the 2nd coming

like your brother, u come unassuming and un-announced. we'd thought we'd know ur game plan. we even try to change the rule a bit by choosing ur birthdate and timing but i guess God knows best and the best planner of all.

it was the night before u were born. we were ready for the planned adventure. weeks before we were having this little talk on how we can plan things up. that a little drip of fluid can help u decide to come out there and then. since ur already full term, well the early part of it, we'd go along. after all it would be easier and less risk compared to a emergency wailing across rush hour traffic jam of Kuala Lumpur. you're a Prince Court Medical Centre after all, right at the smack of KL rush hour centre. well maybe not in the middle but close enough.

where was i, son? oh yeah the agreeing. i must note that i didnt quite agree to it. it seems unnatural, trying to push u to decide to come out. u must make the decision. call me old school but the baby will chose when to introduce himself. but i'd go along, dragging my feet away.

there are advantages. we plan all day. and we even left ur big brother at TokBak and TokMak house. says goodbye, and choose our sweet time to travel. it was quiet the travel. this time the destination matters as well, but the journey as usual, matters too.

it rained quite heavily that night. that's one more similarities between ur birth and Danish, rain. i suppose a washing is what this world need to welcome u, son. i was having a bad migrain before we left. i think the both of us says our good bye with heavy heart. there is a slight thought, a quiver, a renegade feeling that this might be the last goodbye. but i shove it as soon as it started to spore. shove it far far away, buried deep beneath whats more important. focus. u and ur mother needs me. so go away all fears and misguided thoughts. focus.

and there we were in the Proton Persona car, the one with the burberry tea colour that was the family car, trodding along towards the inevitable. the night was clear i remember. it was dark, and there was no moon, but i remember thinking to myself how clear the air was. and there was many cars on the road. no jam though but many still. shouldn't the world stop for a while? shouldnt everything wait? the 2nd coming is near. we didnt talk so much. i remember smiling and trying to cheer up ur mother. this is the part where i hate. u see, son, its a place where i cant do much. because it will be between u and ur mother for the most part. when its time for u to wait for ur child, u will understand this agony of inability.

we were to check in into the ward. it was a nice room. even my bed was nice. the view was great as well. the plan was, that we'd get ur mother on the drip, and by the time the drip ended in the morning, u will be ready to come. but surprise surprise, like ur brother, the midwife check and sighed. much to my delight, she cant give ur mother the drip. it seems, that far from letting the world push u to a decision, u have decided.

and so we spent that night, the night before u were born at this hotel called PCMC. the food was great! but tht's another post altogether. and the view was to die for. this is how KLCC looks like after midnight, son.

all in all, ur coming was a lot calmer, and a lot faster than Danish. but ur mother being the warrior woman that she is, decline any epidural again. it was a bigger labor room. there's a LCD TV. the nurses were better, more experienced. and this time i didnt let u out of my sight. they did everything in the room. and they let me proclaim the Azan to ur ears before anything else. the good doctor did offer me to cut ur unbillical cords. i declined. because its not important. ur important. and it was all there is. u have cometh.

test

2nd baby pics

sons,

here are some early pics of baby no.2. yeah we knew its a boy in the month 4 visit to the doctor. it reveal itself on the monitor. and this doctor has this new app that apparently can differentiate the unbillical cord to stuffs that are not unbilical cord..

we await u, second son....

p/s: danish, i'll find and post ur early pics later

Adam@home

little caliph

i must confess. we didn't do much analysis or surveying on the various (and some dubious) kindergartens available these days, when danish turned 5 (u grown up so fast!). and they were a lot i tell u. there were the cheaper to free governmental ones, the still cheap taska which i presumed to do a little bit more than day-care, the not so govermental ones (ABIM, PASTI) with moderate fees, the typical english speaking ones and the english+Islamic ones. i went for the governmental ones when i was a year older than you, danish. there were no PERMATA progams then, i went for a TABIKA KEMAS which i think was what they prescribe us rural kids with farmer parents. dont know how much that cost, but i'm pretty sure its next to nothing. we used to call it sekolah makan. i dont know if they still calls them that these days.. i dont remember much of those times. just enough to to know that it happened. just a few still pictures in my memory, which i'm sure will conjure up more stories i poke it deeper, but enough about me.

The big brands with a chain of franchises across the countries are the names we often heard of. these are usually the english based programs that boast carefully thought syllabus by subject matter experts in early education. these are usually described in big words in brochures and websites, designed to assured parents and bring confidence to their expert delivery system while giving no useful details nor tangible goals. well not the one u can bring to court anyway. some of the known ones that has built a reputation for the themselves include Smart readers, C.E.C., R.E.A.L Kids, Q-Dees and then there are also the Islamic based ones Little caliph, Genius Aulad, a bunch of them carried the word Aulad although not linked between them.., . they come in a variety of concepts, all i'm sure with great intentions of nurturing young minds to the right path early on.

for you, we both agree that it would be best for a English+Islamic type with programs that would enrich the social and the academic side, spiritual and physical.  and we're determine to give it to you although i was shocked at the fee structure of the english speaking and english speaking+Islamic type of kindergardens,... it turns out those were the norm of the day @ RM240 bucks per month. your grandpa were equally shocked when we told him the price structure. he was silent at first, and then turn to your mother and says " awak punya ITM fee dulu pun tak sampai dua ratus empat puluh!"

but i'm getting ahead of myself. with our knowledge on kindies based on word of mouths, buntings, some tv adverts and flashy billboards of the few brand names we know of, and a more extensive internet browsing, we decided that we like genius aulad. partly its more established, and partly because they have raihan and that talkative boy from that Tom Tom Bak show as their public faces. and so we query some chatter over the net, found some good comments, and particularly no smear campaign. so far so good. so we went to check out the nearest available branch at Bandar Baru bangi Section 9. that's when things go downhill. the fact that the principal wasn't there  as we thought after a call a few days before, add a little bit more demerit to the fact that its facilities reminded me of tuition class on the 3rd level of a 3 level middle shoplot that has very steep stairs and definitely limited windows. how would a 5 year old develop his senses and build characther in a place as crammed as this? not to mention no outdoor area, or the safety aspect of running children down a steep stairwell only to find a busy street awaits them. that gave us a bad vibe, and so we moved on.

by word of mouth of the close people we know, we learnt this quaint little place that i ws told it give wonderful integrated Islamic education from kindie up to secondary school called Sri Ayesha. its relly just opposite of where we found genius aulad in bangi. slightly better locale, its still uses commercial shoplots as  its centre with dark brown color. though i understand later that the ground floor would house the kindies, it still didnt offer the safety that i would be comfortable with nor the greenery of field that i think would do u good. i suppose, although i'm pretty sure these schools are great, we could not get passed the situation of their facilities. we thought, we should do better for you. i suppose shoplots+early education just dont work in our minds. i guess other parents don't mind as much.

and then we stumble upon Litte Caliph. again another stone throw from genius aulad, but this time its in the semi-D housing behind the KeTTHA zero energy building in section 9. they used to called it Pusat Tenaga Malaysia, which are easier to remember than the new name, which i cant remember. if anyone wants to find it, its the only building then that have a green colored wind turbine for demonstration of wind power harnessing, which more than once i suspected were a gimmick and probably powered by an electric motor. but still it looks nice. hurray for the government.

being in a Semi-D housing, it held better prospect of safety; less cars on the housing lanes, and it is a gated with green compound within. our initial thin-slicing were quiet prospecting that we went to the open day that was held a few weeks later. in the meanwhile, we query more chatter over the net to seek any feedback on this little caliph programs. again no spear campaign. some quite remarkable compliments. it seemed it was started a local lady, a once lecturer who noticed that she cant quiet make the necessary changes over her students on some grave issues, that she decide to go to the age that she can make a difference. how's that for a movie plot!

the teachers there were pretty nice and give u the maternal feeling of care and patience, which is of the ultimate requirement to handle 4 to 6 year olds! the only drawback was it's a new branch, so the teachers might be new to the program itself. but we have a good feeling on it.. and so that was how, u went to Little Caliph.. u were quiet the champ, u didnt even cry in the first few days of school, unlike ur classmates!

although we have our concerns over its program, after a few weeks, we noticed good improvements. and hopefully more to come! more on this later..

the bleed

baby no. 2, it happened twice. the first time was when we didn't know you've arrived. that was our excuse. ur different than during danish time as far as i can remember.a little bit more drama, as the good doctor put it.

i thought that was it, it came because we were'nt aware of u and now that we do, everything will be well. and then the 2nd bleed came. it was just after we did a small family ghatering at our place, and as usual ur mother did more legwork than she should. all mothers are like that. we quickly went to the emergency room at Prince Court Medical Centre as the good doctor is taking care of 2 labouring patients and asks us to go to ER. i'd rolled with that. it irks me this emergency room when were there, i'd say PCMC is a 5 star hotel, and 3 star ER. 'nuff said.

danish while waiting at the ER

i truly hope the maternity ward is better. we went again to see the doctor a few days afterwards. actually we went to another doctor the day after the ER because they didn't even to bother to scan you there. it seems at month 5 the placenta is a bit downward when its supposed to be upward. scared ur mom to bits though the good doctor says not to worry, if it still doesnt moved upwards in a few more weeks, then u can worry. definitely more drama. i just want you to know although i prayed that all is well from here on, i'm up for all the drama God intended for us, all of it. all the way. so does ur mother. don't you shy away, now. please, God, don't.

whts in a name part ³

We named u arif, son. Well i wanted just arif and ahmad as the  first name but ur mother has other ideas. We must add in a third name, she  said. Its only fair cos danish have 3 part name. What? Yeah, me too. In the end we named you ahmad arif danial. All with good meaning. U can look it up when ur older if ur mother or i havent told you by then. It wasnt after anyone. We named you you because it was apt, it was you. And there u were, my boys; danish and arif. Brothers forever. I wish i live long enough to see both of you understand and appreciate one another.

apa ada pada nama? (a.k.a. what's in a name?) part 2

 what's in a name, son? a name can be nothing, as what it represent is what its all about. a name is something to call, to refer that of what it represent. and so it can be nothing more than just a tag. but it can be more just a tag. it can reflect the essence of what it represent and also in some counter intuitive way that defy science, it also 'directs' the essence or the substance that is an individual, giving it character and sometime a calling that is pseudo-genetic to the very core of the self that it becomes nature and purpose, awakening, directing every cell to be as what it is called upon to embrace, its name. that is the power of the name.