This and That

Khadijah's piece

Khadijah's piece too

I now fully fathom what the hype is all about - Revenge of the Fallen! It was freaking awesome (to borrow the most over-used phrase by my kids). Dad was indeed awestruck despite some reviews that it lacked substance. Well I paid to be entertained and entertained I was.

Comments from my kids :-

Khadijah - " Josh Duhamel is hot"

Yusof - .....stoic.....

Ibraheem - chatter..."Prime"...chatter..."Best"

Umar - giggle....giggle "It was funny the insect decepticon" laugh..laugh...

Mum - "Action packed!"

I was lucky to be able to get tickets for Sunday night show without any fuss...When I collected the tickets last Thursday, I even managed to get for Mrs N 6 tickets! The kids enjoyed the show very much and now they are sleeping soundly dreaming of their hero Mr Optimus Prime. I bet you they will be harassing me for the DVD from tomorrow! It will never end, I tell you.

Khadijah has started her art lessons with Janiz who's quite impressed with the rate that Khadijah is picking up drawing techniques. Janiz is teaching her figurative art - on proportions in particular. Khadijah has also started volunteering at SPCA. She's beating the system at home since cats and other hairy pets are not allowed at home as Ibraheem is allergic to fur.

Yusof's major exam, JSLA (Junor School Leaving Assessment ) is coming up quite soon...And true to his form, he is only flipping through the books like, now.

Ibraheem is hand-washing his clothes daily (flooding the house in the process) distrusting the results that my trusted-14-year-old-front-load-washing machine produce. He is still diligent but showing some signs of deterioration which needs to be closely monitored.

Umar has progressed from his Qirati to Quran. He loves to read; pretty enthusiastic that we have to bear listening to him reading everything loudly; food labels including!

Hajar is turning fiercer by the day..We think that this is her natural reaction to survive in a male dominating household...

Ah...another busy week ahead. Breathe in breathe out! Looking forward to Half-Blood Prince the movie. Hoping to catch this with the kiddos.

What else...kids!

Let's just say that Khadijah and her team mates didn't get to, literally (well they were to present a disfigured pineapple to their opponent had they won the debate) and figuratively, mutilate a pineapple today. Her debate team lost to the state reigning champion team which school bears "pineapple" as part of its name. When I called her right after the debate, she was in high spirit, which for a wee moment I thought they had trumped their opponents. In their mind, I was told, they were the victors! I like their attitude - that's the spirit laddies!

Since the tourney was not a round robin one.., she can now retire early as usual. She and her team mates have been sleeping around 3 a.m. since last week scouring the net for resources and discussing points via IM - the wonders of cyberspace, I must say although not without the cons! Speaking of which, she has been invited to speak at CyberSecurity Malaysia's inaugural Internet Safety Awareness seminar on this coming 8th July and her topic is "What the internet means to me". Click here for details. I will be there to lend moral support!

Last Saturday was the boys' report card day. The comments made by the teachers were what we had expected. Yusof = Mr Popular/Leader who has even managed to coax a quiet boy to move out of his comfort zone (I'm taking this comment positively by the way); Ibraheem = Mr Diligent/Obedient and finally Umar = Mr Pleasant.

Hajar is discovering, in an amazing (or is it alarming?) speed, spoken words now...so our report card to her : "Yes you our little one is one Ms Pot Pet". I should upload a video clip to bear this testament. Making a mental note now....

Kids Updates

The Opening Ceremony

Yusof and Ibraheem were super excited the weekend before last...It was their school's annual sports day. I certainly wish that they are super-keen in other areas, in particular their studies, as they are in sports....(..sigh...)

Anyway, they were supposed to be in Kompleks Sukan MSN Bukit Jalil by 7am and were making arrangement with us the afternoon before! Super-organised, don't you think? Too bad it was fated that Khadijah had to be in her school by 7 a.m. the same morning which meant that we had to push our departure to Bukit Jalil much later as we did not want to just leave Khadijah too early....

And the pandemonium erupted!

Yusof and Ibraheem were making a big fuss all the way to Bukit Jalil complaining that they were late and that they would be disqualified if they were tardy! The din became unbearable the minute we stopped at a petrol kiosk to make our food purchase ("This is a not a picnic, dad... it's a sports day"; "You can always buy food at the sports complex"; la di da di da di da). I wished that I had brought my ear plugs along, then....Anyway, they were a bit relieved when throngs of cars were arriving at the same time as we did! It was 7.30 am...and the march past was scheduled to start at 8 but in the end it started 15 mins later.

Yusof won a few medals (5 if I'm not mistaken....). We were excited to see him as one of the key persons in the "war-cry"! My...he really has grown! Ib was busy stalking his favourite Ustaz...And kept asking whether it was Zuhr already (his favourite question all the time!). We enjoyed every minute of it despite having to bask in the hot sun - well it was the morning sun after all and we had enough Vitamin D supply the whole year!

Khadijah was ecstatic last week...She had made it to her school english debate team. She has been selected to be the main speaker despite being the youngest in the team..I felt a bit nostalgic....re-living 1985!! And I'm supposed to send her for a brain-storming session the day after...

Hajar has been quite a handful. She can climb, play with her abang-abang, etc....She's quite an eater....She just cannot hear any sound from the kitchen.....be it the cling of a pot or the sound of water.She'd grab her melamine plate or mug and put on a puppy face asking for food or drink! Making a mental note to video-record this!

Umar has been so whiny....and clingy.....(you'll know why soon). He's making good progress in school and is in to drawing all sorts!

Khandak House (Yusof)

Uhud House(Ib)

Yusof, the final leg (200m)

Yusof towards finishing line (4 by 100m)

Ib getting ready to make the dash

Ib in his telematch

Yusof with his 2nd placing in 200m

Well done Ib

School : Assalamu'alaikum.

DoF: Wa'alaikumsalam

School: Is this Ibraheem's Dad?

DoF : Yes ...

School : Just to inform you that Ibraheem is eligible to be admitted to Primary One. In fact he did extremely well considering that he didn't go to our kindie.

DoF : (stumped but smiled from ear to ear...). Owh...

School : Don't forget to come to the book-sale from 10th to 13th December!

That's the teleconversation before lunch today. Mmm..I was stumped as I really thought that admission to Primary One is a matter of right and that the entrance exam the other day was for streaming purposes. Don't tell me that kids who are not up to the mark would be sent to K1? Anyway, I once used to be the super kiasu dad - but only with Khadijah....Even for her entrance exam to Ib's school's predecessor, I bought tonnes of work books (this school uses Singapore syllabus for Maths Science and English) and drilled her for almost two weeks... I got to a point where my blood pressure would shoot up weeks before exams...! She would cry everytime I drilled her for her exams and of course the results came out with briliant colours. I then came to realise that it's all a process and that forceing and drilling are creativity-inhibitors.

Came Yusof's turn, I had to learn to be more relaxed and let the joy of learning to come naturally..Ib didn't have to go through worksheets with me before the exam and I just threw him into the deep end! Some parents may disagree..but that's us.

Well done Ib....We are so proud of you.

Finally......

Finally Ib's got a school! OR rather we registered Ib for Primary One next year....Yup just yesterday!

Yes yours truly have been procrastinating in registering him BUT hey it's all with reasons....For me it's really about balancing...the "type" of education which suits each child of ours, logistics, transport, etc etc.....And the decision normally comes at the eleventh hour!! There'll be four different places to drive them to next year (between wifey and me, of course)....Khadijah in Wangsa Maju, Yusof in Gombak, Ibraheem in Dataran Ukay, Umar in Keramat and Hajar (don't know where, yet - yes we are sending her to a baby sitter; may be Jalan Gurney which is near wifey's office).

I'm glad superwomanwannabe's kids are joining the same school hence we can book a car to transport them all back from school...Found a reliable "grandma" to ferry them back!

Ib's excited that he gets to go to the same school as one of his friends in Kindy and wants a Transformers bag...

Yusof's sports day

This morning I wished that everyday is Yusof's sports day!

I was updating my blog at about 5.30 a.m and there Yusof was already wide awake and took his shower without my having to drag him out of bed like I have to do every morning and nagging him in the morning at our house goes without saying! He loves the bathroom that he has to spend about 20 minutes at least under a hot shower!

He finished his shower in less than 15 minutes today and started harassing me to send him to IIU's sports complex from 6.15 am right till we left home at about 7.30 am. Reached the complex at about 7.45 am but it was still exceptionally quiet for an event to start at 8 a.m. Left him there and headed home since the first half of the sports day was dedicated to the Montessori school and Primary One to Three - basically telematches! We have learnt our lesson through attending past years sports day. We did not have a choice then, but to stay put from morning till about 4 pm as Yusof was in the lower primary whilst Khadijah in the upper!

Headed back to the complex at about 10.45 a.m and I was just in the nick of time to watch Yusof's first event, the 100m dash. He tried his best considering that he had blisters on his left foot - it was bleeding badly two days before and I applied minyak gamat (sea cucumber ointment) to let the blister dry fast...and it did! Fourth place...not bad at all!

His second and final event was the 200m run. He was consistent throughout and earned him a third place..Way to go Yusof! It was his stamina that pulled him through despite his slight "injury"...

His "house" - Yellow house won the best marching team and he also won first prize for tug-of-war!

I have this to say...kudos to the organizing team for making the sports day short and sweet! It ended 10 minutes ahead of schedule. For the last two years - they were too draggy and ended 3 hours later!

Anxiously waiting to compete when I arrived.

At the start point of 100m

Running his best for 100m

Clinching 3rd placing in 200m

Medal time!

Comparing medals with his good friend, A**u who won 1st place

Yusof's first swim meet that never was

I don't know whether yours truly or Yusof was more disappointed over what happened this afternoon! If at all I was upset was because Yusof had been looking forward excitedly to this swim meet ever since he was short-listed (read here) to represent Gombak district and later earned, quite deservedly, himself a place for the meet.

This was his first swim meet ever. He's been calling my parents and my sister almost every other day reminding them to come along and support him. Yes, my parents came all the way from Muar two days ago so that they could form a "mini Yusof fan club" cheering him all the way! LOL.

I took half day off and so did my sister!

We arrived at Shah Alam Aquatic Centre about quarter to two and the meet was scheduled to kick off approximately two p.m.. Yusof was with his coach registering at the secretariat when we arrived but was still in his sports attire. As the teacher and coach from Yusof's school were still new to the scene, the chaotic and frenzied activities at the poolside was quite overwhelming for them! The p.a. sytem was crap - we could barely hear anything; to make it worse, the crowd was a bit noisy . The information on the data board was flawed. In all this confusion and cacophony, Yusof missed his heat! He was to be in heat no. 3 but his name wasn't there! In his place was his friend's name who was not supposed to compete!

We went to the secretariat, we saw the referees, we met the officials - you name it we did it. Alas it was not meant to be!

Yusof was visibly upset when we broke the news. He put on a smile that only his dad knew that he was not ok deep inside. His coach was very apologetic over the incident and rgretted that he could not compete. But that's God's will!

I consoled him and told him that this is the beginning of many great things to come along his way!

His coach promised him that she will train him for the next meet which is against the sister school, International Islamic School.

No it was not time wasted...He had the exposure of a swim meet of quite a big scale; this "failing" will defininitely shock his ever laid-back attitude towards life.....That's what I call life-education!

Sleepyhead - sent Yusof to school so that he could attend classes before the swim team left for Shah Alam Aquatic Centre.


Frantically changing as all of a sudden his coach realized that his preliminary heat was being called. Bad p.a. system and incorrect information on the data board did not help either. His name was not on the board!

Putting on a fake smile when he got the news...He was visibly (only to me) upset when he realised that our appeal was not successful.

Jumped in to the high-dive-pool which was very deep to lighten his sadness. He realised it was very deep before completing his lap..Ha ha ha ..trust sanguines!

Emotionally eased and back to normal after the swim!

Ça me fait dormir!

A poem (not sure of the accuracy of her grammar but this is her class assignment last week) by my daughter:-

Ça me fait dormir!

Quést-ce qui vous fait dormir?
La musique ma fait dormir
Ècouter de la musique, me fait dormir
La pluie, ça me fait dormir
Ça me fait dormir de écouter la pluie

Yusof the Boy Scout

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell would have been proud if he had seen this piccie. Yes Yusof is finally old enough to join the scouting movement. He attended his first scouting session a couple of days back.

Yusof enjoyed the first session - and the first meeting...they had to choose the commander and assistant commander. And his first scouting deed was - picking up litter in his school compound. Good on ya Yusof!

I enjoyed the three years of scouting during my primary school years. My mum, who happened to be a teacher in my school, was the scout mistress along with Mr Tan Ah Beng whom I dearly miss- Mr Tan and she made it all the meetings and activities interesting (not being biased here; my friends can testify to this, I'm very sure). Lots of trips, jungle-trekking, camping and campfire organised by them both! A lot of singing too! Once we came out tops in a scouting competition in our district.

Decided to not continue when I continued my secondary school, in a boarding school somewhere in the central region of Peninsula Malaysia, because scouting activities were done Saturday mornings and the bed was more appealing to me that time! No regrets though...

Hoping that Yusof will enjoy his years as a boy scout as much as, or may be more than, I did.

Sp**do making easy money out of me

Yusof told me yesterday, that he was selected to represent his school in competitive swimming at the district level and the meet was supposed to be this morning. Excuse me...don't tell me that you don't train these kids beforehand and expect them to perform miracles?

Yusof is the most excitable child among my four....He will totally miss the crux of a matter and gets electrified with the frills and fancies....! As I suspected, after reading the memo from his teacher - he was actually short-listed for a selection process to represent his school and the swim-meet is this coming February. Still.....this really made us proud and happy for him!

When I arrived home he, as usual, was impatient and excited wanting to buy his goggles and swimming cap there and then. The only way to cool him down is to act calm and collected (in today's lingo "be a kewl dude"!). Talking about goggles - we buy about 3-4 times a year new sets of goggles for my boys.....The last outing for goggles was before Raya, I think, and they have lost them all. Of course we lost three goggles in Langkawi (one at Durian Perangin waterfall, one at Tg Rhu beach and the other at Pasir Tengkorak Beach) - sigh.....!

Made our way to Car*****r (with Khadijah and Yusof) and he had to choose the branded one, right (read here if you want to know why)? It was like RM54 - for a goggle.....? Nah.....! I would have bought it for him if he was more responsible...! Settled for a Sp**do Junior Splasher which was half the price of what he chose. Bought also two other goggles for Ib & Umar which cost RM2.90 each (the house brand).

And......I just got the news that he was selected to represent his school! He clocked the fastest amongst primary 4 and 5 aspirants...! I hope that with this selection he will become more motivated in his school work...(as a motivation booster according to Andrew Martin who wrote "How to Motivate a Child"). He used to complain a lot that Kakak (Khadijah) gets to do a lot of things and wins prizes.... He's all perky now that he wants to train at our club every morning at 630 am.....! It's his time to shine now!

My advise...be patient with your kids as they have different rate of progress. They all have different talents which are awaiting to be discovered by you...You just have to have a "trial and error" approach; let them discover themselves (in the process you'd definitely burn your wallet but worth all the single cent). No point forcing them doing what they don't like - Mom & Dad - they are just not interested......! At least that's my parenting philosphy...which you may disagree.

Yusof recommenced school, at last

Finally, Yusof is back at school....After keeping him at home for almost 5 days after the new session of school commenced. He's back at Setiabudi (Sekolah Taman Ilmu dan Budi). We had a dilemma early this year. Yusof had no transport back from school had he gone back to the same school last year i.e. Setiabudi (last year, we had our friend to ferry him home together with Khadijah. Since Khadijah and our friend's son have moved to another school, we are left with this transport challenge).

I have been going up and down the Jabatan Pendidikan Wilayah Persekutuan to change him to St John's which is behind my office which would solve the transport problem. The downside is - St John's is a controlled school and approval would take about two weeks to gain admission (approval of which is really their discretion) - meaning Yusof had to stay on at home for at least two more weeks. In the midst of all these, a pakcik van kindly agreed to ferry Yusof home.....and we (wifey dearest rather coz I was at the hospital with Ibraheem - btw, Ib was admitted to APSH Sunday night for athma) scuttled to Setiabudi yesterday and got everything done (new uniform, books, fees etc) for him so that he could start school forthwith. I could see that Yusof was all relieved that we settled this school issue for him - he was getting a bit bored at home which is so not Yusof....! I'm glad that he feels that school is important! That's a lesson learnt for him!

Together at last

First day of school - very excited


Umar looking very perky indeed at 7 in the morning!



Second day of school

This year will be a bit better for mom and dad since Umar has joined Ib at Ib's Kindy, Athfaal. So it's no longer ferrying them separately at different times causing us a lot of stress in the process!

Umar immediately made himself at home in Athfaal in spite of the fact that he was throwing tantrums at 6 in the morning - may be our dear maid woke him up a wee bit early. He was shouting "I dont want school....I want baju tidur". Luckily it ended after yours truly coaxed him to snap out of it!

According to wifey (who sent them on the first day and will be dropping thme off for the rest of the year) Umar didn't make any fuss at all! That's the beauty of having them not so far apart in terms of years - Umar has company in school! In any event, Umar is more independent than Ib (who is the clingy one - Yours truly had to stay put with him at his Kindy two years back for almost half a year reading to him. Despite that he still cried when I left for work...! (sigh) Yup it took him half a year to settle down!)

Both of them wanted Batman bags...so they got them courtesy of wifey. It's amazing how time flies past you. No more little cute Umar...He's all grown up. Last year he was in nursery school near our house. In three years' time he'll be in primary one. Ib will attend proper school next year. Wow!!! Next thing you know they will all leave us behind....Ah well, that's life! Praying that they will turn out well!

Progression for Khadijah

26th December was Khadijah's orientation day for her Secondary school, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seksyen 5 Wangsa Maju (yes a mouthful school name!). I had to go on leave an accompany her for some parents' briefing plus buying books etc.

I was quite impressed with the efficiency of Jabatan Penidikan Wilayah Persekutuan. We submitted Khadijah's application on 19th December 2006 (late afternoon) and the outcome was posted out on 21st December 2006. You know how we procrastinated to register Khadijah for her secondary school. Not that we wanted to but Khadijah could not decide on which school she wanted to go to and finally settled on this school....It's the best school in Keramat area, apparently (and believe it or not Keramat area schools include Convent Bukit Nanas and St John's!).

I must say I was riled and incensed at how the parents behave that day....We had this long queue for registration and yes...these people were jumping queue oblivious of the rest of the world! I had to speak up, didn't I? And the queue jumpers surprisingly disappeared instantly (and I thought I was going to be bashed up for speaking up considering how gung-ho they were)!

It was a good briefing and I was impressed with the organizer. I'm looking forward to Khadijah's progression to secondary school....Although I foresee that more challenges and issues to be faced, it'll be a good experience for wifey and I.

Mes Fille

Finally the certificate for Khadijah's first major Francaise exam accredited by the French Ministry of Education was issued...Her exam was in October last year - it's DELF A1 level, the very first step of DELF (Diplome D'Etudes En Langue Francaise). Next exam will be end of this year after completing a certain no of hours of class instructions.

She's so in to it that she wants to enrol for a holiday class (apparently, according to her, as a refresher) which I flatly refused to allow that to happen so that she can enjoy her hols...!

What a load of crap!

Decision...decision....


Khadijah is moving to secondary school next year and we, as for now, have not secured a place for her. A lot of bureaucracy for us to deal with at the moment. Khadijah and Yusof are currently enrolled in a non-government school in Gombak. We are planning to move her to an established government school as, I dont think that I can give her support at home with secondary education (left this era looooong time ago). Her school which she attends now is a fairly young school and I think that an experienced and fully trained teaching personnels are required for this level.

I have been making a lot of phone calls to inquire the steps and procedures which we should embark on but, as I found out yesterday, it's relatively easy......There's this pro-forma which we need to fill in "Permohonan Kemasukan Murid Ke Sekolah Menengah Kerajaan/Bantuan Kerajaan Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia" - a two pager but with loads of documents to support the application. One phone call to the relevant department to inquire the schools which we can apply for Khadijah was met with "Owh.....dari sekolah swasta tak boleh pilih2 sekolah. Sekolah2 yang bagus langsung tak da di dalam list untuk budak2 dari sekolah swasta. Cuma ada sekolah2 "biasa" sahaja". I was like....? Excuse me, I also pay tax every year without fail and why the discrimination? My hunch is that all the controlled schools are reserved for the well connected despite the fact that the "candidates" do not meet the grades required for admission (got to know this from a teacher who said that it's difficult for the teachers to ensure that the grades for major exam are within the government's expectation because of this whole load of crap admitting students not based on merit.....). Ah well, I have yet to explore further on this as I still have not started filling in the form.....That's for this weekend!