Thank you Ya Rabb...

Since infant...Aqil showed how he was different from his siblings. After getting his diagnosis, we love him more than ever.
Aqil goes to a special centre for his pre-school unlike his siblings or every other normal children. But we treat him all the same. Whatever his Abang & Kakak get...he gets it too.
In fact, we are glad we sent him to the special centre. Lots were done to help him cope with daily routines. As parents, we learnt a lot from the centre. The teacher, therapists, social worker & case manager were all too helpful and amicable.
We do worry about Aqil. About his diet which can be worrying...he's not taking meat nor vegetables nor fruits. We had to provide supplements for him. We travelled all the way to the particular eateries coz those were the only ones where he can eat.
He's not yet at the level a 5 yr old should be but we are very very happy with the improvements we have seen thus far.
Lots of reporting back had to be done to the centre so that they can follow up with his progress.
Apart from his autism..he experiences frequent nose bleeds. This too is something which his siblings have never experience. Another worry on our minds as parents. "What is actually wrong with my child?" ENT specialist has diagnosed it as thin nose membrane and thus the sensitivity which resulted in frequent bleedings.
All these a lil too heavy a burden to carry?
Nah! Alhamdullilah...we have been coping well. Especially support from Aqil's grandparents (from both sides) & and his awesome aunties who always believe in him and sees his abilities rather than his disabilities.
And tonite, after watching Tabah on SURIA...I am very sure, I am blessed indeed.
Blessed with beautiful family & parents & siblings. Blessed with beautiful children. Aqil's condition has in fact make us value Ariq & Arisya more, bring our families closer together & bring all the more meaning to my work as a teacher.
Thank you Ya Rabb for everything!

Advance Birthday Celebration for Ayah!

Went to Swensen's at T2. Was expecting a crowd at the malls...hence we headed for the airport. True enuff, there weren't many ppl. The Chinese must be bz making preparations for CNY nxt wk! ;))
So without having to Q, we were shown to our table. Too bad Swensen's birthday treat falls only in the birthdate itself. Only members are granted 'within a month' privilege.
Nevertheless, instead of ordering individual ice-cream, husbern suggested the Earthquake.
All were enjoying the food ordered except for lil Aqil. Ordered the US Fries for him but he refused it. We didn't order the chicken rice set coz Aqil never take to it. So throughout the meal, he only had ice lemon tea. Well...that's Aqil Danish!
So after the meal at Swensen's, we headed to Supper Club for Aqil's chicken rice. Only to be greeted by long Qs of cars at the carpark entrances. So as not to let Aqil go hungry...and no more McD fries for him on weekends, we had to detour to Evertop. Luckily it wasn't packed...our lil Aqil got to eat his chicken rice! ;))

Oh yes! Happy Advance Birthday dear husbern/Ayah Hisham Husin! ❤

Aqil's Belated Birthday Celebration in School

Today was a PACKED day for me...well, it was not supposed to be coz I have 5 'free' periods straight on Wednesdays. But today was different coz I took time off during my free periods to go over to Aqil's school...hehehe!
Had a belated birthday celebration for Aqil in sch. Well, his birthday was yesterday but he doesn't go to school on Tuesdays thus the celebration today! ;)) Hubby couldn't take off coz he's on 'special' duty these 2 weeks....thanks to the upcoming by-election. That is why I decided to just take time-off instead of the whole day even though am entitled to. The VP even asked me if I wanna take whole day when I approach her to apply for the time-off....hehehe!
Ordered rainbow push-pops cakes for the party! Luckily the place for collection is in Woodlands which is near my school. By the time I reached there, not all the push-pops were ready. But enough for Aqil and frenz and of coz....his teacher, therapists and case manager. Phhhheeewwww!
Hence, grabbed whatever was ready first and went over to Aqil's school. My lil boy smiled and shouted 'Mama!' when he saw me coming! His laughter & happiness made the time taken off work was all worth it! ;))

Aqil Danish turns 5! ❤

Had an advance birthday celebration for lil Aqil on Saturday becoz his birthday fell on a weekday which was Tuesday. Just planned for a small gathering at home...didn't even have time to cook so we bought satay, tulang and rojak mama. FIL fried some mee hoon earlier in the day so we had that too! Hehehe!
Ordered his birthday cake from Prima Deli...a digit 5. And the cakes from Prima are awesome especially those made with fresh cream! Didnt even plan for any games whatsoever...maybe the shagginess from 5-day work had yet to diminish then. Nevertheless, great time spent with family and the laughter from Aqil...PRICELESS! Well, thanks to his bibikz! ;))

What's up with the Education System???

Today's front page article in the newspaper covers on the education/learning in SG. And example of the vocabulary words that a P5 pupil should know almost popped my eyes out!
I knew less than half of the words! And my sista who's an A scorer for her national exams & a NUS grad barely knew half of the list! Isn't that a killer to the pupils?
One thing that I remember my P said...and it is something that I totally agree with is "to not assume that the pupils have tuition or support at home".
It is true that we need support from parents. But we can't expect each & every pupil to be the same or have the same family background.
Personally, as a teacher...I'd not be bothered by the 'clever' ones coz they will cope. It's those struggling that attract me. Though I wish I can do more for those pupils...time is usually a problem. So I'd never expect excellence or even a pass from them, what I look for is an improvement...a progress.
I remember only learning 5 words for each spelling....and the words are from the high frequency list. But today...it seem that pupils are EXPECTED TO KNOW the high frequency words by the time they enter P1! Poor thing children these days!
And nah! That's not gonna happen to my kidz. Have yet to send my kidz for tuition coz they are coping well in sch. And no...I am not looking for B1s or As...as long as they passed, I wouldn't mind B2s & Bs.
My kidz maintain or improves, I praise & reward them. If they perform worse, they'd be warned & reminded of the need of education and progressing. I am not gonna control the speed of their progress coz I believe they should be developed at their own pace. Each child is unique...they progress at different paces. As long as I see progress...I am happy. Alhamdullilah! ;))

Happy Anniversary!!!

29 Dec 2001...a memorable date for us. The day we decided to go through life together...through thick and thin....through sadness and happiness. Blessed with 3 beautiful angels....alhamdullilah for everything...amin. ;))

HortPark

Christmas. Nothing planned. Nyehehehehe. Husbern would be back to work the next day...so maybe, can give him the day for resting. But kidz started asking "Umi...when are we going out?". Been going out since we came back from KL. Husbern on leave...so made full use of it! Muahahaha!
Glad the kidz enjoyed themselves. So yeah...we did bring the kidz out. But we wanna avoid the malls...been shopping too much liao.
I was still thinking of the beach...maybe Sentosa coz we went to ECP recently. And so we headed to Sentosa. But along the way, husbern suddenly suggested HortPark coz we have yet to go there. Yup...not yet till today. Ariq has gone there once for LJ so he wasn't really keen.
However, once we reached...he started babblering abt his LJ and shared whatever he learnt from the LJ! Awesome!
There are playgrounds there for the kidz to play. And the weather was perfect! Cloudy & windy...we thought it was gonna rain but it didn't! Weeee! We started walkng through the park stopping here and there for the kidz to play. But once we were exiting to park to enter the Canopy Walk, Aqil started crying.
"I don't wanna go to the 'jungle'" he said. Hehehehe! We tried persuading and even tricked him but he knew! And so we turned back and retraced our route.
A very nice place...maybe can have a picnic there with the kidz. But the weather need to be perfect though...just like today!