The children growing together.

The children are growing so fast. I have had little time to digest each and every little development and adventure that greets me daily. But I had better start making it a discipline to write a little something about my two precious little gifts from Allah (SWT).

Taufik's development is certainly something that has snowballed and continued on it's own momentum after all the nurturing poured into caring and educating him. He continues to speak eloquently, sometime there are such magical moments that they remain etched in my memories for days.

The most recent one is when I seriously asked him in the car why he persisted in doing something naughty when I ask him to stop. "Darling, why don't you stop doing what you're doing when I tell you to?" I asked him earnestly, my eyes searching his desperately. "Are you embarrassed when I ask you to do so? Do you get shy?"

"Yes Mommy, I get shy." he said. "Can you do something for me, Mommy?" softly he asked me, as he clambers over me and rests his body on top of mine. "What is it darling?". "Mommy, when you want to tell me stop, can you take me to another room or a corner and tell it to me? So that no one else can hear. No one else knows. Then I won't be so shy and I will stop. I can't stop when you make me shy."

What a brilliant child! Excellent self analysis for a four year old, I thought to myself.

Inaaya on the other hand has only managed to say four at times five words at this period in her development. She can say Mama, cat, Abu, Up and Opah. Sometimes when she wants me to pick her up she says, "Up!Up!" Or sometimes when she wants to stand up, she gleefully says, "Up!"

My daughter is a charming creature, she charms me with her cheeky smiles and impish grins. Her sunny and adventurous natures seduces anyone who spends enough time with her to fall in love with her.

She is most of all a highly intelligent baby. What this means for her as an adult is another thing altogether. I have seen intelligence in infancy turn to nothing in adulthood, perhaps due to a lack of nurturing.

Inaaya has an incredible shoe and socks fetish. If there is a pair of shoes within her proximity she will attempt to slip her feet into them and stumble around the room in them. No shoes are too big or too ugly for her, she has donned on her Tok Bah's expensive, heavy leather shoes, Nenek's shoes dainty black Bata shoes, my high heels and Japanese slippers that are strewn about the front yard.

When it's time to go out, she would rush out to the porch and select her shoes. Sometimes I would present her two pairs of shoes to choose from and she would swiftly pick on the her preferred shoes. She loves anything pink, my darling daughter. And always picks her pink squeaky shoes.

No mountain is too high for Inaaya, no obstacle too difficult to tackle. And all this climbing and stumbling around has resulted in a chipped front tooth. Alas! I was quite upset about that, to think that for the next six or seven years of her life I would be stuck looking at my inept care for her.

The other day, her Nenek as usual came out all dressed up in her baju kurung and tudung. Hand bag at her side, all ready to go to her Quranic classes. Inaaya knowing the ritual well by now, made a babble at her, urging her to follow her to the front living room. Whereupon she went to her Nenek's favourite chair for putting on her shoes before leaving the house. There, she patted the cushion enthusiastically, inviting her nenek to sit down and put on her shoes. Everyone found it utterly charming!

How wonderful it is to have children! But it does seem as if parenting is a never ending job. For instance today, just as breaking fast came along Inaaya was hungry for her milk. I took a quick sip of ice lemon tea and made her a bottle of milk. As I laid her down on the pillow, I noticed that she had done her business in her pampers. Another delay to me sitting down for dinner, I cleaned her up and donned on new pampers for her.

Dinner over, it was time to play bunga api with the kids. This was followed by a bath. Pyjamas on. Two bottles of milk to make. Setting them into bed and at last...I thought, time for myself.

I heard a huge bump coming from upstairs just as I reached the living room only to discover Taufik bounding the stairs and telling me that Inaaya had vomited all over the bed.

Clean up the pillows, bathe Inaaya again, put on her pyjamas and pampers. Change the bedsheets. Wash the sheets and pillows by hand. Putting them in the washing machine. Rushing back upstairs to lie down with the children until they fell asleep. And now at last...time for myself. So little time left for myself before it was time to go to bed.

Yawn...I am sleepy now. Just some TV, a bit of read, and off to snooze land.

Gnite everybody!