This Weekend

This weekend we bought a guitar and learned – or at least attempted to learn – how to play it. Each time I take it out and try to strum, the kids would come a-flocking and we would sing twinkle twinkle little star while they strum on the guitar like the true musicians they are. Bought second hand at the Cash Convertor and let me tell you this, that place is a treasure waiting to be discovered! Would like to look for a vacuum cleaner next.

-   This weekend we also had seafood dinner with family at Kayu Ara. Delicious (free! Thanks Kak Peachy!) food, fabulous company, mind boggling gossips.  We reached home at 11:00 and the kids promptly went to bed. Tired mom included.

-   This weekend we showered at least 5 times a day! Oh, the weather! Panas sungguh! The bedsheets were wet with the children’s sweat. Itu pun dengan kipas dan mereka tidur tak berbaju. Thankfully it rained on Sunday so last night wasn’t so bad.

The Trip To The Museum

Hari Ahad, kami lepak di Muzium Negara. Muzium dah banyak berubah, nicer now. Classier, even. I remembered the museum being a huge place as a child, and scary even. Especially the huge burung garuda they had then. But I suppose as a child everything looked big.

But what I wanted to write about is not the museum itself, but what happened just before I entered.

Masa nak masuk entrance tu (I keep calling the building the stadium instead of museum. Kuat dan banyak kali pulak tu. Cheh), ada sekumpulan wanita Arab (aku rasa), berjubah dan berpurdah. Elok dan cantik sangat aku tengok. Depa tengah duduk dekat entrance tu, berborak-borak dengan seorang lelaki mat salleh ni. Kami berempat masuk, berhenti kejap kat depan kedai cenderamata tu.

Terdengar seorang wanita memberi salam.

Assalamualaikum sister.

(Aku pun pusing) Waalaikumussalam.

Are you muslim?

(Duhh hahaha) Yes.

Dilagakan pipinya dengan pipi aku. Sambil tu dia tarik lengan baju aku turun. Hahaha. Keluar toilet tadi, aku sinsing lengan baju aku ke siku. Bila dipanjangkan lengan baju, masih tak tutup lengan aku sepenuhnya. Kira-kira 7/8 covered, just above the wrists. She gestured at her jubbah and said something like this is good, u need to cover your arms or something to that effect. Syukurlah I was wearing a loose fitting skirt or else she would have pointed at my huge ass.

I wasn’t offended. Haha. Who am I kidding.  I don’t get offended easily.

Then she looked at Emma who was wearing her tudung, bless her heart.

This is very good. Alhamdulillah.

Dicium-ciumnya pipi si Emma.

Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah. (Carries Aisha) Girl or boy?

Girl. (Smile. Aisha of course tak pakai tudung)

Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah.

We smiled, and each went our ways.

Kadang-kadang, we need gentle reminders such as these.

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Gahhhh. Most my tops have 3/4 sleeves! 

Emma's First Day - Post Mortem

So how did Emma do on her first day at school? Pretty well from what I hear (from herself and from the teacher). Kata Aunty (the teachers call themselves Aunty agar lebih mesra giteww) Emma independent and I swear that was all I heard. Zufri however heard the Aunty add that she is pretty bossy and likes to lead.  Uh-oh.. She can be bossy, but I’d like to think that she is flexible too. Now I’m not gonna tell her to be a little submissive because nanti jadi macam aku pulak, hahaha. Eh? Anyway its just her first day, I bet she’s still trying to adapt to her surroundings.

When we picked her up, she was crying. She was building a tower from blocks (she calls it her Princess Castle) and suddenly a boy came and kicked her tower! Tsk tsk tsk. Boys. And being a girl, Emma menangis hahaha. Sangat stereotype.

This morning I didn’t follow Zufri send Emma off to school. That’s the plan, anyway. He sends Emma and picks her up after work. Mak lenggang kangkung hantar Aisha kat rumah Opah. So far so good. 

Haha ek eleh baru dua hari sekolah nak kecoh. 

Emma Goes To Kindy!

It’s Emma’s first day at any school ever. We’ve been practicing going to bed earlier and waking up earlier this past week. Can’t say that it worked all the time, but today was pretty easy. Last night I gave Emma like little pep talks to get her excited about going to school this morning. So I showed her this is your sabun. Written here is your name, E-M-M-A. This is you toothbrush. Written here is your name, E-M-M-A. Bla-bla-bla. Lepas tu dia kata meh mummy Emma nak tulis nama Emma. So she opened her notebook and wrote E-M-M-A.

Such a proud moment.

Kerana begini. Aku pernah bercerita secara verbal kepada kawan-kawan. Pernah aku cuba nak mengajar Emma huruf. Aku ajar basic je pun, A-B-C. Ya Allah, stressnya aku masa tu. Siap bawak keluar hanger (aku pukul kerusi sampai patah hanger tu), menangis nangis melalak lalak anak aku. Kesian sangat. Mula-mula dia okay je tulis A-B-C. Lepas tu mulalah, aku tanya lepas beberapa minit, ni apa. Dia pergi tengok muka aku, sengetkan muka dia, jari ketuk-ketuk pipi, Apa eh? Aku dah start stress dah masa tu, banyak kali dia buat aku macam tu hahaha. Lepas aku patahkan hanger tu, aku kata kat dia kalau malas nak belajar tak payah belajar! Duduk rumah je jadi orang gaji!

Hahahaha. Adoi. Lepas tu aku putuskan untuk menyerahkan tugas mendidik ni kepada yang arif. I mean, I still try to teach her from time to time, practice her writing bla bla bla tapi tak secara intensif hahaha. Aku yang tak reti mengajar kot.

So bila Emma eja nama dia sendiri tu tanpa disuruh dan tanpa stress on my part, aku rasa sangat bangga. Hahaha. Tu belum reti buat matematik lagi tu. Mau aku pengsan kebanggan. Haha.

So berbalik pada hari pertama Emma di sekolah, aku, Zufri, Pipi dan Aisha semua satu rumah hantar Emma. Sampai je depan pintu, dia salam cikgu dia, bukak kasut, bukak stoking, terus masuk dalam. Tak pusing-pusing tak salam salam tak babai babai pun. Cis. Tapi Alhamdulillah lah yang dia okay aje pagi tadi. Aku panggil dia keluar balik, salam-salam, peluk-peluk (mata dah berair dah masa ni, tapi kalau aku menangis takut Emma pulak menangis (walaupun aku rasa dia tak menangis pun kot)) babai-babai, dia pun turun main gelongsor dengan kawan-kawan.

Alhamdulillah. Harap-harap Emma terang hati untuk menerima ilmu. Ameen.

Saya akhiri post ini dengan gambaran Emma di pagi hari, gembira untuk memulakan sesi persekolahan.