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.

10 Years On

Today is me & Mr. Chenta's tenth anniversary of being together.

TEN freaking YEARS!

Today, 10 years ago, was the first time he told me he loves me. Haha it was funny, really. i've always known that he had a thing for me by the way he acted and the things he said. But men being men, he did not confess.

Sampai la that fateful day..

*Happy sigh*

i've been having feeling for him for years too. So naturally, i said 'i love you, too' without hesitation. Tak reti jual mahal langsung haha

Thinking about it still gives me goosebumps til this day.

It's really true what they say, time flies when you're having fun. Alhamdulillah our 10 years together seemed to went by in a blink because we really do have fun together. Tipu lah kalau takde masa-masa sedih, tak gaduh, tak sentap, takde ugutan nak breakup. Tipu lah kalau semuanya smooth.

But you know what? Alhamdulillah we made it through.

Through study years.

Through early working years.

Through jealousy and orang-nak-ngorat-gf/bf-aku phase.

We got MARRIED!

We became PARENTS!

Through the grief of Afif's deafness.

Through the kilograms that we gain together.

Through financial ups and downs.

Our journey is a beautiful one. i know i can get through anything as long as i have you.

Baby, the last ten years are the best 10 years of my life. Everyday i thank the Almighty for you. Trials and tests are always gonna be there but i always pray that we'll stay in love and we'll stay happy together til we take our last breath and insyaAllah, enter His paradise together.

To many more years of adventure together, insyaAllah.

SAHM No More

Hope it's not too late to wish you happy new year!

i have two posts labeled as draft that i didn't have the time and strength to finish.

Prior to my last post, there's a huge blogging hiatus for me.

i thought i could blog more when i become a stay at home mom. i had all these things happening in my life that made me go "i need to blog about this!" But haha!

Skang dah masuk keje dah haa.. i no longer wear the Stay at Home Mom crown.

Seriously, being a SAHM is far more time-occupying than being at work. i didn't even read Whatsapp on the spot. Could only reply to messages 1-2 hours (if not days) after receiving them.

Among the 'happening' things in the last 4-5 months:

- It's been 4 5 months since Afif's CI is switched on. Afif can talk now. Okay, takde la talk sangat. Still mainly jargon. His language development is equal to kids age 1-2 year old. But he can say stuff like shushu when he wants milk, kacot, aket, jatoh, and so on.. He'll say 2-word sentences when he is bossing Dhani around. "Adik, no no no!" "Adik, jatuh!" "Adik, sini!" His word count is now somewhere at 200 words so i'm so happy with his progress. Terbaru dia suka repeat ape orang tanye. Haha.

- We celebrated Afif's third birthday in October. Just an intimate celebration setakat potong kek dan makan mihun and lasagna but he was so happy! He played all day with his little uncles and aunties, happily nyanyi lagu birthday, tiup lilin bagai. Everytime i watch the video, it brings me so much happiness. The only thing missing was his daddy who were in Jeddah at that time. A few days later, the spech students and Dr. Basha gave a surprise birthday celebration for Afif and Aisya (she's like 10 years old, wears CI, talking and learning like normal kids already. So insipirational!).

 Afif enjoying his birthday cake

 

Afif and Kak Aisya, surprised at iHears, UKM.

- Dhani si tembam dah start makan solid food. Umur 5.5 bulan aritu aku start bagi. Despite being tembam, he doesn't really eat much until recently. He loves sweet food like apple+cinnamon puree, pumpkin+date puree, banana+avocado mash.. Salmon and fish porridge kekadang je licin mangkok.

- He is 9.5 mont already! He started crawling at 7+ month and now he's busy climbing up and meniti kat kerusi, dinding, etc. Kekadang dia lepas tangan cam nak berdiri dah. Tapi 2-3 saat je tahan pastu terduduk. Haha. Memang takleh tinggal sensorang dah budak ni.

- He tries to imitate sounds and words already. Like mama, bababa, tata.. He also loves doing hand gestures like bye-bye, flying kiss, and tepuk tangan bila org cakap "pok amai-amai" or "pandaiiii!"

- The fact that how  different Afif and Dhani are totally amazes me. I thought they're both boys. How different in personality could they be right? Wrong! Afif didn't crawl, and because of his hearing loss, he didn't talk or say much in his first few months. Dhani crawls all over the place, is noisy (especially when he joins in when Afif buat bising) and so cheeky.

- i survived almost 2 months of LDR! Mr. Chenta got home from Jeddah in early November, safe and sound alhamdulillah. 

i can't thank God enough for the invention of Facetime. Tetiap hari sepanjang Mr. Chenta di Jeddah, ni la keje aku #clingywife

- brought the kids for their first ever visit to the zoo! Tapi cam menyesal sebab Zoo Negara tengah under renovation so banyak attraction tutup. Animal show pon takde. Humpf.

Afif met Mr. Giraffe yang takmo datang dekat pon (-___-)

- Dhani's first airplane ride at 7+ months. Masa flight KL-Kuching, Mr. Chenta tak ikut sebab keje. Aku balik dulu ngan SIL and Wan. Ade teman pon, cuak weh bawak 2 kids.i mainly worried if Afif wants to run around or Dhani screams his head off. Alhamdulillah, both were good boys. Afif dah besar, so dia macam dah paham bila explain kita tengah tunggu kapal terbang, beratur nak boarding, duduk, pakai seat belt, kapar terbang nak take off, etc.. Dhani pon behave.

 Dhani's first airplane ride!

And even though this is Afif's umpteenth airplane ride, it's the first time that he really understands that we're flying. From queuing to get into airplane, putting the seat belt on, no standing/walking/messing around, sampai la landing, he understands and really listened.

Landed in Kuching!

There's Farah, my SIL, Afif, and Wan.

Our flight from Kuching to KL. Ni anak beranak obsess ngan kapal terbang.

Airplane wefie katanya.

- We had Dhani's aqiqah at PIL's place in Kuching. Takde la pelamin, buaian berendoi bagai. A simple ceremony berzanji, baca doa and makan-makan afterwards. It's so good to see Babah's side of the family.

Marhaban & berzanji. Afif excited lebih.

Cukur jambul

 Cukur jambul

 Bercukur dengan nenek-nenek pulak.

 Haji Dhani too happy

 Haji Dhani dah ngantok

- my best friend Shaf got married!

 During Shaf's bachelorette party.

- My SIL is back for good from UK. So rasa seronok la macam ada kawan and helping hands with the kids at home.

- In the last few months of unpaid leave, i sort of have a small business selling choc chip cookies. Alhamdulillah every week ade je tempahan. Setakat kawan n sedara mara order. Ade kedai bakery supply ni soh aku buat doorgift tp tak brani amek. Nak siapkan order tak banyak ni pon rase semputtt sangat apatah lagi nak buat doorgift kawen. Takpe lah. Belom ke situ rezeki aku. Tak ready lagi.

- in December, my SIL and i registered our very first company. For now we're focusing on selling plus size clothes. We started small, modal pon tak besar. Alhamdulillah the response for our first batch is good. Almost all the clothes were sold out. Alhamdulillah. Ni kitorang baru launch second batch. Tapi second batch ni slow sikit. It's okay, we learn along the way.

 Some of our plus size collection.

Do visit us at Facebook Just Stuff or our Instagram @juststuff_my if you're looking for plus size clothing!

- i got an iPhone 6S from Mr. Chenta and a Coach handbag from my MIL for my birthday! Rezeki sangat. Any woman would be happy with these pressies kannn..

 

Birthday date and pressie from him

Birthday dinner with my girls.

- Sepanjang cuti jugak attend 3 workshop berkaitan hearing and speech development. The first one was a 2-day workshop by Cochlear and HUKM. Gigih angkut Dhani tapi second day aku ponteng haha. Pastu workshop by Cochlear with guest audiologist and SLP, the great Prof. Dr. jane Madell, and the last one workshop by Hear Me and Dr. Basha. i learn a lot from these 3 workshops on how to better help Afif on his speech and language progress.

 Afif dan kawan-kawan sekasut

Mama Afif dan kawan-kawan sekasut.

- went for a picnic at Ulu Yam with my Ucu and her family. Seronok la Afif mandi sungai. Dhani meragam je sebab takmo orang pastu cam rimas agaknya berkhemah tengah panas. Pastu paling takleh lupa, tengah hari tetiba hujan lebat. hahaha. Kelam kabut weh dengan anak kecik bagai. 

 Budak berlengas picnic tengah panas. Haha

 Afif tengah berendam, kami bergambar. Haha

Ni plak masa celebrate Wan's 94th birthday!

- we went to Flip Out, a trampoline park at Sg. Buluh (dekat ngan Uptown Mutiara Damansara je sebenarnya). Afif la paling sakan melompat. Aku pon sama. laki aku jaga Dhani dok tepi. Haha. Serious best weh lompat melompat. Rasa carefree. Plus i heard the instructor said 10 minutes of trampoline-jumping equals to 30 minutes of jogging. Sakan la kan.

Aksi-aksi kami di Flip Out

- Afif started playschool like i blogged before. Still can't believe my boy's in school. This morning i sent him to school and stayed a bit to watch him from the teacher's office's huge window. Teacher dok ajak berjoget beramai-ramai, dia pi buat hal dia main slide *emoticon smiley nanges di sini*. Teacher said he has a best friend named Isyraf. asyik berkepit je depa. haha. Ko paham takkk tetiba my baby dah ada best friend?

- i am now back to work. It feels a bit bizarre. From waking up with my babies at 10am to rushing to get ready and to get Afif ready by 8am. From milk-stained tank tops to work clothes. From the sound of screaming/laughing toddler and baby to the tapping of keyboards and meetings.

- ...and not to mention that i now am no longer Petronas Holding staff. i'm a Petronas Carigali staff. Yea, they're like sisters company but hello new office, new bosses, new colleagues, new environment, new role!

- you have probably read in Facebook yang orang kecoh-kecoh pasal harga minyak jatuh, that oil & gas industry is in trouble, that Petronas is in bigger trouble.. It's true that oil price is dangerously low, the economy is badly affected. But rumors about Petronas maintains just rumors. Truthfully, aku risau la jugak kan. Dah la baru nak merasa balik gaji hasil titik peluh sendiri pastu dengar pasal buang keje la, potong gaji la VSS la.. and worse thing is these rumors are from people/news OUTSIDE of Petronas. Kelakar kan? i'm gonna put my faith in Allah and my employer. i believe Petronas takkan naya staff dia dan negara.

Phewwww..

Hamek ko. Sekali berbelog berjela tulis ha.

Til next post.

Muahz!

Afif's First Week of School

Yup.. You read that right.

Afif is officially a student now!

At first i thought he's too young for school. I mean, he just turned 3 last October. 

But then, he'll be 5 next year and will go to kindergarten. If he is not introduced to school and all its elements; socializing, taking instructions, writing, dancing, singing, learning the basic things, then i'm afraid he'll have a hard time in kindergarten next year. And Dr. Basha, Afif's speech therapist strongly recommends for him to go to playschool, mainly to mingle with typical kids and learn to take and follow instructions (as he's always does as he pleases in therapy, takmo ikut planned exercises). 

Because of his hearing loss, our priority is looking for a playschool with small student to teacher ratio. I started to look around and went to a few schools since October last year. Most schools has 15-20 students per class which is too much. Even with CI, he can't hear perfectly in noise.

In the end Mr. Chenta and i chose TIM Athfaal. They offer smaller groups in playschool, 1 teacher for 4-5 students. They also have ANIS program for special needs children (mainly autism, ADHD, speech delay, etc) so i believe they have enough experience (not to mention patience) to teach and care for Afif even though Afif goes for the typical/mainstream class. Having the school so close to us (tak sampai 10 minit pon naik kete dari rumah) is a HUGE bonus.

Dah jadi mak-mak ni cam biase la. Emo sungguh bila anak masuk skolah. Padahal Playschool je pon. Rasa cam "dah besarnye anak akuuu" mase pakaikan baju sekolah, sediakan beg dia. Padahal dalam beg tu ade spare clothes, pampers and botol susu je pon. Baahaha.

Anyway, first day of school turned out well. His first day of school was on a Tuesday (5th January 2016). We woke up early. He was a bit confused like apehal tetibe bangon awal gila siap mandi bagai. Lepas pakai baju, minom air and a bit of bread, excited gila pakai kasut and beg terus nak berlari masuk kereta. Nan hadooo nak amek gamba pakai baju sekolah bagai.

Sampai sekolah pon excited la nak naik (his school is at a 3-stories shoplots. Kelas dia kat tingkat dua so kene naik tangga setingkat la). Masuk je pintu kelas tu, aku soh dia simpan bag kat rak, pastu pelesuppppp dia lari pi main. Nan hado heran mak bapak dan adiknya duduk sini. Around us there were a few anxious moms, a few kids beriba and clinging to teacher/parent, and one or two crying kids.

Afif memang terus attack slides la. Pastu dia main giant blocks dengan 2 orang budak ni. Ada skali ni camne ntah dia main pastu a wall of blocks terjatuh berderai. Dia nak betulkan pastu dia baling seketul block. Kawan dia 2 orang ni nampak and they decided to follow Afif's lead of baling-baling block! Mereka beramai-ramai baling-baling blocks sambil gelak-gelak. Kelam kabut teacher nak redakan. Haha.

Tengok dia leka main dan tak pandang langsung kitorg, kitorang pon decide nak balik. Dari jauh aku usha memang langsung tak cari *ikon menangis sambil ketawa disini*

Alhamdulillah, Afif's first week of school turned out great. Takde sekali pon nanges. Siap babai lagi ade.

How did you grow up to be this big boy, son?

Our view as we were leaving Afif on his first day of school. He was busy playing on the slides.

The teachers are kind enough to set up a Whatsapp group for us. Occasionally we get photos of Afif at school which i obviously love!

Circle time: Each morning they gather in a circle and each students are encouraged to talk. Though i don't think Afif really talks in these session given his limited vocab. Not yet. 

He'll get there soon, in shaa Allah.

"Painting"

Mealtime with friends

Hari Jumaat baru dapat bergambar dengan kamu, anak!

Afif is ready for school while Mama is ready for work.

As a mother, of course i worry about Afif being at school. i never really left him in a group of people. With his hearing loss, the worry just seems bigger you know.

Does he have friends? 

Do the kids peer or even pull at his hearing devices? What if he can't hear?

Are the teachers okay? Did they read the manual i provide them? 

Does he listen to the teacher and sit down when asked or is he still wondering around, minding his own business?

Is he adjusting well? 

Does he eat? i know he can be a picky eater sometimes. 

Does he look for me? 

I decided to ask his teacher. And her reply instantly put me at ease.

Yes, he follows our instructions. Though kids being kids, they need repetition.
And yes, he eats everything given but only one serving. Dah habis sepinggan dia bangun main balik.

This sounds just like my boy.

My ever-exploring, friendly, independent, compassionate, cheerful and clever boy.

especially the i-hate-naptime part. So Afif.

Afif, if you're reading this wayyy in the future, please know that Mama is so SO proud of you. i pray that you'll stay pure, stay the ever-exploring, friendly, independent, compassionate, cheerful and clever boy that you are today.

p/s: i forwarded this to Dr. Basha and she told me to "Celebrate the small success stories of Afif. Ur little man has just been introduced to the mainstream world!" That, my son, is what i do. Celebrate you.