Yesterday, June 10th 2009, my youngest and only son in this world turned five.

The day began with him waking up so early and asking to open his presents which I've wrapped on behalf of every family member two days ago and kept on top of the cupboard in my room. He's been asking to open them since the day he saw those presents. One thing about him is that he keeps his promises (most of the time) and will listen to reasoning. So he he put it off his mind.

While I'm icing his cake and decorating it, he took his bath, breakfasted and then begged for the presents to be brought down to him. Well... you got to say he's quite patient considering he knew that were his two days ago. We didn't get him anything fancy or expensive but still he appreciated all. We had a small family occasion just to mark his birthday. He has promised to follow his father to the mussola for prayers when he turned five. And true to his words, he got ready when my husband wanted to go for maghrib prayers. He just looked too cute sitting in front of his dad on the motorbike. Alhamdulillah.

Talking about his character; when he finished reading book 5 of BACALAH ANAKKU he wanted B-Daman as a present so I got that for him. And then for finishing book 6 he wanted Ultraman figures. I went around looking for it but to no avail. So, when my husband happened to bumped into a pack of 3 Ultraman with their transports, he bought it. At that time dear son had not finished his book 6. He kept the pack unopened and slept beside it that night. The next morning the attraction of the figurines made him rushed to finish reading the book despite having to isolate himself from the rest of the siblings who were playing together, and just read with me. When finnaly he finished the book, I saw a satisfied look in him and he opened the pack and saviour his moment of success in completing the book. I pray that this trait of honesty and patience will be with him for the rest of his life.

WELL DONE LUV!

An update on my eldest daughter's study. Up till today, she has received four results from her second test. Of those, she obtained 3As and a C. What made me proud is that she improved her Chemistry from an F (previous test) to an A in this test. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK DEAR! She targeted 5As altogether. Let's just wait and see...

My second daughter is also going to face a big exam herself i.e, PMR. She had been staying at her school hostel since her 1st form. Unlike her elder sister, she is more independent where studying is concern. She's been among the top 10 in her whole form for the past two years. Her only weak subject is history.

Although her hostel is less than half-an-hour's drive from my house, she' only back at home every other fortnight for the weekend. Considering the logistic, I should say that we could have been closer but, we're not. She has built a shell in her life and allowed limited access to me. I wish she's more open with me like her elder sis does. I tried(maybe a bit too hard) to be her friend but she limits her friends to non-family.

Though at times I'm a bit conservative, in reality, I'm open and can accept young people coupling or just 'usha'ing. I'm ever available to help guide them to the limitations of socialising as has been laid down by ISLAM. In this case my elder daughter told me last year that she's coupling(thru sms and phone calls only) with a boy she met at a jamboree the previous year. My advice to her then was to not let him control her life like the general young couples do and not to let him come in between her ambition and her studies. She can make him her source of inspiration to achive her goals but not more than that. I guess she feels the heat of being in such situation and broke off with him not long after.

My third daughter has also recently been accepteed a place in her school hostel (a different one from her elder sis). For the first two weeks I had been a frequent visitor at her hostel. She was the one who wanted to stay there in the first place but when she got the place, she created 1001 excuses to withdraw and just commute to school daily. As parents, both hubby and I consoled her always when she met with any problem regarding her management of time or when she tried to 'blend in' with her dormmates but received negative reactions from them. This skill is not acquired thru any book, just thru experience and with a lot of help from ALLAH (thru DO'As). Now, after more than two months, I'm proud of her! She enjoyed joining her dormitary activites but at the same time, what's more important is that her studies has improve.

WELL DONE LUV!!

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE...

My eldest daughter is going to sit for her SPM this year. Through her own mistakes, "honeymooning" in her 4th form and not having too strong a base in her fundamental secondary years, she's having problems with her studies now.

At times she called me (she's studying at a boarding school) and voiced her worries at her performance in her studies. At other times she would just give up and asked to go back to her old school. This is where a good mumsie's skill is needed!! I had to motivate her, raise her spirit and ask her to not give up for there is still time for her to catch up and really struggle for her own sake. As she is used to mountain climbing, it's easier for me to connect her studying to mountain climbing. The climb up is hard, gruelling and makes you want to give up and revert back but, once you step your foot on the top, the success is sweet, the feeling is undoubtedly.... top of the world...

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE YET...