Ikhwan loves his books, whether to read them in his own baby words, or just to flip through the pages (and looking so intently and sooo...cute at the same time hehehe). For some unlucky ones (the books), he would scribble on the pages or tear the pages off.
Other than reading to him, we also teach him to talk. He already gets some words right and knows how to use them correcly. Words like 'air' (pronounced as aa-yer which is Malay for water), tiu (for thank you), chehh (for 'terima kasih' - Malay for thank you), 'tuh' (short for 'jatuh', which is drop or fall), please, 'tit tit' (for the remote), fish, pen, 'abang', 'kakak', 'adik', 'atok', hello,Allah, Allahuakbar, 'sapa ni?' (who is this?) and his favourite sentence of all, 'nak pergi mana ni?' (where are we going?). For the latter, he may not say it word for word. It is more like mumbling the whole thing, but, yeah, other people have heard it too...and they agreed that he said those words alright!
I remember that particular day, as I turned the pages of a book, I told him names of farm animals. He tried to follow, but all came out wrongly. So, instead of 'cat', 'hen', 'goat' and 'cow', he said 'aah', 'ooohh', 'eeeee' and another 'aah'.
When I taught him to say 'ba', 'na', 'na' one by one - he managed to follow each one exactly. But when I said the whole word 'banana' - he couldn't. Itwas still a three-syllable word, but sounded nothing like 'banana'... so funny!
Reminiscing the incidents with little Ikhwan, my mind straight away remembered this particular episode of Friends, when Joey tried to learn French from Phoebe.
For those who are fans of Friends, would know that Joey is one immature dude! Despite his cheekiness, he had all these younger sisters lined up behind him and the fact that he managed to 'nail' so many women to his bed, whom all were hooked by his opening line 'how you doing?' really says something about the 'mature' side of him :-)
This video portrays his rather immature character:
See how cheeky and childish Joey is when he wouldn't want to let go of his penguin doll, Hugsy and give it to Rachel's baby.
If Joey's wobbly acting career might be the reason for his rather immature character (since he had to rely on his friends for money and food, and man, he sure loved to eat), how about Raymond, who already made it as a renowned sports journalist/writer, married to a loving wife (who sometimes could be quite fierce, thanx to Raymond and her parents in law) and blessed with three kids, and yet, he was still very much like a big baby?Could Raymond's childish acts and irresponsible behaviours had something to do with him living so close to his parents (their house was across the street from his) and that both them and his brother visited him all the time?
See this video from an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond (I just love this sitcom, my wife and I could very much relate to the show - too bad it has ended).
A grown up man can be childish and immature all he wants, and yet still manage to save the world. With a baby face and cheeky smile, and still fond of comic books and toys, he can use this to his advantage. Take Hiro Nakamura of Heroes for example, due to his strong liking towards Star Trek, he has the ability to teleport and bend time and space. Through his ability, he has helped save the world and rectify matters for countless times, and everytime he succeds, he shouts"I did it!!" with so much vigor like a 10-year old (as shown below).
They say, men are generally less mature or late to mature compared to women. Put a man and a woman of the same age in the same room, chances are the woman is much more mature in her thinking and behaviours than the man.
Why is this so? Is it because men are more vulnerable to mid-life crisis, or feeling insecure, or it's their issues with parents, or their constant need for attention and affection (which can be from their parents or their wives), or men have issues of letting go (of their comics, toys, etc, hehehee)?
Perhaps female readers of this blog can give their insights. Have the men in your lives ever acted so immature before? If yes, why or what prompted them to act that way?
As for me, until today, I just love cartoons and toys, and act childish and cheeky (ok, the latter may only occur at certain times and towards certain people only). As George Costanza had said in an episode of Seinfeld, "I always see myself as a younger brother, eager to learn more".
Whenever I buy new toys or children books for Ikhwan, sometimes I wonder whether am I actually feeding my own excitement towards those things, although of course, those things would become Ikhwan's stuffs once I brought them home (but I can still play them with him what? hahahahahaha). Heck, I have two adult sized Spider-man T-shirts which I wear even when I go out with my family.
Now, back to our little Ikhwan. He is still immature of course - but what do you expect from a 2 year old? Haha... But lately, he sure is developing very fast. He's like a sponge - absorbing almost eveything that he sees/hears other people say and do.
He respects the elders when he shakes his hands with them, he waves goodbye like a grown up, he knows how to blow his kisses (sometimes using his both hands and says 'muaahhh'), helps his Ibu make the bed sometimes, pretends like he were sweeping the floor, cleans up his toys and puts them back into his toy chest (he now have two toy chests - each packed with different toys of different kinds, we basically let him play with different ones every few days), knows how to roll and kick a ball back and forth with me, performs 'wheely' while riding on his bikes (he has two bikes and one car - all are gifts from his grannies and tok's) and loves talking on the phone, whether really talking to someone or just imagining (his imaginary phone could be something as small as a piece of paper the size of his thumb - the smallest phone in the world indeed - he even passed it around for us talk to his 'phone').
Ikhwan loves the wirid and doa' aired over Astro Oasis. Almost everyday without fail, he is glued in front of the t.v. to watch (and at the same time listen) to that channel. He follows us when we perform our prayers and knows how to stand (with his arms placed on his tummy) and sujud in prayers. He also understands that everytime after adzan (the call for prayers for the Muslims) concludes (whether he heard it from t.v. or from the nearby mosque or when I was the one who adzan), there is a doa' after adzan. He would raise his two hands up, while listening to me/wife reciting the doa'.
That day, after I finished my adzan in the house, he immediately squatted with his arms raised. At first I was wondering why did he squat. Then I realised I too was squatting. All this while, I was squatting so that my eyes would be almost on the same level as his, so that he wouldn't have to look up while I was reciting the doa'. Little did I expect that he'd follow exactly what I did. So cute huh?
During dinner a couple of nights ago, while biting on a chicken bone, I twirled it at the same time. Immediately, he twirled the small piece of chicken meat that he had on his hand the same way.
Those are just some of the things he copied and did. Well, that's our boy! :-)) Meantime, here's a video of him, taken a few months ago...
P/S: 29 January - our 3rd wedding anniversary. This year, we didn't take a day off to celebrate, because we kinda' already celebrated it in advanced last weekend, also in conjunction with wife's birthday.
Walk the talk.. walk and talk...walk and laugh...walk and run...walk while looking somewhere else...
Tuesday, 21st October 2008 marked an important date in our lives, especially to Ikhwan. It was the day when he made his first steps on his own, willingly, without being encouraged or forced upon. Yes, he started walking that day, witnessed by my parents who were in town last week and my wife. I was not at home due to working.
True, Ikhwan started walking rather late. But we are proud of him nonetheless. This was only one of his shortcomings, which could (or could not) have something to do with genetic, since both his parents started walking late too. Surely, as a human being and as he grows up, he will have and discover other flaws. As long as hopefully, none of those flaws would impede him from becoming a soleh Muslim; an obedient child; a smart, intelligent, caring and responsible person etc etc.. you know all those things that any parents with a sound mind would want their children to become.
Other than his walking development, in other areas, he develops normally, if not quite fast, compared to other kids of his age. He already has a full set of teeth, he knew how to sip his drinks using straws since only a few months' old, and he's always full of energy and with such intensity whenever he crawls as shown in this video clip which was taken at my folks' house!
I'd say that his crawls are equivalent to walking and running, while his walks are equivalent to.....ermmm... driving a car. Why? Because on the first three days after he started walking, he already tried running a bit (like speeding while on the road), walking with his eyes wondering about instead of looking straight (ok, this could be equivalent to a hazardous driving hehe..), encircling us (like making a 6 o'clock turn at a roundabout) and walking for a distance, then making a U-turn (I mean, literally, the way he turned his body around was like making a U-turn). As though wanting to catch up, not a day is missed without him walking (because I read there are babies who after discovering their ability to walk, may skip some days without wanting to walk at all).
He also discoverd on his own, that instead of struggling to stand up from his sitting position, he can use the palms of his hands to push himself up... Now, he's learning to throw some rubber balls while standing up, although at the moment, we try to discourage him from doing so frequently, especially if he's looking rather tired and unstable.
On another development, Ikhwan has always been amazed by cats. In fact, 'cat' and 'meow' are two of the early words we taught him. Now, he knows where to point at whenever we ask him to show which one is cat from his alphabets chart.
My parents own a cat (of American Shorthair breed), bought by my sis back when she was in the States. I mentioned about him quite a number of times before in this blog. The cat goes by the name Sky. The thing about Sky is that he gets easily intimidated by strangers, especially noisy and active small kids. Well, you can pretty much guess how Sky would react to my son! In this video, my son was looking so curiously and intently at Sky who was having his meal. The 'peeking' made Sky rather restless of course, but a cat's gotta eat when a cat's gotta eat right? :))
In this final video of today, we really enjoyed his laughter and would like to share that moment here... (I think he got the idea to laugh that way, probably from the way I peek-a-boo at him). As seen here, he was standing by his car which was a birthday present from my parents-in-law.
UP NEXT:
1. The 'little' things about me.
2. The 'little' things about Ikhwan (P/S: How about the 'little' things about my wife? Hmmmmmm.......maybe I shouldn't go into that....)
I'm not moving.......ok, I'm moving now, hahahahaha...
Well, who would have guessed it? After writing about how my son enjoys my rendition of the chorus to the song "The Man Who Can't Be Moved" by The Script, on that same night, I managed to record a video on that.
See how my son over-enjoyed himself when I purposely sang it out of tune with the intention to tickle his funny bones. See also how he laughed when I said to him, "Ok, I'm moving now". Although the visual itself is a treat, if possible, make sure you crank up the volume too kay! :)))
These days, whenever I sing the nursery rhyme 'Itsy Bitsy Spider', Ikhwan would immediately looking where my hand is at. This is because, I would normally make it crawl like a spider, crawl around him and on his body. Of course, this would lead to him laughing, giggling and wriggling.
In the above video, as I sang the nursery rhyme while waiting (for my dinner) with Ikhwan in the car, I only managed to make him laugh towards the end of the song. Although he should have laughed a lot more, guess on that day, he managed to gain control of his tickle bones :-) Then, I was about to record the condominium block where we live in, I realised Ikhwan was trying to mimic my singing. How sweet...
By the way, in the middle of the video, you can see how his legs were spreaded out as he slumped in his car seat. That is his usual way of sitting in his car seat while enjoying the ride.'Cara duduk orang senang', as I commented to my wife one day (translation: The way how a worry-free person would sit).
Anyway, just for the sake of sharing, the lyrics to 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' goes like this:
The itsy bitsy spider, Crawled up the water spout, Down came the rain, And washed the spider out, Out came the sun and dried up all the rain, And the itsy bitsy spider Crawled up the spout again.
Now, here's just a short video on Ikhwan getting too preoccupied with his Birdie toy. Next to the Birdie is his one of his cloth books. That particular one is on 'Colours'. We sometimes hang the Birdie and the book on his stroller too whenever we took him out on it.
The Birdie comes with a teether that Ikhwan enjoys to bite on and the small fishes that are visible in the bird's 'tummy' sometimes mesmerizes him (it's a pelican by the way). The velcro fastening of thebook creates sound that Ikhwan enjoys to hear everytime he opens and closes it (he does flip other pages too of course).
Hmmm.... what else can you find in my car? Well, the spider-man is still there, then there's a Ronaldinho' jersey key-chain hanging next to it. This 'kaki bangku' father (meaning: lousy at playing soccer or as they say it in England, football), is hoping his son would master some soccer playing skills when he grows up.
Hanging on the rear-view mirror are 2 key-chains - one was given by my wife, with a list of characters of a Pisces and the other was given by my father, which shows the Ka'bah.
On the dashboard, there's a non-clock looking clock that has fooled a few into thinking it was just a dummy, an Air Asia airplane model and an alien head.
On one side of the back seat window is a car sign that shows a few fishes with the wording I'M FREE on it. The other back seat window has another car sign pressed against it. It shows a spider with large capital words that say SPIDER CROSSING.
On the rear window, I put up a sticker on Ayatul Kursi at the top part, which takes up almost the whole width of the window. On the lower left and right side corners, two more car signs on each side. Those people behind me may be able to read one sign that says DON'T HONK! BABY SLEEPING, BACK OFF!(wife thought this sounded rather harsh when I first got it, hehe..), while the other sign politely announces there's a LITTLE KALIFAH ON BOARD. There's also a tall blue Disneyland hat placed right on top of the third brake light, flanked by a couple of The Incredibles pillows and a monkey doll.
Now, don't ask me what's the monkey doll doing there. I'm a people's pleaser (as some of you might have already guessed by reading this blog....errr... I guess)... Even before Ikhwan was born, I was thinking, should my nieces ever ride with me (which they have, a few times before), at least, they have something to play with, you know, for them to occupy their time while in the car..
Ikhwan reached his one year of age last 1st April 2008. In terms of developments, I can say that he is progressing normally and healthily. Here's a video on him trying to strike a meaningful conversation, while at the same time, practising his 'drum playing' skill.
Some of the things that Ikhwan is able to do now, which he couldn't do 12 months ago (obviously, ahaks):
1. As shown towards the end of the above video, Ikhwan could alternately use his right and left hand to 'play drum'. In the past, Ikhwan couldn't coordinate that well where both hands would come down together. But after seeing much example from me, now he can. After all, I love banging on the table anyway, as though it were a drum set, using a combination of my fingers, wrist and elbow :-)
2. He really knows how to have fun. What's more, he knows how to get those around him, whether of the same age (like his friends at the sitter's house) or older than him (like us, his parents) to play and have fun with him. Of all the many toys that he has, he loves the stacking toys (yes, he has more than one of those but with different designs), enjoys banging things together (whether his toys or anything else, provided they are safe for him to play with) and looking at his own TV set (it's a toy bought by his Ibu - I'll share more about his toys in a future post).
3. Ikhwan loves playing peek-a-boo and surprisingly, now he's learning to play hide and seek too. There was a day when I was playing with him, I hid myself behind the curtains. Then, as he approached me closer, I peeked my head out (not so abruptly of course - that would have startled him) and he laughed really loud. Now, it seems to me, there are times when he tries to go behind the curtains. Quite a task for our little Ikhwan since the curtains are rather heavy :-)
4. Ikhwan can now stand up and go down with ease, although occasionally, he still wobbles. He can also take his steps and walk sideways while holding on to a rack or a sofa.
5. Sometimes, out of excitement, he'd clap his hands rather vigorously and at the same time, humming a tune.
6. Ikhwan is so talkative and very friendly. His favourite word is 'ohh'and occasionally, we hear him trying to talk one long sentence. They always sound so cute. His friendliness also amaze us. Sometimes, he'd greet a stranger and that person is dumb enough not to look back at our Ikhwan, let alone smiles or greets back at him. In time, I guess we'll have to teach him that being friendly should come with boundaries. Do you folks agree?
7. He crawls very fast and very hard especially during the times when we play 'chase and catch' him. Funnily, sometimes the role is played the other way round. He's the tiger who tries to catch his Ayah or Ibu. Like I said, Ikhwan knows how to have fun. If only you could hear him laugh everytime he tries to crawl away from us. The way he crawls, it's equivalent to an adult stomping his feet. He'd raise each hand so high for every crawl and his knees make thud sounds as they hit the floor. We do get worried in case he hurts his knees but so far, no harm done.
8. I just remembered that Ikhwan knows how to trick too, well at least he did trick me twice, ahak ahak. There was an occasion when I was blocking him from standing up right in front of the t.v. (which was 'on' at that time). He was persistent to the extent that he almost cried. Then, just when I thought he had given up since he turned away and crawled towards our bedroom (his Ibu was in the room and the door was opened), the minute I left my spot, Ikhwan immediately crawled back towards the t.v. My wife realised this too and was surprised by Ikhwan's quick thinking.
A similar incident happened when I was blocking him from (unknowingly) disturbing his Ibu who was cooking in the kitchen. After some time, he looked like he had given up, judging from him crawling towards a magazine that he had flipped through earlier. But the moment I joined next to him (I was also in a crawling position, haha), he immediately left me. Hmmm....if only you could crawl as fast as I did huh, Ikhwan? :-)
What surprised me was not only he actually had the idea to trick me, but the way how quickly he left me the moment I fell for his trick implied that he must be thinking, "Ok, Ayah thought I wanted to read that magazine. There's no time to waste. Let's move...." Hahahahaa...
9. You may have known that my wife took a 5-month maternity leave after giving birth to Ikhwan. Ikhwan was only sent to his sitter's house from his 6th month. There was one evening (after picking him up), while reversing my car to park, I took a glance at Ikhwan who was at that time, minding his own business. Then I spoke to him in a joking manner "Haa, tu tengah buat muka cute la tu.." ("Haa, I bet you are making a cute face"). To my surprise, the second time I looked at him, he was tilting his head, all smiling at me. Well, he DID look reallllllyyy cute, I actually braked the car and started laughing by myself, and the car hadn't actually been parked.
That was the first time this cute behaviour of his started. He'd tilt his head while he's in the car, while eating, when we are singing nursery rhymes to him, while he's playing or while cuddling with us before going to sleep. I think he's probably influenced by us doing the same whenever we play peek-a-boo with him, plus I'd normally tilt my head to the left and right too, everytime I sing to him nursery rhymes.
I relayed before in an earlier post how I've always wanted a chance to record a video on him, tilting his head like that. Recently, my wish came true. Hope you folks enjoy it! Also, as you may realise it, isn't him a multi-tasker: eating while shaking his body like that... hehee..
Although I say I shall try to tally my quotation with my latest blog entry (see right column), this time around, I need to say something far more important, that has nothing to do with the quotation I already created, which is based on the TV series Damages (btw, Damages is very cleverly written, don't you think?).
Actually, I wanted to post a short story about the political scenario in Malaysia (thus, the above quotation) and how Malaysia has become 5 years from now. The story is written Damages-style, with some flashbacks. But then, since that story hasn't yet finished, I think that can wait coz like I said, the one I'm posting today, is far more important.
Based on the Islamic calendar, yesterday was 12 Rabiul Awal 1429H, a Maulidur Rasul day, i.e. the Prophet Muhammad pbuh’s Birthday (which was equivalent to 1st April last year). That means today marks our beloved son, Ikhwan, is now one year old.Both Ayah and Ibu are proud of you and love you so much Ikhwan!!! You can read/reminisce the day Ikhwan was born here.
In conjunction with the Maulidur Rasul day (also a public holiday here), the surau at our condo (surau is a place, which can be as small as a room, allocated for Muslims to pray but can cater only a small number of jemaah, unlike mosques) organised a 'selawat', 'berzanji' and a 'potong jambul' (Ikhwan and a neighbour's daughter joined in).
While in the surau, there was a time when Ikhwan crawled from his Ibu (mother) who sat about 2 metres apart from me, just to get to me. Seeing the happy expression on his face looking at me while he was crawling, was rather touching... I noticed Ikwan was also very friendly to those other people in the surau, young and old.
During prayers, again, my heart was deeply touched by the words recited by the imam, who pray not only for the 'potong jambul' babies, but also their parents, and not to forget, the rest of the jemaah and all Muslims. He even prayed for the author of the 'berzanji' book.
Talk about feeling touched, here's a little something:
TUHANKU, sesungguhnya aku tidak layak untuk syurgaMU, namun tak pula aku sanggup menghadapi api nerakaMU. Dari itu ampunkanlah segalan dosa aku, dan maafkanlah aku. Sesungguhnya ENGKAU maha pengampun segala dosa-dosa.
English translation:
YA ALLAH, I am not qualified to be in your Heaven, but neither can i bear your Hell fire. For that, please forgive me, for all I have sinned. For Allah is Most Merciful, Oft-forgiving of all sins, regardless of how big they are (as long as we don't worship other than Allah of course).
For some of us, take these words to our hearts, we might not realise there'll be tears forming at the corner of our eyes.
Ikhwan, here's verse 286, taken from Surah AL-BAQARA: On no soul doth Allah Place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns. (Pray:) "Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden Like that which Thou didst lay on those before us; Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins, and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. Thou art our Protector; Help us against those who stand against faith."
Still reminiscing...... ever since only a few months old, Ikhwan always responds whenever his name is called, whether by turning his head around, or twitching his legs a bit, or slanting his head (I have finally recorded a video on this, which I shall put up soon), or uttering his baby words as a way to talk back to us or simply, by smiling/laughing. Nowadays, if he's busy playing or doing his exploring activites, he becomes so excited and sometimes he claps his hands or wriggles his body on the floor, especially when we continuously call his name in full, which is Ikhwan Rasydan. In this particular video, see how he reacted when I whispered his name...
I shall soon recount the things that he's able to do now, still learning to do and some memorable moments my wife and I had shared with Ikhwan this past year, Insha' Allah...
P/S: Tazkirah for the day Nowadays, it's common for parents (especially if both are working) to send their kids to be taken care of by baby sitters. Yes, kids these days spend most of their days of their weeks with people who are not their parents. But, despite of that, every single time, when the parents arrive at the sitter's place, the children would drop everything that they do and even 'toss' the sitters aside, to go home with their parents (provided that the parents are lovable to their kids laah!). So, it is in human nature for children to always feel the attachment with their parents and want to go back with them, regardless of what. Likewise, it is nature for all humans to return to the Creator whether or not they want it or they are ready. So, the question is, are we prepared to meet our Creator?
PP/S: In the above photo, Ikhwan was enjoying his meal while sitting down on his portable chair. What an ingenious design for a toddler's chair - it's lightweight yet tough, affordable and safe. I shall talk more about the chair when I share more of Ikhwan's gadgets.
I read from one reliable Internet source that individual children start developing at very different rates, i.e. they develop and learn at their own pace. In other words, as long as your baby is making steady progress, there's nothing to worry about. In fact, if anybody says otherwise, the website suggests responding back by saying that Einstein didn't talk until he was four years old :-)
The same applies to our kiddo Ikhwan. He masters his crawling skill quite later than one or two other babies of the same age, whose parents we know. But Ikhwan already has 8 teeth (as of today), compared to one other baby who still doesn't have any.
Put two guardians together and we have different patterns of how they they talk about their respective babies. Sooner or later they're bound to start comparing their babies' accomplishments, as though it were a contest (some doctors call such a 'competition' the Baby Olympics).
Speaking of comparison, here's an interesting one. I observe how differently two male guardians talk about their babies compared to when two female guardians are doing the same. The example here is just based on my own personal experience only, so DON'T take this as something that represents typical behaviours among any gender whatsoever.
Conversation between two male guardians:
Male 1: How are you and how's your daughter? What's her latest development?
Male 2: She already knows how to crawl and is learning to stand up by grabbing on to us or to a nearby furniture.
Male 1: Oh really, that's fast coz my son is hardly lying down on his tummy. He'd quickly flip over to lie on his back... guess that's because his skeletal frame is rather big, he gets tired easily. How many teeth does she have already?
Male 2: None, yours?
Male 1: The fourth one is starting to form...
Male 2: Is it true that babies will be down with fever everytime a new tooth is forming...?
Male 1: Not necessary, I mean that didn't happen to our baby. It's not that he fell sick everytime...
Conversation between two female guardians (the females here are not necessarily someone I know, ok! :-p): Female 1: The other day, my niece called me up. She is such a cute girl, so talkative now that she knows more vocabularies than before and knows how to call me... (conversation interrupted)
Female 2: Wait till you hear my niece's voice. Hearing her voice can make you feel like you want to go over to her place and squeeze her cheeks... (again, conversation interrupted) Female 1: Can you believe she asked me to go to the zoo, I mean how was that possible? I was at the office and her house is way over there, the other side of the city... (talking very fast, now gasping for air)
Female 2: I actually took my niece to that Aquaria last weekend. It was a blast and she enjoyed seeing those fishes very much. Maybe I'll take her to the zoo next time... (beaming with pride)
Hmmmm.... I wonder, who's winning here... heehehehe..
Anyway back to the topic. For babies to develop, it is common for them to explore and immitate. In fact, imitation and repetition are key ingredients in early brain development. They discover the use of their hands and fingers; try to mimic our facial expressions and words; finding everything as fascinating - from the wheels of the stroller, the mats, the cabinets and drawers, the ointment bottles... there's just so many things to explore, feel, bang together and bite on huh? :-)
My son is no exception - he is such a natural explorer and a good immitator, for a good cause of course. At times, whenever he's exploring something like playing with his toys or looking out the car window, I like to look at things from his point of view as well.
There was a day when Ikhwan, who was in his car seat, was focusing intently to a particular object. When I bent down, I realised he was looking at the traffic light. He must have seen how the traffic light changed from yellow to red. Upon realising my face was on the same level as his, immediately he said "Ohhh...", probably trying to tell me "The colors are the same like in the book you read to me last night" (or perhaps he was saying "Don't sit too close"? Haha).
Ikhwan has started exploring to use his mouth and tongue (for playing) since a few months ago. He can intelligently create some funny and weird sounds by 'manipulating' his tongue. Only until recently, did I manage to record such moments. This video made my wife and I smiled. But what really made me laugh was the voice of my wife in the background. It sounded really funny (to me at least, I mean she was a bit embarassed upon hearing it).
With the election in Malaysia is just around the corner, I feel like voting for whose voice sounds funnier. Hmmmm... for this case, I think I'd go for my wife's voice (sorry Ikhwan). But I'd still definitely vote for Ikhwan for being the main attention grabber (sorry Ayang, you are a different kind of attention grabber laaa, haha)... Hope you guys enjoy the video!!!
P/S: Speaking of the election (this coming 8th of March), who do you vote for, my fellow Malaysians? The ruling party seems to be trying so hard, with airing all those lengthy commercials on tv and radio. Enough is enough already. I mean haven't they heard, the harder you try, if you fall, the harder (I sure hope so) it must be. They (the commercials) are really starting to make me sick, literally... I wonder whose money did they spend on making those useless commercials and paying for so much airtime huh? Well, upon saying this, guess you know who I'll be voting for!!!!
PP/S: Speaking of tv commercials, currently, my son is sooo into that latest Nokia N82 (Storytelling) ad. He'd stop immediately from whatever he is doing at that time and stay glued to the screen during those few seconds. Only after the ad has finished, would he resume his earlier activities (yes, it can be a number of activities, hehe). I wonder what makes the ad so interesting to him...
I obtained my car license more than 10 years ago. But after obtaning the license, I hardly drove, up to the period slightly more than two years ago. In fact, before I got my first car back in November 2005, I drove less than 20 times (whether short or long distances). Why? Well, blame it on self-confidence (or the lack of it). I was just scared of being behind the wheel with all those other vehicles around, especially those motorcyles, lorries and busses (hmm, that pretty summed up almost all other vehicles huh? hehe). Further, I also found myself hard to concentrate while on the road. Weird how my mind easily wandered off in the past. Combine those with the fact I was driving somebody else's car, had really put me off from driving.
But lucily, nowadays, I am more brave, self-composed and focused. I can't really say I'm an expert driver already (really, there's no such thing as expert drivers, just drivers who are familiar with the roads they are taking, don't you agree?), but the roads and the drivers in KL (especially), have really taught me to be aggressive (at least, while driving) to the extent that my wife had said one day, maybe driving has brought the dark side of me to emerge, i.e. easily hot-tempered and impatient.
In the past, prior to us having kiddo Ikhwan in our lives, I sent and picked up my wife from work (even at times when she was on-call). Jalan Tun Razak was one of the roads that I had to take, be it if I left from the office or from home. This is one road that had showed me what does it take to brave through the jams and to change lanes or take over other vehicles at the slightest opportunity available.
I remember one day, during a heavy downpour, a journey that usually took me 15 to 30 minutes to reach her workplace, took me exactly 2 and a half hours. That long of a ride could have brought me back hometown in Muar Johor (or I would be resting at my folks' house for half an hour already - if the highway was not busy and I was speeding a little bit, I would manage to reach there in 2 hours, Insha' Allah).
But now, things have changed. If in the past, my wife would be sitting next to me in the passenger seat, now the view is replaced with our kiddo Ikhwan in his car seat. Nowadays, me and wife have have to drive to work separately. In the mornings, I'd be in charge in sending Ikhwan to his sitter's place. If wife can get off work on time (although that rarely happens), she'd be picking him up in the evening (since her official working hours ends 30 minutes earlier than mine).
Not just our travel arrangements had changed, the interior of our cars too, thanx to the creative child in me. My wife's colleagues had commented how the interior of her car looked like a nursery, that our son must be enjoying himself everytime we take him for a ride (Wallahua'alm, we sure hope so, hehe). If only they had seen my car interior as well :-))
Just as much as I enjoy being in charge of my wife's travel-to-work arrangement, I enjoy being in charge of sending Ikhwan to and from his sitter's house too. My son has always been such a good boy whenever he's in his car seat. Sometimes, even the way he's slumped in that seat, or how he moves his leg (or both legs) around, tickles me. At other times, the way he looks at his surroundings makes him look so much matured than his age.If only I've had the chance to record a video on him, trying so hard to look at me while I was driving, to the extend that he'd turn his head around and slant it forward. In other words, his head would be about 45 degrees to his neck (kind'a hard to describe it, really). He looked really cute and cheeky, looking at me like that, I AM JUST SOOOO PROUD OF HIM!!!!
In my opinion, the bonding between children and their mothers is much easier to form than between children and fathers. I mean such a bond can occur naturally and quickly with mothers. After all, the children have been in their mothers' tummy for months right?
But with fathers, I think they have to work a little extra harder to create that closed knit relationship with their children. I mean, that's just my opinion...
In this one video I took a couple of months ago, I was trying to make him utter or mumble some of his baby words. We had just arrived home and were still at our parking lot. I tried to make him communicate with me by calling out his name a few times but to no avail. But still, I had fun. This may look nothing special to some of you viewers, but, just like any videos with my son in it, I've watched this video, including showing it to Ikhwan, a countless number of times.
By the way, the song that you (probably could) hear coming from the radio in the background, was Tongue Tied by Faber Drive. I lurrvveeeee this song, and so, here's a video clip on the band too:
The chorus goes:
I need a little more luck than a little bit Cuz every time I get stuck the words won't fit And every time that I try I get tongue tied I need a little good luck to get me by I need a little more help than a little bit Like the perfect one word no one's heard yet Cuz every time that I try I get tongue tied I need a little good luck to get me by this time
Back when I was a kid, there was a TV commercial on a cough syrup called Ubat Batuk Cap Ibu Dan Anak. The TV ad used images of the wayang kulit to relay a song that told a story about a child who was melancholy due to the mother having coughs and therefore, the child went on to find some medicine for the mother. I remember the lyrics (in Malay language) was like this:
"Kisah seorang anak yang duka nestapa kerana ibunya batuk... uhuk uhuk uhuk.. uhuk uhuk uhuk.. kasihan sungguh dia pun pergi mendapatkan ubat..."
Now, after so many years, the manufacturer of the cough medicine wanted a come back. A new ad was launched. With a new background story, a human baby as the ad model but with no theme song whatsoever. Contrary to the 'old' ad, the baby in the new ad is not saddened by his father's 'cough' at all, but instead he can't help smiling and laughing upon hearing each coughs. Guess, if there were still a theme song, the lyrics would go like this (in Malay and with English translation):
"Kisah seorang anak yang riang gembira kerana ayahnya 'batuk'... uhuk uhuk uhuk.. uhuk uhuk uhuk.. tak tahan sungguh dia pun ketawa berdekah-dekah..." (English translation): "There was a child who was so happy because his father had 'coughs'... uhuk uhuk uhuk.. uhuk uhuk uhuk.. he really could not help himself but to laugh out loud..."
Meantime, to all fellow Muslim readers, I just want to wish Happy New Year Ma'al Hijrah 1429, which fell on Thursday, 10 January 2008. May this year mark another year where we 'hijrah' ourselves.....
Captain Ikhwan, the youngest man ever sent to space, was our Earth hero for defeating an alien (see other video: Attack Of The Giant Fingers....). Now, a video has leaked out to the Internet, which showed Captain Ikhwan's activites prior to his (fancy and colourful looking) space shuttle simulation at zero gravity. Even before the simulation started, he was already engaged in two of his experiments that had been scheduled for him to perform, when he was out in space. The experiment was to study how human's saliva would float in space, whenever our saliva came out uncontrollably due to excessive biting on stuffs. Captain Ikhwan also needed to study how the sounds of his toys would vibrate differently in space. Understandably, his experiments would revolve around his toys and, errrrrrrr............ saliva. After all, Captain Ikhwan had just turned 7 months last 01 November.
Here, another video on Captain Ikhwan. The video showed his Ayah (Captain Ikhwan's father) singing him a farewell song, a day before his take-off. It was a song taken from the Barney show.
The lyrics goes: I love you, You love me We're a happy family With a great big hug, And a kiss from me to you Won't you say you love me too? I love you, You love me We're best friends, Like friends should be With a great big hug, And a kiss from me to you Won't you say you love me too?
Captain Ikhwan looked dashingly cute in his chequered red shirt and light brown pants. One can imagine how heroic he would look like in his space suits.
One happy family...... photo taken last Raya. Oh yes,Ayah had his touch-ups while Captain Ikhwan and his Ibu were naturally cute and beautiful :-)
Captain Ikhwan was the commander of Flight Vista 3 space shuttle. Recently, he was down with fever, and the sickness had infected the rest of his crew. On one fateful day, as he was getting better (though he still needed to put a soaked small towel on his forehead to enable the heat to emanate from his body), he encountered an alien being. It was unclear how the alien managed to get into the shuttle. But the alien, with its tentacle-like fingers looked menacing and hostile. With his crew still very much sick and recuperating in their rooms, Captain Ikhwan bravely fought and defeated the alien on his own, by.................... LAUGHING SO HARD AT IT! Apparently the alien got intimidated by Captain Ikhwan's cute laughter and so, it ran and escaped through a small hole in the engine room (oh yes, the 'giant' alien was a shape shifter too).
News about Captain Ikhwan's commendable act reached the Earth station and so, upon his return to Earth, he would be awarded with the Space Bravery medal.A photo of him, which was taken just before he left for space, and which would be used as the official banner for his commemoration, had been circulated to the public long before Captain Ikhwan's arrival. Earthlings adored him so much, the photo had become a hit with many buying the photo prints or printing it out from the Internet for their own keepsakes.....
Meanwhile, a message had been sent by Captain Ikhwan from space. He said, he and on behalf of his proud parents wished all Muslims'Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir dan Batin' and to the rest,'Happy Holidays!!!!'
Would you agree that a particular melody had given births to a few songs for children such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Ba Ba Black Sheep and A B C. Their lyrics go like these:
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, how I wonder what you are... Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky.. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, how I wonder what you are...
*********************************************** Ba Ba Black Sheep, Have you any wool, Yes sir, Yes sir, Three bags full.. One for the master, and one for the dame. And one for the little boy, who lives on the lane...
*********************************************** A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Now I know my ABC, Next time won't you sing with me?
In another Ikhwan's video (edited), he is laughing his heart out as I sing my heart out to him. I had also written him a song based on that same melody. The lyrics to 'Ikhwan Rasydan' song (in Malay and with English translation) goes like this:
Ikhwan Rasydan Bin Abdun Nizar. Nama Ibu Nor Hariza. Ikhwan budak lelaki, belum lagi tumbuh gigi. Ikhwan Rasydan sudah minum susu. Lepas ini baca buku...
(the English version may not rhyme due to it being directly translated):
Ikhwan Rasydan Bin Abdun Nizar. Ibu's name is Nor Hariza. Ikhwan is a baby boy, who still doesn't have teeth. Ikhwan Rasydan had already been fed. After this it's time to read...
I also sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star towards the end of the video but pardon me for my mistake, 'coz I sang 'where you are' instead of 'what you are', hehee...
In case the above video link doesn't work, you can click here to view. Enjoy it folks... :-)
P/S: My family and I just want to wish Happy Ramadhan al-Mubarak to all Muslim readers out there...
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... :-)
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
