Abang and Adik are angels of Encik Kamil and Cik Puan Kamil.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Taktik kotor Mummy... Ha ha

Babah was upset with Umar yesterday morning. He must be really, really troubled with it because he came home in a sour mood. He sulked the whole evening and refused dinner.

Umar went to bed brows furrowed because things were unresolved between him and his Babah.

I looked at my two men in despair.

“Dan… go and kiss him good night, Dan…”

“Tomorrow. Let him stew what he had done tonight.” Was the resigned reply.

“Dan… I don’t like people going to sleep angry or worried. It is not nice, Dan..”

“Biar lah dulu ..” Was the reply.

I tried a lot of tactics. He just smiled and kept asking me why I am so worried. I told my husband that I know my son very well and I am sure he can’t sleep. I told him I also know his sleep would be very much disturbed too.

No go.

Finally, aku guna taktik kotor.

“Dan… kat luar nampak macam hujan. Kalau ada kilat sabung-menyabung.. Umar mesti terjaga punya. You know how much the storm upsets him. Buatnya ada black out, I am sure he won’t dare to come here knowing your present mood. Karang teraba – raba dalam gelap… dengan kilat, dengan bunyi hujan, dengan bunyi angin…. Wooooo….. woooo….. wooooo….. Kesian anak kita, Dan. Lepas tu karang….”

Tak habis goreng, Babahnya dah bangun..”Yelah… yelah… Issh… awak ni…”. He he…. Jadi wooo…. Bukan aje budak – budak yang tak tahan, Bapaknya sekali sebak…

I followed him and sure enough although 30 minutes had passed since Umar retired, as soon as Dan switched on the light, I heard Umar’s voice, “Bah.. I am sorry, Bah.” He sat up straight, looking at his Babah intently.

Dan, well… he continued his lecture from the morning. When he motioned for Umar to hug him, Umar was already crying a river. I noticed that Dan’s eyes were wet, too…

Hisshh… cerekarama sungguh depa ni.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Muka

Elsa was quite poorly yesterday. We were up in the middle of the night to nurse her and by dawn it was decided that I will stay home to take care of her. But then I do have some work that I need to do and therefore decided that I will go to the office to fetch my laptop, get more instructions from my boss and just basically tie – up loose ends. I have to take her with me.

Just before we reach the stairs, my daughter gave a little laugh, “He he… muka…” she said. I looked at her enquiringly. “Look behind, Mummy… Look behind…” she said gleefully and when I turned I saw this,



A face on the wall. I recognized the artwork. The style of drawing, the way the artist stroke her pencils gave way her identity.

“Did you do this ?” I asked sternly.

All traces of laughter quickly vanished. She turned to look away. I stood my ground. She remained silent for a while before saying, rather aloofly I might say, “Tak de apa – apa lah” and proceeded to go down the stairs.

Eeiii…. !!

Last night I showed Dan the offending illustration. “Macam boleh kenal je gambar ni. Siapa lagi yang boleh lukis muka macam ni ?” Elsa was summoned to appear with her eraser. The confused look on her face was priceless. Even more invaluable was her expression when she saw where her father was waiting for her.

“Did you do this ?”

She shook her head.

“Elsa…. I hate lying. Nak masuk neraka ke ?”

Again she shook her head.

“Who did this then ?”

“Me….” she said timidly.

“Okay… rub it…” Dan said. She looked horrified.

“I cannot.” When asked why, she just shrugged her shoulders. Dan took the eraser from her and tried his best to rub off the face from the wall. Now there is a faint trace of it left.

Alahai….

Monday, February 18, 2008

Little Miss Busy

The whole of Sunday I was without my daughter. She slept with her cousin and therefore when we woke up at 6 to play tennis at 7, we didn’t wake her up because we didn’t want to wake Aida up too.

When we got back, she was quite upset. She even refused to go to Pasar Tani with us, declaring “ Titi tak nak pegi mana – mana !”. She only agreed to come with us when Dahlya, Jazmyn and Aida wanted to join us.

When we got home, she went straight to play with her cousins. When we got out for lunch, we went without her because she said she had eaten. It was one of the saddest lunch I had, without my naughty Titi. However when we got home she was not there as she was out with her grandparents. I heard her voice when she returned home and I waited for her to come to me. She didn’t. She was downstairs for a while and when she came up she went straight to her room to be with her cousins. I only saw a glimpse of her. How sad.

After awhile I noticed that I only heard Umar and Aida’s voices. Not hers. I asked Umar the whereabouts of her sister and he said she is in the room with him. She finally came to me for a hug but before she got away again I asked her if she could spare some precious minutes with me. I lifted her up, sat her on my lap and we nuzzled each other and marveled at each other’s faces. I laid her small frame on my lap ( she could still fit my crossed legs ) and asked her to stay with me for awhile. I rocked her and sang to her and when I looked at her again, she was fast asleep. My baby.

I went down to play badminton with Umar. After about an hour, she appeared at the door, all upset. “Mum.. I am upset…” she announced. I gathered her in my arms and she was soothed. I watched her on her tricycle with her brother until it was time for Maghrib. I bathed my kids, watched them take their ablutions ( we are not allowed to say air sembahyang anymore. According to Titi, at school it is called ablutions…fine…) and we prayed.

Abah’s turn to cook dinner and he made excellent dollar pancakes with fruits and ice-cream. While Abah prepared dinner I sat with my son helping him to do extra Bahasa Malaysia exercises as his exams are around the corner. Elsa sat with us, quietly studying her new picture dictionary ( dictionary ni dahsyat oii…. It is in English, BM, jawi and Arabic… you would never guess what semi-detached house is in Arabic ). I looked at her from time to time but she was absorbed in her book.

Umar asked during dinner if Wire in The Blood is on. When I said no he asked if Without a Trace is on and when the answer is still in the negative he was in despair. I told him CSI is on tonight and he was happy.

All of us snuggled in bed to watch the telly but Umar as usual nodded of by 9.30. When Abah and Mummy struggled to get Umar to his own bed ( his sheer size made it difficult ) Elsa announced that she wants to watch the telly instead of reading that night ( every night when we bid them good night Elsa would always ask for the light to be on. “I want to read” is what she always says. She would usually fall asleep with her book on her face or on her belly. So lovely ).

“I love you, Mummy…” she said happily, her head on my shoulder as we watched telly together. When I woke up this morning, my shoulder was sore because she was still there. My baby….. don’t ever be too busy for your mother.

Friday, February 15, 2008

This is the story of Naughty Elsa ( Like Naughty Amelia Jane )

I had a date with my darling husband yesterday and therefore we went to work in one car. Dan’s rule when sending his children to school is send them to the furthest that you can. If possible, put them on their teacher’s lap… ha ha.

Anyway yesterday I got out of the car, one hand holding Umar’s chubby ones and the other hand holding Elsa’s small one. We talked and chatted as always and we bid farewell at the assembly point. I kissed him and usually it was Elsa’s turn to hug him and for him to ruffle her hair ( tudung actually as we send Elsa to school next ). Umar did the customary ruffle but Elsa remained quiet. At Umar’s retreating back I said, “ Say bye – bye to Umar, Ti..”. She continued to be still. However when Umar was already at quite a distance, she hollered, “Bye-bye stupid !!”

I went “Oii….!” And my girl went “Ha ha… now semua owang tau Um-um stupid….”. Ya Allah ! Help me… !!

When we returned home last night after a lovely dinner, the kids were still with their ustaz ( or mustazad… Elsa named her giraffe Mustazad. It used to be Emot 2 sebab Umar’s giraffe is called Emot ). When they were done they of course ran to our room. Umar who has an excellent body timer went off to La-La Land soon after.

I was out of the room at that time, ironing Dan’s shirt when Dan went to the kids’ room babbling and nagging while Elsa trailed behind. He suddenly went out of the room and said, “Awak tengok anak awak ni…. !”.
Elsa was smiling sheepishly next to him. “Apa hal pulak…” Was my resigned response. “I tegur dia sebab kacau abang dia tidur. Dok korek telinga orang tu lah apa lah. I cakap ‘Nak jadi apa kau ni Elsa !’ and you know what she said ?”

“What ?”

“Samseng..!” Said he.

I looked at her. She gave me a big grin. “Titi nak jadi apa, Ti?”

“Samseng…. Wa ha ha ha ha !!”

Ya Allah ! Help me … !

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Hal Umar

Hal 1

"Mummy when I was about to fall down you catch me because you don’t want me to all down ?" Asked Umar one day after I caught him from stumbling down.

"Eermmm.... Yeah."

"You don’t want me to get hurt ?"

"Ermm.. sure."

"Keeping me safe is very important to you ? Because you love me ?" Was the next merepek question.

Alahai dia ni… tension lah….. I do not know what is in his head as this is one deeply dreamy fella who loves to romanticize everything and anything.

Like the other day when Elsa had wanted to sit with me in the front passenger seat. I refused to allow her to and kept giving excuses. Elsa got whinier with every justification I made. Then Umar said, “ Mummy, Titi wants to sit with you because she loves you so much Mummy. She just really, really loves you… ! “ What can you do after that but relented ?

Rimas le bini ko karang nak oiii…

“ Yang… kenapa you tak masak kat I hari ni ? You don’t love me today ke ? “

Waa…. I can just imagine that….
Hal 2
"Mummy is Shah Alam is the specialist place on earth ?"

"Specialest ?"

"Yes, is Shah Alam the specialest place on earth ?"

"First of all there is no specialest but most special and why makes you think Shah Alam is the most special place one earth ?"

"Because ada Shah Alam 1 and Shah Alam 2. Orang nak ada Shah Alam banyak2." Was the very logical reply. But...

"Ummpphh… kalau macam tu Seremban lagi special sebab ada 3."

Aiseh, silap. Seremban ada 2.. Nilai yang ada 3… he he… silap, silap.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Hal Elsa Lagi

Hal 1

Umar and Elsa was fighting for reasons that I was not privy to. *Mumble* *Mumble* *Mumble* *Upset* *Upset* *Upset* *Whine* *Whine* *Whine*.

Then I heard, “Um tak nak adik ke, Um ?”

“What do you mean by that ?” asked Umar.

“Nanti I go missing like Sharlinie kang..” She threatened.

Umar went quiet for awhile. Then he said,

“Ti, you are not missing. You are right here… If you said that which means you are lying and that is soooo… berdosa…” said the brother.

“Okay… okay. Ha ha ha ha….” Was the reply… Ntah apa-apa ntah… Tapi lepas tu si abang memang dah stopped antogonising adik dia. Menjadik strategy.

Hal 2

My very sensitive tummy was acting up again because I consumed some milk ( really, this is a catch 22 situation for me… Don’t drink milk I risk osteoporosis… Drink milk my IBS goes full blast ).

Anyway, lots of trapped wind therefore my stomach was grumbling and sorry to say, I released the wind via my bottom. I was in the kids’ room sharpening their pencils so I was at the very corner of their room. My kids were on the bed reading their books. When I turned around, Elsa was looking thoughtfully at me. One finger was tapping her lips.

“Mum… I think you sakit perut….” Said she. Then she added, “Or… you are still hungry….”. WA HA HA HA HA !!! She must have heard the on-goings of my tummy for her to make a remark like that.

Kelakarlah Titi ni.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Elsa and her mummy

Mummy…who is this ? Asked Elsa one day. We were in seksyen 2, waiting for Dan to get something ( dah lama gila tak pegi sek2… bring back so many crazy memories of our school days ) and she was reading a dog-eared copy of a Transformers book.

I looked at the picture and saw an Autobot with some blue colouring and said, “Optimus Prime,”. She frowned. She peered closely at the picture and her brows furrowed deeper.

“Mummy, Optimus Prime takde mulut lah Mummy. Ini ada mulut. This is not Optimus Prime… See ? See ? See ?”

“Really ah ?” Was my lazy reply.

“Um… look Um. This is not Optimus kan ? This is somebody else. Mummy said Optimus, Um.

Ya Rabbi. I never felt so stupid…

One day we were settling down in the theater to watch Alvin and The Chipmunks when I noticed there was a huge gap between my husband and I. Pre-kids, we would be snuggling down happily watching the screens but now we were separated by two seat, each filled with a mini me and a mini him.

I exchanged looks with Dan who was had Elsa leaning against his arms and I decided to do some mischief.

“Ti, what are you doing sitting with my boyfriend ?” She looked at me and smiled.

“I want to sit with my boyfriend, Ti..!” Said I again, stomping my feet. Elsa gave me this look that I cannot describe but I will remember forever. Sort of like ‘Alahhh…..’ plus a bit of ‘O-oh..’ and a smidgeon of ‘Dia dah start dahh….’.

Her response was startling. I was expecting “No! This is my boyfriend.” or “You sit where you are, Mummy..” or something in that manner. I was rearing for a fight. But instead I got “Can I sit with your boyfriend for awhile, Mum ?”.

Reverse psychology ke sebab I shut my trap immediately afterwards.

But yesterday was quite hurtful. I don’t know why but I was rather hurt. We both started off the day happy, had sushi (again) happy (Dan warned the kids if sushi is ever mentioned next week, he is going to burn down the shop… he he…. ) but when we got in the car, we were upset with each other.. I have forgotten why.

She said something that I have totally forgotten about and I said something and then she said, “I was not talking to you, Mummy. I was talking to Babah…”. Dan and Umar howled with laughter. Me ? I must had a disbelief look on my face because Dan stopped laughing and ordered her to apologise. She did but there was no sincerity. I went quiet
We were already at Batu Tiga I think when I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I looked behind and she was withdrawing her hand and was about to slinker back behind Dan, right at the car door. I called her. “Why did you do that ?”

“Nothing..” Was the reply.

“Are you trying to be friends with me again ?” I asked.

Dan asked me what was going on and I replied “I think dia nak pujuk I.”

“Elsa….” Said me again. “Are you trying to say sorry ?”

“Yes…” She said, hiding her face behind Dan’s seat, but I can see her smiling shyly.

I motioned for to sit on my lap and she gratefully obliged. She hugged me and buried her face on my chest. “I love you, Mummy…”

He he… sayang pun kat Mummy dia…..