REASON - THOU ART WASTED ON THE YOUNG

* This is an old post which I notice was put in draft mode. I can't remember why. When I hit the publish button, it's published on a current date. Malas lak nak check when was the actual date. Kalau rajin, bacalah...*

This post is actually a response to Nin's and dedicated to all mothers (and fathers alike) out there who are pulling their hair and gauging their eyes out of their sockets while coping with child-raising (No? None of you are feeling this? Just me? OK, call social service, people)

I don't think that I put enough emphasis on how wonderfully irrational Nunu has been since she's been plagued with the terrible two virus.

Every request for her to be more independent is met with cries of helplessness. When she used to love using the stairs without help before, now she wants to be carried like a poor wretched soul. Now that I mention it, she's been asking me to carry her almost all the time especially if I'm standing - while cooking, while loading the washing machine, while doing the dishes, while hanging the clothes, going in or out the car, going in or out of the house, while walking to get some dinner at the stalls or browsing at the grocery shop. She even wants me to carry her while I'm sitting down folding the laundry!

And no, momma has to carry her a certain way ("like this! macam ni, bukan macam ni!") with both hands under her bum lest I let her fall in my exasperation to do as she says. So I know how it feels like when she's been walking around with a 28 pound monkey hanging around her neck. Clingy to the max! I've tried reasoning with her with both cool-calm authority and harsher firmer parenting (scolding, pinching, nagging = bad parenting!) but tell me, how do you make a pool of screaming, kicking, weeping force of nature listen to you?


Sure she acts cute most if the time

Every command for her to keep her stuff neat is met with ferocious refusal - followed with violent, most convincing crocodile tears. God knows what got into me when I bought for her a masak-masak playset, some musical toys and a new pair of baby tennis racket while shopping for groceries the other day. I guess it's one of those impulsive dump-into-the-trolley buys you get when you see something so good and so cheap. We had fun and made those toys worth their while, make believing that she's cooking me moi for a change, that we're a team of mother-daughter troubadour playing on the streets, and that she's Maria and I'm Daniela.


Look at those scrapes and scabs!

Now that the novelty of their newness are wearing off, she likes her toys just scattered around because she's comfortable with the clutter. Like her crayons, she actually threw a fit when I packed them up because she wanted to keep on scratching the surfaces and make more colourful crayon flakes on the floor *slaps forehead*

And when I told her to tidy up, her ultimate response would be "NO! Momma kemaslah!" *insert eardrum piercing whine and other annoying sounds here* If I stuck to my guns and keep on insisting she should take care of her own belongings (which I did last Friday night), get prepared to lose a battle and feel shitty for the rest of the night.

You see, Nunu should be a poster girl for Malay old wives tales. If she throws a fit, things will get worse later on or melarat-larat. She would be tossing and turning or wake up in the middle of the night crying for no apparent reason. She must have been only emotionally distraught by the day's incidence, but you know what, I'm sick of being the bad guy who makes her cry, and can I do something about it to at least alleviate this sense of guilt in me? Apparently no, coz almost immediately I get the "Ouh, you shouldn't have made her cry" piece of wisdom.

This may sound a little funny now, but believe me, it was not. More excruciatingly torturous was this experience for me due to the hard to digest fact that it's straining our relationship with the master of the house whose opinion on child raising differs from mine. His latest ultimatum is to stop buying Nunu toys until she learns to pick after herself. Can you believe that? A rather simplistic solution, don't you think?

A couple of months ago when Nunu was just fine-tuning her new found art of tantrum throwing over silly things (which was a rare occurrence because she's just normally rowdy in her girly buas way) I had a nerve wrecking time trying to deal with it all by myself, and it's even more disappointing that people thought that I was encouraging this type of behavior by doing all I can to pacify her instead of putting my foot down and telling her to stop the nonsense.

For example, one of the first events when Nunu started pulling stunts in public, we were just about to get ready to go back to our apartment after a swim at Bukit Merah Waterpark. She suddenly started screaming and thrashing about and was babbling nonsense. I couldn't find out the source of the tantrum and she wouldn't be pacified (not even with nenen!) until about 15 agonizing minutes later at the changing room, all she wanted was to wipe her runny nose on my shirt. Everyone around me was genuinely stupefied at her behavior.

Now, whenever she has some hingus/snot, I have to give her my shirt or tudung as wipes, no tissues or hankies please. And it irksome to others, because 'dah ajar macam tu' (I've 'taught her that way)

Am I being shamelessly bullied by my own child here? Am I being a floor mat and letting everyone step all over me all the time? Will my forbearance with this behavior result in a more spoiled child? Do I need someone to smack some sense into me and quit being so whiny and just deal with it?

No wonder my daughter is such a drama queen. She got it from her momma.

Just let her slide her way

p/s: more playground pics on Nunu's blog

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: EYE POPPING GOOD

THE HAIR CUT

One of my earlier regrettable mommy moment was making the decision to cut my child's bangs all by myself, resulting to a bugled bangs situation. It's inevitable that a proper haircut was coming. I couldn't be trimming her bangs every two weeks myself, and she kept losing her hair clips, hair grips and whatnot at school. Often she came home from school looking like this.

Well, not with the baggy T-shirt, we were just goofing around!

Also, the current hot weather made it impossible for me to control the eczema on her neck. So, chop chop!


















No more Princess Ariel hair style for you, my dear.

And hello Princess Snow White. It still has to be a princessy hair cut or she'll have nothing to do with it!

OH THE IRONY

Oftentimes, I have to explain to the girl that the cakes or cupcakes on the table are not for her, but for my customers, or in our favourite bahasa baku, 'pelanggan' (yes, I make it a point to introduce her bombastic BM vocabs - words like 'bersemangat' and 'memberansangkan')

I felt a stab in my heart when, while playing masak-masak, and I wanted to taste what she masak, she blatantly said, "No, cannot eat those. These are for my pelanggan."

Momma wanna go and sulk.

SILLY FACES

Thanks to her Pak Teh, Nunu has taken enjoyment in the Photobooth function on my mac. We now have more snapshots of her nostrils and foot than my hard drive can endure.

Though it might look like I'm having too much fun here myself.

p/s: Wonder what's those yellow stuff on her teeth? It's her breakfast - chewed up honey stars.

PART OF YOUR WORLD

Phew, the amazing girl is four. Can you believe it? I swear at times you're much older than that, what with that smarty-pants mouth of hers that could've fooled anyone who'd think she's five or more. Plus she's on the 'bulat & montel' side now and wearing sizes for five year olds.

But smarty pants or not, and no matter how advanced her vocabulary is (someone remarked that my daughter is very 'sastera' - haha, whatever that means!) she never fails to entertain us with her slips of the tongue. I can't recall them all, but if you can guess what londod, dangluk, pasbot, see-whirl and stop-chick are, then welcome to Nunu-lish!

Other developments? Not much, she's off the baby bottle. Cold turkey, must I mention. One day I told a little white bluff that I've thrown her bottles away because I see baby lizards licking them coz she left them lying around, and since then she's never mentioned about her bottles.

On a separate note, I'm contemplating Kumon for her next year. Just wanna give it a try. Also, I want her to love or at least enjoy math, and not become like her mother who has a fear of math and is terrified by Sudoku. I've read testimonials that the system helps nurture self-learning and is perfect for playful kids like Nunu. Any thoughts on this?

As far as school's concerned, she's doing pretty well. Not amazing either, she's not really the attentive student coz she gets bored so fast. She's spelling and reading in a slow but steady pace, which is fine since she's just four lah. Thankfully the principal 'gets' my girl and it's quite clear that the people at the school took more than just a liking to Nunu. I can see she is very much loved by the principal's parents (they always come by to help out with her newborn baby) and Nunu's particularly manja with her adopted 'Wan'. It's very heartwarming to see that with your own eyes.

But then again, she's so manja with almost every hot-blooded young man she sees. Pantang hensem sikit, mesti nak salam/layan/climb all over. Tsk, kes teruk ni. Sometimes, atuk-atuk yang tua bangka pun dia layan jugak and she doesn't treat the ladies the same way (well, she's awfully polite to old neneks). We went to this bowling tournament the other day, and my, not only that she brought the whole place down with her delirious rampage, she went and salam/shook hands with almost everyone in the bowling alley. Seriously, I'm not kidding. She really was Miss Popularity that night, no shame at all. Someone remarked "mengalahkan wakil rakyat"!

However, I'm sure she's just being very friendly. Sure she goes all gaga if the abang or uncle is quite a looker. At four, she's very hyperactive (which drives me crazeeeeeey!) but sometimes stops at what she's doing and she goes around 'salam'ing with people. She loves the surprised look people give her when they suddenly felt a tug at their hands/shirts and this little girl with big brown puyu eyes is extending her hand for a salam. I go around apologizing sometimes, depending on people's reaction. It's quite humiliating, but deep in my heart, really, I'm proud of my girl who's blessed with this gung-ho personality.

Yeah, I'm tired of following her around. I missed out on a lot of things wherever we go. I have, have, HAVE to keep an eye on her like a hawk coz you can never imagine what mischief she'll get into once she gets out of your sight. Like on our trip to Brunei, I barely had the chance to really mingle with other people coz she slipped through the crowd so easily. Yeah, she played with other children, but only for a minute and she'd be off somewhere else looking for adventure. I don't know how the other kids are roaming and playing about without their parents worrying, but my child - needs constant monitoring. The only time I get a break was when I took out my lappie and let her and her cousins watch the Disney vids I downloaded from youtube, and I'll be flat-out tired to the bone, on the floor, not really in the mood to talk to anyone.

But don't get me wrong, I'm whining here of course. This is my blog, I can say whatever I want. But at the end of the day, I don't blame anyone, especially not Nunu, for whatever I went through for her. I'm more than eternally thankful that Nunu turns out the type of little person she is. A true diamond in the rough.  It hurts me very much when I get comments that implies Nunu acts the way she does because she's an only child now, hints dropping all over me like bombs "Get Nunu a baby sibling lah cepat", well you better back off when I give this dagger look. You better phrase up your words nicely or don't bother making small talk to me at all.

Excuse me for that little outburst up there, but seriously I have to stop right here lest the floodgates will burtst forth once again, and booooy, we sure don't want that to happen, do we? But here's the gist of it, life's hasn't been all purty and there's been a few incidences that almost resulted in a major meltdown on my part, but listen up kid coz I want you to know that you are a very VERY special girl. Anyone who has met you would agree.

You leave a trail of sunshine happiness everywhere you go. Your warmth and friendly gestures evens out your boisterous like an anak raksasa nature. I lost my temper with your more often than I should have because I often forget how much you enjoy life, how those little gears in your brains ticktocks like clockwork, endlessly & tirelessly. So, on my good days when I do realize that, I just let you roam free for fear of being the stumbling block in your progress. I don't want you to lose that sparkle, so when I try to pull you back for a bit, you do understand I'm just doing my job as a mommy, don't you?

Conversations with you have taken a whole new level. I dreaded talking to you sometimes because your questions are very hard to answer! And you demand your answers until the last why?why?why that will leave me speechless, and I'm sorry dear, coz you're clearly much much smarter than poor old momma who runs out of creative juice in her brain to accommodate you. When I teach you new things, you seem to take off and leave me way behind.

Going through motherhood with you is a helluva ride, girl, but a great adventure indeed. I am so, ever so thankful to the Maker than I'm a part of your world. Enjoy your fourth year to the fullest. Don't let anyone stop you, yup, not even me.
























"Momma, does my hair look like Ariel?"

FOUR

No, she hasn't turned four yet, not until early next month. Four is her position in class based on the previous exam she had. Her principal commented that she's done a great job, considering the fact that she didn't look too keen while doing her papers. She's always up with so many nonsense that the teacher's let her finish her paper whenever she felt like it.

Truthfully, I wasn't sure how to react. Should we feel excited? Should we make a big deal? Should we just make it seem that it didn't matter? Does the number 4 signify anything? I'm not the sort who runs to the Babycenter each time there's a parenting/child issue (well, at least not anymore) so I just let my mommy instinct do it's job. Applaud her for her efforts, motivate her to do better next time and assure her that we'll all love her just the same.

The great thing is, everyone gets the same prize!

On another note, we're going on a trip in two weeks time! Yeay, finally a family trip that's long overdue. Took her passport picture last week and I just gave up trying to get her emote an acceptable expression in front of the camera.

I know, I couldn't and wouldn't forgive myself for doing this to my daughter.

THINGS THAT MAKES ME GASP

"Hey! Momma," Yeaaahhh, she calls everyone with a quick hey these days.

"Momma, momma, dengar ni Nuha eja!"

"B-O Bo, D-O do. BO!DO! Hahahahahahaaa!"

Bertuah punya anak... lain yang ajar, lain yang dia belajar.

THE BUSY SPELLING BEE

Just a brief update about the not-so-little Nunu.

We just had a kenduri tahlil for my late Tok Kecik last Saturday and everyone was surprised to see how much Nunu have grown. I mean, I'm serious, she's becoming more & more 'montel' each day! I'm really glad that she's growing really well, she was such a scrawny kid before that I keep getting comments that I didn't feed her well enough or she didn't get enough sleep (with eyes like ikan puyu like that, of course people would think she doesn't get enough sleep)

Now, hambik kau! I'm getting comments that I should watch what she's eating (like I don't??) and no, she doesn't eat cupcakes everyday, okay. She's just been very well fed at school. Her teachers reported that she always ask for second helpings, everyday without fail.

 Oh yeah, she's currently having her 'examination' early every morning since last Wednesday. Parents got only a 1 day notice, so that they don't stress their kids too much, I guess, hurhur. On the first day of her exam, I just told her that she'd be having a 'test' and that she would have to listen carefully to everything that the teachers say. Unfortunately, being exposed to examinations for the first time, she didn't get the concept and cried because she couldn't sit near her friends and the most important thing, she couldn't COPY their answers!

The tests are very simple and not stressful at all. The teachers watch the behavioral cues from the children, and if a child doesn't feel like doing the paper at the time, he/she could do it whenever he/she feels like it (oh, why do I have the feeling that this only applies to Nunu?)

She's doing quite well, I suppose. Apart from some careless mistakes, she keeps switching her 6s & 9s, sometimes confuses her bs & ds, ps & qs. My Mom keep saying the word 'dyslexia' although I don't really think I should worry about it. Or should I?

Although the exam doesn't really mean anything significant, from her marks, she did quite well. 76 for BM, 90 for English, 80 for Maths & 84 for Cognitive Science. Not impressive, but it'll do.

She's also driving people around her crazy with her requests to spell this and that. I don't mind if she really wants to learn to spell certain things, but sometimes it's just plain ridiculous.

Nunu: Mama macam mana eja BAJU? *and I proceeded to spell the following words*

           MANGKUK?
           BEN10?
           GWEN?
           KEVIN?
           POWER PUFF GIRL?
Me: Dah, merepek dah Nunu ni.
Nunu: Maaa, macam mana eja MEREPEK?
Me: *facepalm*

KITCHEN AID

There's nothing more useful than an eager helper who would gladly lick off all those chocolate on your baking utensils. Cleaning up is a breeze.




Then again, there is saying that baking is just an excuse to eat cake batter!

BACK TO SCHOOL

I rarely drop by this space anymore, my old abandoned home, casualty of the current pursuit of mine. Sometimes I couldn't help thinking that behind all these self-sabotaging actions, what I really wanted in life to let go of certain things.

But I can't simply do that, really. Too complicated, or is it just ... pride stopping me? Security? But at what cost?

Ah, such inane thoughts and ramblings of a frazzled mind.

Anyway.....

Do assure me this happens all the time in your household too, no matter how often you told off the child. I had to bring her along to the shops, to the shock of many with her facial work.

Yes, she's back to school now, but not without resistance in the morning. We arrive late all the time, but the teachers don't complain. Prolly coz I give them free cupcakes all the time, heh.

But they do complain that she's the top of the class now, in the 'notty' department. Well, naughty isn't exactly their words (more like mine actually, as I ask for the teacher's feedback on how well she behaves for that day). Some of the complaints were Nunu bit another girl's arm, she was acting lazy during lessons (prolly lacking in attention, we do have that problem at home), acting really wild with the boys, etc. All practically normal, I guess, if she was a BOY. The teachers agree, she is tomboyish and rambunctious, not as easy to control as the other girls. They do understand why we're late and I look tired all the time.

But they're not all complaints, there were some shining moment too. She's real easy during meal times, she memorizes things fast and her handwriting and drawings are nice. She's real easy during nap times too on the kids nap mats, a far cry from bedtime at home!

I've resorted to bargaining with her, I know it's not such a good idea, but I'm gonna risk it anyway (I don't always give in to her whims when we're at the shops, I believe in delayed gratification. If she's been a good girl and listen to her teachers, she can have anything her heart desires. She has asked for a red bike, a red scooter, a Ben10 watch, ice-cream every single day - although what she needs most now is a new backpack to replace her old ratty one. Maybe a nice stephen joseph backpack or a personalized stephen joseph quilted backpack. She'll probably pick the red one. And I have exactly $26 in my paypal account. Haha.

So there goes my rambling for the day. I'm taking a day off from baking today, but tomorrow's another story.

SWINGING ON A STAR

Sometime around middle of July, when I was frazzled with the happenings in my life (still am actually), I had to deal with Nunu's refusal to attend school. I had a difficult time trying to get her ready, that I gave up halfway, couldn't be bothered.

From ampang jajar park

I slacked a lot. And if was so tiring taking care of a girl who never gets tired! Daily trips to the playground and she still sleeps at 12-1 am every night.

Coincidentally, my brother tweeted about this old song we used to listen to while we were kids, and I tweeted back, and he forwarded me with this clip. It's an old Little Lulu cartoon about the lazy girl who skipped school and had a dream while fishing. The cartoon's really old, even my mother remembered Lulu during her childhood days!





Showed this video to Nunu and she loved it, and promised me that she'd go to school the next day, coz she doesn't want to be a MULE! hihi, she kept her word.

From ampang jajar park

Mommies out there, if you ever encounter the same problem, try showing your kid/s this clip. Or maybe you can start memorizing the lyrics and sing the song at bedtime.

Saves you a lot of time and heart ache, I tell ya.

LOLLIPOP

As I was browsing through my iPhoto, I found this series of photos taken at a water park last year and they seem so funny now when I think of it!

Venue: On a tram
Scenario: Nunu just met a new friend


Hiii...



Emm... hello?


Watchu got there, my friend?



Err.... a lolly? Why?

Now, the next series of photos are gonna break your heart.


Lick... lick... lick...


Hmm, this lolly is good Momma!


Omm nomm nomm....

Oh, of course I didn't let my daughter snitch that poor little girl's lolly. What do you think my daughter is, Swiper the Fox? Although, she did whine that she wanted a lolly too, and coincidentally the girl's mother had an extra in her pocket (a little wet from the swim, but what the heck).

I graciously accepted her offer coz everyone was getting cranky waiting for the tram to move for 20 minutes. She got her lolly and everyone was happy.

A TUTU FOR NUNU

Dearest Nunu,

Ever since I knew that I'm expecting a girl the first time I went for the scan, I was ecstatic. Every mother secretly wishes that her firstborn's a baby girl I'm sure, purely for girly cuteness factor. But when you came along, little that I know that you were gonna be a challenge for me. Not only that with your perennially bald head (not your fault dear, it's purely genetic) and sparse hair made people thought that you're a boy (sometimes while you're wearing a skirt or a dress even!) but your character was also far from girly that I was constantly reminded by your grandmother to recite quranic verses in your ears in hope it would make you more 'gentle'.

Still, you prove to be 'one of the boys' right from the beginning. You easily warmed up to men and boys and abangs and you showed little interest to play or respond to women/girls. And the stunts you pulled, the troubles that you got into, oh let's not even go there! When you're old enough to have your own fashion sense, you prefer those ratty tshirts, jeans and pants. There were days when I just couldn't bear with the outfit of your choice and simply wrestled you into a dress or a skirt, but on the days that I won, you certainly didn't go down without a fight. And now that you're older and being much, much more vocal, *long sigh* lantaklah, mak dah tak kuasa dah.



This picture obviously is not NOT the cutest picture of you, but it is certainly the photo that describes you best. The typical funny selamba tomboy rockstar.

You're still a challenging girl to raise Nunu, but it's been fun ride since I had you 1285 days ago (gosh, has it been that long already?) At least in recent months you've shown interest in more lady-like stuff - Disney pricessess, Barbie dolls, main masak-masak - totally self-initiated, so I guess I should be cool. Even when you admitted that you've bitten a friend in school the other day, you defended yourself that the boy was a big bully and was harassing you, and I'm so glad I have a plucky kid as a daughter. You're nothing short of everything I hope for a child, babe.

The point of this post actually, a free tutu by tutuworkshop is up for grabs. Nunu DESERVES this tutu, simply because (1) TUTU rhymes with NUNU! obviously that's a winner of a reason (2) I hope it would girly-fy Nunu a teeny bit more. Please, I need all the help that I can get. I suppose years of being mistaken for a boy entitles Nunu for something totally outrageous like a tutu :) (3) If Nunu wins this tutu, we would totally ROCK this kampung! Seriously, Nunu wearing a tutu to a kenduri in this sleepy village? We'll be front page news and over-the-fence gossip! Who says budak kampung or budak penang cannot wear tutu, eh? You want her to beg, issit?

In truth, just about anyone can win this tutu, generously provided by tutuworkshop and organized by MySuperKids. Just follow these simple steps and win!

1. Subscribe to MySuperKids and Tutu Workshop.(Every contestant must be a part of MySuperKids member and as a tutuworkshop fans – by dropping your email in the box @tutuworkshop website )
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2. Make an entry titled : A Tutu For OR Tutu Untuk . e.g. A Tutu For Dania; OR; in my case, Tutu For NUNU
   
3. Put your daughter’s cutest picture.
4. Write about – why your daughter/niece/cousin/lil sister should get a tutu / kenapa anak/anak buah/sepupu/adik saya patut dapat tutu – in your very own, creative ways.
5. Describe about the contest with link back to http://mysuperkids.net and http://tutuworkshop.blogspot.com.
6. Inform Mommy Lyna of MySuperKids at this link when you’re done!
7. Entry should be written in English & Bahasa Malaysia only.

The winner will be featured in My Super Kids and Tutu Workshop.

First Prize : A Custom-Made Princess tutu 14″ length, extra puffy + accesories worth RM120.00

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Second Prize : A Custom-Made Classic 10″ length, double puffy + t-shirt worth RM100.00

Third Prize : Custom-Made Poffy Classic 8 ” length, double puffy.worth RM80.00

5 Consolation Prizes : 15% discount voucher for any purchase at TutuWorkshop.

- and oh yeah, the contest ends today! 25th June, so hurry up! I'm up very early to finish this post!

Last but not least, my cheeky tomboy has what it takes to be a tutu rockstar chick! Definitely not your typical ballerina/fairy-princess wannabe, that's for sure.


Image from here

THE HAND OVER

Dearest momma friends,

It is with deepest regret to inform that Momma's blogging and blog-hopping activities will be extremely restricted from now on, if it isn't slow enough already.

The reason behind this is that I have mastered the use of the mouse and am now enjoying every single opportunity I have at my favourite websites.



As Momma thinks it is such an important milestone that I've learnt to click and drag all on my own, she is contented to be relegated back to TV watching or reading since I insist that I need no help whatsoever from her with my online lessons. Yup, just like I throw her out of the bathroom when I need my privacy to do my potty business, the same applies when I try to learning something. Not that she's not a good teacher, but sometimes she gets in my way :)

Now, I have total control of the laptop, the TV (oh yeah, I still insist on watching my fave shows) and the side of the bed closest to the air-conditioner. I deserve a round of applause, I'm striving for total domination!

Lots of love & cheekiness,
Nunu

COMBAT

Dearest Martian,

Thanks to all those war-themed DVD movies of yours, our beloved daughter is training herself military & psychological warfare to launch a coup d'etat soon. Prepare to be dethroned and surrender all power involving the rights of TV channels and the side of the bed closest to the air conditioner.

armed combat with her home made rifle


war face


Death-kick


Her army and the attack plan, I suppose

VOLCANO, INTERRUPTED

The weekend is princess themed, so we've agreed to wear only dresses at home. But it's difficult to maintain princessy disposition for both of us.

Today however, I was very cool when exercising my power of reprimanding the girl when she intentionally damaged a particularly expensive book despite my repetitive warnings.

I don't do this often, sending the girl off to naughty corner. I save it only serious offenses. If I make a scene or practice corporal punishment, chances are she won't have time to process what wrong she has done. Sometimes she hardly bats an eyelid and taunts me back, "Tak sakit. Tak sakit. Wekkk!"

She knows that when momma is keeping a straight stern face and not saying anything, she's in big trouble.



She stayed at this spot for a good 10 minutes, until she heard the noise from my creaky knees as I bent down to take this pic (time for Anlene, huh?)

She turned around and giggled "Momma? Hehe, MOMMA!" like she was wondering whether we're OK already.

You lucky child, anak bertuah sungguh.

RANDOM UPDATES: 40th MONTH

Nunu's fleshier and rounder on the face. The Big Bad Wolf in me just couldn't resist.

She loves mayonnaise. She can have bread, butter and mayo for breakfast.

Foods that top the list would be soft tofu, fishballs, chocs and everything else that comes in contact with her mouth, not necessarily a food item. Yup, at 3 she still is orally inquisitive.



Answers my command to tidy up whatever mess she makes with a hearty "Baiklah tuan!"

She can help and wash herself up in the bathroom, but I'd like to keep an eye on her anyway. Not because I don't trust her to be clean enough, but she will always announce how many of those... 'ehem' comes out.

She has an imaginary friend whom she calls Aran. He's the boy she blames whenever something goes wrong around the house.

She learns bombastic Malay words and sentences from tv, which makes her sound so grown up, it boggles me.

Below is a sample of her handwriting.

LIGHT

Last night after a late lights off, I was losing control of my heavy eyelids, drifting away, dangerously edging into the deep pool of misery and self-pity. I could still hear Nunu beside me talking to herself, self-entertaining I call it, knowing well that I won't respond to any of her nonsense if she was to bother me.

Then suddenly, I heard her.

"Allahummaftah alayna...hikmataka...wanshur alayna... minkhoza... iniroh...matika...ya arhamarrahimin. Amin."

I quickly sat upright. "You learnt that in school?"

She nodded and grinned, "Doa iqra'."

I hugged her tightly, ecstatic. It dawned to me that I've neglected her a lot these couple of weeks. So we chitchatted as I hold her in my arms.

"So what else you learnt in school? You can read your iqra' to me?"

And she answered cheekily, "Aa, baa, taa, saa, jaa, haa, laam, puu, kee, pass, eh, kon, ting, kap..." and she went on and on until I got puzzled coz she was going so fast, until I realized she was just messing with me!

UNIFORM OF HER DREAMS

She's not a morning person (she got it from her momma!) but at the mere mention of her school uniform, she'll spring upright and ready to go.

Eyelids still heavy, you see

I'm not so crazy about the design and the material (very stiff cotton) but hey, at least it's pink!