Missoni under my nose

Natural talent.
Thats what this is.
Never in my life, I showed pics of Missoni prints.
Let alone owning one.

So when Arif came home showing his nursery workbook, I went all giddy with this Missoni Junior in the making.
He just loves colours!
There aren't a single page of his colouring workbook having less than 5 colours.

Why haven't I noticed this before?
Well, to be honest, last year, he wasn't all this creative.
Check out his avatar giraffe.

And overly-sun-tanned chicken.

I need to start paying more attention to my kids art work.
Who knows, they might be the next Picasso ?

Please email me if you're interested to purchase their artwork.
Starting price is a thousand dollar a piece.
You better get them now, coz it'll turn to a million dollars when they get famous and I can no longer help you then.

It's the exam week, again!

As usual, it will be like I am the one who will be taking the exams.
Figuratively speaking.
It's Amin's final year exam week, and who else would be freaking out like a mad woman, other than his own momma!

No more TV.
No more iPad.
No more playing ninjago.
No more playing with Arif, especially!

Mommy is putting you on strict revision timetable and closely be monitored by moi.
I know I'm not supposed to pressure my kid.
He's only 8 years old anyway.
But hey, you can't really shrug the mommy-wanting-child-to-be-prepared-for-exam feeling, you know..
It's just the natural way for a mommy to respond.
Gonna go all the way to help her children.
As much as she can.
That's what mommies do best!

 Hmm.. now where's that calculator to help me count?

There's no Day 2

Amin fell sick since last night.
He kept twisting and turning and mumbling in his sleep.
Had a 38.0 degrees temperature.
And we had to sponge him at 3am in the morning.
Which after that only he managed to fall into deep sleep.

He woke up at 8.30am.

Fed him cereal for breakfast.

Skipped the morning Muqaddam session.

And let him dozed back to sleep from 9am till 10.30am.

I offered to take him to McD for big breakfast as he woke up, but surprisingly he then asked if I can just call for delivery because he felt tired.

Now, this is definitely a sign of him being sick.

Or else, he would have jumped to the offer, pronto!

Took him to the clinic after he ate the whole Sausage McMuffin.

Doc said there were several similar cases today.

Suspected the heat was too much for these kids to handle.

Was given a medical leave for the day.

Bought some soup for lunch.

And have him sleeping again from 3pm to 6pm.

Definitely hoping for a speedy recovery.

(pics googled from the net)

Such a messy Day 1

Oh no.
Not Amin.
My son was indeed handsomely dressed for his first day of school, this afternoon.

It's the school's day 1 management that was utterly messy!
During the last day of school last year, the teachers announced to all that the students shall follow their current classroom.
Meaning that if the student was at Standard 1 Dahlia, he will enter Standard 2 Dahlia.
There will be no reshuffling of students yet.
I even visited the school's office last week, on the day we bought the exercise books at the school bookstore, just to confirmed on this matter.
But today, wohoooo.
Behold! Things changed in split seconds.
Or assuming the headmistress decided to changed it yesterday!

As the students gathered in the hall according to the "supposed classroom", the teacher said there will be a slight change, but they will sort it out today.
Try and imagine the crowded scene of all the students of Standard 1, Standard 2 and Standard 3 in the hall, with their respective parents attending the first day.
Standard 1 students, did not faced any problem, because the name list of students vs classroom has long been posted on the information board as guidelines for the newbies.
And of course, we would assumed if such changes to happen, then the name list of Standard 2 and Standard 3 be put up too, right?
Well, you're dead wrong, sucker !
The name lists are not on the notice board, but it is on the door of each of the classroom.
And can you guess what happened next?
Parents scattered all over the place searching for their kids name on the classroom doors.
I had to go one by one classroom, till third floor.
And demmitt that some classrooms did not even have the list on the door!
Hence we had to ask the teacher to check it out on her list at hand.
Oh why can't they just go photostat the list again and stick it up somewhere??
Is paper suddenly extinct today??
Shessshhh!
Seriously, it was an absolutely tiring day for me.
And don't get me started on the heat.

Finally got Amin to his rightful class after 45 minutes of scrambling around.
But I was upset that I couldn't get him to sit up front since all the front seat has been taken.
Well, at least we got the direct fan above.

Preparation for school

(pic googled from the net)

I promise my best bud Izzi that I'll create this post for her, as guidelines to help her in preparing for Amirah standard 1 enrollment.
I'll try my best to cover all aspects, but kindly let me know if I might have missed out on anything.

1. Pre-registration : We should register our kids at most a year ago, as to which school we want to enroll them in. The school may want to see your house-bill as to check the address because priority will be given prior to home address.
2. Follow up enrollment : November is the month to check with the school on the registration/ enrollment/ orientation date.
3. Books :  The list of books can be obtained from the school bookstore.  My advice to call up the school beforehand and check if the list has been distributed by the ministry of education.  Also check the bookstore opening hours.  Buy all the exercise books listed because I find all the books to be very useful during revision time.  The loan text books will be given to parents on the registration day. The workbook (buku kerja) however will not be completely used.  Maybe just half of the amount - depends on the school.  Hence my advice to not write your kid's class on the front of it, so that it can be carried on for the following year.  Reminder to write your kids name on the top front cover of the books.  Easy for teachers to distribute the books and for kids to not get them mix up with other kids' books.

4. Book cover : The plastic cover, now they invented it as slip cover, in the size of the text books and the workbooks.  Hence, we no more need to buy the clear wrapper and cut it and cello-taped it to fit all the books perfectly.  Thanks to this latest invention! Saves tons of time. 

5. School bag :  Oh boy.. I can't say much about this because I am biased.  I hate the school bags with wheels.  I think they are huge and will only be in the way of other children walking.  I know that books are heavy and our 7 year old are such tiny tots, but really, these bags are huge and I personally think it is cumbersome. Especially when now the text books are all have been divided into modules and no longer come in thick sizes.  I bought just a simple Crumpler backpack for Amin.  So again, this is up to you and your kid preference (and your kid's body size too).

6. Uniform : Standard design.  You can get it from any malls.  But as for me, hubby has his most trusted shop over in Penang.  The number of clothes, for Amin, we bought 5 shirts and 4 pants because kids at his age will not care as much about being clean, so, we're assuming that the shirts and pants will get dirty easily.
7. Socks : There are school socks made special with black soles.  Buy this one! You will never be stressed over seeing dirty socks anymore.

8. Shoes : We bought two pairs, due to the fact that Malaysia is an equatorial country experiencing regular rains.  And be prepared to buy new shoes after 5 months as the kid's feet grow sort of rapidly.
9. Sports attire : No need to buy extra, a pair is enough - a tee-shirt and a track bottom.  This is because that they will only be having sports session once a week.  Sports attire available at the school's bookstore.
10. Stationary :  Equipped them with just this - a pencil, an eraser, a sharpener and a ruler inside a pencil case.  Not more than that, because every single day, one item shall gone missing.  You will get annoyed in the first place but believe me, this is common.  Therefore, advisable to buy in bulk amount for all items.  Saves you the numerous trip to buy the stationary when lost.
11. Food : We provided daily snacks for Amin.  Either chicken balls, or bread with nutella spread, or mini cereal.  We didn't give Amin any money for the first 4 months.  This is because that I personally don't trust canteen food.  And I also worried for Amin to have to fight with other big kids to rush and buy food as their break time only lasts a few minutes.

12. Spending money :  Since Amin has daily snacks from home, therefore we only give him RM1 per day.  Which at initial stage, he spend all of it at the bookstore.  Either buying an eraser, a pencil, a notepad or a pack pf plasticine.  Later he spend it on buying a pack of raisins, and sometimes a bottle of nutrigen drink.  Don't give too much to your kid because he still doesn't know the value of money yet, and will definitely spend it, instead of saving up.
13. Labeling : All items must be labelled with permanent marker.  Apart from for the clothes, the shoes must also be labelled.  This is because that at times when they have to take off their shoes while entering the prayer rooms (when attending Islamic lesson) or the library.  There is high probability of shoes get mixed up.  Although labeling the stationary will not prevent it from going missing, it could however slow down the loss frequency.
14. Emergency kit : This specifically refers to the extra under-pants.  Yes, you can never be over confident that your child will not have the bathroom accidents.  This doesn't only applied to the unfortunate discharged, but also relates to the uncontrollable water hose in the loo.  So, what I did was that I packed an undies inside a plastic bag, fold it up and placed it inside the slip in compartment inside the school bag.  Please make it your responsibility as a parent to go to the school's toilet and test using it.
15. Contact number : I consider this as priority one.  Very important item for every child.  I wrote mine, hubby, my parents and mother in law's phone numbers onto a piece of paper, and placed the paper in a pouch together with shillings 10cents, 20cents and 50cents.  This pouch stays inside the bag at all times.  You must teach your child how to use the public phone or teach them how to ask for help from the teachers or school's staffs to call parents in case of emergency, like if your child feels sick and wanting to go home.

Ok.
Izzi, that's all that I can think for now.
Will update you and other readers if anything pops up in my head later.

Till then, have a great weekend ya'ols!

Beautiful date, beautiful day

So many people got married on this day.
So many gorgeous children were born on this day.
So many other human being around the world set up events just so to commemorate this date.
But as for me, it was totally unplanned.

(pics googled from the net)

It all began last Wednesday, 9th November 2011.
It was Amin's report card day.
The day where every parents heart skipped a beat.
All in all, it was the day where excitement, meet anger, meet upset, meet happy.

As we sat in suspense in front of Miss Siti, Amin's class teacher, she placed the performance summary in front of us, and said:
"Congratulations, Amin got first in class"

I almost fell down the chair with my eyes scrambling for the class achievement remarks, and said:
"Whaaaatttttt?" (with an unbelievable tone)

Hubby turned the paper towards himself.
I bet he was as surprised, too.

Then Miss Siti took out the invitation paper, for the Achievement Award Day, dated 11th Nov 2011.

So that's how it all began.
And here we were.
At the school's hall.
I forced hubby to dress up for the big day.
And intended to put some make-up on myself.
But decided not to, in case I might end up crying of joy, and splattered the mascara all over my face.
Lipstick will suffice, then.

Amin took home two awards; first place in class and best achiever in English subject.

No doubt, I was the happiest amongst all.
The headaches, panic attack, turning the house into a war zone, now all paid off.
To be honest, I wasn't putting any expectations for him to beat the rest.
Not at all wanting to compare him with other kids.
All I wanted was for him to be smart in study and do his best for himself.

I was not an achiever during my time either.
But I managed to get good grades, constantly.
And that was enough for my parents.
Don't get me wrong, I have no intention of bragging about my son (nor myself) here.
This blog is for me to keep my memories alive.

And Amin, mommy wants you to know that mommy is very proud of you.
And surprised too that you actually are smart indeed.. haha..
And as promised, your ninjago as the high achievement award presents.

And yes, if you keep up the excellent achievement next year, mommy promise that more presents will come your way!
Just say it, and you'll get it!

Yeayyy!! Exams are over!

And I'm the happiest mom in the world!

(pics googled from the net)

Breathe in.. breathe out..

Oh I soooo need to stay calm.
Don't panic!

Amin came home today with comments on all his papers;
Maths paper was easy.
Jawi paper was easy.
Agama paper, not sure was easy or not but he didn't have time to finish it!
And he didn't even know how many questions more were at the back page.
Because he didn't make it pass the last page!
Aaaaaarrrggghhh!

Puuufffff... inhale... exhale...
Breathe, mommy! Breathe!

It's not the end of the world yet.
Lets focus on tomorrow's paper, Science and English Language, shall we?

One day done, another 3 to go

Amin came home from school with looks no different than other days before.
Unlike other kids running like mad towards the school gate, Amin has always been the calm ones.
Taking his own sweet time, whilst I frantically stretching my neck to locate his whereabouts amongst the hundreds of swarming bees!
It's like eternity for me to wait for him today.
Must be due to my anxiousness of wondering how were his Bahasa Malaysia papers today.
Which he then simply replied "Easy, mommy"
What?
That's it?
I almost choked whilst sending him off to school this afternoon and this the reply I got?
Huh..
So much for mommy getting nuts over a seven year old taking his exams.
Silly mommy!

Ok..
Tomorrow we will be having Maths, Agama, and Jawi..
Wish us luck !!


(pics googled from the net)

Lets learn Arabic

Ok, lets think positive!
I have no Arabic knowledge at all.
That's why when Amin's exam week comes, I will be the one panicking like a crazy mad woman.
Thanks to my dear old friend Lisa, who's hubby Amir, willing to reply tons and tons of my WhatsApp messages about Arab language.

So now, I'm listing them all up here, so that both Amin and I can read out loud and memorises it.

Numbers
One	waa-hi-dun	واحد	۱
Two	ith-naa-ni	اثنان	۲
Three	tsa-laa-tsa-tun	ثلاثة	۳
Four	ar-ba-‘a-tun	أربعة	٤
Five	kham-sa-tun	خمسة	٥
Six	sit-ta-tun	ستة	٦
Seven	sab-‘a-tun	سبعة	٧
Eight	tsa-maa-ni-ya-tun	ثمانية	٨
Nine	tis-‘a-tun	تسعة	٩
Ten	‘a-sha-ra-tun	عشرة	١٠

Stationeries
Text book	ha-za       ki-taa-bun	ھذا كتاب
Exercise book	ha-za       daf-ta-run	ھذا دفتر
Ruler	ha-zi-hi    mis-ta-ra-tun	ھذه مسطرة
Eraser	ha-zi-hi    mim-haa-tun	ھذه ممحاة
Pencil	ha-za       kho-la-mu  ra-soo-sin	ھذا قلم رصاص

Classroom	ha-za       fas-li	ھذا فصلي
Door	ha-za       baa-bun	ھذا باب
Window	ha-zi-hi    naa-fi-za-tun	ھذه نافذة
Chair	ha-za       kur-siy-yun	ھذه كرسي
Table	ha-za       mak-ta-bun	ھذه مكتب
Board	ha-zi-hi    sab-buu-ra-tun	ھذه سبورة

School area	til-ka        mad-ra-sa-tii	تلك مدرستي
Field	za-li-ka     mal-‘a-bun	ذلك ملعب
Canteen	za-li-ka     mat-‘a-mun	ذلك مطعم
Toilet	til-ka        du-ra-tul-mi-yaa-hi	تلك دورةالمياه
Surau	za-li-ka     mu-sol-la	ذلك مصلى
Library	til-ka        mak-ta-ba-tun	تلك مكتبة
Flower Park	til-ka        ha-dii-kho-tun	تلك حديقة

House area
Roof	za-li-ka     sak-fun	ذلك سقف
Wall	za-li-ka     ji-daa-run	ذلك جدار
Garden	til-ka        saa-ha-tun	تلك ساحة
Kitchen	za-li-ka     mot-ba-khun	ذلك مطبخ
Bedroom	til-ka        ghur-fa-tun	تلك غرفة

My Family	ha-zi-hi    as-ra-tii	ھذه أسرتي
Father	ha-za       a-bii	ھذا أبي
Mother	ha-zi-hi    um-mii	ھذه أمي
Brother	ha-za       a-khii	ھذا أخي
Sister	ha-zi-hi    ukh-tii	ھذه أختي

To other Standard One mommies out there, GOOD LUCK for tomorrow!

(pics googled from the net)