The Picky Boy

I want to remember this day we brought Zayn to his fifth cum sixth months’ jab. It was quite early in the morning and Zayn woke up cheery that I decided to dress him in pink to match the mood. Okay fine, to match me his mommy but in all seriousness man…that boy looks super cute in pink.

So we went to Eva’s usual pediatrician, one of the most well-known in KL feeling so excited to finally meet him again. We were greeted by the friendly staffs. After registration I completely lost my chill, I wasted no second and handed Ajai my phone to take pictures of me and Zayn in every corner of the clinic. #ajaisaidtakkenal

Oh look Zayn, Eva used to play with this bike too!

Oh this one! Eva loves this bus toy!

See see! This is where I breastfed your sister!

Zayn, who looked completely uninterested, served me the meh look. Probably saying “the clinic you took me before got live fishies…but okay…”

We were called in. I kept on saying to Zayn oh my oh my gaddd this is it baby, you’re gonna meet the best pediatrician in all KL! Lo and behold!

In the doctor’s office Zayn began ‘scanning’ the room, one wall after the other, and finally settled in, he sighed, touched the toys on the doctor’s table, and served that ‘okay whatchu got for me today doc’ look. We were asked a few questions from pregnancy to delivery to his milestones back to pregnancy again and feeding. I felt so comforted by this familiarity and I love, love loveee this doctor so much but Zayn was still…looking unimpressed.

“Okay Zayn, let me check your lung. Sejuk sikit ye I just sterilize this statoscope”

Lung’s good!

“Okay now open your mouth please…Oh! Nice and clean mouth!”

I swear my son said “aa-aa” that the doctor too…giggled.

After the weighing and usual measurement came the peak time. Jab time. No sweat one la Zayn has done this up till his fourth month and I could not be any prouder for his attitude. Unfortunately this time he looked uncomfortable.

“Uh-oh Zayn look look! This is green square! Yellow circle…” tried to distract him but he kept on staring at the needle-work. Pushed his head towards me but nope, resilient boy turned his head back.

You gonna put those thing on me don’t ya? You gonna…. WAAAAAAAAAA! Loud cry!

What’s with this attitude young man!? I mean you were good all these times, probably my trophy child (jab edition la ha, Eva might read this blog haha) but out of all days today is the day you decided to throw a fit? Not cool young man not cool. He was still sobbing when we left the doctor’s and just wanted to be hugged. I comforted my little boy, stroked his fine hair in that very moment I remembered his usual doctor, a young female doctor back in my hometown who attended him for several months. Immediately, I asked Ajai:

“D, do you think he behaved before because his doctor was a pretty female not…male doc?”

A yes from Ajai.

That makes so much sense. Zayn is so used to having his pretty hot mom (ahem!) and other nice-looking girls (read: sister, grandmas and aunties) so it is only logical to want to be comforted by the ladies je. LOL. But it’s good to learn he has developed a taste and very consistent with his choice.

Till then, wish us luck in the next doc’s visit. Yes, our most trusted male doc #sorrynotsorryZayn

Hello Baby Z!

*Let’s pretend you guys have not seen my Insta post a few months back okay*

Everyone, meet (virtually) the love of my life Number 2, the latest addition to our little family,

Our son, Zayn ❤

To date I still remember worrying too much about loving someone else other than Eva. She was my only child back then, I think I devoted all of me to my little brat girl so it was hard imagining the possibility of dividing my affection to…another child.

But came Zayn and this mom fell in love over and over again! In short I am obsessed with him that the cot I purchased beg my husband to purchase and swore that I will put Zayn in, rolled its eyes back at me saying “womannnn you should not have bought me at the first place I was fine laying in that Babyshop’s warehouse” teehee. [trivia: I bought a new cot because I wanted to continue co-sleeping with Eva and thought maybe Zayn can be sleep-trained as early as newborn phase but who was I kidding].

Every single thing about my sweet boy tickles a humble joy in me; from the pregnancy, the labour, this newborn phase that we are in… Uhh never felt this complete before so thank you Allah for such a big blessing to a truly undeserving servant like me!

So Zayn… bienvenue sur mon blog! (That’s right! Mommy learns French…from Monsieur Goo Gle Trans Latte)

Instant Child

The setting? Saturday AM, the much-awaited day for our weekly family brunch outing. What was I doing? Putting on my scarf when suddenly Ajai’s phone rang and all I heard was constant “haa okay okay boleh boleh” from his end. Soon after he hung up.

“Mommy, Sabah (our friend who lives two blocks away) minta tolong jaga Hanan, wife dia dalam labour”

What? How?! I had never babysit toddlers, or infant for that matter other than my younger siblings so their request left me shocketh. My husband would just okay-ed without asking me first when obviously I’d be doing the mom job. What can a husband do? Give gadgets and let the kid watch Robocar Poli for hours? Nonsense! He’ll be having a two hour afternoon con-call later so guess who would need to attend to those TWO kids later? MEEEEE NOT HIM!

But I understand our friend’s worries and kalutness, so I literally had no issue other than my worries if taking care of him would be different from taking care of my own child. Oh come on, not all kids drink the same formula, and how would I know if his mom has let him consume sugar/salt in his diet!!? Too late to say no, he arrived shortly after. Eva was the most excited she cried her lung out “Mommy mommy! Hanan hereee! Mommy come!”

I looked at Hanan, Hanan looked at me.

“Umm hi?”

Loud cry! Apparently he wanted only Ajai so I told Eva “dia taknak mommy la Eva”

“Sokayyy mommy…Eva adeee…” Ughhh I love my firstborn.

We took him out with us for lunch and outwardly that built up my relationship with him. Slowly he trusted me and would communicate with me whenever he wanted something, at the restaurant and when we returned home. Ajai was completely forgotten by that point. Hanan’s language was just plain “ah ah” or “bah bah” but I don’t know la moms kan got superpower thingy so each time he told me “ah” I can differentiate if it was “ah” referring to “woman, gimme susu” or “ah” which means “I’m sleepy, put me to sleep”.

Comparatively, it was easier taking care of him than taking care of Eva. I lullabied him for less than two minutes, he fell asleep. I bathed him, he obeyed without wanting to stay in the tub for too long. I put on Eva’s pajama on him because he ran out of clothes (I know, must be the dad who packed the bag) he didn’t protest against wearing pink hehe. And I made him vege soup he finished it all! My daughter on the other hand went “no carrot mommy. no mashwum mommy. nak chicken je mommy” but this boy…he ate everything, licin! From the chicken porridge to mango to nasi soup…he finished it all! I know his mom is way better at cooking than me but he still swallowed the foods I made with no issue. It felt like feeding a one-year old Eva again, back when she didn’t discover Baskin’ Robbins and the gang…yet.

After he settled down, I let him play with Eva in the playroom. Eva is such a natural when it comes to entertaining younger kids, she didn’t look jealous at all. She entertained Hanan’s request to go down the slide, let him play with the cooking toys (because she has moved on from cooking toys and prefers dinosaurs now so even if I preloved them also no issue one…) and sometimes played her role as the big sis so well. Like, when I was performing solat I heard Hanan cried (Ajai was there but like I said, what can a dad do???) so Eva was running back and forth from the living room to my room reporting “Mommy Hanan cry! Oh no mommy cupat cupaaat!”

Hanan was picked up later that night. When he returned to his dad and we were left being a family of 3.5 again, Ajai and I just won’t stop praising our firstborn (after we let go a hugeeee sigh of relief, of course. We returned someone else’s child, alive so phewwwwww!). We both agreed that she suddenly looked grown up and a very responsible girl for that matter. Never before we felt this way watching her eating on her own but when we had Hanan who’s a year younger, Eva eating on her own felt like a huge deal! Padahal she has been eating on her own since forever! We hugged, kissed her hardly because that day was the day the quote “the days are slow, the years are fast” truly came alive! We’ll be a family of four very soon, InshaaAllah so taking care of Hanan was tad a rehearsal cum teaser of how life with two kids would be.

And I say, we’ll be nailing it InshaaAllah!  

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Dinosaur, All Dinosaur…

Just a very quick update on daily snippets with Eva girl.

I know reading to a toddler can be a daunting task after a looooong day at work, but on everyday basis I would try my best to be present (and sincere) during Eva’s reading time. I would never take her reading-time lightly because (i) I need to ensure my money worth it, her book collection already supersedes mine and mind you she’s only 2 y/o! (ii) I vouched to be that parent who menanamkan the love to read to her children.

So, despite the many “ni ape?” or “again Mommy”, very rarely would I not entertain my girl or say that Mommy’s tired can we please stop?

But last night I felt super lethargic and just wanted to bunk myself in the bed. I did. That’s when Eva came to me and handed out her current read; a dinosaur’s encyclopedia (my child guys) for me to read.

“Come bum bum next to me, Mommy will read it out”

“No Mommy. Come war (keluar). Eva nak read kat war (kat luar)”

Oh no nooo… I wanted to read the book to her but my back was hurting so bad, it’s not cooperating. Feeling all guilty, I explained that my back hurts so I need to lie down and would appreciate it if she’d just go bother daddy who’s sinfully just Netflixing Attack on Titan, having the time of his life.

My girl agreed. Ahhh she’s such an understanding little girl.

A moment later, I heard her conversation with Ajai outside:

“Daddy, read book ni plish”

“Okay Eva. Come.”

“Daddy, ni ape?” Btw she’s reading the Usborne’s encyclopedia which has a cover graphic featuring main dinosaurs like T-Rex, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus… nine of them if I’m not mistaken. I am still learning about dinosaurs, guys, I mean, this is novel for me too as I did not see this coming from a daughter…

Ajai answered “Dinosaur”.

“Ni?” she probably was pointing at Coelophysis…

“Dinosaur” -__-

“Ni?” another species she’s eager to learn…

“Dinosaur, semua dinosaur”

WHAT THE FRUIT! So pemalas one!

I felt like getting up and smacked Ajai’s head good but didn’t have the energy to do so. Was pissed off at him because I invested a good amount of money in dinosaur figurines and books, but my partner’s effort is not reciprocal to mine!?? Not that I expected you to hafal dinosaur names but just read out the correct one to her can or not isshhhh. Other people are complaining having kids not so intrigued of reading and look at my partner guys, taking things for granted! Plus, it is not an ordinary encyclopedia you know. I remember having lunch when Hadi Whatsapp-ed me an image of “kids toys and its interpretation”. We both agreed from the image, liking dinosaur equates to super brilliant child. That thought bothered me a lot while I was drafting an opinion post-lunch I had to run down to MPH and immediately purchased that Usborne’s encylopedia! The effort I put…

Now it all makes sense why sometimes Eva read books in nonsense way. Like, her Snow White book; she’s stuck at illustration page with that seven beds, pointing out on the different colours only. Must be her dad who made the beds look super interesting there’s no need to turn pages. Grrrrrr…

Read this post, Ajai, we’ll talk later.

Scouting For Eva’s New School

As Eva turned one she upgraded from “daycare” category to “playschool”. It was a decent school with super nice teachers (shoutout to Teacher Syaza who’s like a second mom to Eva since was a little infant) but as she is at 28 months now we thought it might be better for her to receive a more advance education, focusing on pre-school syllabus. I wanted her to be segregated from the younger flocks too (i.e. infant) hence in our view, a school change is necessary.

Trust me, it was one of the toughest decisions I’d ever made in life ever. I owe it big time to Eva’s teachers who looked after her and taught her valuable lessons while I need to put on my other cap – the lawyer’s cap.

With the heaviest heart, our scouting journey begins.

Whilst I wanted an internationally recognised, designer-limited-edition pre-school that A-listers send their kids to, my account sheet strongly alarmed me of the fee caps best suited my capability. Hence, priorities are put up straight; (i) English-medium, (ii) Montessori-based, (iii) compulsory uniform because I could not bear the stress of  my daughter’s dresses are nicer than yours kinda competition (#Asian) (iv) close proximity because we ain’t got no driver yet (v) reasonable fees. 

We shortlisted three pre-schools and I contacted School #1’s principal almost immediately after we managed to skim down the list.

Ms. Principal attended to my queries quite swiftly and offered “Would you prefer a school tour, madam?”

Ahhh I like Ms. Principal already. Said yes.

On appointment day, I dressed Eva up and religiously stressed her along the way with my constant reminder; you need to impress the teacher okay! *Ajai rolled eyes*

The tour went out very okay as we started off with parents’ interview session, thorough tour of all the classrooms and screening the annual calendar and syllabus. Was screaming from the inside knowing my daughter will be learning Mandarin at such a young age but I kept it cool, like, ehm totsss nothing’s new, she learned Mexican already… from Youtube some more. Apart from that Eva kept on impressing the teachers like chanting ABC whenever she saw alphabet posters, adding up blocks like “two plushhh two… fourrr!” to which the teachers went “ahh she knows reading and Maths already that should be easier!”

The Asian me sending telepathic message to Eva “good ahh Eva girl listen to Mommy, some more some more, impress some more!”

But of course the I-need-to-keep-my-cool-me went all “no lahhh sikit sikit je teacher!” LOL what am I turning into!

At the end of the session, with the very short discussion time allocated to us, Ajai and I just enrolled our daughter to the school, paid admission fees and stuff. Feeling all the emotions signing up our daughter to an upgraded school, another mini-steps towards Ivy League (of course Eva, what would you expect though?).

“Thank you Madam, we see you on parents’ briefing day okay. Ahh before I forget here lemme show you our two uniforms!”

My eyes widened in terror. Wow. So. Striking.

Mentally I was rummaging which accessories we have at home that match this ummm…hideous uniform but physically of course I said “Ahh nice…but we can choose not to wear right?”

*facepalm* Note to self: Next upgrade, check out the school uniform first thing first.

Anyways, all turned out good. Hopefully COVID could be gone soonest possible so that children’s education could resume in its normal way possible (sucks to learn that many school activities, fieldtrips were put on hold throughout MCO or whatever versions the government came out with). With all school prep thingy done and dusted, I mean the boring part, I am fully anticipating the fun part to come along. Fun part like school supplies shopping and… previous’ teachers farewell gifts T.T

Eva Turns 2!

Remember those times when we turned a year older and our moms organised a party in our classroom complete with extra KFC buckets in case kids from other classes peeked through the window and salivated looking at our heavily-creamed cake? Or our have have friends whose moms booked A&W mascot to entertain the classmates?

Ingat kan?

Now say with me “So. Much. Pressure. Being. A. Parent. 20 Years. Ago.”

But have you ever had the chance to learn about parenting in 2020 where a child’s birthday is one of the most pressuring chapters in the “Raising A Child” life manual? First you are expected to throw a party of 300 pax in a ballroom/ event space/ indoor playground. Then you have to book some sort of entertainer eventhough the sight of clown scares the shit out of you. Then the bespoke decors, customized dessert bar, photographers etc. Then if you the lucky parents who have her kids sent to the school, another round of pressure awaits you because the teacher would be bothering with “Puan, just to remind party your daughter next week ye Puan…”

A Raya Like No Other: 2020 Ed.

In 2021 I can foresee cheeky Eva rummaging through our annual Raya photos and she’ll put out questions like this:-

“Where this Mommy? Why am I not in the photo?”

“Oh sayang this is Opah’s house and you’re in Mommy’s tummy”

“I see…where is this Mommy? I looked like a baby!”

“Nanny’s house. Of course, you were 10 months old cutie!”

“This one? Why no Opah? Why no Nanny?”

“Because we Raya at our house sayang!”

And that’ll confuse her and would leave her wondering why la we had different Raya each time. Hehe.

Only that, this year’s (2020) is the rarest that Mommy, Daddy and everyone around her ever had. Never in our entire life would we imagine salam-ing our parents virtually through video calls for Raya, CIMB-Clicks duit raya and took blurry VC photos which do not qualify to be framed. Alas, Raya is Raya and it’s a celebratory day for us Muslims after celebrating one month of the beautiful Ramadan. MCO or no MCO, Raya means Raya so positivity is the key!