Oh-ohh...

I always refer to my son as ‘my Baby Boy’ when I talk to Elsa. Elsa is used to it and I thought she has accepted it as my pet name for Umar because one day yeah, we were looking for cds at the new cd outlet at Shah Alam Mall. I suddenly realized that I only have Elsa with me and my son was nowhere in sight.

I started to get a bit panicky when I looked around and still couldn’t find him. So I asked my daughter, “Elsa, nampak Um tak ? I cannot see him anywhere…”

She gasped and said, “Is it your Baby Boy, Mummy ? Is your Baby Boy missing ?”

He he… well you get the picture.

I have been picking up my children from school these past 2 days as my sister is plagued with diarrhea. I rushed to pick Elsa up first before I head for Umar’s school. It so happened, today I was a bit late and when I got to Elsa’s, I have only 5 minutes to spare before Umar is let out from school.

I rushed in, saw her and motioned her over. Minah ni pulak sebelum balik, dia nak salam segala cikgu yang ada. I was jumping a bit while asking her to be quicker. As she got nearer, I said “Cepat Ti ! I have to go and pick up my Baby Boy !! Come on !”

As I turned to leave, I heard her mutter, “Asyik-asyik Baby Boy dia…”

Eh ?

As soon as she got in the car, I asked gor a hug. She refused (by folding her arms and shook her body and head, pouting, eyes closed), to my shock, but then relented. We sang all the way to Um’s school but I could see something was troubling her.

We parked and she reached for the door but I stopped her. “Tunggu sekejap. Let us just wait in the car..” She smiled and crancked up the radio.

“Ti…. Are you angry that I call Um my Baby Boy ?” I asked after awhile.

Surprisingly, her face changed and she looked down. I frowned.

“Ti ?”

“Yes…” Her face still facing downwards, looking at her hands. She was withdrawing from me and I was very much mystified by her reaction.

“Why ?”

“Because I don’t think you love me so much…”

Errr….. Aisehman. How do I get myself into this situation ? My eyes never left her face so I could see it became sadder and sadder.

Aku pulak dengan bodohnya pegi jawab, “But that is not true. And besides, you love Abah more than me….” This is a subject that I have always wanted to blog about. I will after this.

She didn’t answer. And I waited.

“You love Abah more than you love me, right ?” And her refusal to answer me is very perplexing as I didn’t think that my daughter at 6 could feel like this. Whatever this means.

I continued looking at her while she remained impassive and played with her hands. Well impassive is a bit of a misnomer because although she didn’t answer me, her face was not something that I can describe except sad. And my heart broke. Well, probably hers is right at that moment too.

She cried. It was so totally unexpected. I mean, she is my clown kan ? Of course she cries, but it was more of anger and mengada-mengada and not this kind of crying that she was doing right at that moment.

I for once was quite lost of what to do. I just looked at her before thinking, “Hey, I should really hold her..” and therefore scooped her up and held her close. I am really sorry for being taken aback, but this kind of emotional moments like this with my daughter had never happened before. And seriously in my very immature thinking, I am to expect maybe in 5 years time.

“Mummy sayang Elsa kan ?” Her tears were heartbreaking. I really did not suspect that she is harbouring those thoughts as we are close, Mummy and Titi. With whom do I spent my before bathing time moments if not with her ? Who waits for me while I bathe ? Who talks to me and linger in the bathroom while I bathe ? Who combs my hair while I was still wet from my shower ? We read and play the piano together. In fact, I spent more time talking to her than I do with Umar. He is a boy for God’s sake and boys don’t do conversation often.

“You are my Clown kan ?” I asked.

“NO !!!” She wailed. Ooppss.. wrong one.

“You are my Little Girl kan ?” Baru angguk. I tell you, I prefer nangis guling-guling than this silent, sobbing. This is more heavy, emo stuffs and harder to handle.

I rocked her and soothed her the only way I know I could, by singing. And she became quiet. Then she extricated herself from my embrace and grinned. Mummy sighed in relieved.

There you go, you are my Clown… I wasn’t wrong there… But, Mummy best remember that she doesn’t like that much.. I suppose, dia pun nak nama manja gak.. he he…

Hai lah…

Carbonara yang dasyat punya...

Mummy finally made carbonara for iftar.

Umar and Elsa were so excited, they held up their plates to Mummy as soon as the Adzan was heard, drinks forgotten.

They tucked in and were quiet for a very long time. Even Babah was busy shoveling creamy spaghetti in his mouth.

“Thank you, Mummy. Thank you for doing this…” Said Elsa, finally looking up from her plate, with cream moustache. “You are such a good mother…and cook..”

He he…

“Mum…” It was Umar's turn to bequeth his tribute. "You should be cooking on the telly, lah…”

Ha ? I looked at Dan and returned my quizzical gaze to him. Did I hear him right ? I definitely did not expect that.

“You should go on television and teach people how to cook….” He said again, smiling broadly.

Aww….. Mummy was sooo touched, she felt tears threatening to come. kembang kempis hidung menahan perasaan. Huuu... dasat, okay ?

“Thank you, Umar. That was vey nice… That is the nicest thing anybody can tell me….” She said sambil jeling kat Babah who suffers from the incurable Inability-to-Bestow-Praise-alitis.

Sebak sekejap, Mummy.

Babah and Mummy..,

Ini cerita Babah dan betapa Babah manjakan anak-anak. Bukan Mummy yek, Babahnya.

Kelmarin lepas Terawikh, Babah singgah kedai nak pi beli roti for soq. Pegi pulak kedai seksyen 3 yang memang terkenal dengan kedekutan parking spaces nya. Apatah lagi time-time orang balik terawikh, memang lah penuh. Babah stopped in front of the shop and sighed, “Macamana nak beli roti ni ?” mengangin-anginkan yang Mummy could actually get off her butt and do the buying.

But I dowan. Mummy memang malas nak turun kete pergi kedai. Plus, I was in my telekung, kan ? Mana buleh. So I said, “Suruh le Umar.”

Babah frowned at Mummy. “Mana sampai dia nak ambik roti tu. Roti kat rak paling atas….” I looked at the roti shelf which was outside the premise (as per standard Malaysian grocery store arrangement) and shook my head.

“He is 9, he can figure it out… Let him grow, Bah…”

Umar who I presumed had heard our conversation, held out his hand. “Give me the money, Bah. Let me do it…” Darling son wants to prove the father wrong. Well done, Um.

Babah whined a bit when he gave his son some money. As soon as Umar got out of the car, he leaned forward, eyes trained on his son, watching him like a hawk.

Apa da… Depan mata lah anak awak tu, Bah. Relax lah.

Umar reached for the bread easily. He gave his Babah a triumphant smile. Babah got all bothered again when a car slowed behind him while Umar was paying.

“Alahai, ada kereta pulak ni…” He complained, peering to look at the car from the rearview mirror and then at his baby in the shop.

“La… pusing je lah…”

“No ! Nanti Umar keluar karang.. ?”

“He will wait, Dan…”

“Dia cari karang… Kesian dia…”

Mummy looked at Babah stupidly.

Babah let out an exasperated sound before moving on. Elsa whimpered. “U-um !” Babah made the first u-turn at Syed, then stopped at the other side of the road, in front of the shop looking for his son. “Umar ! Tunggu Abah !” he yelled, and I must add in the closed car, all tingkaps up, gesturing madly. He then floored it, made a hasty u-turn and stopped with a screech back where we started.

Umar was not there.

“Mana dia ? Where is he ?” Itu Babah.

“Umar ! Umar !” Itu Elsa.

We then saw Umar, walking back to store from Syed, apparently looking for us there.

“I told you ! Dia mesti cari kita punya !”

Umar got in the car smilingly. “Where did you guys go ?” he asked good naturedly.

Mummy who didn’t say anything as was busy observing the situation answered, “Pusing jap sebab ada kete kat belakang…”

“Ohh… “ was all he said. Babahnya ? “Itulah awak. Dia ingat kita tinggal dia tau tak. I dah cakap dah.” Elsa ? “Um ! My U-um. My U-um…”

Mummy ? Covered her face with her hand and groaned. Anak lembik jangan salahkan ibu yang mengandung please.

Ini cerita Mummy yang suka buat anak-anak tension.

I had forgotten where we were when my little kiddies saw a Ferris Wheel.

“Mummy look ! A Ferris Wheel ! Nak naik !” Said Elsa excitedly.

Mummly looked around tapi tak nampak pun.

“Mana ada…”

“Ada ! It’s there !” Umar said, pointing.

I looked but still couldn’t see it.

“Bestnya naik Ferris Wheel, kan Um ?” Said Elsa, buat tactic kesian dia seperti biasa.

“Yes, must be nice. Kita tak pernah naik kan ?”

Mummy buat muka boring.

“Korang, kalau naik Ferris Wheel tu pastu dia berenti and you guys are at the top most macamana ?”

They looked at Mummy with a not happy face.

“Look, it can happen you know. If you guys got stuck up there, who is coming to your rescue ? Kat Malaysia ni Superman tak dak, Spiderman tak dak, Batman pun tak dak… So.. macamana ?”

Arms folded, Elsa looked at me dangerously, “Fireman kan ada. They do rescue missions, you know…”

Oh pandai ko yek.

“But Elsa, if it is as much fun as you said it is, the firemen is also up there, on the Ferris Wheel…Very much stucked like you…”

He he…. Sebab she is 6, she cannot find a clever retort quickly. Umar masa tu dah malas nak layan mak dia. Dalam kepala hotak dia mesti cakap, “Kalau tak nak bagi cakap jelah. Jangan lah bagi cerita bodoh pulak…”

Well… I expect that maybe in… umm… 3 years’ time. For now, I am the reigning queen of The Last Say. Heh !

Ambik depa sekolah

I had to pick up my children from school yesterday. Elsa first. She happily showed me a Viennese style mask she made that day. In the car she started chatting. So many stories happened in that school okay, kalah Desperate Housewives. But the one that stick to my head is this,

“Tadi kan.. A**** pegi dapur lepas tu dia mi-NUM … Maksudnya dia tak puasa lah tu Mummy ….”

He he.... The scandalous tone is precious. Okaylah, I shouldn't encourage gossiping but she is oh so cute..

We waited for Abang at the usual place. She was jumping happily about, singing ‘Don’t go breaking my heart’.

“What does that mean, breaking my heart ?”

“I don’t know…” Then, “What does it mean, Mummy ? Do you know ?” she asked, closing the distance between us. I looked down at her while she looked up at me.

“It means make you sad and upset. Like kalau Babah ada girlfriend, Babah is breaking my heart (I know, I know… banyak example lain but at that particular moment, I can only think of that). Kalau Titi and U-um tak puasa… you will breaking my heart too…”

“What ?” She gasped. “Will you die if Babah break your heart ? Because heart is important kan Mummy ?” Macam pernah ada discussion ni dengan abang dia aje… But did you notice she only mentioned Babah doing the heart breaking thing and made no references of her and her abang ?

“Err…..”

“Oh, Mummy !” She said dramatically and hugged me. “Please don’t break your heart because I love you sooooo much. And also because you are a good cooker…”

“Cook…” Mummy corrected.

“Cook….” She said, head still on my tummy.

Ha ha..

When the bell rang, she put on her mask and made strange noises. One girl stood in front of my daughter and looked at her. I in turn looked at that girl worriedly. She was huge, almost my height and with a wider girth. I didn’t know what to expect but luckily her father came. My daughter was oblivious to all this and kept on with the strange noises.

A beautiful girl, a prefect at that with lovely hair in a neat bob, nice and kind face smiled at my daughter from afar, with an amused look. She waved and my daughter returned it happily and yelled, “Good bye !”

I who was struck by her beauty and her kindness and her friendliness, put a hand on my chest and asked Elsa for her identity.

“I don’t know. Kawan Umar…”

“Yelah… sapa nama ?” Mummy presses.

“I don’t know !”

Alahai... boleh buat menantu ni.... Takpa... banyak masa nak check…

A gross one but I still have to tell..

Elsa ni likes to fiddle with her nose. Elsa and Anna in fact. Anna lagi haru, bukan nya fiddle tapi down right korek hidung okay… Eeuuwww…

And people wonder why Mummy keeps a pack of wet wipes in her bag.

Anyway, we were at a very elegant wedding at a hotel and while waiting for the food and the rest of the guests to arrive, Elsa abandoned her place and sat on her Babah’s lap. And started fiddling.

Mummy tegur. Not nice, Elsa.

No ! My finger is not in the hidung. It is just outside. It is very itchy, Mummy ! Gatal sangat !

Well whatever it is, it is still not nice. You and your long skirt and baju cantik macam Princess konon. Princess apa yang korek hidung.

Gross alert !!

The inevitable happened as quite a big one stuck on her jari. Urrghhh !

Ha…. Derhaka kan. Mak tu dah cakap tak mau dengaq !!

It was a wedding and Mummy had a cute bag with her. Not the industrial size one she usually lugs around. So no space for wet wipes, okay ? Just me lippy and mirror. And phone.

Gross alert ! Babah took her hand and was about to wipe it on the table cloth when she screamed, “Babah, don’t Bah ! This is a wedding !!!” Face all horrified. He he… tahu pun…

Babah laughed and took his Princess to the toilet for a spot of hand washing.

He he…

Okay, I know cerita macam ni pun nak habaq… Well, this is more for my memory…. So I have to record it, lah.