Bento Boxes - The Farry Way

I've been bitten by the "bekal" bug lately. Every Friday the kids are required to bring food from home to share with their classmates. Last year when it was just Ryan, I will usually buy cupcakes/breads from the bakery. Too much hassle to cook dishes for one kid. Now that I have to cook for Iman and Ranya too, it is worth more the trouble :p

The munckins prefers pasta and rice dishes. Surprisingly food such as icing donuts and cakes are not too well received among their peers so I try to stick to basic food items. Ryan is not to keen on the cutesy deco (star carrots, bear nasi lemak etc), so I will usually save those for the girls. Gosh my baby boy is all grown up because teddy bears are no longer cool *boohoo*

I've also taken to start bringing lunch boxes for lunch. Awesome way to save money, what with the rising prices of goods and GST etc. Oh well it is also a healthier option since I know what goes in my food and I can vouch for the cleanliness factor. See... there is silver lining everywhere :)

Have an awesome weekend everyone....

Iman and Ranya Q1 Developments

It feels just like yesterday that we celebrated the arrival of 2015, in just a blink of an eye it is already April. Time move so fast, sometimes it feels like all I ever do is try to catch up. Anyway, Lan and I attended the munchkins "Report Card Day for 1st Quarter of 2015" two weeks ago.This post is dedicated solely for Iman and Ranya :)

Teacher Nisya took us through the twins activities in Tadika, highlighting their current skills and things that needed improvement. I'm happy to hear that the girls have started to socialized and does not follow Ryan around as they used to. They're also learning to share and listen to instructions and doing a lot of activities to developed their fine and gross motor skills.

Iman Khadeeja

In terms of speech, I would say that Iman is the more advanced of the two. Her speech is clear and very precise. Iman enjoy singing and dancing and is very quick in terms of memorizing lyrics and steps. Currently her favorite activity is playing with play dough and cutting and pasting paper strips. In summary she like making loads and loads of mess.

She's able to recite Al Fatihah,Surah Ikhlas, doa makan, tidur and naik kenderaan with assistance. Other development includes knowing her numbers and ability to understand instructions in both English and Malay. However, she will usually converse in Malay. Iman has very little patience for coloring, but that is slowly improving, at least nowadays she tries to keep her colors within the lines :)

This little princess has an opinion about EVERYTHING. From clothes, shoes down to the color of her headband. She love to imitate everything I do and is currently obsessed with make up and wanting me to put on innai on her feet -__-  I'm ok with the innai but is very much against the idea of makeup. We keep on telling her she's beautiful and don't need the extra enhancement unlike me who's old. Her reply to me was priceless 'Kakak tau kakak comel, tapi kakak nak jugak pakai makeup sebab kakak nak cantik macam mummy". It was difficult to say no to that :p so we compromised a tiny bit by allowing her to put vaseline on but only on weekends (and only if she asked for it).

Ranya Fatimah

My little drama queen :) Ranya loves her books. Sometimes I will catch her quietly sitting in a corner turning pages to her storybook. She is also the first to pick up a book and will make me repeatedly read to her everyday. She is quite eloquent but since she has a very manja way of speaking, it sounds a bit pelat and babyish. However, Ranya is able to pick up new English words at a faster pace in comparison to her siblings.

When it comes to arts and craft, she choose to do things her way. For example when we were doing cut-off  body parts for her school project last week, she insisted on turning the mouth upside down because "her doll is angwyy". Since it is her project I relented. Like Iman she's mastering her surah, doa's, numbers and alphabets.

Ranya is also the most sensitive of all my children. Every little thing will set her off and her favorite line after getting a scolding from Lan and I is " Mummy/daddy tak sayang dedek, dedek nak balik rumah atuk, mummy/daddy gemuk". 

I'm also happy to report that both twins are currently potty training and is 80% out of diapers. Thanks to the encouragements of their caretakers in Taska. Accidents are now so much farther in between. It is a bit more challenge when we go out but Lan and I just need to be patient. Potty training twins should be an Olympic event of its own :)

Now that the twins are in preschool, I need to make sure that my time is evenly divided to ensure that I can sit with each child and check on their progress and identify their talents and weaknesses. By doing so I'll be able to determine the most appropriate learning method for them. Since each child is different, the way they process information may be different too. Some kids learn through visual, while some may thrive more when their audio sensory is stimulated. It is not enough to just want and raise a child as individuals, you have to be ready to treat them as one too.

Alhamdullilah, for everything that Iman and Ranya have achieved so far and I pray for the ease of future developments. Our main priority at the moment is to instill as much manners and discipline in them, something we're currently struggling as there's is now 3 of them to keep up with, but we try. Inshallah with time and patience, we will get there :)

Note: All photos are credited to the Teachers of Tadika Ceria Az-Zahrah

First Post of 2015

One of my New Year resolutions is to blog more often. 26 days into 2015, you can safely say that resolution won’t be happening :p The obvious culprit is of course WORK. I’m also quite busy preparing for our upcoming family trip in February (Inshaallah) so whatever free time I have, would be spent online Googling for information and planning cute travel outfits for the girls (Yes, I have skewed priorities but who cares???)

To tell you the truth 2015, have been shaping out to be quite challenging in many areas, one being that all 3 babies have started kindergarten. I know some people don’t think that it is a big deal and that it does not have much impact to our family schedule seeing that the munchkins have been going to daycare since they were 2 months old. All I can say is, there’s a HUGE difference in preparing them to go to kindy and just packing their clothes and diapers for daycare.

The twins are not exactly ecstatic about their new school as just yet, taking into account their anti-social personality. I guess they’re still in the “getting used to new school/teacher mode”. They can be a bit resistant in the morning and every little thing can start a tantrum. Not a way Lan and I would like to start our day. 

But as always, we will persevere and inshaallah it will get better… We do keep in mind that my girls are technically just three year old expected to go through a four year old schedule, but we saw more benefit for them to start school early based on our experience with Ryan. 

I know people find the pre-school age (4-6) as an “easy phase” as compared to baby-toddler-teenager stage, to me I find it just as challenging because this is the time where the fundamentals really start setting in. Manners, spiritual, mental and emotional development starts now. As parents you would want for things to go as smoothly as they could for their children, especially when you know your child has to face extra challenges in some department as compared to other children.

I don’t seek understanding especially from the harsh group of people who don’t understand the things that I have to go through every day. I know everyone have their own problems but some people tend to think (and show) that their issues is just way more important and bigger than others, and I won’t deny it, it annoys me. But whateverla, I’m just thankful for family and friends who actually tries to understand and respect my situation and help make my life easier :)

They are the rare chocolate chip in an otherwise yucky oatmeal cookie. Haha the food analogy is making me crave for a yummy and chewy choc chip cookie.

Have a good week everyone….

Super Nonsense....

People usually enjoy being complimented including myself. I love it when people compliment my new dress, my looks, intelligence etc. There is just one title that makes me feel like a fraud though and that is when people call me a "supermummy"

I actually get this a lot. Maybe because I'm a working mum with no maid raising 3 small children, or because of the activities photos that I posted on social media. Browsing through my IG page it does look like I'm doing A LOT but like I've reminded my friends a gabijillion times, what you see on social media is just about 20% of the things that is actually happening in real life.

When you're associated with anything "super", it only means one thing -> You do not make mistakes. The problem is I make mistakes EVERYDAY. I sometimes yell at my children, lose my temper, feed them junk food and the list goes on and on. Life is stressful enough without the added stress of having to maintain perfection all the time.

I know some people are thinking, "urrrghhh what is the big deal, people are just trying to be nice, just accept the compliment and don't make a big thing out of it". Trust me I'm grateful but I just don't appreciate the negative attention and scrutiny that comes with the so called title.

Example: 

• When your child behaves well 80% of the time but when the 20% happens and they throw a tantrum, people will make a bigger deal out of it as compared to a child who misbehaves 80% of the time (or)
• The one day you allowed your kids to play with the tablet for like 15 minutes (out of 168 hours in a week), people would suddenly label you as a hypocrite and not walking the talk (whatever that means)

I don't exactly want to be label as a bad mother either, I actually prefer not to be labelled at all. My life is far from perfect, I have my issues. It's just that I prefer not to broadcast my problems be it at home or at work on social media. That is not me being a hypocrite. It is just me trying to be responsible and protect the aib of people around me and myself, whenever I can (Having said that I should really try to gossip less haha)

I also wish people understand one very important thing:-

My choices as a parent is not a reflection of other people's ability to parent.My choices are made based on my family, my lifestyles and my upbringing. Please don't take my personal choices as a criticism of your personal choices. 

It it just me or people are extra sensitive these days???

Picky Picky....

I get a lot of people asking me about tips on dealing with picky eaters. I am by no means an expert but my edge on this topic is not merely based on my experience dealing with Ryan but I'm actually speaking from my personal experience as a recovering picky eater.

Ryan was a good eater until he turned one. Things changed drastically after he was hospitalized for the second time. Going for physio to drain out the phlegm and mucus at one year old, has a bigger impact on him as compared to the first treatment when he was 7 months old. I guess he can remember clearly the traumatic experience of tubes being shoved down his throat since he's older. 

After that I detect a change in his feeding pattern. He's more choosy and refuses to eat vegetables and meat (he'll only eat eggs, carrots and potatoes) and will only eat plain or fried rice and some pasta. Since he have dinner at my parents who enabled him, and I did not really interfere at that time because I was busy with my night classes and  the arrival of his twin sisters, he continued with this feeding pattern until he's about 3 years old. 

Once we've gotten pass the hecticness with the twins being older, I've managed to really sit down and analyze the issue with Ryan. In terms of preference my boy actually prefers stronger tasting food (e.g. durian, tomyam, oranges etc) so all the bland food that we were previously feeding him, does nothing to increase his appetite. The second mistake was actually listening to him when he says that he do not like a food without even trying it. Thirdly was making a huge production during mealtimes forcing him to eat (this is more my mum than me) 

Ok parents drill this into your head... 

(1)  NAGGING KILLS APPETITE 

(2) The child will eat when the child is hungry

Again let me stress this out. I am speaking based on my own personal experience. When I was 5-12 my basic food everyday is my arwah Wan Nasi Goreng for breakfast, rice,kicap and fried fish (only ikan selar kuning ok) for lunch and 1-2 slices of bread for dinner. I was a freaking skinny kid (albeit a very healthy and active one)  I introduced a bit of variety into my meals when I was in High School but was still extremely selective and only grew out of the food bubble when I stepped into Uni. You want to know what made me changed? 

It is because I DO NOT HAVE A CHOICE. There is no Mummy or Wan to cook food the way I like it. So either I starve or live on a diet of instant noodle everyday, I had no choice but to step out of my comfort zone. Most of my friends are quite adventurous foodies (or at least normal by my standard), so it made me more open to trying out small quantities of food of their plate (less scary option than ordering an entire plate of "alien" food), this in turn expanded my choices and allowed me to make a more informed decision between food I actually like/hate/initially thought i hate but end of liking (like ikan keli for instance)

So keeping all this in mind, I introduced new dishes to Ryan in a more subtle manner. Sometimes I will cooked a particular dish for myself and invite him to try a bite and assure him that he's allowed to (politely) spit it out if he don't like the taste. Even though he may not try or like it at first, I will continuously offer the same food/fruits/vege to him. If he still resist the taste after 5-6 tries I will just move on and offer something else because I take it that he is naturally not attracted to the taste (I'm positively allergic to the taste of bean sprouts, cucumber and honey dew - will literally will gag it out and I'm 31 haha ). But NEVER underestimate the wonders of persistence because I've managed to get Ryan to eat roast beef (which he won't even touch before) and spinach after a few tries.

Another thing is DO NOT provide options all the time. Example cooking two types of fried rice (1) normal with all the works (2) kosong with just kicap for the picky kid. The signal you're sending is "I do not need to try new food because mummy will always provide me with the dish that I WANT". Persuade your child to try the food and allow him to weed out unwanted meat/veges from the dish. What do you got to lose? He'll try it and not like it (so it will be status quo) OR he'll try it and decide "hey this is not bad at all".

Don't be a hypocrite. If you yourself do not eat vegetable and fruits, don't membebel and paksa your kid to eat it. Lead by example. In my house, I only buy vegetable/fruits that I know I will eat, screw variety, if you only like mangoes, carrots and broccoli than by all means buy and eat it everyday if you want . Don't feel the need to compel the household to 3 types of exotic vegetables that you personally don't like but FORCED it upon your kid. 

If your kids is forever "kenyang" try minimizing snacks or don't allow snack so close to mealtimes. We had this problem earlier this year when my mum complained that Ryan and the twins refused dinner. The root of the problem is my  parents will feed them "roti cream" at around 4.30 when they come back from school. I advised my parents to stop buying the bread (and to ignore their crying) and alhamdullilah they're  asking for second (even thirds) serving of food  during dinner now.

Finally, be patient and relaxed, mummy!! Like I mentioned earlier the child will eat when the child is hungry. Don't worry so much about variety, just ensure that they get benefit from all the food groups. If it is any consolation I survived on kicap, fried fish/chicken, carrots and junk food all through my early adulthood (the health consciousness and awareness is recently acquired) and I turned out ok :p Alhamdullilah I'm healthy, active and quite smart (despite the lack of greens) hahahah

Do make food fun and attractive :) Anyway see the green dip in the middle? That is basil, spinach, sour cream and a squirt of mayo. No vege taste but with all the goodness and nutrients...

Yes the noodle is green because it is "spinach noodle". You can find it in most health store and it taste good. The menu above consist of me tossing the noodle into a bit of garlic, spring onions,olive oil and grilled salmon. Walla a quick, healthy and yummy dish (Iman ate this without blinking)

Another option to introduce vegetable into your child's meal is through juicing. Try adding mangoes, orange and spinach together or try the various combinations available online. They won't even know what hit them. I've made this myself or if you're lazy you can buy organic and freshly pressed juice from supermarket or online (just make sure there's no sugar or preservatives added)

I find it easier to get them to eat all food groups when it is all mixed into one dish rather than visible dishes where you can see individual veges + protein and carbs. For example this dish consist of salmon, spinach, cheese, pasta, fresh tomatoes and garlic.

Another awesome way to incorporate veges into food is by infusing meat in vegetable stocks. Not only would your dish taste better, you would also benefit from the nutrients from the vegetables. 

Hope this helps... in the meantime.. chill yo!!!

50/50

The most difficult thing to do as a parents is having to make decisions for your children. Your choices will make an impact on another person life and this is the life of a person who you love with all your heart so you're desperate to make the right choices. Being parents is not easy,huh?

The problem is sometimes, what you think is RIGHT and BEST may not be attainable due to time/financial/ physical constraints, so even when you start with the best intention in mind you'll end up feeling like the biggest failure when your best efforts did not go as well as you expect it to be...

Ahhhhh it is all trial and error, Far -__- 

May Allah guide me in making the right decision for my children and family *inshaAllah*

The one on Baby Spa and Baby Swim...

I received an invitation from Kak Evi to attend the Grand Opening of her newly opened baby spa in Publika called Little Spa Kingdom. Ryan and the twins have just recently recovered from a bout of fever and teething pains so I decided all 3 deserved a bit of a treat from mummy. I made appointments for baby swim for the twins and a haircut for Ryan :)

We were greeted by an array of awesome goodies at the entrance. Ryan (and his mum) was super excited seeing the cupcakes and cookies all ready to fill his little tummy 

The changing table for baby massage and the jacuzzi for baby swim. I love the colorful decor, so warm and inviting. I choose to try "baby swim" for the girls because I know they love water. The spa also offers baby yoga and massage, children manicure and children hairstyling. 

What is baby swim? During baby swim sessions, the baby will be made to "swim" in a tub of heated water where they are encouraged to move comfortably with the help of the flotation device. Awesome exercise for children from 0 to 36 months and they can learn to kick and peddle in the tub with adults assistance.

The twins had fun. Cik Puan Ranya graduated from the "baby" float to the normal ones within minutes and was happily kicking and floating on her own. Iman was a bit scared of the therapist at first but they managed to calm her enough to change into their swim diapers and get into the jacuzzi. Once she's in the water all worries are forgotten and she started to happily swim with her little sister.

Ahhhhhhhhhh total bliss after a hard day of playing and drinking milk  >__<

Packages for boys over 4 years old is pretty limited but I still made appoinment for Ryan to get a haircut. Someone was stewing over the fact that he did not get to swim and even complained to me the night before "asyik-asyik adik, kenapa kena pergi pool kecik, pergila bawak Ryan pergi pool besar" Thank god they had face painting as an activity for the grand opening, pacified this little pakcik a bit having a crab drawn on his cheeks ;p

A haircut in a Beemer, yo!!!

Ryan and Aunt Juju enjoying freshly made cotton candy

All of us enjoyed our visit to Little Spa Kingdom, would surely bring the twins in for another session of baby swim one of these days and I'm also planning on trying out the "Princess Hairstyling Package" for them once their hair is a bit longer. For the time being don't rat me out to Ryan ok, nanti dia jealous hahaha

If you're interested, do check out their website for more info on the packages and prices : Little Spa Kingdom

The Great Outdoors

Compared to our generation, kids nowadays are at a total disadvantage when it comes to the opportunity to spend their time outdoors. It is understandable due to the increasing crime rate, air pollution, parents busy timetable etc.

However I totally believe that we as parents should take some initiative to get our children bond with nature. Not only would it improve their physical, fine and gross motor skills, it could be a good time to show and teach them the wonders of Allah's gift to them (i.e. clean air, foods provided by plants and animals, how water is "created") A good way to enlightened the mind, body and soul.

Do you know playing with bubbles are not only fun but is a good way to train your child hand/eye movement coordination?

Sadly most kids nowadays don't like to get "dirty". They can get very distracted by a bit of dirt. We may think it is nothing but it does have an impact on the way your child do their daily activity. Take Ryan for example, he likes to have his things in order and not messy. You may think " are you crazy your child is a neat freak and you complaint?" :p 

As awesome as it may be to my playroom, it is not as good when he may be put in a situation where he NEEDS to get messy. Ryan has very low tolerance with slimy substances (I think most people do) but he can't expect his teachers to use UHU Stick instead of those normal and cheaper glue, I may tolerate it because I'm his mummy but he can't expect the same special treatment when he's in school/class/public. By letting him play outdoors, sometimes to the the extend of making him roll around in mud/ play with sticky flour mix or sand, it teaches him that the dirt won't hurt him, it need not distract him from his task  and InShaAllah slowly and surely this will increase his attention span because he won't be easily distracted by external factors like smell/sound/movements etc.

 Allow your child to learn from their senses. Let them touch grass/weeds/flowers and get them to explain the different textures/colors/ smell to you :)

Outdoors playgroup is much more fun than one that is held indoors. The greens does have a relaxing effect on children. The results? Less fighting. (I'm not delusional to expect 100%  no fighting , they will still fight but to a lesser degree laaa)

Teach your children to love the nature from young. Alhamdullilah Ryan is exposed to the concept of recycling in school and I slowly try to do it at home. I've also taken to getting the kids involved in my gardening activity and get them to plant some plants on their own. It's an informal science class for them but they get really excited when they see their plant slowly transform from a mere seed to little shoots to a proper tomato tree bearing fruits. Good introduction to "process"- i.e. tomato sauce does not come from the can but from a tree

 sings *Apa yang penting kerjasama :)*

Ryan and Iman planting some herbs for my herb rack

Mess and loads of it -__-

This is a lesson for the mum to practice a lot of patience and not to be easily worked out over little things...It is difficult, kan? especially with the stress of working, running the household and raising 3 kids. Back to the lesson about Sabr, I guess :p

Wish me luck and hope all of you will have a safe, happy and sun filled weekend *In Sha Allah*

One Plus One = Iman and Ranya

I think one of the thing that I've always like to stressed out is I try to raised my girls as individuals despite them being twins. As they grow, my wish kinda came true as the girls personalities is quite different. What I did not foresee is the extra work that came with having to cater to two very different individuals :p 

The easier preference like color is easily remedied. For example Ranya likes pink while Iman prefers blue and purple. They don't even like the same cereal as Iman eats Koko Krunch and Ranya only wants Honey Star. Ranya is more "princessy" out of the two preferring dresses while Iman is my little tomboy who demands for her abang old Spiderman t-shirt.

The challenge is to remember all this little details. Try giving the wrong cereal to the wrong twin on a very hectic Monday morning and you may end up with a small war in your hands. Most people can't still tell them apart and you can see that the twins is slowly getting annoyed with that. If they are in a good mood, Twin A would usually just ignore the person who's calling her Twin B but I've had instances where Iman actually growled at her father for calling her Ranya (haha padan muka)

Despite their differences and the constant fighthing (like cats and dogs these two) they're fiercely protective and dependent on each other. If one is not home, the other will ask for the other sister for every half and hour. Last Monday I was on leave since Ranya was sick and Iman was sent to kindy to minimize contact with the germs.Ranya end up asking for her sister at least 25 times within 8 hours (yes I counted) by 5.00pm she was peering at the glass door every other minute and was tugging Lan and I towards the door repeatedly chanting "jom amik tatak" :p The minute Ryan and Iman steps into the house the fighting started -__-

Ranya is the more affectionate twin. She loves cuddles and hugs. Iman not so but I still insist on giving her the same amount of hugs even when she resist because once she's in your arms she'll be giggling and bubbly. Love playing hard to get this one hehehe

Lil-Miss Iman Khadeeja

She's not very friendly with strangers and a bit of an anti social this one. She hates taking photo especially selfies (haha her father's daughter) but it is easier to play with Iman than with her siblings because she's the least bossy out of the three, very laid back and cool 8) Iman also loves climbing and water but not a fan of huge swimming pools, water slides and rides (Miss Scaredy Cat)

 Abang Ryan's right wing girl :p

Iman is also very independent. She wants to do EVERYTHING herself. It drives me nuts coz she'll take eons to finish and sometimes makes a lot of mess but I admit that it is very good for her personal development. She loves Elmo and Jake and Neverland Pirates. Not a fan of Princess cartoons and the likes of it (though she don't mind the dolls) Loves her babies and playing mummy (as in the botak-head babies) Loves singing, dancing and feeding POU (as in the hp game, no thanks to my sister's influence). She is able to speak in 5-6 word sentence at 27 months, able to recite 80% accurate doa makan and able to recognize most words in Ryan 4 year old friendly homemade dictionary.

Princess Ranya Fatimah

She loves PINK. The girly-girl, loves dresses that she can twirl in but like her sister this girl is also not a fan of princess cartoons, just Tinkerbell. Also a fan of Elmo and my little ponies. She loves reading and is very observant. She's able to recite the first 4 ayat from surah Al-Fatihah and already recognized her numbers. Loves to sing her alif,ba,ta song, negaraku (yes how patriotic anakku ini), "bapaku pulang dari kota", "itsy bitsy spider" and "are you sleeping"

Loves water and is not afraid of being dunked under a 5feet pool (time for a swimming class?) and rides especially merry go rounds. Not a fan of cats and dogs (at least not real close). She loves pretty shoes, necklaces and MY HANDBAG. Not yet Ranya, not yet... you're far too young for those :p

Ranya loves spending time with her nenek and playing with ponies and "baby". Very cheeky this one, a bit bossy and manja too (classic anak bongsu traits). Loves menyakat Iman and Ryan and I don't know how but I've seen her make her abang and kakak cry at the same time -__-

Double Developments

They both loves doodling and stalking Ryan. It drives Ryan up the wall when they follow him around but I know he secretly enjoys the attention. I have to thank Ryan for assisting in his sisters development. He widens their vocabulary skills and teaches them all the surah and doa that he learns from his tahfiz class. Thank you abang :)

 

Currently, they are really into playing "mummy".They'll feed, dress and even put their own diapers on the babies. They ended up ripping their own diapers so much that Lan and I have taken to buying the cheapest Tesco brand newborn diapers for their babies. The reason why we encourage their "mummy role play" is because it really heightened their concentration and observation skills. They can actually imitate each steps that Lan and I practiced on them on their dolls and in order (the diaper cream, balm rub, face cream, hair combing etc.

Alhamdullilah I'm so proud of my babies. They've learned so much since my last update and I can see like their brother, they have a thirst of knowledge and is very curious about learning. May it last and may they grow up to be knowledgeable, solehah and gorgeous little princesses that they're capable of being. Amin.