Akmal Izzat

i've been neglecting entries on the boys, so i'll make it a must to write an entry on the boys once a month. i wrote an entry on amir last month, so i should write one on asyraf but among the 4, akmal's shown the most development so i'll go with him.

to summarise akmal's growth, i'll quote amir "akmal ni pandai lah...dia pandai clap, dia pandai salam, dia pandai high 5, dia pandai babai, dia pandai jalan, dia pandai cakap...thomas pun dia tau mummy". well, that about sums it up. over the past few months, akmal's moved from a 1 year old who refused to do anything (he really wont do anything he doesnt want) to an active toddler. akmal took his first step when he turned 14 months, roughly the same age as amir, but his first step remain that...one step! after that he refused to walk. he can...but he wont.

he finally walked, properly walked and did not stop, roughly around early july when he was 16 months old. still normal, i know, but i felt it was a bit late. late because his brothers walked way before then, and not comparing him to anyone, late because he could walk, he just didnt want to. now he walks everywhere. he can also climb down the beds, that just came immediately after walking.

he also mumbles a lot. his mouth is non-stop. he doesnt say anything that we can understand, except 'dedi' and 'nakkkk', other than that its all just gibberish. but its still non-stop. he loves to give high 5, he loves to wave bye, he loves to salam. sometimes you can get him to kiss you, but sometimes it doesnt work and he'll turn his head away. ikut dia lah.

we've always known that akmal loves thomas. i mean really loves thomas. he would stop and stare whenever thomas comes on the telly. he would dance in his bathtub in the bathroom if he hears the thomas theme song being played in the room next door. he loves every small thomas train to his biggest thomas backpack. i asked akmal the other day while playing with one of his small trains, 'mana thomas??' akmal got up and walked away. i asked him where's thomas again. he walked to the wall and pointed to the thomas border. ahhh...he really knows thomas, bless him.

akmal loves songs. he loves 'twinkle twinkle little star', 'itsey weetsey spider' and the very famous 'di mana dia akmal izzat mummy'. he would sing slong too. he also loves to hear the chicken song. the boys say its because that's the ringing tone of his teachers.

akmal's teacher complains that now he pinches his friends. ah, that he does. he probably learned it from the thousands of people who've pinches his cheek. akmal's cheeks are very talked about. he's got really puffy, round cheeks that you want to just bite.

akmal knows he's the baby of the family. he's extremely manja but at the same time would fight to get his way. no one can touch his toys. touch them and he'd pull them away. he knows his cry would get everyone running his way, especially his abang long and his abang adik. abang adik who was against the idea of having a little sibling, now calls him 'baby mal'. amir calls him 'baby kita' or 'anak kita'. his abang also loves to kiss him but that's a rarity. he's usually fighting with abang as he loves disturbing abang when abang's doing his puzzles. that's when abang starts to cry and daddy or mummy has to intervene.

akmal's gone passed the porridge stage and is now eating proper rice, usually soup. he also loves cereal and cookies and potato chips and rolls and nuggets & chips and burgers. his milk intake has dropped, alhamdulillah. he's only drinking 3 bottles a day - his morning bottle is around 11am, afternoon bottle is at about 5pm and night bottle is around 9pm. he doesnt need to drink to fall asleep. he can drink, continue to play and go to sleep an hour after that, on his own. how far he's grown from that dribbling baby who had to have a bottle every 4 hours.

i just hope akmal can stop his susu before he turns 2 but stays in his cot until he hits 2. other than that, i wish he would continue being this chubby, healthy, happy baby who continues to make his parents and his brothers laugh at his every antics.