Happy Birthday to Me

On Friday, the 8th of December 2006, I turned 25....for the 7th time.

Scene One - Kids Bedroom. It was sometime after midnight, that Amil woke me up after I had unintentionally slept in with our boys when putting them to be the night before. He welcomed me into my 31st year, by asking me "So how does it feel to be 31?". At that time, all groggy and still sleepy, I attempted to murmur an answer, which I'm sure did not make much sense, to either of us.

Scene Two - Our Bedroom. 7am. Now I am woken up later in the morning with a "Happy Birthday!" from Amil followed by a little kiss. Once he had gathered Umar and Musa, the boys went on to wish me "Happy Birthday Mummy!" and we all broke into a happy birthday sing song. Musa however was puzzled but mostly excited by all the hoo haa that was surrounding him!

The boys then gave me a birthday card and present, which was a very nice ZARA shirt, with fine pink and brown stripes, that must have taken them great effort to choose and buy...hehe...of course with some help from their Daddy. Amil then gave me a birthday card that was both funny, sweet and touching. My present, he said, would follow with a shopping outing together :-)

Beep beep, beep beep. In the background I could hear my mobile phone receiving sms-ses.

By this time I was feeling all warm and fuzzy and very much loved. It was certainly a great start to not just a Happy Birthday but what I suspected would be a Wonderful Birthday...

After we all had showered and Amil and I dressed for work, Umar came into our room and asked "So Mummy, when is your birthday going to start?" Another one of Umar's priceless questions.

"Do you mean my birthday party?" I answered with a question.
"Yes! Yes! Your birthday party!" He replied excitedly.
"I won't be having a birthday party Umar" I told him.
"But WHY Mummy?" The WHY had been stretched as far as it always can be. He was obviously disappointed.
"Actually, that's a good question Umar" and went on to tell him that I had to go to work but that we would do something when I got home later.

Scene Three - Office in Shah Alam. Lugging my laptop bag, work bag and hand bag, I akwardly and noisily climbed up one flight of stairs to get to my office. As I walked into our admin. office area, a few of my colleagues broke into a "Happy Birthday to Youuuuu"...Another sing song! What a nice surprise. Then, Mano, our Office Administrator and good friend of mine, gave me a warm birthday embrace followed a short while after with a yummy nasi lemak bungkus.

I also took the opportunity to read and reply the sms-ses that I had received from Mama, Ayah, Dani, San San (a colleague from Head Office), Wyn, Izue and Dani.

Around 9.15am, Aby called to wish me. Around 10.30am, Lyn called to wish me. And later still around 3pm, Wyn called me to follow up on her sms. Aaaah, my darling sisters.

Scene Four - Office. Time was around 11.30am. I was busy doing work (yes, I managed to do some on my birthday) when Angie (our Fleet GPS chick) popped into my office with a huge bouquet of flowers in her hand. WOW! was my first reaction. It didn't hit me that the flowers were from me. Angie gets her fair share of flowers and I thought she was just showing it around.

"If you don't want these, I'll keep it. And they're not from me" she said.
"They are for me?" I asked, genuinely surprised.
"Who are the flowers from?" I asked, genuinely unaware.

And when I opened and read the card, a smile, as wide as a door fridge can open, instantly appeared on my face. It was personally signed, Amil, Umar & Musa.

Aaaw, my darling boys, my darling husband. Thank You. The red roses were a perfect way to end my morning and begin my afternoon.

Scene Five - Office. Mano, Angie, Alvin (our IT dude) and I topped off our nasi lemak brunch with desserts from Maccas (McDonald's) at Kota Kemuning. Just after I got off the phone from Wyn, I was called out from my office to the main office area. And there waiting for me was a nice, big cheesecake with strawberry and chocolate sticks and ball (for the record, Mano and I shared the ball...someone had made off with the sticks...). Yes, we had yet again another sing song session, this time for both me and Mano, as her birthday fell on that Sunday, 10th December 2006, and we blew out one candle each.

That cake blowing session further strengthened the warm and fuzzy feeling...

At the end of the work day, I was very proud to carry to my car the bouquet of flowers and box of leftover birthday cake...

Scene Six - Restaurant. Amil treated Mummy and I to a lovely dinner at Penang Village in Hartamas Shopping Centre. In contrast to my 30th birthday dinner celebrated at the Mango Tree with the whole of the Junus & Mahiran clan, which I might add was fantastically organized by Aby, this 31st birthday dinner was nice and low key. Penang Prawn Mee was my birthday dish and yummy it certainly was.

Scene Seven - Home. Driving into the driveway, we spot Baba just coming out of the car at the garage. Mummy yelled to him from the gate "Who's birthday is it today?". At that time I went to give Baba a hug and looking at him answered Mummy's question "Mine!". And with that Baba sheepishly apologized and then warmly wished me. "It's never too late" I answered and gave him a big hug and kiss.

Amil and I ended the night with an excitement filled feeling of anticipation as the kids and us were to spend the following 3 days and 2 nights, from 9th to 11th December 2006, at Shangri-La, Putrajaya as part of my birthday celebration and also Umar's school holiday getaway.

And now, to answer Amil's earlier question "So how does it feel to be 31?"

I feel wonderful, contented in a blissful way and extremely happy, even in the knowledge that, amongst others, I will attain more lines on my face, have a tougher time to loose that stubborn bit of flab, be less flexible in form but more firm in my beliefs, and in short - older but hopefully wiser and kinder. Oh yes, and even in the knowledge that I am now two years younger than Amil...well only for two more months...then it will be back to three years again :-)

I am very thankful to Allah swt to have allowed me to reach my 31st year in good health, happiness and surrounded by my great husband, gorgeous children and wonderful family & friends, alhamdulillah. And may Allah swt bless me and my family with goodness, patience and perserverance to overcome difficulties with ease and happiness always and hereafter. Ameen.

All Things Anakin

"Mummy, when you and Daddy got married, did you kiss?" Umar asked.

"Yess" I answered somewhat hesitantly somewhat dreading the next question this was going to lead up to.

"Did you and Daddy kiss on the lips?" Umar continued with a cheeky twinkle in his eyes.

"Nooo" I answered in hope that the questions would stop there and knowing in truth I would not be able to answer further questions had I told him yes, I did kiss his daddy on the lips.

"But Anakin Skywalker kissed on the lips when he got married!" He went on astonished at the fact that his parents were not like Anakin.

"But that's just in the movies..." I poorly attempted to pacify him.

Umar's disappointment was obvious, followed by his scrunched up face.

"Why did you not invite me?" Umar asked in a serious manner.

"Invite you to what?" I asked genuinely surprised...then it hit me "Invite you to our wedding??"

"YES! Why did you not invite me to your wedding??!!" Umar was exasparated.

He had witnessed Anakin's wedding on TV but did not get invited to witness ours. I highly suspected it was because he wanted to witness our kiss or to actually prove that our kiss had actually been on the lips!

"Because you were just a little dot in heaven then..." which of course, Umar was not too happy about.

Since this interrogation, there have been numerous instances where he had highly likely wished he was not just a little dot in heaven, but physically there with us, wanting to actually participate and be part of our history in the making....

Beauty in the eyes of my little boy

The first time I started wearing a head scarf was on Monday, 4th October 2004.

That morning, I got ready as usual, with the only difference at the end my routine being me putting on a head scarf, instead of styling and fluffing up my hair to give it some "body". Then I showed Amil and told him that I was going to start wearing the scarf today. He was surprised and said that maybe I would want to consider wearing it when Ramadhan, which was around the corner, starts. I replied that I was already fasting, to repay the days missed, so I may as well start now. Amil smiled, gave me a kiss and wished me the best, since he knew how nervous I was feeling.

Days before, I had asked Amil what he thought if I started to wear the scarf now (as in in the near future and not when I am older, say around 40 years and passed my "hey" days). Though I know my decision would be independently made, the support from him would make it easier. "It's always a good time to do good things" he replied. Short, sweet and straight to the point, but that was all that I needed.

Other than Islamic reasons for my wearing a scarf, sheepishly I have to admit that on bad hair days I am glad I wear a scarf so I do not have to make any painful and elaborate attempts to resuscitate my flat and lifeless hair, nor do I have to explain to my work colleagues the "oh, my wet look is actually just me trying out a new hair care product", which is really a result of my hair dryer failing to function.

On the other hand, also sheepishly, I have to admit that during some of the times when I have had good hair days, even sometimes wonderfully sexy hair days, I feel like wearing nothing over my head and just walking out the door, do a few of those hair ad moves for all the world to see. I want to experience that feeling I had pre scarf wearing days, the pride I felt when heads turned and people looked at me, even if those feelings were not spiritually right for me.

But this want more or less grinded to a halt just a couple of days ago on Monday, 20th November 2006.

I was having one of those good, wonderfully sexy hair days and after dressing up in a black top and jeans, felt like embarking on one of those hair ads head turning outing. In reality however, I was about to take Umar and Musa out to The Curve to meet Amil for dinner.

Anyway, deciding to play a joke on Umar, I turned to look at him, struck a pose, with my body-filled hair loose around my shoulders, and asked him whether he was ready to go out. He looked up at me, his cute impish face smiling away and said "But Mummy, you forgot to wear your scarf!". I told him that no, I didn't forget and I was going to go out dressed the way I was. "But Mummy, your scarf makes you look pretty!".

That was the moment. I felt a rush of emotion that I could not fully comprehend. I was ashamed of myself, but at the same time I was so proud of my son. And now I am thankful that he unknowingly taught me a valuable lesson.

This wonderful innocent child, my little boy, made me realise that it does not matter what the whole world thinks of me. What matters is that when I make a decision, and feel that it is made for the right reasons, then I must stand by that decision through thick and thin, not only through flat hair days but good hair days too, and in body, mind and soul.

I then put on my scarf, took a good look at myself and smiled. Not so much because my little boy thought I looked pretty but more so because my little boy had humbled me. Thank you Umar.

This photo of me was taken at my workplace in Shah Alam on 16th June 2006.

The Daily Marathon

Some days they can go the distance....

But some days they just can't....

Umar & Musa's photo was taken on Sunday, 3rd September 06, awake when leaving Tok Nik & Tok Ayah's house and asleep when arriving home at Nena & Tok Ba's house 25 minutes later...

This Baby Can Read!

Yes! Believe or not but our little Musa can read at 16.5 months old! He may have possibly been able to read earlier but unfortunately because of my unattentiveness, I unwrapped this wonderful gift only last week!

It was a rainy, lightning & thunderstorm filled night, last Friday night, 10th November 2006, and I was much relieved to be home from work before the clouds decided to split, which in doing so released a forceful downpour of not only cats and dogs, but chicken and ducks, and what I felt was also cows and buffalos, accompanied by their own personal sound and lighting effects courtesy of nature.

Anyway, back to the excitement at hand. After giving the kids a bath, around 6.50pm, I stayed with them in their bedroom playing hide 'n seek, transformers, blocks, boing-boing bouncy ball and all other games and activities that we could come up with until it was their bed time, which on a god blessed night would be around 9.30pm.

At around 8.30pm, Umar was happily building his Decepticon army, thereafter equally happily pulverising them to pieces (though how much pulverising can you do to lego blocks?). Musa was sitting on my lap whilst I read to him. Little did I know that he could have been reading to me!

Musa soon became restless and I had to quickly get his attention before he decided to destroy Umar's Decepticon army. I reached down for the Magna Doodle board and wrote the word "ear" on it and showed it to Musa. What he did next almost blew me away. He touched his right ear. Did I see right?? I wasn't sure so erased the word and re-wrote it. And he touched his right ear again! I did it a third and fourth time; and he subsequently pointed to his ear the third and fourth time as well!

I was so excited at my new discovery, a gift from Musa, I call it, that he was equally excited by my facial expression and the praises I was heaping onto him. At that time Tok Nik, Tok Ayah, Uncle Dani & Aunty Izue just arrived for a visit. I shared with them this newly found talent of Musa, and soon found out that he could also read the word "mouth", by touching his own cute little one and "eye", by touching his gorgeous doey ones.

When Amil got back from work, he thought I was pulling his leg when I told him Musa could read. Okay, firstly Musa can't even speak, accept for a few incomplete attempts at vocalising some words. He can however say "Da-da" as in Daddy (yes, a total point of pride for Amil), which is the only complete word he can speak (and no.. he has not attempted to say Mummy or Mama either). So for him to be able to read? How can he right? Well wrong. He can and he does this by pointing to the corresponding body part or doing the corresponding actions to the words shown to him. Of course Amil was equally excited and overwhelmed at the replay of Musa's "reading" sessions.

Over the weekend, Amil and I continued to write various words on the Magna Doodle board and pieces of paper, which Musa would read and subsequently point to or enact out correctly 85 - 90% of the time. The other 10-15% he would not get right was probably due to the confusion he felt when looking at all the monkey like antics and displays of excitement shown by Amil and I when he did get it right!

Todate, he can read the following words: ear, mouth, eyes, hair, point, finger, laugh, arms up, clap, clapping, though we are yet to try some more new ones. We have kept in mind that since he can't really talk now, it may be difficult for him to express words such as animals, things, and the like.

However, what has been more compelling for us to realise, other than the wonders of him being able to read, is the fact that he has opened up our eyes and hearts even more to getting to know what he is all about and what his personality is like. Not to just take for granted that he's only a baby. Although we know that he's one smart, funny and very cheeky baby, it has made us realise how important it is to cherish every little moment and every little thing he does. We may have seen most of it before, with our first born Umar, but this serves as a reminder that it's only Musa's first time and that we need to go through it all with him and with the same feelings or at least effort we had put in the first time around. Each child is different and to think otherwise, to think that their milestones are similar or just the same... is to risk missing out on a lot of good things and their unique, individual achievements...

Note: Musa learnt to read via watching the "Your Baby Can Read" VCD series, which I had actually purchased for Umar more than 2 years ago. Since Umar was not interested in it, possibly because he had other activity classes (The Shichida Method), I kept it aside and only resurrected them when Musa was about 6 months old. Musa would watch the 20 minute VCDs once to twice a day, whilst drinking his bottled milk. And now at 16.5 months old, he still happily participates whilst watching the VCDs. In case you'd like to know more about the VCDs, you can check out this website http://www.infantlearning.com/

Musa's photo was taken on Thursday, 31 August 06 at Tok Ba's kampung house compound in Ulu Sepri, Rembau, Negeri Sembilan.

Men in Grey

Here's a photo of Amil, Umar and Musa I took just over a year ago, when I decked out the boys in matching grey tops. No, that wasn't coincidental, it was planned! Don't they look gorgeous???

Sadly, this photo has sat deep in the dark corner of my computer file only to be resurrected today to share with you. Over a year has passed and Musa now is about double the size he was in this photo, bears almost no resemblance to this photo, though just as cute.

I am terrible at organizing my digital photos, great at taking them, but terribly bad at putting them into any order at all. Only just recently after reading an article about this couple who lost EVERY photo of their toddler because their CD stuffed up, photos from birth up to about 2 years old, did it hit me that it could happen to me too!

Umar is lucky enough to have his photos taken with the older generation film camera and subsequent forced developing of photos only because we could not just keep pushing the buttons to make space for newer shots; but Musa's pretty much had ALL his photos taken with the newer generation digital camera. And there are still ALOT of his and also Umar's photos still to be printed. However, Amil and I do our "risk management" by saving onto multiple CDs, laptops, desktop and keeping our"favourites" on the cameras itself. But not until we print the photos will we be really relieved that our lifetime keepsakes and memories are properly preserved.

A colleague of mine, Rockson (yes, that's his real name), proudly showed me hundreds of photos of his first child, a doll of a baby girl. And when I shared with him the above story, he did panic at first, saying that every photo he has is on his one and only laptop but still he felt that there was no need to print the photos.

No need to print photos? That got me thinking. Do many people not print their digital photos? With mobile phone, email, CD burning, network servers and god knows what other technology available, do people not have a need to print out their photos anymore to share it with friends and family?

Although I still have the satisfaction of thumbing through "touchy feely" paper photos, getting finger prints on them, and freaking out later, and just generally "oooing" and "aaaing" whilst holding the photographic evidence in my hands.... there are hundreds, potentially thousands more of these digital photos to print out and go through.

My aim is to eventually have colour coordinated albums filled with these printed photos lining my book shelves, but for now to share it with you all, even I will make use of technology, with just a click of a mouse and a touch of a key....

A Letter to Dinosaurs

Dear Sue and Stan,

Before I met you at this exhibition, all I ever knew about dinosaurs were from small plastic figurines, a couple slightly fancier battery operated models, many different books and encyclopedias and of course VCDs and DVDs (with the likes of Aladdar the Iguanodon - my personal favourite, which I used to imitate the sound, much to the annoyance of my mummy & daddy; Barney, though he never really convinced me; a couple of really cool animated ones from Jurassic Park; and the many series of Land Before Time), to mention just a few.

When I first laid eyes on dinosaurs, I think it was love at first sight. Sure, some time in between then and now, they've had some hot wheels, thomas the tank engine, mega blocks to compete with for my attention, but still they will always be my personal favourite. Hey, afterall I did choose to wear my dinosaur print white shirt for my birthday party. Okay, so it was either the dinosaur print or fish print.

Anyway, my favourite things to do with dinosaurs was to carefully and painfully arrange my plastic ones in all different ways and manner and places (on a bed, dressing table, floor), have mummy and daddy make up stories about them - Terry the Triceratops, Dipsy the Diplodocus and many more; and the adventures they would go on. Similar to that shown on Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs, which I was totally excited about since I had already owned the books before the TV show. By the way, much to my disappointment, I could not go to Harry's "Dino World" by jumping into my plastic bucket. That took alot of explaning by mummy. I would also enjoy reading books about them. In fact i believe I knew the names of all my dinosaurs before the names of my cousins and aunts and uncles.

So you can imagine how excited I was when daddy and mummy took Musa and me to Singapore for an overnight trip (weekend of 22 -23 July '06). Just for the Dinosaur Exhibition at the National Science Centre. They had displays of dinosaur fossils, bones, eggs and skeletons, with the highlight being the two HUGE T-REX dinosaur skeletons named Sue and Stan. Yes, the two of you. Although you were not real skeletons but casts of the original skeletons, it didn't matter because I didn't know any better.

I almost leapt out of my skin when I saw the many different dinosaurs skeletons and fossils! It was a dream come true for me to be up close and personal with the dinosaurs, even if it was only the bones. You both obviously took my breath away. How huge and overwhelming you were!... But poor adik. Musa on the other hand was quite terrified of the dinosaur skeletons, especially those with HUGE fangs and sharp teeth!!

I'm glad that we got to see you and the others. You are afterall a very popular world travelling exhibition! I will always remember visiting you in Singapore; and hope to be able to see you or some of your other relatives in the not too distant future. In the mean time, stay scary, solid and stuck together!

With love from Umar and my li'l brother Musa

Beach Baby

This is Musa's 2nd trip to the beach (him wearing green hat during weekend of 12 - 14 May '06), the 1st one being our stay at Mount Maunganui at the Bay of Plenty, Nth Island, NZ (him wearing blue & yellow Rip Curl wetsuit). He totally loves the beach, massaging the sand, letting it fall through his tiny fingers and mostly, when we're not looking, taking a face first dive towards the sand and sticking his tongue out for a little taste... yummy!

A Recipe for Organized Chaos

That's exactly what Umar's 4th and Musa's 1st joint birthday party was on Sunday, 11th June 2006!

And if you happened to be one of those who came to the party and thought "Wow! This is great! I'm going to have a party just like this one!"... then do read on and be forewarned...

Party Invitation Card
Ingredients
2 x Gorgeous, but not particularly cooperative or coordinated, little boys
2 x Little Chairs - to use as props, one of which Musa kept sliding off (or nudged off by Umar) and resulting in him "plopping" onto the grass repeatedly and in varying angles and positions
1 x Patient Dad - to take photos of the boys, who were just after 3 minutes walking into the garden, was itching and scratching from all the mosquitoe bites, a mild way of describing the actual onslaught
1 x Crazy Mum - to coordinate the photo shoot and make the boys "smile", by her acting in all manners categorized as anything but sane, not dissimilar to the moves adopted by the "beruk yang tergigit chili api"
1 x Even More Patient Sister and truly legendary friend (they probably don't want kids now) - Poor Aby and Jeff had the task of bringing to reality my "grand idea"... where do i begin? To deal with getting the right smile on the right face, fonts, formats, skin colors, paper size & weight, smudging printing, cutting & pasting, impending storm & potential electrical short circuit, running late for friend's wedding, with one not even attending the wedding... where do i end?
1 x Long, and I mean reaaaallly long guest list so every important child of our beloved siblings, relative and friend; and not to forget Umar's QIDS pre-school friends and teacher; and Shichida friend would not be excluded.

Party Venue, Food, Games Presents & Goodies
Ingredients
1 x Cool & Loving Grandparents (Nena & Tok Ba) who kindly agreed to let us use their living hall, which was totally stripped off its Italian furniture and converted into the Circus cum Zoo they had no idea was going to come into existence, and Nena & gang for preparing the delicious curry, macaroni & spaghetti
1 x Cool & Loving Grandparents (Tok Nik & Tok Ayah) who kindly prepared the delicious Kuzi Ayam to feed the "mob", despite having to leave for Chieng Mai, the following morning for a one week trip, which i imagine would be a respite after the party
1 x Supermarket Shopping trip each to Makro, Jusco & Toys R' Us for just about everything else.. Kaching, ching $$$

Entertainment
Ingredients
1 x Cha Cha the Magical Clown cum Balloon Sculptor in cool orangy/yello afro wig, funky clothes & huge dark sunglasses (never taken off, which I strongly suspect, to preserve his real identity)
1 x Magician with live rabbit and bird, who was actually a stand in for Cha Cha because the latter had all his equipment wet after leaving it overnight in his van, parked in the underground car park of his apartment, which got flooded after a heavy downpour. An excuse for an appointment that had been booked over part of our time? Maybe, but we have him to thank because the kids loved the rabbit and bird...
1 x Huge Ball Pool cum Bouncy Castle that we had to put in the living hall because it was perpetually raining or drizzling, and by the time this had stop, the sun was shining gloriously, which no doubt would have resulted in sizzled tootsies and baked cheeks, had the Ball Pool been transferred outside.
1 x Sand Art Station, which honestly I had forgotten all about (I was in the midst of saying goodbye to smile plastered faces, drenched in sweat, when the nice party attendants reminded me about the Sand Art station, which they just opened up. And the queue of guests initally waiting to say goodbye, suddenly detoured and made a bee line towards the Sand Art station...)

RESULT
Over 200 people, with mostly half of them, which fell in the "under the armpit" category, having a BLAST of a time enacting just about every active verb ever printed in the dictionary, including but certainly not limited to the following words (and some I have not even bothered to repeat!)when associated with the following activities:

Ball pool cum Bouncy Castle: bouncing, jumping, screaming, yelling, pushing, pulling, diving, sliding, throwing, sweating..
Clown & Magician with rabbit & bird plus party games: laughing, smiling, crying, hugging, dancing, running...
Clown sculpted balloons & Colorful Helium Balloons: popping, hitting, twisting...
Sand Art Craft: peeling, sprinkling, rubbing...
Bubble wands & guns blowing: waving, weaving, splashing...
Thomas Tank Engine Train & Leonard Lion Cake Cutting: singing, blowing, poking, jabbing, licking, eating...

So boys, by the time we organize your next party and you wonder then why you can't remember even having had this one earlier on, that's because we needed lots of time to recover and psyche ourselves up for your next one...

Little Spotty

Yet another drama unfolds at the beginning of the work week. Of all the days available, three to be precise, on the last long weekend, Musa, my 10 month old second son, chooses to have his food allergy on the morning that I return to work. Or to be fair on the little one, I choose to give him a brand new cereal, different to the usual (much thanks goes to the supermarket that ceases to stock it), on the morning I return to work.

Just as I was winding myself up for the long week ahead, I received a much NOT needed phone call from Aby, my sister, also my housemate.

"Have you seen Musa's face? He's got red spots all over his face, ears, top part of his body... his eyes are red, bruised, bloodshot!" she semi-asked, semi-stated worriedly bordering on panic, which in my family, this is somewhat a normal response, similar to that given when we have run out of bread or the family cat, Vince (full name Afundi Vince Fantasia - do you still remember Aby?) has snuck into the house.

Of course I had not seen his face or else would I have left him in that state? I thought to myself. Somewhere in between the panic, we determined that it must have been an allergic reaction to the breakfast cereal. The reaction was quick, with the little one scratching himself endlessly. My poor baby.

"No, I didn't see his face. Is he breathing alright?" Stories of people having difficulties in breathing due to allergy, mainly from peanut, play in my mind. Not a pretty sight and my knees start to rubberise.

"His breathing's fine. Just the rashes and spots and his red eyes" she answers, slightly calmer.

"Ok, I'll come home and take him to the doctor. Can you hang around with him?" Not starting work until 10am-ish, Aby agrees to keep Musa company, in addition to Bibi Ijah, my domestic PA (personal assistant... literally!).

Flying down the highway, I make another call home to my PA to check on Musa's progress. Umar answers the phone and before I could say hi...

"Mummy!! It's Musa! He's got spots on his face! He's got chicken spots! He's got chicken spots all over his face and his eyes are bruised. You need to take him to the hospital!" Umar was obviously distressed by his brother's allergy, which he took the liberty to diagnose as chicken spots, medically known as chicken pox... I go on to commend what a good and concerned brother he is and that yes, I am on the way home to take his little brother to see the doctor.

When arriving home a speed lightning 20 minutes later, I cross path with Umar, who was now in the car ready to be sent to school by Lan a.k.a Uncle Lan, my dad's driver. Upon seeing me from inside the car, we both had our car windows wound down, whereby Umar proceeded to tell me about little Musa again.

"Mummy! Musa is inside the house! (Umar vigorously points to the house) You going to take him to the hospital mummy. He's waiting inside. Take him to the hospital!" This, coming from the big brother who usually does not hesitate to give his little brother a hard time, was touching to say the least. I waved Umar off to school, telling him not to worry as I would take care of Musa. He looked back just to make sure that I was heading into the house...

And there waiting for me was poor little spotty, all...well spotty, and red, rashy and most distinct was his bloodshot eyes, gorgeous dewey doe eyes, but bloodshoot nonetheless. Fortunately by now he didn't seem to be too bothered with the allergy, few itching and scratching aside. And a visit to the doctor did confirm he was allergic to the cereal (mainly the "fake" fruit flavouring, i.e. strawberry and orange, which was suprising given the cereal was recommended for babies 6 months and above); but the reaction was subsiding already. Thank god. Another brand bites the dust. And another one I must seek.

And since then... I have been unable to identify stockists of the original "spot free" cereal. Many a supermarket I have visited but to no avail. But like any other parent, I will continue to seek the elusive baby breakfast cereal until I have put to rest Musa's allergic reaction...that is until the next food group comes along...

Update: Two months down the road since the above episode, both my darling sisters Wyn and Lyn have gone out of their way to buy the Heinz baby cereal (multi grain, red box) wherever and whenever they come across it but fortunately my prayers were answered because our local supermarket, CitiSuper in Sri Hartamas, is now stocking this particular cereal. Thank God!

Gold Class Teachers

Last Saturday, Amil and I took Umar, age 3.75 yrs to watch Ice Age 2.

He is a huge fan of Ice Age 1, having pretty much developed his love for the movies beginning with this particular one at the tender age of around 2 years. Love being equal to watching the same movie at least 5 times a day for months on end...

We decided to treat him (or more so us the parents!) to Gold Class cinema seats, with him having the choice of either mummy or daddy sharing his seat. Good thing he didn't ask mummy and daddy to share one seat or it would've looked, to say the least, awkward. He instead bounced from mine to Amil's seat, asking questions at the same volume he would anywhere else, the word "whisper" suddenly not existing in his vocabulary.

He was all excited with the set up of the cinema, beginning with the refreshment counter outside, where we ordered our drinks and popcorn, the waiting lounge with nice and "cozy" beige armchairs, right to the inside of the cinema with the huge (to him) reclining armchairs, and space to run in between other patrons.

What made Amil's and my day was not Ice Age 2, but listening to the genuine, hard laughter of our little one, the glistening of his eye, the pure enjoyment of the movie.

Before the movie started, he recalled his last movie was Madagascar, watched at the normal RM10 per seat and not RM40 per seat. We told him this was a different cinema. I explained that we were treating him to watch a movie at a cinema that was Gold Class.

"Gold Class? This is a class? Where are the teachers?" all questions asked in one breath! Amil and I cracked up at these innocent questions.
"No, this is not a school class. It's a cinema class" I ventured an answer.
"What about my pre school?" he asked somewhat anxiously, and continued to ask about his teachers and friends.

Now this whole Gold Class cinema thing threw a new light to his definition of class. Something which I believe will make him look at his pre school class in a totally different way..... Now, I can't even begin to explain the existence of upper class, lower class, middle class, no class.... the latter being a potential to send him to the point of despair, the thought of his teachers, friends and class going missing, lost, disappearing.....

Dorothy the Dinosaur

Today when I called home, Umar, age 3+, answered the phone.

"Who is it?" he asked in his cute high squeaky pitched voice.
"It's Dorothy the Dinosaur" (a character from the famous Wiggles) I answered back cheerily and so spontaneously that even I surprised myself.
"And who is that?" returning his question.
"This is Umar" he answered, cautiously but with a sense of excitement rising in his voice.
"Hi Umar! I'm Dorothy the Dinosaur. Do you know what colour am I?" the guilt of the charade began to tingle inside of me.
"You have yellow spots" Umar said confidently.
"Yes, I do and I have a green body too!" not about to give up the charade, I carried on in my best sing song voice.
"I like to sing, and dance.." I continued.
"And you like roses too..." Umar interrupted.

I almost burst out laughing but kept on encouraging him and making him believe he was talking to Dorothy from Wiggles, once his favourite tv show. Even though I felt quite bad by this time, I enjoyed making him happy by making him think he was really chatting with a Wiggles star but at the same time, knowing that this was not going to last.

"I have a baby" said Umar, hearing his little brother crying in the background.
"And what's your baby's name?" Dorothy a.k.a very sick mum asked.
"Musa" he answered. Umar was obviously happy to be engaging in this conversation.

At this point in time I knew that I could not let on that I was really his very sick mum and so vowed that I would pretend being Dorothy, so he could continue on being thrilled and tell me all about his exciting phone call when I got home from work later that night. God had other plans though.

"Do you have toys in your room Umar?" Dorothy continued with the merry chat.
"Yes"
"What's your favourite toy"
"Cars" he answered in usual serious manner.
"And who bought you the toys Umar? A question I tend to ask him when he shows me a new toy or thing.
"You're not Dorothy " I was caught off guard and let out a little giggle / laugh.
"If I'm not Dorothy, then who am I?" I asked slightly defiantly.
"You're MUMMY! Aww, you're not Dorothy" he said slightly upset, though still hoping that he was wrong.

My worst feeling was confirmed. I had disappointed a little boy, not just a little boy but MY little boy.

"Dorothy the Dinosaur lives far, far away. How can he (Umar does not know yet the difference between he and she) come over here? It's too far, far away." He answered in a tone that said I should have known better than to believe that Dorothy would really have called me up.
"I'm sorry Umar. Mummy was just being silly pretending to be Dorothy the Dinosaur." Trying to make him NOT feel stupid and duped! Though I know I was the stupid one stringing along the little fellow...

I really do hope that he forgot the phone conversation after he quickly said goodbye, after finding out that it was not worth to stay on the phone for Mummy as long as he would like to had it really been Dorothy...