Thursday, January 30, 2014

When I grow up, I want to be...

Long list of Iris's dream jobs:

1. Penjual kucing
2. Pembeli kucing
3. Penjaga kucing
4. Beri kucing pada sesiapa yang nak kucing Iris (Pemberi kucing)
5. Alien di planet Venus
6. Sains (she meant scientist)
7. Sains yang buat eksperimen oobleck je

It's not always Eureka, Iris. Be ready.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Subscribe Now!

Click here to subscribe.

I was accidentally click on this super fun YouTube videos when Iesha asked me to search the story about penguins, especially on the emperor penguins. We read about extinct animals mostly from Eric Carle's books. And Iesha loved emperor penguins the most because they have beautiful yellow eye lashes (as we called it). I highly recommend this link for you to watch with your children and talk about animals and relate it to the Creator. 

Here are some of the videos loved by my girls:
2. Polar bear cubs (The girls laughed out loud at 1:35 and cried heart out at 1:59)

Get unplugged now!

That Tiny Journey

Last two days Iris set up a sugar festival for ants, on Bapak's study desk. I left her all by her own and only answered her questions from my work spaces-kitchen and laundry room. At first I wasn't excited with her activity. I meet ants everyday, nothing to amuse me (how boring and arrogant I was, O Allah please forgive me). They are only tiny small black moving dots for me, but not for Iris. She tendered the ants, she feasted them and talked to them. 

The girls also loved to listen to the story of ants. They have lots of questions about ants. It wasn't easy for me to entertain their "Mummy, cerita-lah pasal semut." I would repeat the same stories I know. "Semut ni dia bertelur. Queen dia yang bertelur. Sekali dia bertelur, banyak. One hundred. Pastu ada babysitter jaga baby ants macam kat taska Iyra. Ada yang jadi askar, ada yang cari makanan. Macam dalam cerita Bugs Life."

They asked me the next day, and I repeated the same stories. They got bored, they wanted new information. I added about Nabi Sulaiman and the ants, "Ada ketua semut ni dia bagitau semut-semut lain supaya berhati-hati sebab nanti takut kena pijak dengan Nabi Sulaiman. Semut kan kecik. So kita kena cereful-lah jangan pijak or pukul semut. Kesian semut."

Allah even dedicated a surah for that tiny ants-Surah an-Naml. I cited the Quran version of Nabi Sulaiman and the ants: "Then, when they reached the Valley of the Ants, an ant said: "Ants! Enter your dwellings, so that Sulayman and his troops do not crush you unwittingly."- (Quran, 27:18). I will show this ayat to the girls and we can have greater discussion about ants later. Insya Allah.

Now I'm ready for the next list of questions about ants. I have few references from Harun Yahya and National Geographic. Let us begin our tiny journey!


Patiently waiting for her tiny guests.

Haa, her first guest.

Oh, and this is her flower experiment. She yet to learn on the purpose of roots.

Spreading the sugar.

Kept coming.

Whispering to her guests because normal talking would "Nanti sakit telinga ants, telinga dia kecik, suara kita kuat."

"Please have some sugar, stop drinking!"

See how patience and passion work! More coming!

Iesha joined in.

Happy road for ants (her words).

Sorry, not my thang.

Rumah semut

Sugar painting for ants. Auww, so sweet of you Iris.

Sasana Kijang: Part II

We then resumed to art exhibition, Tanpa Nama 2.  The exhibition is made up of some of the best work of arts from local artists and you can buy them with less than hundred ringgits.  The best thing is the artwork is kept anonymous and not labelled with the artist's name so it's good to avoid the tendency to choose the drawings from a well-known artist. So the interest could only go for the drawings/ paintings/ artworks; not the artist. 

I have always love drawings. I still remembered my father had sent me to one of Terengganu's famous artist to learn how to draw. And I was just 8 years old that time. (Shame on me I can't remember my teacher's name!) I still remember I learnt to draw sampan and the coast line and the shades of the mountains. He loves anything Terengganu-ish; from sampan to nelayan. I still remembered we had our drawing class in his studios full of paint brushes and paints and good heart. He seemed so old to me, I guess he was 50 at  that time. I was the only student and was 8 years old struggled with the perfect shades for the faraway mountains. Oh, memory.

Then I had my best memory with my father. He loves to draw too. He put an eggplant in front of me, and asked me to sketch at my best. We then perfected it with shades of purple and a little squish of black and brown. Then he brought another vegetable and we started all over again began with observation. And patience. Oh, memory. Treasured.

Here we were, at the art exhibition I once dreamed of. Some artworks are meant to shock, others to please, and some meant nothing to me. Some meant to stop and ponder; some to walk by without giving a second look. Here's the show.

Tinggalkan apa?

Iris saw aliens. Best thing in kid-straightforward thinking.

Iris shared her thought.

Iris read to Iesha.

What's this?

Iyra interpreted as 'Fish'.

I saw it 'Celaru'.

This meant 'Orang besi buruk' to them.

Mother 

Nothing less than hanging clothes.

Fast food baby

It was Mona Lisa to this little audience.

A good way to threat them "Haa, dah tak boleh makan KFC dah lepas ni."

I love darker paintings.

Flashback

LAPAR

Demi masa, kita tertipu. Dan menipu.

"Kak Iris, Iesha rasa kita tak boleh tengok TV banyak sangat dah lepas ni." Seriously, this what was Iesha said to Iris. Another great parenting painting.

Still amused.

Bapak wondered how the artist came up with that realism light setting.

And for me, this drawing is just wired into me. I've lost for words. I want this.

Three heads by Ahmad Zakii Anwar.  
(He is a well-known artist and he reminded me of my first art teacher, the one who loves to draw nelayan.)

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Sasana Kijang: Part I

We went to Sasana Kijang and this was an unplanned field trip. Bapak is now crazy over old coins and he is now half way to be a professional numismatist (a wishful thinking). He has few very very old coins handed over by his Tok Yah (not sure whether the coin is handed over or he found it somewhere from the old tabung buluh) which is from British trade coins and worth hundred of dollars. He even started to korek his piggy bank hoping he would found a very uncleaned ancient coin and when he dug out the mud, it is a million dollars worth Dekadrachm from Ancient Greek coinage. (He he, gurau je, I'll support you anyway!).

Sasana Kijang is located at Jalan Dato Onn, Kolumpo. The operating hours is from 0800 to 2000. They also offers selections of tempting local snacks and drinks which I presumed cost me three precious ancient coins (with relative to the ambience and the Bank Negara staff which most of them carrying Birkins and Stuart Weitzman's Rose Pumps). However, the best thing is they offer us free-admission galleries and museums! And to top it, we have it all for ourselves because nobody cares to study old coins and other old stuff. 

But honestly speaking, this place is one of the best places to visit with your children. You could discuss on how the coins made, what it is made of, who made it, and at the end, you can relate all this created things with the Mighty Creator. As for me, I will try to always end up the discussion with "Who give the idea to the man to create this/ that?", and they will firmly answer "Allah". But with small children age 6 to 2 years old, I didn't discuss or comprehend on every coin or every sculpture we saw. They probably only enjoyed the lightings, the display boxes, the floor, the dim lights, the shapes of the coins and the sound of the visual displays. Let them be kids (but when impatience strikes, scream :-|).

Well, go visit Sasana Kijang this weekend. It's worth every coin. Here's our photos in no particular order.

N03 09.439 E101 41.456

Protect your cheque.

Where is my money?

Played with inflation.

Coffee now.

Coffee then.

Bicycle now.

Bicycle then.

"We are the big people, we set the price! Ready for your house?"

Hu hu.

Hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu hu!

Someone can't wait.

I can't remember what are these.

Coin replica

Pitis

Played with display boxes.

Iris read the information.

The notes

Precious notes

Gahh, Bapak started to melt.

Precious metals

Every design on currency notes and coins has cultural meanings.

Big TV

World in notes.

Take five.

Counting activity

Kijang where are you?

Maps

I wish I had this.

Looking through

Sailor man

World map

Whoops, I googled the answer.


It's 1959, girls.


They keyed in wrong answer, they saw nothing.


They got it right, and they saw tons of gold and money!


Lost in maps