Amir Iskandar

our abang long, also known as katak pisang and turtle (a name he gave himself). amir's almost 5 and a half (will be in 3 weeks, to be exact). he's grown so much. maybe because he has 3 younger brothers at such a young age.

sometimes amir can be one's best friend, sometimes he can be one's biggest enemy. with amir, a conversation can flow so smoothly as he clearly understands, is emphatic, quick to respond and is witty with his answers. but catch him at a bad time, it can be frustrating talking to him as he'll reply with the irritating 'tak nak kawan' and 'padan muka' and 'baru tau.

after 5 years, amir is still putting his fingers into his mouth, be it while watching tv, while sitting in the car, while waiting for something, especially when about to fall asleep.

amir's a great big brother. he's very helpful when we need things to be brought to us (the milk bottle, the diapers, akmal's towel, the remote, the phone), he's handy to have around when you cant bend down and grab something on the floor, although he takes his brotherly love a bit too far at times and carries akmal around (tak sedar akmal sebesar dia).

the irritating bit about amir is his screaming. he screams when he talks, he screams when he runs, he screams when he watches the telly. its honestly so irritating. he's also prone to start a fight, especially with asyraf. there are times when amir can be lying on the couch, doing nothing but watching tv, and he'll start mocking asyraf (who is sensitive to the max) and a fight will start, complete with face scratching, punching, kicking - if they had hair, there'll be hair pulling.

amir will start schooling at a nearby kindergarten next year. we still have not chosen which kindy we want to send him to, but he needs to be with his future primary classmates so that he wont feel awkward when he starts standard 1 in 2012. we could have sent him earlier but we didnt want him to go alone, so we waited til asyraf was old enough so that we can send both of them to a new school.

i wonder how it would be for amir to make new friends. and how he'd miss his friends now, especially haziq. haziq has been his best friend since he was 2 years old. whenever he does something at home or gets something he would say, nanti amir nak tunjuk haziq, nanti amir nak cakap haziq.

this year we'll let him try fasting during ramadhan. not sure if he fully understands the meaning yet but he seems pretty excited. it would probably be a chore to wake him up for sahur and he'll probably fall asleep in his class but he's got to start somewhere. we're hoping he can make it til lunchtime, at least. then we'll see how it goes from there.

so there's my amir iskandar. the one who thought be about motherhood, about time management, about singing until you lose your voice, about stopping milk before they turn 2, about cots and high chairs and car seats and strollers and bumbos and exersaucers (alhamdulillah all 4 stay put whenever hubby and i put them in one of those wonderful inventions).