Family Day 2010

Just got back from the Kader Clan's Family Day 2010 in Langkawi. Left KL on Friday night and came back yesterday evening. Last year the family gathering was in Kelantan, but this year was filled with more activities. For the first time we had a sukaneka where families were re-grouped into different groups. So it did get ultra competitive at times.

On Saturday was an island tour where we went to the Buffalo Park, Cultural Center, lunch at Restoran Kantan and Underwater World. Then in the evening we had dinner somewhere in Kuah. But we did miss the Buffalo Park and the Cultural Center because ada yang bangun lambat. It was quite cool eating out coz we always had the place to ourselves. I'm not sure if it was a special arrangement by the organizers or it was because we were that awesome....haha. But the whole clan filled up the whole restaurant anyways, so if other people wanted to join, please wait in line.

The next day was sukaneka and it was great fun. Although it was really really hot, we still had a great time. We played angkat bola pingpong dengan sudu, cari gula-gula dalam tepung, shrinking island (aka musical chairs), sponge & water, watermelon eating competition and last but not least, a crawling game. Then later that night was a Hawaiian themed bbq night. 'Aatikah wore a sundress which her Aunty Sheya bought and Sa'eed was suppose to wear a nice Hawaiian shirt and pants courtesy (Read: borrowed) of Gib.

'Aatikah went to the dinner with her To'ki, To'mi and Aunty Baby while my husband and I attempted to find a clinic because Sa'eed developed a nasty fever. I brought medication from KL, but that wasn't really enough to suppress his fever. His temperature hovered at around 38-39 celcius and we had to strip and shower him a couple of times to lower his temperature. So that night, we went to a clinic in Kuah and arrived there at 8.50pm. The clinic was suppose to close at 9pm so of course the girl at the registration counter won't let us register.

So we walked to the next nearest clinic to find out that it wasn't even open, although the girl at the first clinic said that the second clinic closes at 10pm. We asked around and the next nearest clinic was 10 minutes away. While contemplating whether to go or not, we decided to just get the suppressor medication inserted via the other hole. After that we joined the bbq just to eat something and left early so that Sa'eed could get some rest. Unfortunately we had to miss the rest of the bbq coz the food was really good, and the entertainment was great too...I heard they even had fire eaters...or was it flame throwers?

Anyways, Sa'eed's fever went up and down, but never lower than 38 degrees. So lastly we decided to wrap him in a wet towel just so that he could sleep. Of course he didn't like it and kept screaming 'Taknak demam...taknak demam".

The next day he still had a fever and didn't even want to eat boiled eggs, which is his ultimate favorite food in the world. So we decided to go to the clinic before checking out of the hotel. I dressed him in the Hawaiian themed clothes so that I didn't borrow it in vain. The doctor on duty was this nice Indian man who had a lot to share. He said Sa'eed should drink more plain water. He himself drinks 5 litres of water per day and hasn't gotten a fever for 14 years. And the one time he did get a fever, it was only for half a day. I just nodded, while Sa'eed was just sitting there listening to the man talk.

After that we got back to the hotel, packed, checked out and had lunch at Wan Thai with my family. At first we wanted to go to a seafood restaurant, but since the place wasn't open, we headed to Wan Thai instead.

Then, we left for the airport at around 1.30ish coz our flight was at 3.30pm. Overall it was an OK trip. We didn't really get to do much coz the weather was so hot and plus Sa'eed wasn't well. Hmm...I wonder where the next Family Day will be.

Sa'eed and 'Aatikah playing at the hotel while we were waiting for our transportation.

Kids trying their luck pointing at things, hoping to buy something.

On the way to dinner in a spanking new dress. You can probably see that her tummy is a bit round.

Sa'eed looking really unwell, but handsome in Gib's Hawaiian clothes.

Finally, a relatively quite day at the office. The DP pack is done and passed to Corporate, hopefully they don't call me...haha. Anyways, this past 4 day weekend was spent over at the in-laws. We didn't go out at all...which is a good thing coz that translates to no money spent and more money potentially spent during our Family Day weekend up North this coming weekend.

Kids are growing up really quickly and getting cheekier by the day. Sa'eed now likes to pretend to be sleeping if I ask him to do things or sometimes just randomly pretend to be sleeping. And he likes to test my patience by saying things the opposite of what they really are...for example, saying that his left hand is his right hand and vice versa.

He still loves cars and will always ask his Aunty Sheya to buy a car from him. Plus he hijacked his Uncle U-tap's (that's how Sa'eed pronounces his name although that's not his uncle's real name) Top Gear magazine to look at the cars. Thank goodness that magazine does not have pictures of models prancing and posing with the cars.

Sa'eed pretending to sleep, specifically when I wanted to take a picture of him

'Aatikah is learning and growing he vocab. After 2 weeks of off and on days of being unwell, Alhamdulillah she has regained her appetite. Absolutely loves spicy food...opposite of her brother who doesn't even dare try. She also likes to scream if she sees people coming towards her and once, she even screamed when she walked into a Aunty Q's bedroom (where the girls were quietly sitting and gossiping), as if making a grand entrance....all this thanks to Aunty Sheya.

And she is also quickly outgrowing her 12-18 months clothes...especially the tops. Some shirts would drape over her tummy and some dresses would be short. But no problems with pants tho.

'Aatikah post coco crunch

In terms of what is happening around the country, it sure is not looking good. Every small issue becomes a big one...doesn't matter if it's from the government or the opposition. For example the Perarakan Maulidur Rasul. Even if the letter posted on KJ's website is authentic, it says the perarakan will be cancelled, but replaced with a Majlis Perhimpunan Ummah which features Qur'an recitation, some nasheed and a forum. But of course headlines scream 'Penang cancels Maulidur Rasul celebrations'. It's probably too hot outside to have a perarakan anyways...

And one more thing I don't get is how can a faulty mechanism in a submarine that causes it to not be able to submerge does not interfere with its operations?

Oh and there's this series on youtube which is good (I think) to teach kids mengaji. Try searching for Muslim Kid School.

Okie dokie...almost lunch time!

Where has time gone?

Aaah....funny how every post begins with 'wow it has been x weeks since my last post'. Anyways, a lot has happened in between my last post and this one. But I guess the biggest 'event' is both kids have started full daycare. Long story short, had to stop the nanny to preserve some sanity. I shall not go into details coz it is so stressful just thinking about what happened. But if you really need to know, she was accused of doing something that I can't say whether she did it or not...haha, if that is not a satisfactory answer, come over and have lunch with me.

Sa'eed has adjusted well to school, although sometimes if he wakes up early enough, he would say that he doesn't want to go to school. It'll take some cajoling, but he seems ok when we do drop him off. If we ask him what he learns in school, he'll go ABC or alif baa taa.

I think it took him slightly more than a week to finally be confident enough to join the classes. Otherwise he'll just look from afar. But I'm glad that the teachers understand that kids need to take their own time, so they just encourage him to join, but does not force him to join the class.

It took a bit longer for 'Aatikah to adjust. Today was actually the first day that she didn't cry when we dropped her off. Siap salam lagi tuu. But the negative side of sending young kids to daycare has hit her pretty hard. She's still recovering from a nagging cough and cold. Hence you can see in the picture that her eyes aren't as bright as they usually are.

Work is getting pretty busy too. Paper work is really tiring to do. Tons of contracts, agreements and board papers to draft. But being on this team has its perks too. As a friend aptly put it 'high risk, high returns'. We get to do presentations to the company's management committee, to various boards of listed companies and have discussions with VPs and the like.

But of course the downside is that I can't really control my time coz sometimes last minute discussions would start at 4pm and of course it does not end at 5pm. I have left earlier for some of this discussions (come on, who wants to go home late when your kids are sick and waiting for you to pick them up from daycare?). I just hope this won't affect my annual performance ratings....but I doubt it wouldn't.

On the homefront, I wish laundry would sort itself out, clothes get ironed by themselves, floors magically get vacuumed and cleaned, dishes are always washed and on the drying rack bla bla bla. I really don't know how some full time working moms get it all done without maids. You might say it's just your mindset, which I think is partly true...but with 2 kids wanting your attention, it is kinda hard. I have tried waking up at 5am or sleeping late to do chores, but it is tiring!

Anyways, have a fun looong CNY weekend!

To Lasik or not to Lasik

Lasik is basically a laser eye surgery to correct your vision. But before the doctor can perform the surgery on you, extensive testing has to be done to determine whether you can do it or not. And contrary to some beliefs, most people I know only did lasik on one eye. Then the other eye will somehow 'correct' itself so that you may have 20/20 vision.

I recently found out that Lasik is the most performed surgery in the US. One of the well known centers for Lasik is the Stahl Eye Center located three locations in New York. They have been serving patients for more than 35 years and patient outcomes have been independently verified by nonprofit Lasik patient advocacy USAEyes to meet or exceed the national norms for Lasik results. Fewer than 100 doctors nationwide have attained this certification. It's also good to know that the doctors there are graduates from top notch medical schools such as UCLA, Yale and Johns Hopkins (my alma mater!).

I personally think Lasik is pretty cool because patients won't have to depend on contact lenses or glasses. I for one, have spent a ton on both those things. I heard that there is no pain involved and recovery takes as little as two hours. My boss did it and he was already off to Japan the next day!

I wish the centers here in Malaysia would emulate the Stahl Eye Center where they offer 24 months of low monthly installments and it's no interest too. Oh well, perhaps when any of the centers here offer that, I will consider to have Lasik done.

What about you? Would you do it?

Updates

Kids are getting bigger and cheekier. I think next year we might send Sa'eed to playschool...but not sure yet when and where. I think it'll be good for him since he can play with kids his age, hone his socializing skills and perhaps learn a few things :)

As of right now, I'm more inclined to the Montessori method since it is more wholesome and does not focus on making sure the kid performs or show results quickly. Their methods are individualized and they are assessed individually. I think this is good since kids don't get compared to other kids (e.g. ranking no.1, 2 etc). And if a child is advanced, he or she get to do activities based on his or her abilities and not be tied to an age specific curriculum.

There are a couple of Integrated Islamic Kindergarten around, but I'm not a 100% sure yet.

'Aatikah is growing up pretty well too. Walking like a champ, although yesterday she had her first major accident where she fell and cut her lips :( She likes to play with her brother even though Sa'eed likes to grab things from her....tapi kadang2 balas balik tuu! She's really into books right now and loves playing with water. Mandi bawah shower pun tak takut.

Oh and she has more girly clothes now, courtesy of her lovely Aunty Sheya...

Sa'eed with his cheeky face. Everytime he sees this picture, he'll say 'hensem!'

'Aatikah the little princess

Aik..#3 ke? Oh no no no...not yet. Ni lah dia adik baru...Fitrah Abd Rashid. Awat masam no muka tu?

Chav

Just ran into this word today: CHAV

Do you know what that means? It is basically a label given to youngsters in the UK. They dress a certain way, they probably talk a certain way too. It’s quite amusing to hear all these kinds of labels given to our youngsters…especially the so called delinquent ones. Sometimes I don’t get it. We do not want them to act in a bad way, yet we label them negatively and expect them to change.

And labels usually have a different effect on these youngsters. More often than not, they bask in the glory of being called something and of belonging to a certain group. To them, this is an elite status. In my opinion, they just need to identify themselves, to belong somewhere.

Oh well…back to chav, the root word has its origins from Romani, meaning child.

So can we say that an acorn is a chav?

I don’t think so. An acorn is a nut.

You might think that this is such a random post on a Tuesday. Well, it is. Random.

Has it been THAT long?

My apologies for non-existing posts, therefore I hope you like these 2 pictures. We don't have internet at home and I don't have time to write from the office, except for today coz I skipped lunch.

Perhaps when we have internet at home I'll be more disciplined at updating the blog. Or perhaps we should move to another country to give me more reasons to upload pictures and every bit of detail. But until then, forgive me for lack of entries.