Flying kite at Memorial Park Coventry

Recently we went to the Memorial park in Coventry as the kids were quite restless at home and my daughter wanted to try out the kite her mum had bought for her.

Unfortunately there was not much wind that day apart from the occasional gusts and we couldn't really get the kite up high. Still we all had fun.

Will definitely be going again when it is a bit more windy.

Another autism guide

A few days back we had our son's six month review. This was to evaluate whether his school is suitable for him. We had fought hard to get a place in this school which is actually the only Mainstream school in Coventry to have a special autism unit attached with it. The places are limited but we were able to get our son in. We did not want to send him to a general special school which are not really focussed on children with autism.

Anyway, we have realised that because of our son, our research on autism has actually exceeded that of our own PhD research (based on the number of files and books we have in the house).

I will be carrying a list of blogs and resources on the net on autism with my readers. This is the first of the series.

While going through the net, I came across the autism guide for parents. This is an informative blog with short posts that I think will assist parents of autistic children. There are several posts and one of the posts talks about 'how parent's cope with autistic children". I can definitely relate to some of the stuff written down there. I wish other parents with neurotypical children understand what we have to go through.

Join us in our journey with our son Imaan as well.

Rhymes

My daughter is learning rhymes at school and came up with one a few days ago. She's been pestering me to put it up on my blog.

I foresee that she's going to have her own blog soon.

Anyway here's her poem called honey

I like Honey too
Like Winnie the Poo
and that's what I am going to do.

I asked her "do what?"

"Eat honey!" she replied.

And she wanted it in Pink. She's really happy now.

More Snow in Coventry 2010

me more pictures:

Our leaning snowman


In our backyard


WBS teaching centre, University of Warwick


At Jubilee Crescent, Radford

Daughter turns 5

My daughter turned 5 yesterday.

I am a big girl now"

She wanted to wear her Halloween costume and of course you can't refuse the birthday girl.





Attacking the cake


Quick grab it while Baba's not looking.


Yummy

First day at school

It was my daughter's first day at school. She starts reception - an important milestone. With uniforms and rules. I saw a lot of other kids crying their hearts out. I am so proud that my Princess didn't cry.

Playing with bubbles

Recently bought a bubble machine. The mechanism is quite simple, you fill up the tank with the bubble mix and a fan at the back blows air through of bubble wands turning round. It produces hundreds of bubbles per minute and kids love it.









Definitely beats blowing bubbles yourself.

Coventry city centre and other updates

It has been a week since I last posted something on this blog. Makes it among the longest. So here's an update. We went to Coventry city centre thrice last week. The weather wasn't that good but we decided the kids needed some exposure and they were getting pretty restless at home during the Easter break.

The first time we went was on a Monday. We took the bus and I guess it was quite an experience for the kids as it was their first time going to the city centre using public transport. We took a family ticket (£6) but later discovered that the kids could go for free and we only had to pay our own (£2.60 each for a day saver).

It was a bank holiday and most of the shops were closed by the time we got to the city centre. It was kind of weird walking through the city with hardly anyone around - that's Coventry for you.





Got to see some parts in the city centre that I have never been to before even though we have been here for more than a year.

We went again by bus again the next day to eat lunch at this Chinese restaurant we had heard about called My China at Priory Place. We were quite surprised to find that we were the only customers - probably due to the fact it was around 2 pm. So we had the restaurant all to ourselves. We later learned that the owner is from Malaysia. The food was great. We would definitely be going there again.

The day after that we went to the city centre - again. This time we drove there and parked at the West Orchard Shopping Centre. After a bit of shopping we went to grab a bite at Nando's. You may not believe it but I have never visited a Nondo's anywhere - not even in Malaysia. It was not quite what I expected. I had imagined it to be just link any another fast food outlet - something like KFC and was not really enthusiastic

Glad to say that I was proven wrong. They have great music - Reggae, Portuguese and a few other languages I couldn't identify. They are child friendly and unlike other fast food outlets, they have a good choice of VEGETARIAN food. The chicken served at Nando's here are Halal. My kids loved their bottomless yogurt icecream and they probably ate a little more than they should have.

Had some friends over yesterday for freshly brewed coffee and pudding. Then later went for a birthday party in the evening to our friend Lisa and Zur's house.

Today had lunch at our friend Nana and Mozard's house. Great food again.

Writing all this has made me hungry and I think I will go and grab myself some supper.

Christmas cards

My daughter is delighted. She received loads of Christmas cards from her friends and teachers - for the first time in her life.

We didn't receive that many cards. With the advent of email and e-greeting cards, I guess the tradition of sending cards on festive occasions is slowly dying. It may be the environmentally friendly way as well but I sometimes do miss receiving loads of cards during festive occasions.

Scotland trip cancelled

We were all set to spend a week in Scotland. Had a cottage booked, serviced the car and even bought snow suits for any eventuality - we were hoping that it might snow over there. However, it appears that we won't be able to go. My son is teething - he has four new teeth coming out and is in a great deal of pain. He is not eating and drinking much and we were quite worried when he came down with fever day before yesterday

We had hoped that he would get better by today but that was not to be. He's in a bad mood the whole day and it really breaks my heart to see him grimacing with pain. So we finally decided to cancel the trip. A call to a friend also confirmed our fears - that the money won't be refunded.

It was a bit of a downer but I tried to look at the bright side - we saved on fuel and other expenditure and it's probably too cold to enjoy ourselves over there. A case of sour grapes, I know but it certainly helps us feel better a bit.

My daughter at 4

My darling daughter turns 4 today.

It only seems like yesterday, this small beautiful baby ...


One year old...


Two years old...


And now ...


She's really strong and brave. Looking at her pictures you might not believe that she had just came back home after having two jabs - one on each arm (notice the plasters). One was the DTaP/IPV vaccine for protection against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough) and polio. The second shot was the MMR (against measles, mumps and rubella) and Hib booster dose.

She's wearing all the clips that was sent as a present by her grandparents from Malaysia.

She insists on sharing her cake with her friends at school and so we bought another cake for her to bring along tomorrow.

Kissing her brother Imaan


She's now already in dreamland. Gave her some Calpol before she slept, just in case.

Happy Birthday my Princess

Mama and Baba will always pray for your happiness. Be good.

The kids loving the pool

It has been a great week - bright and sunny. We had bought an inflatable pool from a car boot sale sometime back and never had the chance to use it. Finally got the chance.

It turned out to be much bigger that I thought it would be. It didn't take that long to inflate the pool using the electric pump. However, it did take much longer to fill it up - almost an hour.

My son is turning into an aquatic animal and refuses to come out of the pool. I have to literally force him out it screaming and kicking. I guess it's a wonderful experience for him.

Guest in house

My daughter is now having her summer break. She won't be going back to her playgroup when the holidays are over and instead will be moving to the nursery at the same school. However, not being at school means that she has a lot of extra energy. The first day she was jumping around everywhere and I had quite a hard time controlling her. She's not that bad as compared to some other kids I have seen though.

Fortunately she has something or should I say someone to occupy her. My wife's Italian colleague Roby flew in from Kenya last week and will be staying with us till the 1st of August. Now Rahil follows her everywhere. I try my best to stop her from going into the guest room and disturbing Roby but she will slip off when I am not watching.

Kids!

Personalised gift site for kids

Some people feel that we need to give gifts to children only as a reward for something positive they did. According to them, this would teach them values and doing the right thing. However, I disagree as you can also give them gifts for no particular reason just to say "I love you!" Your child would definitely appreciate that.

Anyway, if you are looking for personalised gifts, there are a number of site where you can provide that personal touch. Personalised childrens' gifts ranging from lunch bags to clocks.

Sleeping princess

To get my daughter to sleep is quite easy, all I have to do is take her for a spin on the car and it won't be long before she dozes off.

Last Sunday afternoon, all of us went to the Pool Meadow bus station to see off Muz. His bus was going directly to Heathrow airport where he was catching a flight for Malaysia.

As we were leaving the house, my daughter made a very serious comment, "Mama, I don't think that I want to live here anymore", while shaking her head (meaning she want's to follow Muz back to Malaysia). I wanted to laugh but held myself as I didn't want to hurt her feelings. Unfortunately for my daughter, she again fell asleep and wasn't able to say bye to her favourite uncle. I say 'again' because she fell asleep when we went to pick him up too.

She was quite upset later when we got back home and found out that Muz had left, crying "I miss Ayah Muz".

We had a dinner party at our friend Lisa and Zur's place and she was quite reluctant to leave the house. Her mood improved considerably after she met some friends around her age (Lisa and Zur's kids).

At the dinner, I meet another avid photographer and blogger. Check out Mama Sarah's blog about life in the UK.

Always your mum's baby

Found another relatively new blog with a lot of interesting posts. "Call Me When You Get There" was started in March this year by Jackie.

One of the posts that made me think is
Bittersweet. She relates her feelings as her son grows up.

I feel awkward when my mum treats me like a kid sometimes, especially when other people are around. However as a father myself now, I realise that in our eyes, our kids will always be the baby that you held in your arms.

Control teenage spending

My kids are still small and I am spending a fair amount of money on them. When I told some of our older friends about this, their reply was "wait till they become teenagers" or something to that effect.

It seems that a lot of teenagers have a problem with handling money. In many cases, I can see that the fault lies with their parents. Most people don't spend enough time with their kids and because they feel guilty, think they can make up by giving their kids money. Teaching your kids to be prudent with their money will definitely help them in the future by establishing smart financial habits.

One great way to teach teens how to manage their money is by using Teen Prepaid cards. With these cards, the parent remains in control. The parent can monitor the spending habits of their teen and can even suspend it if needed. It can prove to be useful in emergencies as the card is a convenient way to give teens money electronically.

Some of the cars can actually teach the kids to instill work ethics. For example the cards from PAYjr's Allowance and Chore System can be a way to pay their teens based upon completion of household task or other goals.

Visit to Twycross Zoo

This Tuesday, I accompanied my daughter to the Twycross Zoo trip organised by her playgroup. As I had suspected, I was the only daddy in the entire bus. My wife was at home looking after our son. But it's OK. It was the first time I had ever been to a zoo with my daughter.

It was fun. I have been to bigger zoos but I liked the fact that we could see of the animals up close through their specially designed enclosures. They have a huge collection of primates.

Here are some pics:

Capybara, the biggest rodents in the World.

Elephants patiently waiting for their feeding time.

First time I saw a giraffe so close.

Rahil suddenly met up with her "best friend". They were hugging and jumping up and down. "Girls!" I thought to myself. They couldn't be kept apart after that and I had to follow them.

Rahil, with here best friend. Trying to communicate with a chimp

Now for some information about the zoo. Twycross Zoo opened in 1963 on a site in Leicestershire. right now it occupies over 40 acres and is one of the major British zoos. The address:
Twycross Zoo
Atherstone
Warwickshire
CV9 3PX
Telephone 01827 880250/880440
Fax 01827 880700

Tags: Capybara Giraffe Twycross Zoo

Gay teletubbies

First it was the popular cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants, which was accused of being "pro-homosexual". Read 'Will Spongebob make you gay?' FYI, I am referring to the contemporary usage of the adjective, "gay" here.

Now, Poland's conservative government is planning to probe if Teletubbies are gay.

Teletubbies, is BBC's popular children's television series and my kids love it.

Ewa Sowinska, the spokesperson for the government appointed children rights was quoted as saying:

I noticed (Tinky Winky) has a lady's purse, but I didn't realize he's a boy.

These people are crazy.

Tags: gay SquareBob SpongePants Teletubbies

Happy Birthday Son

My son turned one yesterday.

We had planned a small party for him but unfortunately he was down with flu and cough. Took him to our GP and he was prescribed antibiotics - first time in his life.

He refuses to sleep in his cot and wants to sleep with us. Was worried that he might tumble off the bed and so we came up with a solution. I have been sleeping with him on a thick duvet on the floor for the past two nights. First night was terrible but he slept through the night yesterday. I woke up early in the morning today to find him kissing my face (with saliva all over).

He's much better today, even though he is still coughing a bit.


New born baby, exactly a year ago....