Elsa being bold

Elsa sejak dua menjak ni memang perangai semacam. Actually after her first day of school, she came home with a sassy mouth.

One day Dan got the brunt of her mouth. “Bah, when can I eat the yoghurt Bah ? Nanti ke ?”

“Esok lah Ti…” said Dan, while putting the yoghurt in the fridge.

“Nantilah ?” She persisted.

“Esok lah Ti… We just ate, Ti.” Said Dan again, fully thinking that nanti means that very day, from 5 minutes to 3 hours later in the day.

“Esok tu maksudnya nantilah. It’s the same Bah… !” Said she, looking at her father like he was the stupidest thing on earth. Dan stopped what he was doing and looked at her.

“Samalah nanti and esok,” she murmured under her breath.

Amboi….

My turn was last Saturday. Cik Ta gave my children a pack of Uno. We had a good time playing it but when Elsa did a hat trick in losing, she cried. Then she declared she is in team Babah. O-kay.

We played again and after a losing streak, Umar too cried. I collected the cards without saying a word and put it aside.

Sunday morning as we were preparing for tennis, Umar asked if we could play Uno again.

“No !” Said Mummy. Both son and daughter gave me a stricken look. Mummy’s No was quite hard. Sorry…

“Why am I saying No ? Because people cry when they play Uno. And what is the thing that Mummy hates the most ?”

“Crying..” said my kids timidly.

“That’s right,” said I, triumphantly.

“Oh… bukan sebab mummy kalah dengan Titi and Babah ?” I heard one little baby voice said. I looked at her. She was smiling like a cat. Umar was beaming looking expectantly at me.

What did I do ? I shooed them off for their socks and racquet.

Eeeii…. Geramnya aku.

PS: When I recounted this story to Anu and Shazmi, they were delighted. Ha ! tunggulah turn korang dapat a saucy 5 year old !!

Takde apa-apalah Um !

I was doing my weekend Sudoku, waiting for Maghrib. My kids smelt nice after their bath and was on the floor playing Uno. Suddenly I heard Umar said in an exasperated tone, “Ti, you cannot do your baju like that !” Said he. The pj Elsa was wearing was rather big and sometimes the shoulder will droop down, exposing her shoulders. Abang Elsa pulled the pj shoulders up.

“Why ? Takde apa2 lah.” Said the sister and shrugged the shoulders down again.

“Ish, Ti !!” Said the abang again and righted the baju for a second time.

“Why ?” Asked the sister yet again and once more shrugged down the shoulders. She was annoyed because to her Umar was just being obnoxious and just wanted to rile him up.

He looked upset. He ran his hand through his hair and looked perplexed. Elsa’s shoulder was bare.

“I don’t know lah Ti. I don’t remember. I just know you can’t do it, okay. So don’t !!”

“Takde apa-apa lah Um !” Said the sister, this time a bit hard.

“Elsa, dengar cakap abang. Dia kata jangan, jangan …” said me in a warning tone.

Elsa meekly obeyed.

Since Dan wanted sate for dinner, off we went in our pjs (budak2 le. Mak bapak looked obscene in our pjs.), fully intending to tapau the food. But when we got there the shop was closed. We ho-hummed and drove around, not knowing what to eat as we were really set on sate. When asked the kids of course asked for McDonald’s. Pegilah jugak ( aku memang tension bab bab makan McD nih. Tak sedap oiii…).

We decided to eat there and of course Elsa went out with her too big at the shoulders pj. Umar had a hard time trying to contain his sister’s shoulder under wrap. I finally asked him why he is so worried about Elsa’s bare shoulders.

He sighed. Then he laughed. “ Mumm…,” he started clearly embarrassed. “Elsa is a little girl kan ? All the little boys ( at this point he looked accusingly around the restaurant ) are looking at Titi sexy like that. Cannot ! Tuhan marah…”

He he…. Good boy. Esok-esok Mummy simpan baju tu until Titi dah muat pakai, okay ?

Mummy... Babah tak bagi pegi kelas

“Mummy…*sob* sob* Abah tak bagi Titi pegi Mandarin.”

“Bukanlah. Titi kan tidur. You were asleep so U-um pegi soranglah.”

“I want U-um. Titi tak dapat sama U-um.”

“Tak pelah. Why don’t you just stay at home with Babah ?”

“I want to go to Mandarin. I dah siap homework !! Waaaaaa !!”

Aiseh. Dan called me earlier to tell me Elsa was asleep and therefore Umar went to Mandarin class alone. I warned him that Elsa loves going to classes therefore I think the best recourse is to wake her up. Babahnya said “ No lah. Let her rest. Biarlah. Macam mana nak gerak pun ? Nanti groggy. ” Okay, your call. Whatever it is I was at the office so I won’t be handling it.

Tapi zaman technology canggih ni, aku masih kena handle. Bila telefon berbunyi je aku dengaq anak aku sebak – sebak bercakap and the above-mentioned conversation ensued. Hai… budak ni memang dok seronok pi sekolah after had been denied for 1 year. School is still a novelty and therefore ponteng is not an option. Cikgu dia pun tak boleh ponteng. Berapa kali teacher Dahlia called to arrange a substitute piano lesson dia meraung bila abang dia sorang masuk studio.

The next day she got upset with her Cik Ta for leaving her behind. “Why Cik Ta tak hantar Titi Mandarin ? Why you leave me at home ?”

“Tak… Titi tidur. Babah kata you don’t have to go… !”

“Cik Ta next time you don’t leave me okay ? You take me to my class okay ?”

“Yelah…yelah…”

And semalam jugak she was panicky throughout the day. “Is it time for class yet ?”

“What class ?”

“Mandarin lah…”

“No… today is mengaji. So malam. Mandarin is tomorrow okay ?”

She cocked her head to the side and asked, “ Are you sure Mummy ?”

“Yelah…. Tomorrow is Mandarin..”

“I have to go to class okay ? Don’t leave me okay ?”

“Yelah.. I told Cik Ta already. Kalau ko tidur pun, angkut aje…”

Petang sikit dia tanya lagi…. Waargghhhh !! Tension !!

Malam tu ustaz datang. She was waiting for ustaz in the study room when I called her for her medication. Her face was worried.

“Nanti ustaz datang !!”

“Belum lagi. Makan ubat dulu …”

She looked panicky. “Mum… I don’t want to be late. I don’t want to miss my class..”

“Ishh.. yelah. Sekejap je….”

When all is done, she ran to the room, relieved that her ustaz hadn’t arrive before her.

Missing girl

Another one gone. What is happening to our society ? Where is Sharlinie ? I am dreading the moment when her body is found, very much broken like arwah Nurin. I hope it won’t come to that. I hope maybe today she will found wandering somewhere, trying to find her way home. Please…

I was reading the papers on Saturday and I showed her picture to my children. I explained her situation carefully, making sure my children understand the grave situation this little girl is in.

Elsa kept looking at her picture. She stared and stared and stared. And then the questions and pleadings came barreling in.

“Mummy, can we go and find her ?”

“Mummy, where is she ? Where is she lost ?”

“Why is she lost ?”

“Mummy, dia naughty ke ? Kapa orang jahat ambik dia ?”

“Mummy, what happened to her now ? What about now ?” This question she asked more frequently than the rest.

She took the page with Linie’s picture in it everywhere. She will occasionally show it to other people with an announcement that the little girl is lost with a few bits of infos that she had.

For the umpteenth time when she thrust the paper in front of my eyes, Um has had enough. He really doesn’t like repetition that one.

“Ti can you stop that ? Stop saying that !!”

“Janganlah marah, Um..” Was the reply.

“Yalah… stop saying that. It’s annoying.”

“Um… she is just concerned, okay ? Let her be.” Said I.

This morning I showed her the picture of Nurin from yesterday’s paper. I explained that this was the first girl who went missing. Umar and Elsa asked a lot of questions again. The hows and the whys and the whens and then came the inevitable question, what happened to her ??

“She died, darling. Orang jahat tu killed her.” They went quiet. The stared and stared at her picture for the longest time.

Please, return Linie to her family safe and sound. Please.

The kerfuffle at the breakfast table this morning.

“Mummy I want toast today.” The little girl announced. The brother had started spooning cereal in his mouth.

“Toast takdelah Titi. Dah habis.” Said I.

A pout formed and hands in a neat fold.

“I want toast. I don’t like Foolupus ( Fruit Loops ).”

Pulak.

“Come here Ti. Let me show you. There is no more toast. Dah habis.” And I took her to see for herself the spot where we usually put or bread.

She gasped.

“Mummy, what happened the family of fenchetables here ?” She was horrified. Her finger was pointing at the bread spot.

“Family of what ?” Asked Mummy, all confused.

“Fenchetables.”

“What is that ?”

“Vegetables wa ha ha ha ha…” said the brother.

Eh ? Sayur apa pulak ?

“What vegetables Ti ?”

“All the bread.. There’s so many there yesterday. Now all is lost !!”

“Ermm… Okay you mean the vegetables are all the toasts ?” I just have to ask.

“Yes, there is a family of vegetables there yesterday !! Bah ! Look !! All the vegetables are gone !! Somebody stole them !! All are missing !”

Aiseh… habis kena makanlah. Apasal lak kena curi. Sejak bila roti masuk dalam sayur-sayuran ? Sebab made of wheat ke ? Lepas tu family of vegetables ? Because there were different kind of breads there ??

Kelakar lah Titi ni ... Merepek sungguh.

Stories that I have to remember

I have been storing away memories of what my children did in my head. Can’t do that. My brain failed me a few times before and I just have to write it down. Just so that I could relieve the moments again when prompted ( when I read my blog lah ) and for my children to remember their childhood correctly ( I do not want 2 – 3 bad incidents to colour their whole recollections of being with us. Funny kan ? We always, always remember the bad stuffs…. )

We took Titi to buys shoes. She needed them badly as all she had at that time was an Adidas Marjy Jane, an LA Gear Mary Jane and a pair of slippers. She wanted a pair with flowers and sequins and what nots ( remember her sparkly, sequined and beribboned purple ones ? )

I saw one that I know she would like and showed it to her but the store didn’t have it in her size. She saw a pair of ballerina ones in soft pink which she really liked but again her feet was too small ( Cinderella lah baby Mummy ni ). We chose quite a few but none came in her size. One almost fit her but it was rather bulky and totally engulfed her tiny feet. She was rather keen on that pair actually but Babah didn’t like it so we had to leave empty handed. I didn’t think about it at all, I mean how she feels about not having new shoes until I saw her talking to a friend of mine.

“See ? I have medium feet here ( showed her right foot ). This one is also medium ( showed her left foot ). But Babah cakap – cakap saja. Not nice… big size… beli saja lah kan ?” Waa ha ha ha… pandainya complain. She never said anything to us !

Usually when I bathe my children, I would instruct one to send the dirty clothes to the laundry basket and one to hang the towels to dry. One day, since Umar stripped off last he visited the laundry basket and it is only fair for Elsa to hang the towels after bath. I asked her to do after they were powdered, clothed and had their hair brushed. She sighed, stomped her feet and muttered under her breath, “Why must I do it ?” Cess…. Kurang asam punya budak. Yesterday, when I gave her the sane instruction, she moaned while face buried in the mattress, “ Why must it be me ? ” He he…. Just because darling, just because…

I told Dan ustaz mentioned how clever Elsa is while she was within hearing distance. In fact she was right in front of us. Again when Farhan, a friend of ours who happens to be the contractor for our renovation work commented how clever he finds my little girl is because of her very inquisitive mind, he did so in front of her too, while we were having a drink at Cili Merah.

One day Umar was berating her on her stupidity an dshe just listened with eyebrows furrowed. I was about to tell my son to shut his trap when Elsa herself interjected, “ Umar, remember ustaz said I am a good girl ? Uncle kat kedai mamak tu pun cakap I am a good girl, okay ? I am not stupid. ” He he… comelnya dia…