shaka, age 6

loves Octonauts,  Peppa Pig, and Ben and Holly.
but always says that he's fan of Ninjago and Ben 10, for the sake of coolness.

has Mixel lego creature in his wishlist for a year.
but when its time to buy, always falling for Korean cute-tech savvy vehicle-robot like Superwings.

loves Transformers literally because it can transform.
then he creates anything that transform while in imaginary-playing.

having his first robot toy and so happy about it.

dislike minions.
doc mcstuffin is a guilty pleasure.

his girlfriends say he is cute.
he says back grumpily, "no i'm cool!"
then the girl will even go crazier.

has cried watching a movie for the first time, A Good Dinosaur.
cry like a river, and the gloomy thought remaining for days.

got over Sammie ToysRUs channel.
big fan of Evantube HD channel.
cant get enough of VAT19.com
......imaginarily having his page at shaka/vat19.com
.......that's how he put his mark on some papers or walls

don't want monotonous order in a restaurant
"nanti aja liat dulu dong di restorannya ada apa"
and he keeps end up in good old chicken steak, chicken rice, nasi lele, or mi ayam.

demanding for his own adult-style, no, man-style wallet.
he got it, so happy about it, very possesive about it.

waiting his tooth falling out.
means he's growing up and its so cool.
means tooth fairy can exchange it for some money for his wallet.

like to keep his hair long.
want to have pimples.
keep losing his flipflops.
like to have his tops tucked in his pants.

loves subject science, PE, IT
always get challenged by math quizzes.

have many places int he world he wanted to visit.

that keeps him love learning and schooling.

desperately wanna grow up.
but want to stay with mommy forever.
willing to buy a land near this home of ours
so when he has to move out he will live near still

believe that papi can do everything.
i'm still failing to explain that it's not true.

keep drawing anything with rainbow.
all titled with "Its A Beautiful Day"
he always put the color in correct order.
start to mention about finding treasure in the end of the rainbow.

value his go-to-bed prayer so much.

when im not around, he yells
"mama, bismika-nya berapa kali? 1 apa 3 apa 5?"
"...3 aja deh kayak biasa ya"
"kalo kata Allah bilangnya apa?"
"........." 

when half asleep already, he whispers
"mama, shaka di-bismillah-in..."

well.......i always do, kid. 
i always do.

when december comes

time to update milestones :)

firstly first about the house, i finally decided to put it only in tumblr. too lazy to put here in a blog post. the progress mainly are at the backyard ...or at least that is how the kid call it, some small open space at the back part of the house. then the lightings, kitchen table and backsplash, drainage, ...well a  lot of little random here and there waiting to be finalized actually. cant imagine what progress could be done in 2 weeks, but... we actually planned an open house by the end of this year XD HA!  

that was around time and when that little kid of mine hit 6. i said there will be no 'party', like some diy decors or goody bag, but insyaallah we will still invite friends and families. the schedule will be more like 'selametan' :) berdoa. slash housewarming (party). double slash open house, because actually i still have no idea about partying at this kind of tight schedule time. some papi's deadline also in this month, and i am too preparing mid-year class party at school... preparing like, responsible for the decor wholly. semacam kurang kerjaan, tapi gimana lagi, kalo udh dapet job desc anaknya all-out. hahahah,... so again just like another december, i am busy with diy-project and printable design XD wish me luck. no, wish us luck. not yet new year but so many target already for 3 of us. alhamdulillah...

as for the kid, he is too definitely actually has target. cheap one, but pretty real actually. specially at catching up english score to excel the passing grade XD just got back from parent-teacher conference a.k.a rapotan this morning. just like figured, his reading-writing skill still become his obstacle. hmmm welll... he can read, but not really. words just don't come easily yet. so of course it will be hard to comprehend still. and he can write, but still on invented writing, aka phonic based only, that surely will fail his english subject. figuratively i know, its normal. i already checked his milestones, and read articles about his age and those skills. He's basicly doing just fine, and anyhow he's the youngest in the class. december born, remember. but, without any intention to comparing to his friends and excusing his age, it just feels not right to just say, "ah it's ok" :) 

that's just not what some best efforts can do. and giving best efforts is one of what we value in the family. i've been delaying reading course for a year by now by the way. his progress anyhow is very good. right about last year he cannot read, and can write his name only. now he can read mini books with companion (just to keep him steady and consistent), and start to comprehend slowly. now too, he can write stories, like about 5 sentences long, although still in invented spelling. 

"he hes 20 appl s. he its 8. he kennot it sum more"

cute ya :) im so glad i still able to see cuteness in it anyway. but well, gotta move on baby. we've chosen the educational track, we have to adapt, and we have to give our best efforts. hello integrity and content ! to be honest, there's a bit of me says hooray knowing that he's still lack of appraisal sense. hahaa yes i am actually still trying to put efforts carefully regarding those value and age milestones. we always are. so the thrilling scores are actually part of the struggle. i always say, wait until he's 6. wait until term 4. ala ala tes ombak. HA! XD fingercrossed sampe naik kelas.

by the end of this month he will be 6. im so glad seeing him still as brilliant as he used to be. may he will always have those sparkly eyes of spirits and curiosity ....errr sama bolehlah, kalo reading readyness nya dateng cepetan XD sekarang udah mulai ngasih prolog tentang phonics extra classes nih, alias les baca. hahahahahh soalnya assesmentnya sekarang banyakan paper nak... kalo ujiannya presentasi semua, gak usah belajar juga masi optimis deh dapet full score, kan rugi bandarrrr. stay strong baby, your readyness will catch up! and for the rest... as usual i have faith in you undoubtedly :) i always do. 

be always happy and never forget that you are awesome already.
stay curious and always remember Allah, the ultimate one.
never give up to be all out and sincere.
and one more... be kind and believe me, it's cool :D

i read in an article, sometimes soon not only his first tooth will fall out, he's imagination dreamland will start to fade out too in this age. and yes things do get more realistic as he entered elementary. he was at the highest level of baby last year. now he's like in the first new phase of big kid :) not that it was scary, but good luck kid, my forever baby. may you have your journey safe and sound.

XOXO

we moved! we moved!

everyday is such brand new day, like literally. 
hari ini temboknya putih, besok khaki. besoknya lagi pintu dipasang. terus hooknya. terus sofa masuk. terus dispenser. terus karpet. terus cermin. dst dst. yang pasti hari ini giliran pohon, yeiy! more life to come!  told ya, now we're in the camping ground phase =D

this is somehow unusual, subconsciously i know, i think.
karena kemarin sempet mimpi yg agak kontekstual. tentang aliens, refugees, nomaden, rumbles xD bless us and keep us all safe and sound ya Allah ya... its just, this is like irresistibly fascinating. yea i admit it, we gotta drag some extra brave (not to mention shameless xD) guts to move in this soon. but, BUT, someway somehow, we chose this than any other options. we can only stand our homeless phase in a week. just right after we installed the bed, toilet, shower, and aircon, we decided to stay overnight. and it didnt take so long for us to call this site as home. like whenever the kid got sleepy, even if we're in some cozy place or relatives's house, he will ask to go back home. 

here home. alhamdulillah...
out of being grumpy for not finishing the house right away, the other most lovable fact is that it really is not only me (and probably si papi yg ga tau deh sebenernya merasa gimana xD) who get the excitement every time any single thing in this house done installed. the kid does too! i dont know if its just becoming some habbits or reflects or whatever... but i feel like we can really share the perks of living here together. here at our very own house. here at this camping ground. i really really am cant fool myself. out of this and that, among what society would normally say, i am so happy. that i want to put some giggling emoticon.

hihihi... yep some perky eyes like that could sorta do. soon i will post some snapshot from our daily life here. and soon, hopefully sooon, the house will be done. at least theoritically, so that our happines could become even more legit xD amen.

hello checkpoint(s) part.2

btw, we're homeless right now :D

but hopefully even closer to our very own home sweet home. we're done with our rent house last week. byee 4 previous home base, u're all meant for me! 

and this is why i can write this long right now. the situation is, per today we spend our whole day in bintaro-serpong, then we sleep in pamulang with ooma at night. being disturbingly too idle at mahagoni home project, today i asked to spend times in McD with fufa's laptop. Hihihi.... junkfood, laptop, selfspace :* Tadaaa !!!

to be reviewed, its a damn amazing feeling being here at this phase. wherever you(s) are, its home. it literally is now. it may not be all comfort, especially with kid and his schedules, am struggling and juggling hard to fulfill them all still. but really, i thanked God of how i still am feeling safe. having faith and steady for whats going on. Alhamdulillah :)

next awaitment is, the master bedroom. so we can move in. homeless life into camping life xD Yazz! 

ps: i actually want to make this new house thing as a checkpoint, but turned out thats not the point for now. It's like no other, HOMELESS phase xD checked!

  

hello checkpoint(s) part.1

welcome life of a first grader (mom) :D 
now its getting harder to list down milestones, as i myself must catching up with the lesson too. the new class was started last end of july. giddy up!

no no, baca tulis tetep belum lancar. meskipun muatan kurikulum (katanya) banyak (dan berat), baca tulis shaka belum lancar. semua huruf (in english) udah bisa, phonics, pronounce dan lettering. huruf bahasa Indonesia masih on progress :p masih suka lupa terutama antara A, E, I. spelling hmmm so-so lah... tapi mostly udah bisa baca kata per kata dalam bahasa dan english, terutama yg penulisan sama pengucapannya sama. karena bingung  juga ya ngajarinnya secara fase baca tulisnya beda sama jaman kecil dulu.... skrg karena sebenernya semua elemennya udah ready, katanya sih udah tinggal fase drilling baca cerita terus aja (semacam menunggu pencerahan xD) mungkin biar gak keburu gentar liat tulisan berbaris-baris. hahahaha... it will just come when the time it comes :) amen.

pelajarannyaaa.... ya lumayan. hahahaha. saat ini lagi musim assesment ke 2 untuk mata pelajaran utama, math, science, bahasa, english, mandarin. gimana kalo dibandingin sama jaman kecil dulu? hmmm. yang pasti memang muatannya lebih banyak, sehingga (kalo sadar) memang tampak lebih susah. tapi yang pasti juga, flow-nya beda. nggak usahlah disebutkan kalo tentang format materialnya atau buku atau tipe tugasnya yang jelas-jelas beda ya.... tapi flow-nya memang beda. 

rasanya sangat mungkin dari segitu banyaknya muatan yang dikasih, anak-anak cuma berasa seperti sekadar dapet ilmu baru seiring dia tumbuh besar. hmmm... gimana ya, meskipun banyak, dan mendalam, imho muatannya bersentuhan banget sama kehidupan sehari-hari. misal di english dan bahasa terutama muatannya untuk bercerita, presentasi, komunikasi, mengarang, reading comprehension. di science tentang anggota tubuh dan fungsi, jenis makanan dan fungsinya. di math masih seputar tambah kurang... tapii segala gaya. sampe 3 chapter juga belum selesai materinya. mandarin.... masih no clue lah, sampe sekarang satu-satunya cara belajar yang paling efektif adalah... minta tolong anaknya bacain, tunjukin, dan ajarin mamanya apa yang dia dapet di sekolah hahahaha... intinya lagi sih, semakin susah kalo mau sembarangan marah-marah dan ngasih tau tanpa dasar.

"shaka, you have to finish that egg, you need energy for school!"   
"no its not giving me energy! it makes me grow!!!"
*dikutip dari drama huru-hara pagi-pagi

Sort of things... yang disyukuri adalah assesment nya lahir batin (iya lah, dari awal juga maunya kurikulum yang nggak gagap realita kan hihihi) nggak selalu writing... jadi shaka yang masih ogah baca instruction masih lumayan selamat, meski bikin KZL dan semacam mubazir belajar. secara konsep dan substansi, insyaallah he nailed it. moga-moga segera bisa catch up aja untuk aplikasi baca tulisnya... biar nggak usah ada tambahan les calis. biar bisa les yang enak-enak aja. biar momen pencerahan baca tulisnya dateng natural aja :) for the greatness in books and reading. me love good reads. that fuzzy feeling just too worthy to be missed. 

yang disyukuri juga adalah, senyum paginya setiap hari waktu masuk gate sekolah :) teriak panggil-panggil nama temen yang ajaib-ajaib. cengar-cengir ga ngeh pentingnya assesment atau lagi sampe chapter berapa, atau sebanyak apa homeworknya, atau apalah itu yang memang sengaja masih kita delay untuk drilling artinya, mostly segala hal yang sifatnya formal dan official itu. sampai sekarang drillingnya masih tetep seputar --must try to be as best as possible for like every moment. must practice again and again this and that. to finish what's been started. to do every little things wholeheartedly. jadi terutama memang masih seputar disiplin membangun rutinitas dan sikap belajar. terlepas dari kurang lebihnya, moga-moga bisa membawa kebaikan, we'll keep improving ya boy. one (or two or three lah :p) step at a time. mama papa juga sambil belajar. here we also are in our way trying as best as possible, make way for your education life :) bismillah.  
  
yang disyukuri juga adalah, homeworks nggak terasa berat. karena anaknya udah tau sendiri harus dikerjain, ngingetin terus mau kerjain, just like naturally :) rekornya adalah terakhir math homeworks 8 lembar, sekitar 3 jam, dijeda makan malam. no, its not so easy (or very fun). no, its not like he nailed it already. its just us doing it step by step wholeheartedly, dan ditutup dengan senyum puas (i know he did satisfy). Tapi kalau homeworks, ternyata nggak (atau belum) terlalu banyak kok, sejauh ini porsinya (dan manfaatnya) masih terasa pas. Memang masih harus ditemenin, tapi rasanya dibandingin sama hal-hal yang dikerjain mama-mama lain dan anaknya di sekolah kayaknyaaa, apalah aku ini hanyalah kucing (kece) diantara macan xD Sehingga kemudian jadwal pulang yang semakin sore, bisa dibilang adalah hal terkecil dari ritme baru ini. masih ada juga jadwal les yang udah antri ='D 

it sounds like all sunny and rainbows eh :D NOT! hahahaaha... i thanked God for no storm coming so far, but series of cloudy grey. and errr... maybe some haze xD hmmm... gini deh ya, ngecek jotterbook untuk dictation pertama salah semua itu rasanya nggak ada apa-apanya dibanding tau ada murid lain yang bahkan latihannya udah excelled sama dictation ketiga. kemudian pas cek medan perang untuk besok ada assesment, ternyata lagi pada review ini itu, segala presentasi juga pake rehearsal dulu di rumah sampe malem-malem. sementara disini anaknya udah otw bobo, kelar jam belajar sesuai paket jadwal harian (semacam itulah). itu rasaanya........ menggodaaaaa banget untuk ikut on fire lagi. haruuuus banget mencoba sabar untuk stick with the plan of keep doing things wholeheartedly-as best as possible-in certain times. having faith not to gain things instantly. FYUH! we seriously do some strategy-coordination-enhancement meeting about those values every now and then. sort of things lah x"D hahahaha.... just gotta stay strong. need to gain my very own kind of tiger mom. pun belom ketemu temen yang agak sealiran deh nih di sekolahan.... semacam udah yang paling oke aja. nggak deng, paling muda. Hahahaha... satu gen Y diantara gen X yang pasti. hihihi fingercrossed aja deh yaaa.

but still, and always, have fun baby :)
of all that, we really really do have fun being your parents.

pacaran

we were in a foodcourt waiting for your lunch, when one friendly college girl come to our table. she was from your almamater so i let her explain about some fundraising something, until the food is come. the highlight next is as i predicted :)

s- ma itu kakaknya udah kuliah? bener?
m- iya, kenapa? *grin
s- jadi udah punya pacar...?
*nyengir antara excited, malu, sama penasaran

if this was my first cue, i will be somewhat panicked i believe. but this was not. my first cue is few weeks back when i clean up around while watching you watching tv. it was even only one child-ish romantic scene in a cartoon, before then you turn your head with big smile and sparkly eyes, and say rightaway "mama, shaka mau cepet kuliah deh"

wait....... no, thats not actually the very first cue. its been going on these few last months probably. about liking a girl, getting into primary, growing up, tv channel upgraded, no more bright adventurous disney junior, welcome sloppy geeks disney channel or cool kidsheroes from disney xd. the transition is yes going on although im still trying my best to delay it by filtering movies and others.... and that pacaran-jokes people always throw *ugh* forcing kids like growing older than they actually are.

homeworks for mom are lined up. once i ever explained short and simple and easy about pacaran; is like happened when some couple already grown up like in college and about to get married. well because we the parents met in college, just cant fake it. all in all its been said that it must happen when both party already grown up once again, settled with oneselves... but it seems now i got to make it even clearer, so you dont just jump over conclusions eh. parents homeworks do line up. coupling. timing. feeling... not to mention about finding the one *double ugh*.

back to his first actual initiation, "mama, shaka pengen cepet kuliah". i kinda yawned, trying to look just cool and easy. because they say theres nothing good about over reacting. but well, then i began to put the idea about how fun being kids, the advantages and else, in like every chance i met. including that time when we're lounging in the foodcourt.

we watched peoples skating on the ice rink. he never try, it makes him excited. he asked if i can play. then i say i used to be able, but when i was a kid. dont know if i can still do it now when im adult, got to try again. because adult doesnt play nor skating that much. adult is busy with things, works, and else... and kids on the contrary can have so many fun things to do, to play :) i got you baby. moments like that do happen, when you say bright and clear, "then no i dont wanna grow up mama". yeah until reality knocked, and lets go back to the college girl coming. haha.

boy, pacaran is not suddenly happen when you entering college. not every people in college, not even every adult, pacaran. or luckily finding the one, that will be another chapter yes. i dont even wanna mention (yet) that some (many) kids from highschool, middle school, even primary school (ugh) do pacaran. still, i keep my words for the ground base. pacaran meant to be grown ups who like (love) each other and already settled with themselves and about to get married. later i believe me (or you) will improvise. again, on another chapter. haha. i believe in improvisation as much as i believe in pattern guidelines.

btw i actually already have one guideline draft about some wife material xD i copy and develop it from some list on pinterest. but come into this actual moment for having words to tell, i feel like im done with references. i have my very own words. it might not go straight into wife material, but i think its already on the way. well, like we always are. one thing may lead to another. lets just take our time :)

just be friend, be a good one :) be with someone you would appreciate and appreciate you back. be with someone you would respect and respect you back. be with someone kind and motivate you to be even kinder. be with someone content with themselves, yet recognize the other selves. someone you can always be yourself with, and if you are lucky, together you will make the best version of yourselves :) be with someone you can always laugh with. that someone who has the ability to laugh happily about themselves and all the little things around, not only towards others. be with someone happy and could make you even happier. that together you may bring some more happiness to others. then the world might be a little happier place, not only for you, but for everyone too :) later on that is, actually sounds a lot like love already.

just never forget the first thing first, be true to yourself and Allah SWT. love will find a way anyway. Bless you baby :)