Playing With A Friend

Today marks another milestone in Nadiah's improved social skills. Today, for the first time ever, my special girl made the initiative to ask her cousin to play with her. All on her own! No prompting was needed. We didn't even ask her to play with her little cousin, Irfan. All of a sudden, while holding on to a ball, she turned to Irfan and said, "Catch".

We were so surprised. And Irfan was such a champ because he quickly ran to fetch a basket to catch the ball Nadiah was ready to throw to him, ever willing to play with 'kakak Nadiah'.

Syukur alhamdulillah. Praise be to Allah for this memorable moment. I am ever thankful for every little improvement that Nadiah shows.

What Is Nadiah Writing?

Last night when I told Nadiah to go to sleep, she refused. Too busy concentrating writing on a piece of paper.

I was curious as to what was taking much of her attention, so I went to investigate.

This was what I found:

Nadiah's Obsession With DVDs & VCDs

Ever since she was small, Nadiah likes to collect VCDs. It started out with Barney & Friends, then to Sesame Street, Hi5 and whatever else that she likes to watch. At that time they come mostly in VCD versions. Only the past few years that these videos come in DVD versions. Or as Nadiah would call them "small CD" and "big CD". 

She has tons!! I mean, literally tons!!! In the beginning, I would buy them for her, and as kids are known to do, she would take the discs out of the casings and carry 20 or 30 at a time everywhere she goes, in an obsessively particular order that we are NEVER, EVER to try and mess around with them. She would remember which disc come first, second, third and so on. 

Over the years, she has lost, scratched and broken many, many discs. When she was a little bit older, around 7 years old, she starts to care for her CDs and would obsessively keep them in the right boxes and, when she realized that most of her discs are gone or broken and deemed unworkable, she would bug me and her baba to get new ones. But now she's more careful, keeping her CDs in proper order and taking good care of them. 

But now that her videos are out in DVD versions, she wants those too. Honestly, I can't even remember what VCDs she has or hasn't. I have to take pictures of her collection so that I don'y buy the same ones, which I had done countless times already. 

Making a tower of her CDs

Fixing something on her CDs. That's only part of her collection. She has many, many more..

We encourage her in this obsession because they help for in a lot of things, like her language, simple everyday tasks, playing games and reading and writing. Because of Nadiah's lack of cooperation in communicating with people, these videos of hers has increased her social and communication skills tremendously. 

She likes to write down the titles of the CDs, the names of characters in each of the episodes of Barney and Sesame Street and list down the titles of the songs that you get in Barney videos. Before, she would write down on a paper, now she would type out in in the computer using Microsoft Power Point program. She loves making lists... just like her mama.. :D

Nadiah's "books". 

This is her "Memory Book", which she copied out of one of the episodes of Barney. There are hand prints of the characters (which mama and baba had to contribute), photos which I printed for her from scenes in the video, and titles of Barney videos. 

This is another of her book, which I have not compiled and bind because it's an ongoing project. You can see that she has written down the title of a particular video and the names of the characters that appears in that particular episode. Look how thick it is. That's how much she has been writing!

Another story that I would like to tell, which is related to her CD obsession, happened a few days ago. Usually Nadiah would check on the internet what new titles are there in the market, either for Barney or Elmo's World or Sesame Street or Play With Me Sesame, or what other titles are not in her collection. Then she would tell us what she wants. Bugging us to go out to the CD shops and get them. Not understanding that the shops may not have what she wants or going to the same shop the very next day does not mean that they would magically appear. So anyway, the other day she told me, "Mama, Elmo's World Happy Holidays, small CD". I understand that she wants that particular CD but she wants it in the VCD version.

So we were in KL at MPH Mid Valley, and she was looking around the educational CD section when suddenly she grabbed a DVD and showed it to me. 

"Mama, Elmo's World, big CD." She had this crushed looked on her face. 

"I want small CD" she told me. 

I know she was feeling frustrated. Probably because she was so close to getting what she wants. Only the size of the box of CD was wrong. My poor girl!

But I was happy because she could tell me verbally; one, what she wanted, and secondly, that what's out there was not what she wanted. Rather than getting upset and throwing tantrums and I'll be lost to her wants and feelings, which is what would have happened a long time ago. 

I am actually thankful for her obsession with her videos. She is communicating a lot more, not just with us but also with the people around her. 

So if you have any old Barney or Sesame Street VCD/DVDs to dispose, please let me know. I would gladly take them off your hands..

Seminar Celik Al Quran Bagi Anak-Anak Autisme

Last Saturday I went to a seminar on “Celik Al Quran Bagi Anak-Anak Autisme” which was held at Wisma R&D, Universiti Malaya. The seminar was jointly organized by UM’s Centre of Quran Research and Autisme Malaysia (a FB group).

Incidentally, me and hubby have been looking for ways on how to teach Nadiah the Al Quran. So when I saw that the seminar was to be held then, we decided to attend even though it was already Friday. We decided to leave for KL that afternoon after Jumaat and arrived in Bangsar at 9.30pm.

On Saturday, I went to the seminar and was totally blown away by the kids who could not only read the Quran, but also memorize. I wish I had started Nadiah early on and I am now worried that it could be too late for her.

But nothing is ever too late. To pursue knowledge, age matters not. Anytime and anywhere is just as precious.There was one boy, who is about the same age as Nadiah. He started reciting the Quran by listening to the ayats repeatedly. Which is one of the methods of introducing the Quran to an autistic child. All these while I have always been rigid in my method of teaching something from the basics, which is teaching the ABC before reading. So does the method of teaching alif ba ta before reading the Quran. And I have been looking for ideas on how to introduce the method to Nadiah. And now I’m kicking myself (figuratively and not literally, mind you). Why didn’t I think of that. It’s something so simple. It’s not that she hasn’t been doing the same thing for everything else anyway. I was worried that it would be too difficult to learn alif ba ta, then spelling the kalimahs and go on to teaching the tajweed. I mean, why not just make her memorize the Quran with perfect mahraj and tajweed from early on. Problem solved!

So that was one of the things that I learned from the seminar, among other things. There was also a very touching video that was shown which captured the hearts of everyone and brought realization to the words of Allah. Why do we read the Quran? Why do we believe in Allah? I’ve attached the video below. Every time I watched the video I cried..

Subhanallah.. Allahu Akbar..

My Autism And Me

"No School"

Baba: C'mon Nadiah, go to sleep. Tomorrow you have--

Nadiah: No school!! No school is great..

LOL!!

Julie & Julia

I seldom get to watch movies these days. Mostly due to lack of time and also due to the hundreds of other things that I have to be doing. Catching movies at the cinema is like.... NEVER!! The last time I watched a movie at the cinema was probably in 2009. That was one time only in that year and the one before was probably in 2006. 

Anyway, when I do watch a movie it's usually online or DVD. Don't get me wrong.. I love buying movies. I just don't get to watch them. But last night I decided to watch Julie & Julia. 

It's a beautiful story based on TWO true stories. Both Julie and Julia are armature cooks. Not just any cooks, but French cooks. Julia's story tells the story of learning to cook French food in Paris while accompanying her husband who works with the American Embassy in Paris and bored with her life. That was in the 50's. While Julie lives in present day New York and unsatisfied with her work tries to emulate Julia by challenging herself to cook French food everyday for 1 year from Julia's 524 recipes. 

The story tells the struggle of both woman in mastering French cooking while at the same time coping with husbands, families, friends and everyday life. Both have very supporting husbands who loves them no matter what and both went through frustrations with the other side of cooking, which is publishing a book or a blog or critiques. 

I loved it and plus I love Meryl Streep who plays Julia and Stanley Tucci who plays her husband, Paul. I mean it's MERYL STREEP!!! Nuff said!

Although I was very disappointed with one part of the story which was what Julia commented on Julie's project of cooking all 524 recipes and blogging about it. It just did not seem like what Julia would have said. But I found an article in the New York Times online about that particular scene. Here's the link: Julia, Julie and me: Now it can be told. Although I should warn you that there are some spoilers, and advice that you watch the movie first before reading the article.

Dinosaurs

Funny thing happened tonight. Today me, Nadiah and hubby were looking at different types of dinosaurs.

So tonight as Nadiah was getting ready to sleep, I just called out the names of the dinosaurs..

"Pterodactyl, stegosaurus, triceratops"

And suddenly Nadiah called out, "Stethoscope!"

LOL!!! Hubby and I couldn't stop laughing our heads off..  

Disneyland - It's A Dream

Nadiah was watching Disneyland Main Street parade on YouTube today, and so I said to her, "That's in Disneyland, Nadiah."

And she replied, "It's great. Disneyland is great."

Oh yes it is, my dear. Disneyland is absolutely great! Looks like she's interested. We gotta start saving!

I wish we could go to the one in Anaheim, or even Orlando. But I guess the closest one in Hong Kong would be just as great, and much more attainable. We'll see..

Peaceeee....

When Nadiah says, "Peaceeee..." it means she wants you to take her picture.

Good Quality Shoes

Shoes are an essential. Everybody needs shoes. Everybody don't really wear shoes sometimes but you and me agree that it's something that we cannot do without.

I believe that in order to own a really good quality, long lasting pair of shoes, you have got to spend good money on them. I've bought shoes that I only pay RM 20.00 or so and lasted for 1 whole week before they started to fall apart. And I've bought shoes that are RM 200.00++, and after 3 years of wearing them for every single day, they are still as good as new.

But the bad thing about good quality shoes is that they last so long and after some time, you feel like getting new shoes with new styles that's in trend. But you feel guilty because your present ones are perfectly wearable and you can't throw them away. Plus, there's 5 more in the closet which are also good quality shoes and in good condition which you still bought anyway even when the first are still good.

So good quality shoes are not so good after all, right?

The objective of the story is that... I want new shoes but the present ones that I have are still in annoyingly very good condition. And I have a few more in the closet like them. But I still want new ones...

Decisions, decisions...

Selamat Hari Raya

We wish you a Hari Raya,

We wish you a Hari Raya,

We wish you a Hari Raya,

And a Happy Holiday.

*sing to the tune of 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas"

LOL!! That is Nadiah's hari raya song for the year. 

Since we're still in the month of Syawal, I would like to wish all my Muslim readers Eid Mubarak and may Allah bless you always.

Cheese Rice, I Hungry

Yes, yes I know. It's been absolutely ages. I have no excuse except laziness.

But I wanted to update on Nadiah and her progress, especially her spoken language. It's coming along slowly, but it's coming. So that's the most important thing. We can now argue verbally which is real fun for her. For me.. well, not so much.

Her sentences are still broken but they are now longer with 3-5 word sentences. Tonight while we were having dinner which consist of roti jala, which she eats plain, she suddenly said, "Eat cheese rice. I hungry."

Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised and very proud of her.

Then while she was eating her cheese rice, she said "A glass of lemonade." At the same time holding out her empty glass. So I added, "Please."

She repeated, "A glass of lemonade, please."

You can't imagine how over the moon I am with her and it makes me feel like anything is possible.

This is her cheese rice. It's white rice, friend chicken chunks with soy sauce and pieces of cheese. Then I have to microwave it for 10 seconds so that the cheese melt. Then Nadiah eats it with chopsticks.

Talking about possibilities, we have been planning to take her on a boat/ferry ride for the longest time. Not the ferry ride that crosses the ocean to Penang. That's like a 10 minute ride. But a big sea-crossing boat ride like crossing to Langkawi Island.

So last Eid/school holidays, we took her to Langkawi. She had the best time. The crossing to was a bit choppy and I think she had a headache, although she didn't say so but she said she felt sleepy and slept almost all of the way. We had to wake her up when we got to the jetty in Langkawi while everybody else were busy exiting. So that was a blessing because the kid in front of us were throwing up left and right and thank God for Tiger Balm because I quickly swiped some around my nose and Nadiah's as well. So did hubby. Or else we would have been throwing up along with the girl. Not from seasickness, but from all the not-so-lovely aroma around us.

The return journey was a lot better. The sea was pleasantly calm that we hardly feel like we were on a boat. Plus we were on the upper deck and next to the window. Nadiah stood right at the window looking out for dolphins all of the one hour and 30 minutes ride.

We had a great time in Langkawi. The cable car ride was the pinnacle of the trip. Nadiah loved being on top of the clouds, but hubby was shaking in his slippers. He is NOT a fan of heights. 

We had some beach time and some pool time and the view was exceptional from our hotel. We hope to go again soon.

Shall we have pictures? I think... Oh yeahh!!!

Arrived at the jetty in Langkawi Island. 

In the cable car going up Machinchang Mountain

Going down the mountain. Hubby looks happy because we were finally going down :P

Cenang Beach - lovely fine sandy beach and CLEAN!!

Nadiah's sandy lump creation

View from our hotel

Pool at the hotel. A few hours before we checked out.

So that's a little bit of what's happening recently. I hope to be back blogging and not be a stranger to my own page :D. Till then, thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day ahead!!

Happy Mother's Day

This is surely THE one Mother's Day that I will never forget. Today, May 13th 2012, my ten year old Nadiah has her period for the first time. Yes, she is now officially a woman. I pray to Allah that everything would turn out alright. That she would be calm and accepting and doesn't fuss about wearing sanitary pads. 

I have heard many tales from parents with children of autism or down's syndrome, about how hard a time their children have when having their periods. So far Nadiah seems calm and happy as always. And I pray she will always be so.

Here's Nadiah.. on THIS day in her life..

Happy Mother's Day 

to all the mothers out there!!