Danish's Birthday

Hmmmm... Danish is finally 4 years old. How time flies, he is a year older and I am not getting younger either. And I must remind myself, he is not a baby anymore, so I should stop treating him like one. But it is really difficult doing so, I cannot stop mothering him since the elder boys are now entering the teenager stage (Thaqif more so than Arif) and they would not like me kissing them in public that much ;-) and Danish is the one who always tag along with me wherever I may go. I can even ask him about a handbag and he would either say, it's gorgeous or not. And he will be the one saying, "Mama, mama asik tengok handbag je" because he is usually by my side 24/7 and he knows what I do, day in day out.

So when he asked for a Ben 10 birthday cake, I was like phewwwwww!!! It costs a bomb if I order it from Secret Recipe and besides, nobody would be able finish the cake and it will be such a waste. So I resorted to the next best thing. I went to Bagus (bakery supplier) and managed to get two Ben 10 edible sheets at the price of RM12. Danish chose the pix himself so, I hope he will be satisfied with what I have in mind. Next, off to Secret Recipe to find a whole cake and ended up with New York Cheese Cake and I got the girl there to just place the Ben 10 edible sheet on top of the cake. Whalllahhhhhh.... a Ben 10 birthday cake. We decided to have dinner at Italiannies and when the cake was served, Danish blew the candles with a happy face.... and it made my day (and night!)... so remember, Mama loves you so much and no matter what, I cannot stop mothering you or Thaqif or Arif, for that matter.

Danish trying hard to cut the cake

the finished product *winks*

happy boys, I have...

Danish's Unfortunate Accident

Danish sustained 2 deep gashes late last night. All because I was about to stumble off the stairs and due to reflex, accidentally pushed him (he was in front of me) causing him to fall face first against the edges of the stairs. Sigh.... My overwhelming guilt does not help the situation either. 

We were supposed to spend the night at my in-laws' place, instead we spent the night at the Ampang Puteri Specialist Hospital. When the GP took a look at his cuts, he advised Danish to go for stitches under the general anesthesia and since he had just had dinner 3 hours before the fall, he could not have it done during the night. So this morning, the plastic surgeon, Dato' Dr Jalil, stitched him up and the whole procedure took about 15 mins to complete. 

BEFORE

a bit anxious

  posing!!

pretending to be asleep

just before going into the OT 

AFTER

still sleepy after the GA

A mere 15 minutes for everything to be completed but I could not sleep peacefully last night knowing that I was the one who caused it to happen. Which mother wants her kid/s to suffer due to her fault? None, that I know of. Sigh... I wish I could have reversed time and prevented it from happening. I wish I was watching where I was going and not stumble. I wish it was me who fell... I wish for a lot of things but I believe everything happen for a reason and this is just a minor test from Allah. All that I can hope now is that this incident will not happen twice and I would not want to experience the anguish again.

I love my kids deeply and I am truly sorry Danish, for allowing this accident to happen.

The Haircut

My boys have had their hair kept long since the day we arrived in Khartoum. That was the 31st December 2008. They refused to cut their hair despite my urging them to do so (at the very least during the first few months we were here) because they have seen what the barbers here are capable of doing, due to the communication breakdown (we cannot speak Arabic, the native language here). So at the end of the day, both me and my husband let them be, after all, when we are back in Malaysia for good, there is little chance for them to keep long hair because the government schools have rules about that. The last haircut they had was in December 2009 when we came back to Malaysia to attend Yayah's wedding and that was just a hair "trim".

And I thought everything would be ok until the day we are transferred back to Malaysia...

Yet disaster strikes a week back!! I was justifiably surprised when Thaqif made a comment about Arif having "kutu" (kutu is head lice) and Jimmy was the one who discovered it a couple of weeks back. I said "WHATTTTTT???" And there goes Thaqif rambling about Auntie Najwa found quite a number of lice eggs and nits after Jimmy made the comment. I asked Arif if all these were true and he sheepishly replied yes. When I asked why this piece of news was not conveyed to me earlier, Thaqif said "Arif was scared, Mama, because he has kutu." I was dumbfounded for a while, thinking whether I was too harsh on them or whether they had the wrong information on kutu. I probed further and later found out that Arif thought improper shampooing will result in having kutu. Since this was my first encounter with kutu in my adult life (I can vaguely recall having a kutu attack when I was in Standard 1 or 2), I googled whatever I can and got to know that improper hygiene care does not have any bearing with getting lice. Of course I was a bit relieved knowing this and informed the boys, "OK, there is nothing wrong about your hygiene but I was disappointed that you didn't tell me earlier since we can take care of the lice when it was first discovered." I ended up going to a few pharmacies the next day to find whatever medication available here. I applied the treatment to the boys (yes, all 3 of them have head lice) thanks to Najwa who has some leftover of LiceMD coupled with the new medicine. And that night itself, I pestered Rommil to bring the boys for a haircut (don't think I can stand another day) at the barber. Of course, Thaqif had his misgivings but Alhamdulillah, he went for it. Haaaa.. but Mama had to google for the Mohawk cut fashioned after David Beckham la kannnn. Hahaha...

Arif was the first to go through the scissors. Apprehensive at first, but he was all for a haircut.

Arif - After

(chubby eh??)

Danish - he was pretty happy to cut his hair

Thaqif - ala Beckham

To ensure that the boys are free of lice, I was practically a Mak Beruk every day, searching for nits, eggs and kutu. Aiyoooooo.... I don't think I can face another bout of kutu if it ever happen again. For the last 2 days, I have not found the eggs or lice, and I hope this will continue forever. But just in case, I have asked Rommil to buy a few bottles of LiceMD in Malaysia. Not going to be caught unprepared, again.

To mothers out there, please check your child's head now and again. You'll never know when it'll happen.