Iman doesn't want to be a boss

Last night on the way home from visiting Ayah's friend, Iman saw the Putra train and was excitedly telling us that Iman has been on the train with Mummy and Aunty Ona. Iman said "Ayah tak naik tren dengan Iman." So, Mummy quickly said "Ayah came to fetch us at the station." Ayah said "Ayah is Iman's and Mummy's driver! Iman is a boss." Iman started to cry and said that Iman doesn't want to be a boss. Iman wants to be a driver!! We couldn't help but laughed the her simplicity of her thought and told her that she can be a driver.

The Murai story

Petronas has been showing the advertisement about Murai on TV. How parents could be so patient with their child when the child was small but how impatient a child will be with their parents when the parents are no longer "as sharp" as they used to be. It was quite a touching advertisement and I thought it taught us a good lesson and we should all learn from it.



Similar incident happened the eve of hari raya. Mummy and Alang were busy trying to make "biskut dam" for raya. Mummy wanted to give Alang the experience of making cookies since she didn't participate at all in those activities while growing up. Mummy and Ibu Ya had the cookie-making experience back then when Nenek still make cookies. After we all grew up and was living away, cooking-making was a taxing activities for Nenek to do by herself that we all ended up ordering from friends in the office and brought them home for raya. The cookie-making experience ended there that Alang somehow was deprived of it. This year, Mummy thought Mummy wanted to provide that experience to Alang.

While we were busy cutting the dough, Iman came and asked "what's that, Mummy?" So Mummy answered "this is a dough for making cookies." Iman said "dough?!" and Mummy said "Yes, dough." Then out of the blue Iman asked "what's that, Mummy?" So Mummy answered "this is a dough." Iman said "dough?!" and Mummy said "Yes, dough." Then Iman asked again "what's that, Mummy?" So Mummy answered "this is a dough." Iman said "dough?!" and Mummy said "Yes, dough." The question and answer session went for quite sometime and Mummy was actually surprised that Mummy was so patient answering everytime. Guess as a parent that's what we all are... patiently answering our child eventhough they are asking the same question.

Then Mummy realiased that it's exactly like the Murai story! It must have been a child's common character to keep asking the same question and a common character for the parents to keep answering patiently. With a sigh I acknowledge that I am now a parent!

Ayah reminded me about the Murai story everytime Mummy seemed agitated with Nenek or Tok Ayah. Mummy would step back everytime I recall the story and tried to keep my cool. Good moral, that Murai story is! Somehow it has been Petronas trademark to produce a meaningful and touching advertisement. Glad someone did!! We should all continue to learn because education should only end when we die. Hope we still have a long time to gather knowledge. Ya Allah, please grant me a long, meaningful, peaceful and healthy life with Ayah, Iman and the rest of my family. Amiin...

Our house is small

Iman was so happy in KB playing with her cousins. The house there is bigger than our house and has doors connecting from one room to the other, that when she entered one room she could ended up coming out from the door of another room! So, it was somehow such a great treat for Iman that when Ayah told Iman that we were going home soon, Iman's reaction was quite surprising! Iman said to Ayah "Ala, I don't want to go home! Our house is small!" That's exactly Iman's word.

Ayah told Mummy not to be sad that Iman has said that, but Mummy couldn't help it. What occurred to Mummy was that somehow we are giving Iman enough space and excitement in our modest size condo! Should we be thinking about getting a bigger place then?!

So, when it was time to go home, Mummy said to Iman that she could stay in KB with Babah and Ummi and her cousins. Mummy teased Iman by saying "You don't have to come back to KL since our house is small." Iman quickly said "No! Our house is big. It is not small!" She is quite political eh? She knows how to rectify the situation with her statement. Ha...ha...ha... Not bad for someone who is not even 3 years old!

3rd Syawal 2007

Ayah, Babah and Fariz went to another graveyard in Ayah's kampung right after Subuh. Iman and Mummy were still sleeping and Mummy thought we were taking it easy that morning... Enjoy extra nap. Suddenly Ayah called and asked Mummy to get ready and drive everybody from Jalan Merican to Ayah's kampung. We were supposed to go to Bachok for breakfast at Cik Ma's house (Cik Ma is Ayah's some sort of aunty, though not through blood relation). After managed to get Iman to agree to get up and take bath and get dressed, Mummy took bath and when everybody was ready, we left for Ayah's kampung. Met up Babah's Kelisa by the roadside and Ayah decided to let Mummy drive all the way to Bachok while Ayah remained in Babah's Kelisa. It was quite a nice drive..

We had Kuzi, some satay with kuah satay and nasi impit and cakes and biscuits at Cik Ma's place. Nice breakfast. Chat for a while then left for Uncle Jasni - Ayah's cousin. Thought it was just a regular raya visit but turned out to be an open house. Rezeki... Had K.Lah's delicious nasi air and a chocolate cake shared with Iman. Wanted to eat her Kuzi but was still full from the breakfast, so decided not to have the Kuzi. Now Mummy is regretting it... Wish Mummy had tried some.



From there Ayah sent Mummy off to KB Mall as Mummy had a gathering with Mummy's friends in Pizza Hut. Met up a few SSP friends from my batch - Aunty Mas, Aunty Baby, Aunty Ze, and 4 more aunties that Iman has never met - Aunty Mahiah, Aunty Ma, Aunty Hanan and Aunty Hasni. We had a nice time chatting, knowing that Iman was playing and enjoying herself with her cousins.

After the gathering with Mummy's friend, Mummy went to do some grocery shopping and took a ride with Aunty Baby to go home. Upon reaching Babah's house, Mummy started to cook the "sup tulang" for that night's dinner where Cik Ma (Ayah's aunty) and her family were invited. We had a nice dinner with the family. Iman was really enjoying herself watching VCDs on her portable player entertained by Aunty Shikin - Uncle Adam's wife, who enjoyed chatting with Iman because she was facinated by Iman's answer to her questions. Iman, I hope u have said the right thing to Aunty Shikin. He..he...he...

2 Syawal 2007

Ayah and Babah and Fariz when to visit Tok Ku's graveyard right after Subuh while we were still sleeping. When they came back and after we have eaten some breakfast, we started our "raya" by going to Ayah's Mi house!

We were there just for a while and decided to make our move to Ayah's kampung before the jam started. Too late!! It was quite jam already. Lucky thing Ayah knows quite a number of shortcuts that at least kept us away from the very very bad jam. While Ayah was manouvering the car, our little passangers, Iman and 3 of her cousins managed to take their naps.



We went visit Pak Cu - Ayah's youngest and only uncle from Tok Ku's side who is still alive! It was good to be able to visit relatives especially during this special time like Syawal. Mummy and Ayah want Iman to cultivate this kind of culture so that Iman will like to visit relatives even when Iman is older later on. From Pak Cu's house we dropped by at Mek's house. Mek is Ayah's cousin, Mummy think then we went home! Mummy and Ayah had a nice nap and rest while Iman ways busy playing with Akilah, Amelia and Fariz and didn't sleep at all.

When Mummy and Ayah decided to go to Aunty Zetty's house in Telipot, Iman decided to follow us but because Iman didn't sleep at all in the evening, Iman fall asleep in Aunty Zetty's house. Had quite a long nap before waking up and started to misbehave because started to miss Akilah and Amelia... We could see Iman's face lighted up after seeing Akilah and Amelia's faces when we arrived back in Babah's house. That's the end of 2nd Syawal activities... quite tiring because it was hot!

1 Syawal on the road

We left Sri Ayu at about 2:50 p.m. The car was totally packed with stuff we brought back with us! There were quite a number of cars on the road but not too many. So we had quite a pleasant trip. There was a Proton Iswara that Ayah wanted to be "friends" with... the plan was to just follow behind the car and use it as guide to keep our speed. However, the Iswara started to drive crazily and was overtaking so many cars that Ayah decided not to be "friends" with it anymore. We just drove and kept our safe speed and distance.

Somewhere before Merapoh we saw the Iswara again! It was dented at both ends! Apparently it just knocked the roadside's protection border. Must be due to it's speed! It was drizzling at that time too.. After slowing down and seeing that the driver was OK, we just drove off. Long way to go before we reached KB!! Oh God!!

We saw another accident after Merapoh! This time it was a 4-wheel drive. It looked bad and it was already almost 6 p.m. and Ayah has not prayed yet, so we drove off. Along the way we passed 2 ambulances and a Rescue truck going the opposite way. It must have been for the 4-wheel accident! We hoped it was not very bad and there were survivors. That's one thing about driving...you just never know. That's why we must make sure we started the journey with Bismillah and always make dua that Allah will take care of us along the journey.

We arrived in Gua Musang at about 6:15 p.m. Ayah went to pray Asar. Iman who had been sleeping since we left KL was now awake. Mummy pitied Iman having to sit in the same position in her car-seat, so Mummy picked Iman up and brought her to sit on Mummy's lap. It was quite a bad decision because it was another 2 hours plus to get to KB with Iman sitting on Mummy's lap. Iman is not a small girl anymore, so it was quite taxing for Mummy and it was not very comfortable for Iman either. Anyway, we moved on towards KB with that arrangement.

Iman expressed "jauhlah rumah Babah ni.." (Babah is name she called the uncle - following what his kids called him). Lucky thing Iman never asked "are we there yet" many many times like some other kids do. As far as Iman is concerned, if she didn't see the familiar sight of the road leading to Babah's house, then we have not arrived, therefore there was no necessity to ask "are we there yet", I guess.

We finally arrived in Babah's house at 9:00 p.m.! Alhamdulillah... After 6 hours of journey, I just don't want to spend another minute in the car! Iman was so excited to reach Babah's house to meet her cousins! That was the reason we decided to leave KL earlier! So that we could reach KB when the cousins are still awake and Iman would be able to play with them for a while before we go to bed ourselves. During our previous trips, Iman who had slept a long time in the car just didn't want to go to be when we were all so tired after the long drive. So this time we decided to change the pattern and Iman was not sleeping too long either, that she would be willing to go to bed by 10:30 or 11 p.m.! Phew!! It was great to reach our destination safe and sound. Alhamdulillah...

1 Syawal @ Nenek and Tok Ayah's house

We arrived at Nenek and Tok Ayah's house at about 10:30 a.m.! There were on Nenek, Tok Ayah and Alang there. Uncle Joe, Aunty Sha and Aidan were still in Subang for the morning part with that side of the family. Acik and family were celebrating first day raya in Seremban while Ibu Ya and family were in Taiping. I guess the three of us would keep Nenek, Tok Ayah and Alang company for a while before the others arrived.

We had nasi dagang with ayam and ikan that Nenek cooked and gulai udang that Mummy cooked. There was also lemang and rendang. Iman as usual refused to eat much. Was eating a lot of fruit cocktails! Managed to get the 2 slices of cherries from the 2 cans that Nenek opened! It was really a highlight for Iman to get the 2 slices of cherries! Glad Iman didn't have to 'berebut' with anybody!

Pictures taken in Nenek and Tok Ayah's house.

Uncle Joe, Aunty Sha and Aidan finally turned up at 1:15 p.m.! We were just waiting for them before we leave for KB since they were going off to Hanoi by Wednesday 17 October and we won't be back in KL by then! After saying our goodbyes, we left Bella Vista to go back to Sri Ayu to pick up our things and change before we drove off to Kota Bharu for our second part of the raya celebration.

Morning of 1 Syawal 2007 @ Setiawangsa

1 Syawal has come and gone! We celebrated our first day raya in KL and KB! That's the beauty of good roads between the states in Malaysia!

1 Syawal started with Ayah waking up early to do all the solat sunat and then takbir till he was ready to eat his breakfast. Iman was still very much asleep after the late night again on the raya eve. Mummy seated up kuah satay and served with bread for Ayah to eat before he left for the mosque. With Iman around, Mummy have given up going for solat Sunat Aidilfitri in the mosque. It's ok... Mummy still performed it at home... just not this year!

Ayah went to Masjid Wilayah for the Solat Sunat Aidilfitri this year... planned to meet up Ayah Di and family and Cik Na and family. Somehow only managed to meet Ayah Di and family. Cik Na and family were not located.

By the time Ayah came back home Iman was not even ready! Mummy purposely didn't force Iman to take bath yet because Iman told Mummy that Iman didn't want to wear the blue Baju Kurung that she was supposed to. Mummy just didn't want the confrontation so early on such a nice day, so Mummy decided that Mummy would rather wait for Ayah to handle the confrontation together. Meanwhile Mummy was busy sewing Iman's Snow White dress that was too long for her! That's what a Mummy would do for the kids, eh?! Now Mummy got to experience all that! I'm so glad that I'm a Mummy now!!

Ayah finally was hope at about 9:45 a.m. Managed to get to Iman to shower in tears and forced Iman to wear the blue Baju Kurung. It was a nice blue Baju Kurung. Picture below was taken when Iman 'salam' with Ayah before we leave for Nenek's house.