Nadeen - A Big Girl!

My blog readers wouldn't need introduction to Nadeen. I used to update her milestone religiously every single month as early as the day she was born (you may want to read here). She is our youngest girl of 4. Very cheeky & never fails to look irresistible to us.... what more to others. Geraaaammm.....!

Remember the first time I introduced her to solid food? (I posted it here ). How about her first steps? (I published the video here). It feels just like yesterday... Really ! How time flies.... and guess what? Nadeen is now in kindergarten!!

She is in a 4-year-old class. Turned 3 last December & by year she should be 4 years old this year. Normally I send all my girls to a playschool (3 years old class). Not Nadeen though. Her being a year end baby is one thing & my busy schedule ferrying the elder girls is another.

All this while, she merely tags along sending her sisters to school. Now she has one of her own... Of course she was very excited about school. Yes 'was'.. Hehehe! Don't worry. She's OK. It's just that she is not extremely excited about it anymore... Why?

You see, I have visited the kindie thrice during the school holidays. First was to check on the kindie, second was to make the booking & third was to collect her school uniform. In all 3 visits Nadeen was with me. Why exactly she is less excited about going to school? Well, check out her response after her first day of school last Wednesday... "Mama! Ramainya orang...!". I can't believe it that she wanted the kindie all to herself!! Hahaha!

A pose at home... All excited about school ;-)

Upon reaching her kindie, she reminded me not to stay around. None of us was allowed in... She listed them down like "Papa tak boleh, Mama tak boleh, Kakak Min tak boleh, Kakak Wardah tak boleh, Kakak Balqis tak boleh...". So I did as instructed & passed her to her teacher the moment we reached the kindie.

Still I managed to make her pose for me. Notice the look? Konon malu-malu ;-)

Off she went with her teacher.... Not even a glance at mama! :-(

Check that out... Her own space! I like... ;-)

Temperature check. I'm glad they opt for a forehead infrared thermometer.

With her new friends. No, I didn't snap this photo. Her principal was kind enough to steal a shot ;-)

If it were not for HB, I would have stayed around longer & observe her from outside. But, HB being HB dragged me (not literally of course!) to the car & we had breakfast together instead! Our friends happened to join us & a short breakfast took a longer time. We reached the kindie just before it ended.

Nadeen was no where to be seen. I saw the children started to queue up & there I was trying my best to search for my little girl. It was then when I heard loud & clear from inside, "Amirah Nadeen... Come over here & line up!". Woohhooo! A scolding on her first day of school? :-)

She appeared with the lower half of her body exposed! What exactly did you do in class Nadeen?? ;-)

Kakak Balqis insisted to fetch her too right after mengaji...

Once she saw me, requested to be carried ;-)

The following day was quite a challenge for me to get her into her uniform. She just refused to put it on. HB tried but failed as well. Out of ideas, I ignored her & continued getting ready. Guess what in the end made her change her mind? Well, it was not exactly how it worked... More like a bribe that is...

My compact powder!

She saw me with it & begged to try it on. I made a deal with her to put on her uniform first. She agreed. After she was done , I told her she looked very pretty & her friends at school would love to have a look at her. And that was how I managed to make her go to her kindie on the second day.

I was worried of the other days... Not a drama, a day! Pleeeeaaseee...! The truth, I knew how it should work. Was just denying it. From experience, if I were to get them ready for kindie, that's when the drama begins. They go so manja & making excuses not to go. It won't happen if my maid wake them up & get them ready. No choice. I had to give in. So everyday when I send off the elder girls to school, my maid will wake up Balqis & Nadeen. By the time I reach home, both have showered & already at the dining room having their breakfast.

It has been almost a week for Nadeen. So far so good... I still address her baby though obviously she is now a big girl!

How was your 1st day of school?

Happy New Year to all my readers. As always, every new year begins with a celebration. Not merely the fireworks & all but a birthday. My Wardah is a new year child & every strike of midnight on new years follows with a birthday wish. In fact, yearly she will remind us that the whole world celebrates her birthday! Yeah right ... Wardah! ;-D

Wardah with her new look, at a friend's BBQ do on new year eve

I have 3 school going children this year. Last year I was so looking forward to do the chauffering for 2011. No more double sessions for me... Yes! As far as I knew, Year 6, Year5 & Year 1 have always been in the morning session. Less worry about Balqis is Year 1 too. She has 2 elder sisters around to sort of babysit her at school. What more when they are both school prefects! ;-) (Yes, Yasmin was renominated again as a prefect this year after declining the offer last year)

My happiness didn't last for long. I got to know during Balqis's Year 1 orientation, the Year ones will be in the afternoon session together with Year twos & Year threes. Duh!! It was a dejavu really...! It happened once in 2009 I think when both of my girls were supposed to be in the afternoon session but one was to be in the morning... You know what I had in mind? I wished to migrate so that I wld be done with this double sessions thing!

Oh well... I just have to get used to it. Pretty tiring I can't lie. I will update on my daily chauffering schedule one of these days.

In the morning the elder girls were ready in record time. Looked forward to meeting their friends. I sort of pulled their legs when I sent them off that morning. Wanted to pull over & check on their new classrooms.. The response I got from both were ,"Noooo! Go home mama!". Hah! ;-D Anyway, I had to go back & get Balqis for her mengaji class.

After mengaji which was at 10am, Balqis was already so anxious to change to her school uniform. She was very energetic & there was no sign of nervousness at all. Being in a new school is one thing... To be dressed head to toe in new attires is another ;-)

At last it was time to go to school. We were kind of late. There was a traffic on the way to school. Balqis in the car didn't look herself. She was rather nervous but the feeling of excitement showed as well ;-)

Balqis, even though late didn't mind at all to pose in front of her new school

First day was rather disorganised. But I wouldn't blame the school. Worried or rather excited parents sort of put a halt to the smoothness of the programme. To me that was normal. I have nothing to complain...

The wait to get to her class..

Balqis is in 1 Omega. She found her class at ease. I could have just left her but the number of the other parents around disturbed me. I knew Balqis is independent enough but it might hit her if she saw other parents stayed around for their children but hers did not.

Another thing that could have affected me was perhaps that I am a 'nostalgia phobic' ;-) You see, I was there for Yasmin & Wardah when they were in Year 1 & not being there for Balqis seemed like a sin. Really!

Good that the school allows us parents to be around for only 3 days. My routine will be sending her off & staying around for a while. Take the elder girls back home & after sending Wardah for mengaji, I will drop off to see Balqis during her recess time. That I think is sufficient. Only the last day or perhaps today, I try to vanish for a while. See how it goes ;-)

The elder girls with their friend

I was on time to greet her for recess :-)

Recess!

She got home quite late yesterday. I was there inside the school. The plan was only to be around by the gate but upon seeing other parents entering the school compound, I did as well. When I saw Balqis as she was dismissed, the expression she wore was kind of worried. When I approached, her dimple welcomed me. She said she was worried that I forgot to fetch her... :-)

In the car when we asked about her day in school, her answer was... "Lamanya sekolah!". Hahahaha! I guess afternoon session doesn't agree to her just yet ;-)

Tamil Nadu, India - Day 6

Our flight home was at night. The final day in India was simply for leisure. After breakfast we took an ato to Spencer Plaza. The ride on the ato was sure an experience & the honking was non-stop.

We reached Spencer Plaza. HB wanted to check out the antiques as recommended by Wan. He was attracted to the ones displayed at Wan's when we had dinner the night before.

The Plaza reminded me of Campbell Complex & Kotaraya in KL. I'm not sure whether we really explored the whole mall because we kept seeing the same shops over & over again. Hence the search for the antique shop was easy. We found 2 shops but the price they offered was pretty steep. I was happy enough that he refused to get any. Antiques & me really can't get along ;-)

We had lunch instead. The girls found a pizza parlor & begged to dine there. Even I enjoyed my lunch. The pizza tasted better. The bread especially. Well, perhaps we had started getting bored with Briyani & curry ;-)

Waiting for our pizza

After lunch, we headed to another shopping mall merely to kill time. The mall was a walking distance to our hotel. No intention to shop really...

Balqis striking a pose

A shot by Yasmin while waiting for HB who was in the toilet. Nadeen was already asleep.

We girls found a ladies' department sharing the same level with the children's department. HB volunteered to play nanny to Nadeen ;-) & I ended up buying something. Hehehe....

After an early dinner we walked to the hotel. HB did the final packing & I got the younger girls ready.

Us in our room before check out

We rented a taxi to the airport. I wouldn't say the journey to the airport was a smooth one for us. Of all the days we were in India, it was on the final night that we had to endure the consequence of an accident. No! We were not involved in the accident but the traffic due to the accident disturbed the smoothness of our journey. Initially, it was a good start for us but due to the bad traffic the driver diverted to another road which took us a longer time to reach our destination. What more with Nadeen chose to throw tantrum at that very moment.

We manged to get to the airport despite the chaos but that was not all... Our flight was delayed! Yasmin started to get feverish. I had the medicine for her yes. But at that time what I wanted most was to be home.

Waiting , waiting & waiting...

At last it was time to board the plane. Alhamdulillah... we reached home safely. Everyone dozed off all the way to KL ;-)

It was indeed an unforgettable experience meeting the relatives in India. Their hospitality marvels us until today. In fact, I do wonder whether I could be as warm as they were if it is their turn to come & visit. To Uncle & Auntie thank you very much for everything. We will pay you a visit again insyAllah in the near future.

The End

ps- Notice the hastiness of this post? Well, I have to complete this tonight because tomorrow I will be in India again. This time to Delhi with HB, minus the girls. Will share my travel pretty soon :-)

Tamil Nadu, India - Day 5

Some may have thought that I have ended my travel log on Tamil Nadu, India trip. Well not yet. Hehehe.. I don't know why it's just out of the blue I start to enjoy blogging again. This is the 4th post for this month! That I tell you is indeed an improvement.. ;-)

At Day 4, I left readers at our parting with Uncle & Auntie at the hotel we stayed in Chennai. You may read here.

On day 5, we had breakfast at the hotel. Just the 6 of us. Down with 7. The plan after breakfast was to explore Chennai but it crossed my mind.. where exactly should we start? HB had the answer for that. He had contacted the MAS area manager in Chennai informing him of our arrival. So that very morning, the first place we visited was MAS town office ;-)

At the hotel

That morning a minister was having a meeting at the hotel. We saw men in uniform outside of the hotel. Very familiar uniform! The 'Inspector Sahab' uniform in Hindi & Tamil movies! The opportunity was grabbed to pose with them ;-)

We looked rigid, I know...

Mr Wan, the area manager was kind enough to brief us of places to visit around Chennai. He even called a car rental company to send us an MPV with a driver to take us around town. How sweet of him. Not only that he went down with us to meet the driver & told him of the places to take us. The final destination he instructed was his house, for dinner :-)

Mr. Wan with HB & that one in green was no secretary ;-)

It was an office girls... not a playground!

Mr. Wan with us at his office..

Our first stop of the day was at Rathna Store. OK. We shopped just enough for the family ;-) Well, 6 of us altogether so we didn't do that bad really :-) Too bad I forgot to snap on things we bought but I sure love the different sizes of woks. Hehehe...

Posing a contented smile ;-)

It was only our first stop of the day but we had past our regular lunch time. Not a good start... Told the driver to take us to a halal restaurant & again we came face to face with Pelita. Nobody complained though :-)

Lunch

Our transport for the day

Next the plan was to go to Gundy Children Park & Snake Park but it was closed on Tuesdays. Guess what day was it that day? Yes, Tuesday... If you have been following my travel log, you would remember a few of such incidents ;-) Oh well... We went to the park next door instead. It was open.

A memorial park

This tree looked kind of eerie

The architecture attracted our attention. Not to the girls though :-) Still they didn't hesitate to pose in that hot day.

Notice Balqis at far left. She chose to pose under the shed ;-)

After the photo shoots at the park we had no idea to go. It was still early for Marina Beach. HB told the driver to take us to see the buildings in Chennai. First stop was Anna University ;-)

College of Engineering

Was I glad to have a driver to take us around...

Despite the reckless driving accidents are seldom

Us in our rideThe Police HQ

Next we visited was the High Court. The others were already asleep by this time except for Balqis who had no choice but to play model for papa ;-)

.... and more photos around the bustling city of Chennai

Yes, only Balqis was still available for modeling ;-) Others were still in dreamland...

Didn't get the chance to try this one :-(

The Railway Station

Atos everywhere...

Wanna catch a movie? ;-)

The time showed a few minutes past 4pm. We still had a couple of hours to kill before sunset. Next stop was supposed to be Marina Beach but it was still too hot. I anyhow gave a brilliant idea. Hehehe! We had another round of....

Hehehe...

Goofing whist waiting for their parents ;-)

Even found themselves a prince!

How about this one papa? ;-)

OK. I got a little carried away... still we managed to get to the beach by sunset. BUT! The walk to the water was like forever. It was close to a half km walk & mind you it was paddling on the beach sand. It took us a longer time.

Sunset... No sight of the water yet!

People who visit Chennai will make an appoint to visit the Marina Beach, hence the crowd. It is one of the longest beach in the country. The distance from north down to south is 13km.

Finally we made it to the water. It was getting darker. This was a shot with flash.

A family portrait (without flash)

A penny for their thoughts... :-)

We later were driven to our final destination - Wan's residence. It was a great dinner for famished us ;-) Thank you to Mr. & Mrs. Wan for their warm hospitality.

With Wan's family in Chennai

*to be continued