I just noticed....

...that the picture I chose for the background of this blog is of Sa'eed when he was at the age where he was learning to walk. Amazing. It has been THAT long since I've changed the background. By saying 'I', I mean my brother...hehe

A lot has happened between then and now. And by a lot, I really mean two additional family members. One wants to be a princess when she grows up, and another is rolling away. Hmm...when do babies start crawling anyways? When you have more than one child (and at less than 2 years apart), you kinda tend to not scrutinize their developments. Experience tells that they will eventually get it and not to get stressed out if they don't hit a certain milestone as what the books tell you (betul tak mummy Adam, Imran, Daniel & lil princess?).

It's not that I don't care about the younger kids' development, but I guess I know that they will learn it, and we should just enjoy the moment. It's just lovely to see the kids do their own thing, at their own pace. And plus you won't get so worked up and start comparing your kid's development to others. I believe that things like rolling over, crawling, standing up, walking, talking are all being inspired by Allah (but of course you'll know when things need some intervention). It's like a foal learning how to walk 10 minutes after it is born.

Once the kids' brain has started to develop further and starts to form rational thought e.g. knows how to make a choice between blue and red toy, then you can slowly start to point them into the right direction like etiquette, ABCs etc. With that, I think I have to set some goals and action plans for the kids. Hopefully we'll be able to reach them.

Sa'eed
Be able to read Malay/English by 5 (he just turned 4)
Be able to read Qur'an by 6 (he is beginning Iqra' 2 right now)

'Aatikah
Potty trained by 3.5 (she will be 3 in October)
Be able to read Malay/English by 5
Be able to read Qur'an by 6

Umaamah
Honey, you do what you gotta do, we'll discuss your KPIs when you're a bit older ok :)


Are these goals too lofty or are they too weak? I remembered learning how to read muqaddam coz I was probably at Standard 1 by then. But I definitely cannot recall how I learned to read.

Oh and maybe we should start some organized extracurricular activities like horseback riding or swimming for them. Or perhaps they are too young?

oh goodness

Great...a summary post for 2010 and you don't hear from me anymore. And April is almost over (dah file your taxes?). It has been quite an eventful year so far. TWO hospital stays, almost 3 weeks of MC for yours truly here.

Very weird...I was healthier (Alhamdulillah) last year when I was carrying Umaamah in my tum. Manage to not get H1N1 although everyone else got it, MC boleh kira sebelah tangan. But this year is a totally different story. Dengan random demamnye, sore throat, conjunctivitis etc. Really need to boost up the immune system.

Umaamah is 8 months already and she's currently around 9kg :) These kids are chubby and healthy when they are babies, but once they start moving around, they seem to get taller, eat more, yet don't gain that much weight. 'Aatikah for one was 11kg for the longest time. I think now she's around 12-13 kg and Sa'eed is around 15 kg.

'Aatikah alhamdulillah is doing well. But everytime she gets a fever, I get really worried. Need to check those lungs, make sure they're ok. So far so good. She's in high spirits, screams for fun, but can randomly cry for the tiniest reason e.g. Umaamah ter-pull her hair.

Sa'eed is such a big brother. Loves his sisters to bits...and apparently I shouldn't have any boys anymore because boys can only be the 'abang', cannot be the 'adik'. He loves to play and entertain Umaamah. And I can tell Umaamah somehow prefers her brother. I think coz 'Aatikah can sometimes be very loud and can't control her strength.

In terms of progress in school..alhamdulillah Sa'eed now knows how to pray and also recite the do'as during the different movements e.g. rukuk, sujud etc. He knows his al-Fatihah, can give the iqaamah plus can answer the azan. But he's not too confident in giving the azan. He has also started to read Iqra' book 2. And plus I can trust him to teach the right things to 'Aatikah, coz she's still in the stage of 'main belasah je'.

Ok...that's all for now. You can put your bets on when the next updates will come by.

The ever smiling Umaamah

Sa'eed and 'Aatikah doing what also I dunno

Having a good laugh...

Yepp...Umaamah can join in the fun already. Please excuse the not so decent Habib Jewels catalogue...