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Tuesday 30 June 2015

Snippets: Marriage

The Little Girl is one of the two Muslimahs in her class. There are about 6 other Muslim boys. Together, they form a small cluster for Religious Studies (Islam) guided by Puan I. It is a close knit and fun class so I am pretty sure the students know each other quite well.

One of the boys, M, has been asking The Little Girl to marry him for about a fortnight now.

Now, you see, we have a small glitch here. 

The Little Girl has had her eyes set on another boy from one year ahead of her class, a case of liking a senior, whose mother gets along with me like house on fire. They, the children, like one another since the beginning of the academic year, and this is long in the timeline of 5/6 year olds!

Two days ago, M's pick up line to The Little Girl in my presence was this, "Have you watched Jurassic World? Do you like it?"

The Little Girl did not even reply him, just shot him a blank look. She then politely said goodbye since it was home time anyways. I guess she did not tell M about her huge dislike for dinosaurs. Or her liking for Z.

The Little Girl spared no hesitation in telling M, truthfully and sincerely, during breakfast the following day, that she has no intention of marrying M, since that pick up line incident.

At the same time, she did not reveal to anyone in her class who she likes. In so doing, she has preserved a mystery?

Yesterday, at home time, M told me that The Little Girl does not want to marry him. Ever.

I was...speechless!

Mother of the intended bride. What am I to say? I do not support child marriages but that is not something I want to discuss with someone who has just lost his front tooth. So I smiled.

For now, let's just cherish this innocent phase/moment and stop at the big smile I beamed at M. Hopefully my smile can deflect him from seeing my concern. Oh, where do I even begin? 

I hope M finds his closure and remain friends with The Little Girl. After all, he has another 9.5 years to impress her while being in the same school, inshaAllah.

May The Little Girl remain steadfast and pure in her heart, and that Allah swt keeps her safe in His Protection. Amin
Thursday 25 June 2015

Snippets: Surah An-Nas

The Little Girl now recites 3 Surahs at night before sleeping. She starts with Surah Al-Fatihah and Surah Al-Ikhlas, both fluently without prompter. 

If you know and understand these 2 Surahs well, you will understand why it was a significant milestone when she first learnt to recite these wonderful Words from Allah swt, as most Muslim parents would.

Last night, she voluntarily asked us to guide her with Surah An-Nas. "An-Nas?" Her eyes were bright, with a sweet smile on her face. SubhanAllah! That memory is now etched into my life, such a gracious and immensely precious gift.

The Other Half of course gladly obliged her and together, they sounded like they had filled her room with Angels. It was a beautiful moment, SubhanAllah!

We will start her on Surah Al-Falaq after this, inshaAllahand may His Guidance be upon us to be better parents. Amin
Wednesday 17 June 2015

Yayasan Seni - MyBatik


Last Saturday, The Little Girl went on a play date with two of her girlfriends at MyBatik.

Persiaran Ritchie is really close to GE Mall so we figured we could squeeze in a morning date, followed by lunch then proceed to our usual agenda of JMC at Yamaha in the afternoon.

It was perfect!

Each batik kit comes with hot wax resist of the design already done but the girls were allowed to sign their pieces using canting to apply the hot wax. Redgie, a very helpful batik artist, trained them on a practice sheet before allowing them to draw with canting. It was hot wax, so Redgie cautioned them well. 

The three young ladies had a lovely rebonding time (as they are in 3 different schools now) while painting their respective pieces of batik.


Both Stonor Mummy and Hampshire Mummy enjoyed sipping our choice cup of coffee at Green Tomato Cafe, al fresco in the lush tropical garden within Yayasan Seni.
 
Here is my latte with koala before drinking:

 
Here is the latte after drinking. See how the art is intact? Barista is superb!


 
Here is a cute cat on cappuccino:


Almost completed dye painting.



The girls then placed their painted batik kits onto the courtyard to dry in the sun.



They then played catch, chase, hopscotch and tag games before lunch. In the sun, in the shade, in the wide open spaces and green grass, subhanAllah!

All too soon after lunch, it was time for us to head our separate ways again. Every farewell ends with promises of new play dates. Yes, inshaAllah, we will have more play dates!

Yesterday, after we fulfilled the 3 days gap requirement, The Little Girl and I went to collect her processed batik piece. The hot wax had been washed off in hot boiling pot of water and left to air dry.




All that is left now is for me to frame her first proper batik art and hang the fabric masterpiece up on her bedrooms wall!

Like this:



Highly recommended if you are looking for a batik experience that is simple, and different from Conlay or East Coast. Each batik kit is RM50. Admission is free. 

Green Tomato CafĂ© prices are reasonable with good range of fresh juices (they have green juice for detox,yay!), sandwiches, coffee and ice-cream potong (includes durian flavour, yikes!). 

Batik workshop for adults upon asking. Gallery and shop within same compound. Ample car park on weekdays. Popular with school field visit troops and tourists.

Have fun!
Tuesday 16 June 2015

Ramadhan 1436H

We will welcome another blessed Ramadhan this Thursday, 18 June 2015. Syukur alhamdulillah.

May our ibadah and repentance be accepted as we strive to be closer to Him through His Words in the Holy Quran.

May our sadaqah be accepted.

May we forgive and be forgiven, emerge cleansed of our sins and trespasses, fortified with His Mercy and enveloped in His Protection.

May ease come our way as we each face our personal challenges and grow our faith. Love and light come our way, inshaAllah.

Have a great Ramadhan, my lovelies!





Monday 15 June 2015

Snippets: Ready?

The Little Girl loves her Kumon workbooks (but only during the holidays!).

She chooses whichever book she feels like "solving". So far, she loves puzzles and mathematics. All I do is filter her level and pay at the MPH cashier before we pack our bags. 

Well, I have to mark and grade the answers too. Sometimes, I even dispense a sticker for her job well done. Yes, I was "supposed" to be on holiday. 

The Little Girl enjoys solving her Kumon puzzles during the special quiet hour between her waking up and the rest of the household waking up. I guess there is no one to distract her attention?

I usually mark and grade her work the night before so she wakes up to find a new challenge or the next level to solve. The Other Half always tears off the solution pages at the back of the book so she cannot cheat. 

It is a good arrangement in our family as she keeps herself occupied before breakfast. 

Here is what I found after our last holiday at Penang:


I could not help but giggle when I saw her frank answer. Mind you, she handled the bundles of 10s and 5s very well and got her sums worked out properly and correctly.

Oh, to be 5! *giggles more*

Friday 12 June 2015

Snippets: Telling Time


Our wooden toy clock was one of the toys I had bought for The Little Girl years ago when she first started learning her numbers.

Today, it finally served the purpose it was designed for as a learning kit, but that is highly restrictive and limiting *chuckles*

Oh, the memories we have of the wooden toy clock and its numbered "caroms". They dutifully served as dolls house coffee table, imaginary pouffe, currency for market place/bakery/cafe and just about anything her imagination had taken her.
 
Never underestimate imagination and keep on playing together to maintain fun factor in learning!
 




Snippets: Integrity, Accountability & Transparency

The Little Girl came home yesterday and confessed that she had made a spelling error.

What bothered her was the fact that her English teacher had missed correcting her. She also speculated that perhaps Mrs. R may have been exhausted after a long day and as such, may have missed spotting her student's error.


Constructive ratification had to be done and so I brought the spelling notebook back to the teacher today to have the oversight corrected. 

Which would mean The Little Girl scores 9/10 instead of 10/10; and having to write the word "igloo" again 3 times under Correction column.

I am so proud of her integrity, conscience and honesty in taking accountability of her error. That, to us all, is the perfect 10. I pray she keeps nurturing these values within her because as a nation, we sorely need these simple virtues. InsyaAllah, be that "anak cemerlang pelapis harapan negara", my sweet.

We thank Allah swt for His Guidance.

Update:

Wednesday 10 June 2015

Snippets: Duplo Help For Mathematics


Last week, The Little Girl needed some help transforming her abstract understanding of 10s into quantifiable, physical substance of 10s. 

Some readily available, easily accessible materials were summoned.

The first was an abacus but somehow it did not help her at all. She remained clueless, and rendered The Other Half slightly impatient and annoyed. Oh well, he tried a direct approach, Plan A. 

I knew instinctively Plan B had to be employed via play.

Later that night, after Bean was put to bed, we played with some Duplo blocks and chit chat casually about the magic number of 10 pieces to build pillars. Adding pillars, subtracting pillars, loose numbers of bricks left and such. We were soon building MRT pillars and had toy diggers around, just to disguise Mathematics. Foxy Mummy for once to get the message across/job done.

Let's just say it ended well because The Little Girl exclaimed, "Oh, I get it now!"

Lightbulb moment. 

I love it when we play our way through homework because it does not feel like homework at all!

Dread gone, assignments accomplished. Everyone went to bed happy. Syukur alhamdulillah.

Gratitude: Raindance, Hansgrohe

Today, I am grateful for shower of blessings, literally and figuratively.

How have you been, my lovelies?

I have been quiet and busy, obviously. The sort of busyness that involved an end of tenancy, handover, repairs and maintenance followed by deep cleansing by professional cleaning crew, sussing out new potential tenants and redecorating. Fun, tiring type of busyness, in my case.

Also, I cannot even begin to describe my utter joy of getting fabulous customer service from Madam Cecilia Hiew at Hansgrohe, No. 211 & 213, Jalan Maarof, 59100 Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia without sounding like a complete lunatic because her friendly banter was exactly what I needed to snap me out of my blues. That, and some retail therapy for the kids' attire.

More importantly, I have been busy trying to find myself. That part of myself where my happiness and contentment resides. I cannot even begin to tell you how refreshed, revived and nourished my soul is after a few sessions of podcasts from Nouman Ali Khan, subhanAllah

The other successful formula to my happiness is free (meaning no retail therapy required) and simple. I had gone to bed early, drank enough water and just like that, the depressing mood lifted. He must have answered my prayers, ultimately.

Have a lovely week ahead, my lovelies!