Many Faces of Baby Shiddiq

The last three days, lil bro has been terrorising my mum, refusing to eat, drink milk or sleep until I fetch him from work. My guess its because of the 4 days stay at home (CNY) so probably got angry when he was left behind when I went to work.
Lil bro proved to be much more fierce and very temperamental compared to big bro who is mostly (nowadays actually) annoying and noisy at times. Lil bro is what you called kaki tangan dalam perut, very cili padi.

He may not look like much but he certainly know how to throw his weight around the house! Big bro is just heavy but very softie and can be quite reasonable when you talk to him nicely....just enjoy arguing with his daddy (I, however, enjoy watching both of them arguing with each other, its hilarious!)

Holidays Walk-about

Where should I start? Hmmm....okay last Saturday, we brought the kids to Vivocity. Shadiq got this weird fascination for anything that moves on land, sea and air. So we thought it would be fun for him to watch the boats and ships. Wow! We saw Superstar Virgo and Superstar Libra...some of the smaller boats were at the side of the pier so Shadiq got a close encounter. Until it started to rain and we picked Shadiq up, crying and screaming..

Then yesterday, after CNY visiting our Ah-Ma at Kallang Bahru, we went to Changi Airport for the aeroplanes. It must have been Shadiq lucky day coz there are like dozens of them there, some landing and some flying...he must have had a rush watching the planes coz he ran around excitedly, shouting incoherent words and laughing out loud.

Oh and we got to see the eclipse of the sun last Monday...kind of scary....

Anyway here are the pics :

Our Culture or Not?

Today is the first day of the CNY and already the noise level at our area is super-stereo high. Firstly due to the CNY songs that they are playing (the entire neighbourhood sounds like Chinatown) and secondly the CNY lion dance troupe are going round the blocks drumming their way around the houses.

Nothing against these, very racial harmony we are but something bugs me whenever I see these lion dance troupes. Ever notice how many Malays there are in playing in that? With their dyed hair, tattoos and some of them drumming those big drums or being one of the 'lions', just kind of struck a deep chord in my mind. Do you know that the drums are made from pig skin and in order to be part of the lion dance troupe, you are also entwined with another part of their secret society world? Do they even feel a twinge a guilt or doubt when they go house to house, doing whatever they are doing, being part of some kind of ritual which they know is wrong....
It is very depressing to see them this way, I mean the kind of upbringing they must have and the fact that some of them are even proud of being part of this.
I am the kind of person that got irritated when I see another fellow Malay who should be upholding their own traditional and cultural roots but rather embarked on some other cultures that is totally not theirs. There is nothing wrong in learning about other people's cultures but I feel that you should first uphold your own culture, embark into it before exploring others....Just like in the news recently about this Malay girl who could play the dont-know-what Chinese instrument. Nothing personal about this, just that why cant she learn about ghazal, I mean there are lots of instruments out there that form a part of our culture....

Had a few friends who told me that nowadays it is very hard to see or get our own people performing our cultural arts..I mean I went to a certain orchestra performance before and I have to admit, its like hearing a thousand chickens squealing for mercy....I just cant tune my ears to that kind of music yet, went home with a helluva splitting headache...my appreciation is more for rentak zapin, dondang sayang, etc...I learn a variety of dances and there is still nothing quite as elegant or exquisite as our own Malay dance....Indian dance is far too complicated, Chinese dance dont make sense and ballet, you just need to know how to jump on your toes thats all...but Malay dance, lenggang-lenggoknya, keayuan nya dan memahami cerita sebalik karya tarian...aaaahhhhh......

I am not biased but I am very defensive and very protective of my own cultural arts. I was bred into it, spend nearly half my life with it and when I retire from it (due to increasing pressure from hubby and two kids), it was with regret that I have not fulfilled more.....

Up, Up and Away!!!

Got a very good offer from my admin...apparently MOE is giving out sponsorships to selected pre-school centres for their staff to take their degree, Bachelor in Early Childhood Education. Our centre is among the chosen and my admin nominated me and another colleague to go for it. I was like soooooo happpppyyyyyy!!!!!
Been my dream, my hope, my highest aspiration and now it is like so within my reach. But like all sponsorships, you have to go through some interviews and whatever-nots to get it. My admin told me that I stand a good chance in getting it since I already have a very good record with MOE coz of the award I got.
It is a three and a half years study plus another 3 years bond with the centre. All the modules are fully paid, teaching resources are paid also and it will be held at NIE.....need to get a laptop though, probably be getting it soon....the course is starting in July this year so there goes my holiday....but I am sure darn looking forward for this!

My Mum-in-Law 68th Birthday

My Mmum-in-law turned 68 last week and so she was given a surprise birthday party organised by Herman. It was a very nice surprise for her and she was especially touched to know that we took time off from work and other stuffs just to celebrate her birthday....aaahhh these old folks are really sentimental but I bet when we are old like them, even the tiniest bitty things will be very big deals! Each of them pot-lucked a few things such as food, drinks, cake and other whatever-nots so it was kind of fun and truly memorable too...

Shadiq at School

Here is Shadiq enjoying his day in school. Some of the pics were taken during his first day in school (orientation) and the others were doing an open house that they had during one of the weekends...from what I heard from Shadiq he enjoyed school alot...my mum told me that at exactly ten o'clock, he will strip himself, carries his school bag and wore his shoes, stand at the gate stark naked to go out or 'go school' in his own words...well, I am really glad he seems to be adjusting well to school life, didnt wear pampers to school and started to call himself 'abang' and insist we all do the same, how my big boy grow!

Zoo Pics

Some zoo pics that we took last year December....went with my parents, yani, elya, emma, ajan and huda...fun and funny....hope to do it again soon!

The First Post of 2009

I have been putting off updating because of my sooo-tight schedule and plus Herman have been hogging the computer to play his PC games. I threaten to delete his games and he threaten to buy a laptop for himself only....and after much 'threats' I pouted, frowned and gave up the computer to him, hrumph! I can never 'out-argue' him.

Well anyway, this year just promise to be a very fruitful and hopefully a happy one..Partly because I am placed in-charge of the new Nursery curriculum guide in our centre (doesnt come with a better salary package though, sigh)so lots of challenges and happenings. I have to go a mentoring course by the MOE because of the award I won last year, had a good laugh about that....imagine me MENTORING teachers, hahaha! I cant even mentor the children properly...Herman will probably get his transfer soon, hopefully to the circle line, rumours are going around that he's gonna get the transfer (yippeee!!), my youngest bro is getting engaged (sob!sob!) and Shadiq my darling firstborn is in school, nursery at Jamiyah Kindergarten (waaaahhh!!) Plus my second-born turned 5mths this Jan, too lazy to flip his butt and just content with us carrying him plus he is easily startled. I mean like anything can scare him, from the lift door opening to somebody sneezing or coughing...not like he cry or anything but just pouts or shook his body hard...
Went for my jab today, planned to have another baby probably by three to five years time....

Holidays are all planned nicely for this year too...I plan to take my pending one month maternity leave probably in March and then in June.... plans include going on cruise (Star Virgo), a round trip around Malaysia and probably somewhere over the rainbows (surprise! surprise!) but all this is just under construction yet, nothing confirmed or booked...

Herman will be going for his reservist this 19th Jan until Wednesday 21st Jan.

Will post in some pics that we took when we went to the zoo, Herman's mom birthday, Shadiq in school and other whatever-nots.....the clothes are waiting for me to be folded.