Monday, August 06, 2012

Khaleeda says ...

Happy Nuzul Quran!

-dillz blogging out-

Friday, August 03, 2012

My Aspie Boy

Been meaning to write about my boy. But every time I started writing, hatiku mula sebak. Don't know why exactly, just pilu and mellowed. But I need to write this down. Who knows it might be of some use to others out there. This is just our own experience with dealing and recognizing that our kid has Asperger's syndrome. (the 'g' is pronounced as in get)

There's nothing physically wrong with him, he looks just like any ordinary 8 year old. Strikingly handsome, if I may add so myself. A completely able bodied, perfectly healthy 8 year old and for that I am truly grateful. Alhamdulillah.


Khaleeq developed his speech a little later than his siblings. He still couldn't speak at 3 years old. We took him to the peads one day and was referred to an audiologist to test his hearing. Turned out there was nothing wrong with his middle ear and he started speaking just slightly after that. So we chilled and life went on as usual.

My boy, however, speaks with an American accent. Don't know where he gets it from. But the slang is distinct and sometimes he speaks in a high pitch. He would also repeat himself at times, almost echoing. He is filled with emotions - be it good or bad. He's not able to hide how he feels. He could be extremely upset over something and as soon as you explain the situation he'd be OK about it. Just like that. I don't really know how to explain it - almost turning on and off like a switch.

Overall though, he is a happy child. He has a pure heart. Always thinking about the less fortunate - the orphans, etc. Kelantanese would call him budak yang "jughuh".

We noticed that Khaleeq however did not particularly speak much Malay. Even when he started his primary schooling, he didn't pick up the language like Khadra did when she was at that age. Seeing that his year was when the newly introduced KSSR started, this posed as a challenge for him as Math and also Science was taught in Malay. About four to five months into schooling, we decided on a BM tutor for him. He goes to Miss Mahyuni three times a week, for about an hour at a time. With her, he picked up on his bacaan and some understanding of the language. Mahyuni was also the one who asked me to get Khaleeq diagnosed for autism. That came as a big shock to me.

"He looked perfectly fine. How could he be autistic?" Those were the thoughts that ran through my mind. It was pretty hard to swallow. I remember crying (for I don't know what reason) and calling my husband just trying to understand. Looking back, I am thankful for that initial suggestion of diagnosis as it was my turning point to handle Khaleeq's challenges at school.

After his half year exams, we saw that he was quite behind as compared to his other classmates. Challenges in school were aplenty. He had trouble finishing his work at school. Especially copying from the board. Of course he wasn't very good in reading Malay yet and his English reading was OK but not very fluent. So that contributed. And there's the language barrier to boot. Add to that his lack of concentration, short attention span and distractions. Yeah. A little handful.

He works hard though. When he gets home, he'd go through his work with me. I would have to get pictures of the school work from either the board, a friend's book or from the network of mothers in his class and we would be doing school work after school work. He is also good at marking his activity book on the pages that he needs to complete. So that helped.

However, even with all that he is still behind as compared to his peers. Mainly due to the language. So, at the end of 2011, we decided to get him diagnosed. To know what we are dealing with and to be able to help him better.

His diagnosis forom Gleneagles read : highly functioning autism - Asperger's Syndrome.

That's all for now, I'll continue this later lah. There's a lot of details to share. I'll break it down bit by bit.

-dillz blogging out-

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Double celebrations

End of July. Marks a significant part of my life as two of my boys celebrate their birthdays one day after another. Khaleeq turned 8 yesterday on the 30th and Inche Azrul celebrates his 35th today.

As per customary in our little family, each kid would receive at least one present on every birthday celebration - so multiple bodies were actually counting the days to Khaleeq's birthday. ;) Khaleeq is now into Lego Hero Factory and Lego City series, while Khaleeda is in her Play Doh stage. Khadra is not very much into toys so she opted for a headphone for her iPod instead (turning into a teenager too fast that girl). Everyone got their choice of poison last weekend so the present section was pretty much sorted out, thankfully.

When asked about his day in school, Khaleeq said a few of his friends wished him "Happy Birthday" and he was quite pleased with that. He had also apparently invited some friends to Kidzania for his birthday party at 3pm yesterday. I hope none of the kids dragged their parents coz we didn't plan to have the KidZania party until later. Adoii la Khaleeq. Comel betul.

We had a quiet dinner last night with just the family unit and my sweetheart of a husband ran to tapau the usual suspects from Chili's to add on to our berbuka menu. He even managed to get Khaleeq the Baskin Robbin's ice cream cake for moreh later. Yeay, husband! Suffice to say little man is mighty pleased with his day, he even have another City package yet to be opened as at late last night. That'll keep him happy throughout the week, me thinketh.

After the kids went to bed, me and the husband had a little rendezvous with my sisters at Pelita SS2 for some Maggi goreng tak nak sayur telur goyang. A little sahur get together of sorts to mark my man's birthday. No definitive plans for today as yet. But we do have Jamoca Almond Fudge ice cream cake in the fridge along with 3 big candles and 5 small candles with Azrul's name all over it. We'll see la. Must be the age catching up. Hahaha.

Happy birthday dearests. You know that I love you and you.

-dillz blogging out-

Saturday, July 14, 2012

And he's off

Just got back from sending Inche @azrulx at the airport with the kids. Thing is with the family unit, I have always been the organizer for our travels. One that thinks about checking in, visas, getting the meds stocked up and most importantly pack. Have you tried packing up a family of 5 into 2 (sometimes 3) suitcases? It does get a little complicated and you need to start doing it days in advance just in case you forgot something, you know. Even then, almost always I end up still packing til 5am on the day of our travels. Tak boleh nak buat apa la. I'm the Queen Procrastinator if you don't already know.

Letting him go on his own, well that's not entirely new. He has been away on business trips and several golf and F1 trips on his own before. But, going to the Holy Land. Ada sifat-sifat jeles sedikit di situ on my part. Thing is we have been talking about it for a while now. Been wanting to go, the two of us. Turns out the rezeki and opportunity came for him unexpectedly. By chance, no, by the gracious invitation of Allah swt. Logically it was a little sudden, he didn't go to any umrah kursus what so ever, the timing was for a week and he missed fasting in the month of Ramadhan just by a day. There were times when he was rethinking and questioning on the possible journey pun. But in the end, I'm so glad he took the step to accept the invite and went ahead with the travel plans.

As for his preps, everything came together quite nicely. He's been speaking to a few friends who've been and done the Umrah. I've supplied various books for him to speed read on his flight. ;) Yes, I already have a few. Last night, my dad gave him a crash course too - complete with another demonstration on how to wear the ihram. (Yes, he is too sweet) He is packing really light - a first for any of us. Hahahahaha. And last night I prepared his short solat recap points and the doa book. Ewa and Ema managed to squeeze theirs in as well. I have reminded him to translate the SMS and pesanan from friends into the book as well. I also took some extracts from the Travelog Haji and customized it for him. Sebak juga dada when I was preparing the doa for our family.

I shall miss him. We shall miss him. Khaleeq is already getting a fever. Hopefully not from missing his buddy boo. It's OK though. I know we will be OK. I also pray that we get to do this as a family unit next year. Insya Allah kalau ada rezeki.

Ya Allah, kau permudahkan segala urusan umrah Mohd Azrul bin Ahmad. Lindungilah beliau sentiasa dalam perliharaanmu. Amin ya rabbal aalamin.

-dillz blogging out-

Friday, July 13, 2012

Yang paling paling paling istimewa

How fast time flies. Sedar tak sedar it's already July the 13th. We have passed the half year mark about 2 weeks now and what do we really have to show for it?

As usual, my postings have been tardy and far in between. I really have no excuse for it. Just been caught up in life I guess. A lot has happened since my last entry. Even then I really wanted to write a lot more on life in general.

We've been pretty light on the feet this year - been quite to a number of places. Some for the first time,some a revisit but with a different experience altogether. In fact my husband would be embarking on his journey to the Holy Land tomorrow morning. Insya Allah. I wish him well on his journey, semoga mendapar Umrah yang mabrur Insya Allah.

Belum rezeki lagi for me to follow this time around. A little tied in the cuti department. I have essentially used / booked up all my entitlement this year. So hopefully tahun depan dapat lah saya jejak Tanah Haram untuk menunaikan ibadah, Insya Allah.

In any case, I've been reading up on "Travelog Haji" by Muhd Kamil Ibrahim. Came highly recommended by my girlfriends. I'm very moved by the doa he has at the end of the book. It's entitled Memohon Keistimewaan.

Ya Allah, kami mohon keampunanmu ya Allah. Kami mohon kerahmatanmu ya Allah. Kami mohon taufik dan hidayahmu, ya Allah. Ya Allah, aku telah dijemput olehmu untuk menunaikan ibadat umrah / haji pada (hujung tahun) ini. Aku bersyukur di atas segala nikmat yang telah Engkau berikan kepada kami sekeluarga.

Ya Allah, terimalah aku sebagai tetamumu Ya Allah. Tetamu yang paling istimewa, ya Allah. Tetamu yang paling paling istimewa. Tetamu yang paling paling paling istimewa, ya Allah. Ya Allah, jangan Kau bezakan aku dengan mereka yang lain. Aku tahu Engkaulah yang berkuasa memberi keistimewaan kepada sesiapa yang Engkau mahu berikan. Ya Allah, ampunilah diriku, ya Allah.

If you want it. Then ask for it. Insya Allah dipermudahkan dan dimakbulkan. Got to sign off now. I'd like to finish up my doa for Azrul to read at he Holy Land.

-dillz blogging out-

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Hello there 2012!

It's already March the 6th, 2012. I have turned 37 years old exactly 2 months ago and yet this is my first post in 2012. hahahahahahaha. Pathetic, I know.

Ampun tuanku beribu ampun. Relapse lagi penyakit malas nak berblog saya ni. Sorry lah banyak-banyak tuan-tuan dan puan-puan. In all honesty, I have kind of missed writing my unfiltered ramblings and in fact I do have quite a lot to write about. Just never found the time to. Alasan, I know. But there is some truth to it.

There has been good news and not so good news. But, I guess we live through it, don't we? Such is life. There is also a lot to look forward to this year. Especially in the travels department, Insya Allah. For starters, there's the Bali eco culture trip in the upcoming March school holidays. (we flying off this Saturday, dude!) In June, we already have our cheap cheap air fare to Sydney. TQ Air Asia X. And Insya Allah, looking for a special place to spend our 10th year anniversary in September. Kat mana nak pergi? Masih dalam perancangan. Kalau jadi sok, saya share lah. In any case, I have gone back to the gym in the quest to be slightly fitter and less gemuk by then. hahahahahaha Saya juga telah register untuk Energizer Night Run in April. Yes, I did! hihihihihihi (Jangan excited sangat, 5km Fun Run je)

OK lah dulu. Nanti update lagi.

-dillz blogging out-