diary: labor

25th Jan 2010..3.02am

Writing from my PDA. 3.02am, 6hrs post labor. Can't sleep.Last night around this time I couldnt' sleep as well. So I woke up in discomfort,wudhu' and performed the tahajjud,hajat and taubat prayers.Was performing all in sitting position. I prayed so hard for everything and seek for His forgiveness for all my wrong doings as I was not sure whether tomorrow I will still be in this world as labor seems so near. Now I am laying down and I was so thankful to Allah for a better labor experience this time..I kept reciting any zikr that came to my mind..en suami was asleep on the chair beside my bed..

Baby is in the nursery now after 2 breastfeeding sessions. First, 20mins after birth. Baby fed for 40mins, alhamdulillah he is an excellent sucker..second time was around 2 am just now..I asked the nursery to wake me up during feeding session if i am asleep. Then the nurse took him as I was too tired, headache and nauseous as well.

Flash back on today's experiences..

In the morning,mild contraction started. I was pretty sure that it was real contraction as it not only on my tummy but involved my back as well. It happened every half an hour and last for about 20-30secs only between mild and moderate strength. So I kept doing a little house chores and help umar with his art.

After zuhr prayer, both umar and I took a nap. In my sleep I felt the contraction became stronger but not convinced me yet to go to the hospital. Still bear with it.

After the Asr prayer, I recited the 'surah' maryam.Half way I felt stronger contraction and need to go to the toillet and realized I had the bloody show.call hubby to come home immediately. Hubby arrived, let umar took his bath n off we go around 6.30pm.

Obstetrician came, cervix only 3cm dilated. Artificial rupture of membrane (ARM- doct tear the membrane to release the amniotic fluid) was done.Started from that moment my contractions became very strong and very frequent. Two contractions in one minute each lasted for 20-30secs. it was really painful till tears rolled down my cheek. In 1 hr opening progress very well to 5cm. They came and gave full support as they agreed that the contractions were too frequent.

Hubby told me he wanted to send umar to MIL's. I agreed as I thought labor will happen around 11pm the earliest..Hubby left at 9pm. Kissed his hand and asked for forgiveness. Umar kissed me and kept repeating "ummi, umar loves ummi".. it touches me so much!

10minutes after hubby left, I have very very strong contractions and obstetrician decided to check for the opening and ..

"guess what?! os is full..you can push now!" no wonder i had this very bad pain below my belly button area and the urge to push was soo strong..I was so relieved to hear that..

I pushed with all my might ..I remember the technique i usually advice my patients to do when they are pushing..

chin on chest, hold the ankle or thigh, open wide, deep breath in and push with all the energy and breath in a lil bit in between to push more..never shout or make any sound as it releases the energy..

"it was OP position (head facing upwards instead of downwards)..but its ok try to push and I am confident you can do it!" oh doctor intan was very supportive..after 5 pushings..alhamdulillah baby was out..i hugged him while they wiped him...

after that everything seems easier and less painful..had a second degree tear and got a little sutures for that..managed to chit chat with dr intan while she suturing and she kept repeating "nurse tahu tak kenapa saya jaga patient ni baik-baik..?" "kenapa dr?" "sebab saya nak dia amik O&G(pakar sakit puan)"...she never failed to inspire me every time we met..thanks dr intan..and most important - thank you Allah for everything!!

alhamdulillah..alhamdullillah..alhamdulillah..

introducing our precious second caliph;)

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim..

Alhamdulillah..Allahuakbar..

Annoucing the arrival of our precious second caliph on the 10th Safar 1431h @ 25th Jan 2010
at 9.20pm @ 38weeks 4 days..may Allah grant him His blessings and rahmah..and make him a soleh, musleh and pious muslims..amin..some photos of him:




will upload and post more later kay..need more time for the introduction phase for baby and three of us + recovery stage + breastfeeding focus..:) pray for us everyone!!!

alhamdulillah..sangat bersyukur kepada Allah yang Esa atas kemudahan dalam melahirkan dan segalanya!!!

Outdoor activity!

Usually we had one day provided for outdoor activity together. This is the time when I look out for the groceries and find new reading materials for both umar and myself.

This week we went to the park. Not many photos as the camera was out of battery. We went to the Muslim groceries shop as early as 8.30am to get some fresh fish, chickens and veges.

Then we bought some roti canai and packed them to the park. The park was empty as everyone was at school and parents were working. Only few kids and parents there. So umar was free to explore all the facilities available.

exploring the 'gym' facilities' with ummi supervision

after a few minutes enjoying the playground, we had our breakfast..umar was happy as it was a difference experience for him to have breakfast outside the house!


then we strolled around the park and went back home around 10am..:)

"Hamba yang sihat lebih disukai Allah daripada hamba yang lemah"

For the rest of my life..

Excuse me for being a little 'jiwang' here..just to appreciate the "nikmat perkahwinan yang Allah kurniakan"...

At this moment of waiting our second miracles to be born..I feel touch with this song from dearest mr husband..He is the kind whom always keep his feeling to himself..so when he dedicated this song it really touches me..


Thanks hubby for the song...

For The Rest Of my Life
I praise Allah for sending me you my love
You found your home and sail with me
And I`m here with you
Now let me let you know
You`ve opened my heart
I was always thinking that love was wrong
But everything was changed when you came along
OOOOO
And there is a couple words I want to say
Chorus:
For the rest of my life
I`ll be with you
I`ll stay by your side honest and true
Till the end of my time
I`ll be loving you...loving you
For the rest of my life
Thru days and night
I`ll thank Allah for open my eyes
Now and forever I…I`ll be there for you

I know it deep in my heart
I feel so blessed when I think of you
And I ask Allah to bless all we do
You`re my wife and my friend and my strength
And I pray we`re together in Jannah
Now I find myself so strong
Everything changed when you came along
OOOO
And theres a couple word I want to say
*Repeat Chorus
I know that deep in my heart now that you`re here
Infront of me I strongly feel love
And I have no doubt
And I`m singing loud that I`ll love you eternally

Repeat Chorus
I know that deep in my heart..


Some memories back in Australia..

Origami project

We did some simple origami together..initially we were folding some scrapped papers..suddenly ayah thought they were some wastes thus he threw away the papers..

umar was so sad, so i promise him to make a better origami using colored papers together..

So here are our project:

Umar's happy face
we surf together on the internet for some ideas



demonstrating his project


the results!;)

the website for some guides: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/origami_for_kids.htm

previous labor experience..

I cant wait for this baby to come out..huhu;) but yes sometimes baby need more time to be in the womb..a few friends did asked me to share the experience of giving birth in Oz in this blog..

This will be my first experience giving birth in Malaysia. I had a fantastic experience in Australia before (except the labor pain..but actually they managed it well..heheh). Umar was born on the 27th Ramadhan..and mind everyone at that time i haven't done my Obstetrics rotation yet so I have little knowledge on the labor process except what I've learned from the antenatal class and my own research;)

My contraction started around 5am of 26th Ramadhan..I felt fatigue that morning and have no appetite for sahur. Sahur time ended around 4am at that time. The contraction was strong but not frequent and not long enough, its about once in 20 minutes and last for about 15-20secs only. So i decided to bear with the pain and just do what ever may ease it. (the good and strong contraction is 2 in 10minutes with each contraction last for about 60secs).

The contraction become more intense+frequent and i had this terrible back pain (as my coccyx bone was pushed by the baby's head) and around 11am i had the 'bloody show'. I called the midwives and off we went to the labor room for vaginal examination (VE).


It was only 3cm..huhu 6 hrs of pain, only 3cm dilated. I was given option to stay at the labor room or go for a walk and come back around 2pm. Hubby and I decided to go for a walk. So off we walked around the hospital and parking lot then went back home. Our house just 2mins away from hospital.

At 2pm I came back to the labor room and just 4cm dilated. huhu..for first baby ,it is estimated to dilate 1cm every hour but sometime it can be longer. So they brought me to the labor room and asked me wether i want to have a water birth so they can prepare the huge bath tub. huhu as a first timer I refused to be in other than normal position (laying on my back)..hehe (they even have the standing and squatting position facilities to try).

When the pain become more unbearable, the polite midwive brought a big ball for me to sit on..I tried once but it did not help thus i refused..i started to take the ethanox gas and i think it did nothing actually..so they brought me to the attach toilet and let me have the warm bath..it did help a bit..while I was in the toilet they asked me what flower do i like..In my mind.."why la she asked me this kind of question when I am in pain??" I just answered hesitantly "red roses"..

then when I came out from the toilet there are red roses on the rack. so sweet right?! She said looked at the roses and imagine nice things and forget about the pain. I tried but I just could not get my mind off the pain. around 8pm my VE only 6cm. I was very tired as i only had small meal since the night before and I was fasting through out my third trimester. with 16 hours fast in Asutralia as it was summer.

Hubby was very worried so he performed his tahajjud prayer in that room on the ight of 27th ramadhan in my heart i wish that night was the lailatuqdr night. My parents just arrived that night and they came to he labor room. I cried to see my mom as I now understand all the sacrificed she had done for 6 of us..



Mom brought the 'air selusuh' from malaysia..but the funny thing is..hubby accidently drank it for his sahur as he did not know that was air selusuh. He drank all the water ok!Alhamdulillah he did not experience any contraction after that..hihihi ..we laugh when we remember this story..cute hubby!

proud dad..azan to the ears!

Most of the time i sat on the sofa in the labor room. They have this queen size bed for hubby and I to rest (cant rest with the pain!!)..dim light and slow Quran recitation on the background. I felt very peaceful inside even in the intense pain.


After midnight still about 8cm..and to make story short the 10cm dilatation was at 11.59 am on 27th ramadhan..after 3 pushing efforts Umar was born to this world, my medical friend was there as well to deliver the baby together with the midwive (she was with me in there like forever..pitty her)..and hubby cut the umbbilical cord. I had an episiotomy and hubby was turned white when he saw the blood spurting from down there (I could see his face..pitty hubby) but after few second he was back to his pink colour face:)


The good thing is, everything was for free as we were covered under the international insurance. And it was unforgettable memory in my life!


p/s: wish to be an O&G specialist and set up a center with water birth adn various position facilities.

low energy level..

today my energy level is quite low..

follow my same daily routine from the early morning:pray, reciting mathurat, reciting quran..
did some house chores, some islamic books reading, did some home-made puzzles with umar (but not finished yet coz need longer time to cut the picture into puzzles shape), cook simple dishes then rest..

pregnancy related maybe..

will update later..

So Many Questions

"Encouraging our child to ask lots of questions helps him become a stronger thinker"- Bill Zimmerman

Like other kids out there, Umar is now at the stage of asking a lot of questions. Most of his questions is the "why?" questions. It is challenging for mr hubby and I to answer all his questions. I personally encourage him to ask questions on his surrounding by explaining things to him..and now he demands the explanation for almost everything:)


Many parents sometimes complained of being tired and tedious to answer the kids questions. I remember when I was a kid, I was also a kid who loves to ask and talks a lot. I remember my parents always said "dia berhenti ckp bila dia tidur je" (with smile and love tones).. but they never resent me without an answer for my every question.

Then now it comes to my turn and I actually enjoy this phase. It is just that sometimes I did not have the answer for his Q's. I would try my best to answer them as what my parents did before and I could still feel the feeling of loves and cares when my questions been answered.

I will always remind myself not to stop Umar from asking and try to answer his questions sincerely. In one day he'll ask on just anything he sees. He even asked a lot about his younger brother..he asked my obstetrician when and why questions on the baby.

"when baby will come out?from where?why he needs to be in the tummy for so long? will the doct cut your tummy to get the baby out?" ..list goes on..

Here we should remind ourselves to try to entertain all the questions sincerely and be patience. By doing this we actually encourage our child to gain control over his world, learns to think critically and learns the complexities of life.

Enjoy answering our child brilliant questions!

arts and kids

I've joined the 'conteng-conteng' group. It is an interesting website that appreciate kids masterpieces. Since I have taken some photos on Umar's art works so I think why not submit some of the paintings to the conteng-conteng gallery.

Hopefully we can view it there (link below at my sidebar) and umar is excited to see them there actually. I have told him and he agreed to submit the drawings.

Kids learn a lot from arts especially when we do together with them..
Art to a toddler doesn't have to be something elaborate or planned in great detail. It can consist of little things that might not register with us as being "art."

Most toddler art will look like scribbles, and that's okay. It's supposed to be just scribbles, but it's important to the child because it's his first form of expression. Eventually, it will develop into drawing, painting, and writing, but for now, we have to encourage scribbling.
Umar was learning on color contrast..I gave him white and purple colored papers and provided him with
white color. When he did the painting he commented that he can't see the white color on white paper
then we discuss why..:) (excuse the baby cot at the back, been re-setup for the baby;) )

Some of the benefit I can think of are:

• Gives children a sense of achievement
• Improves fine motor skills needed for learning to write
• Increases the ability to concentrate (which is great for school)
• Provides special, quality time with you (creates great memories!)
• Allows your child to express him or herself
• Teaches creativity
  

Besides all the above, Umar also learns discipline from arts activities where he'll make sure everything will be kept back to the right place and he'll wash the equipments he had used.

More arts to be submitted to conteng-conteng..*wink*

Candidiasis in pregnancy

Sepanjang pengalaman mengandung terutama anak yang pertama, pelbagai masalah dihadapi oleh ibu-ibu. Tidak dinafikan ada proses kehamilan yang tidak mendatangkan sebarang masalah. Tetapi majoriti akan menghadapi at least sedikit ketidakselesaan.

Antara perkara-perkara yang sering berlaku adalah, muntah-muntah biasa atau berlarutan (hyperemesis gravidarum), kekejangan saraf kaki, bengkak kaki, kekebasan pergelangan tangan (carpal tunnel syndrome), jangkitan yis candida (candidiasis in pregnancy) dan sebagainya.

kebanyakan ibu-ibu mempunyai pengetahuan yang baik tentang perkara2 di atas. Saya di sini mengambil kesempatan untuk mengulas sedikit tentang jangkitan yis candida semasa mengandung sebagai topik kesihatan dalam blog ini utk kali ini.




Sebelum lebih jauh marilah kita pastikan sama ada kita mengalaminya atau tidak:

Antara simtom-simtom candidiasis adalah:
-lendiran yang banyak
-lendiran seperti 'cheese putih'
-gatal-gatal di vagina ('V')
-sakit di bahagian 'V' terutama selepas berhubungan
-bauan yang tidak menyenangkan dari 'V'

Secara umumnya jangkitan candida adalah bukan daripada si suami atau masalah hygiene tetapi ia adalah kuman yang secara natural nya berada pada diri kita. Ini di hebatkan lagi sekiranya si ibu pernah menggunakan pil perancang sebelum kandungan ini. Semasa mengandung ibu-ibu berada dalam keadaan low-immune system. Jadi yis ini boleh mendominasi kawasan 'V'. antara penyebab-penyebab lain: penggunaan antibiotik, perubahan hormone, stress, diabetes, penggunaan panty nylon dan chemical daripada sabun.

Ianya perlu mendapat rawatan dan segeralah merujuk kepada doktor untuk mendapatkan kepastian sama ada benar-benar yis candida atau kadangkala boleh disebabkan oleh beberapa kuman seperti group B streptococcus. Selalunya doktor akan memeriksa kawasan V dan sekiranya perlu mengambil sample 'swab' (mcm Pap Smear test).

InsyaAllah dengan pencegahan atau rawatan awal ianya boleh di atasi..rawatan untuk candida selalunye adalah menggunakan krim sapuan imidazole dan bukan pil memandangkan pil tiada bukti yg mengatakan ianya selamat sewaktu mengandung..

mari kita update pengetahuan kesihatan kita demi kesejahteraan kita dan keluarga!

Preparing for lil' one;)

My pregnancy now has reached the matured stage (matured after 37 completed weeks)! So from now on labor may happen at anytime without the risk of prematurity..

Alhamdulillah..can't wait for his arrival! Hubby and Umar are so excited too;)

Besides the essential stuff e.g. clothes, breast pump, cloth diapers, health stuff for baby, I prepared some stimulation material for him as well. Mostly I will reuse Umar's homemade flascards (remind everyone..'homemade' ok..where I colored them myself using marker pen since I did not have a color printer at that time)..

Notice the unfinished flashcards at the bottom?..I need to color them in black.
Red color words used for infant age and later changed to black color;)
Starts with bigger words and later slowly change to smaller size..
according to the eye development stages..

And also some black and white (plus some red) patterns and shapes for infant stimulation cards..


Thinking of making 'homemade' black and white checkered pattern bed sheet but not yet started..previously, I only have a 'homemade' Pooh bed sheet (thanks to my mother in law) and some plain white sheets ..but checkered pattern bed sheet is more attractive for the infant actually;) So if I have time, I'll try to make one for baby..my mom has given me her old sewing machine..but frankly I am not good in sewing but I'll give a try insyaAllah..

enjoy your day everyone!

What is "1Superkids"?! Come and join us!

http://1superkids.com

When I looked back, why I was attracted to 1superkids and finally join the group?

There are many reasons but the one most outstanding is that it provides lots of information and allow lots of rooms to make more friends especially among mombloggers.

As a working mother whom is staying at home full time for a temporary duration (I am having my break until after confinement or maybe longer for breastfeeding) I always craving for daily dose of knowledge, interaction and active thinking.

After surfing for a while I've bumped into this one superb blog name 1superkids! First impression, I just love the named used as well as the named of the founder's blog - mysuperkids, as it is like a prayer and it unconsciously influence our subconscious mind that we have kids at home whom are superkids and we are the supermoms!! Isn't that great?!

Can we imagine when more and more people joining and contributing in this blog, surely each of us will gain the benefit which are for free!! MasyaAllah..sharing is caring..because we are a caring mother that is why we share!So I think this is the best chance for us to make a difference,be a good proactive mother hence be a supermom for our own superkids as well as other mothers' kids as well by sharing and caring to each other!

And did anyone notice the badge for 'I love conteng-conteng' on my sidebar?..that site link to 1superkids and it is a superb site for you to show your appreciation on your kids art works!!come and join! You can even sell your kids masterpiece there!

Some benefit and information on 1superkids:

• 1SuperKids is established for parents, aunties, uncles, etc. as a sharing platfrom to share and learn about other experiences, not only in parenting, but also everyday tits and bits as parents and parents to be.
• 1SuperKids is collaborating with Conteng-Conteng, where Conteng-Conteng is an online gallery where our children could submit and sell their artworks.
• 1SuperKids needs your entries and we’ll publish in 1SuperKids accordingly. The best articles of the month will receive tokens from 1SuperKids.
• 1SuperKids has dedicated columnists whom are very well versed in their field.

I've joined it and I benefited a lot..so why don't you?!

Puzzles activities:)

puzzle book we bought about 2 years ago from Aust for only AUD6.99..
only utilize it now..it has 6 puzzles in it..

Umar nowadays is really into puzzles..pantang nampak puzzles mesti nak punya..either kat kedai or at anybody's home.

inside the book

We spend good times together solving the puzzles..I realized the key to enjoy puzzle is to be patience and good communication with each other.

The puzzles may benefit our preschooler in many ways:

Cognitive skills: Puzzles improve a child's problem solving and reasoning skills. It helps them to see whole-part relationships, increases their visual spacial awareness

Fine motor skills: Puzzles are fun way to improve fine motor skills.

Hand-eye coordination: As a child places each piece in the puzzle they are manipulating it so see if it fits. Their hand eye coordination is enhanced through this trial and error process.

Social skills: Puzzles can be done alone but are also a great tool for fostering cooperative play. As kids ask for a piece to be passed to them, or discuss where a piece should go they are sharing the task and learning to cooperate. It can also help a child learn how to handle frustration when a piece does not fit.

Different kind of puzzle we have..cube puzzles for 3+years ..
this is quite challenging and umar needs more encouragement to complete this..

Simple activity together with lots of benefit! enjoy! There are many puzzles online for the preschooler as well..I'll make a post on free educational websites for preschooler later kay:)

Personalized story book;)

To make our reading journey more interesting and for Umar to have more sense of attachment to the books, I made some personalized story books. They are just some simple books but with variety of new words to introduce to Umar.

I have this ideas since Umar now show his interest on the laptop. So why not prepare some educational material on the lappy for him;)

Umar was smiling and eager to read the book as he saw his own photos on it. It may save the cost too and it allows mothers to create a book that suits their child;)

have a try..it is a good feeling when Umar likes the book so much. Planning to print the books out later! Yeay! Alhamdulillah..

p/s: I planned to make more children book on Islamic values as it quite difficult to find simple and interesting Islamic story books. Hope I could make it before the labor pains start! Pray for us! May Allah bless our families!

What do you think about this personalized story books?leave some comments as they make my day!

"why"?

Anyone reading this post, if you were given options whether to work full time or be a work-at-home mom..which one will be your choice and why??

Any personal experience that influence your decision?

What kind of work-from-home business you wish to have or maybe you already started now?


Please leave your thoughts on 'comments' tab above ..

thanks a bunch..muah!

owh really interested to know and learn others experience..

lets share mothers!!

nurturing interest on books

It is sometime a challenging experience to nurture the interest on book among babies or even toddler. The first step to reading is to introduce the books to them.

Introducing books is like introducing a person to your child. First let them spend some times with the book. Let them explore, turning the page and even tear it;)

It is a good sign if the baby turn the pages by him/herself. It shows that she know the sequence and later wanna read it.

One of a good ways to explore the book together with your baby or toddler is by choosing a book which allow more space for the kids to participate. Above are 2 books I used to start with when umar was less than 10months old. Besides reading aloud and let him recognize the word, we spend times doing the activities in the book together. Initially he just observed and listen and later when he able to speak he participated

From my observation, umar developed good understanding on instruction, learn how to 'tackle' the activities, build confidence and stimulate him to speak and read.

book with colourful illustration may attract toddler's attention; it is vital to choose books with simple writing on every page and lots of pictures to discuss with the kids!

enjoy reading and strengthening our mother-child bonding!

comments..comments..

the 'comments' tab is available for all YOU readers and visitors to give feedback,
discussion or just anything!
please leave your comment as it is good to know that someone is reading and digesting
what has been posted!
thanks!

pregnancy update

Today went out to buy come baby stuff since hubby took his annual leave due to some important issues to settle. I had this cramping pain and lots of braxton hicks while walking. Back home i tried to feel for the baby head and found out the head has descended or maybe engaged in my pelvic brim.

Mind everyone, even the head has descended it does not guarantee that the labor would be very soon but it may give some clue to prepare for any possibility for early labor.

InsyaAllah..we are prepared to have the baby very soon, hopefully everything would be fine and may Allah ease the process with no complication...amin

new reading collection!

We have started with our new book for Umar's reading session. We have chosen Dr Seuss's book as our collection. The main reason is because I noticed that umar sometime mistakenly read the word which closely spelled.E.g. mouse and house. Secondly, just to make a variety in our collection thus introduce new style to Umar;)




In Dr Seuss book, it prepares ryhmes and interesting illustration which help umar to learn the word in detail. He enjoys it so much! We just had one book only. If anyone out there would like to sponsor us with the whole series it would be much appreciated!!!*grin*


Reading is fun! especially with our own kid:)

sekadar renungan bersama

I know people must be tired or maybe clueless with the current famous and controversial issue on the usage of the word "Allah".

Believe me, as a mother with young kids, we must know and follow by heart on this issue. This is not a small or simple issue that we must leave it for the 'alim ulama' only but instead it is the future of our kids and the most scary thing is it related to the aqidah.

I just don't want to elaborate much on this as I think there are a lot of good sources that everyone can find to explore and learn more on this. But I just wanna highlight some of the implications if the 'kalimah Allah' is allowed for the non-muslim to use it.

Kalimah Allah is a special name and God is a common name. For example a guy name Mr White. If he come to Malaysia we can not call him Mr Putih even though the meaning of white is putih as White is a special name. The word Allah is special and pathognomonic for Muslim.

If we allow Allah to be used to replace the word god, then what will happen to our syahadah?
"tiada Tuhan melainkan Allah" menjadi "tiada Tuhan melainkan tuhan"??

and the reality now is, our society aqidah in not as strong as before instead it become worse. So by manipulating the word Allah to replace the word god it may cause a lot of confusion indeed may cause a lot of apostasies in the future..nauzubillah..

and if we let this happen, later they will ask for more e.g. manipulating word solah, masjid etc.

Orang-orang Yahudi dan Nasrani tidak akan senang kepada kamu hingga kamu mengikuti agama mereka..(al baqarah 120)


fikir-fikirkanlah..masa depan anak-anak kita adalah tanggungjawab kita dan akan dipersoalkan di akhirat kelak...Wallahualam..

Geography class?

I have posted this video on my FB. It was a spontaneous learning activity actually. I never planned to have any geography class with dearest umar. But after we did that, i think why not we continue it?!

While watching the tv, umar asked me, "where is Mekah ummi? Is it far?"

Then I simply answer "yes, we need to go on the plane to go to Mekah.."

Umar seems not satisfied with my answer. Then I was thinking " Better if I show him the map to have a clearer picture."

Visual aid may help better understanding. Then it was when we start learning the map. From time to time, when he came across names of any country or places on tv or through his daily conversation he'll ask me to show him where is the place on the map.

The video below was taken last night as he asked me where is Palestine after he saw the news on Palestine issue on Buletin Utama. I forgot to ask him where is London, because he so eager to know where is his ayah's university was;)

Umar learns Furqan

Just some updates on Umar's progress on his Furqan session. I really want to start this learning process early but I could not find the best way that suits him until he was 3 years old.

I try not to push him, and now he shows his interest in learning Furqan. Maybe he just not ready or interested before. Alhamdulillah within few weeks he shows good improvement. My target is to finish Furqan book 2 last 2 weeks but Umar was not well due to fever thus we extend the dateline;)

I've changed from Iqra' to Furqan book for him because Furqan has more colourful pages, simple, big writings, it has some ryhmes (e.g. when learning the 'baris' the book make it like a sentence e.g. 'A Bi Ba Wa Bu Ku'). Umar giggles and was excited to learn the ryhmes;)

May Allah ease our effort to learn Quran and arabic!

Peranan ayah

Saya sekadar ingin berkongsi tentang satu buku yang baru saya selesai baca. Sangat nipis tetapi padat. Seronok membacanya.


Dalam hidup kita ni, selalu dikaitkan pendidikan anak-anak dengan para ibu. Tetapi kalau kita perhatikan dalam Al-Quran tiada satu dialog pun di antara ibu dan anak. Tetapi yang banyak terdapat adalah antara ayah dan anak. Cthnya Nabi Ismail dan Nabi Ibrahim dan nasihat Luqman untuk anaknya.

Ayah selalunya dikaitkan dengan peranan utama untuk mencari nafkah. Tetapi sebenarnya peranan ayah adalah sangat penting. Kerana sentuhan ayah itu memberi kesan yang mendalam dalam diri anak-anak walaupun hanya perkara-perkara simple. Teringat saya satu tajuk dalam buku pendidikan anak-anak dalam Islam tentang bahana 'keyatiman'.

Keyatiman di sini mempunyai dua makna, pertama yatim kerana kematian seorang ayah dan kedua yatim kerana ada ayah namun tidak memainkan peranannya dalam pendidikan anak-anak. Dan kesan daripada kedua fenomena ini adalah sama..sama-samalah kita renungan fakta ini..

Dalam buku ini, ia menceritakan kisah seorang ayah yang bernama Hassan al Bannna (HAB), pada yang masih belum mengenali individu ini, beliau merpakan seorang yang sangat hebat dalam menyeru untuk Islam dan telah syahid di jalanNya pada usia semuda 45 tahun.

Dalam jangka masa yang singkat itu (singkat lah kan 45 tahun) beliau telah berjaya menyentuh hati anak-anaknya dengan pelbagai perkara yang sebenarnya simple tetapi beliau laksanakannya dengan hebat.

Memang betul, contoh ikutan utama kita adalah Rasullullah, tetapi HAB adalah individu yang boleh kita contohi. Malahan zamannya hampir dengan kita dan situasi zaman itu hampir sama dengan kita.

Sekrang para bapa sibuk mencari rezeqi dan beberapa aktiviti lain (alhamdulillah jika berkerja untuk Islam). Dalam buku ini, anak-anak HAB ada menyatakan beberapa perkara yang dilakukan oleh HAB yang boleh kita contohi...marilah perkayakan diri kita dengan ilmu-ilmu hebat yang diambil drp contoh tauladan yang baik:)

p/s: yang paling penting pada pendapat saya ialah hubungan kita dengan Allah..apabila kita menjaga hubungan ini sebaiknya, maka hubungan2 lain akan jadi sangat mudah dan hebat!;)
mari jadi ibu bapa muslim yang hebat!

Early childhood stimulation

I was browsing and reading on a forum regarding early childhood education and I realized that some mothers view early childhood education as 'teaching' their child early with books etc. Some says that they scared to practice this as it may cause their child to become 'weng' (mental problem).

It is actually more than that. It is not so rigid where we only teach using book, maths cards.
I personally view this as an early childhood 'stimulation'. Stimulation can be done in many ways and it is important besides the loves and care we provide for our kids. Even our daily interaction, touch, and contact with our child since age 0 may be considered as early childhood stimulation.

Even if we use flash cards it does not really mean we 'teach' the baby but actually we stimulate them. For example, a newborn, their vision is very limited. They can not see many things yet and only black and white colours. It is good to stimulate the vision development by showing the flash card on many shapes and characters with black and white colours. The main purpose is to enhance the eye development and not definitely to make the child 'learn' as in the literal meaning.

The more we stimulate our child, the better they develop their senses and indirectly stimulate their brain cells thus improve the neurons connection..

above just my own personal opinion..

their work is play

Hubby and I was talking about umar's toys one day. Then he came out with this story on one of his friends whom decided not to buy any toys for his newborn son until the age of 3 years old and he planned to straight away buy books for him at that stage.

It is up to the parents how they wanna up-bring their children. It is undeniable that parents nowadays aiming high for their child especially with a lot of competitions out there.

mirror is a good 'gadget' to teach kids that they are an individual
and seperated from the image in the mirror;)

This is just my two cents opinion on this issue. Kids learn trough play. Even in Islam, Prophet Muhammad advised that for seven years of their life, parents are to play with their children, for the next seven (until the age 14) to teach them, and from the age of 14-21, to be their friend.They need stimulation through their senses. This process does not definitely needs expensive gadget or toys from the shops but provided that parents has the creativity, anything in the house maybe used to stimulate your child.

example of utilizing home stuff as toys- "matching lids"

Alhamdulillah, we are so lucky to have very good akhawat and friends while we were in Aussie, Umar had a lot of toys as a gifts from aunties and uncles. All the toys has educational values in them and are good qualities stuffs. They were kept in good condition for our future children.

The best thing is unstructured play where creativity plays a role. Anything can just be everything. E.g. a box can be a car, a washing machine etc. this type of play build confidence and form opinions on their own.

Here are some tips we can share on how to choose suitable toys for our kids:

• safety first: no small components for kids below 3 years old or perhaps older, no sharp, not containing toxic stuff (i believe many parents out there are very fluent on his issue)
  
• appropriate for the age and development milestone: may refer to many online information on our child development stage
  
• consider the gender: but never be too rigid e.g. if our son wanna play the cooking set let him be, this may spark his creativity as well
  
• educationa l values: identify the objective or areas the toys are intended to focus on e.g. motor skills, creativity etc. Avoid to buy toys that are lack of educational value and low quality.
  
• many function: build and create kind of toys e.g. lego, play dough, blogs, jigsaw puzzles
• recall our childhood: one need to think like a child to understand child completely
  

enjoy playing with your kids!

educational dilemma

I guess everyone is familiar with the person name Ibn Sinna or so called Avicenna in the West who is well known of book on medicine name al Qanun fi al Tibb (or known as Canon in western) as well as Ar Rahzees the person whom discovered the origin of smallpox and showed that one could only acquire it once in one's life, thus showing the existence of the immune system and how it worked.

They all are Islamic scholars whom I believed had a great stimulation and exposure in their early childhood.

If we realized, there are differences in the educational system practiced during their time and now. In their time they were exposed to the Quran and spiritual knowledge as the first step then they were introduced to other fields e.g. arts etc. It was like an 'upside down' triangle. They learn one core subject, the Quran then others. That was the reason why they not only master the medicine but other fields as well.

But for us now, we are the 'upright' triangle. We learned many subjects since kinder age i.e. music, arts, english, sejarah, alam manusia, science etc and then as we grow up we choose the specialized area we are interested in. That is why now we even have the 'eyelid specialist'. Very sub specialization.

With this awareness, I was thinking so hard and worked out how to raise my children and applying the old system which is learning and mastering the Quran first then later come the other areas.

Some points which I found out as important area (anyone reading this may add other points which i've missed) to start from now are:

- the ability to read Quran / Arabic
-understanding of Arabic language
-master in Quranic knowledge
-study of other Islamic knowledge e.g. 'ilmu wahyu', tasawwur, fiqh etc.(yes, these are under Quranic knowledge as well)

I admit that it was quite 'late' for me to start as Umar is already 3 years old and in less than 6 months time his ability to utilize his right brain hemisphere will diminished thus I lost the opportunity to utilize his language dominant brain. But I would keep trying for umar and improve for my next child.

I am still looking for good guidance to provide my children with Quranic and other Islamic knowledge. It sound advanced but the reality is, we have to start now. It is essential to expose them with the basic as a stepping stone to move further in future. I really hope anyone reading this may share their own personal experience on this.

Update on umar progress in his Islamic study:

Umar almost finish his book 2 of al-Furqan. He shows good progress and enthusiasm even though sometimes he quite cheeky and try to avoid learning the Furqan:P. We also had started on Islamic history by reading bedtime stories on the 'stories from the Quran'. Undeniable lots of challenging questions came from him. e.g. Who is prophet ummi? where is Allah? Who is syaitan? Where is heaven? and the list goes on!

It is a good experience to know that he is thinking because he asked heaps of Q's! Alhamdulillah..

the arts of doing nothing

Have you ever feel that you are wasting your child's time or maybe future for not doing anything on one particular day? I had this feeling before but then I've realized that doing 'nothing' is something:)

in early childhood learning process, our child learn in every single second. They learn through what they see, feels, touch, taste and smell. So don't worry if we not doing anything i.e. any specific activity with them, they are still learning something.

Indeed for young kids rigidity is a no..no..flexibility is more important. Let them explore with joy and happiness and let them be on their own foot sometimes. But yeah, not to do anything every day for long period of time may equal to not stimulating our child.

But again to emphasis, approach our child naturally. Not forcing, not too rigid and be flexible. Most important things is our warm and tender love for them.

Never be disappointed if there is time that we 'do nothing' with our child. Our attention and love are the most important factors in their life! cherish your lil one!

success depends on the little steps we take

Taking one step at a time..success depends on the small steps that we take..

In our activity together, we do it according to our interest..for example, when umar was playing with the fridge magnet, we took that opportunity to explain and play with the magnet. It was simple but interesting. Umar end up testing for every single thing in the kitchen (except the sharps) wether it is a metal or not..and he learns that magnet attract another magnet of different poles and opposed when facing the same poles..all this was just using the fridge magnet..

Even though some people may think that the activities we had together just a common sense and a boring activity but believe me for the kid it was not..the activity actually make them feel more appreciated and more enthusiastic in learning..at the same time they know how the theory is implemented in day to day life..

This simple thing in our life may make a different in our child life..kids learn when they feel like doing it and it is not wrong to have a quiet day without any activity if everyone was not in the mood..e.g. just got back from long journey etc..

enjoy the early learning experiences with your intelligent children;)

utilize their golden years!

what they need is good environtment to stimulate them!

saving $$

Umar learns to save money..he loves to put the coins into his 'tabung'. He will collect any coins that he found in this house or nenek's house into it. Yesterday we made his new home made 'tabung' as the old one was broken.

He was so excited even though it was a simple project.


Thanks to ayah for helping us making the 'hole' on the top.




Later when it almost full, we'll bring him to the bank and explain to him that the money will be kept for his future. Biiznillah..

prenatal stimulation

The first year of life is a critical time. This is the time when the brain is growing explosively. The brain literally grows by use – and if we use it, we’re going to grow it. And if you don’t use it, especially in the first 12 months, then you literally will lose brain cells – you won’t have as much brain power as you would’ve had.
– Janet Doman

I am really interested in early childhood learning. I am an early reading advocate. The learning process of a child actually starts from age 0. The vital years for kids to learn is before the kinder age, 5 years old. At this time the right brain is dominant and the brain grows rapidly.

I am not saying that after the age of 5 child can not learn but those children who can read and stimulated early before 5 years old has better performance and outcome compared to those start late.

Alhamdulillah Umar finished his first book when he was 2 years plus. He can recognise words from his flash cards earlier. There are lots of kids out there can read at younger age than umar. Anyway I am satisfied at umar's achievement as he is a pioneer in my motherhood journey;)

Since I was pregnant of umar, I have started to read many books on early years education. It is hard to find a single book or method that provide good guideline thus I have tried many ways to stimulate my son with the guide from many books.

For this pregnancy, again I started early. Not so early but since I experience the quickening. I started with the Quran recitation. There are many ways to stimulate the baby prenatally (in the womb). I have not done all but some of them.

Umar putting the earphone on my tummy. They both listening to the juzzu' Ammar from my old PDA. This encourage good bonding between baby and umar too.alhamdulillah;)

To stimulate baby we can stimulate the 5 senses:

touch:
by gently response on the baby movement or rubbing the tummy.

vision:
shine 'spft' lights to the tummy. Some medical people do not advice this as there are possibility to damage the cells. Therefore it is advisable to do it in the late pregnancy i.e. 35 weeks and above. But use light that is not to bright


hearing:
talk to your baby often, tell him story, read to him etc. Baby loves mother's voice. Listen to Quran, better if mother recite the Quran as the voice has the calming effects besides the Quran miracles.

so be creative to stimulate all the senses..

Pregnancy is an excellent experience, enjoy it and enjoy the learning adventures with your baby!