EYEBROWS and EYE LASHES

Many babies and toddlers have a habit of their own. Some love to suck blanket edges or a pillow leaving the two like a kain buruk or sucking a pacifier or sucking own thumb or…… must have her palm against somebody’s face if she wants to sleep! (that’s my beautiful cousin’s daughter – Adriana and you can read more about her HERE if you want to…. Che… link lagi).

She’s the one in the best pose of the pix… Of course the second from right, as beautiful as her mummy. (ahhh…. jangan perasan la che’ anim….)

This cousin's son of mine, tak tahu la habit apa ni. He's named after Harris as in Harith... eh tak lah.. just nama sama. :)

Nada is just like other babies, she has a habit too, a unique habit. She loves to play as in touching one’s eyebrows and eye lashes! Want to see a pix? I uploaded HERE before. I can’t figure out when she actually started. She uses her fingertips and also her palms to softly touches the brows and lashes as if experimenting her senses. I wonder how could she get the habit until Harris told me, that it is definitely from me. I do the same thing without me even realizing it. Sometimes I lay down on our couch while watching tele and start lightly rubbing my eyebrows.

Mostly, Nada fell for the habit when she’s having milk from the bottle… She would play her eyebrows with one hand while the other holding her Avent. Should I am near her she would ask for mine. So many of the time, I ended accompanying her for milk time and also for sleeping time until I transferred her to the cot. That’s why I also got sleepy and zzzzzzzzz myself while she was trying to sleep.

We trained Nada to sleep in the cot as much as we could because I already had the worst nightmare ever that she fell off the bed being too active moving around in her sleep. The daytime sleeps were fine. It's not the same at nights when sometimes she woke up and resisted her cot may be because of feeling lonely. I could hold myself from picking her up but not Harris whom is with a soft heart. He said – takut demam kalau nangis banyak (when I do not encounter even once that Nada got sick because of too much crying. Sigh!)

So at the occasions Nada used to sleep in the middle of Harris and I, she cried too due to bad dreams – I guess, since she no longer required milk over night. Her hands would go searching for eyebrows, even to the extend climbing on our laying body with her eyes closed in the search of her favorite. Eye brows!

At one point, whenever Harris and I heard Nada crying or merengek in her sleeps we would automatically, kruh-krah-kruh-krah…. turned our subconscious body towards her from whichever way we were facing becoming like R.O.B.O.T.S.
Well you know, it’s a stage that you’re actually in a very deep sleep and you hear nothing else, not even if your house was invaded by aliens except for your baby crying? – Parents would know.
Nada then would let her arms widely spread open reaching for us both. One hand on daddy’s eyebrows and one hand on mommy’s and we would be needed to stay put while she ‘main our kening’! Pekenama tu? Dia pulak bagi arahan kat kita ?

She however prefers mommy’s brows and lashes so much more as to compare to daddy’s.

The ‘main kening’ thing continued even though she slept in the baby cot on her own in the room next to ours. So, if she cried and was searching for eyebrows I got to go to her, bend myself half down to let her able to reach my eyebrows. Slowly she would need to get the feel of it, may be for 30 seconds… then she’d continue her sleeps.

Now that she’s too big for the cot, I can’t help but to let her be on the bed. Fear for felling off again, the bed looks like a fort with pillows and safe guard rail every time she sleeps. Luckily, she’s less active now but the need for brows and lashes doesn’t get any lesser. Whenever she cries, I would need to wake from my sleep, walk over from our room and lay besides her surrendering to what she wants just like a Slave serving her Queen! Redha je la….

Nada created a variation to her hobby when she not only ‘main kening’ with her hands but she also wants to feel them with her lips! Aduh.. pening Mek!
Out of sudden she came near me with her mouth slightly opened. I thought she wanted to kiss me but I was wrong! She was heading to my eyebrows and lashes and just when the lips touched, she rubbed her lips soothingly to them. Mind you, when she gets “syok”…. her saliva starts to drip and smearing whatever I was having for my eyes. So much so – No eye-shadow, No eye-liner and No mascara for me. :P Like I always put them on pun… he he

Hmmmm, Should you think what I write here about my darling is rather peculiar, wait till you hear the next.

One night, she cried for the usual thing she wants. I lied next to her while she did her thing and I dozed off. After a while, I felt she was half climbing on me. I suspected nothing because she does that all the time. I felt the brush to my brows and I opened my eyes. To my surprise, she again introduced another variation to her hobby and I was shocked to see her elbows right in front of my eyes rubbing softly my brows and lashes! Dia guna SIKU dia cik kak oooooiiii!!!!

Please go figure – An 18mths ol baby girl kneeling towards you while you are laying flat with her two elbows pointing at you, whilst so gently rubbing your eyebrow and eye lashes …. And her eyes are closed because she is sleeping!

Now, should I be worried?

Mek dah tak pening lagi… Mek pengsan terus………dush - toing-yong-yong-yong-yong-yong. Tweet – tweet – tweet – tweet, see birds now.

Ini dia itu budak kici!

TQ TOUGHCOOKIE

I learnt to link entry post. TQ to my dearest friend toughcookie. Happy siot....

The gorgeous black horse.................

..... ran like a lightning again. Hmm, who else… I mean the Jamaican man Usain Bolt. It’s the third 100m run World Record in 15 months and the second in just a year apart that he achieved with so much glory at the IAAF, World Track and Field Championships that took place in Berlin Germany, only three days back. 9.58 sec? What a blast – gila mamat ni.

I didn’t have the chance to watch him run live (I mean on tv) as to compare to Olympic Beijing 08 (wrote about this a year ago - can somebody teach me how to link the entry... yang kalau kita click kat underlined word(s) tu.....), but caught it during sports slot of 8pm Buletin Utama on TV3 and my jaw went dropped. Handsome sungguh dia lari.
So strong yet with high altitude of grace leaving the others far behind. I told Harris, if only I could be by side of the track while he’s running I would jump onto his back and grab at his shoulder for the last 20m run just to feel the wind smashing my face and running through my hair.

(Anyone remember the movie Dances with Wolves shown in the 90’s directed and starred by Kevin Costner? In the movie, there is a red Indian man with a name Wind in his Hair. It’s because unlike other red Indians whom braid their hair, this man always let his long beautiful hair untied. So, as he rides his horse crossing the vast pasture of supposed to be in the exile west of States, one can imagine how beautiful the scene would be. I was thinking of something like that lah if I could have ridden on Usain Bolt’s back!)

I interpreted Harris’s expression as,
a. by the time u try to jump… he could have finished the race,

or

b. the race could have been called off because there was a crazy woman landing on the track. He he.

Able to watch UB running during the News of course didn’t satisfy me. Too short ley. Me then googled for YouTube videos but to disappointment, as the 9.58 sec run turn out to be 19.58 minutes only to download. I didn’t tell uols – My home is still opting dial on jaring account. So the very low-tech la, me and Harris.

The next day during breakfast at our favorite stall near to Ampang Point, UB’s face was everywhere on news papers and I can’t let go but to talk and talk and talk about him to Harris. Naik boring laki aku.
I really dream for an opportunity to attend a mega track and field sports event. The biggest that I’ve attended was only KL - Commonwealth Games. Itu pun dah happy maut.

What does it feel to watch a man running 100m across you in less than 10 seconds? Pro-rata : 10m – 0.1 sec. Can visualize? Not easy eh? Zup! Macam tu jer. I know I’ll get goose bumps all over my skin.

However, as much as I love to watch Usain Bolt sprinting the 100m distance, I love more to perceive the look on his face when finishing JOHAN and continuing the remaining run around the stadium. Feeling proud of his run and gazing to the massive crowds applauding to his accomplishment. Posing for his famous “tunjuk-langit” pose to the thousands of photo shots. Being the center of attraction at the highest confident level.

Usain Bolt – wish for your goal of 9.4 sec WILL be conquered in the magnificent stride of yours in due time.

To my dearest girl, Nada – that’s the feel of triumph. Mommy hope and pray at any point of your life you’ll be in this glorious state and be proud of yourself.
Mommy also want you to know… even if you are not running like Usain Bolt – YOU ARE ALREADY MOMMY’S TRIUMPH… from THE FIRST DAY and when you utter the word mmMMe – mmMMiiii - it says it all.

She now wears boots to fight Mommy’s Caterpillar.

On one weekend morning

Mommy said "Nada, put on your shoes..." I chosed my pink ballet shoes and tried some balancing at the corridor wall.

I thought mommy wanted to send me to the ballet class but we ended at Old Town White Coffee instead. I made my order.

I wanted to order Long Black and Nasi Lemak, somehow I accidently marking all over the Order Chit.

Ergh! mommy always forgot to put sugar into her teh tarik, so I 'helped' her with that.

My goodness, the toast bread was so delicious. The best part, mommy let me makan KAYA! - She must be in a good mood for letting me.

Eh! Itu Alif - Sayang, sayang, sayang ke tengah lintas jalan?

Toast bread might be delicious, but nothing compares to a full bottle of milk and milk and milk. :) Do I look like Alex the Lion of Madagascar with hair like this?

Bahasa Malaysia vs English

reading while on the moves ... just like mommy

The Cabinet had finally decided to revert the teaching of Mathematics and Science for the Primary Schools children from the current in English to Bahasa Malaysia by 2012. The decision was made after a lot of Hu-Ha raised by certain group of people.
My boss and I had a long chat about the subject and we both agreed that we both couldn’t arbitrate which option would be a better one.

The brilliant Prof. Ungku Aziz stated his opinion that language is just a medium to getting the knowledge across. Any language would equally gives the same impact because the important substance here is the knowledge and not the language itself. Chandra Muzaffar said, PPSMI was a mistake. Che Det said, reverting to BM will be a mistake. Well, every one is entitled to his own opinion.

I am a kampong girl, proud one from Kampung Lundang, Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Glamor sket – New Castle, Chelantanne.
Kelantanese are famous for our English Budu – speaking. Many may speak English but can’t never leave the budu accent behind. I did quite well during primary school which opened me for an opportunity to a boarding school for secondary, a reputable one in-fact – Tunku Kurshiah College. Together with me, there were two others from my batch whom were selected for the same which later was followed up by another one.

When I first arrived in TKC.. 21 years ago, I noticed a big green sign board with yellow lettering read as “SAVE OUR ENVIROMENT” placed at the first corner right after entering the Bukit Merbah compound. Out of the 3 words, I only understood the meaning of the middle word – OUR.
The other two – SAVE, ENVIROMENT – what the hell is that? So, you can judge my English standard back then. I believe I couldn’t say the same with my two friends. They surely comprehended the signboard well. This means, I couldn’t blame being a Kelantanese for having such poor English vocabulary knowledge. I do not how I got an ‘A’ for English in Peperiksaan Darjah 5! (Peperiksaan Darjah 5? Not even UPSR?… Oh! How I was from the dinosaur age)

In TKC, we had to sit for an English proficiency test every year to determine which Set we would be in for English classes. Obviously, I didn’t end up in the high set. Sure la… many of my friends at that time have already been reading “thick-complicated-adults” books of Mario Puzo la , Stephen King la, Sidney Sheldon etc, and me, I couldn’t even finish an Enid Blyton.
The good thing about streaming group of students into sets was, the lower sets comprise of very small number of students and the teacher really had the time to concentrate on each student whom was weak like me. So along the line, 5 years in TKC, my English did improve tremendously. I also thank many of my friends back then for never to belittled me of my bad English, instead helped me a lot whenever I seek them for any difficulties that I faced – Aliza Zainal Anuar, Hazatul Farah Abdullah, Fazlin Abu Hassan Shaari, Faridah Jamaluddin (Allahyarhamah), Sri Marni Zainal Abidin, Zurilawati Mohd Zam, Irmawati Muhammad Tahir….. Yup, in TKC – all of us are proud of our name to be said in full. Thus far, I remember majority of TKC friends name in full and of course the nick names too.
In TKC also, that I accepted my MARIO name with an open heart and being proud of it, not like during much younger days that I hated it for people kept asking me – ORANG APA NI? As a kid I used to pester my mami to file an oath and change my name to a simpler one. When she asked me what name do I want to change to, I remember choosing SITI ZAITON for a reason I, myself do not certain.

Studying in a local university, I wouldn’t say mastering English is that essential because we had our assignments, presentations done in Bahasa Malaysia. The one difficulty may be to understand the reference books which many of them are in English.

Working in a private sector with private jobs however, is not easy if the command of English is not good. I have many sub-ordinates under me whom are supposed to make my life easier. Somehow, it is not a smooth ride when I have to check not only the content of a letter, report or whatnot prepared by them but also the ‘English’. Kadang2 sampai lari maksud report when Present Tense and Past Tense are not understood and being jumbled up, don’t talk about Present Perfect Tense or Past Perfect Tense.

I always put my effort to help them with English, I even bought some primary and secondary school text books for English, Dictionaries and Thesaurus with my noble intention to help and to teach. Why school text books and not the advanced English learning referances? To be honest, because the fundamental is not correct! I am not saying I have the best command of English. No I am not, but with little extra capability, I want to share with others just like my friends whom had helped me on days ago.

I do not know for what exact reason that some group of people opposed in PPSMI. Really because they think by so doing the Malay culture soon will die? Or for political reason ? Me don’t know. But if it’s because of reason number one, I think that is so-so shallow. For what I am certain is, I am a no lesser Malay if I can speak English well or even other languages, Mandarin ka, Tamil ka, Thai ka, Nihon-go ka. Look at Senor Mahathir Lokman. People respect him for his capability mastering multiple of languages. But does that makes him a Mat Salleh for speaking English, or a French for speaking Francois, or a Phillipino for speaking Tagalog?
Takkan boleh diubah raut Melayu di muka – Eh! This could be a not so true statement in the current plastic surgery era - Michael Jackson could change, still DNA inside us can’t never change.

Sama jugak, that it makes me a no lesser Kelantanese, not even a second if I speak Bahasa Malaysia and not in Kelantanese dialect with non-Kelantanese people. Due respect to others.

So along with the announcement made by the Cabinet, they were saying some measures would be taken to uplift the English standard among school children. I want to see what measures they are talking about because at the end of the day, the language itself is a branch of knowledge and English for the truth of the matter is the world language, no one can deny it’s importance.

I can say my English is far-far better than my mami (when she speaks no English at all) but I am not proud of that if I cannot help my daughter to be BETTER than me. It's rather 'sayang' if at the age of 20’s, venturing into the working environment and she still need somebody else to correct her grammar … burdening others.

My baby @ 18mths blabbers a lot... but only speaks few words, dajdyy/daddy, pih/fish, schoo/shoes, berr/bird, tact/cat, nak gi/nak lagi, na nak/tak nak, besh/habis !