Big bad wolf 2012 - a review

Went to BBW 2012 a week after it started. And ohhh goodness, my first to many visits after this inysa Allah :)

My verdict: Very well organized! Books are placed according to genre. I went like, 'romance' - lame! 'Science fiction' - done with it. 'Young adults' - errr???

Books I bought..

Didn't take much time for me to decide on what I want. I didn't go scrutinizing each book, because the obvious ones are tempting enough.

First went to the Bestseller section, and just had to buy ''The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown, of which I've been visiting multiple times to MPH to buy this book but ended up buying something else, rezeki sungguh. Price = RM8.

Then, saw the only Jeffrey Archer's I could find - "Paths of Glory", never read his work before. Bought this after I have been recommended by almost everyone. Price = RM 8.

Fell in love with this one, which I never heard of before, "Her fearful symmetry" from the author of Time traveller's wife, simply because I love this movie so much. Price = RM8.

Then to Self Help, very disappointing. It's like a compilation of Self Books I never wish to read. Except there's "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell, which I already have them in my Self Help collection.

So, to Memoirs section, and found "Donald Trump: Think like a champion" which I have been wanting to buy for quite sometimes. Price = RM10.

Books Love bought..

Love doesn't read. Period. Except about cars.

He bought his "Porsche The Ultimate Guide" for RM12, which I can assure the only time he is ever going to read it is either in the toilet or while waiting for his flight if outstation.

And he bought another book "More show me how" for RM15 which honestly, I don't categorize it as a book. Just a manual with compilation of beautiful pictures in it.



For everybody else..

I must say the best section is the Children section. Grab these in less than 10 minutes while browsing through. Read along Curious George with CD for RM8 and Kai Lan activity book with crayons for RM6.

These are in the Dummy section. "Natural Childbirth" for RM10 and "Cooking For Two" for RM8.

So, altogether we spent a total of RM103 for 11 books in less than an hour, can you beat that?

It's a must go again event that I totally stamp on! Very well organize, comfortable and the place is big, so you don't feel crowded at all.

As of now, 80 more pages to be done with "What the Dog Saw", 10 more books waiting for me at home. Tak sabar tak sabar tak sabar!!! :)

Co-sleep no more!

Dear Khaira Asyikin,

You're a big girl now! At 14 months, you no longer co-sleep with Ibu :)

We were sometimes worried, Khaira. At a year old, you were still behaving like a baby. You would wake up every 2 hours (Lucky cases, else every hour) to feed at night, you need your rest.

Abi said because you were too close to me and the smell of my milk made you distracted.

I did not argue with that. So, Ibu and Abi tried slowly to separate the bed, though my initial intention was to do that when you were 2.

I first tried to breastfeed you until you fell asleep, then I would carry you to your baby cot. But, it did not work. You would cry, and started to breastfeed again, and it was more tiring for both of us.

Last weekend, you developed an allergy towards tomato. Rashes caused you to have sleepless nights. I had even more sleepless nights, causing me to catch a flu on the third day. The flu worsened until I sneezed non-stop at 3 am, and decided to sleep separately from you to avoid the virus.

To my surprise, you sleep like a baby until the next day.

Since my flu persisted until the next day, I thought it was a sign. So that night, we put your bed next to Ibu and Abi's bed, and I breastfed you at your bed until you fell asleep. Then, I went to my own bed, it was better. You slept like a baby and woke up only one time to feed. And when I climbed into my bed, you were already in deep sleep by then.

Last night was day 2. You woke up in the middle of the night to feed, startled I was not next to you, quickly searched for me and immediately climbed into Ibu's bed. Saddd.. :( But I have to be strong, I can't be that clingy with you, kay. Else, I would make life harder for you in the future.

So, I held you gently and fed you to sleep. Held you a little longer and took that courage to climb up to my bed again.

It's for the best, Khaira Asyikin. You need a better sleep. And if you need anything, I'm still next to you, still wakes up at every moves you made and still holds you at every sounds you produced.. :)

Informal teaching with flashcard - DarwishDarwisya's Method

Overwhelming responses to my previous post of flashcard :) Thank you, peeps!

Some shared on the flashcard apps like Superflashcard!! Check this one outt!!

Khaira's milk mother shared on the gorgeous flashcard she did by herself, Masya Allah :)

Some asked whether it's really working. Wallahualam. But this is the chart of our brain growth from baby to adult.

It grows rapidly from 0 - 6 years old, where at 6 y.o, it reaches to about 80% of the adult's brain already. Why not just try to put in Al-Quran at this very early stage, insya Allah. I have faith that benda baik mesti dimudahkan.

Anyway, for Selangor, it's a public holiday this Tuesday, yay!! I'm going to Big Bad Wolf with my Big Friendly Giant, then later for a movie, just the two of us. :) Super excited!!

But, if you don't have plans yet, perhaps you can spend your day as what I have been spending my couple of weekends ago..

Sticking the flashcards everywhere around the house. Now 'homer' looks like a nursery already!

As I mentioned in the earlier post, I have 5 sets of flashcard.

One set I hung them everywhere in my room in mom's place.

One set I hung at homer.

One set for Spiderbaby to bite and chew.

One set for me to teach her formally.

One set in my handbag.

So, why stick them everywhere?

Very simple, every time I bring her to the fridge, I would say, "ha", then when I open the door I say "ba". Everything is subconscious, because she would look at the hijaiyah alphabets everywhere she goes. Every time I passed by the alphabets, I would pronounce them to her. So, she would be more familiar with the alphabets, until the day comes when she recognizes the alphabets. I would then ask her to pronounce them for me every time I open the fridge or door or etc.

Learning for babies need repetition. Because they learn too many things in a day, they might forget others.

And why do I have a set of hijaiyah alphabet in my handbag?

 Actually, to be honest, I'm just about to start with this one. Insya Allah, baby steps. But according to Puan Lina, this is especially useful for the alphabet that is hard to pronounce.

When you go out, while looking over a beautiful garden or playground, introduce one alphabet that is hard to pronounce and pronounce it for your baby while showing the flashcards.

Repetitively, then insya Allah your baby will get use to it :)

That is all the sharing session for the day! Happy public holidaying! :) Next session insya Allah on stimulating your baby's right brain.

Formal teaching with flashcard - DarwishDarwisya's Method

"Ibu said she refused to take her nap today," Dad updated me on Spiderbaby's daily report as I reached home from work yesterday.

"Khaira Asyikinnnn, whyyyyy???" I said in a dramatic way, looking over that round big eyes of hers. She giggled hysterically, showing off eight teeth, which every time I looked at them I wonder, why the gaps???

"She slept eventually.. only after Ibu turned on her radio playing the Quran," Dad continued. Masya Allah. Alhamdulillah. Just a week ago I introduced her to the sound of Quran before she sleeps and now she refuses to sleep without it. Alhamdulillah :) May Khaira Asyikin digests all the surahs that she sleeps with, insya Allah. Ameen. And thank you mom, for continuing to play the Quran for Spiderbaby after Alif started his first real job yesterday.

After Dad wrapped up on his updates of Spiderbaby, I said to Khaira, "Give me 10 minutes ok, Ibu wants to take a bath for a while, then we'll start our lesson for the day, ok." This statement never fails to piss my dad off EVERYTIME. Because Spiderbaby would reply this statement with a cry, refusing to let me go. She gets clingy every time I left her for work.

But I couldn't bear, leaving my baby without any notification and reassurance that I will be back. I sure wouldn't want her to do the same to me, so marilah berlaku adil. ;p Furthermore, I want her to be mentally prepared for her flashcard lesson after I'm done freshen up.

So, to the flashcard lesson..

Why flashcard?

I know.. I know.. I was a bit skeptical on flashcard at first. I thought it was messy. I thought who needs flashcards when you have books? Of course, that was before I was blessed with a daughter who was so eager to look at the rest of the pages of the book other than the page I was teaching (T_T)

For the flashcard, I used the ones given in the seminar, by IPN. Because I got them for free and because my intention for the flashcards is to just introduce the alphabets, the rest insya Allah using books. Some of my friends are using the ones from Al Furqan. According to Pn. Lina, the differences are:
1. IPN consists of all hijaiyah's alphabets, Al Furqan only selected.
2. IPN consists of only "Aa, Ba, Ta..". Al Furqan consits of "Aa, Ii, Uu.."

IPN's flashcard, can get it from here

Regardless of any flashcards, the most important thing is how you teach your children using them. The content below is from the various reading I read from the net, so thank you Uncle Google. I'm going to compile everything I read so that you can understand it easily.

There are actually two different metods of using flashcard; Shichida's method and Glen Doman's method

Shichida's method

• Flashcard is shown as fast as possible a.k.a speed flashing.
• Training exercise for the right brain, to activate photographic memory.
• The practice is to flash 200 cards in three minutes.

Glen Doman's method

• Flashcard is shown slowly so the children can capture how to pronounce the word.
• Training exercise for the left brain.
• One flashcard is shown in about 15 seconds.

The method used by Pn. Lina is Glen Doman's method. Because, babies are born with right brain capability, so it's important to teach them how to use the left brain. And also because, televisions are fast, so they can exercise their right brain using TV.

As for me, I used both method. First, I showed Spiderbaby the Glen Doman's method, then I sum everything with Shichida's method. Because from my reading, "..as the left brain develops, that is, as the child grows older, it becomes harder to develop natural abilities of the right brain." Wallahualam, jadi guna jelah both methods.

It takes only about 5 minutes of my hectic schedule, really. After freshen up, I made sure by 8.30pm, I would be alone with Spiderbaby, no TV, no toy, no radio, nothing. Just Spiderbaby, flashcards and I. It's important to maintain the same time, so that Spiderbaby (and I) would be both physically and mentally prepared for the lesson.

I would have two sets of flashcards with me. One set for her to play around with, to chew, to bite, to make a mess. Let it be. According to Pn. Lina, they have to touch the alphabets to satisfy their curiosity, then only they can be interested with it.

Then, another set would be for me to flash to her. Every week I would have a set of 5 different alphabets to teach her. I started with the vocabs that she always used. As for Spiderbaby, she loves to use, "Aa, Ba, Ma, Na, Ya". So, every day for the whole week, I would spend 15 seconds for every alphabet. Put the flashcard near my mouth, while exaggeratingly pronounce the alphabet, so that she knows how to move her mouth to make that sound. Then, I would flash her all the alphabets very fast before I ended up her session for the day. 5 minutes, done.

The following week, I would change to a different set of 5 alphabets, for my case, I used, "Ta, Sa, Wa, Ja, Da". So by the weekend, I would then repeat the two different sets to her altogether, "Aa, Ba, Ma, Na, Ya," then, "Ta, Sa, Wa, Ja, Da" for her to refresh as has been done by Pn. Lina. So, on weekends the lesson is a bit longer. But maximum, 10 minutes.

Of course, being very active as she usually is, she never sits still. I used to worry a lot on her concentration level. After seeing how Pn. Lina taught Darwish, I am more at peace. So, I would let Spiderbaby climbed the bed, played with the other flashcards, hid under the bed, sometimes not even looking at the flashcards. Patience. That's the key.

The first day, she wouldn't even look, what more to pronounce. The next day, she started to repeat after me, and at the end of the week, she managed to repeat the whole set of alphabets, is yet to recognize them. It's ok, move on to the next set before she got bored. This needs repetition. Insya Allah, I would repeat the sets again and again until Spiderbaby masters all the alphabets. I'm at peace there. Let her move at her own pace.

So, that's how you use your flashcard for teaching. Next entry insya Allah, I will share with you how to use them informally. Doalah diberi lebih kekuatan untuk berkongsi, Ameen.

The radio - DarwishDarwisya's method

Guess what we did after DarwishDarwisya's seminar?

Cendol by the road.. :) Of course, while evaluating back our parenting and discussing on our way forward.

We realized, we have to start now, while the momentum is there. Despite of being both mentally and physically tired after the seminar, we gather all our strength to hunt for a portable radio although we had to be at the airport by 11pm to meet up MIL before she headed back to Korea.

So what's up with the portable radio?

Pn. Lina (a.k.a mother of DarwishDarwisya) played the 30 surahs of Juz Amma to her babies from the womb (babies develop the ability to listen since they are 5 months old in the womb) until now everyday. During play, during travelling in the car, etc.

Why?

This is what I mean when I said she's a sub-conscious junkie like me. When I learned about hypnotizing, one of the key points is REPETITION. Have you ever encountered a day, when you remember to climb into your car and the next thing you know is that you're already in front of your office. You don't have any memory of thinking about the route because you're using the route everyday, it becomes a norm to you.

I guess the same concept applies to Darwish and Darwisya. After 3 years of listening to the same surahs everyday, they must have listened to them for about 1000 times already and the hafazan becomes effortless. They have been hypnotized with the Quran, Alhamdulillah.

I tried that on Spiderbaby recently. Was very easy whenever I was around. But since I'm leaving her with mom during work, I tried very slowly so that mom won't think I'm obsessed. At the same time, I don't want to burden her. So, I played it very gently and subtly. Insya Allah.. Benda baik kan, so just have faith :)

What about the surahs Wisya's memorized after Juz Amma?

Her technique is very simple. Juz Amma is played only during the day. When her children were about to sleep, she would play selected surahs she wanted the children to memorize after Juz Amma. These children play with Al Quran, sleep with Al Quran, Masya Allah.

What's the benefit of sleeping with Al-Quran?

My supervisor always tells me to sleep with my PhD research. Also in Islam, one of the best time to give advices to our children is during the time when she was just about to go into deep sleep. That moment, when I learned during hypnotizing, is the moment when you put an information to someone, they will sleep with it, dream with it, put it into their subconscious mind and when they wake up the next day, they would remember about the last thing they think before they sleep. In this case, the Quran.

I remember some days when I was really tired at night. Sometimes couldn't help but complaining, Astaghfirullah. Spiderbaby was born since she was birthed, to wake up every hour until she was about 6 months old. Until now, she was like a baby, would wake up every 2 or 2 hours and a half almost every night. Challenging in that sense, other than that, she is a super easy baby.

But now I am really thankful. I would play the selected surahs throughout the night, because she would wake up multiple times and she has more times to absorb the Quran to her subconscious mind. Everything happens for a reason, Allah SWT the almighty! :)

There are of course many Qari you can find nowadays, which one to choose?

According to Pn. Lina, the ones that we like during pregnancy might make the baby loves it too. My choice - Syeikh Masyari Rashid Al-Afaasi for surah pilihan.

Juz Amma, I used this one..

Simply because I got it for free during the seminar and because I want to vary.

Pray for me to be given the strength to share on flashcards later on!

Goldcoast, Morib

It was Love's birthday, yesterday. I stole him for a short get-away at Goldcoast, Morib.

Funny story though. I bought the deal from mydeal, read the T&C carefully, called the number and asked whether it's okay if I checked in on the 17th Nov, 5 days before Love's birthday and she said okay. So, when I tried to book after I bought the voucher, suddenly they said there's a surcharge if I checked in any day  that is not on the birthday or not a day before or after the date. And of course, it's written in the T&C of the voucher (which I can only read after I bought and received the voucher) which differs than the T&C I read earlier. Whatever.. My first and last ok.

Anyway, the get-away was super fun. Our room had the nicest view, looking over the theme park.

The theme park was fun though, the entry for adults = RM20, for children = RM10. It was worth it. Khaira had fun for a while..

..10 minutes after, she was shivering cold. Lucky there's a small dry place for her to play..

But, we still wanted her to play with the water. Luckily there's a Jacuzzi inside the room. That was the best part. The hotel room was so-so, actually. Just the bathroom was marvelous. Khaira had super fun. Love even slept for like an hour in the Jacuzzi, apparently that's the only bath tub that can fit him. (T_T)

Dinner was good :) More than I expected.

The only pic of the three of us and I don't like this pic, semua muke tak ready :(

After dinner, Love received his gift, cake and certificate from the hotel.

All in all, it was a cycle. Love and Khaira happy = I'm super happy.

Happy birthday, Sayang. It was fun!! May we have an even more wonderful year ahead of us, with Spiderbaby around. Thank you for everything you've done to us. I'm forever blessed to have you as my husband. Whee!!

We are having our UPSR next year! ;p

Happy 11 year anniversary, Love! :)

If we were born the day we were together, we are in Standard 5 already this year. Haha!

Too hectic for any fancy celebration, work overloads!

But, but.. love still needs to be celebrated! Tomorrow we are going to Goldcoast everyone!!

Ehh.. bukan ke ticker kat atas tu said it would be 5 months lagi?

Tu Goldcoast, Aussie. Kite pergi Goldcoast, Morib je lah esok! Yay!!

*Holiday mood on*