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Two weeks of the new year has passed, how has it been for you? Is the rat race still on?  Amongst the hustle and bustle of today’s busy society, we often tend to over commit ourselves by wanting to do just about everything and be everywhere at the same time, juggling between work, peers, family and “me” time. If we are often not making it to get-togethers, family outings, movie dates and the list goes on, then are we getting in to the habit of making empty promises a tad too often?

This year with elder two already started primary school, life surely gets even more busier. Logistic has always been a madness for me. There are days where all i have in mind is to get from place A to place B then to place C almost forgetting i have the kids in the car, rushing them around but forgotten i should use every minute i have with the kids effectively and treasure those moment even if we are stuck in the traffic jam. In fact i realised, in traffic jams we tend to have more quality time, we chat a lot more 🙂

I often see parents at the restaurant always hook with their phone while waiting for the food. Kids are either given a gadget too or being “ignored” by the parents who seems so engaged with his / her phone. Couple of times i notice the parents are on Facebook / instagram / twitter, not so much of work related. Im sure that can be put aside while u are with your kids.

Lets step up and turn things around today by making a pledge on the Kleenex® Wall of Softness – a bold new reminder that even small gestures mean a great deal to the people in your life.

“Kleenex® is synonymous with softness, I would like to invited blog readers to pledge an act of softness in your everyday lives. hence we constantly champion the importance of softness in the everyday lives of consumers,” said Soo Woon Yee, Marketing Director, Kimberly-Clark. “The Kleenex® Wall of Softness takes the Share the Softness campaign to a whole new level, making a bigger, bolder statement that we need to make acts of softness a priority by pledging to do something nice for our loved ones, and not just in words, but committing ourselves to fulfil those promises to the important people in our lives.”

Joining Kleenex® to spread acts of softness by making the very first pledges on the Kleenex® Wall of Softness are local celebrities – philanthropist and World Vision’s Child’s Rights advocate Deborah Henry and award-winning actress Sharifah Amani.

To me…softness is my kids checks :). I  will  play WITH my kids. Yes, to play with them…not just to sit, facilitate and watch them but rather to participate along…not while  on the phone / facebook / twitter / instagram and such but yes to be involved. Lets do that, fully engaged, and fully theirs. To enter their world of imagination.

The other day i found few fabrics i could make do with, sew up a mini puppet theatre for the kids. I told them to create any story, any. Their imagination were simply amazing!

Why not take a minute of your busy life, sit and ponder and think of a pledge. Make a change. Join Kleenex®, Deborah Henry and Sharifah Amani to pledge an act of softness today on www.facebook.com/Kleenex.Malaysia – all you have to do is make your pledge, and first 100 daily pledgers will get a free Kleenex® soft pack! Next, share a photo of you fulfilling your pledges and stand a chance to win a holiday worth RM3,000 plus RM2,000 of spending money!

The Kleenex® Share the Softness campaign will run from 20 November 2013 till 15 January 2014 and aims to achieve 5,000 pledges, upon which Kleenex® will spread the softness to the underprivileged children of the Fugee School with a cash donation of RM10,000. Through this campaign, Malaysians will be reminded to bring softness into each other’s lives, and also to the lives of needy children in the Fugee School, a non-profit charity organisation that provides basic education to refugee children from Somalia.

As my kids are always up to something, be it playing the mud or running around sweating, having the Kleenex®, the world’s No.1 facial tissue is just ideal, softness, gently cleanses all skin types. Every sheet is made from 100% quality virgin fiber that leaves no residue behind to reduce skin irritation. This ensures not only clean skin, but gentle care and finest hygiene for you and your family. Kleenex® tissues, are available in both facial and bath tissues and in a variety of attractive and convenient packaging formats, distinctive for their ideal softness, strength and absorbency. I usually carry the soft pack around with me in my handbag

dont forget to make your pledge and hashtag #kleenexsoftness

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2013 is coming to an end, Alhamdulillah we made it through with lotsa memories. Making lotsa dua’ 2014 will be even better year for us all. As promised in previous post, i mentioned i will made a post on the decision I made for sending elder 2 for standard 1 sekolah agama KAFA. When i went there end last year to register them, i was told they also have preschool KAFA, but i asked if its okay i wanna place them in primary 1. Although elder 2 were not reading fluently yet…well ya they were 5 when we went for the registration, I didnt expect them to be able to read the textbooks. I was really happy that the principal didnt mind us giving a try. In fact she mentioned, even they cant read the textbook well…insha Allah they will still learn a thing or two during the daily explanation by the ustaz and ustazah. That was exactly what i wanted, some daily “injection” of Islamic teaching. Yes, they were in islamic preschool, but why not something extra if there is opportunity. Hmm, now i sound like a kiasu, gung-ho mom huh? I didnt put any pressure in them (well at least thats what i feel, hahaha). My main reason for sending them is to ease their transition from preschool into primary later in 2014. In their preschool, they are so used to smaller ration in a class, no homework n no examinations. Hoping the exposure of this would help them later in primary.

The only problem we had was the logistic, alhamdulillah we managed. This is the part when people say  “are you crazy? they are only 6 years old!” Their preschool finishes at 230pm and their sekolah agama starts at 430pm. Preschool is in Kota Damansara by the time they put on their shoes, get in the car its about 240-245 and we reached home at about 3-315pm. Thats an hour before we leave the house again BUT Uzair finishes his school at 430pm in Kelana Jaya. Thus i have to send them to sekolah agama earlier so i can be in time to fetch Uzair in Kelana Jaya. Thus we usually leave the house at 350pm. Once we reach home from preschool, just enough time for me to solat and get them changed for sekolah agama. The first few months, instead of balik rumah, we transit somewhere (OU / Ikano / Curve) coz i was afraid once sampai rumah, kids liat nak keluar rumah again sbb baru dpt duduk for 30mins or so. Sekolah agama supposedly to end at 630pm but often it ends at 645pm. Their school is in Mutiara Damansara, although its  less than 10mins away from my house, but because of the office hours traffic, i need to leave the house by before 6pm, reached there early and wait. If i were to leave the house  after 6pm i ended up reaching there at 650pm or later. And by the time we sampai rumah that would be after 7pm. So yes, basically the kids are out from 815am – 7pm. Now you can see why people say im crazy, dont you? But Mashaa Allah these kids are bless with so much energy…if it were not because they were force to go to bed, they ended up sleeping at 11pm. That’s how much energy they are bless with.

As much as i guess, athirah had couple of phase where she didnt want to go to sekolah agama; when it involves lots of writing. We introduce it slowly to her, hoping this exposure will not make her shock later in primary.

When their 1st semester exam started, i didnt even know. Suddenly harith said to me “tadi we had exam”. When i asked the ustaz, apparently dah 2nd day exam, 2 more days to go. Revision was made after maghrib. Super madness, out for school from 8-7pm, balik sambung lagi revision. For the exams, they came back telling me they know the answer tapi dont know how to spell. Harith and Athirah got 9th and 11th placing respectively out of 15 students. I was happy the teachers and principal were okay with it, despite them still have not master reading and writing at that time, they didnt mind having them in primary 1 and not push them into preschool KAFA.

For their year end exam, i was more prepared. Haha,  mak budak pulak yg more prepared.  Since its too much to get them to do revision at night after whole day at school, thus what we did was revision during the transit. We got the keys to our apartment already by then, but no furniture yet. We transit they, did our revision on the floor. We also did transit at kedai makan, some lil reward makan dessert for the kids.

Ending my post with another instgram related to this subject:

“Last week I mention, i wasnt sure if it was the right desivion to send elder 2 for sekolah agama standard 1 at age 6. first few months were a struggle for them as they have not master reading fluently.

We had our fair share of tears where athirah refused to go to sek agama. We passed that phase with lots chipsmore and vitagen as umpan. They survived their first term exam, harith and athirah got number 9th  and 11 respectively out of 13 students.

Alhamdulillah the teachers didnt judge them too early, I was afraid ustaz/ ustazah might say they are not ready for standard one and to go for preschool KAFA.

We did their revision for final exam during the exam week itself. We have 2 hours to kill after preschool. Most days we did revision at our empty new home, twice we had it as a coffee place as reward / motivation.

All the tears and sweat paid off! Harith came home with his report card. Mashaa Allah, he got number 1!

Athirah at number 9. Alhamdulillah.

Funny though, his understanding of number 1 was “Harith dapat number 1 coz harith finish first”.

Lesson learnt, dont judge a child too soon. “

Some bloom later than others.

**photos taken using phone

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So much happen that made me neglect my blog. I had problem with my laptop, it often hang. Didnt send it for repair coz it took quite awhile for me to transfer everything into my external hard disk. The man who repaired the laptop said “ive never seen a laptop this bad” yes bak kate syauqi “i am THAT unorganised”, oppsss…I have too much on my plate i guess. And also because we are without maid since May. We decided to be without one coz we feel its better for the kids especially Uzair. Yes the house is a lil (okay, i lie… A LOT) untidy but we feel kids were oblivious to the privilege of living with domestic help. In school, every morning when i drop them off, i see them walk in the gate, place their shoes at their designated shoe rack, place their bags in their cubbies, took their communication book and place it on the table…and walk into the house (school). Everyday i see them doing it without any reminder. All it took is less then a minute and they are already in their classrooms. BUT why do i have to remind them EVERY SINGLE DAY once we reached home “carry your bags in” or else they will just walk out of the car without their bags. Then  i would have to remind them to place their shoes properly. and despite me buying the same cabinet as the school for their cubbies, yet they needed reminder again and again “put your bags in the cubby” Why is it doable at school but not at home? Clearly because they have the maid to pick up after them. Masuk rumah, bag campak je kat tepi pintu, pastu maid amiq simpankan. I was dissapointed with the behaviour. Im not asking much, but some basic responsibility….things they do daily at school. Even their plates and cups, after each meal at school they wash their on plates ( for 6 years old. When they were 4 and 5 years, they just had to carry their plates to the basin). But why the need of constant reminder at home? That was the wake up call for me to discontinue our maid before these behaviours become habitual.

Of coz mom didnt agree with my decision, with 4 kids and syauqi often away. But when Uzair kept running to the maid whenever he doesn’t get his way, I knew for sure….thats it. With Uzair’s condition, we are trying to be firm with him and he is on a gluten free diet.  The maid certainly not helping to make things easier for us. She has her own food ration she bought during her monthly outing, so kids get accessed to various kind of biscuit.

Its no doubt pretty hectic without maid, logistic was madness especially this year coz i decided to put elder 2 in sek agama KAFA standard 1 . Im not sure what made me put them into year 1 although they are 6 years old but im glad i came out with that motherly instinct decision, Alhamdulillah. This would require another entry on its own i think.

Oh with the Instagram, i think it has taken over my blog. Instagram should be with short captions, but mine ended up looking like a blog entry at times. haha. Im without any latest photo since i just got back my laptop, my dslr has been neglected too.

Will sign off this entry  with one of my instagram cum blog entry:

Each time I walk pass here, it feels like im on a holiday, coz only when we are on a holiday we dont mind walking around under the heat, open air although its noon.

While walking just now, i realised my kids needed some break from their daily routine. It has been tough, logistic is a nightmare. I have no choice but to hurry them all the time;  cepat, quick, faster, we are late are among the most common words used daily.

As a child i grew up pampered with the help of a maid around. and now, the decision not to have a maid for the family was the biggest sacrifice I would say. Whenever one sees me handling kids (Uzair especially), they usually say ” you need a helper” but truth is…because of Uzair’s condition we cant have a maid. We are trying to be firm with him…but often he gets his way with the maid. Its either he runs to the maid or the maid comes and pick him up. Imagine seeing the maid giving  him a spoonful of raw sugar! when asked why?!?!?!?? “sebab die nak Cik”, besides tea and coffee…i have no idea what else happen behind the kitchen door.

It has been 6 months since we are maid less. Its tough but doable. Tough for Uwais especially, spending most of his time on the road with interrupted naps.

Just now I took a minute to “pause” our fast pace life. Told the kids, “go run, I will wait for you here “, they looked puzzled of coz. I smiled and nod my head, they surely did run around as fast as they could, to and fro…but this time voluntarily, not because mommy said “faster” / “quick” / “hurry up” but because they are having fun chasing one another. They are far end in this picture.

Rabbi yassir wala tu’assir, rabbi tammim bikhair

#ADHD #Autism

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Here’s the place i mentioned in previous place. Our latest hot spot. Been telling the husband since last year to check out the place but he put it off again and again. We finally made our way there and fall in love with it instantly. That same week, we went there twice 🙂 . It is just 10mins away from our house and best of all…it is FREE. Yes, you heard me right, it is FREE. The water depth is ideal enough to let the kids roam on their own. But of coz we still need to monitor them.

  The place opens at 9am

the kids had a good time with the playground sturcture as well.

Yes, all this for free. And a good exercise for us moms too…penat gak lah naik turun tangga / bukit. hihi. Do check out Pusat Sains Negara for more details. We have yet go check out what they have inside though.

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