Happy Tenth Ariff

it was ten years ago when i was admitted for probably my easiest delivery out of six. pre-delivery wasnt that easy. i actually felt contraction, as in labour contraction and not the pain-nice contraction, for the first time. at 8am, i went to the hospital all pale and in super duper pain and was not at all skipping with joy. but that only lasted over 3 hours because we welcomed ariff before midday.

over the years ariff's been triggering a lot of emotions in us. calm and cool initially, that we could still focus on our emotional asyraf but then he turned into a force to be reckon with. a talkative, tearful, screamer, hitter, whiner (and he has not stopped whining!!) boy.

ariff was a difficult student. its like a cycle with him. he refuses to learn and he's find school difficult, yet he will find school difficult if he refuses to learn. he had a difficult first three years in school, he was constantly bringing home red marks, particularly for maths and science. and not surprising, when he entered year 4, and class streaming commenced, he was in the second last class. it was sad to see but it turned out to be the best thing that happened to him in school. he suddenly brought home his first As for core subjects and alhamdulillah, he ended the school year much, much better and was able to jump up 2 classes. he's not so excited for school and is so motivated to do better.

having said that, ariff's been getting a few prizes at his agama school, particularly in the activities they have during school celebration.

at home, ariff's been super helpful. he sets the table, prepares amani's susu stuff for the night, prepares everyone's water tumbler, he would make up everyone's bed if they all slept in his room, he would bring up the laundry basket & sort everyone's clothes, he would help me get amira ready or at least bring down her pajamas every night.

the downside of ariff is his lack of interest outside of planes and cars. he doesnt like sports, he doesnt like outdoor activities, he's not showing any interest in musical instruments, he doesnt like to be on stage, so his extra curriculur does not shine at all. he tried out archery but that didnt last long but now he has mentioned that he would like to take up swimming. let's see how that turns out.

ariff's also has an interest in cooking or at least would like to know what i'm doing when i'm cooking. my dream is for him to take up a culinary course and see where that would take him. but that's a long way away yet, so we're not setting anything in stone.

happy tenth abadik, you're a big boy now :)