The lil’ dude and his family…

On Saturday, I brought Irfan to the club for his first swimming lesson. After registering him and paying whatever was necessary, we met with his swimming instructor. He didn’t like the guy.  Why? Because he was a bit tan (Irfan has this phobia with dark men.. but he seems okay when we go to mamak?) and wears glasses. Aiyo. So anyway, I changed him into his trunks, wore him his floats and brought him to the olympic size pool. And whaddaya know? He pulled me in sekali and my first reaction was thank god the camera isn’t around my neck! Phew. I was wet. Head to toe. With.no.spare.clothes. Home? 40km away. The frock? Irwan? In training somewhere in the country. Blahdy frock!

(Not funny when you’re in my shoes. But you guys can laugh. Go ahead. :P)

So then, Irfan still refused to go with the instructor. Tak boleh jadi ni. Howlah like this? The instructor then motioned for me to bring him to the small pool and let him socialise with the other kids there. He was fine. There were 2 abangs - prolly around 8 or 9 years old - and the boys layan-ed him. They were quite dark, but Irfan wasn’t afraid of them. What gives? Dark boys are ok. But dark men are a no-no. Peliklah he.

There I was, all drenched, standing under the hot sun hoping to get dry but even after an hour or so, I was still quite wet. And there was no way in hell that I’d drive back home, change and then come all the way to that part of the world again. Waste petrol for what? Baik go eat crabs. Which we did that night. Again. Haha.

I digress.

After giving Irfan his shower, I told him to sit on the sofa and play with his cars while I dry my clothes with the hair dryer. So dry them I did. For about 30 minutes or so. Oh well. It wasn’t all that badlah, but still? Haha.

In the end, we had to void the payment I made to the club since Irfan didn’t quite warm up with the instructor but we are to bring him every week so that he’d get used to seeing the instructor around and in no time wouldn’t be such a scaredy cat (with the instructor, not the water). After our lil’ stint, we headed to the nearby mall and after some lunch, Irfan napped in his stroller for about 1 1/2 hours while I did more damage to the wallet. Bleh!

On Saturday, we brought Irfan to Taman Jaya to meet up with Rachel and Mia. The sky looked a tad gloomy before we arrived at the park, but fortunately, luck was on our side as it didn’t rain at all. Phew. The kids had fun running around and kicking the ball (my son melebih sikit run all over the place - I envy the girls’ parents as their girls stayed put within 10 sq. ft!) and the parents had a great time chatting and catching up. :) The rest of the photos (like over 100 of them - the most I’ve ever edited and uploaded at any one time) can be seen here. Let’s do this again, shall we? ;)

And oh, after the playdate and shoot, Rachel and family joined us for crabs at Crocodile Farm (and no, they don’t serve crocs! :P). It was yummylicious! And it was there that Irfan gave his first kiss to someone other than his parents, grandparents, uncles, aunties, et al. Heh! Kecik-kecik dah pandai. Tsk tsk tsk…

So last Friday, Irwan had to be in Penang by noon for a MINI event. And I couldn’t take the day off because I had so much work at the office. Initially we thought of taking AA to Penang, but the hassle of taking a cab to and fro the airport was just too much and in the end I decided that I’d drive to Penang with Irfan. We left Bangsar at around 7 p.m. and arrived at Gurney Hotel around 10.45 p.m. The journey was a smooth one except for some construction after the Jelapang bit and Irfan slept after 20 minutes of starting the journey. I was anticipating some jam on the bridge but thankfully, there were none. Phew. Even Persiaran Gurney was clear. Waaaaahhhhhh!

This trip was more of a de-stressing one rather than going here, there and everywhere and doing almost everything there is to do in Penang. We didn’t even go to Ferringhi although I wanted to check out the pasar malam as the bad jam on Saturday was a turn-off and so yeah, we didn’t do anything much except to go to Gurney Plaza, Auto Bavaria showroom, the poolside and Gurney Drive for some kick-ass yummylicious food!

Speaking of the poolside, this hotel has one of the best stuff I’ve ever seen. Irfan spent many, many hours running around the pool, swimming like a fish, going up and down the slides and watching people play pool, table tennis, archery, foosball and beach volley. Yeah, you read me right - they have allllll those stuff on the 7th floor of the hotel. :) And their pool - infinity pool. A bit gayat when I was at the edge. But cool view nevertheless. Heh.

We left Penang on Sunday after a hearty nasi kandar lunch and since Irfan spent 2 hours basking in the hot sun on the 7th floor earlier on (from 10am - 12pm!! - we had to literally draggggg him out of the pool!), he knocked out 10 minutes after we left Gurney. Haha. And this time around, Irwan did the driving. :P

Yo dude!

You turn 27 months today. Oh.my.god. Has it already been 3 months from the day we celebrated your second birthday? I’m going to sound like a broken record here - but time flies! Anyhooo, you’re old enough now that you’re more of my companion/friend/someone to talk to rather than an immobile bundle of food processor but still baby enough for us to hantam you around left right and centre and knowing that your bones will pop right back into place. Heh.

One of your new habits these days is to mimic and/or mock us. You’d want to do what all the adults around you do - lock the door, start the car’s engine, sweep the floor, water the plant, wipe the table, etc etc. I think that I should cancel my application for a domestic helper since I’ve got you to count on! What do you say, buddy?

I know I’ve been rather short-fused the past two days and you being cranky and agitated because of your nose and throat isn’t helping things either. I feel like I’m such a terrible mother for screaming and scolding you like that but if you only leave me be (and play with your cars) when I’m in that “mood swing” period of mine, I promise, you won’t get the unnecessary lash outs you’ve been getting. I’m truly sorry, baby. But when I’m cleaning the house, you’re not supposed move all the furniture around thinking we’re going to play musical chairs. I’m sorry I yelled at you. I’m sorry you literally jumped from the spot you were standing. And I’m sorry that you had to witness the monster in me. If I could only take back everything horrigible that has happened in the last 2 days, I would. But the last 2 days have also been good ones as you have been speaking less pelat and clearer with your pronunciations and punctuates most of your every sentence with “ah”. E.g: “Ma, where’s my car ah?” “Pa, come and play with me, ah?” You’re so typically manglish but you’re still the most wonderful, beautiful person in the world and I love you for that.

Love always.

are in the house because we were all having fun in the rain at Sunway Lagoon last Sunday. :) It was my youngest brother’s school family day and each and everyone of us had fun - Irfan the most! :P I’ll let the pictures do the talking. Heh.

The Putrajaya park/playground near PICC is fully equipped with fun stuff for the lil’ ones (and not so lil’ ones) to have fun with. Irfan’s favourite has always been the swing, slides and the “shake-shake”. Last Sunday however, Irwan taught him how to use the  monkey bars and the lil’ dude is all about monkeying around now. Ish!

Since Irfan’s not able to hold himself up, Irwan helps him by holding  both his legs and let Irfan  move from one bar to another by himself.  They both had lots of fun and didn’t want to leave the park after that. *slaps forehead*

Aside from that, Irfan’s been very vocal these days, although he can be very pelat at times. I’m quite glad that he is (being vocal that is) because with that I know what he wants and what he doesn’t. It kinda makes everyone’s life a tad simplerlah. He also likes to create accidents and jams and what have yous with his array of cars. It’s quite entertaining seeing his “play”. Heh.

Lil’ Adam and his fun time. :)

Irfan: Pa, let’s go playground. Adam nak go swing.
Irwan: It’s dark. See, no lights. Gelap.
Irfan: Thereeeee… lights! (Pointing at the streetlights) *slaps forehead*

Irfan: Ma, swim some more. Adam tak nak sleep.
Me: No. You need to get out. One hour dah. See, it’s going to rain.
Irfan: (Looks up at the sky and covers his head. Got out from the pool and stopped short) No rain. See? Adam’s hand dry.
Me: (Feeling pret-ty stupid! Haha!)

Irfan: Don’t want to eat dah.
Me: Last one. Satu suap aje lagi.
Irfan: (Gives me the do-you-think-I’m-stupid look) No. A lot more. 1, 2, 3, 4…. (counting the many-many suaps still left)

Irfan used to be deathly afraid of ants. So one day…

Me: Irfan, you’d better behave. Else the ants will come and gigit you and then you’ll feel sakit!
Irfan: (Somehow managed to find a small ant around the area and puts the ant on his finger) See, no pain. Ants sayang Adam.
Me: What the…???

I was about to send Irfan to my mother in-law’s house as my mom and I had to attend a meeting and this conversation took place between Irfan and his atuk (my dad).

Atuk: Adam stay with Atuklah.
Irfan: Atuk nanti pengsan.
Atuk: Then Adam sit nicely with Atuklah. Don’t run around all.
Irfan: No. Adam needs to play. Atuk will pengsan. Adam go Grandma’s house.
All of us: (Laughed like mad)

There are so many more of these things that he says, but I really can’t remember most of them. Haha. I’m getting oldlaaaaaaa. I bet your kids say the darndest things too, ey? And at times, no matter how angry you are with them, you can’t help but to laugh and not be angry anymore. I mean how can you? You can’t get the kids to equate smiley face = angry, can you? Quite contradictory, innit? Heh!

We brought Irfan to Kizsports for the first time last Saturday for a tryout. We’ve heard so many good stuff about it and decided on giving the place a shot since Gymboree’s too expensive and I’ve heard quite a number of bad feedbacks about that place. But that’s another story for another day.

When we arrived, there were plenty of kids around and Irfan decided to jump into the swimming pool full of balls. Haha. Not long after, he told me he needs to hold my hand as he needs to poo. Yeah, you read me right. Each time he poos, he needs to hold someone’s hand. So yeah, my lil’ dude’s a lil’ funny like that. :P And then, I had to walk alllllll the way to the new wing to get his bag and at the same time I took the chance to grab my camera as welllah. But like I’ve said before, my indoor photography sucks - hence not many pictures posted. I should invest in flashes and what-have-yous but I think I should sharpen my skills firstlah. Eh, I’m digressing again. Tsk!

After the lil’ dude’s all cleaned up, the not-so-lil’-dude and him went up and down the slides for god knows how many times! Irfan (and his papa) had so much fun and I was feeling rather envious of them since I was only sitting down and snapping (fugly) photos. So, I decided to try the slides as well. Oh my… what fun! Haha!

Soon afterwards, Irfan wanted to go on his favourite ride (if that’s what it’s called) - the swing. One boy whom I reckon is about 7 years old saw that Irfan was going towards the swing and ran towards the same said swing, grabbed the swing and sort of shoved Irfan aside. Sigh. This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened to my kid, but I don’t see the point in arguing with a kid. If his/her parents can’t be a*sed about teaching some discipline to his/her kid(s), then the only thing I have to say to them (the parents) is that karma’s a b*tch! We told Irfan to wait for his turn and he obligingly waited at the side for another kid to be done with the swing. When that kid was done, Irfan hopped onto the swing and the 7-year-old kid left. And bugged some other kid around the play area. What gives? I hope Irfan doesn’t turn out to be like that kid when he grows up. InsyaAllah.

Two hours have passed and I saw that Irfan was getting a bit cranky. Offered him some milk and brought him to the feeding room and he slept almost immediately! Our initial plan was to catch a movie (or two!) but seeing that we had to wait for more than an hour for the next available show, we scrapped the plan and went home instead. And I can’t even remember what we had for dinner. Eeeekkkk… haha!

Tired of bringing him to only Lake Garden all the time, so last weekend, we decided to try another taman. It was either Taman Aman or Taman Jaya. And then I had the sudden craving for Raju’s roti canai. So, apa lagi, off we went to Taman Jaya lah.

I was very impressed with the place when we arrived. It was clean and has lots and lots of fun stuff for Irfan to play with. Of course, he went on the swing first. And surprisingly, the swings don’t creak! Even better, they have like at least 3 types of swings - the normal ones, the tyre ones and the animal ones. Irfan sat on every one of them. :)

Lots of people were picnicking too. A group of mat sallehs were having a birthday party for some of their kids and they had lots of balls with them. And Irfan went crazy. Literally. He was crying his lungs out when we had to carry him away as he was taking all the smaller balls and wanting to bring them home. Ish ish ish…

After stuffing ourselves silly at Raju’s, we went back to my parents’ place and Irfan wanted to swim. Since it was quite sunny and the water wasn’t too cold, I let him loose in the pool. He has finally accepted the fact the ‘em floaties will make him float.. so yay!!! It took me 3 days in a row to practice with him while holding his hands and occasionally letting him terbenam himself in the water and pulling himself up on his own with some (minor) crying ensued but I’m so glad that that has worked well! Now all we need to do is practice more and decrease his air in his floaties from 75% to about 60%. And gradually decreasing it until he needs no floaties no more. Will get my dad to swim with him when he gets back in a couple of days. Heh.