Afiq has been going to school since the 1^st of the month. It’s more like a daycare actually, no uniforms or anything, but they have ‘activities’. Like teaching the kids to solat, and mengaji as well. And I want him to mingle with other kids. So far it’s been good, alhamdulillah. The first week he went, whenever I asked him how was school today, he’ll answer ‘Seronok!” and if I ask him whether he wants to go to school the next day, the answer will always be.. ‘Tak Nak!”. Hehe..

But this week .. bangun pagi aje, dia yang bagitau Tri (my maid) that he wants to go to school. The school is just a few houses away from my house, so Tri walks Afiq to school. (I wish I could do that :( ) And it really looks like he’s enjoying school. The other night he showed me how the ‘Ummi’ at school taught him how to perform solat. It makes me happy, and sad at the same time. It’s not that the act of solat is new to him, he often joins us during our solat, meniarap for sujud and all, but I guess he gains more when learning with his friends. And it makes me feel a little sad, because I learnt it all from MY ummi (my mom). Solat, mengaji, all the works. (My mom used to teach kids around our area mengaji when I was little). It makes me feel incompetent somehow, as a mother. I suppose this is a dilemma faced by all working mothers, isn’t it?

And sejak dah pergi sekolah ni, ada la nampak perubahan kat Afiq. Like, the tantrums had reduced to maybe around 50%. Seriously! He is a lot calmer these days. 50% of the time lah at least kan.

One night, before I went to bed, and he was still awake, I asked for a goodnight kiss (for like the thousandth time). He gave me a bigggg hug, kissed me on both cheeks and said…

“Afiq saaaaayang pada mama” (Pada, ok? I have never said that! I usually say I love you, or Mama saaaayang Afiq… but never ‘pada’.. hehe)

Almost cried.. syahdunyaaa rasa.

Today I told him he doesn’t have to go to school. (I think 5 days a week (8am-5pm) is still a bit too tiring for him, so I want him to stay home on Fridays). First he agreed, then he disagreed, then he re-agreed (sebab tengok TV). And when I got into the office, I gave home a call. He picked up the phone, and said..

“Mama… kenapa mama telefon telefon ni? Afiq kan tengah cuti… tengok TV!”

Adoilaaaaaaa…. Macam laa TV deprived sgt. Haha.

Mariessa at first was a little lost whenever Afiq goes to school. Selalunya ada je orang nak fight with, kan? And she became clingy to my maid. But now, she is used to it already. Once a day, she’ll point to the home phone, and said Mama!! Then Tri will call me, and I’ll speak to Mariessa.

She’s starting to pick up on her vocabulary. I can usually understand 20-25% of what she’s saying. But she, on the other hand can understand probably 85-90% of what I say to her, without having me to repeat myself. Like one night, before we went upstairs. I said:

“Adik, ambik botol atas meja, letak kat sinki dapur..and then kemas semua toys ni (berselerak atas lantai) masuk kotak (toy chest), lepas tu jom kita naik atas tido!” (Okay, so I’m bossy like that.. :P )

And she did everything, there and then! Walked to the dining table, took her empty milk bottle, walked to the kitchen and dumped it into the sink. She then walked back to the living hall, picked up all the toys from the floor. Threw them into the chest, closed it, and then walked to the bottom of the stairs, pointed to the gate we have installed there, and said.. “mmmmmmbukaaa!!!”

Amazing, really! My kid is a genius! Haha..

Oh, did I ever say she is now officially terrified of doctors? Show her the stethoscope, it would be enough to make her scream her lungs out! I think it’s going to be a long time before she’ll be comfortable seeing a doctor. *sigh*

Ummi, like Akak said.. is doing a lot better these days. She’s clearly hoping to be discharged as soon as possible. She gets fever easily, so that’s worrying. Other than that, I think she’s on the right track. She made friends particularly with the makcik next to her (Mak Mah). Mak Mah is a very happy go lucky makcik and I think she cheers ummi up. Mak Mah said the doctor told her she has to be given antibitotics for another 4 weeks, so at least Ummi has her around for another month or so. They go for a walk around the ward together, they teman each other to the bathroom (just in case either of them gets too tired or anything happens) and Ummi said, whenever Ummi demam, Mak Mah will be the one tolong basahkan towel and put it on Ummi’s forehead. Cute eh? Blessings come in so many ways kan?

Workwise, we have completed all the upgrading work we were doing. So no more climbing towers 5 times a day for me. Yey! Now I’m back to the ‘maintenance’mode of my job. As my boss had aptly described it, maintenance is waiting for a disaster to happen. Until then… I’ll be sitting here, counting my blessings. ;-)