Please stand up...

Yay...eya has managed to stand on her own, unaided. Before this, she can only stand against wall or chair, etc, in other word she need to be supported.

It happened exactly 2 nights ago, 28/01/08 around 10 p.m. while me and hubby were watching House. I didn't noticed it at first although hubby had witnessed she standing up. After a few minutes, after hearing hubby cheering her, I noticed she was standing on her own.

Are we happy? Yes, we totally are. She successfully standing unaided at 16 months, although other babies at her age now is starting to run. After that incident, she is trying to stand every night especially when we are watching tv.

Yesterday, she managed to stand for a few minutes. I think eya is quite a stubborn baby. She will only do something at her own will and pace. Her steps of development is quite chaotic. Example:

• She crawled after she had mastered 'ngesot' stage.
  
• She had her molar teeth first before the canine teeth. Now, she has a total of 11 teeth. (8 incisors+3 molars)

New trimming, new attitude...

Eya's hair was quite long. Mom had to tie her hair up into ponytails or any style to ensure her hair was not that messy. Eya hair is quite thin just like her acu's hair.

So, last Friday, I asked mom to cut her hair. I held her while mom started trimming her hair. We only managed to cut her fringe and a little bit at the back. It was not that easy to hold a toddler when you are cutting her hair.

She looked quite different with her new haircut. According to elder people, when a child hair is cut, she become naughtier. Eya proved this myth was right when we brought her to OU on Saturday.

She screamed and pointed to all the bears, toys she looked. It seemed like she never go out to shopping malls and some people even looked at me. Maybe to see to whom the screaming child belongs to. We also took her to see the fishes in the pond at the GF but she screamed when she saw the fishes. Once we took her inside, then only she calmed down.

She also was afraid of the Simpson's family statue in the Movie shop in the GF. This one she gets it from me, as I'm afraid of anything that look like mascot or clown.

Chef Aleya...

Eya like to pretend she was cooking and she would feed her ayah-de and opah with all her cookings. She would use the little containers or plastics that she found and use it for her cookings.

She was so good playing as a chef so I decided to buy her a cooking utensil. At first, I found the cooking set but it was only suitable for 3 years and above. So, maybe I had to wait a little longer before I could buy her the cooking set.

Then, when we were strolling at The Curve, I went to look around in the ELC. I knew ELC back in UK, when Nor had its catalogue at her home. Back then, I would browsed through the catalogue and hoping that I would have my own children so I can buy the stuff in there for them. ELC have a range of Lets Pretend, where they have all the adult stuff like cleaning accessories, kitchen set and even tools kit. I once bought hubby's niece a Tefal Kitchen which here, would cost a lot. I also bought her a washing machine and a microwave.

So, I found this nice kitchen accessories but the price was a bit costly. Then, mom and nana wanted to share in buying the toys for her. The toys is not suitable for her age but when I checked, there was none small items that she could swallow. So, it was safe for her.

I bought the set for her and it was not a hasty purchase as she knew how to play with it. Everyday, she would take all the utensil from the box and play with it. She cook something and then, feed all of us with her own cooking.

For my girls, it would be kitchen utensil. For my boys, it will be tool kit (hubby loves the black & decker tool kit). Absolutely, no Barbie for my girls.

I don't want to go to school...

I started sending eya to nursery when she was 7 months old. Until now, she still goes to the nursery but only three times a week. My mom wanted the extra 4 days in the week for Eya to stay with her.

At first, everytime I handed her to the babysitter, she would cried but now, she is okay. I just hand her to the babysitter, and sometimes she even wave bye-bye to me. She is a playful baby so when she sees all the boys in the nursery, she feels it okay to be there in the nursery.

Last week, like always, I carried her to the car and when I closed the door, she started crying. Real crying. I consoled her and after a few minutes, she slept.

A few days after that, she was awake when I carried her. When my mom asked whether she wanted to go to school or not, she shaked her head and asked my mom to take her. I really need to be strict with her so I just carried her and off went to work.

I don't know why suddenly she didn't want to go to school. Ayah-de said maybe her friends who have already walk tease her and caused her didnt want to go to school. I don't know but for me, she still have to go to nursery.

At such a young age, she want to skip school, which means I have to be strict. Or else, I'm gonna face the same attitude when she start real school.

I'm so confused....

I'm so confused right now. I don't know whether I'm pregnant or I'm having any kind of sickness. My period was normal until 2 months ago. My period lifecycle is quite long but I do get my period every month, normally.

So, when last month, I didn't get my period, the first thought came to my mind is "Am I pregnant?". I didnt have any planning as I got Eya, 4 years after I was married. I did my own pregnancy test twice and it was negative. I took the second test with my family doctor and she advised me to go and see a gynae.

The gynae did all the regular checks and found nothing wrong with me. So, he gave me some pills to get the period out. I asked around and decided not to take the pills.

Later, I went to see a 'bidan' for normal massage. When she massaged that one area, she said that I was having a pregnancy sign. She wouldn't dare to massage and asked me to wait for 2 months, If after 2 months, still no sign of real pregnancy, then I can proceed with the massage.

She even said that there are some cases like mine, which in the earlier months, they could not feel the fetus and it only show after 3-4 months. Maybe the fetus like to play hide-n-seek. So, to be safe, I decided not to take any kind of pills and not to proceed with the massage. Just wait and see. However, earlier, I did have all the pregnancy symptoms which made me to take all the pregnancy test. But, it could be just the hormone doing all these symptoms so again I have to wait.

Eya and Pooh...

All of my friends knew that I really love Pooh and of course, Arale. I had everything with Pooh on it, stationary, bedcover, clothes, anything will have Pooh on it.

When I have Eya, I sort of passed my love for Pooh to her. I bought her a lot of clothes with Pooh on it. If you check her wardrobe, I would say 50% of her daily wear is from Disney. Her Cik Yong also pamper her with Pooh item. She bought Eya a set of Pooh's pillow and also a few Pooh clothes.

As Eya had see Pooh from the moment she was borned, she now recognize Pooh. She can even say 'Pooh' or "Pooh-pooh'. Everytime she see Pooh in mall or even on TV, she would say Pooh. She would point her finger to every Pooh that she sees. Once, when we were in a queue, waiting to pay our stuff, she had a conversation with a big Pooh picture on the Jusco wall.

Her Pooh plushie is among the toys that she loved. She also recognize Tigger which she call 'mau-mau'. She loves playing with Pooh, Tigger and of course, Mr P (Nini's Penguin plushie).

Finally, I got what I wanted...

Last week, hubby was not feeling well, which means Eya and me had to stay home although it was a 4-day holiday. So, this week, I asked hubby to take us somewhere as long it was away from home. At first, we wanted to go somewhere but no shopping mall, as last week I did went to OU. After a few thinking session, the only option that we had was to go to OU as it was the nearest place and hubby didn't want to go to WM.

We just stroll around and decided to bring Eya to Toys 'r' Us but she was not that keen. I thought she would be excited seeing all the big Elmo, Cookie Monster everything but she had no real interest in them. She is really picky and 'cerewet' when it comes to her stuff. Although she has her own toys collection, she only play with some of them. The others will be left unplayed in her playpen.

Then, suddenly Nana called and asked me whether I wanted to buy Arale and Gatsu (the big one). As it was a bit costly, I passed the offer and I had pre-ordered a set of 18 figurines from XL-shop in MV. (It should arrived this month but I called them and the stock haven't arrived yet)

After we got bored, I decided to go back home. BTW, Nana and Nini went for a shopping trip at MV. They did a few shopping and I had a look at the things Nini bought. We had a few chats and when I was going out of nini's room, I noticed Arale and Gatsu at top of her wardrobe. Yes, the big Arale and Gatsu.

I was so shocked and happy. I don't know how to describe my happiness but yes, I was so happy.I don't have any valid reason why I love this thing so much but again, I don't need a reason for my addiction to Arale. (You can ask any anime lovers about their addiction). Both of them are secure on a cabinet inside my bedroom. At first, I thought of putting them in my office but abo told me someone may break into my room just to steal them so I need to put them somewhere safe.

To Nana, Nini and Abo, I was so happy and thank you so much for both of them.

Not feeling well...

Aleya is not feeling well for this past few days. We only gave her previous fever meds, which once she took it, she will be fine and the next day, not well again. Thankfully, she was okay last night but I think she was not that well since she was a little bit cranky and went to sleep at 8 pm.

She also cannot take the antibiotic too much as she will got rashes at her bottom. Doc said that some antibiotic will change the skin pH and as for Eya, as her skin is quite sensitive, she will easily got the rashes. Now, I know why.

As for me, I got the mouth ulcer which felt like I had a bad case of toothache. I could not eat or even speak properly. It was so bad that I had to cancel my Monday class (no one will understand me). At first, I thought it was toothache but I never had any problem with my tooth. I googled on the ulcer topic and found out that I got the worst case of it, which cause the swelling of my gum and made I felt like I was having a toothache. The doc gave me painkiller, 2 kind of antibiotics and a lotion. After 2 days, now I can eat normally again. I had to eat porridge and only soft food because I cannot open my mouth like usual.

After me and Eya, now hubby got a fever. He was not feeling well yesterday as he was too tired driving his boss around. Just now, he called me from his office and said that he got a fever. Luckily, tomorrow is a public holiday. As hubby is sick, I have to spend my free time watching dvd again. Not too worry, I got 2 more Nip/Tuck dvd to watch.

Eya @ 15 months

What can my little angel do at 15 months?

She still not walking but she has made a lot of efforts. She can now stand and I do believe, in a few months time, she can start walking.

She ngesot first before crawling. I think her principle is to try everything, just do it, no need to follow the correct order.

She didnt like to eat, very picky. Loves banana and mihun.

Likes to play 'masak-masak' with her ayah de.

Living with G**s...

I really hope that no one will be shocked reading my entry title this time. Sometimes, I really missed my life in Brighton. The place was special to me. I went there with hubby, which means I didnt have the chance to experienced living in campus. Instead, I had to live with 2 of my seniors in Moulsecoomb Way, a housing for people who received benefits from the UK government. So, you can guess the type of people living there.

Sometimes, we would get teased or mocked by young children when we were waiting for our bus. The situation worsen as I wore tudung and we truly looks like Asian people. Deep in me, sometimes I wished that I could do the same thing they did to me to their children (if they are coming here). But knowing these people mentality, I just ignore the thoughts.

After a few months, the landlady wanted us to move as they were only 3 of us in the house. Initially, there were about 6-8 people in the house but most of them had flew back to Malaysia. Me and hubby did some survey and looked for a new room/house. Using my uni housefinder services, we managed to find several houses in Lewes.

Lewes is a small town with a lot of old buildings and most of the residents are elder people. We really loved the town. The residents were very nice to us. They will say hi when they meet us although they didnt know us. The treatment we received was a lot different compared to living in Brighton. A lot of our friends were shocked to see us living at Lewes but the house was nice and the environment was perfect.

We shorlisted our finding to 2 houses. The first one was good, large spaces, fully-furnished, 400pm but the downside of it was the landlady asked for references and she have a lot of small children. Her children loves to run around and it caused a lot of noises to the house below.

So, we went to look at the second house and it was a little bit smaller. The landlady was nice and the rent was 450pm. We chose this house as it was near to the bus stop and the landlady husband was a mechanic. Yes, by this time, we already had a car. The husband was a French man, Patrick and he had a cute dog called Pinky. The dog was so friendly as everytime I went to pay my rent, she will wait me at the door and try to sit at my lap when I sat down. Monica knew that I am a Muslim and she will try to keep Pinky at kitchen.

Although, the house was small but we felt comfortable living there. Monica, my landlady was so nice that she even loaned my mom her sweater during my mom's stay there.

Masyu, Nurul and Sock also had the chance to stay at this house when they came to visit me during the summer. We also had a cat, Obotchaman who later became a friend to Pinky.

After I finished my thesis, we decided to find a cheaper place as my allowance has been stopped. We decided to rent a room with our hotel's colleague, Sergio. He is an African Portuguese man. The rent was about 280pm. We need to save money for hubby to buy his plane ticket and also for the shipping purposes.

The house was very small and we did everything in the room. From preparing meals, eating, watching tv, etc. As it hard to cook, thats why we preferred to buy take-away meals at the Indian restaurants. Thats was how my love for North Indian cuisine started.

Sergio lived with another man. He said that his friend had just arrived from Spain and need a space to crash. The weird thing was this friend never go out, cooked, cleaned for him, did everything just like a wife. Even if Sergio went for clubbing, this friend would stay at home, waited for him to come back. Why we suspected they were a couple, I forgot the reason but it was confirmed that they were a couple.

Sometimes, we did feel guilty of what we did to Sergio. We ran from the house. We had asked him that we would like to get out from the room as I was going back to Malaysia and hubby need to save some money. He refused and wanted hubby to stay there. So, as a desperate measure, we planned of running away. We moved our things day by day until the day I flew back to Malaysia. This time, hubby stayed at one of our friends house. He never noticed our evil plan.

Gays are a common thing in Brighton. They have a gay town, Kemp Town near the Brighton beach and they also have the Gay Parade. I didnt managed to go to the parade as I was working that day. It was a familiar sight in Brighton. The locals even said that a woman is safe to walk alone in Brighton at night, but not the boys. So, beware boys....

p/s: I hope no one will be offended. I really have fun knowing all the culture and social life in UK and in Brighton, especially.