The Zoo Trip, Health and Ghosts!

Okay I have been like soooo buuuuzzzzyyyy to update and by the time I sit in front of the computer, I am like so wiped out at the end of the day.

Okay where should I start? Last Sunday we went to the zoo. Kesian si abang Shadiq, merengek nak tengok the 'birds' 'elephants' 'tigers' and 'dinosaurs' (the dinosaur not so sure...) so bila sampai je kat zoo, he was like jumping and running everywhere. We rented the trolley so that we could put both bros in it. Abang was so damn excited and adik juz look like "whatz-all-the-fuss-about" kind of face. He pointed and called out to all the animals, describing their features and the sounds they make, though I not so sure elephants should be 'mooo'...I pointed out the animals to adik as well but he juz look at me, look at the animals and just yawn, sigh... Adik slept after just half an hour but big bro lasted through nearly the entire trip, finishing at kidzworld where he swam and played with the water. After that, we went cruisin' around the rented car that my father-in-law drive.

Me, I was like so busy with National day parades, dinners and school concert preparation so feel like so zombified (whatever that means!)....Herman is so into health these days, taking great care of his diet and going for daily exercises (cycling mostly)...wanted to get rid of his paunch and double chin, intending to lose more weight and keep his fitness up.

Then recently I had this funny and maybe eerie story in school. This kid got a scolding from me coz she did not want to do her schoolwork and lied that she had a tummy ache. I believed her initially and told her to rest. But she played around and disturbed her other classmates who are doing their work. So she got a good scolding from me. She cried to her mummy and told her mummy that she didnt want to go to school. She told her mummy that she didnt like me coz I scold her. Her mummy said okay and told me about it. I told her why and her mum agreed that she had always been quite lazy and always gave excuses not to do her work. The next few days, she still cried to school and this time she told her mummy that she saw ghosts in school.
Wow! Her mummy was on red alert and believe or not, her mother actually placed sweets around the school to so called appease the spirits. My principal got a shock of her life to see all the sweets around the centre.
And she did this for nearly a week until my principal had to talk to her about it coz the other kids actually picked up the sweets after she left and we had to remove them....She agreed but then the next day, we saw her praying outside the centre! With joss sticks and burning hell money, it was really eerie to see her like that... In fact, the girl whenever she came to school, juz cried for a few minutes and stopped after that, playing happily and doing her work. So if you ask me it is just excuses and children sure know where to 'strike' their parent's weakest point. Their family is like very involved in this spiritual matters so they actually believed this kind of story. I had like nearly 100 children in school and they range from two and a half years to six years so dont tell me out of so many only one child can see it...not that I dont believe in ghosts, but I can differentiate an excuse and a truth from a child.
Then today, her mother gave us roti prata to eat which me and my principal is very suspicious of...You never know what they will do right so we didnt eat it but gave it away to somebody else...People sure are weird and even crazy!

H1N1 and more...

Due to the recent H1N1 crisis, I spent the last 3 days in school scrubbing, cleaning and disinfecting everything from toys right down on my hands and knees on the floor scrubbing my heart out...don't believe me? Come to my centre, you can smell the dettol in the air, remind me of being in a hospital. And my principal is considering whether we should scrub the playground area and I go like OH NO! Get the Town Council guys to do that.

Been calling the parents, asking them for their travel history for the last seven days. You have probably received calls from the teachers about it. Irony is that I have been calling parents regarding this and then I got a call from Shadiq's teacher about it...hahaha! My principal told me that any kids who have been overseas or even over to Malaysia have to self-quarantine themselves for seven days before they can return to school.

I am seriously considering whether to keep Shadiq at home for the first week when school reopen. Just to be on the safe side....well anyway, regardless of the H1N1, I am going Wild Wild Wet this Saturday....

(Oh, I have some photos to upload but I am like soooo laaazzzzyyyy and soooo tiiirrreeed)

Shadiq PTC

Last Saturday was Shadiq's PTC....kind of embarrassing coz we were like half an hour early, I thought it started at 9am. So we waited at the lobby area while the teachers were preparing. We were also the very FIRST ones there, 'gulp' kiasu parents!

Anyway, Teacher Zai was very pleasant and pretty so that could account Shadiq AND Herman fascination for her, hrmph! Shadiq is a VERY active boy, able to socialize well (thank God!), doesnt disturb or hit out at any of his friends, does his work and clean up his toys afterwards. Though he was very rough and tough in the beginning but he mellowed down towards the second term. Became more responsible but sadly cant and wouldnt speak Malay, doesnt seem to understand too cause when the teacher talks to him in Malay, he will respond back in English or repeat what the teacher said to him...okay, we are guilty for speaking in English to him ALL the time. Learnt Jawi and able to recite a few doas but wouldnt recite to us though. Very good with numbers but sucks with letters (oh!oh!).

So after that we decided that Herman would talk to him in English and I would talk to him in Malay. Seems very odd and funny though, in fact Shadiq laughed when I talked to him in Malay. Cant seem that bad right?

Shiddiq is really into the climbing and walking mode. Yesterday he took quite a few tumbles and bumps, I am like so tempted to get him a helmet. Oh well, nowadays I just need to hold on to him with just one hand and he would walk around the house holding onto my hand. But his only fault is that he like to jump at the same time, so just imagine him jumping and trying to walk at the same time. So thats where the knocks and bumps came from. 'Sigh'...the holidays has just started...

The Holidays! And Shadiq...And Shiddiq...

Finally, after 5 months of slogging and running breathlessly, endlessly, changing diapers (yup, some of my nursery kids still on it) finally, oh finally a chance to take a seat back and say "Aaaaaahhhhhhhh......."
Seriously though, I still need to come back to school for the June holiday programme, gonna bring Shadiq along since I sign him up (hee!hee!), then its gonna be two weeks of a very long good rest, well....I still need to come back for a few days for courses, workshops and meetings but, still I dont have to do any paperwork, lesson plans (well, putting it off till the last minute) and no kids till then (except for mine!).

Going on a cruise on the 12th to the 14th, a cruise to nowhere...sounds exotic but the ship is probably be going round and round the waters till we get sick (hahaha!) Kind of like a honeymoon but with kids around so probably no romantic walks or moonlight dinner thingy...more like running around and 'quick-finish-ur-food!' kind of thing...'sigh' the quirks of being parents, still wouldnt trade them for anything. Oh well, still it is a much-needed kind of break from our hustle and bustle way of life...can pretend to be 'datin' on the cruise ship (yeah right!)

And last week, Shadiq went for his first outing to the zoo (without us!sob!sob!) We packed his bag, fill it with his waterbottle, raincoat, snacks, cap and labeled everything with his full name, address and contact number. Got carried away coz we were like so nervous and so wooorriiieeed...I couldnt sleep right and I kept thinking about how he might got lost at the zoo or got trapped in the enclosures or something....well anyway, everything went fine, he enjoyed himself, related all the things that he had done and seen at the zoo (in his quack-quacky speech) so I guess all the worrying was for nothing. Even brought home some souveniers, like a box of art thingys from KFC and a wet raincoat plus wet socks tied up in a plastic bag.

Next is his PTC on the 6th of June. Kind of looking forward to it. It will be a nice change to hear about another teacher talking about my son...regardless of course the good or bad (gulp!I hope most of it good!) Well, the teacher did complained to me one time that Shadiq was way too rough when playing with his friends. So I had to talked to him and after much talk (or more like threats and warnings), he kind of tone down a bit and didnt hear from the teacher after that...so I guess he must be okay then at school (I hope!)...

Oh, Shiddiq got two new teeth. Poor guy had fever that lasted for three days and pop! Two new teeth that bites fiercely on anybody who holds him...drool like crazy too! Still creeping and crawling around the house, love to hide under the chairs and tables, sit up on his own and also include climbing on chairs as a bonus exercise...no wonder my mum look so wiped out...Guess its a matter of time before he is able to walk. Shadiq walk when he was ten months old. By June he is ten months old so not so sure...

Kampong Life

Memories getting kind of hazy, cant seem to remember much of the kampong life since our visits are during the long school holidays, weekends and public holidays. Let me try to refresh my memory a bit.

I can remember the times when Tuk used to bring us to the beach. A group of us kidz holding hands to cross the expressway to the beach and back. Tuk was really super, he really know how to handle us rowdy kidz....
Then he will bring us somewhere (cant remember where) to pick flowers and we will make chains or place it on our hair, pretending to be little princesses or something.
Hari Raya, main bunga api...Om is the king of firecrackers, he will be the first one to bring out the things and play with it.

But I remember best is the swing that was hung onto a big tree. We kidz liked to swing back and forth, taking turns to climb onto the big tyre until a whole group of us was on that tyre. Amazingly it didnt like crash or anything...really strong, can easily support like 5 to 6 of us on it. Bila Maghrib je, all the mummies will scream at us to come in or the 'momok' will come to catch us. Kelam kabut kita lari, we always say the last person 'momok' ambik! Hahaha! I remember crying coz I was the last one!

Well, there was a time when we got into fighting with each other. (Budak kan biasalah, friends one minute and enemies the next...) I was sulking at a corner with Ros who said not to mind them. Then I said, deserve them right if they fall off the swing. And believe it or not, one of them slipped and all of them fall off the swing! I laughed my heart out then and said padan muka tak nak share dengan aku! Then I played with the sand with Ros happily...then they called us back to play on the swing so became friends again!

I really miss those times, life was so much simpler and we were like so content. Not like now...always rushing, always stressing, 'sigh'.....

A Great Great Great News!

Yesterday, we had a wonderful and great surprise from SPF. After 4 trials, interviews and medical check-ups, months, weeks, days of waiting and finally......Herman got in!

I was like jumping up and down in the classroom when I got the sms. The kidz laughed and called me crazy but I just dont care. On the 18th of May he will have to attend the bond-signing at HTA and he will go to camp for 6 months on the 20th May.

Syukur Alhamdulillah, we were so grateful and sooooo happppyyyyy!!!! So goodbye to SMRT and welcome SPF!!!!

Batam and More (Part 2 - Pics)

Here are some pics of our batam trip. Got it from my sis-in-law who sent the photos via e-mail. Ours I have not got the time to download so enjoy!