My Grandchildren

I am going to write about my two grandchildren today. No, I don't have a nephew or niece who is about the same age as myself and has recently reproduced, but rather I am writing about my 'academic' grandchildren. Haha.

In the academia, the Supervisor is always known to be a parent figure to the students. So yes, some of my students are having their very own children now, which make me erm.. a grandma. 

So by that definition, my first grandchild is Sara Adelia. Her Mom, Siti Aisah, was my first graduated Master of Computer Science student. Aisah fell pregnant in her final year, but trudged on despite her morning sickness. She submitted her corrected thesis just a week away before she gave birth to Sara Adelia. This is a pic of them from her (their??) graduation later that year.

Here is me from two weeks ago with my recent grandchild Syabil. My Master student Bella came in for her progress meeting at the time. Syabil is only about 1 month old here. Her mom is still in her third semester so I hope I don't get any other new grandchild soon. Haha.

Fitter

Twice a week now at work, a group of us ladies get together and we Zumba! It's fun, and most certainly a great way to get fit again. We do Salsa, Bollywood, Dangdut, anything goes, really. Typically we burn around 350-400 kcals a session (a few of us own FitBeats). Hoping that this will melt away my stubborn fat and lose a few kilos in the next three months or so...

Folding

Training the 9-year old to fold her own clothes. She is sulking in this pic because she had been very upset with herself for not being able to fold her clothes properly. Moreover, she was frustrated that she had so many clothes to deal with. That sounded like a right spoiled child, so I dropped everything I was doing at the time (more laundry, TBH), sat next to her on the floor, lectured to her about how blessed we are to have many clothes to wear and choose from, and then re-taught her how to fold clothes properly so they would fit her wardrobe. In the end, she managed to do the folding with minimal of help. The frown has turned upside down into a smile. Great success, I'd say. Mission accomplished.

This folding episode made me miss my late Mom. Of course I didn't learn to fold by myself. It was through her that I know how to do the housework as I do it today. And some of that knowledge has been passed on to Aisyah, her eldest grandchild. In a way, it's like her legacy continues. I can only hope that a few years down the line, Aisyah will master these skills, and much later, pass them on to her own children one day.

By then, she will have her own sulking daughter to deal with. Heh. But for now, here's a pic of my own sulking, can't-fold-don't-want-to-fold-laundry-daughter.

Imam Muda Zayd Alhadi

Last Sunday, our neighbour had an Aqiqah ceremony for their newborn grandchild at the nearby Surau, and we attended. Just wanted to commemorate Zayd's first ever pic of himself wearing the men's Jubah. Doesn't he look like a right fit Imam Muda there? This one will melt a lot of young ladies' hearts in the future, me thinks. I know I'm smitten already hehe...

Nightly Routine

Now that school has started, the children have more or less settled into a routine. After school, it would be shower, Solat, play time, dinner, then straight on homework or revision, followed by Solat Isya' (slightly later) and then a quick Tasmi' session, before prepping for bed time, bed time story and finally off to bed. For Aisyah, this is straight forward. The little one, Zayd, is a bit more challenging. But on the odd night where they both surrender easily, I get to enjoy a hot glass of ginger-lemon tea downstairs in front of the telly, watching re-runs of the Big Bang Theory. My kind of night. 

These are pics of Aisyah trying to do some work. Sometimes I feel for her, as Zayd is ALWAYS in her hair. They have a five year gap between them, so clearly they are not on the same mental development stage. Aisyah is more serious and structured, while Zayd has not even started Kindy (though he has self-taugh himself the A-Z alphabets and numbers up to 15, colours, and shapes from YouTube - second child is always a survivor). Anyway, one way or another it always ends with someone crying. I have tried to do separate activities for the boy, but he just wants to do the same thing as his big Sis is doing, but for two minutes only before his boredom kicks in. How do other Mums do it?

But for tonight, they seem to be working and getting along just fine, it merits an entry in itself. Love them to bits...