mama at Nami Island!

At Pororo's music room, Lotte World, Seoul.

Sigh.

What more can i say? i love LOVE LOVE this boy. He has 7 teeth already and when he smiles.. That smile lights up my entire life. Such a happy baby. And he imitates words almost immediately, mulut dia boleh tahan becok jugak.

Dhani, i want you to know that i love you so very much. You light up my world with your cheekiness and easy-going personality. You being clingy sometimes is an inconvenience but secretly that's what i love about us; it makes me feel like i'm needed and so loved. i pray that you grow up to be a great man, healthily and happily.

Mama loves you so much. Don't forget that.

My SuperBaby.