Friday, April 15, 2011

Wordworld

Little Sofia is turning 2 in June and I've started planning her little tea party- so exciting!!! :)

Two is such a fun age to be! Gone are the innocent baby smell that I love, and the cooing that I adore and in its place, terror reigns. Like an aunt puts it "She's taking on the world" and whoever stops her in stride had better watch out for that infamous tantrum fit for Jerseylicious! But then again, she's learnt the art of playing together (and actually... also the art of hair pulling come to think of it.)

As parents, Hafidz and I understood from the beginning that our two little ones are very different from each other but these little characteristics always always catch us off-guard. The distraction strategy that worked so well on Big Sis, does little to put a dent on Lil Sis' resolve. I attribute it to a mind like a steel trap- once her heart is set on something, it NEEDS.TO.GET.DONE. No amount of "Look Adik, there's a bird up in the tree" or "Cat! Pretty preeeeettttty cat!" works. Just as well..

She's started speaking proper words for the last month. She can sing A through Z in that cutesy tongue (Eh, Bee, Chi, Ji, Ee, Apf, Gee..), count 1 through 10 in that cutesy tongue (wan, ju, ti, po, pive, chick, beben..) and loves to hum along to Music especially Maher Zain's tracks. But hearing these words at the end of a long tiring day at work never fails to perk up my mood:

Ma-nyeeee = Mummy
Deh-jeeee = Daddy
Kak Kak = Kakak/ Big Sis
Bik Bik = the Helper
Tok = Grandpa
Nek = Grandma

Tat = Cat
Berk = Bird
Gog = Dog
Pish = Fish
Wawer = Flower
Wovi = Lorry
ChooChoo = Susu/ Milk
Aish = Eyes
Noosh = Nose

Neee = Barney
Bok = Baby Bop
Jay = BJ
Mosh = Mickey Mouse
Guck = Donald Duck


The best part of Sofia is her ability to express love and affection towards other people/stuffed toy/pillow very early on. Her desire to cuddle and be cuddled; to kiss and be kissed is something Arissa begrudged us with in her earlier days- in order to kiss Big Sis, we first had to chase her around the house. And when you do manage to plant that warm kiss on her, she will quickly wipe it off and wiggle out of grasp. Very frustrating!! But Lil Sis would never struggle when I embrace her, in fact she would voluntarily put her arms around my neck, pull me close and rub her nose against my cheek affectionately- its seriously adorable. :)

The only thing is she's become so much more wiggly and hates to be photographed. In fact, this here is the only decent picture of us girls in a long time (minus Daddy of course, who actually, also hates to be photographed). So now we know who she really takes after..

Friday, April 01, 2011

Back to basics



Looking forward to a blissful, maid-free holiday in June.

I insisted on 'No helper tag-along' despite the appeals and insistence made by certain quarters. If 'someone' chipped in with caring for the kiddies, then it won't be stressful now would it? But if certain people just wanted to palm off my little one to the Helper then that would only show how 'caring' they are.

My objective is sweet and simple- to spend as much time as possible with the kids. Grandly enough, its a typical Ariffin family holiday with 34 adults and 16 children so I'm sure Arissa can find her way amongst cousins. Which leaves me time to be with Sofia as much as I wish- for her meals, for her naps, for her bath time. Its bonding time and I don't want the Helper hovering over me.

Its also a test, because I'm deluded like that.. With all the convenience of a domestic helper, I wanted to assure myself that I'm still a good mother who can hold her own.

And I will, no matter how discouraging the husband is. Pah, now's the time to say "I'm stopping at 2".