Goin’ Shopping

Everyone is crazy about shopping. My husband and I decided we must bring Ajib and Liya to get some new clothes. Gosh, kids grow extremely fast.

Liya walked along the aisles and looking for designs. Size comes later, so I thought. Since this was delayed gratification, I played along. We actually had promised to take her to her favourite store a few months back. We were lucky because the salesgirl was very patient and helpful.

Liya tried many t-shirts, skirts and pants. I refrained myself from being judgmental except for technical basis only like being comfy and decent. She started off with low self-esteem to a bit higher when we were in the dressing room.

We took a break after for a while before taking another shot at finding Ajib’s new clothes. Ajib by then was excited and said repeatedly, “Sis, you bought so many..”

Daddy played a bigger role managing a 3-year old boy. In the store, we were tempted to tryout the combination displayed which were worn by the little mannequins. In between each outfit, Ajib came out and ran within the store. He even said something to little shoppers and to the salesgirls.

Ajib was a proud shopper. He handled his own shopping bag and seemed so satisfied.

Transformers 2

My hubby and I took Ajib and Liya to the cinema to watch the Revenge of the Fallen. Ajib was excited, he ran in circles and sneaked and hid behind and in between the crowds. It was their first time to the movies.

Liya complained the sound system was too loud while Ajib couldn’t help himself asking questions and fascinated by the robots. We should have brought Ajib’s Bumblebee which we had bought about 2 years back.

People go to the movies with various expectations but they come out taking home some lessons from the movies. Otherwise, the trip is purely on entertainment, nothing more nothing less. In real life, people expect miracles to happen. People wish the love and the care shall remain if not blooming. We take things for granted until something hits us on the head. The bump is painful but the loss unbearable.

Parenting is also like getting bumps all over the head. We’ll be mature over time. We grow fonder of things that we care about. We make sacrifices along the way. As it needs 2 to tango, parenting also requires equal participation from the parents. Don’t be stingy with love and time. Kids will settle for those who give them priority.

Aisles of Books

One can easily get lost in Kinokuniya. I kept moving from aisle to aisle searching for books. With tons of  selection, I feared that time was just not on my side. It will be a dream come true if  I could read all day long my whole life. I could travel the world, learn all languages, see various fascinating cultures, meet anyone, walk any timeframe  simply through reading.

Liya and Ajib love going to the bookstores. They pick and choose, put down and add on. The freedom is wide open. The newly renovated Ampang Point’s  Popular attracts more visitors than ever. MPH Midvalley serves many too. A few smaller outlets grow based on demands as well. The Curve has a bookstore too which Liya and Ajib bought 2008 cartoon calendars. They marked birthdays for the family members including Opah and Nenek early this year,

Bestsellers, romance, business, children, history to mystery and horror, each category has its own readers. Lim Goh Tong, Princess Masako, Genghiz Khan and Ka-Shing are prominent Asians. Only in books, world population know and ‘meet’ them.

I was even surprised when foreigners wrote and published books on Malays, cultures and histories…

Growing Up Mission

Today I had the privilege to tour KL with a group of children. They were chatting and laughing.

Liya's Portfolio

One of them revealed her ambition to be a photographer, taking beautiful pictures and making loads of money. Another said he wanted to be a pilot, flying here and there.

Some of the interesting observations include high rise buildings with blue roof, red roof and green roof are mostly people’s homes.We saw 2,3 and 4 levels of roads as well. There were rail tracks, LRT platforms and stations, flag and river. We thought the twin towers and KL Tower looked impressive as part of the skyline. Too bad, we couldn’t make it to KLCC today due to traffic congestion.

We passed Bank Negara (Central Bank). What would be the best explanation? “It’s like Mama to all other banks in our country,” I answered in utmost humility and simplicity. With that seeing and pointing fingers, the kids got tired and dozed off one by one.

‘Be good, share your stuff, and eat properly’ are common phrases uses in overdoses. Once, I heard that we must repeat an advice or condition a learning for at least 300+ times in children to make it lasts a lifetime. The parties must be sincerely willing to teach and to learn. There’s no shortcut! The best way is to go through the all: humor, agony, sadness, anger, hatred along the way. Make mistakes and learn.. We learn, unlearn and relearn all the time. That’s part and parcel of life…