Boys Update II

i'm off work today (and tomorrow, if i feel like it) due to acute tonsillitis. my throat's been bugging me the past 2 weeks, i noticed i had a small cut on my right tonsil earlier. then it became a full-blown sore throat. it was extremely red, especially last weekend. getting 3 mouth ulcers at the same time didnt help. my throat itches so bad that i'd cough and choke until i threw up.

the doctor advised me to rest and drink a lot of fluid. after the visit to the doctor, i stopped by giant to get a tub of ice cream. i got my self 2 tubs - coffee and cookies and cream. i'm actually craving for haagen dasz' strawberry cheesecake, but there wasnt any. stopped by to get a copy of "parents" magazine.

so here i am. alone at home. the boys are in daycare and hubby's gone to a funeral. i miss my boys. i know people always say not to forego your "me-time" and to find time away from your kids, but not me. i dont think i can sit still for a facial or a massage without starting to cry, thinking of the boys. i've even turned down invitations to weddings, lunches, dinners, buka puasas, because i cant bear to leave them at home.

amir
god...what cant amir do at the moment? well, he cant stop talking for one! from the moment he wakes up, its "kum daddy, kum mummy...babyyyyyyyyyy..." till the moment he closes his eyes at night "nak tidoooooo..." in between he's either shouting, calling, singing, praying, ber-doa-ing, whining or laughing...his mouth switched to hyperdrive.

after spending a month at a nearby daycare (that i really regretted sending...he was so miserable there), amir is thriving at his new school. his teachers love him, there'd be 3-4 teachers sending him to the car and saying bye to him everyday. his teacher would always tell hubby that amir really, really talks a lot (erkk...more than the other 149 children there?? alamak...malu mummy). amir also picks up new things easily. words, numbers, actions, tones. hubby got the shock of his life one day when he went into the bathroom and saw amir taking his wudhu (he washed his hands, his ears and then his feet).

he also remembers all the scenes of the shows his watches. of course that is due to him watching them 100,000 a day. he'd scream before the kids scream in monsters inc. he'd say meeska, mooska mickey mouse, before mickey says them. he'd fly before mr noodle flies in elmo's world. and he would pick out all small details that we wouldnt.

amir would associate most things he sees with his family. like the astro logo is mummy's ball, celcom logo is mummy's ball, united logo is mummy's ball (eh banyak betul ball mummy), arsenal logo is daddy's ball, all girls are mummy and men are daddy (cinderella and ariel are mummy, much to tiza's irritation). if he sees things in a group of 4, be it chocolates, pillows, diapers, he would tell us which is the daddy, the mummy, the amir and the asyraf, according to the size.

he now have this habit of choosing sides. if i scold him, he'd rush to hubby whining "daddy...mummy buattttttt". if hubby scolds him, he'd come running to me "mummy, daddy buatttt..." last night, while colouring he accidentally poked himself with a colour pencil. as i was praying, he ran off to his daddy, going "daddy...colour buattttttt"

he's been eating a lot too lately. he used to be a fussy eater, whenever he ate that is. there were times when he just refuses to eat. he'd just munch on biscuits and chips. now its nasi and ikan everyday. while we have craving for mcd, he'd ask for nasi and keropok. he's put on a lot of fat and is very energetic. he looks healthy, and is seldom down with fever and flu. especially now that he's stopped sucking on his fingers. that's another achievement too...getting him to stop sucking his fingers. we wanted to try to many things, from putting salt, to putting things form this certain tree hubby saw on his fingers, but we finally managed to stop him with a few smacks on his mouth. heh...corporal punishment works!

last week he managed to stay dry and diaper-less for 3 hours. i bought him some nice football briefs, the first step to making him diaper-free. he felt weird being "free" and kept looking down to see that everything's still where they should be. i'm hoping he'll be toilet-trained before the end of the year.

i credit a lot of amir's development to his school. we were sceptical of the place initially, what with our experience with the previous nursery, then it being all-malay (we didnt want amir to grow up in an all-malay environment), and it also had a lot of children, but the place has been nothing but great to the boys. if there's any complain, they really take it seriously and would improve. if their teacher makes a mistake, the management isnt scared of relieving her of her duties (as we saw after amir was bitten), they teach things that we thought our children are too young to learn, like teaching amir to recite the doa makan, and they also have exams and sports day to show parents what the children have learnt. if hubby ever decides to leave his current employer, i think we will still leave the boys where they are.

asyraf
ahhh...my little baby. asyraf has transformed from the little "rough" baby that hubby and i know into an absolute angel. he seldom cries nowadays, unless its his sleeping time. he would wake up with a smile every morning, and sleep easily at night.

asyraf's development was slower compared to amir. amir had 2 teeth by the time he turned 1 month, was smiling and laughing before he was 2 months, rolled over in his 3rd month. but asyraf certainly took his time. not that i was comparing against amir but i was a bit worried as he wouldnt show any sign of development during his first 4 months. he would eat, sleep, and lie down one way and not change anything. then before he turned 5 months, he went through this cranky period. it was a long, stressful 2 weeks. he would cry and cry, didnt want to be fed, didnt want to sleep, or eat. then one day, it all stopped...and he rolled over! the next day he shuffled forward, and then he would be able to sit quietly in his car seat. a quiet little asyraf. he seriously stunned hubby and i. just when we thought we couldnt take it anymore, he changed.

the best of all his developments is, asyraf found his voice. and he has the sweetest voice. a voice he kept inside him for 5 long months. now when we have dinner, we no longer have to take turns carrying him. he can sit quietly in his car seat and entertain us with his voice.

i'm thankful that we didnt resort to pacifiers and buais even though asyraf was a difficult baby. there were times when i thought, heck with my principles, i need some rest! but thank god we persevered. asyraf did go through a "pacifying stage" though but instead of dummies, he'd get a bottle of milk. then he was overfed and would throw up. but that changed once we weaned him. speaking of weaning, he's also graduated from gerber 1st stage to 2nd stage. one small jar isnt enough for him anymore. i'm hoping he'd be a big eater and stop his milk by the time he's 12-18 months just like abang long.

but whatever asyraf's developments are, there's one thing he wont do easily, and that is smile. he absolutely refuse to smile, especially with people other than hubby, amir and i. even with us, it takes a lot to get him to smile. with amir, it looks like he's easy with both - smiling and frowning. he would smile first, then when amir gets all getik with him, it would be a big, black frown from asyraf. i can just imagine the two of them growing up, one so cheeky, the other so serious.

one thing we regret with asyraf is, teaching him to sleep on his tummy. hubby (and he does admit it) was the one who insisted that asyraf sleeps on his tummy. i wasnt too keen, due to SIDS. but hubby said, if this is the way this boy could sleep, and us get some rest, then this is the way this boy will sleep. and now...asyraf refuse to sleep in any other position than on his tummy. getting him to sleep in his car seat is a nightmare, once he gets sleepy i would have to put him over my shoulder for him to sleep. strollers need to be those that can lie absolutely flat, so that he can sleep. unlike amir who can sleep anytime and anywhere, asyraf is very choosy about where he sleeps. if he's sleepy and he doesnt like where he's currently at, well...then that's the old asyraf re-surfacing. sleeping on his tummy is also bad for his face. before sleeping asyraf likes to rub his face on the mattress. he does that when he's sleeping as well. so his cheeks are all so rough and scaly. its also bad as its one of the causes of his asthma, as he breathes in all the germs on the bedsheet. plus, now that he's learnt to roll over, he would get angry when his sleep is interupted.

last night, however, he managed to sleep on his back for the first time. i hope this will continue. susah lah carrying him in the car so that he can sleep, plus its not safe, is it?

boys...they're wonderful creation, arent they?















well, these are my boys, actually...i miss them so much.