potty training, a near success

i have been trying to potty train my little girl ever since she was 18 months old. we got a nice potty which plays music everytime you wee wee or poo poo in it. i introduced her what wee wee is and sat her on the potty a few times. i applauded her the few times she did wee wee in it. i am not sure whether the music was the element that turned her off. it was a no no to nadia nasira. she refused to sit on it anymore. i seriously attempted to potty train her at exactly 2 1/2 years. i tried a lot of methods until one day i simply took the diapers off. i told my maid to take her to the toilet every 2 hours, before nap and after she woke up. i was quite worried of the accidents she is prone to have without the diapers and how my mother in law would cope... well, she did have some accidents and at the same time, she wouldn't go to the toilet when either my mother in law or the maid remind her to do so.

on november 14, we went over to my husband's uncle's condo in Armani Terrace. it was a gorgeous 2 storey condo with a breathtaking view from the patio overlooking half the city. nadia nasira caught a glimpse of the scented, dry and carpeted toilet and announced that she wanted to wee wee. she did that 3 times that night. i was amazed at this development. did it take such a luxurious toilet to entice my little princess to be potty trained?

i didn't believe that was it but when we went to PD, she controlled her wee wee and told me that she wanted to wee wee. it was 5km to the nearest rest area. she would announce all the time she wanted to wee wee. well, i am convinced now that she is potty trained but then i have an issue. she does poo poo in her panty.... tips anyone?

this is her expensive potty and my appologies...it is the only time she accidently pooped in her potty months ago.

the search for who MNN looks like....

i was still looking for an answer to the question... who does my son looks like until i found this ancient picture of my younger brother, kamal....i dont know if he really looks alike but when i saw this ancient picture, i saw my son's innocent look...

clown....

my dear chatter box woke up this morning and saw from her bed that her brother was still sleeping.

nadia nasira: the clown is sleeping.
mummy: that's my son.
nadia nasira: no, that's my brother.
mummy: that's my son.
nadia nasira: no, that's my brother.
mummy: OK, shall we share my son?
nadia nasira: no, i don't want to share my brother.

she referred to her brother as a clown because she had the perception that clown's attires are usually in stripes. so happened that her brother's pyjama pants was in colorful stripes.

ghost from the past....

a few days ago, a classmate of mine requested to add me on facebook friends' list. i passed her a remark and i ignored her request because of some differences that was irreconcilable.

my email response to her is self-explanatory.... no matter what your opinions are about my reply, i must say that i feel very contented and at peace for doing what i did.

Dear Vicky,

I must thank God for this opportunity whereby God has made our paths cross after 18 years just for me to be able to tell you all those things I didn’t get to say 18 years ago.

Firstly, I have forgotten that you existed because I didn’t want carry a bag of bad memories in life. It is not until now that you knock on my door claiming that you are my friend. ‘Hi Bas, ingat I lagi ke? I am your friend Vicky?’ All I responded to you was ‘friend ke, I still remember what you did in the past.’ Now you flood my inbox with emails after emails.

Viknesvary sent you a message.

(no subject)

"Really, if that is so, i cannot change the past but just thought that the older we grow, we tend to keep in touch! It's still up to u to decide! Thanks"

Viknesvary sent you a message.

Subject: ???!!!!

""Apologizing does not mean that you are wrong and the other one is right...It simply means that you value the relationship much more than your ego ...""

Viknesvary sent you a message.

(no subject)

"I just wanted to let u know that I too remember what you did to me in the past, but I forgave you as neither of us were angels those days! We were not matured enough and time changes everything. You better grow up and be matured! Think and decide!"

I was going to ignore your earlier emails but I think you are getting a bit too much because I let you say things at your liberty. Since you kept on provoking me, let’s get this straight and let me remind you:

You were my classmate and became a friend by chance because we both were close to Santa Maria. I accepted you as a friend until the day you backstabbed me by spreading rumors about me. You fed Santa Maria with stories and stories everyday until she denounced my friendship and be friends with you. You knew Santa Maria was interested in Richard and you capitalized on that to make up so many stories. You even went to the extend of pretending as Richard giving Santa Maria Valentine’s Day card. I saw the card which had your handwriting and used my sources to get the real Richard to tell Santa Maria the truth. That is how I made Santa Maria see that you were a liar all along. Your defense was….you were having cancer and would not live long. Do you know that ever since, our joke used to be….how come she is not dead yet? Obviously, after 18 years, you survived the cancer. Santa Maria is still my best friend from my childhood. It is a fact good always rise above evil. Do you remember when it all started? It started right after Merdeka Day 1990 (the day Ipoh boys got to meet me) when your tuition friend Gopal was interested in me from the moment he saw me. I am sure you burnt with jealousy and that is why you did what you did. You fed him stories about me as well until you both ended up as a couple. At the same time, Gopal kept in touch with me and he planned with me to change the BM tuition session without you knowing so that he could be in the same class as I did. When you found that out, you changed your timing to be with us. You continued being evil all along until we graduated high school. You made the best years of schooling years a hell for me…the pain, misery, humiliation and being torn away from my best friend. I hated you for that. It was really great when you were left behind in a different class while Santa Maria and I moved up to a better class. I passed my exams with flying colours, left Ipoh to pursue my university life while still being the best friend to the girl from my childhood. I was always updated with your lousy behavior in Ipoh but I didn’t give a damn anymore.

I am quite embarrassed to have to highlight all these to you but you know something, as human beings inflicts pain onto others, they don’t feel it so, they forget and expect to be accepted as if nothing had happened. You are wrong. I have forgiven all your evilness because I have elevated myself way above you since I am of a different class compared to you. I have always been the elite. Your friendship was a mistake both Santa Maria and I made but we both learned from it and are now better friends. It is my nature that I forgive but I NEVER forget even a tiny bit if anyone has wronged me.

I don’t understand how YOU can talk about valuing friendship. When it comes to you, I don’t need to have any ego because I never consider myself being at par with you. Being immature does not give anyone an excuse to do anything and validate their behavior. I have met so many friends on facebook and when I told them ooo…you used to bully me in school… their response were so positive. They were like… I’m sorry lah. Budak-budak masa tu… you are the only one who responded to me the way you did. Naturally, it speaks better about you being the same. By the way, there is nothing for you to forgive me because I am very clear about who had wronged who. You are telling me to “better grow up and be matured! Think and decide!" I was matured enough not to respond to you but you kept emailing me so I thought I better put you in place. To decide what? To accept you as a friend on facebook? there is nothing to think and decide. I have decided when I was 17 years old that you do not qualify to be my friend.

I thank God for giving me this chance to say all these and make peace with my past.

business trip to PD

last week, i made a 2 and a half day business trip to PD, bringing along my package... my two little toddlers, my mother in law and the maid. the husband is missing from the package because he was away in melbourne. the amount of things i packed and packed for days could last anyone else for more than a month's stay.

my children were so excited that they didn't sleep during the wet weathered journey. i had to entertain nadia nasira while my mother in law kept my son occupied. i lost my patience sometimes as well. in between, there were cries, milk time, wee wee time and tapau dinner time. if you are the self sufficient kind, these are times where you could really do with a man around.

we finally reached the condo belongs to my company at about 9 pm after the 2 hour journey only to find that my children were too excited to settle down... they explored every corner of the condo. my daughter refused to sleep though she was so sleepy and she said, mummy nak sleep in the car. new place syndrome. however, being the super mum i am, i coaxed her into sleeping. so, all of us got on the bed and with lights off, fell asleep....no problems sleeping the next day.

they woke up in the morning with so much excitement and saw me off to work. i came in between to check on them, they were fine. i cooked some food and froze them mostly for their lunch since i should be busy working. in the evening, i took them for a walk and drove out to get dinner. on the way, we stopped by a funfair and got on two train rides. my little girl really enjoyed herself while my son was quite unsure of things and clinged on his mummy. on the way back, they were already sleepy putting them to sleep wasn't difficult at all.

on day two, the excitement was at its heights when i got time off for early lunch and i took them to the pool. nadia nasira has no sense of fear as she tried to thread the water as far as she could. she even tried her luck with me so that i would take her to the adult pool. no! no!

it was time for me to wrap up work while my maid packed for us to leave. it was a good business trip as well quality time with my children and time off from routine for my mother in law.

just as we settled in the condo, my children were....





going for the evening walk by the beach....









nadia nasira's excitement over the pool and she is convincing me to take her for a swim...




what a shame the children's section were under renovation...



funfair


they are always wonderful to each other in the mornings....so loving but short lived...





finally...look at how she is beaming...




mission accomplished...

last fun before time to leave...

the pain of having a maid!!!

numerous times i have told the maid not to administor hot water while carrying my son. nope, she would not listen. she is smarter than all of us and we ought to listen to what she has got to say on how to go about things.

one evening, i was seconds late before she accidentaly spilt hot water on my son. i had no time for emotions, i had to do what i had to do at that time. it was a shame that i didn't know what was the right thing to do in such situations. apparently, i should have let the affected place under running water to cool the burn effects. i found a cream for burns and i applied it while my husband and i got ready to go to the nearest clinic.

in the meantime, i was furious with the maid and her reaction was, saya jugak kena puan. i can't believe it. does that make it even? what is her pain compared to my poor baby? i may be heartless...well, i am towards her for all the mental torture she puts me through, i said to her, padan muka.

we took him to the clinic which was a mistake coz the child specialist hired an indonesian (nurse?) to attend to his patients. she was so rough compared to our local nurses at the hospitals. well, i decided that it was only for first aid and took him to damansara specialist the next day for subsequent treatements.

poor poor son of mine, he cried for hours out of pain and fear. it was at its height when the (stupid) nurse did the dressings. he held on his mummy so tightly for dear life. it was heart wrenching to see the baby you protected in your womb was in so much pain. after hours of clinging on his mummy, he was finally fine. he laughed and started his usual mischiefs. he even went to a birthday party the next day since he had no fever.

as for the maid, i should charge her all my son's hospital bills. that wouldn't be enough as compared to the pain my son went through but i think that would make her feel the pinch.

farmville

i got hooked on farmville, the plantation game on facebook. started with my sis getting hooked and now, i got my husband into it as well. so much so that i will have to wait until he had harvested and plowed and re-planted before we have our dinner and most of the times, before we call it a day late night.

one night, he saw me going in to the garden with a pair of scissors. i announced that i was going to harvest and this time, it wasn't virtual. i came back with some leafty vegetables and straight into the kitchen. after removing the leaves, again i went to the garden with the stems and announced that i was going to plow and plant.

once i have finished planting, i cooked the manatakali keerai for my children's lunch the next day. i was such a proud mother.

the idea of having my own came from my mum's garden. she has all sorts of keerai (sayur kampung) in her garden. whenever i go back to my hometown, my mum would cook for me freshly picked from the garden.

wearing lipstick

nadia nasira followed her daddy to send mummy to work... she watched her mummy put on some make up at the office and asked for some lipstick... she was so excited that she even she controlled when she spoke.

happy birthday aqil....

we were invited to celebrate aqil's 5th birthday party yesterday at jungle gym, BSC. aqil is the son of my friend fauzia who currently so very pregnant with her second boy. i was so excited coz i got to meet my dear friends nuff, fauzia and zeenath. these are my only chances to meet up with them since everyone is busy with their schedules. thanks fauzi...

i used to take my children there on the weekends and they were quite at home and in playing mood right away. my friends saw nadia nasira slide down like a professional and that's when they realised i have come. though we couldn't really chat coz everyone has younger chilren who needed watchful eyes, it was great meeting up. the children are growing up so fast...

there was nuff.... we chat all the time and go silent until one of us buzz the other to scold for not keeping in touch... the good thing is we always try to catch each other at the right timing and we always try to understand when one of us are playing the good mummy of the day act....

i also met zeenath, one of my best friends.... something strange happened as we both were saying goodbyes... both of us and the husbands and the children were leaving together...chatting away, husbands were as well. her husband went to get the car and my husband took nadia nasira to cold storage to look for something. we sat by the lounge and talked while we waited for our husbands. it was my husband who called first and i had to leave... i hugged her goodbye (we have done that a few times already). she held the last hug and i felt a sudden pain in my heart, my heart was so heavy to leave. i wanted to spend more time with her and chat away but then, we will never have said enough. there is just so much to share, exchange ideas, gossip and laugh. we looked at each other and i saw her teary eyes...she must have felt the same. she said, we never really appreciated our campus days.... it is so true. those days, we had time in abundance but we were so immatured and had so many petty issues which we could have done without coz none of those mattered anymore. we had our fun too, the sweet memories scalded by some not so sweet ones. i only wanted to remember those good times...

i felt the true love of a friend and it tore my heart... she is one person i would want to grow old with... i told her earlier that we should spend our old age together... she continued...on a rocking chair... i added ... i will say to you, remember those days in the university when you did this and that....

she is someone i can always count on... i am really blessed with some real good friends...like all girls, we have our ups and downs but the most important thing to me is all the good moments but then it is also the not so good ones (blame it on PMS if you like it) that made us all what we are today.... we are almost a family...

nuff and zeenath, my dearies....
auntie zeenath trying to entertain my darling son...
fauzia's husband followed us to ensure necessary pics were captured...
the three of us and fauzia's sister habiba... through whom i met my husband...
geramnya tengok bola banyak look..

that's fauzia im leaning on...
little nadia nasira enjoying her drink....