Little Monster

It has been a tiring past few weeks. My worklife is getting hectic, training on Saturdays and all that. But the most exhausting activity a 28 year old dude has to go through is chasing his kid here and there. Shopping malls and Toys "r" Us were the most challenging place to be at if you're not vigilant. I don't know whats going on in the kids mind. He tends to have an enormous amount of agendas inside his thick skull.

Give him 5 minutes in his red Quinny*  and that is it. Restlessness will creep in his mind and he will squeak like a choked Mariah Carey doing 5-octave range vocals. Haha. If let say you grab him in your arms and carry him around like that, he will now do a weight transfer skill to his back. The way he does it is like this, he will take his two strong legs and push it upon my chest, his arms will support this move. He will then twist his waist and free his hands prompting a dare devil parkour-like back flip fall. Of course I didn't let him fall though.

Driving the car nowadays is considered as a heavy task for me. Fahyim will constantly pull the gear and climb to the steering. He is the type of kid who will weep and cry till his nostrils is filled with mucus when you tuck him in the child car seat. I think we made only one full journey with him inside the car seat. That was also possible because he was sound asleep.

The only picture I have of him in the car seat.

I don't know what is happening to the new generation right now. Every kid I see now is occupied with tablets and Ipads. This seems to be the case with Fahyim also. It is our fault to begin with, we let him watch Barney and Friends using that tablet. He even call that tablet " Aniiiiii " . I came across this article which states that is bad for a kid to be occupied with "in a box" entertainment tools. He will become passive and lonely. So we only let him watch for 10 minutes and that's it. It is Astro's fault also that they don't show Barney anymore.

I am quite surprised with the kids ability to imitate others.  Every morning before I leave the house, if the kid is wide awake already, he will sit and observe me putting on my shoes. I came back from work one day seeing him putting on his old shoes. His baby shoes which does not fit anymore.Haha.. The very next day I saw him styling on the maids rainbow Flip Flops and wander around the house with a cheeky smile!

He is also a maestro of destruction I conclude, being a very energetic lad, making a mess is like a routine for him. His senses jitters in rebel beats when he sees tidiness. Below is the end product of an utter mess made by Fahyim on a daily basis.

I must admit raising this toddler up till now is a tiring yet exciting experience for us both. Being a first time parent, recording this journey in a blog form makes the memory grows fonder each and every day. Looking forward to the next episode of  the "Little Monster"

Cycle of life.

Living in the world nowadays, particularly in Malaysia, where the cost of living or the value of money has risen to the stage where MYR 6,000 a month doesn't make the cut anymore. Money making has become a prime objective and target for most of the homo sapiens whose feet touches the ground on our beloved globe.

A wise man once said to me that if he gathers the data of a human life cycle and plot it into graph of technical analysis, he can easily back test the data and Fibonacci's the expansion accurately to form a typical human life cycle. He said to me, the best time in ones life is during the stage of birth to the final year of college. Give and take about 25 years of age. This stage of life, you are careless, you are furnished with facilities be it money, love, or even enjoyment. You are lack of responsibility, you don't have a spouse or family that you need to nurture. Never in a do or die position. Bear in mind, I am only talking about the typical average and majority individuals, leaving out the poors and the unfortunates. Once you're finished with your studies in college, suddenly "pooofft" just like that, you need to earn money unless you're affluent enough to have parents who continuously "provides" for you which is for me an utter disgrace.

At the age of 26 to 55, you are in the stage of getting married, buying a house, scouting a car, paying bills, getting insurance or even having a baby. This is the stage where monetary policy kicks in. Time is exchange to form money. Your balance sheet gets better and better as the year accumulates, less time equals to more money. You will tend to neglect your loved ones. You're so occupied with "busy"ness without noticing that your kid is getting bigger, your parents getting older and your spouse's endurance getting thinner. At the end of this stage, your reflexes become slower, agility becomes a luxury, and twisting your bones will produce a loooooooong crack. It is quite a melancholy when at first, all you wanted is to have a better life and your good motive is to provide and to sustain.

By the time you reach 55, most of us are already financially strong and possibly became a grandfather. The wise man explains, this are the times where the graph trending up, but only to the span of two or three years. This stage comprises the time when your kids leave their kids with you to take care of. The happiest two or three years of an old folks life and that's it. You'll end up having it all but missed it all. So in conclusion, the best years was the early 25s and after that you will be chasing rainbows all the time. Quite right innit?

For me, I am currently in the second phase, 26 to 55. The part of the graph where your bills is more than your salary. Haha! But fortunately I can still sustain because I got the best Chief Financial Officer in my house. It is in the norm of a human being to have a target in life. It is not wrong, it is well encouraged. It is only wrong when you are overdoing it. Neglecting all the other fundamentals of life itself. For someone who can manage to strike the balancing note right in between work, family and spiritual scope? Now that is a rare breed.

All I'm trying to say is that, try your best on not to disregard your love ones. This includes your parents, your brothers, your sisters and your in-laws. These are the people that will stick by you through all odds. Although you have to work hard in order to prosper in life, but one must remember that this life is only interim. There are spiritual factors that you must also consider so that you are fully adorned in the after life. A reminder for me and all mankind.

Bukak angin sikit bagi bunyik wop wop

You wouldn't wanna be missing times like these would ya? :)

Matchmaking Parents.

When two babies were born in the same era, identical year, and the only dissimilarity was the gender, there's a tall likelihood that the parents of this two infants will be matchmaking them. It is a much stronger case when the two sets of friends got married and became parents on the same year.

Obviously,this is my son Muhammad Fahyim Syakir..

And this it the lovely little lady Afia Khadeejah..I have to screen shot a picture from her mothers Instagram. Pardon me for lacking in materials. Hehe..

It all started when the two womb carriers were discussing pregnancy agendas. From types of supplements to swallow,  back pain miseries , the ultimate cravings and the penguin walks they're forced to imitate.

If I am not mistaken, Afia was welcomed to the world roughly two months earlier than Fahyim. Their first meeting was at my mother in laws house during my wife's abstinence. 

Fahyim is the one who looks like Shin Chan by the way.

From that point onwards, they will meet at wedding ceremonies, parties and their parents outings. Bear in mind that ourselves together with Faiz and Dilla (Afia's parents) were the first batch to get married among the close circle of friends that we have. We watched them grow from jaundice season to "Cukur Bantal" era. Afia was lighter and more agile whilst Fahyim was the heavier and lengthy one. There was a time when Afia can flip over back and forth and Fahyim was stagnant like an upside down turtle. Haha..

First eye to eye momento. Notice the stagnancy? Haha..

Afia grown into a stunning cute girl with bobby hair and agile physique while Fahyim blossomed into an impudent observant lad. From time to time they meet and play together. For us parents, that part of nurturing a child is a priceless experience.  You will unintentionally smile and calmed by their blameless acts.

We tend to jokingly match make these two prides. Of course we don't know what the future holds for them but we like to think so! Haha..

Watching them grow bit by bit matures us to various levels of parenting. A sense of responsibility grows in us eventually, a tremendous growth in learning curve equips us for future undertakings. Raising a child who only reply in gestures and mimics thought us the meaning of tolerance.

I long for these kids to learn the values of  respect and honor which we rarely see in youth nowadays. In hopes we pray.Peace!

The Adventures of Legomaster!

And so we went to Parit Sulong, Batu Pahat last Saturday the 30th, a  fleet of 7 cars went to attend Jannah & Adib's reception. Remember the grumpiness of my son on the first reception? Well, this time it happened again. But we expected that and got used to that particular behavior practiced by the little lad.

Nevertheless, the height of his tolerance to hot weather and humid air was quite acceptable. Not yet a "Brat". Haha!. Weddings held in the countryside was far off different with the ones in the city if I were to comment.
Food Catering companies made a fortune here in the city but in the countryside, the neighbours gather and cook for that particular occasion. Right after the wedding, we went to visit my wife's Maklong who resides around the corner. We had an ultimate appetizing "Rojak" there too.

My wife came up with a last minute plan which is highly unlike her. She suggested that we should grab this opportunity to go and take a peak of Legoland Malaysia, located in Nusajaya, Johor. I went into Agoda to search for the cheapest hotel to spend the night because we will only be reaching there around 9 p.m Saturday. I found a hotel called Nusa CT Hotel located just 5 kilometers away. The hotel was just 2 months old. Still got a pleasant interior, but the drawback was only the area surrounding it. It was full of foreign immigrants staying in shop lots. Not a charming view I must say. Anyway, we paid only MYR 200 for the two rooms which is quite a bargain for us middle income earners.

That night we went to scout the venue. They have their own Legoland Malaysia Resort hotel. We went in to the lobby to see the place when my son went super kooky. He was helplessly excited when he saw the play area in the resort. They got loads of huge Lego bricks scattered around the kids play area and built in kids castle in the lobby. He stared in awe went he saw the statues of Lego characters planted on the hotel pillars. At that point of time, I felt a bit of regret deep in my heart. For an extra few hundred ringgits, I could have book a room at that hotel instead, so that my kid will enjoy the settings of the Lego hotel room. Whatever it is, I managed to not waste, we are going to the theme park the next day after all.

The next day we rose as early as 7.30 a.m, had breakfast at a Mamak nearby and rush to queue for the tickets. The booth opens at 10.00 a.m, but during this school holidays season, the crowd starts piling up at 9.30 a.m. The damage is around MYR 150 per adult for both Waterpark and Theme Park inclusive of MYR 10 food coupon. For Fahyim, we only paid MYR 10 and received two swimming diapers as a complimentary.We brought him to the Waterpark first because we knew how aquatic he was in the swimming pool.      

He was like King Triton with his Trident conquering and commanding the undersea kingdom Atlantica but after an hour...

KNACKERED! PHUIIII! 

As I wandered around the theme park, I must say it's size is very much the size of Sunway Lagoon. The heat was quite torturous. Fahyim started showing his restlessness, my wife found a room which is stuffed with lego bricks. Air conditioned! and the boy decided to play in there until we brought him to the 4D theatre.

The roller coaster rides are not as terrifying as the ones in USS ,maybe it was designed for the likes of toddlers and primary kids. All in all, Little Fahyim enjoyed the time of his life at this place. It gave us the sense of accomplishment when we see our sons satisfied sparkly eyes .

Final peroration, Time well spent! :)