Parenthood – TRIPLETS plus ONE

Back To School

By admin on January 4, 2018

Yeay, it is back to school again! Aren’t you excited? Not really right? You need to deal with a lot when school time arrives: the morning alarm clock, the healthy breakfast, the absorbing school, the exhausting afternoon, the demanding homework and finally the cranky nighttime. No doubt it is routine, but it does take a toll on you and your kids. Dealing with their emotions and struggles on daily basis is never a walk in the park. But with these marvelous essential oils, you can make things to move in your way.

It is always a hassle to wake young kids, get them dressed and done with their before-school routines. I always wish that they would grow up faster. But Alhamdullilah, daily school routine is definitely made easier with these essential oils.

The Breakfast

After their bath and fully dressed for school, it is time to give them a breakfast boost. Although chocolate like those in Chocolate Malt is the fav choice for kids’ instant energy, NingXia Red is better. It is the superjuice for the immediate booster. It is filling as it contains fibers and multitude of vitamins, such as Vitamin B and C and minerals to fill those little bodies.

The Sleepy Heads

If those little heads still groggy during breakfast, diffuse Lemon (or any citrus essential oil of your choice) + Joy Essential Oil. This is to gently wake their brains and get ready for the day. Diffuse this for an uplifting and positive attitude as well as brightening up the mood. It is also good to calm the emotions. Other than Joy, you may wanna diffuse Motivation Essential Oil.

Another alternative for a wakeup call is the Cedarwood Essential Oil. Cedarwood is high in sesquiterpenes. It helps oxygenate the brain. Apply on temple after their shower. Cedarwood also stimulates the release of melatonin and serotonin depending on the body requirements, to regulate wake and sleep cycle. Alternative oil to diffuse at night!

The Resistant Immune System

Just before you let them wear their socks, apply a bit of Thieves Essential Oils to the soles. It can be overwhelming to think about all the absents days that may happen along the school year. Get your kids ahead of the game with this blend.

The Enthusiastic Bunch

On the way to the school, diffuse Peppermint Oil for the car ride to school for nice boost of energy. The strong aroma will help those sluggish feeling. Peppermint helps improves mental accuracy too. No car diffuser? Fret not, few drops on cotton ball and place it at the aircond vent. Alternatively, two drops on your palm and rub both hands for 10-15 seconds, you could start to smell the strong aroma lingering in the car.

The Attentive Student

At school, it can be a challenge for kids to stand out and compete or stay positive all the way to the end. . Apply these on kids before they leave for school; Valor Essential Oil helps to instill confidence and self-esteem. Also apply Clarity and Brain Power Essential Oil on the brain stem at the neck and the temples to enhance mental clarity and memory. It also promotes a clear mind and increases alertness.

The Consistent Student

When the kids are back from school and it is homework time, diffuse Rosemary Oil in the air. Researchers concluded that people who smelled Rosemary Oil experienced improvements in their memory. Or diffuse Peppermint to increase alertness which aids in the ability to focus and concentrate. You can also apply Clarity / Brain Power to the temples and brain stem.

The Tired Little Bones

Finally, it is bedtime for kids. Some kids throw tantrums just before sleep. Apply Thieves to their soles. Diffuse Lavender/Peace and Calming for a restful sleep. To help those kids who often wakes up in the morning cranky, here’s a lil life saver. Apply Joy and Idaho Blue Spruce on their spine before bedtime. It never fail one me! Kids wake up all chirpy. Here’s your secret weapon to a cranky whiny child!

The Dutiful Mom

Moms almost always reward herself last. But that doesn’t mean you don’t get your daily dose to keep you calm and stress free. Stress Away is a great calming oil for you. Apply this before you start your day and when you are done with the kids and its time for you to finally wind down before you hit the sack.

Uzair and Two Wheel Bike

By admin on April 16, 2015

Since my other 3 kids are on 2 wheels bike, we removed the training wheels for all bikes and that left uzair with only the balancing bike. He didn’t like it before but since he was left with no other bikes, he started using it. After awhile he gets the idea where he needs to push with his legs and balance. Actually we do have one more bike for uzair with the training wheels but can’t fit 5 bikes in our Starex thus we choose to bring along the balancing bike with us since its on the smaller size, taking less space in the car.

After awhile, I notice he was pretty good at balancing…tried putting him on 2 wheels bike but he didn’t hv the confidence if i didn’t hold him. He ended up going back to his balancing bike and mastered it.

We were at my inlaws, and about to leave when i saw uzair trying to cycle a 2 wheel bike in the house. Immediately i told the husband…”you, he is into it…bring him out. bring him out! go bring him cycle”. It was about 930pm already, we were suppose to head home as it was time for the kids to hit the bed. However, i wanted to give a positive encouragement to the interest he was showing. Immediately the dad ajak die keluar along with the bike. Brother-in-law was of a great help. dia lah yang gigih bersemangat peganag uzair to get the hang of it. And to our surprise….he started paddling! Mashaa Allah.

Below is the video of his first time riding a 2 wheel bike

(i have no idea why i can’t seem to embed the video, and i don’t have much time to godek. thus, meanwhile u gonna have to click on the link below to see the video)

IMG_1057

He cycled and cycled and didn’t wanna stop. Had to promised him we will cycle again tomorrow morning and “drag” him into the car. I would definitely give credit to balancing bike, in the video below, u could see his kaki telepas paddle but he could balance himself and continue paddle balik…for a beginner who just started cycling, he could maintain his balance even without paddling.

Him cycling the next morning,

IMG_1365

(click on the link above, sorry u have to do manually, i can’t seem to get the video clip, pfft..dah tahap nak hempuk laptop ke wall ni, haha)

Its not necessary for you to buy a balancing bike, u may cabut the paddle of ur kid’s current bike 🙂

Uzair is turning 7 years old, diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and also ADHD when he was 3+. He is currently using Young Living Essential Oil, once a week of Craniosacral therapy, weekly Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy.

We place him in preschool now, joining class of 4 years old and has Special Needs Teacher comes to the house daily for 2 hours.

Parenthood

Early Intervention Programme; WQ Park

By admin on September 30, 2012

I wrote previously on Uzair’s progress about his Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy and developmental paeds . Unfortunately after months of therapy he is not showing progress as how we would expect. He also attends kindergarten and has adapt himself well but still not following the lessons per se. My definition of adapts here is he doesnt cry when i drop him off at school and basically knows his routine at school. We went for his follow up with Dr Rajini and doctor raised issue of his development. The fact that he has been attending therapy session but showing little improvement is an indication he needs more than just weekly therapy.

As i mentioned some would say “takpe nanti cakap lah tu” ” XY ckp masa die 4 years old tp now dah jadi doctor dah” In uzair’s case he was given the extra aid but however not progressing much. We wouldnt want to take the risk of “takpe nanti cakap lah tu” thus Doctor told us about Early Intervention Programme (EIP) . She didnt suggest EIP on our first visit because when she asked me whether uzair is attending school (it was end of last year), i mentioned he will start schooling early of the year (2012) and doctor said it would be good for him to mix with other kids. some children improve a lot when they are with their peers. BUT since not much progress, we are left with no choice but to take a step back, which is to send him for EIP.

I know the existence of EIP before but didnt know the details of the programme. I asked uzair’s Occupational Therapy (OT) and she was rather optimistic and said uzair doesnt need it. And pretty much gave assurance uzair will improve. However it wasnt easy to get slot for his OT on a weekly basis, kadang once in 2 weeks. I would say the contact hours is really important. in fact by looking at uzair’s condition he would need to get slot twive a week.

I decided to pay WQ Park a visit. It’s located in Kelana Jaya. After looking at their programme..husband and i immediately agree to send him there. If only i visited this place earlier…i would definitely enrolled him pronto. I should have send him there instead of normal kindergarten and hopefully after a year he is ready to attend normal mainstream. However we are certainly glad to know this place now rather than later. The EIP will be from Monday – Friday either morning session ( 930-1230pm) or afternoon session (130 – 430pm). Since we have paid his school fees till end of the year, we decided to take the afternoon session, thus he will be attending school in the morning and EIP in the afternoon. Yes it sounds hectic, but hopefully this will make him less active — > more focus –> better progress, insyaAllah

In the EIP, Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy is tailored in their daily scheduled. They have 8 contact hours of ST and OT a month. Teachers and therapist will set up a timetable for uzair, for example a week he might have 4 session of 30mins in a week. The therapist will “pull him” out of his class to have one to one session with him of therapy. If they think uzair can focus for 30mins, they might make 20 mins instead but more session…and total will always be 8 hours a month.

**Clarification (Update) : The ST and OT is 4 hours each. Each session will be for 30mins. Thus it will be 2 ST and 2 OT session in a week.

Oh i forget to mention this, initially doctor diagnose him as Sensory Processing Difficulties…on our last follow up doctor said Uzair is showing traits between Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and some over lapping traits of autism. I googled alot on this and came across forums.Quite a number of parents of the same boat started giving Gluten Free and Cassein Free Diets (GFCF) . Parents said their kids with autism improved once on the GFCF diet, they had better eye contact, and more bubbly. But the benefits is anecdotal. Ive started doing this on Uzair bout 2,3 weeks. We have also changed our rice to brown rice about a month. It certainly not easy going GFCF diet on uzair for someone who eats bread as his snacks. Yes while others snack on biscuit, he eats bread..he can have 3 to 4 slices at a go. And he munch on biscuits too. Jacob crackers are among his fav. I bought him few gluten free biscuits but none to his liking. the only thing he eats is the brown rice crackers. I even boiled spaghetti and macaroni (gluten free of coz) and he eats that as snack. I mean for his in between meal food. The thing is im staying with my parents it wont be fair for me to make everyone on GFCF diet, thus the house do have non-gluten free food around. Im having problem hiding it from uzair…but so far we managed to do so rather successfully (happened one, two incident he found the food). Any improvement? I would say he is more attentive.

Im praying all goes well for his EIP . It has been a week since he started EIP. Really hope he enjoys it and doesnt see it as a “punishment” since he will be attending classes morning and afternoon. Initially we were afraid it would be too tiring for him, he leaves house latest by 830am and reaches home around 5 – 515pm, but alhamdulillah he seems okay, still very much energetic. The minute we reach home, he gets off the car and run straight to the garden. The must thing for him to do is, the trampoline and monkey bars,

sandpit,

main air,

and all the other rides and swings

All these faces after attending classes morning and afternoon, he definitely doesnt look tired, does he?

My main reason of writing this entry is to share our experience and also to raise awareness among parents. Yes, it is normal to see kids who can’t sit still, has little focus,who never seems to listen or refused to listen to instruction. We the often hear this kids being labled , buas tak reti dok diam, degil. undisciplined and the list goes on. But in actual fact, it is something we should pay attention to, as it could be ADD/ADHD. Or on the other hand, we may have children who doesnt like to interact with others, poor eye contact, lack of respond to people and delayed speech development. These could be symptoms of Autism. Many of the austim traits start appearing between the age 2 to 3, thus i would strongly suggest parents who notice your child’s development to be a lil differ from other kids to seek advised rather than to wait. The purpose is not to be labled “oh my anak autism / ADHD” but to enable us parents to take the preventive measurement early. Yes, some children grow out of it, but should we take the risk? It is said every 1 out of 88 children are autism, thats pretty high percentage I feel.

We are that Uzair shows good improvement so we can get him back to the mainstream schooling.Looking at how difficult the standard 1 syllabus nowadays, i get pretty worried of coz. He will be 5 next year. Next year he will be attending only EIP and hoping by mid year the latest we could enrolled him back to Itqan and get supplement programme from WQ Park. Ideally, it would be better to let him continue both Itqan and EIP, but the fees would be steep for us. It is a tough journey but we are indeed grateful as we have seen others going through tougher. We accept this as a test from AlMighty in a positive manner despite the many many emotional, mental, physical and financial challenges we have to face. We will make the most out of it and do our best in raising this amanah from Allah S.W.T. Uzair has surely teaches me patience and also to tolerate nonsense…hihi. I could not thank the father enough, for putting the kids as his top 1 priority. It means a lot to me seeing him to agree in enrolling uzair for extra classes without hesitations. “O Allah, pinjamkan lah kalam-Mu pada anak ku Uzair” Amin

“Allah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity…”( Al-Baqarah : 286)

My Lil Caliphs Activties | Parenthood

Ramadhan

By admin on July 30, 2012

This year’s Ramadhan is a totally new experience for us, as our son harith is also fasting, MasyaAllah. His first day of fasting was on the 2nd Ramadhan. He didnt fast on the 1st day because he had his swimming lesson, furthermore i wanted him to observe us fasting. Once he had observe us, it was easier to explain to him. Alhamdulillah it was easy to relate to him since every now and then we would bring our children to see the food distribution to the homeless in KL. My children have seen people queuing up for food, they have seen people eating by the pavement, they have seen people who sleep on cardboards by roadside. They have witness all these and are aware that some are less fortunate than others. Thus i relate fasting with the homeless. I told them Allah ask us to fast as a reminder to all of us to bersyukur with what we have. To remember others who are in need and not to be greed. To know how it feels being hungry, just like the homeless. We will be more appreciative when we know how others feel. I told harith we fast from imsak till maghrib and his quick respond was “yes, just like the homeless, they wait for the lorry to come at night to get their food…tak mati pun kan tunggu sampai malam” With that respond, i was confident he understood the concept of fasting.

I wouldnt want my children to fast and all they get are hunger and thirst without having the understanding of fasting. It defeat the purpose. After all they are only 5 years old, it is not compulsory for them to fast. Since harith has grasp the meaning of fasting, i encourage him to give it a try. I didnt get athirah to fast coz of her lack of understanding the meaning of puasa.

On his first day of fasting, he seems alright alhamdulillah. Initially I plan to make him fast half day but he seems okay and no complain. It was a sunday, so we killed time by going to One Utama at about 3pm. He even insists on wearing his sports shoes so he could run about. We went to Toys R Us coz he wanted to play with the legos. Upon seeing other toys, i told hArith..if he could fast for 5 days, i will get papa to buy you a toy. He was all excited to take up the “challenge” . Honestly i didn’t put any high expectation on it. Anyhow the first day went well, MasyaAllah.

Iftar,first day of fasting

He continued fasting the following days, attending school was not an issue although school serves morning break and lunch. He told me, he remain in the class with another 2 friends while the rest have their meals. He continued fasting 4 days in a row. he had no problem playing outside in the evening. Twice the weather were gloomy, he was already out at 3pm. i had to come out with various activities to avoid him from playing football and running about.

Keeping him occupied coz he wanted to play football: Sidewalk chalk, sand pit and batik painting

allowed him to play football only after 6pm

jumping about on the trampoline like any other day

On the 4th day, he had a friend over and when the friend had to leave, he threw tantrum . He wanted to play football outside but i told him it was still early (it was 5pm then) I was afraid he might get thirsty and tired, thus i told him he could play outside after 6pm. Since his friend had to leave, before he could play football with him….maka bermulah lah episode tantrum,he cried and screamed saying i broke my promise. After all the screaming and crying he felt asleep at about 630pm. As we woke him up for iftar, he got cranky and moody. Thus i decided to give him a break, not to fast the next day.

To my surprise, he woke up the next day asking me “why mommy tak wake me up to eat? (sahur)” Told him to take a day rest and continue fasting the following day, so he did. Friday is his most fav day at school coz they have cooking session and Show&Tell. I totally forgotten about the cooking session or should i say, i assume they dont have it during the month of Ramadhan. But i was wrong. He did have his cooking session, in fact they did one of his fav food; garlic bread. When I fetched him,I asked, are you still fasting? And he said “yes, teacher suruh bawak balik makan” SubhanAllah. a 5 year old boy, who had prepared food but yet he could keep himself from eating.

He took a day off again on the 8th of Ramadhan since it was a saturday, he has his swimming lesson. And as of today, he has fast for 6 days, masyaAllah. We kept to our promise and bought him a new toy 🙂 . Today was a tough day for him, he didnt eat much during sahur, refused to eat rice and had only a slice of pizza. and since it was a weekend, the day felt longer. Had to come out with various activities to keep him occupied. At 7pm, he looked very tired and wanted to break his fast, told him to hang on a lil bit more. He was also tired coz he woke up for sahur at 5am and didnt sleep in after eating. he was up the whole day without any nap. Managed to make him hang on till maghrib, he had his meal and straight away get to bed.

Tomorrow is monday, he has PE at school. I plan not to wake him up for sahur. ( I totally forgotten about this last week) Let him enjoy his PE with unlimited energy, after all he is only 5 years, he is supposed to play all day long, isnt he? 🙂

** photos were all taken using the phone camera

Parenthood

Red

By admin on April 13, 2011

Previously harith was in the phase where his underwear must matches with his attire. But now he is going through the phase of wearing bright colours underwear. Gave him a black underwear but he refused to wear it..and started searching for a different one (red to be specific)

Me: Harith, why you dont want to wear your black underwear?

Harith: Because it is dark

Me: Err..so?

hArith: I like bright underwear…like red