Energizer Bunny

A little picture slide dedicated to the baby of the household. At a year and a half, she has grown as vivacious and feisty as Big Sis with a very independent streak about her.

Our 24 y.o helper, who has had to keep up with her energy level, is often knackered by the end of the day but this little Olympian can go on and on like an Energizer Bunny. So even on my shift (which starts 7.00pm til late), I find myself waving the white flag by 1030pm and bundling her and Big Sis into the bedroom so the helper can get her peace (yar, I believe in Fair Practise Employment!).

The best thing about having 2 noisy children in the house, is the welcome you get at the end of a tiring work day. Its the kind of frenzy that only a superstar deserves- once the door opens they both start screaming at the top of their voices followed by a sprint to see who gets to me first. Of course the undisputed winner is always Big Sis, she sometimes fouls Energizer Bunny, for the luxury of hanging onto my thighs like a baby koala does a tree trunk. Superb.

She is still not articulate (Sofia, not Arissa. The latter can't seem to stop talking)- the only words she can say are "ThuThu" (Malay: susu) for milk; "Tar!" which can mean star or ta (as in the arabic alphabets alif-ba-ta) and a deep belly "Uh" which, depending on where she points, can be taken to mean 1001 things. And "dada" for Daddy and "mama" for me, of course *beams*.

Very much a girl of few words.

enjoying "thu-thu" with Big Sis

Even if her verbal skills are somewhat lacking, by virtue of having Big Sis to get her up to speed, she makes up for it in large motor skills. Let me put it plainly: she is more of an athlete than Arissa ever was at her age- contortionist tendencies included.



So what does a baby Olympian do to relax at the end of her daily grueling sessions, when both Bibik and Mummy are completely bushed? She engages in a little bit of thumb-sucking and enriches her creativity with literary pursuits..

***

PS: It seems her hair is also growing at Olympic speed. Hafidz has forbidden me from chopping her locks (his favourite thing to do is to bury his face in her soft hair) so here it is in its full glory.

Sweets for my Sweet

= tooth decay.

But how can we pass up the opportunity to throw her a big, fun, Dora-themed, pool party when that's ALL she's been asking for since June. Which is what we did, at the expense of our bank account and ache-free bodies.

The weather held out long enough for the kids to muck around in the pool for 2 hours then it started pissing down and we had to force them out, get them changed and into the function room for dinner and games (thank you SSC for equipping me with the foresight to think of a Wet Weather Plan). As Dora would say, "Excelente!" :)

Must say, it was really fun for me too- being an equivalent of Director of Content for Programming, Acquisitions and Production is a fantastic role (pardon the Media lingo, I am on a job prowl after all)! So many useful websites that made party-planning a breeze, I'm inclined to take this up part-time!

I love one website's suggestion to transform the birthday table into a Candy Bar of sorts with candies, lollis, chocolates and biscuits. It was the focal point for kids and adults alike who came over to exclaim over and pinch into the assortment of sweet things.









And the wonderful Dora cake and cutesy party favors became conversational topics!




The 20 odd kids were kept busy with games and prizes by the wonderful games host, Rhaudhah.. *what would I do without her!! I never did have my Mum's authoritative 'cikgu' streak*





Happy birthday Hana Arissa from Daddy, Mummy and Adik 'Tofea', we love you to bits..


you're so big now that you even have secret handshakes with Aunty Shabanah *shakes head*


Happy birthday too, to the other November chicas, we also love you all to bits..


And we hope everyone enjoyed themselves even though it was the last day of a long Diwali weekend and everyone had to work the following day. More pictures can be found on FB so find me there!

Next birthday >> Sara Sofia's 2 *checks bank balance*


**do not adjust your monitor, Sofia's face really was streaked with chocolates.

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Credit Roll:

Dora paraphernalia from Spotlight @ Plaza Singapura
Favors from: http://julyfavors.multiply.com/ or julyfavors@ymail.com
Cake from: saycheeseandpudding@gmail.com / Rafiedah 94996399
Event Photography & pictures courtesy of http://bumblebeezack.wordpress.com/ / Zachary

Fearsome Four

With 1 more month to the demise of the "Age of Terrible Two and Three", I must say I am looking forward to a more cultured, winsome four-year old. Or is that merely wishful thinking?

To quote Ed Polish and Darren Wotz "The first 40 years of parenthood are always the hardest". Oh God... that long for the tree to start to bear fruit?? We should have raised a pair of kitties.. at least they don't stump you with the depth of their response:

Q: "Arissa, please share your teddy bear/dollhouse/kitchen set with Adik"
A: "Caaaaannnnooooot. See this one tajam (sharp), wait she hurt herself!"

..or annoy you with endless "WHY"s when you're trying to concentrate on her movie choice. In fact, our telly set is perpetually tuned to her channels/movies. So much so, we have to ask her permission to watch ours.

Hafidz: "Sha, Daddy wants to watch Daddy's movie ok? This one cerita hantu (ghost story)"
Fearsome Four: "Eh, cannot cannot. I tengah tengok (am watching) Charlie and Lola. Five minutes k?"

And we know 4-year olds have no concept of time, so 5-minutes means when the credits roll for Charlie and Lola- 1 for Arissa, 0 for the Dunce Daddy.

..But speaking of hard, I suppose hardiness is one of the characteristics one will eventually develop as a Parent of a young child. Especially when the kid(s) get to a stage where they learn to manipulate your soft spots and disciplining them becomes even more traumatic for the Parent(s) than the Child. Which is exactly what happened to Hafidz and I.

Did I mention she has become the pickiest eater in the history of modern Singapore? Of late, sometimes just rice and plain clear soup- no chicken, no fish, god-forbid fragments of vegetables should be sighted- will be allowed past her esophagus. We have tried reasoning, cajoling, bribing, persuading, sometimes even laying a good 'ole smack on the bottom but nothing works.

Then on Sunday past, I reached my limit and banished her to a newly-designated 'Naughty Chair' for secretly spitting her food underneath my wing chair (apparently a frequent occurrence at Mum's too- all that spitting out). We also left her behind with the Helper when we took our after-dinner stroll to the Pasar Malam nearby. When I got home, our Helper said she sobbed herself to sleep and promised "Tomorrow I will be a good girl, bibik".

But when tomorrow rang around, Mum reported to me that Fearsome Four only ate 4 spoonful of macaroni and chicken soup, one of her favourite dishes. I called out to her:

Me: Hana, you promised to be a good girl today right?
F4: Yes Mummy
Me: Did you eat a lot today?
F4: (hesitating) ..No..
Me: Why not?
F4: Beeeeecause Nenek masak tak sedap (because I don't like Nenek's cooking)

Seriously!!!! Its worse then governing a country.

Munchkins by Bumblebeezack

Thanks Zack, for the pictures!

For more, click here.

Eid Mubarak

I say this every year- how disorganized we are that we never get a decent family photo each and every Eid.

The truth is- we had plenty of opportunities- but the ‘official photographer’ would much rather eat and be merry. Sometimes he doesn’t even bother to check the camera has fresh batteries so when the opportune moment comes along, we find ourselves faced with “Change new batteries” sign emblazoned across the 3” LCD monitor to my annoyance. *pulls out hair*

To top that off, Sofia began walking a few weeks before Eid and has been dubbed The Happy Wanderer- you usually find her in odd places i.e behind the curtain, under the table, inside someone's room, in the kitchen... we gave up trying to sit her still long enough for one snapshot, although you can't blame the MIL for trying:


Thank goodness for Facebook and the cousins who dutifully tag me/Hafidz! We lup you!









And the best part of Hari Raya? Counting alms that come in fancy green packets :D



Yippeee yeay! Next stop, to the bank.

Hamming it Up

It wasn't exactly a 'holiday' but it was a nice break from the routine.

I tried an adventurous route, travelling to KL by plane rather than the usual drive-up, wanting to con my brain into thinking this is a proper 'holiday'.

Like all other spiral-into-disaster episodes, "it seemed like a good idea at first" was my usual defense. Hafidz and I (and the rest of the 95 people on board Jetstar) have reached a consensus that its better to wait until Sofia is at least 2 or can sit still for longer periods of time (whichever comes first) before we hop on another flight. That way, perhaps she won't be screaming like a banshee the whole way.

*growl*

In retrospect though, I think both Arissa and the maid - at least- enjoyed the new experience although Hafidz and I were ready to jump off the flight somewhere above Malacca.

The wedding @ Putrajaya was super grand, and seeing all the cousins again after so long made the trip worth every penny and every tantrum. We reconnected with each other's lifestyle and marital status and kids and everything in between. Oh how much we have grown!!



The Bride was exceptionally beautiful and the whole ceremony took on a new meaning for old wedded couples like me. Aaah, to be so in love again... :)




Backstage, a whole lot of socialising was done on her behalf. Common activities include running, hiding, jumping, screaming in joy, mollycoddling and screaming in distress.




To my lovely cousin Atiqah and husband Effi, selamat pengantin baru from us (via karaoke)


and welcome to the mad (but very affectionate!) family.