New Best Friend :)

Mama kat luar pun dia dah tak peduli..

Zach sangat attached to Yvonne (PSW). Pagi2 sampai sekolah jer, terus dia carik Yvonne. Nampak jer Yvonne terus hulur tangan. Alhamdulillah.. syukur sangat sebab ada orang yang mama boleh trust untuk jaga Z while mama at work. She looks very sincere and mama dapat rasa yang dia pun sayangkan Z. Contohnya pagi tadi, Z sampai jer, dia yang dulu datang terkam n peluk cium Z. Rindu lama tak jumpa katanya.. So sweet.. :) terharu betul mama. I think as a mother of a DS kids, that's kind of a mutual feeling where everytime you see other kids with DS you just feel like they are yours :) Sebab tu lah mama rasa beruntung sangat bila dapat tahu yang Yvonne ni pun ada anak with DS. She's definitley treat Z beyond her pay cheque :)

The only problem is, Yvonne cuma kerja 2-3 half days per week. Isnin, Selasa and sometimes Rabu. Bila hari yang Yvonne takde jer, Z jadi tak keruan. Sampai sekolah kalau tak nampak Yvonne, mulalah dia buat perangai. Bukanlah tantrum, but upset. Menangis meleleh2 air mata sambil peluk mama kuat2.. adoiiii.. sebak betul mama.. Kalau dia tak menangis pun, dia nampak tak gembira and lost. I can feel him.. :( Sabarlah yer Z.. InsyaAllah 2-3 bulan jer lagi. Harap2 mama dapat keje part time balik. So Z only has to go to school during the days yang Yvonne ada and the rest of the week he can stay at home with me..

Ya Allah, bantulah kami dan permudahkanlah urusan kami..

Oh, Z also has another new friend. Sekolah Z ada cikgu baru, lelaki (the only male staff in the school). Mama pun tatau apa namanya. Dekat sebulan jugak la cikgu ni start. Dia tak jaga kelas Z, but for some reason tiap2 petang mesti mama nampak dia tengah dukung or bermain2 dengan Z. Mama selalu p ambik Z pukul 6 camtu, bebudak kelas cikgu tu dah balik awal la kot, sebabtu dia bleh look after Z. Dia cakap masa belajar dulu dia ambik subject Special Needs Support. So dia tahu ler camner nak handle Z and dia cukup suka melayan Z. Alhamdulillah.. Z pun nampak ok n happy jer dengan dia :)

Loud Weekend - Part II

Ahad: Dublin FlightFest 2013.

From above - Z kat bawah tu ler.. nampak? (Image from rtenews.ie)

Different kind of loudness. Dari pagi dah bising sebab ada pertunjukan kapal terbang. All flights fly low over River Liffey i.e. depan rumah. Well, x de la betul2 depan rumah, depan rumah ada jalan (Mayor Street) then ada another apartment block (Clarion Quay) pastu baru sungai. Ramai jer yang melepak depan gate rumah - boleh jer nampak, tapi mama saja bawak Z ke tepi sungai, barulah flights betul2 atas kepala :D.

Top 2 photos tu la jalan depan rumah.

Takde la se best LIMA langkawi yg mama pernah pegi zaman muda2 dulu tu, tapi boleh laa.. Ramai jugak yang datang. From news dalam 130k orang menyaksikan the show. Memang penuh kiri kanan sungai. Sebabkan betul2 tengah bandar, takde la pulak diorang buat stunts. Bahaya kot. Jet pun takde lah kuat / laju mana. Memang diorang dah keluarkan notis yang there wont be any supersonic sound. Sekadar biasa2 saje. 

Tak heran pun dengan flights kat atas tu..

Antara flights yg sempat mama ambik gambar

Festival start from 12 until 7pm. Mama tunggu Z bangun tido (afternoon nap), pukul 3 baru keluar. Selain daripada flight show, ada juga funfair and street performance. Tapi x pergi pun area2 funfair tu.. Dok tunggu Airbus A380, sampai ke penghujung show baru muncul. Flights fly-by finished around 5, dah kelaparan terus jer pegi town makan2. 

Star of the show - A380 - World's largest commercial aircraft.

Z ok aje sepanjang show. Ada la jugak menangis sebab bosan. Tapi sekurang2nya dia ok aje dengan bunyi kapal terbang. Orang sibuk tunggu flights, dia pulak sibuk tunggu fire engine yang dok meronda hehehe..

My Heart & Soul ;)

That's the end of our loud weekend. Well, tak sure la neighbour atas nih dah habis renovate belum. Malam tadi (Isnin) masih dengar bertukul, tapi takde la drilling. Yang pelik tu sampai tengah malam bertukang. contractor ni memang keje malam n weekend jer ke?

Loud Weekend - Part I

Sabtu: Neighbour's Renovation

2-3 hari sebelum tu lagi mama dah bingit telinga dengar rumah atas susun2 perabot. Ada sekali tu sampai pukul 11 malam dok mengheret perabot.. Then sabtu, pagi2 buta lagi dah start mendrilling and bertukang. Ingatkan sekejap jer la, rupanya major renovation jugak. Tak henti sampai ke petang. Z nak tido pun susah.

Pukul 2 ptg papa balik (papa was oncall Friday night), dia cakap ada notis depan pintu. Mama tanya notis apa? Papa kata notis pasal renovation, then terus jer dia masuk bilik tido.. Mama ingatkan notis daripada neighbour yang buat renovation tu la, minta maaf ke apa kan.. So mama pun buat tak kisah jer la.. Pukul 3 mama nak bawak Z keluar jalan2 sambil tenangkan telinga, then baru ler terbaca notis tersebut..

Bawah tu mama la yang tambah..

What the FISH!!???
Not only we have to deal with the loud noise right above us all day, now we've been blamed for it to. Stupid neighbour. Pekak ke apa tak tahu dari mana datang bunyi. Sesuka hati jer nak menuduh orang. Berasap2 ler mama.

Terus turun ke Security Office. Complaint pot pet pot pet kat diorang, diorang kata diorang memang tak boleh buat apa2 pasal noise tu sebab its private property (which I agree) tapi tolong lah kasik notis ke apa kan.. boleh la orang lain planning mana nak lari, and sekurang2nya takde lah orang yang tak bersalah pulak dituduh ;(. So diorang pun pegi la bercakap dengan contractor tu then put up general notice about it. Pastu sebabkan tatau sapa yang tinggalkan notis depan rumah, diorang letak lagi satu extra notice 'to whom it may concern'.

so tamatlah kisah hari sabtu. mama tatau ler sapa pengecut yang tulis nota tuh. Nak jer mama p ketuk rumah sebelah menyebelah (ada 3 rumah jer per level) or perhaps rumah bawah. Lain kali tolong lah periksa betul2 sebelum nak tuduh orang. And please use appropriate medium for complaint! Grrrrrr!!!

Welcome to Holland

Poem: “Welcome to Holland” by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this…

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome To Holland”.

“Holland?!?” you say, “What do you mean “Holland”??? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy”

But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.

So you must go and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills…Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy…and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned”.

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away…because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.

But…if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things…about Holland.

My Holland - Spring 2012

 

 p/s: I think Holland is great :). Its definitely not the same as Italy, but it's still equally beautiful if not more. Plus I looove tulips :))

 

Cikgu-cikgi & Pre-School Support Worker

 

Got this letter from Giraffe manager last week. Cikgu Amy dah nak resign. Kelas Z ada 2 cikgu (8 kids altogether). Z bawah Cikgu Katy, but for some reason he likes Cikgu Amy more. Cikgu Katy tu baik and memang nampak sangat la yang dia sukakan budak. Muda lagi, mama rasa baru 20 camtu kot.. Tapi Z memang tak suka dia. Kalau sampai pagi2 tu, cikgu Katy nak ambik, mesti dia tak nak. Siap tolak2 lagi. Muka pun dipalingkan ke arah lain. Kalau dia nampak cikgu Amy kat hujung kelas, cepat2 dia menuju ke arah vikgu Amy instead. Hmmm.. Entahlah.. Ada sedikit keraguan mama pada cikgu Katy nih..

Yang paling mama risaukan tu.. Walaupun cikgu Katy nih baik and good with children, I dont think she is capable to handle the whole class herself. Masa Z mula2 masuk kelas Toddler dulu cikgu Katy sorang2 jer jaga kelas tuh. OMG, kucar kacir n bersepah kelas! Pastu there's few occassion bila mama ambik Z waktu petang, punya la comot anak mama macam tak berjaga jer. And ada sekali tu Z berak pun dia tak tukar nappy. Masa mama pegi ambik tu dari jauh mama dah boleh bau dah, takkan la dia tak perasan kot kan.. Dekat sebulan jugak la kucar kacir time tu until cikgu Amy transferred ke kelas Z (cikgu Amy jaga lagi satu toddler room pada asalnya). And now it will happen again... Memang la diaorang cakap ada new supervisor yg akan look after the room, tapi kalau dah namanya supervisor, takde nya dia nak duduk sepanjang masa kat kelas tu. Dah la Z will be in school 5 days a week now. Lagi la mama stress memikirkan keadaan Z kat skolah nun..

Anyway, we have really good news. The Pre-school Support Worker (PSW) has started today :D. Yvonne namanya. Mama dah jumpa pagi tadi. Alhamdulillah first impression -- I am impressed! She looks like a very nice n professional lady. Even better, she also has an adult son with down syndrome! So she has great experience in raising a child with DS. And her son is actually studying in Trinity College (tempat keja mama la tu) and his class is above my office. How coincidence :).

PSW nih sepatutnya untuk Special Needs kids yang dah start pre-school. Kan haritu berlaku sedikit kekeliruan, ingatkan Z dah start formal preschool this year, rupanya dia belum layak. Tapi sebab diorang dah allocate PSW utk dia, takkan la nak fired orang tu pulak kan. PSW suppose to help the kids during the class. Contohnya kalau nak menulis/melukis, budak2 umo 3-4 tahun yang lain dah boleh pegang pensil sendiri, tapi Z Yvonne la yang akan buat hand in hand and also to ensure that the class run smoothly for Z.

Basically she will be with him ALL THE TIME. One-on-one. Makan minum n main pun dia akan bersama dengan Z. Yang mama terharu sangat tu, dia sepatutnya support jer apa yg cikgu ajar dalam kelas. Tapi in Z’s case, dia belum masuk formal pre-school lagi. Toddler room nih bukan la belajar sangat pun. Tapi Yvonne dah siap bawak materials for early education untuk Z. Dia kata dia akan buatkan bit by bit based on Z’s stage. She also know Lahm Sign Language and will use it with Z0 And she really study handout pasal Z yang cikgu Mairead (Z’s Home Teacher) bagi. She is aware of what he likes and dont like. Dia bawak ball, bubbles and also few flash cards. This week aim is for Z to ‘accept’ her. InsyaAllah mama rasa Z akan ok dengan Yvonne. Lega hati mama.. Walaupun hanya 2/3 hari (half day) jer seminggu, at least mama tahu Z ada somebody that he can trust in school.  

MasyaAllah.. Besar sungguh pertolongan yang Allah bagi untuk Z di ketika kita amat memerlukan.. 

Feeling blessed, Alhamdulillah.. :)

Update dari Mairead :)

 

wordless wednesday: Guilty

Birthday & Raya

Dah nak habis Syawal baru nak update hihihi..

Birthday Z haritu kebetulan lepas raya (11 August / 4 Syawal) jadi mama buat sekali lah jamuan raya dan birthday. Takde la open house sangat pun...just jemput kawan2 rapat and jiran2 terdekat jer.. ada la dalam 5-6 family.. 

Sambutan birthday Z kali agak different sebab for the first time mama jemput other kids as well.. sebelum2 nih hanya anti2 ankel2 (and caroline) jer.. tapi kali ni mama berani ajak yang lain2 sebab mama rasa Z dah ok banyak in term of his anxiety and being around with other kids. 

Alhamdulillah, Z takde lah melalak.. but a bit cranky sebab tak cukup tido. Still not playing with other kids, but at least wont mind :) ada la jugak ketikanya yang papa terpaksa bawak masuk bilik bila Z dah mula menunjukkan ketidak selesaan tu..

Anyway, lain2 cerita through gambar jer la yer.. (yang tidak mengikut susunan)

Giant Cupcake from Mannings: tema 'Farm'. Last minit nih,
mama pening nak pikir tema, end up asal boleh jer laa..

Mama buat soto jer, senang (malas sebenarnya).. Anti Meri buatkan nasik
lamb beryani. kuih muih mama la yang buat.. menu biasa setiap tahun..
cuma kali ni agak mencabar sebab setiap 2 minit nak kena cari mana Z..
tak pun Z yang carik mama..or else buat sambil Z bergayut kat kaki.. (-__-)

Mama order normal cupcakes jugak from Mannings. SEDAP!

tetamu terawal: dedua mak buyung.

toddler: Imran, Hana, Ryan, EJ (Ilyas n Hanan not in the picture)

geng2 besar sikit: abg Adam, Caroline, Mika n Irshad

Blow the candles Z!

Take turn :D

Selamat Hari Raya dari kami di Dublin.

prezzieee!

So that's it, Z's 3rd birthday and raya celebration.
Feeling bless, Alhamdulillah.. :D