Brushing.

There's this video going around facebook on "how to brush your child's teeth",
It features pinning the child between a parent's crotch with his hands under each of the dad's legs.
All just to brush some teeth.
What I learned growing up was my sister & I obediently brushed our teeth, hence it was healthy, & didn't fall off even when our permanent tooth came out underneath.
You can see my extremely embarrassing crooked front tooth everytime I smile now.
My brother, on the other hand, never brushed his teeth growing up, which resulted in them rotting in his mouth & had to be pulled out before his permanent tooth started growing.
But then they had all the space they needed & grew perfectly.
Beautiful adult smile.
So yeah, I was never concerned with brushing Hilwa's teeth.
Like many aspects of her life, Hilwa is very opposed to trying something new.
& the fact that her teeth only started growing at 15 months didn't help.
By the time she had teeth to be brushed, she would scream at the sight of a toothbrush & weirdly flavored toothpaste.
So she only started brushing regularly maybe about half a year ago?
& she uses a specific kid's strawberry toothpaste that I do not agree with.
& even that took a few weeks of letting her play with the toothbrush & taste the toothpaste in her own time.
I imagine if I actually pinned her down to brush her teeth, she would be traumatized her whole life.
But Izzaz, who lives to eat, would open his mouth to anything so he's been brushing his 4 wee baby teeth with greenzhi now.
Never seem to mind the 'spicy-ness' or the taste,
He can swallow all he wants for all I care.
So parents, please,
Not everything that works for other people's child will work for yours.
Heck, it wouldn't even work for both your first born to the 2nd & so on.
You should know each of your child better,
Don't traumatize them.
Besides, pulling out rotten teeth cost much much less than braces in their teens.
Peace out!

Anak dara.

In the chaos of getting through each day,
Tak sedar yang Hilwa dah besar.
Dah boleh mintak tukarkan pampers dia bila dia dah rasa rimas,
Dah almost 3 months tidur sendiri takyah breastfeed.
Most of the time I'll just leave her alone in the room with her phone & check balik after half hour dah lena.
Update on weaning her pun entah kemana haritu.
Basically it started with pujuk dia takyah breastfeed nak tidur,
Tepuk-tepuk dudu-dudu.
Susu botol make sure dia kenyang.
Biar main sampai penat betul so she settles easily.
Then she stopped susu botol jugak just before puasa, I never knew why lol she rejected it cold turkey.
So now she takes one or two boxes of that small kid-sized milo kotak per day.
Appetite alhamdulillah, cuma berat tak naik-naik sebab buas masyaallah.
Bila datang hari tak berapa penat or ter-nap siang or mood tidur tak sampai memang berjanggut la tunggu dia lena.
Izzaz pun still responds to her voice even in his sleep,
So if she doesn't fall asleep first memang jangan harap Izzaz nak settle for the night.
Tunggu je la satgi dia mangkit bergaduh dua orang ni.
But at least now he's much bigger (in size & age) the fear of Hilwa seriously hurting him is not as great as before.
Hilwa pun dah pandai control her anger if Izzaz cari pasal.
She's not perfect at it, but I do catch her occasionally balling her fists & shaking it in anger instead of hitting him.
Kekadang tu dia peluk adik dia ketat-ketat & give him a kiss, which I do too when he annoys me to the point of murder lol.
I never thought I'd see the day when Hilwa would give Izzaz a kiss, but she does it often now alhamdulillah.
Oh & most important of all, she allows me to give her haircuts now.
Dah pandai duduk diam & let me snip her bangs straight on her forehead.
Tadi lepas trim bangs dia aku dok sikat-sikat main-main rambut dia & she let me,
So I tied it up & she looked up into the mirror while shaking her ponytail & blowing kisses to her reflection.
I told her if she likes her hair tied, I'll buy her getah yang ada flower.
Then she wouldn't stop saying flower lol.
So I guess I'm making a trip to sinma soon.

Flashbacks.

Was sorting through 5 bags of baby clothes earlier,
Picking out good ones to pass down to Ikhwan's cousin who recently gave birth & also a very pregnant Ika.
I was fine through out the process,
There were some outfits that stood out & brought memories,
But it wasn't until later in the night that I felt nostalgic.
Flashbacks of a newborn Izzaz,
Thin & frail & pukey & cold.
I would wipe him down every evening opposite the front door because that's the warmest & brightest place downstairs (he pukes even if you remove his shirt under a normal fan pfft that boy).
Kneeling instead of sitting cross legged coz my stitches hasn't healed,
Working as fast as possible lest he sprinkles or pukes.
Worst is when he pukes right when I just put on fresh pyjamas on him.
Urgh I hated those times.
But the best part is always seeing him calm & comfortable after being changed.
He would drift off to sleep right there, in front of the door, on a beaten out piece of old pillow,
& I would be able to go freshen up myself, bathe & feed Hilwa, & have dinner before he'll need me again.
He was such a patient, sweet little boy,
Which was crucial having a feisty Hilwa as his sister.
Sometimes he would wake up at night while Hilwa is still nursing, & just wait.
Oh I lost count of all the times he patiently let Hilwa have her way first.
That was one thing I constantly thanked Allah for, the patience of Izzaz.
He's more outspoken now,
Catching on so fast & saying the randomest things he heard.
I have to really watch my words with this one lol.
Where did all the time go?
You used to fit in a puny romper,
Now you're sharing clothes with your sister.
Pfft I'm so weepy tonight.

Aturan Tuhan.

Sekarang ni trend bukak facebook orang dok share kisah hidup dekat kisah rumah tangga la, iium confessions la.
Honestly aku memang minat membaca tahap label cornflakes pun aku baca sambil makan.
Makanya trend ni memang kena la dengan jiwa.
Percaya tak percaya tu belakang cerita,
Kalau ada yang kena tang batang hidung, ambik pengajaran simpan dalam hati kemas-kemas.
So malam ni isunya is this guy yang makcik dia matchmake dengan sorang awek kampung sebelah that he doesn't know.
Baru tunang, jumpa dua tiga kali.
Long story short, tunang dia tu dota player kental,
Dia pulak biasa-biasa je.
Main game sama kena bahan dia noob, kena bash dengan bahasa nan indah lol.
So aku pun bukak la comments kat post tu & they struck me more than the post itself.
"Never ask your partner to quit their passion".
"Nak kahwin dengan dota player kena faham lifestyle diorang. Kahwin. Bukan just kawan".
& aku nak masukkan sekali apa yang father in law aku cakap weekend lepas, even though he was referring to something completely unrelated.
"Tuhan bagi semua yang terbaik. Papa boleh kata papa dah advise 5 tahun lepas, tapi truth is He leads you to the path that is best for you".
Something like that.
I could never handle a guy who is passionate about a hobby.
I demand too much attention, I'm not ashamed to admit.
Sebab passion aku pun is my husband, my kids, my family.
I cannot brain leaving them to go do something more worthwhile,
Hidup rasa tak lengkap.
Dulu punca gaduh dengan cinta-cinta monyet semua sebab diorang nak main bola la dota la nak pi lepak dengan kawan taknak bawak aku la.
Emo betul aku lol.
Dalam bulan Ramadan Tuhan hantar Ikhwan,
Skype 24 jam, tinggal laptop sat sebab turun sahur, pi kelas jumpa lagi.
Aku ingat lagi dia nak gi buka puasa dengan kawan-kawan dia,
Dia dok siap sambil skype dengan aku,
Tak sabar nak balik nak sambung skype aherher.
Ikhwan doesn't play games, sports or do any activities excessively.
Dia acah nak jadi rider tapi aku tau dia nak gaya je.
To him looking spotless in his work attire is more important then riding to work.
Sibuk nak beli helmet lawa la riding boots la,
Tapi senang je, masuk gaji tetiap bulan aku terus bayar hutang, masuk savings,
Nah terus miskin toksah beli apa dah hahahah!
Nampak tak aturan Tuhan macam mana Hilyah, cantik je semua.
I know I seem to be talking about these reminders a lot lately.
I do need them,
& I want to keep them for future reference.
Mana la tau kot-kot Ikhwan buat hal kan.
Hahahahah

Syawal.

It's so easy to feel empowered when you're a woman.
The only thing out of the ordinary today was the fact my husband had to work (on 2nd Syawal).
So I tagged along with my parents to visit my aunt in Melaka,
& made it there & back incident free.
Izzaz pooped just after we reached my aunt's,
Cleaned him up no problem.
Both kids had decent breakfast & lunch,
Napped in the car,
Played with their cousins,
Tip top behavior.
Arrived home just before 5 pm so I decided to go visit Lin,
(Nahhh actually I was thinking of her nasi dagang the whole day lol)
Drove myself & the kids there,
Again they played & behaved so well,
Hilwa even ate some key lapis.
Then we came back & Imara visited pulak.
Simple day with those who matter & I'm on cloud nine.
I know I complain endlessly about the kids here,
But I cannot imagine doing anything else that I'd love more than staying at home & achieving these simple victories.
I'll leave the career-building side of life to Ikhwan hee.

Love stories.

Let's be perfectly honest,
Love can go stale.
Especially after years of not only just courtship,
But living together.
Kids come into the picture,
& suddenly you're no longer lovers,
Just partners in the marriage business (got this quote from a movie but for the life of me I cant recall the title right now).
So I live for moments like tonight,
& once upon a visit to A Pie Thing circa October 2014,
When my best friends get their own versions of the Ikea realization,
& I get some of their afterglow.
I've been pretty much lost lately,
Beating myself up over the fact I remember minute details & the most insignificant moments from a previous life,
When I couldn't recall much from 2010 onwards.
But tonight it clicks.
I remember how I felt when Ikhwan showed me what a matured relationship was like.
When you can discuss the past like friends then discuss the future like lovers.
When there's no judging of where you have been, respecting that that's the path which brought you here.
I remember falling in love because the pieces fit, instead of forcing & molding it to fit.
I remember feeling light because things just flowed,
Conversations flowed, dreams & ambitions aligned, families jived.
& I remember leaving it up to God to guide me,
& how that lifted the weight off my shoulders for the first time in my life.
No more doubts & what ifs.
I hope Imara does not read my blog because I do not want her to feel pressured (but I really like this one lol),
I'm just really excited to see her journey.
From what I see you're halfway there!
& thank you for reminding me of my own.
This is my husband.
He annoyed me recently because one of his team members, who is already taking more than enough leaves next week for raya, requested for another day off on Friday to travel balik kampung earlier,
& my dearest husband approved the leave because "malas nak bising".
But then I realized this is exactly why with him it works.
I can be my most difficult & childish self & he would tolerate it to make both our lives easier.
Having to deal with extra work? Who cares, ain't gonna kill him.
& I love him so much for it I can't even put it into words properly.

Progress.

Lama tak cerita update Izzaz Arif.
Since he turned 9 months old he's achieving milestones so fast I'm losing track.
Started with tumbuh gigi 4 in a row,
Top right, bottom right, top left & now bottom left just cut through.
& he's also been super chatty lately.
His first word, after mama & papa which he first said months ago I don't even remember exactly when, is tiyak.
Tiyak, which in Hilwa-speak is berak.
Lulz.
Then it was titak (cicak).
& today bye bye.
He also pretty much understand stuff like cicak or lampu means tengok atas & point to ceiling,
& bye bye means wave.
At first I thought he's gonna be a fast walker but now I'm not too sure.
He might talk first.
We'll see.
He's still nervous about learning to stand without support,
Though I know he can coz I did let go of him once & he just stood for a few seconds then steadily sat down.
Not gonna pressure him though.
I'm having too much fun saying random things & hearing him repeat it.
I just hope he's not shy to show all this during his check up.
Oh yeah, his check up which he missed due to a horrible fever which developed into an ear infection which caused him to throw up everything that touches his mouth.
This is the second time I had to postpone a jab because he was on antibiotics,
& we were already a month late for the first MMR jab.
Now we gotta wait another 2 weeks -_-"
So fingers crossed for a smooth raya & a healthy baby boy.