Mak buyung

Remember when I was pregnant with Humaidi and people had trouble telling that I was actually carrying a baby in my tummy?

Back then, at 6 months pregnant, I looked like this:

I didn't even have to wear a materity jeans. That pair I wore in the above pictures is a normal pair of jeans, not a maternity pair with extended spandex panel.

Fast forward 4 years later and this is how I look being almost 6 months pregnant with the 4th child:

(Ya, bola yang dipikul dan perut yang di depan sudah hampir sama bulatnya)

(Dah, dah, lepas ni dah tak boleh pakai baju kurung. Sila keluarkan uniform ye, puan...)

Yup, I weigh more now than I used to weigh at full term with Humaidi or Huzaifah...

Conteng conteng

"Ujai tolong cuci kat sini," he said, pointing to a purple blot of circular scribble.
"Ibu cuci kat atas ni," he pointed to another a lot larger black circular-and-longitudinal scribble.
I passed a small scouring pad to him with a dash of Cif on it and agreed, "Okay".

His father had asked him to clean up the wall after he scribbled on it before, so Huzaifah usually is more reserved about scribbling on the wall compared to his younger brothers. He knows that it is no easy task to scrub the wall and he knows that it's not that we are angry with him scribbling - it's just that we don't like him and his brothers scribbling on the wall, because it makes the house look dirty and uncared for.

For a child of 5, I think Huzaifah has been showing lots of potential to be a responsible big brother. When I had no bibik to help around, he would assist with picking up the laundry from the clothes line. As I fold the clothes, he would help with finding matching socks or t-shirt-and-pants pairs. If I had to mediate and divide toys such as bulding blocks between Humaidi and Haniyya, Huzaifah would ensure that his brothers play fair, by being the level-playing big brother. For instance if I had given some blocks to Haniyya and Humaidi took them away, Huzaifah would make it up by giving other blocks to Haniyya - to Humaidi's chagrin of course, but to my pleasure as I observe how Huzaifah has developed a sense of fairness and respect the notion of sharing.

I know that he hasn't been given any task by the current bibik who claimed that he only 'kacau' her in carrying out chores. I wish she would give him more chances to prove his worth, but then again, I guess that's part of the price we pay when we are not stay-at-home-mom.

Anyway, can anybody share tips to avoid young children from scribbling on the wall? Like most young children I know, my sons are no exception to the "whee-the-wall-is-clean-let's-doodle-on-it" syndrome. Like most caretakers of young children, we - bibik, hubby and I - didn't always manage to stop the boys in time from doodling and scribbling on the wall. We usually offer the alternative of scribbling in books - note books, activity books, colouring books. But for some unfathomable reason, they always prefer scribbling on the wall. Or on the floor. Or on any other surfaces - the dining table, dining chairs, bed sheet, fridge, washing machine, sofa - but for on paper. Duh.

Not that we don't have any white board in the house, but the boys, especially Humaidi, could be unpredictable at times, and there are reasons to worry about the kids' safety should one decide to just topple down the white board for fun.

I know that scribbling is good for the kids - it helps to express their creativity , raise their confidence, improve their eye-hand coordination, develop their imagination bla, bla, bla. And to be honest, I kind of enjoy looking at their scribbles too - 'flowers' that resembled Godzilla head, "sun" which was scribbled with black crayon instead of the cheery yellow or orange, assorted dots and scratches in multiple colors that resembled sweets and candies. It's just that I wish they would enjoy scribbling in books rather than on the wall or the floor or any other supposedly 'off-limit' surfaces.

Bibik claimed that she's been cleaning the wall a few weeks ago, but the scribbles refused to fade.
"Bibik guna apa buat cuci dinding?"
"Saya guna clorox. Banyak pun, tapi tak hilang-hilang juga"
"Tak payah guna clorox Bik, guna krim kuning ni," I pointed to Cif, the lemon cream cleanser formerly known as Jif.
(The truth is, I doubted that she actually did any wall-scrubbing since there was no left-over smell of Clorox when she said she did, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt)

When she complained again last night about the wall being an eye-sore with all the colourful scribbles made with crayons, colour pencils and marker, I just took a scouring pad and Cif and started scrubbing the wall, beginning with the one closest to the front door. Bibik quickly followed suit by 'rinsing' the freshly-scrubbed wall with a wet towel.

The house still currently smells strongly of Cif. Like it ocassionally does everytime we have a wall-scrubbing session. In fact last night, there was an incident when Haniyya scribbled on a freshly-scrubbed wall, which meant I had to re-scrub it.

Hmm, wonder when will they learn that it's okay to scribble, but not on the wall?

I agree, this is not funny

When it started getting attention in Malaysian blogs, FB and Twitter, I prayed that it would not reach too much further.

Then, the CNN picked up on it. It made many of us went "uh oh".
I was still hoping that it would not reach the majority of the Japan population who prefer Japanese medium news.

Today, it made headlines in Japan news.

Even I in Malaysia feel so embarrassed by this, I can't imagine what it is like for Malaysians who are working and studying in Japan to be questioned about this by their Nihonjin peers...
It is definitely not a laughing matter.
Not funny. At all.

Nihonjin Sugoi!

Before anyone get the wrong idea that I care more about what had happened in Japan compared to what is taking place in Middle East due to my blog entry after a long hiatus, well, the only explanation I can give was that I was busy with preparation for a big event (for us in the office anyway) held in end of February. Hubby cancelled our broadband subscription at about the same time, so I could not blog from home. And even when we had the mobile broadband, he was always taking it with him to places, which also meant that I could not blog from home... Okay, enough with my excuses...

Anyway, I came across this touching entry on FB by Jun Shiomitsu and could not help thinking how different things might be if such jishin and tsunami hit Malaysia. And by 'different' - I am thinking more towards the unbecoming...

"At a supermarket where everything was scattered everywhere over the floors, shoppers were helping pick them up and putting them back neatly on the shelves before quietly moving into line to wait to pay for them... Everyone there was mindful of others, buying only as much as they needed and leaving the rest for the people behind them"

No looting, no robbery. Customers were very civilised, not greedily grabbing everything on the shelves. The shops continue selling things for normal price, sometimes even giving out discounts and distribute free food to the customers.

(Yup, let's not even try to compare to what happened when there was a rice spill on the road due to an accident in Malaysia...)

(or the infamous 'kutip syiling atas jalan' incident)

"Cars were moving at the rate of maybe one every green light, but everyone was letting each other go first with a warm look and a smile. At a complicated intersection, the traffic was at a complete standstill for 5 minutes, but I listened for 10 minutes and didn’t hear a single beep or honk except for an occasional one thanking someone for giving way"

"More than 1,000 cars lined up in front of a local gas station. As the gas station's supply was short, it only sold fuel worth 2,000 yen per vehicle"

(The scenario of long queues at petrol stations, impatient honking, blocking, petrol hogging etc, everytime a price hike on petrol is announced in Malaysia immediately came to mind)

"...people standing in line, not pushing or shoving to get onto the train, even at a time like this"

(It would be a miracle to see such organized long queues in Malaysia's train/LRT station)

Stories about parents searching for their child or children looking for their parent or partners searching for their other halves really serve as an effective reminder of how scary it is going to be in the hereafter... While there are lessons that we can learn from Nihonjin, let's make do'a that they too will be led closer to the Creator, who keep providing strength and sustenance in this trying time...

They will rise again

Picture from The New York Times

"Do we know anybody in Sendai?", asked hubby.
"Luqman used to live in Sendai, but he's been back for past one year or so"
"Do we know anybody in Iwate?"
"Hafiz, but he's back in Malaysia too, if I'm not mistaken. Oh, Abang Azrain's son Firdhaus is in Iwate..."
"Have we heard from him?"
"No, but the Malaysian Embassy have issued a statement saying that all government-sponsored students in the areas hit by the tsunami and jishin are okay..."
"Have we heard from other friends in other cities?"
"I've read from FB that the jishin in Tokyo lasted longer and stronger than the 'normal' ones like we used to experience..."

Our thoughts, prayers and wishes are with Japan and the people in Japan right now for a speedy recovery. Not only Japan, the whole world was shaken by the calamity due to the devastating tsunami and jishin. When we were living in Tokyo, we had heard of the prediction of the Big One - a massive earthquake - coming. Alhamdulillah, we left before it actually happened, but never in our mind we imagined that it would be this massive - 8.9- magnitude, the strongest in Japan's history, causing more than 350,000 to be homeless, and perhaps more than 10,000 death toll.   


It was utterly heartbreaking to see houses, shop lots, offices, cars, trucks and ships being swept away by the tsunami, causing whole town or village to be wiped off the map in the blink of an eye. And now, with the nuclear troubles, it is no wonder at all that this might be after all, just what Prime Minister Naoto Kan described - Japan's “worst crisis since World War II.”

Still, if there is something I've learned about the Japanese during the three years I called Tokyo 'home', they will rise again, insya Allah. With their strong discipline, their never-back-down "gambare" spirit, they will
pick through what little was left in the rubble and start building again. Relentlessly. Resiliently.