Ariff Turns Six

oh what a big boy he's become. literally. biggest of the four. fit and packed and round. and, alhamdulillah, healthy - despite the sweet and fatty food he eats!

at six, ariff's getting a hang on reading and maths. his arts and crafts have always been top-form. he colours with care and patience, everything stays in the line, using bold colours. his writing is neat and tidy. but his reading wasn't something to shout about. he could not grasp three-letter syllables. he can read out the letters, but could not pronounce them. with his ipod, he's shown some improvements. he can make out words and write words. small mistakes here and there but he's getting much better. his maths is slightly better than his reading. he can grasp addition and subtraction well but at times, he cant even count properly. he skips 18 and 19 for some reason. 17 goes directly to 20.

at six, he's pretty dependable. he knows where and how to get things we ask. he's not afraid to get them, unlike his older brothers. he knows where to put things too after using them. he can shower and brush his teeth all by himself. he gets ready on his own. he knows how to pick his clothes, though that may not always be a good thing.

at six, he can eat properly. hardly ever have spills, total opposite of asyraf. he cleans up well after meals. can even help to wash plates and cups. at times too 'helpful' that he gets in the way.

at six, he's getting more and more like amir. loves disturbing his brothers. akmal and asyraf are the usual targets. he loves making them cry and then he'll be laughing at them. too much like amir. he gets along well with amir due to that. with asyraf, he has this invisible yet sensitive bond. they're very close but would never show anyone. they would say they love everyone but not each other. akmal, that's his playing friend. they play thomas together, watch sofia the first together, play with their cars together, watch snow white together.

for his birthday, ariff asked for spiderman theme. i wasn't about to indulge because i don't think he even likes spiderman. then he asked for timmy time, then thomas. he can't make up his mind because he's never been a fan or a follower of a character. he likes sharks and tigers and buses. in the end i resort to a plain cake and general party favours. he's more interested in the act of giving the favours away, anyway, rather than the character.

on the morning of his birthday, i went over to mydin to grab favour bags and blowers and some packed food. went home to put them together. drove over to bonjour garden to get whatever cake's on display that morning (thank god they were open at 9.30am) and took the cake and the favours over to ariff's school.

he had his cake cutting with his classmates, got to give the favour bags away (he was waiting for this), got his birthday wishes from his friends and went back to his class happy. he also got to come home early, getting a day off from his daycare on his birthday.

we went out for dinner at chili's, being so close and so familiar with the boys. they know what food they wanted even before we left home. the waiters sang ariff a birthday song, which he loved, and gave him a birthday dessert, which he refused to share with anyone.

it was a lovely and simple birthday for ariff iqhwan, who had been waiting for 'oteber 8' for weeks. his birthday present is also simple. he just wanted a blue bus. i couldn't find any though so i got him black and red buses instead.

happy birthday abangdik. hope you liked your special day, may you continue to grow healthily and continue to teach us the meaning of patience that you have in abundance.