We don't usually leave Gibran alone in public places. If H and I are going to be occupied (like during our walking/jogging sessions), we'd leave Gib and his cousins and the maids at the playground so that they would be under adults' supervision. We try not to leave him alone at home too because he'd go looking for some "projects" if we leave him alone too long. But I can foresee the possibility of leaving him alone to his own devices for longer periods of time as he gets older of course.
Today however, I witnessed something that I take as a lesson-to-be-learned.
I was at a park in KD, trying to get in at least 20 minutes of brisk-walking (hold your horses, ladies, I work out for the sake of the spinal problems and not on a mission to lose weight.. hehehee) ... when we were on our cooling down round, we spotted a girl crying her head off while staring into the far-side of the park while holding her shoes in her hands. A woman holding on to two kids, and another woman who was walking ahead of us stopped to talk to the girl and at first I thought they were consoling a troubled preschooler (the girl looked about 4 or 5 yrs old), and then I realised that the little girl was on her own and the women were trying to coax her to talk.
"Eh... dia ni hilang Mak dia ke..?" I asked.
The woman with two kids in tow said; "A'ah la. Dia kata dia nak Baba dia. Mummy dia takde, kat rumah, dia kata. Macam mana ni ye? Kita nak bawak dia jumpa park guard ke..?"
"Alamak... camne ye... " I replied. While H and I contemplated for a few seconds, the little girl started running up the hill and the whole bunch of us followed suit!
"Mana bapak dia? Takkan lah bapak dia tinggalkan dia sorang-sorang???" Asked another father who had joined the crowd trailing after the little girl.
The girl could run, I tell ya. H had to go into a trot to catch up with her. And H's got long legs. I was of course left behind. She was heading up a path which led away from the park and onto the sidewalk along the main road. I was starting to wonder if we should just grab her because I didn't want her to get into any sort of accident!
Then we saw a man standing up the path by the main road, gesturing to her (she was still screaming and crying at the top of her lungs calling out for "Babaaaaaa!!!!!!!!! Babaa!!!!!!!!!!!!") and a boy who looked about 11 years old (probably the older brother) walking towards her and calling out; "Mana kau pergi tadi..?!"
Phew. The small crowd that jogged behind her stopped and heaved a sigh of utter relief. When we turned back to our respective businesses, I could see conversations starting in small groups of people and the look of disbelief and relief on everyone's faces.
Yes of course we being humans are tempted to judge but nope, I don't want to judge for fear that karma could/would come biting me one day in the arse. I'd rather take a lesson out of this.
Never ever leave your kid alone in public places. Even if you think he/she will stay in that one place and wait for you, better safe than sorry.
I can imagine the dad leaving the kid at the playground (she had her shoes off so was probably climbing on the playground bars or something) while he goes for a jog, but a kid being a kid... five minutes may seem ages to them. So.. better to leave someone by the kid's side.. just in case. My Dad does this really well. He'd plant himself on a park bench and announce to his grandkids; "Atuk duduk sini tau. Atuk tak pergi mana-mana. If anything you can find me here."
God knows what age is safe to leave your kid alone to monitor him/herself in public places. What do you think?
On a different note, I'm sincerely glad to see that in our society where so many bad things happen everyday.. there are still many good people out there who truly care and would do the right thing. Praise God.
And going off-tangent, I remember when I lost my Dad during a pasar malam one fine Friday when I was about 6 years old. I was twirling around-and-round-and-round while Dad was buying fruits. Then when I stopped, Dad wasn't there anymore. I asked the fruit-seller where my Dad was, and she said "Dah hilang bapak lah tu! Dah.. dah... jangan pergi mana-mana.. duduk sini dengan makcik.. nanti bapak datang balik lah tu." And yes, I'm one of those lucky ones because Dad came back. Dad said the whole thing happened in less than 5 minutes, but for me it seemed like a lifetime then.
Things look different when you're a kid. A minute seems to tick by slowly.
So.. stay safe, people.
An Experiment
I was tired of Gibran's endless-rolling-arounds during bedtime and decided to take one step back and let loose a little. Maybe this is really taking one step back instead of forward, but anything to make life easier (and the fellow sleep earlier!).
So what was the experiment?
For the first time since he moved on to his own bed, I put him to sleep in between H and myself just like I used to. I told him I needed the company and that Baba would be putting him into his own bed after he's fallen asleep. He complied like the good boy that he is ;) Alhamdulillah he was asleep within 10 minutes!
Yeah maybe it was a fluke because he had an exhausting day today (Shamel and Sarah spent the whole day at our house because Sister had to take Nabeel for a Colgate photoshoot). We went to Kiara Park to feed the turtles (our usual activity when the kids are around) and Gib must've run miles. Even from afar I could see the maid chasing after him breathlessly. Heheh. And can I just digress from the topic and say that the kiddie playground at Kiara Park is a total disgrace??! H made a lame joke and say that in Taman Tun kids are of no importance. Hehhh... Tak sedar diri issit, he himself was raised in Taman Tun :p
And then we had dinner at H's family's house and Gib was doing the usual Tasmanian Devil Act (you know how the Tasmanian Devil runs around and around and around in circles endlessly without tiring out? Yeahh.. exactly like that). So maybe that's why it wasn't hard for him to fall asleep before midnight.
Whatever it is, I'm sticking with this experiment for a few days at least.
So what was the experiment?
For the first time since he moved on to his own bed, I put him to sleep in between H and myself just like I used to. I told him I needed the company and that Baba would be putting him into his own bed after he's fallen asleep. He complied like the good boy that he is ;) Alhamdulillah he was asleep within 10 minutes!
Yeah maybe it was a fluke because he had an exhausting day today (Shamel and Sarah spent the whole day at our house because Sister had to take Nabeel for a Colgate photoshoot). We went to Kiara Park to feed the turtles (our usual activity when the kids are around) and Gib must've run miles. Even from afar I could see the maid chasing after him breathlessly. Heheh. And can I just digress from the topic and say that the kiddie playground at Kiara Park is a total disgrace??! H made a lame joke and say that in Taman Tun kids are of no importance. Hehhh... Tak sedar diri issit, he himself was raised in Taman Tun :p
And then we had dinner at H's family's house and Gib was doing the usual Tasmanian Devil Act (you know how the Tasmanian Devil runs around and around and around in circles endlessly without tiring out? Yeahh.. exactly like that). So maybe that's why it wasn't hard for him to fall asleep before midnight.
Whatever it is, I'm sticking with this experiment for a few days at least.
Little Changes
Kids change and don't stay the same for long, right? Well, if you asked me, I'd rather go without some of the changes.
Back when I was working, Gib's bedtime used to be 10 p.m. The latest he'd sleep was 10.30 p.m. and near to 11 p.m. on weekends when we had functions-or-such to attend. I don't know howww it happened, but now he's managed to stretch his bedtime to 12 midnight. It is soo not pleasant to have to force a 1-metre tall toddler (he's seriously tall for his age) into bed and into la-la-land. It is TOUGH. Very testing and irritating.
Yes some blame is to be put on us parents of course because we'd go out a couple of nights per week on family outings and such, and at times we'd arrive home only at 11-ish. Now the li'l fella thinks it's okay to stretch his bedtime till at least 11.30.
This started happening on a nightly basis ever since Gib moved onto his own bed. So while there is that perk of not having him do karate-moves on us in the middle of the night, it's much harder now to put him to bed now that he doesn't nuzzle into Mummy's arms to doze off. Now he'd rather roll around and put himself to sleep (which is something good, I'm told by many people), but helloo... I'd rather have him nuzzle against me for 5 minutes and then doze into deep sleep rather than have his rollllllll around endlessly on his little bed till he can't fight sleep off any longer.
Then there's the resilient-factor. Gibran is his own person. He's very opinionated and I don't blame him for that because Mom said I was that way too when I was little. Who am I kidding? I'm still like that! Well. H may look like Gibran but unfortunately (or fortunately??!) his resilience and somewhat-stubborn nature is so much like mine that Sister laughs when I scold him for being stubborn and exclaims; "It's like you're scolding yourself! Tuhan bagi kau rasa what it was like for Mak to handle you when you were little!". Hmmmmmmff.
When we say "Jangan... Gibran... You'll hurt yourself... "... will he listen? Nooo. He's got to do what he's got to do and hurt himself first, and then he'll stop doing it. And only for about a day or two, coz he'll start right back up reallyyy soon.
As dramatic as this sounds, I find myself "mengucap-ngucap" ("Astaghfirullahhh..." "Masyaallahhhh".... "Yaaaaa Allahhhhhhh..."...) and silently seeking for mental strength ("Ya Allah please give me patience..!!!!")... and then sometimes resorting to a smack or two on the bum in the end. Sigh.
Posing with my light hand weights while bugging me on a workout session.
All strippped and posing "macam Hulk!!" (as he exclaimed) before getting ready for bed.
The usual Spiderman-pose when one asks him to pose for a picture.
Back when I was working, Gib's bedtime used to be 10 p.m. The latest he'd sleep was 10.30 p.m. and near to 11 p.m. on weekends when we had functions-or-such to attend. I don't know howww it happened, but now he's managed to stretch his bedtime to 12 midnight. It is soo not pleasant to have to force a 1-metre tall toddler (he's seriously tall for his age) into bed and into la-la-land. It is TOUGH. Very testing and irritating.
Yes some blame is to be put on us parents of course because we'd go out a couple of nights per week on family outings and such, and at times we'd arrive home only at 11-ish. Now the li'l fella thinks it's okay to stretch his bedtime till at least 11.30.
This started happening on a nightly basis ever since Gib moved onto his own bed. So while there is that perk of not having him do karate-moves on us in the middle of the night, it's much harder now to put him to bed now that he doesn't nuzzle into Mummy's arms to doze off. Now he'd rather roll around and put himself to sleep (which is something good, I'm told by many people), but helloo... I'd rather have him nuzzle against me for 5 minutes and then doze into deep sleep rather than have his rollllllll around endlessly on his little bed till he can't fight sleep off any longer.
Then there's the resilient-factor. Gibran is his own person. He's very opinionated and I don't blame him for that because Mom said I was that way too when I was little. Who am I kidding? I'm still like that! Well. H may look like Gibran but unfortunately (or fortunately??!) his resilience and somewhat-stubborn nature is so much like mine that Sister laughs when I scold him for being stubborn and exclaims; "It's like you're scolding yourself! Tuhan bagi kau rasa what it was like for Mak to handle you when you were little!". Hmmmmmmff.
When we say "Jangan... Gibran... You'll hurt yourself... "... will he listen? Nooo. He's got to do what he's got to do and hurt himself first, and then he'll stop doing it. And only for about a day or two, coz he'll start right back up reallyyy soon.
As dramatic as this sounds, I find myself "mengucap-ngucap" ("Astaghfirullahhh..." "Masyaallahhhh".... "Yaaaaa Allahhhhhhh..."...) and silently seeking for mental strength ("Ya Allah please give me patience..!!!!")... and then sometimes resorting to a smack or two on the bum in the end. Sigh.
Posing with my light hand weights while bugging me on a workout session.
All strippped and posing "macam Hulk!!" (as he exclaimed) before getting ready for bed.
The usual Spiderman-pose when one asks him to pose for a picture.
What's With The Hiding?
Last Sunday (21/6/09; yes it was Father's Day but H says everyday is father's day.. heheh), we were at H's parents' house and H was helping Mama out with something while SILs and I veged out in the living room after a nicely heavy lunch when Gib started up the stairs to look for Baba.
I yelled out at him to come down because H wasn't upstairs and slowly got off my bum to chase after him. By the time I got to the staircase, he was at the top of the stairs (well he does move at lightning-speed yeah) and by the time I reached upstairs, he was nowhere to be seen. A few minutes prior to that, H and Gib played Hide and Seek and Gib had a ball. So Gib wanted to play some more.
I swear I looked everywhere I could think of and could not find him. You bet I got increasingly worried and yelled louder and louder for him to stop fooling around and come on out, it wasn't funny anymore and I didn't wanna play anymore. SIL#1 and H's Papa joined in the search and H hurried upsairs to help too when Papa suddenly found Gibran hiding in SIL#2's bathroom. I didn't think he could be hiding in there because the doors leading to that bathroom were shut tight, and Gibran usually hides in "obvious" places (like behind a wall, beside a bed or by a chair.. somewhere he can peek out from). He even had the nerve to push the bathroom door really hard when his Papa Tok tried to open the door! He was still busy pushing the door and shrieking at his Papa Tok to go away because "Nanti Mummy datang!!"... when I entered the bathroom from the other room and sneaked up on him from behind and gave him a good smack on the bum for being so dangerously cheeky.
Pffft. What a not-amusing incident! He couldn't understand why we were so mad (more like dead-worried okay!) and cried and cried for being scolded for wanting to play hide and seek. I told H no more hide and seek for now.
Then this evening when I was fetching Gibran from my parents' house (Dad took Gib and the maid over there while I went to the weekly class I like to attend), Dad told me that they had a real rucus for a while shortly before I arrived because Shamel went missing and they looked for him all over, to no avail. All three maids and four kids also helped look for Shamel. After a whole lot of shriekings and yellings, Dad heard a small voice softly saying; "Shamel kat sini....." and they found Shamel hiding behind my Sister's MPV. How they missed that spot noone knows. Everyone was just glad that he was found.
This hiding business is just not funny!
Now just as I thought that life's gotten really good since Gibran's learned to entertain himself without having us watch over him every second of the day like eagles... I'm just not too sure about the possibility of him not repeating the same scene he did the other day!
And with cousins like his....
Anything can happen when the kids get together.
Penatttt lah okayyyy. What will they do next..
Pictures taken during Sarah's 10th birthday party on Saturday 20/6/09.
And of course there has to be a photo of the birthday cake which yours truly made...
I yelled out at him to come down because H wasn't upstairs and slowly got off my bum to chase after him. By the time I got to the staircase, he was at the top of the stairs (well he does move at lightning-speed yeah) and by the time I reached upstairs, he was nowhere to be seen. A few minutes prior to that, H and Gib played Hide and Seek and Gib had a ball. So Gib wanted to play some more.
I swear I looked everywhere I could think of and could not find him. You bet I got increasingly worried and yelled louder and louder for him to stop fooling around and come on out, it wasn't funny anymore and I didn't wanna play anymore. SIL#1 and H's Papa joined in the search and H hurried upsairs to help too when Papa suddenly found Gibran hiding in SIL#2's bathroom. I didn't think he could be hiding in there because the doors leading to that bathroom were shut tight, and Gibran usually hides in "obvious" places (like behind a wall, beside a bed or by a chair.. somewhere he can peek out from). He even had the nerve to push the bathroom door really hard when his Papa Tok tried to open the door! He was still busy pushing the door and shrieking at his Papa Tok to go away because "Nanti Mummy datang!!"... when I entered the bathroom from the other room and sneaked up on him from behind and gave him a good smack on the bum for being so dangerously cheeky.
Pffft. What a not-amusing incident! He couldn't understand why we were so mad (more like dead-worried okay!) and cried and cried for being scolded for wanting to play hide and seek. I told H no more hide and seek for now.
Then this evening when I was fetching Gibran from my parents' house (Dad took Gib and the maid over there while I went to the weekly class I like to attend), Dad told me that they had a real rucus for a while shortly before I arrived because Shamel went missing and they looked for him all over, to no avail. All three maids and four kids also helped look for Shamel. After a whole lot of shriekings and yellings, Dad heard a small voice softly saying; "Shamel kat sini....." and they found Shamel hiding behind my Sister's MPV. How they missed that spot noone knows. Everyone was just glad that he was found.
This hiding business is just not funny!
Now just as I thought that life's gotten really good since Gibran's learned to entertain himself without having us watch over him every second of the day like eagles... I'm just not too sure about the possibility of him not repeating the same scene he did the other day!
And with cousins like his....
Anything can happen when the kids get together.
Penatttt lah okayyyy. What will they do next..
Pictures taken during Sarah's 10th birthday party on Saturday 20/6/09.
And of course there has to be a photo of the birthday cake which yours truly made...
Catch Phrases
"Very good, very good..." when the food tastes yummy or something nice happens.
"Help me! Help me!" for whenever he feels a wee bit scared. Like when Shamel chases after him making Jurassic Park-like noises which he simply despises.
"All done.. all done.." when he finishes or accomplishes something.
"Bum-bum boyyy!!" for when he is not dressed and his Baba says "Shame shame Gibran...!"..
"Oooh. Very nice, very nice.." for when he fancies something or something nice happens.
"Funny... funny... very funnyyyyy..." whenever he thinks something is amusing or sees something amusing on TV.
"See? Nampak muscle tak? Ban strong. Peace..." while he's having his meals, complete with muscle flexing of the arms, followed by two-fingers showing a peace sign. Got this one from Nabeel who flexes muscles whenever eating, to show that food's making him tough and strong.
And the clincher..
"Kakak / Shamel / Abeel taikkkkkkkkk!"... for whenever his cousins pick on him or snatch his toys away which gets him extremely upset.
Is it sick that Mummy's glad that the only vulgar word he says is that and not something worse..? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...
"Help me! Help me!" for whenever he feels a wee bit scared. Like when Shamel chases after him making Jurassic Park-like noises which he simply despises.
"All done.. all done.." when he finishes or accomplishes something.
"Bum-bum boyyy!!" for when he is not dressed and his Baba says "Shame shame Gibran...!"..
"Oooh. Very nice, very nice.." for when he fancies something or something nice happens.
"Funny... funny... very funnyyyyy..." whenever he thinks something is amusing or sees something amusing on TV.
"See? Nampak muscle tak? Ban strong. Peace..." while he's having his meals, complete with muscle flexing of the arms, followed by two-fingers showing a peace sign. Got this one from Nabeel who flexes muscles whenever eating, to show that food's making him tough and strong.
And the clincher..
"Kakak / Shamel / Abeel taikkkkkkkkk!"... for whenever his cousins pick on him or snatch his toys away which gets him extremely upset.
Is it sick that Mummy's glad that the only vulgar word he says is that and not something worse..? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...
He Who Deserves Nothing Less Than Our Best
Scene #1
Mummy: "Come Gibran, come to bed. Mummy's arranged alllll the bantal already, see? Cantikkk katil Gibran. Come la tidor.."
Gibran: (Busy stuffing paper into his Mickey Mouse ride-on) "Kejap ye.. waitttt... waittt.... Ban tengah buat kerja ni tauuu..."
Mummy: "Sighh... pooooooor Mummy. Takde sape nak temankan Mummy tidur..."
Gibran: (Gets up and patters on stockinged feet towards his bed in the darkened room.. then after some noisy searching-for-God-knows-what, climbs onto the bed and noisily sat beside Mummy) "Hah.. tengok ni Mummy..."
Mummy: (Opens eyes to see Spiderman figurine laying on the pillow beside Mummy) "Huh..? What's this, baby?"
Gibran: "Tengok ni. Spiderman temankan Mummy tidur, okay? Ban ada kerja ni..." (And patters back towards his toys).
Scene #2
Mummy: "Stop it Gibran!! Just stop it and listen to Mummy!" (reprimanding him for not listening to my order to go pee)
Gibran: "Hahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Hahhhh Hahhh Hahhh!" (laughing for God-knows-what-reason as if Mummy is the funniest thing in existence)
Mummy: "That's it! I'm going to punish you because you don't want to listen! You want me to take away all your guns and swords..?!"
Gibran: (Hurriedly getting up from where he was rolling about in bed and messing things up, and rushes towards Mummy) "Ban datang ni Mummy... Ban good boy tau... Ban gooood boyy okay Mummy.. Ban dengar cakap Mummy... Ban good boy... pweez... pweez taknak punish...."
Mummy: "No. You don't listen, I will punish. Good boys listen to their Mummies."
Gibran: (Covers eyes and starts crying with the saddest wails you'd ever hear) "Noo Mummy... noo.. Ban good boy... Ban sayang Mummy tauuu.... Ban sowee Mummy ... Ban soweeeeeeee..... uhukkkk uhukkk...."
Mummy: "Sigh...." (and of course will proceed to take Gibran onto Mummy's lap for a bunch of hugs and kisses).
Scene #3
Gibran: "Mummy mana, Baba?"
Baba: "Mummy pegi work sebab Gibran taknak dengar cakap Mummy." (what a lie! Mummy's downstairs watching TV to release tension..)
Gibran: (Covers eyes and weeps real tears until his breath starts hitching) "No... no... uhukkk.. uhuk.... Ban taknak Mummy workk... Ban sayang Mummyyy... Nak Mummy..... pweez Baba, Ban good boy... Ban tak buat jahat lagi.. pweez Baba...."
Scene #4
Baba loses his temper and punishes Gibran physically. After weeping his eyes out (Gibran, not Baba!) and saying his sorrys, H asks Gibran (about ten minutes after being punished)..
Baba: "Gibran, tadi Baba punish Gibran kenapa?"
Gibran: "Sebab Ban naughty. Ban tak naughty dah tau Baba.. Ban good boy ni tau.." (saying ernestly while playing with his crayons)
Baba: "Sakit tak Baba pukul tadi..?"
Gibran: "Sakit sangattt Baba..." (still playing with crayons and eyes starting to water again)
Baba: "Baba sorry Gibran. Baba was very angry because Gibran did not want to listen at all.. Baba sayang Ban, tau? Ban sayang Baba lagi tak?"
Gibran: "Ban sayanggggggggggggggg sangatttttttttttttt kat Baba tau!!" (jumps up and hugs Baba).
How does a child find the ability within himself to make us feel so small and unworthy of his unconditional love and his complete trust in us..?
Mummy and Baba loves you, Gibran. You deserve nothing but the best from us because you are the best thing that God has ever given us. We're merely humans and we have countless flaws, but remember that our love for you will never falter, InsyaAllah.
Mummy: "Come Gibran, come to bed. Mummy's arranged alllll the bantal already, see? Cantikkk katil Gibran. Come la tidor.."
Gibran: (Busy stuffing paper into his Mickey Mouse ride-on) "Kejap ye.. waitttt... waittt.... Ban tengah buat kerja ni tauuu..."
Mummy: "Sighh... pooooooor Mummy. Takde sape nak temankan Mummy tidur..."
Gibran: (Gets up and patters on stockinged feet towards his bed in the darkened room.. then after some noisy searching-for-God-knows-what, climbs onto the bed and noisily sat beside Mummy) "Hah.. tengok ni Mummy..."
Mummy: (Opens eyes to see Spiderman figurine laying on the pillow beside Mummy) "Huh..? What's this, baby?"
Gibran: "Tengok ni. Spiderman temankan Mummy tidur, okay? Ban ada kerja ni..." (And patters back towards his toys).
Scene #2
Mummy: "Stop it Gibran!! Just stop it and listen to Mummy!" (reprimanding him for not listening to my order to go pee)
Gibran: "Hahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Hahhhh Hahhh Hahhh!" (laughing for God-knows-what-reason as if Mummy is the funniest thing in existence)
Mummy: "That's it! I'm going to punish you because you don't want to listen! You want me to take away all your guns and swords..?!"
Gibran: (Hurriedly getting up from where he was rolling about in bed and messing things up, and rushes towards Mummy) "Ban datang ni Mummy... Ban good boy tau... Ban gooood boyy okay Mummy.. Ban dengar cakap Mummy... Ban good boy... pweez... pweez taknak punish...."
Mummy: "No. You don't listen, I will punish. Good boys listen to their Mummies."
Gibran: (Covers eyes and starts crying with the saddest wails you'd ever hear) "Noo Mummy... noo.. Ban good boy... Ban sayang Mummy tauuu.... Ban sowee Mummy ... Ban soweeeeeeee..... uhukkkk uhukkk...."
Mummy: "Sigh...." (and of course will proceed to take Gibran onto Mummy's lap for a bunch of hugs and kisses).
Scene #3
Gibran: "Mummy mana, Baba?"
Baba: "Mummy pegi work sebab Gibran taknak dengar cakap Mummy." (what a lie! Mummy's downstairs watching TV to release tension..)
Gibran: (Covers eyes and weeps real tears until his breath starts hitching) "No... no... uhukkk.. uhuk.... Ban taknak Mummy workk... Ban sayang Mummyyy... Nak Mummy..... pweez Baba, Ban good boy... Ban tak buat jahat lagi.. pweez Baba...."
Scene #4
Baba loses his temper and punishes Gibran physically. After weeping his eyes out (Gibran, not Baba!) and saying his sorrys, H asks Gibran (about ten minutes after being punished)..
Baba: "Gibran, tadi Baba punish Gibran kenapa?"
Gibran: "Sebab Ban naughty. Ban tak naughty dah tau Baba.. Ban good boy ni tau.." (saying ernestly while playing with his crayons)
Baba: "Sakit tak Baba pukul tadi..?"
Gibran: "Sakit sangattt Baba..." (still playing with crayons and eyes starting to water again)
Baba: "Baba sorry Gibran. Baba was very angry because Gibran did not want to listen at all.. Baba sayang Ban, tau? Ban sayang Baba lagi tak?"
Gibran: "Ban sayanggggggggggggggg sangatttttttttttttt kat Baba tau!!" (jumps up and hugs Baba).
How does a child find the ability within himself to make us feel so small and unworthy of his unconditional love and his complete trust in us..?
Mummy and Baba loves you, Gibran. You deserve nothing but the best from us because you are the best thing that God has ever given us. We're merely humans and we have countless flaws, but remember that our love for you will never falter, InsyaAllah.
Sleeping In His Own Bed
Just a short note to say at last our li'l fella is sleeping in his own bed. God knows I don't want to jinx this!... but yes, for the past week, he's been sleeping peacefully through the night on his own bed. Alhamdulillah!
Am I happy? Yes, I suppose I am. I'm getting the best sleep I've ever gotten since Gibran was born.
But the conflicted Mum as usual is confused as to whether Gibran still needs his Mummy as much as he used to. Does he? Sometimes it sure doesn't feel like it. As your child grows older, it really does seem like they don't need you much, do they?
I'm sure my parents think the same sometimes. But with me, the truth is that I always need my Mom and Dad, no matter what age I'm at. I hope the same goes for Gibran.
Am I happy? Yes, I suppose I am. I'm getting the best sleep I've ever gotten since Gibran was born.
But the conflicted Mum as usual is confused as to whether Gibran still needs his Mummy as much as he used to. Does he? Sometimes it sure doesn't feel like it. As your child grows older, it really does seem like they don't need you much, do they?
I'm sure my parents think the same sometimes. But with me, the truth is that I always need my Mom and Dad, no matter what age I'm at. I hope the same goes for Gibran.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm
"The Mummy Blues" is back. Add it on to the fact that I created a nice, long post 15 minutes ago and then it just disappeared into thin air when I was posting it.. the blues is now full-blown! And life's tossing a few curveballs right now, so ...
I. Am. Tired. Of. Everything.
Well, people. I'll be back soon. I hope.
I. Am. Tired. Of. Everything.
Well, people. I'll be back soon. I hope.
Mole No More
Remember when we spent the weekend at my parents' place a couple of weeks back and Gib kept on whimpering and begging for his own home? Well, this is what we went there for..
Early that Friday morning, the 22nd of May (also H's Mama's birthday).. one of H's trademark moles had to be removed.
Yeah, that mole over there on his right cheekbone, near his right eye. No biggie it seems, just that the mole was growing and the doctors say it's better get that thingy out.
The only biggie to me is the fact that, of course, Gib won't remember that mole's existence. Definitely doesn't sound like a biggie to most people, but well.. I liked that mole. And now it's mole no more.
Just FYI Gib, your Baba had two signature moles on his face and now there's only one!
P/S: I wanted to post pictures of the mole after it was extracted + pics at the hospital when the procedure was carried out, but I don't think H will appreciate it. Heheh. But anyways, it's the man-with-one-less-mole from here onwards!
Early that Friday morning, the 22nd of May (also H's Mama's birthday).. one of H's trademark moles had to be removed.
Yeah, that mole over there on his right cheekbone, near his right eye. No biggie it seems, just that the mole was growing and the doctors say it's better get that thingy out.
The only biggie to me is the fact that, of course, Gib won't remember that mole's existence. Definitely doesn't sound like a biggie to most people, but well.. I liked that mole. And now it's mole no more.
Just FYI Gib, your Baba had two signature moles on his face and now there's only one!
P/S: I wanted to post pictures of the mole after it was extracted + pics at the hospital when the procedure was carried out, but I don't think H will appreciate it. Heheh. But anyways, it's the man-with-one-less-mole from here onwards!
Exactly Two and a Half
He turned exactly two and a half years old on Friday the 5th of June. Nope I didn't forget but I was busy doing God knows what. Hehh. So...
Happy belated 30 months, my li'l sunshine :)
What's new?
Errrr.. Too many teeny weeny developments. So many that I can't really recall accurately. But I'll try to jot down some that I can recall.
... He loves watching movies nowadays and has learned to put on the dvd by himself. When he feels like watching Darth Vader or The Iron Giant, he'll go look for the correct CD and put it in. He's still a bit lost at changing channels but I think that'll change soon. A couple of weeks back he was obsessed with watching Iron Giant, but now he's starting to watch Star Wars and even Transformers a lot more. Today he watched Hulk (with Edward Norton.. now that's one good actor! Love him!) from start to finish. He still gets afraid of certain parts in the movies, but he's pretty much a good sport about it now.
.. He's very into swords (or to be exact; lightsaber just like in Star Wars) and loves to play with Shazwan's old Darth Vader lightsaber when we're over at my parents' house. They don't sell those anymore at toy shops and so unfortunately I can't buy him one. Today we found Bumblebee's sword at Jusco and he seems to be really happy with that. He still carries his green air-ball toy gun everywhere he goes, along with a green badminton racket which he claims is his "sword" because it's the same colour as Luke Skywalker's lightsaber.
.. He's starting to quote things I've been teaching him.. especially the alphabets, so I'm really really happy about this :) He goes.. "G is for Gibran.. D is for Darth Vader.. V is for Venom.. L is for Luke.. M is for Megatron.." and so on. Sometimes he gets em right, sometimes he gets em wrong, but I don't mind at all! And to me it doesn't matter if all alphabets stand for cartoon or fictional characters as long as he is keen on learning them. As for writing, he's attempting to write the letter "G" for Gibran but it looks more like an "O" with a tail. Hehehh.
.. He attempts to count beyond 20-plus in English but isn't doing very well yet. Shockingly, he can now count 1 to 10 in JAPANESE. Can you believe it??? Thanks to Baba who counts in Japanese loudly when doing his karate exercises! He still stumbles when counting in Malay though. Dunno why.
.. Seldom gets his colours mixed up nowadays. Last time he used to get his green and blue and red and orange mixed up. His favourite is still green. At traffic lights he'd order to "Jalan, Mummy!" when the traffic light turns green. Yes, my very own personal traffic police.
.. Enjoys colouring everywhere, all over the papers with his crayons. Isn't really into pencil colours because he sees that a bigger mess can be created with crayons. Cheapskate Mummy still doesn't buy him colouring books.. still resorting to asking Baba to draw tons and tons of Gib's favourite pictures with black marker and then hand it over to Gib to colour. Gib's been requesting for water colour but I'm lazy to clean up lah. Soon lah...
.. Can take off his own clothes. Shoes too. Putting the clothes and shoes back on can be a bit tricky coz sometimes he gets it wrong; upside down and inside out!
.. Is 100% dry and off the diapers. Even at night! Woohooo! Yes I am one proud Mummy. He's been totally dry for more than a month now. When we went to Miri a few weeks ago he refused to pee or poo in the diaper and would request for a toilet. So yeah.. public toilets are our friends now. *Blearghh*. But what to do? Better that than spending tons and tons on diapers. Hehehee. I still put a diaper on him whenever we go out and during bedtime justttt in case of accidents, but so far so good. Once he held his pee for too long last week when we were at Sime Darby Convention Centre attending Leong and Remi's KL reception, and he accidentally let go of a little pee on H's nice dressy leather shoes (heheheee... luckily it wasn't mine. Jahat tak?) but other than that, we're good. Alhamdulillah :)
.. Bedtimes and naptimes are a tad more difficult nowadays (sigh..) and would sometimes put me in a really foul mood. He's managed to stretch his bedtime to about 12 midnight now, and of course H isn't happy about it. Neither am I because night-time is me-time. He wakes up later of course, because of his later bedtime. So now he wakes at about 10-ish instead of 9-ish. When I try to wake him up earlier, he can pretend to still sleep. Can..?! Naps are still about an hour long, and sometimes he'd refuse naps and would be cranky by 6pm, so we've resorted to punishments such as "no TV or no park-outings if you don't nap". Sigh.
Alright, that's all that I can recall right now ;) What can I say except that he's such a big boy now.. that sometimes I feel that most of the "easier" task-training is done. It's like he doesn't need his Mummy as much anymore, you know?? I know I know I'm being utterly ridiculous and people are saying left right and centre.. "Time for number two!!"... alright people, I totally agree but lets leave it to the Man upstairs, yeah?
Mummy loves you, Gibby baby. You know what, baby? You've lost your baby-smell and smell more and more like a sweaty boy who's just come back from school.. but Mummy loves it nonetheless. Now ain't that unconditional love? ;)
Happy belated 30 months, my li'l sunshine :)
What's new?
Errrr.. Too many teeny weeny developments. So many that I can't really recall accurately. But I'll try to jot down some that I can recall.
... He loves watching movies nowadays and has learned to put on the dvd by himself. When he feels like watching Darth Vader or The Iron Giant, he'll go look for the correct CD and put it in. He's still a bit lost at changing channels but I think that'll change soon. A couple of weeks back he was obsessed with watching Iron Giant, but now he's starting to watch Star Wars and even Transformers a lot more. Today he watched Hulk (with Edward Norton.. now that's one good actor! Love him!) from start to finish. He still gets afraid of certain parts in the movies, but he's pretty much a good sport about it now.
.. He's very into swords (or to be exact; lightsaber just like in Star Wars) and loves to play with Shazwan's old Darth Vader lightsaber when we're over at my parents' house. They don't sell those anymore at toy shops and so unfortunately I can't buy him one. Today we found Bumblebee's sword at Jusco and he seems to be really happy with that. He still carries his green air-ball toy gun everywhere he goes, along with a green badminton racket which he claims is his "sword" because it's the same colour as Luke Skywalker's lightsaber.
.. He's starting to quote things I've been teaching him.. especially the alphabets, so I'm really really happy about this :) He goes.. "G is for Gibran.. D is for Darth Vader.. V is for Venom.. L is for Luke.. M is for Megatron.." and so on. Sometimes he gets em right, sometimes he gets em wrong, but I don't mind at all! And to me it doesn't matter if all alphabets stand for cartoon or fictional characters as long as he is keen on learning them. As for writing, he's attempting to write the letter "G" for Gibran but it looks more like an "O" with a tail. Hehehh.
.. He attempts to count beyond 20-plus in English but isn't doing very well yet. Shockingly, he can now count 1 to 10 in JAPANESE. Can you believe it??? Thanks to Baba who counts in Japanese loudly when doing his karate exercises! He still stumbles when counting in Malay though. Dunno why.
.. Seldom gets his colours mixed up nowadays. Last time he used to get his green and blue and red and orange mixed up. His favourite is still green. At traffic lights he'd order to "Jalan, Mummy!" when the traffic light turns green. Yes, my very own personal traffic police.
.. Enjoys colouring everywhere, all over the papers with his crayons. Isn't really into pencil colours because he sees that a bigger mess can be created with crayons. Cheapskate Mummy still doesn't buy him colouring books.. still resorting to asking Baba to draw tons and tons of Gib's favourite pictures with black marker and then hand it over to Gib to colour. Gib's been requesting for water colour but I'm lazy to clean up lah. Soon lah...
.. Can take off his own clothes. Shoes too. Putting the clothes and shoes back on can be a bit tricky coz sometimes he gets it wrong; upside down and inside out!
.. Is 100% dry and off the diapers. Even at night! Woohooo! Yes I am one proud Mummy. He's been totally dry for more than a month now. When we went to Miri a few weeks ago he refused to pee or poo in the diaper and would request for a toilet. So yeah.. public toilets are our friends now. *Blearghh*. But what to do? Better that than spending tons and tons on diapers. Hehehee. I still put a diaper on him whenever we go out and during bedtime justttt in case of accidents, but so far so good. Once he held his pee for too long last week when we were at Sime Darby Convention Centre attending Leong and Remi's KL reception, and he accidentally let go of a little pee on H's nice dressy leather shoes (heheheee... luckily it wasn't mine. Jahat tak?) but other than that, we're good. Alhamdulillah :)
.. Bedtimes and naptimes are a tad more difficult nowadays (sigh..) and would sometimes put me in a really foul mood. He's managed to stretch his bedtime to about 12 midnight now, and of course H isn't happy about it. Neither am I because night-time is me-time. He wakes up later of course, because of his later bedtime. So now he wakes at about 10-ish instead of 9-ish. When I try to wake him up earlier, he can pretend to still sleep. Can..?! Naps are still about an hour long, and sometimes he'd refuse naps and would be cranky by 6pm, so we've resorted to punishments such as "no TV or no park-outings if you don't nap". Sigh.
Alright, that's all that I can recall right now ;) What can I say except that he's such a big boy now.. that sometimes I feel that most of the "easier" task-training is done. It's like he doesn't need his Mummy as much anymore, you know?? I know I know I'm being utterly ridiculous and people are saying left right and centre.. "Time for number two!!"... alright people, I totally agree but lets leave it to the Man upstairs, yeah?
Mummy loves you, Gibby baby. You know what, baby? You've lost your baby-smell and smell more and more like a sweaty boy who's just come back from school.. but Mummy loves it nonetheless. Now ain't that unconditional love? ;)
Undress Me Just Like Hulk
Most kids would go through a phase where he/she would undress himself/herself and put the clothes back on. Such is the case for all my nephews and niece, and Gib's no exception. He got the idea from watching Hulk the movie. It's weird really.. he HATES watching Hulk because he finds it scary, but loves to talk about it and even immitate Hulk's moves and sounds.
"Nak bukak baju!! Gib-ban macam HULK!! Gibban HULKKKKKKKKKKK!! E-yarghhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
Aisey, Gibran, no muscles also..? Macam rangka piano ada lah! Hehehehhh
Being the fussy person I am, I'm not keen to have him take his clothes off (afraid he'd catch a cold coz he used to be continuously ill when he was an infant!).. and it is soo irritating when he just laughs on and on whenever I freak out.. "Gib!! Put your clothes back on!"
To which he'd respond; "Ban tak ah-chum laaa (he says "ah-chum" to refer to being ill)... Ban kan kuat macam Hulkkk!! Ni nampak tak muscle ni, nampak tak??"
Hmmmmfff.
"Nak bukak baju!! Gib-ban macam HULK!! Gibban HULKKKKKKKKKKK!! E-yarghhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
Aisey, Gibran, no muscles also..? Macam rangka piano ada lah! Hehehehhh
Being the fussy person I am, I'm not keen to have him take his clothes off (afraid he'd catch a cold coz he used to be continuously ill when he was an infant!).. and it is soo irritating when he just laughs on and on whenever I freak out.. "Gib!! Put your clothes back on!"
To which he'd respond; "Ban tak ah-chum laaa (he says "ah-chum" to refer to being ill)... Ban kan kuat macam Hulkkk!! Ni nampak tak muscle ni, nampak tak??"
Hmmmmfff.
And Then What Do You Say...?
Gibran says a lot of things that leave us speechless. It's hard to explain. One just has to experience it to know it.
He's a loving and lovable kid but when he's upset with me he'd say; "Taknak Mummy!'... "Nak Mummy pegi jauh-jauh.."... and once he even said "Nak campak Mummy dalam lubang macam Emperor tu!" and also "Nak tembak Mummy dengan gun Ban ni tau!". His Baba can't take it when he makes those sort of remarks and would demand he apologise immediately. I on the other hand, tend to take it lighly compared to H. Sometimes it still hurts (esp. when you least expect it), but hey.. I lived in the same house as my 3 nephews and 1 niece, and I've seen plentyyyy of ridiculous and offensive acts. Trust me, if it's just retaliation through words and not violent / offensive actions, I'm perfectly okay.
Then there are those ridiculous things which leave you not knowing whether to brush off, or laugh, or stare in horror. Or whatever!
Scene #1
Last weekend all three of us were rolling around in bed when we woke up at about 9+am and H gave me a few good morning smooches complete with growling sounds which were of course followed by giggles from me (no need to get dirty thoughts, okay? With Gib there trust me it was completely innocent!) and H gave me a quick hug while laughing, and then suddenly I felt Gibran's hands scratching my legs. I looked down and he was staring at us, and then he asked; "Baba... Baba suka makan Mummy ke? Mummy sedap ke?".. errrrrrrrrrr....???!
Scene #2
Today in Handy Manny, a character was getting smooched by his wife, leaving kissy-lipstick-marks on his face. Gib was watching nonchalantly while scribbling with his crayons. Then he turned to me and said..
Gib: "Mummy?"
Me: "Hmm, yes baby?"
Gib: "Mulut aunty tu kotor sangat tau. Dirty mulut dia tu, tinggal kesan semua kat muka uncle tu tau! Itu kiss-kiss dirty tu!"
Me: "Ohh! Err.. I see!"
What on earth was I supposed to say...?
Scene #3
Earlier this evening I was telling my maid the right way to wash the tub and Gibran's toys (not for the first time, because this new maid is a bit blur compared to my last one!) while Gib was sitting on the throne, doing his big business. Then he asked me..
Gib: "Mummy?"
Me: "Yes?"
Gib: "Bibik Rupa basuh tak betol ke?"
Me: "Hmm.. err, yes baby. Mummy nak ajar dia lah macam mana nak basuh ni.."
Gib: "Haiiiii Bibik Rupa.... Bibik Rupa ni naughty sikit lahhhh. Orang cakap taknak dengarrrr. Naughty ye...?"
The maid laughed like mad because she thought it was funny and that made Gib laugh like mad too. Me.. err... I was just standing there thinking what appropriate response I should've made. Errrr.
Scene #4
We always tell him not to follow strangers because you don't know if the person is good or bad. A person may look good but may be bad. The other day in Jusco, Gib was chatting noisily on and on about Star Wars and how his tummy hurts and he might need to poo soon.. and how he dislikes coffee because it is pahit (not that we let him drink it!) and on and on. So there was this guy who kept on glancing at Gib out of curiousity. The guy wasn't smiling or acting friendly but I think he might've just been distracted by Gib's endless chatter. After a few more glances from the guy, Gib pointed his green air-ball-gun (this is the toy he brings everywhere) to the guy and loudly exclaimed..
Gib: "Hey! Tengok tu! Ini uncle jahat tau!"
Me: "Sshhhhhhh! Don't say that! Don't be mean! You don't even know him!"
Gib: "Ehhh ye lah!! Dia jahattttttttt."
OhmiGod. Dunno where to hide my face.
The face that he does nowadays whenever you say; "Smile Gib, smile!!!" ...
He's a loving and lovable kid but when he's upset with me he'd say; "Taknak Mummy!'... "Nak Mummy pegi jauh-jauh.."... and once he even said "Nak campak Mummy dalam lubang macam Emperor tu!" and also "Nak tembak Mummy dengan gun Ban ni tau!". His Baba can't take it when he makes those sort of remarks and would demand he apologise immediately. I on the other hand, tend to take it lighly compared to H. Sometimes it still hurts (esp. when you least expect it), but hey.. I lived in the same house as my 3 nephews and 1 niece, and I've seen plentyyyy of ridiculous and offensive acts. Trust me, if it's just retaliation through words and not violent / offensive actions, I'm perfectly okay.
Then there are those ridiculous things which leave you not knowing whether to brush off, or laugh, or stare in horror. Or whatever!
Scene #1
Last weekend all three of us were rolling around in bed when we woke up at about 9+am and H gave me a few good morning smooches complete with growling sounds which were of course followed by giggles from me (no need to get dirty thoughts, okay? With Gib there trust me it was completely innocent!) and H gave me a quick hug while laughing, and then suddenly I felt Gibran's hands scratching my legs. I looked down and he was staring at us, and then he asked; "Baba... Baba suka makan Mummy ke? Mummy sedap ke?".. errrrrrrrrrr....???!
Scene #2
Today in Handy Manny, a character was getting smooched by his wife, leaving kissy-lipstick-marks on his face. Gib was watching nonchalantly while scribbling with his crayons. Then he turned to me and said..
Gib: "Mummy?"
Me: "Hmm, yes baby?"
Gib: "Mulut aunty tu kotor sangat tau. Dirty mulut dia tu, tinggal kesan semua kat muka uncle tu tau! Itu kiss-kiss dirty tu!"
Me: "Ohh! Err.. I see!"
What on earth was I supposed to say...?
Scene #3
Earlier this evening I was telling my maid the right way to wash the tub and Gibran's toys (not for the first time, because this new maid is a bit blur compared to my last one!) while Gib was sitting on the throne, doing his big business. Then he asked me..
Gib: "Mummy?"
Me: "Yes?"
Gib: "Bibik Rupa basuh tak betol ke?"
Me: "Hmm.. err, yes baby. Mummy nak ajar dia lah macam mana nak basuh ni.."
Gib: "Haiiiii Bibik Rupa.... Bibik Rupa ni naughty sikit lahhhh. Orang cakap taknak dengarrrr. Naughty ye...?"
The maid laughed like mad because she thought it was funny and that made Gib laugh like mad too. Me.. err... I was just standing there thinking what appropriate response I should've made. Errrr.
Scene #4
We always tell him not to follow strangers because you don't know if the person is good or bad. A person may look good but may be bad. The other day in Jusco, Gib was chatting noisily on and on about Star Wars and how his tummy hurts and he might need to poo soon.. and how he dislikes coffee because it is pahit (not that we let him drink it!) and on and on. So there was this guy who kept on glancing at Gib out of curiousity. The guy wasn't smiling or acting friendly but I think he might've just been distracted by Gib's endless chatter. After a few more glances from the guy, Gib pointed his green air-ball-gun (this is the toy he brings everywhere) to the guy and loudly exclaimed..
Gib: "Hey! Tengok tu! Ini uncle jahat tau!"
Me: "Sshhhhhhh! Don't say that! Don't be mean! You don't even know him!"
Gib: "Ehhh ye lah!! Dia jahattttttttt."
OhmiGod. Dunno where to hide my face.
The face that he does nowadays whenever you say; "Smile Gib, smile!!!" ...
