Nadiah's Birthday

Nadiah's birthday was on Thursday. In the morning I went out to KLCC to do some shopping and have lunch with my friend, Iza. Nadiah (who was still in bed) and Baba were left at home while I had my precious "alone time".

I had a good time walking around KLCC window shopping. I had planned to go to Ampang Point to look for a secondhand bookstore but for the life of me, could not find the store. I knew it was on the second floor and that was it. Since it was already noon, I decided to return to KLCC for my lunch date. Lunch was good and the company was even better. Would have stayed a few more hours reminiscing about old times if it wasn't for the fact that I was suppose to get Nadiah's birthday cake. Even then, it had gone 2 pm before we decided to part ways.

So I rushed through the traffic all the way to Sri Hartamas and spent about 30 minutes looking for a parking spot. I had almost given up hope before finally found one on the roadside. I quickly park the car and prayed that Mr Policeman would not leave a love letter on the windshield while I’m gone.

Since I didn’t have the time to order a cake beforehand, I was hoping the shop would have something suitable. But what they had did not look like any 5 year old birthday cake. The only one they had that would be close enough had already been taken by another customer just a few seconds earlier.

I was already late, the day was very hot and I had to walk quite a long way from the car and by then sweating like mad and I still have no cake. I just hope there was another bakery nearby. So walked around some more and saw in the window a chocolate cake with milk and chocolate buttons decorated on top that would do for Nadiah. Looked up at the sign and it said ‘Vegetarian Bakery’. What the heck.. as long as it looks like a cake and taste like one too, I’ll just go ahead and get it. So, with the oh so healthy vegetarian cake in hand, I made my way home.

Nadiah was already up and jumping about and when she saw the cake, got even more excited. As soon as I got all the candles out, she started blowing them even though it wasn’t lighted up. With Baba, Mak Tok , baby Irfan and me looking on, Nadiah blew out the candles making her birthday official. Everybody had a piece of cake except Irfan who just looked on, drooling all over the place. The cake didn’t taste bad at all. Like I said, it was a healthy cake and so it tasted… er.. healthy.

In the evening, we took her to Toys ‘r Us to choose her present. After walking around for 15 minutes, she decided on a baby doll with all it’s bits and pieces: milk bottles, baby fork and spoon, change of clothes and a pacifier. It was an apt choice because the day before she cried out “baby doll” as soon as she saw Irfan. She must have thought she was getting another Irfan, albeit a smaller version.

At home she couldn’t wait to feed the baby its bottle. Not satisfied with feeding the baby, she tried to feed Irfan as well. Luckily we were fast enough getting Irfan out of the way. Since she could not get Irfan to drink the milk, she must have thought she’ll just feed herself instead and proceeded to do so.

Back in Alor Star, we had another cake to celebrate with cousin Amir and his parents. Unfortunately Nadiah did not get to blow out the candles this time because we couldn’t find a lighter anywhere in the house. The one person who smokes was out and took his lighter with him. By the time we thought to light up the candles from the kitchen stove, Nadiah had stared to eat half of the chocolates and strawberries decorating the cake. So we skipped that and got Amir to cut the cake instead because Nadiah was busy munching on the keropok lekor being served.

All in all, I think Nadiah was happy with her cakes and presents she got. Apart from the baby doll, there was also a box of BLOpens , 2 sets of Play-Doh and lots of money from various aunts and uncles.

ENJOY THE SLIDESHOW...

Arts And Crafts

Remember from my previous post about parents’ class and that I’m suppose to have Nadiah do some exercises? Ok, she’d done them all and I think she did well.

So here’s what she was supposed to do:

First we’re supposed to teach her what glue is by showing that a small scrap of paper does not stick to another without anything on it. Then by applying a little bit of glue, they do stick to one another. But I skipped this part because I felt she had passed this part with flying colours already.

The next part we have four A4 papers with circles, squares and triangles on them. I then cut out the shapes and have her stick them to the corresponding shapes. She did great with the circles and squares but the triangles were a little crooked in the beginning.



Then using the shapes made them into a picture of a house. Lastly sticking the shapes together again to make a house but instead of a picture she was to make a free standing house. And here’s the result



Not bad eh?

Here are some other creations she made:

We have here 2 butterflies. Mama’s is the one on the right. I made this one as an example and Nadiah made hers by observing which goes where. Not too bad I think although the wings and the antennas are warped but the general shape is there.




This ones are ladybugs. Again Nadiah’s is the one on the left. The legs seemed to be all over the place and it’s missing a few spots but on the whole it’s fine.



The last one is a spider. I trace her hand on a folded piece of paper and cut out the shape. Remove the bit where her thumb is supposed to be, open up the paper and we have an eight legged creature. Stick some eyes, a cute lil nose and a smiling mouth. Voila!! You’ve got yourself a smiling spider.


Got this from watching Barney. Cute huh?

Well ok, so mine wasn't that great either but it's the love that I put into them that matters ;D

Happy 5th Birthday, Nadiah

Today is Nadiah's birthday. I can't believe she's 5 today. It seems like it was only yesterday that I took her home from the hospital. She was so tiny then because she was premature. She weighed at only 1.9kg.

We’re actually in KL today and will have a small celebration. I’m planning to get a cake for her later from this one shop in Sri Hartamas. My SIL once bought us some mini cupcakes and they were so cute and colourful.

It’s sad, but I don’t think Nadiah actually knows what birthdays are. Oh she knows when there’s a cake you HAVE to blow the candles. But I doubt she understands the meaning of the number of candles she’s blowing. But hey.. if she’s having a good time, why should I worry too much right?

Anyway, I’ll update more on her birthday later on and put up pictures when I’m back in Alor Star.

What's In A Name

For as long as I can remember, we've been doing our grocery shopping at this sundry shop: Kedai Ah Beng (the actual name of the shop is Kedai Eng Huat, but the proprietor is called Ah Beng; hence the name).

Ah Beng has an assistant who up until a few months ago we only call 'kuli Ah Beng'. Nobody knows what his real name was. And the funny thing was, nobody ever thought of asking him. We keep asking each other what his real name is, but not the person himself. Until one day when he came to deliver groceries and my dad asked him.

"Ah Seng" he said.

So everyone went "Ohh... Ah Seng".

After that whenever we pass him on the road, someone would say "Hey, there goes Ah Seng".

But two months after the discovery, Ah Seng is back to being 'kuli Ah Beng'. Well... I guess some guys just can't be "Ah Seng".

Parents' Class

Yesterday was the first time Nadiah's school held a parents' class. It was good despite the fact that we all had to sit on these tiny chairs and crammed our knees under the low, low tables. At the end of the session, Shukri not only got information and knowledge, but also a whole dose of pain shooting up and down his right leg. Ahh.. the things we would do for our children.

Anyway, the class was good. Apart from the fact that it gave us a chance to get to know the other parents and exchange stories, we get to learn how to help our children. Yesterday’s lesson was on arts and crafts. Things like pasting and shapes and using the shapes to make it into a picture like a house. Although I’ve been doing these exercises with Nadiah, I’ve never realized there was a step-by-step method or a proper way of teaching Nadiah to do it. This exercise is good in developing fine motor skills and strengthen her finger muscles. And so we’ll be seeing a lot of gluing and pasting in the next week or two….

I’m looking forward to the next class which will be held in a fortnight…. but not the chairs, though.

Travel Blog

Well, it's about time. I've been postponing this project for a long time now. I finally started on my Travel Blog. Hopefully it'll be a continuous project.

Check it out....

Somebody told...

It was supposed to be a surprise, but somebody told....

Yesterday was my mom and dad's 42nd wedding anniversary. Bro#2 and I decided to have a party. Well, nothing fancy, just a cake and some kuih. Afterall Bro#1 and Bro#3 and their families won't be there.

We planned to have a tea party and everything was a secret. Around 5pm, they arrived with the cake. Amir even got a party hat for himself and Nadiah. Not a minute after he arrived, he went up to my parents' room and asked them to come down for tea. Mom thought there wasn't anything to eat and was asking my dad to go out and buy something. So Amir said,

"It's OK. There's a cake downstairs. Do you want to blow the candles off or do you want me to do it?"

So there goes the surprise.... ehheheh

But really, the cake WAS in fact more for the kids to than for the grandparents.

HAPPY 42nd ANNIVERSARY TO MAK & BAPAK

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