Afif is F.O.U.R!

Alhamdulillah.

God, time seems to move on so fast and before i know it, my eldest son is 4 already!

Four, guys, four!

Gone were the cuddly infant years and the toddler years with all the tantrum and mood swings. My now 4-year-old son has became a little man.

i have so much to say about Afif i don't even know where to begin.

Kurusnya Afif!

First of all, he has grown tall and thin. All the baby fat on him? Poufff, gone! We always get comments from people "Kurusnya Afifff!" and "Kenapa Afif makin kurus ni?"

Well people, no, we don't starve him. In fact, it's the complete opposite wehhh. Everyday for breakfast he eats soft-boiled eggs (3 eggs for both him and Dhani). An hour after that he's ask for food (usually peanut butter-choc sandwich or banana). At around 1pm he eats lunch, usually rice with a protein (chicken or fish but his fave is egg tofu) and vege. Kalau lunch feveret tu memang 2 mangkok pon licin. Around 3 or 4pm makan snacks (biskot, roti, coklat, banana or grapes). Malam makan lagi nasi or pasta. Banyak kan dia makan kan? i also dunno why he looks thin. Vitamin pon bagi. To be honest kadang terasa la jugak bila orang asik cakap kurusnya afif. Macam aku tak kasi anak makan plak kan? Then again i feed him good stuff, i know he has normal appetite and he is not sick. His BMI is within the normal range.. So tak kisah la kan kurus pon sihat and i know that i look after him the best i could.

Si kurus Mama

Memang Tak Habis Energy Ye Afif?

Afif memang sangat energetic. Kalau weekend or cuti sekolah memang dari pagi sampai malam la dia berjaga dan melasak. No naptime whatsoever. Aku kalo weekend memang penat la dari pagi ke malam melayan dia. On school days dia tido tengah hari. Tu pon lepas brapa lama sekolah baru dia adapt to the tido siang culture.

Tapi yang elok nya dia tak berapa tido siang ni, malam cepat je dia tido. We try to impose early (sorta) bedtime for our children.. Kol 8.45pm dah get ready dalam bilik.. Bedtime story, minom susu, gosok gigi & pakai pampers (he still sleeps with diapers on haha) and around 9-9.15pm, lights out.

Skang dia punya feveret is jadi gymnast. Dia boleh buat terbalik-terbalik tu weh. Terjun dari kerusi siap terbalik badan. Tak lama lagi agaknya boleh buat cartwheel. Haha. Kalo murah rezeki boleh la consider masuk gymnastic classes ye dop?

Aktiviti petang

Afif at School

As i blogged before, Afif goes to playschool at the start of the year. He was enrolled in mainstream playschool because we (with his speech therapist recommendation) would like him to mingle with kids his age to enhance his speech progress. As the months go by, the teachers notice that Afif was not able to focus on table top activities. Buat aktiviti 2-5 minit pastu dia bangun nak main. He has short attention span and low sitting tolerance. After discussion, the teachers group him with younger kids (3 year olds) as his hearing and speech age is around 2.5-3 years. Tapi bila dah group ngan adik-adik ni, dia lah abang long. Orang soh buat keje, dia ajak kekawan dia main. pening teacher! Haha

 Teacher hantar gambar Afif ngamok kat sekolah (-_____-)

Fun with friends

Lawatan ke balai bomba

After further discussion, we agreed to put him in Behavior Modification Program (BMP). Untung nya sekolah Afif ni ada mainstream playschool, mainstream preschool and also program for special needs kids which is BMP ni la. Kat BMP dah included speech therapy, occupational therapy, water therapy, and the teachers are experienced with special needs kids with conditions like autism, ADHD, dyslexia, to name a few..

Memula risau la jugak sebab most kids at BMP are non-verbal. Maknanya tak bercakap sangat. Macam mana Afif nk bercakap kalau kekawan tak bercakap kan? But we realize in order for him to progress better, he needs to learn to focus, follow instruction and have high sitting tolerance. So we give it a shot. He started his BMP program in August.

Alhamdulillah after almost 3 months, memang nampak la progress. The first 2 weeks tu dia memang takmo masuk kelas BMP tu. Menangis nak naik atas (kelas playschool). Tapi lepas tu, he loves it. We notice he is happier. Malam sebelum dah kata "Esok gi sekolah.. Jumpa teacher.. Jumpa Kawan.. Jumpa Isyraff.."

Progress lain adalah dia lagi senang follow instruction dan paling ketara he speaks English! Seryes yang ni mak terkejut. Sebabnya we speak Malay at home coz that is the normal practice bila ngajar budak pekak bercakap (speak one language or kalo nk sangat dual language, one parent kene cakap 100% Malay, one parent cakap 100% English which memang tak laa kan). Sekarang ni dia boleh count 123 in both language, knows colors in both language, and understand simple instruction in both language (sit down, stand up, be gentle, wash buntut haha). He knows ABC and when we read books, i sometimes point to letters in words dia cam those letters. Maybe next step is to teach him reading la kot but before that, kene improve his focus. We still have to work on his attention span but these progress are good enough for now.

Berbaloi la spend beribu yuran sekolah sebulan bila nampak progress kan..

Afif Talks!

i remember being worried about his future and his ability to talk when he was first diagnosed with hearing loss. Alhamdulillah after 3 years of wearing hearing aids and 1 year of using the cochlear implant, he can now talk! He talks in 2-3 words sentences. If we're lucky dapat la 4-words sentences (tapi sangat jarang la). He doesn't have tantrums anymore coz he can now express his feelings and what he wants. Among his words are..

Mama, lapa la.. Jom makan.

Air apple habis. Jom pegi kedai.

Esok Afif gi sekolah. Jumpa teacher, jumpa isyraf, jumpa kawan..

Daddy takde. Daddy gi keje.

Pinjam telefon. Nak (main) Minion.

Afif tanak swimming. Nanti tenggelam. Afif nanges.

Kadang tu memang aku stress jugak weh sebab dia cakap non-stop. Dulu nak sangat anak bercakap. Ha skang non-stop dia membebel tau pon penat nak layan.

Mama! Lampu merah..

Mama!! Minion jatuh!

Mama! Tingginya rumahhhh

Mama! ade semut la..

Mama! Angin.. Pokok goyang nanti jatuh!

Seriously, dude?

Ni la among common daily conversation kitorang. Haha.. Tapi butir perkataan dia tu memang pelat. Kadang mama dedi je paham. Contoh nama dia Afif, dia sebut Ashish. Minion dia sebut minek. Apple dia sebut apo. Ape-ape la, nak, janji mama daddy paham. Haha

InsyaAllah with more hard work and practice, he will continue to progress and hopefully talks like typical kids.

Afif Likes and Dislikes 

Afif is a fun-loving, happy, friendly, sweet and smart kid. He loves saying hi to random strangers and making friends. He loves playing with water but tak suka gi water therapy sebab nanti kene benam dalam air. Haha. He loves animal. His favourite foods are creamy pasta, nasik lauk labu masak lemak or tofu telur. His current favourite shows/movies are Minions, Tangled, Wreck-it Ralph and American Ninja Warriors. He loves playing Minion Rush game on the iPad and he is so good at it. He loves doing puzzles. He loves his brother Dhani so dearly and he sleeps hugging or holding Dhani's hand.

On the other side, he could sometimes be rough, impatient, careless and overly lasak. Bila bergaduh ngan Dhani tu aku rasa nak tamparrrr je dia.  Bila kat mall tu cam pelesit dia lari. He does not like spicy food at all. 

He has a bestfriend. Nama dia Isyraff. i think the main reason why he loves going to school is Isyraff. He loves talking about Isyraff, even with his limited vocabulary. Selalu cerita Isyraff marah, Isyraff nanges, isyraff langgar dinding pastu jatuh.. Pernah sekali ni hantar dia gi sekolah. Dari jauh dengar budak jerit "Afifff!" Rupanya Isyraff baru sampai. They ran towards each other and hug. Macam la setahun tak jumpa. Haha. 

Birthday Celebration

We didn't do much for his birthday celebration this year. Kami celebrate sehari awal kat sekolah je. Beli cake and prepare some goodies for his friends and teachers. Tema nya adalah Minions sebab dia gila Minion masa tu. Minions cake and Minions goodie bag (siap pisang okayyy..) Suka dia celebrate ngan kawan-kawan. 

Afif, friends, and his Minions cake

Excited nampak kek.

Goodie bag set sederhana. Haha

On his birthday, kebetulan ada speech therapy at Institute HEARS. Dia demam sebenarnya tapi bila therapist bagitau ada kek, kami datang juga. Tapi ye lah birthday boy demam kan.. Duduk monyok je dia. Kesiannn.. Haha. But i'm so touched by the effort by Dr. Basha and team. Last year pon diorang celebrate birthday Afif. Semoga Allah balas yang baik2 untuk doktor.

Afif birthday celebration at Institute HEARS.
Afif demam, terus tak ingat nak bergambar bagai.
The hijabi lady in pink is Dr. Basha. She is the one we're forever indebted to. She plays a huge role in Afif's speech & development.

Alhamdulillah..

i'm so grateful for my boy. Walaupon dia ada kekurangan, Allah lebihkan banyak untuk dia. Ramai sayang dia, hensem plak tu (sape lagi nak puji anak sendiri kan? Haha). Baik hatinya. A happy and friendly kid (Dr. Basha's words). 

i pray that Allah continues to keep you blessed with good health, abundance in rezeqi, terang hati and stay good & pure inside out. Mama & Daddy love you so much.

Afif Got a Haircut!

Rambut Afif dah panjang.

Sebelum ni masa umur dia setahun lebih gitu pernah bawak potong kedai. Dia punya lasak nya Tuhan je tau. Pastu kan kalau potong rambut rasa cam miang geli geli bila rambut tu jatuh. Memang nangis la dia.. Memang serik la kitorang bawak gi potong kat kedai dah.

Since then, kitorang potong rambut dia kat rumah je. Mr. Chenta siap beli mesin cukur rambut tu haa sebab nak potong rambut dia. Sebab tu la style rambut dia tak brapa nak up-to-date. Mak bapak yg potong. Asal boleh. Kahkahkah

Macam mana ntah bleh plak hilang mesin cukur rambut tu. Rambut dia plak makin panjang. Rimas aku tengok. So since 2 weeks ago i've been telling him "jom gi kedai potong rambut. Panjang la rambut Afif.."Pastu kalau lalu salon or barbershop kitorg akan cakap "bestnye potong rambut. Hensem la.. Jom!" Everytime jugak la jawapan dia "no! Tanak! Tak boleh laa.."

Sampai la last week. Rambut dia yang panjang tu asyik masuk mata. Dia dok ngadu "sakit mata la mama. Rambut masuk mata.." Aku pon explain la rambut Afif panjang.. Kene potong ni. Gi kedai la jom potong rambut.. Sebab rimas agaknya terus dia kata okay. Tapi kitorang tak sempat bawak.

Last week Tuesday, masa SIL amek aku balik keje, dia kata Afif dok ajak dia "Aunty, jom gi kedai. Potong rambut" Ape lagi terus la kitorang bertukar haluan gi Alpha Angle. Nak potong kat Kwik Cut la gamaknya. Masa tunggu turn tu, aku Google gambar boy haircut and tanya kat dia nak macam mana.. excited la dia scroll memilih. Sampai satu gamba ade budak rambut panjang dia tunjuk and kata "Mama, ni no-no. Tak Boleh. Panjang masuk mata" 

Sampai turn dia, semangat je duduk. Tukang gunting plak seorang amoi. Pandai la dia membodek and amek hati Afif. Pakai kain sarung tu bagai and start menggunting. Tengok je diri dia kat cermin. Ada certain time masa mesin tu cukur area2 tengkuk, terkekeh dia gelak. Geli! Haha.

Prepping for the cut. Looking so excited.

Almost done!

Dah habis gunting dia belek-belek rambut dia. Aku pon cakap "Woww.. Cantik nye rambut pendek. Hensem la Afif!" Pastu dia kata "Yayyy! Good job, aunty! Thank you!" sambil cakap kat hairdresser tu siap thumbs up bagai.

Seeing this, i realized that my baby is not a baby anymore. Slowly he developed into this little man before my eyes. Wanting to get a hair cut, praising and thanking a good work by a total stranger. That is a HUGE deal to me. 

We left the barbershop with springs in our step.

Ahh Afif. Don't grow up too fast ok? Mama can't handle it.

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.

Potty Training Afif

We didn't really have a plan for the last 4-day weekend. Mr. Chenta has to work which sucks big time, so i thought i might as well do something useful with the boys at home.

And what could be more useful than potty training Afif? 

He is 3 years 4 months already, he would tell us that he's peeing and pooping when he's in the middle of doing those and he seems to know that toilet is for pooping, peeing and showering.

So he's ready right?

Or so I thought.

Preparation

Portable potty - checked!
Brief/training pants - checked! (I got him the ones with Lightning McQueen on it)
Endless energy for me - Somewhat checked
Patience. Lots of it - Err..

Day 1

We began by me explaining to him that he's gonna wear this Lightning McQueen 'spender', so he needs to tell me when he feels like shishi-ing or pooping.

"Afif tak pakai pampers tau, pampers takde.." I continued to say.

He looked at me, then at his pack of diaper by the bed, and slowly smiled "Tuu.. pa-pesh!" and pointing at his diapers. The kid is too smart for me. "Tu pampers adik.. Afif pakai spender je okay.." He just cheerfully nod like whatever, mama.

Every 15 minutes, I'd ask him if he wants to pee. He would excitedly say "shishi!" and off we go to the loo. Kene tunggu dalam 5-10 minit baru la shishi. Ada kadang tu tak shishi langsung. Lelama aku increase interval to every 20 minutes.

On that first day, 2 kali terbabas sebab aku ignore bunyi timer kat phone sebab leka buat something. Tapi terbabas dia tak la full blown pee. Dia cam dah terkucil sket, pastu dia kata, "shishi!" followed by me madly carrying him and running off to the toilet pastu dia dengan leganya kencing habis. Haha.

Lepas mandi petang aku pakaikan dia pampers. Tak larat dah nak bawak dia every 20 minutes.

Day 2

He got better in the morning. No accident whatsoever sebab every 20 minutes bawak gi toilet. I thought ok la he got the hang of it already. So aku pon tak la duduk je ngan dia. Confident tinggalkan dia and gi masak kat dapur.

Tengah masak tu tengok dia sembunyi tepi dinding sengih-sengih. Aku ingat dia ajak main hide and seek so layan la sambil masak tu. Pastu after 10 minutes tengok dia kat tepi dinding lagi. Aku dah pelik. Tetiba dia kata "Amaa... O'ok!" Tengok-tengok dia dah terberak kat situ ade poopoo dua ketul atas lantai. Haahaha. Kau tak rasa aku menjerit?

Jerit pastu gelak sebab tak sampai hati marah dia. I just emphasize again and again "Afif, nak o'ok shishi bagitau mama.. Kene pegi toilet. Kesian mama penattttt mop lantai"

In total 2 accidents on second day.

Malam aku pakaikan je pampers. Too tired to care.

Taken just before a shishi incident

Day 3

I'm proud to say that he stayed dry the whole day today yay! I still have to bring him to the toilet every 30 minutes. He still needs a few minutes to properly rasa nak kencing. We found out that singing and dancing while waiting to shishi (lagu If You're Happy and You Know it) helps to speed up the process. so bayangkan la everytime gi toilet kitorg nyanyi joget baru dia cepat kencing. haha.

Untuk mengelakkan accident, aku set timer every 30 minutes. So bila dia dengar bunyi phone, automatic dia kata shishi! dan bukak seluar gi toilet.

Malam pakai pampers jugak.

Day 4

I decided I've had enough these past 3 days potty training Afif sorang. Penat kot!! Tunggu next weekend la Mr. Chenta ade boleh la gilir-gilir bawak gi toilet.

Aku pakaikan je dia pampers dari pagi. He looks confused la jugak. Even with diaper on, dia akan announce shishi and ajak gi toilet tapi aku ckp takpe shishi je dalam pampers. The moment I knew I sorta nailed it when he said o'ok and refuse to poo with the diaper on. Mr. Chenta bawak dia gi potty, berak dalam tu.

Like jyeah!

So there you have it. My not-so-successful potty training experience. Nasib baik bila start haritu aku memang didn't have any expectation. Aku tak harap pon after 4 days dia terus pandai gi jamban sendiri takde accident bagai. So aku tak la hampa or stress ke ape. In fact aku rasa dia nak guna potty utk berak tu pon cukup bagus. So will continue this coming weekend dengan harapan aku bertenaga lah nak layan. Haha.

We'll go slow.

 

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.