Last Sunday night, 17th of June 2007, I was driving back to KL from Muar with my wife and baby Ikhwan in the back seat. The jam was pretty heavy due to some constructions on the highway. Once we cleared that, we decided to stop at one of the resting areas to pray and grab some foods.
After performing my prayer, I sat at the back accompanying Ikhwan who had just gotten up after sleeping for only a few minutes, while my wife went to fulfill her duty to God. Despite feeling tired (he must had been), Ikhwan was amazingly cheerful, as though enjoying his car trip very much. I was making him milk, when at that moment, he said..... "Papa..."
Oh My God! At first I was like... wait, did you just say Papa, but then I knew I wasn't mistaken. His voice was loud and clear enough! I was soooooooo excited that if only the car was a convertible, I would have jumped up and down in the car and screamed and shouted for others to hear my excitement.
Sigh... If only my wife was around to be the (ear) witness... And you know what, Ikhwan said Papa once again the following Monday, and without my wife's presence...again!
I may not be able to show the video of him saying Papa just yet, but here's a first video of Ikhwan, engaging in a very insightful conversation with my mum. You can click here or the You Tube link below. Enjoy it folks... :-)
I think it's pathetic that.... ........ some of us consider their job is everything and the only thing that they have in life - in fact more important than life itself. ........it is also amazing that.... ....... despite some of us are being so fussy and nit picking (to the extent that it's suffocating to others), those people are still alive and kicking with no serious health issues.... ....however, it's pathetic that.... ........ they may be healthy and alive now, they may own fancy clothes with trendy hairstyle and tons of cash to boot, but they fail to realise that once that 'little' thing called life is snatched away from them, none of that matters anymore, even if they are dressed in fancy clothes and with notes strewn with them inside that 'little' thing called coffin, and even more pathetic, if they have nobody to inherit those fortunes or their fortunes are 'misused' by their heirs.... .... now how about this, isn't it pathetic that...... ...... despite having gained independence for 50 years, we are still not THAT independent.....
Although only 2 months' old, Ikhwan has a wide collection of toys. Heck, his 'papa' is still collecting toys for himself and has been quite generous to his nieces when it comes to buying them toys, haha..
In this first entry on Ikhwan and his toys, lemme introduce you to his 3 favourite toys. Not that he already knows which ones to be his favourites, just that these 3 toys seem to grab his attention the most.
The horse toy (above photo) is by Sassyand this is one horse in lots of different colors! As Ikhwan grows up, we hope the tufts of colorful ribbons on the horse’s head and tail would encourage him to realise that one of the uses of his hands is to touch.
The horse’s orange saddle can be pushed to hear the little pony making 3 different horse sounds. Yesterday, Ikhwan accidentally pushed the saddle while the toy was on his side. Seeing the expression on Ikhwan's face when he discovered that his action had caused the horse to neigh, was priceless and unforgettable.
One leg of the horse can also be pulled on to make the opposite limb get shorter. I've been demonstrating this to Ikhwan and at the same time teaching him the opposite of long is short. Four of its hoofed feet are filled with colorful beads and shapes that make different rattling sounds.
The toy manual says that the toy would encourage our baby to use all his senses together (sensory integration) which is important in his learning process.
The other toy is not made by any well-known manufacturer (I mean it has no brand and doesn't come with any manual) and is relatively cheaper. But the toy somehow always manages to calm our baby down whenever he's crying or in a bad mood. Whenever we pull the string of the toy and the music plays, Ikhwan will normally cheer up and try to communicate with us. If we move the toy around him, he's slowly starting to follow where the direction of the music is going. The roof of the mushroom house which is in bright red with white polka dots also grabs his attention and sometimes his eyes are transfixed to the moving bird, bear and cat in the house, while the music is playing. No batteries required! :-)
This toy comes with secure straps and easily attaches to our baby cradle.The hanging characters rattle, crinkle and swing everytime we swing the cradle to put Ikhwan to sleep (if we can successfully do that, hehe...). Whenever in the cradle, Ikhwan is so engrossed with the moving toys (see 5th photo of my next entry), he looks so peaceful.
It's been more than 2 weeks since my wife and Ikhwan came back to KL. We have been living under the same roof as one (still) small happy family. His senses are developing - he laughs, he smiles, he coos and he kicks with pleasure. He even talks (the baby way) whenever we are next to him - talking to him or singing him nursery rhymes and lullabies. Ikhwan is very much tuning in to us now, looking at us so intently that his eyebrows frown. It's a really gratifying experience for me and my wife!
In his early weeks, when he was still in Muar, whenever I saw him, I always called out his name while moving my head from side to side, hoping that he would be able to track my voice. Although I knew he was still such a young toddler, as expected, he showed very little response to that.
I read that by now, Ikhwan should be able to focus on objects that are 20 cm or 7 or 8 inches away from him. It reminded me of that night (in KL), when I was alone with Ikhwan in the room while my wife was in the kitchen. At one point, I had to leave the room for a while. I told him to stay put (hehe...) before climbing down the bed. Then I noticed that Ikhwan's eyes were still gazing upon me, following the direction where I was going, to the extent that he raised his head just to look up as I reached the bedroom door (the top of his head was facing the door). OH MY GOD! I realised that not only his hearing was developing, his visions too and that, almost brought tears to my eyes.
His neck muscles are also getting stronger, which allows him to turn his head from side to side and hold it up every now and then, especially while he was lying on his stomach (like in the photo).
To me, baby's smell is the most amazing and nicest natural smell. His smell is on our clothes, on his clothes, on his pillows and on the bedsheets. The smell is soooo refreshing, unlike any other smell around. Even the best perfumes sold at the counter can't beat that! That's it! I'm sticking my diet to just milk from now on.... :-)
Ikwan weighed 2.75 kg when he was born and had gained to 3.95 kg a couple of weeks ago. Judging from the increased frequencies of his feeding times nowadays and the amount of milk he quenches, I believe he probably weighs more than 4.5 kg now. Alhamdulillah, he's growing up all healthy and fine...
As his age reaches two months this 1st of June, I read that some babies this age can be awake for up to 10 hours a day.No wonder it's hard to put him to sleep these days and as a result, we have been losing our (beauty) sleep as well, haha... It's always a full circle with Ikhwan - let's say it starts off with trying to put him to sleep (which sometimes failed); two hours later it's time for his another round of milk feeding; then he's a sleepy head already but we have to make sure that he burps (and this would sometimes ignite his tantrums since well, anyone would feel annoyed if their process of going to sleep is being disturbed right?); now that he's back to being fully awake, we might as well play and talk with him and/or check his diapers; occasionally he'd also vomit whether or not he has burped and this would ignite his tantrums too; minutes later, he's looking all restless which means he's telling us 'tuck me to bed please...'; then back to trying to put him to sleep (which sometimes failed)... hahaha....
It's tiring of course and with his weight now, our hands are like doing some weight lifting exercises :-). But all that is fine by us and we are enjoying every minute of taking care of Ikhwan Rasydan.
We are still contemplating on who should take care of Ikhwan after my wife resumes working. And the good news is, we don't have to decide that very soon, 'coz my wife's application for a 3-month unpaid leaves has been approved and she would enjoy her 'maternity' leaves till this end of August.
Last Sunday, 27 May 2007 was Ikhwan's first time outing with his parents. He was such a good boy, enjoying his time in his stroller and his surroundings whenever we took him out. Both me and wife have always enjoyed our 'jalan-jalan', so it's no surprise that Ikhwan would enjoy his future outings with us as much as we would with him, Insha' Allah.
The Oxford Dictionary says "boulevard" means wide city street, often with trees on each side. As for me, "boulevard" is the path that I thread my way through in life. At times, the trees give me protection from the hot sun above. While at other times, no amount of trees can comfort me when it pours. Come rain or shine, the road continues to provide me with the journey of life until it reaches its destination.
People say I'm sweet, kind, a gentleman, caring, romantic and observant (let's just concentrate on the good attributes). I love those who matter to me, and care about things that count. I'm a Malay Muslim and proud to be one. I DON'T think Islam should be judged by those nasty followers. Islam should be judged by the religion itself; its teachings and the purpose behind them. I mean, humans will still behave like humans right? Usually, regardless of religions that they embrace. It is also in my nature to please, since I believe that TO PLEASE EVERYONE IS AN IMPOSSIBLE FEAT, BUT NOT TRYING TO PLEASE ANYONE OTHER THAN ONESELF IS A POSSIBLE DEFEAT (own quote). Apart from sharing the things I read, watch and listen to, I'd also share my thoughts and feelings, and express my views on certain issues. Last by no means least, I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM EVERYONE OF YOU OUT THERE ABOUT ANYTHING! If we knew each other 'in the previous life' and had lost contact, or we hardly contact each other nowadays, do email me or comment on my entries. Feel free to explore my blog & website (http://members.fortunecity.com/abdunmy/). Cheerio & Wassalam.
Sometimes, to boldly go (where no one has gone before) at warp speed may cause you unnecessary troubles.
Own quote, based on Star Trek
Lesson from the quote: Rushing to reach your destinations or goals may get you there fast, but may not always be the smartest thing to do!
"Note The Quote (Malay translation)"
Kadang kala, perjalanan (ke tempat yang tidak pernah ditujui) pada kelajuan maksimum boleh menyebabkan kesusahan pada diri sendiri.
Rekaan sendiri, berdasarkan dari Star Trek
Pengajaran: Terburu-buru untuk sampai ke destinasi atau matlamat hidup mungkin boleh membawa kita ke sana dengan cepat, tetapi langkah itu tidak semestinya yang terbaik!
You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don't have that kind of feeling for what it is you are doing, you'll stop at the first giant hurdle.
George Lucas (Film Director and Producer)
"Favourite Note The Quote 2"
A sign in a mosque on the need to switch off handphones:
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Penguin Rush
