What I wish you knew

Dear students..

I've been a teacher for 5 years.
In my line of work, I see hundreds of faces everyday
You'ld come and go with the fastest of speed
Although I so badly want to, me with my limitations,
I can hardly match your face with this attendance list correctly every time.
Heart wrenching to admit
On bad days
You are just a sea of faces to me.

Yet lately,
When I look at that sea of faces with my eyes..
My heart saw something else.

In each of that nameless face
The loud seemingly ignorant student
The messy serabut face
The couldn't care less front
The sad braving eyes
Just like the one next to it
And a hundred more
In all of that

I saw
a person so fiercely loved
Each one
a someone so precious to another
once a hopeless three months old,
too dearly loved and cared for
grew up with a  million caress and hopes and wish

A someone,
who bring so much joy to the people who sacrificed so much for him
Each one of them.

A someone I can never do justice.

I hope you realize that.
That unconditional devoted love you bear inside of you.
I hope you always remember that.

And may that thought remain with me
Each time I rest my eyes upon you.


P/S: Being melancholy as I usually am at the end of every semester

Kakak Speaks #2

Kakak talks all the time.

That's what everyone left with her for a whole day would say. 

Although at times painful to the ears, just like what any mother would say of their child,  she is filled with sweetness that simply melts my heart.

When I scold her, she'll give a not-so-loud scream "Waaaa..." followed by a face that kononnya ask for pity but with a sheepish/cheeky smile she could not hide, she'd say "Maaf Ummi.. kakak tak buat lajii.." (I teach her to say maaf instead of sorry isn't it sweet ;p) Yeah, sometimes I'll hear that 5 times in one morning.

When she happen to take hold of some money she'll show it to me and say "Nanti kakak beli hadiah untuk Ummi, okay."
Never occurs to her to buy what she wants. Children. With their big eyes and big hearts.

A funny moment:

Once Abi was telling her about the punishment for telling lies, which is having your tongues cut. (I'm not actually sure about the authenticity of this hadith though).
In earnest, her eyes wide, she nods her head and say..

"Hm, kena potong macam lembu, kan" (referring to the qurban she had witnessed this year)

and then, ever so seriously,

"Kena potong macam roti cheese."

referring to her usual breakfast of cheese on toast cut into small pieces.

Big Bad Wolf Loot

It's crazy not to go crazy at the Big Bad Wolf book sale.

I wouldn't be surprised if anyone actually shed happy tears at the first sight of the hall. My heart was thumping so hard and I was super stressed my eyes could take so little in at a time, hihi!

Never mind if you are not a bookworm, your heart would weep at the sight of the price tags.

I mean, come onnn, hard cover children story books at RM 8?

As they claim it's 75-95% on all books and there are 3 million of books!

On the first visit I was stressfully begging for the children books tables to end, I couldn't bear to miss a table and the books were too many. Nerve-wrecking I tell you!

The priority was the children books. I had not known the insanity of it (somehow this is actually my first BBW). After two trips that's the only part I can say I'm satisfied with. Yang lain sempat brisk-walk je.

Some of books I went cuckoo over.

Hard cover children books:

Soft cover, Kakak's favourite in order (so far):

Story books with activities:

Children loves touch and feel books as it helps with the imagination

Kakak can count and tell me the number using this book!

Counting activity too but this is for 1 yr plus

Jigsaw puzzle fun

The last activity book is fun. You can take out some of the parts and put it back again like a jigsaw puzzle. Its fun, tapi kena buat dengan dia else you'll have a 'fun' time arranging it back by yourself. You have to search for this book outside after the cashier counter.

Anybody bought the same book as I did? :D

And so the' 'book marathon' begins. 

Its super tiring. Kakak will bring the book to me one by one. Habis bacakan satu, she would trot to the bookshelf and exclaim "nak baca yang maana pulak?!" and bring one after the other.

After reading 10 books I will gladly give her the story books with activities for her to play on her own pulak. Penatnya! When reading kan kene buat suara super excited, barulah can attract their attention. And everytime baca the interesting part is you can play around with the stories coz of course we don't use their text as it is, just the pics.

From my loot, the books with the best storyline, ever so fun to read with your child would be Where Are You Blue Kangaroo (RM 10, beautiful pics), Mr. Wrinkle (RM 10), Little Lost Lamb (RM 6), Snip Snap Croc (RM 6), The Long Journey Home (RM 6), Where's My Teddy (RM 6).

Oh yeah, the books I managed to grab for myself. It's nothing much due to the lack of time, but it'll do. I used to be so obsessed over novels. Now, I hate having that nagging feeling of 'Don't you have better things to do than reading fiction, make-up stories??'. Pffft. Can't I be allowed to have just ONE guilty pleasure? :( But now I'm kinda glad I have one reason to read:  my english is getting worse.. err.. worst. see?

So, for those who haven't go, please gooo!

The children books are so worth it, most of them are RM6 and RM8, very little are at its most expensive of RM 10. And the stories are really fun; catchy, funny, with beautiful sharp images. I know that because Kakak's eyes widen in fascination at every page. We know how important it is to inculcate the habit of reading from young. With all the mesmerizing technology we have nowadays, one day you might find out it's already too late to start. But lets not forget, children learns best from what they see. Are we making reading a habit too?!

Its still open till Dec 23rd, at The Mines!

Fun Activities #1

We bought this recently at a Popular book store. Thanks to a friend who wanted to share, its a buy one free one offer at RM59.90.

Easy Origami : Book & Kit

A bit pricey lah for a guide book of origami for 12 items. But knowing how she loves to lipat-lipat (and it was on sale!) I was only to happy to sacrifice some money for a few hours of good bonding time with dear daughter hihi.

Suprisingly the book has really good clear instructions. I always thought origami isn't very easy to do and you need to be good with your hands.

I was surprised I managed to do most of it, after a few moments of pening-pening. Considering I was never good at figuring illustrated instructions (on IKEA stuff).

Some of the animals 'we' have done:

Elephant, Girrafe, Frog

So the girrafe looks more like a dinosaur.

She was running happily back and forth to show her animals to Abi.

I think it's good to expose kids to Arts and Craft. I remember reading there's that link between creativity and ability to think.

Sisters #1

Toddlers are wonderful imitators.

Which means we have to be so very careful of our every action and words nowadays.

On another note, Kakak's reaction to being a big sister is such a delight to observe so far. She loves to give her hand to Safa as the baby is at that stage of pulling everything she can grip towards her mouth. Whenever we make her botol susu she would go and lie right next to Safa and hold her hand until she fell asleep. 

There's no stopping her from kissing, slobbering, crowding on Safa. That seems to be her favourite activity. When we give her chocs she would go to her sis and munch on it while looking at Safa.

Not even when Kakak got sick recently and I scolded her every time she gets near. It's no wonder both of them got sick. I would say that's the only instruction so far she can never obey. Macam tak hiraukan lansung. 

Sometimes she'd even say "Ni kan kakak dia".

Ohh undeniably Kakak feels jealous. Thats humane. Whenever we 'talk' to Safa, play and smile at her little sister, a glance towards her will show a sad pitiful face. The unsure look. The doesn't people love me eyes. So sad to look at! Immediately I would shower her with praises and love words, hugs and kisses. And she would follow suit and do the exact to her little sister.

Of course too many a time, it frustrates me to no end when she pounce on her sis and take her hand when Safa is just about to sleep.
Or is sleeping -__-

And I would scold her. And her mouth will curve downwards and her eyes will be automatically red. Pandai dah turn on the tap water nowadays!

Anyway, on days when I am 'sound'..
Often in our 'conversation' with her little sis with her present, we will praise Kakak and say how much she should be good like her big sister. Okaylah sementara Safa tak faham lagi, else it'll be too much to bear hihi. For now it's good for Kakak's confidence, her self image (got it from Prof Rozieta's book, will share it soon!)

But I actually avoid having mushy-mushy conversation with the baby when Kakak is around. Or while doing so my hand would be stroking Kakak. Sampai macam tu sekali  tak sampai hati.  I read somewhere that even though we'll tend to protect the younger sibling more, it's actually children who can already think and feel whom we have to support and show love more. We are adults, pandai-pandai lah cover.

Heard from her this morning:

"Ummi, Safa cry nak kakak. Dia nak main dengan kakak dia." 

After a few seconds, in the disbelieving tone adults always use, she herself said..

"Hm yelaaaah.."

I must have said that to her the last time she said that to me.

Must be careful what I say in the future.
Avoid any negativity!

The sweetheart at three months

Homeschooling Idea#2 : Activity Book

I had been looking for some free time to download and print some activities for Kakak, but time had not permit.

So imagine my delight when I found this at an unlikely shop. Most activity books are still unsuitable for Kakak, since most preschool activity books are only with writing ABC and coloring exercises. I was looking for cut and paste activities involving identifying colours or shapes. When I found this..

I think the publisher is Early Skills K, and the series is Home Workbooks.
Priced at only RM3.90.
It has these kind of activities, with a set of stickers..

The usual shape identifying exercise

..it came with a set of stickers in the middle

But we don't do the usual activity..

The usual activity would be colouring the shape similar to the first shape kan? But knowing the focus of a two-year-old, instead of colouring, I asked her to paste the given stickers on pictures of the same shape instead! She even has to choose the same sticker for the same objects. She loves it!
It's so fascinating to me to see how she can now think for herself, dah boleh beza kan shapes.. so pandaii :') something only a mom will experience hihi.

The first book : Same & Different

The second book : Kindergarten Activities

She really enjoyed choosing the same stickers to match the objects. But of course we have to do the activity with her.

---------------------------

Her very own corner. We don't have an extra room hence a corner will do.

Ummi's dream kindergarten. Hihi!

But seriously, it's good for her to have her own space. We get to teach her to take care of her own stuff and how she must always keep it clean and tidy. Since she always ajuk what I say, I teach her to say, "Cantiknya rumah kakak!" and "Ei sepahnya rumah kakak!" so she always try to keep it neat.

Of course, more often than not, I'd be the one initiating the clean up. Some fine days, I'd be the only one doing the clean up. But it's fine, really. The repetition of seeing us clean up after her space will be drummed into her subconscious mind. The subconscious mind doesn't think, it only obeys i.e. habits. Aha, this deserve an entry on its own : How the mind works. One day, she'll automatically clean up on her own without being asked. Simply because she sees us doing it all the time. Believe me, it works! I have a friend who declares her daughters at the age of 4-6 years cleans up after playing each time without being told. I don't think that is genetic! (some people claim everything is genetic)

So where did I buy these books? I'm sure you have seen this shop before.. you can find it in a lot of malls!

Mr. D.I.Y! Loads of children activities stuff here at super cheap prices!
Here are the branches..

http://www.mrdiy2u.com/contact/
Note: We went to the one in Taiping. Hopefully you can find the books at its other branches as well.