Kasyif masuk MRSM Trolak

 Alhamdulillah, haritu Kasyif dapat offer both MRSM dan SBP. Dapat MRSM Trolak dan SMS Alor Gajah. In the end Kasyif pilih MRSM. Ni first anak masuk MRSM. Aku pun belajar benda baru. Ada a few terms lain dengan SBP. Konsep 'Homeroom' memang konsep baru untuk aku. Secara kasar, aku rasa bagus sebab role cikgu yang jadi cikgu homeroom ialah pengganti ibubapa bila di sekolah. Aku ingatkan macam warden tapi bukan. Warden ada jugak, jaga bahagian asrama. Cikgu homeroom jaga dalam 15 orang murid gitu, tak ramai. Kalau warden, dia jaga blok asrama so lagi ramai. I guess cikgu homeroom tempat anak-anak meluahkan perasaan kot. Kalau ngan warden kita takut kan, warden garang! Haha

Hantar Kasyif hari Isnin, 11 Mac. Nampak dia OK. MRSM boleh bawak tepon biasa so aku ada la antar sms kat dia. Weekend baru lepas ni dia balik, abah dia amik. Next week kami pulak pegi Trolak sebab ada Iftar Perdana kat sana. Sebab Kasyif baru masuk kan, so kami decide untuk join.

Lutfi dapat offer SASER kat Seremban tapi tak pegi. Anak-anak aku mana ada yang pegi since Form 1. Lutfi pun nampak cam tak nak pegi so kami tak paksa la....

All the best Kasyif! Moga dapat belajar dengan baik, serlah potensi dan jumpa kawan-kawan yang baik. In sha Allah Kasyif akan mengharumkan nama MRSM Trolak nanti! Mama sayang Kasyif....

Psychosis and schizophrenia

Psychosis 

a collection of symptoms that affect the mind, where there has been some loss of contact with reality. During an episode of psychosis, a person’s thoughts and perceptions are disrupted and they may have difficulty recognizing what is real and what is not.

Schizophrenia 

Serious mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally. Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning, and can be disabling

Symptoms of schizophrenia may include:

psychotic symptoms, including hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking, speech, and movement

negative symptoms, like lacking emotional expression and social withdrawal

cognitive symptoms, such as difficulty paying attention or challenges using information they’ve learned

Communication with them:

Practice active listening. Alongside this, pay close attention to their body language to get a better understanding of their inner feelings, perceptions, and needs.

Be patient during conversations. Acknowledge and validate their feelings whenever you can, even if you don’t fully agree with their beliefs.

Allow them time to process. Because they may have trouble staying on track or gathering their thoughts during conversations, give them some time and space to process what you say.

Simplify information whenever possible. Break down information or tasks into simpler steps to help them understand what you’re saying. Talk in short, clear sentences whenever possible.

Encourage them. If they experience low motivation (a common symptom), offer encouragement and praise them when they complete tasks.

Recognize psychosis and give them space. If they appear to be experiencing an episode of psychosis, allow them enough time and space so they can reasonably recover. Seek help if you recognize safety concerns.

Berkhatan 2018: Post care

Mana aku ada pengalaman jaga orang berkhatan. Aku kat asrama masa adik-adik aku bersunat. memangla aku gabra sebab husband pun bukan ada kat rumah, pegi conference kat mana ntah... memula memang aku tak berapa best bila ada 2 event sekali: Nurun kahwin dan pastu anak aku sunat pulak... Aku dah cakap terang-terang kat husband aku takleh fokus pada kenduri Nurun, aku nak fokus pada acara anak-anak aku bersunat especially the post care sebab husband takda. Cuti pun bukan boleh lama. Paling lama pun seminggu kot so aku memang nak jaga betul-betul supaya depa baik cepat.....

Aku pentingkan penjagaan macam orang pantang beranak. Kena jaga kebersihan dan makanan. So kena ingat balik camna aku masa berpantang. Nak jaga bekas jahitan, aku pantang telur dengan ayam, takut gatal. Nak bagi nutritious food only. Rasa best jugak buat meal plan dioghang. That was how I bumped into Signature Market. Berbaloi for your 1st order. Aku order organic ramen and fresh wantan mee. Yang lain trail mix (ada huge discounts!) and chia seed were for me. Aku google nak masak apa dengan ramen and wantan mee ni.... I also made pesto from scratch! It was so good, I have to do this again.

Tido kat bawah jek...

Buat pizza. No chicken, just meat.

Parcel dah sampai. Time to unboxing!

Bought 4 items, the trail mix I think were free goodies!

This is wantan mee. Lupa pulak nak amik gambo ramen

Ingredients to make pesto

You can get a lot of pesto from it!

1st  with macaroni

2nd with tagliatelle

Alhamdulillah, they liked it. It was worth the trouble!

Berkhatan 2018: Goodie bag preparation

I have only 2 boys who are 3 years apart. So bila Kasyif nak berkhatan, baik sekali kan dengan adik dia Lutfi. So renyahnya sekali saja. Tarikh dioghang sunat ialah sehari selepas kenduri kahwin Nurul, 3 Dec 2018.

This is a milestone for them so I feel obligated to celebrate their achievement. In Perlis, circumcision is highly regarded and celebrated. They hold a kenduri after the ordeal as a sign of gratefulness to Allah SWT. Kenduri is not a norm in Johor so this will be a good experience for me as the mother.

I plan to give out doorgift to visitors. As usual I did the budget and suggest to my sis in law (his son, same age as Kasyif is joining). Originally she just wanted to order butter biscuits (macam Danish butter cookies) but I think where's the fun? That is too simple...haha!

So I work out what would I get with the same amount of budget. Based on my research:

1. Homemade cornflake cookies (5 pcs)
2. Sweets
3. Small calendar which I think so appropriate since we are getting to new year 2019

I don't do flashy plastic bags because I like simplicity and I'm working on a specific budget. I bought them from Shopee costing less than RM100.

Fresh cookies are definitely better than old cookies. Made with love and affection, hopefully people will feel the same when eating my cookies! Haha! I pushed myself to make them. There might be no other opportunity for me to display my love for them. That was the hardest bit. Packaging were done by my kids.

This cost less than RM1

Cookies for adult

I think I made roughly about 700 cookies in 5 non consecutive days (when I'm free)

Production line

Sweets for kids

This was right after they had the surgery

Lutfi slept after facing the ordeal

A clever way to ensure the kain will not drop, a 20 sen coin!

The boys laid here during the kenduri

Lutfi felt the pain....

Last week for bibik

This week is the last week bibik is going to be with us. I've just done her web check-in and printed her boarding pass. Tetiba rasa sayu that she's leaving.... Her flight is on Saturday at 3.15pm...

Imagine when my parents are gone. Definitely the feelings are going to be stronger than this.... Ya Allah! Berikan lah aku kekuatan untuk mengharungi kehidupan di dunia ini Ya Allah! Semoga aku memanfaatkan kehidupan ku di sini untuk mencari redha Mu, semoga kami tergolong bersama kaum-kaumMU yang terselamat.

1st day transit for Kasyif, trial exam for Jasmin

Transit
Kasyif dah start pergi transit kat Al Haziq harini. Camner agaknya ya? He was very positive this morning. Bangun dan pergi sekolah pun awal around 7.15am. Alhamdulillah....

Pagi tadi aku tuliskan note supaya dia tak lupa:
Letak baju sekolah agama dalam beg
Letak selipar dalam plastik, pastu letak dalam beg
Letak hanger dalam beg

Nanti petang, Jasmin akan amik and bawak balik beg dia ke rumah.

Can't wait to ask how was his day today....

UPSR trial
Hari ini juga trial UPSR untuk Jasmin. Ada jugak pesan sikit-sikit masa antar dia ke sekolah. Aku tak nak put pressure on her. After all, it's only academics. Tapi aku perasan macam dia lap airmata. Alamak dia rasa pressure ke? Sian pulak. Nanti balik nak tanya dia. Tapi Jasmin ni memang senyap sikit. Bukan Jasmin saja, Irdina pun cikgu kata senyap. Aku tak kisah, asal anak aku bahagia. Teringat pulak masa Jasmin attend Smart IQ, memang dia ada emotional meltdown. Jasmin seorang yang penyayang. Mungkin emosi dia sangat sensitif.

Hope today was not bad for her....

Tinggal 3 minggu lagi before bibik balik. Husband nak offer buat open permit (valid setahun) kot-kot dia rasa nak datang balik.....

With or Without Bibik?

No doubt my bibik gives excellent service. Liked and loved by my families because she's really hardworking and knows how to cook. Life's a bliss if she's around as she does everything and you can goyang kaki. So when she decide to go home for good, my parents tried to make her change her mind. My parents in law kept on saying how good she is. Yes, I've no doubt about that.

Life has been made easier since she worked with me. She does everything from A to Z. I thank Allah SWT for the rezeki because it's like you need the luck to obtain a good maid.

However, I don't want my kids to be like me. I want my kids to be independent and able to do house chores without complaining. I want to raise them myself because if I have bibik, I tend to leave everything to her including cooking for the family. Personally, i think it is because I don't know how to give orders or I don't like to give orders (thus need a bibik because I can't give orders to my kids and husband to help me around the house). Apart from I'm not good at housework because I myself had bibik around during my childhood.

I want to teach. I want to nurture. I want to be responsible for my kids. I want to cook for my kids. Because I believe that would be the correct way to show how much I love them. I've accepted that things might not be as easy as I would think but I will always turn to Allah SWT to give me strength to carry on. I need to persevere. This would be my labour of love for the family. It will take time and I would want to give up, but please don't. Because my patience and perseverance will tie the family together.

I don't want to prove anything to anyone. Just to myself that this is actually the life that I want....

Dream Picnic 2016

Tadi pergi bersantai kat Wetland Putrajaya. Sambil-sambil tu buat sesi DREAM PICNIC bersama anak-anak and hubby. Dah 3 tahun kami buat camni. 1st time buat kat Wetland gak tapi di other side, bukan yang dekat Taman Penghayatan Alam. Last year buat kat Taman Botani, lepas Langkah Ceria

Sayang takda tulis apa-apa pasal sesi tu. Actually ada la sikit kat sini.

This time buat kat Wetland yang sebelah Taman Penghayatan Alam. Ada gazebo besar, sangat selesa. menghadap 'cell', sort of kolam tapi dipanggil 'cell' sebab it's actual tempat filter air sungai kat Putrajaya ni. More about it here. Amat tenang kat sini (sebelum depa mesin rumput!)

Konon picnic. Tak masak, beli jek kat Jaya Grocer..

Pie and pastries ni beli kat The Loaf, Bangi Gateway

View from pondok. Dekat ngan 'cell'

Lutfi bergaya dengan cycling helmet abah dia...

Mula-mula takda idea nak tulis apa for 2016.  So we read back what we have written end of last year. What we want to achieve in 2015 and see whether we have achieved them, as well as what we remembered about 2014. Barulah idea datang....

I wrote a lot this time. Not so much what I want to achieve in 2016, more on lesson learnt in 2015 and sweet memories in 2015. Same goes with the kids and hubby. I think this is a good exercise because it will teach my children to have some sort of goals to achieve. At the moment, what they write is more about their wish lists. It's OK, what important is the progress.

Lesson Learnt: Craft project

At least I've tried.....

Semangat yang hilang
Sebenarnya lama dah teringin nak buat craft for Lutfi. Aritu macam nak Optimus Prime from boxes. Siap dah kumpul kotak-kotak termasuk kota tisu (untuk jadi kaki) sebab semangat tengok kat Youtube ada mat saleh buat tu jadik.... Tapi hemmmm....last-last bibik buang sebab tengok tak buat apa-apa pun setelah sekian lama (dia tak tahu pun intention aku). Last-last dia buang, buat menyemak jek.

Iron Man
Last Monday kan Selangor dapat cuti mengejut sebab menang Piala Malaysia. Happy tapi teringat banyak menda pending kat office. Tak nak teringat office kan, so I made myself busy with craft! Haha! Apart from Lutfi asking me to buy him more toys and he wanted an Iron Man mask. Masalahnya, dah banyak sangat beli mainan. Aku tak nak belikan lagi buat sementara waktu ni plus sebelum ni rasanya dah beli dah tapi ntah ke mana. So last-last I said 'nanti mama buatkan' and he said 'Yeay!' Alamak! Nampaknya memang kena buatlah.

Materials
So after buat PERKESO health check up at Klinik Syifa, aku pegi Pustaka Rakyat kat Seksyen 7 nak beli something for the silver colour (silver sebab dalam kepala masa ni nak buat perisai Captain America sebab macam straight forward kan, bulat and 3 colour. Kenapa sudah tukar, aku pun tak tahu! Haha)

Cari paint colour, tak da pulak. Pen silver/gold ada tapi terpikir macam susah jek nak kaler pakai pen sebab areanya besar. Carik punya carik, last-last jumpa kertas stiker A4 silver, Hmmm, senang ni...nanti kita tampal jek. Tak payah nak gam bagai. RM1.80 each. Hmmm, murah pun murah.

So last-last beli 2 keping, pastu amik 2 kotak kat luar kedai (depa buang jek).

Balik tu terus buat sebab tak naklah hangat-hangat taik ayam macam aritu. Sebelum tu of course la tengok YouTube (baru nak tengok camna nak buat 'helmet' Iron Man, harap-harap senang jugak)

Owh, only need to cut 5 pieces of shapes. OK, measurent given... Looks simple. Scissors, cutter, ruler, pencil, cardboard, CHECK. OK... Let's try!

Aku pun ikutlah instruction, measurement. Agak-agak nampak macam apa yang aku buat lari sikit, aku improvise. Tak susah sebenarnya tapi kotak yang aku amik quite tebal so susah sikit nak gunting.

Dan inilah hasilnya!

Lesson learnt
I'm actually quite proud because I get to finish it! Haha! and I've done something crafty for my kids. Although the finished product is not as good, Lutfi was like "Whoa! Mama buat topi Iron Man la!" I'm not saying that my craft is a masterpiece. I'm saying that sometimes we put off doing things because we want to do it perfectly. The truth is, sometimes they don't even notice the details, they appreciate something as it is. It is just us adults who wants perfection because we have that ego that we are adults, we do things better.

I'm not a crafty person and I tend to use that as a reason as well not to do things for my kids. Plus the ego that if I do it, I want it to be perfect so my kids will appreciate it. These are the reason why it took me 13 years to do a craft project for my kids. 13 years is my eldest age, meaning I've never done anything crafty for any of my kids. I regret it now.....Lenkali buat jek. Practice makes perfect. Tak pernah try buat pun, camna nak tahu susah ke senang....

Lutfi at kindergarten

Lutfi has been to IQ Kindies, Bangi for 1.5 months now. So far, it hasn't been  difficult to deal with him in the morning. There are times he was not in the mood. Luckily there's a convenience store opposite the building so sometimes I use that to get him to agree getting into the car.

I'm quite pleased so far. Lutfi doesn't seem to resist getting into the classroom. I guess the toys does help to attract the kids to remain interested.

So far the activities look fun to me so spot on! Two days ago, they made gooey slime which later turn into clay. We saw that activity when we attended Kiddo Science, Bangi open day in June, hands on science classes for primary and secondary kids. It's the same activity but maybe, the way things are explained to the kids are different. More science term for the older kids, more fun and play for the kindies! My point is this kind of activity is something like 'The Backyard Science', a children's program from Australia which I find interesting and my kids love to watch the program.

Lutfi trying out school

Lutfi has gone to school since Monday. Today is his 3rd day. I'm kind of nervous on the 1st day worrying about him. Actually he has been doing OK. When the teacher sent photos via Whatsapp for the parent-teacher group, I felt relieved. I hope his motivation continues.....

Lutfi on his 1st day

Playing blocks

He's not joining the crowd (if you can see him at the back)

Looking at others. It's only his 1st day :-)

His 2nd day.

Waiting in turn for archery.

Now he can imagine himself in 'Adakah Kau Lupa' video

Play and play!

Smart IQ Kindies: This is it!

I've been contemplating whether to send Lutfi to Smart IQ Kindies @ Seksyen 7. The dilemma is due to difficulty in finding a transit bus apart from its kind of premium fee. If I can't find a transit bus:

• I must be prepared to send him myself
• I can't leave the house by 7.10am (after sending Jasmin)
• I won't get to work by 8am
• I won't get a basement parking space
• I have to endure the traffic on SILK highway
• I have to pay RM1 for toll everyday. 

 Basically my morning routine will change.
And it's monthly fee is the highest so far. Is it going to be worth it?

I nearly succumb to 'settling with the usual'. It's easier.  Just find a kindergarten near our house and everything will work fine. Less hassle and no routine disruption.

Why? Why? Why? I kept asking myself. Why Smart IQ Kindies?

I still doubted my decision until today I saw a picture of Lutfi trying out archery sent via the parent-teacher Whatsapp group:

This is why!

I believe the centre can offer something above a normal kindergarten. Something that may instill self believe, courage and unlocking child's potential.

The centre teaches through play, it's not all about classroom learning, something I've always believed in all along.

I believe the teachers only use positive words and encouragement because it's Power Brain training style to ensure kids are motivated.

I hope these are not only my wishful thinking and the teachers do actually mean what they have promised.

Why I want to send my child there?

Naturally, we want to give the best education to our children. This is my sacrifice and effort and I hope it's worth it. If it's not, at least I've tried my best to find the best place for my child to learn.


P/S: I also noticed all my doubts were more related to MYSELF. Everything was about me and my comfort zone. Selfish isn't it....

Learning experience for Lutfi

I haven't enrolled Lutfi at any pre schools. I'm interested to send Lutfi to Smart IQ Kindies located at Seksyen 7. I need to find transport for him which is not straight forward because it is inter section. Usually transit buses only cater for nearby sections or within sections. The class starts the week after, 15 June. I still have 1.5 weeks left to take action!

Life priority

1. Anak
2. Haji
3. JPA

Why?
The above 2 relates to my deeds, amanah and relationship with Allah SWT. My investment for my next life.

No 3 is just about money. To practice that money is just 'di tangan', not in my heart.

Other realization found today:

I can't expect different results if I don't change the way I do things.

I want to improve my bond with my children. Previously written as 'spend more time with children'. I didn't specify what are the things I need to do. If I did, may be it was an ambitious plan . I've been planning on the activities but my weekends are occupied with me running household errands. I didn't execute and sometimes I didn't know what to do with the kids on weekends.

I felt something is not right because I realized I have not progressed since the last time I wrote my plan. I've been doing the same thing over the weekend without feeling the satisfaction of accomplishing my goal of improving my bond with children.

Stop. Just stop and think. Maybe I'm expecting a different result but no changes in the way I spend the time with them.

Write a note 'Have you hugged your children today?' and paste it on my car steering

Why?
Because it is something easy to do, currently not a routine and will have a great impact on the kids. Something I wish long time ago when I was in early parenthood. I expect that I will always give my hug and kisses and be comfortable about it.

Passport cover

My daughters were looking at passport covers sold right in front of the Immigration Office in Jalan Reko, Kajang. At first, I thought it would be a waste, costing RM10 for plastic covers and RM20 for a thicker material. Normal accepted passport covers sold by the Immigration Office is RM3.

But then it struck me 'What a good idea to differentiate the bunch of passports we have to hold!' and bought them.

Apart from having more 'fun' appeal to the passports, I think it's useful to differentiate whenever the group leader i.e. my husband need to show our passports for check-in, buying tickets, immigration clearance etc (he holds all of our passports to avoid misplace).

We have different passport covers each reflecting the personalities of my children... Maybe more of reflecting their age. Can you guess whose which?

My Little Nomads

I find this particular post from My Little Nomads relates so much to how I feel towards traveling with kids. Very well said. Go on, read it! Go and click the link.




In contrast to how I 'expressed' my feelings in the opening paragraph with my limited vocab here,  (I wrote about Krabi, our first overseas trip as a family).


I did get 'they won't even remember because they are small' remarks from my hubby, referring to our boys when I said I want to bring the kids to Tokyo. I countered back with something about kids are like sponges. They absorb.
One of the comments posted to the My Little Nomads post has another point that I can use...

It shape kid's personality from what they see, smell, experience....

I'm gonna follow the blog. The 1st blog that I tag on my blog.