Friday, July 24, 2009

i need to post this! :)

Monster with Boobs
By: Maija Threlkeld
(source:
devine caroline)

Lately my five-year-old has been drawing profusely after school. Always with a red crayon. As he draws, he shares aloud the “story” that he is creating. No surprise, there’s at least two “blasts” and lots of “pew-pew” shooting sounds mixed with rockets, fireballs, and something called blasters.

By the time the narration ends, his drawing is covered with a swirl of red hiding the layers of events underneath. These action-filled abstracts add excitement to our bulletin boards.

Today as I sifted through the basket holding the drawings—with three children it’s spilling over by day’s end, I was startled by a red outline of a creature with distinct boobs, areola included. I knew my son’s artwork had evolved to the current potato stick people stage, but so far there hadn’t been any detailed anatomy. The one time I had thought a potato person had been “enhanced,” I was quickly informed, “That’s his gun on his belt.” Oh.

But these were clearly boobs. Long, droopy boobs in need of a serious breast augmentation. The only boobs he seems to focus on are his Mom’s so this wild-eyed monster creature with hanging boobs is meant to be
me. And here I thought mine were well, still relatively perky.

Motherhood has its share of indignities but this just sucks.

What a vision too. I commanded the entire vertical sheet. My feet stood on the paper’s edge and my swirly hair graced the other. My body was one enormous vertical square from which the boobs slung over like straps off a saddle. My arms (drawn as thin lines, but what does that matter now) were raised from my sides, topped with circles depicting my hands and jutting out stick fingers. I appear to be wearing pants and heavy boots or shoes.

All femininity shot to hell. To my son, I am Hulk Mom.

At least at my side is an adorable cat, or what appears to be one. The cat’s smiling, whereas I have a serious straight mouth. I look angry. My mind darts to all of the recent battles of wills and scoldings and challenges. Obviously it’s been too much for my poor little boy: this monster mother overpowering the page must mean he is overwhelmed by me.

I feel William’s warm cheek as he peeks over my shoulder and then catches my eye, happy to find me admiring his artwork so intently.

“See Mommy? It’s Mario!”

“Mario? Mario, the character from Nintendo?”

“Yeah!” he beams back.

“But what are … What
is this?” I carefully inquire, pointing gingerly toward the areola of one boob.

“Those are his BUTTONS!” William cheerfully hollers before scampering off to draw some more.

So much for art therapy. My femininity—and perky boobs—are reclaimed. For now.


==============

hahahha.. lawak giler...

aku pun ada cerita iras-iras mcm ni...

ada satu malam tu, iqbal tiba-tiba cakap, 'omi ada titik!' sambil tergelak2 menengok aku.

aku terkejut sebab dengar dia sebut 'tetek'. aku nak marah jugakla, tapi aku tanya balik, 'titik apa?' dengan muka berkerut.

dia jawab, 'tu, titik kat kaki!' dan sambung gelak.

laaa... dia tunjuk taik lalat kat kaki aku rupanya.... aduyaii...

multi-lingual

Unraveling how children become bilingual so easily
(source:
yahoo news)

WASHINGTON – The best time to learn a foreign language: Between birth and age 7. Missed that window?

New research is showing just how children's brains can become bilingual so easily, findings that scientists hope eventually could help the rest of us learn a new language a bit easier.

"We think the magic that kids apply to this learning situation, some of the principles, can be imported into learning programs for adults," says Dr. Patricia Kuhl of the University of Washington, who is part of an international team now trying to turn those lessons into more teachable technology.

Each language uses a unique set of sounds. Scientists now know babies are born with the ability to distinguish all of them, but that ability starts weakening even before they start talking, by the first birthday.

Kuhl offers an example: Japanese doesn't distinguish between the "L" and "R" sounds of English — "rake" and "lake" would sound the same. Her team proved that a 7-month-old in Tokyo and a 7-month-old in Seattle respond equally well to those different sounds. But by 11 months, the Japanese infant had lost a lot of that ability.

Time out — how do you test a baby? By tracking eye gaze. Make a fun toy appear on one side or the other whenever there's a particular sound. The baby quickly learns to look on that side whenever he or she hears a brand-new but similar sound. Noninvasive brain scans document how the brain is processing and imprinting language.

Mastering your dominant language gets in the way of learning a second, less familiar one, Kuhl's research suggests. The brain tunes out sounds that don't fit.

"You're building a brain architecture that's a perfect fit for Japanese or English or French," whatever is native, Kuhl explains — or, if you're a lucky baby, a brain with two sets of neural circuits dedicated to two languages.

It's remarkable that babies being raised bilingual — by simply speaking to them in two languages — can learn both in the time it takes most babies to learn one. On average, monolingual and bilingual babies start talking around age 1 and can say about 50 words by 18 months.

Italian researchers wondered why there wasn't a delay, and reported this month in the journal Science that being bilingual seems to make the brain more flexible.

The researchers tested 44 12-month-olds to see how they recognized three-syllable patterns — nonsense words, just to test sound learning. Sure enough, gaze-tracking showed the bilingual babies learned two kinds of patterns at the same time — like lo-ba-lo or lo-lo-ba — while the one-language babies learned only one, concluded Agnes Melinda Kovacs of Italy's International School for Advanced Studies.

While new language learning is easiest by age 7, the ability markedly declines after puberty.

"We're seeing the brain as more plastic and ready to create new circuits before than after puberty," Kuhl says. As an adult, "it's a totally different process. You won't learn it in the same way. You won't become (as good as) a native speaker.

"Yet a soon-to-be-released survey from the Center for Applied Linguistics, a nonprofit organization that researches language issues, shows U.S. elementary schools cut back on foreign language instruction over the last decade. About a quarter of public elementary schools were teaching foreign languages in 1997, but just 15 percent last year, say preliminary results posted on the center's Web site.

What might help people who missed their childhood window? Baby brains need personal interaction to soak in a new language — TV or CDs alone don't work. So researchers are improving the technology that adults tend to use for language learning, to make it more social and possibly tap brain circuitry that tots would use.

Recall that Japanese "L" and "R" difficulty? Kuhl and scientists at Tokyo Denki University and the University of Minnesota helped develop a computer language program that pictures people speaking in "motherese," the slow exaggeration of sounds that parents use with babies.

Japanese college students who'd had little exposure to spoken English underwent 12 sessions listening to exaggerated "Ls" and "Rs" while watching the computerized instructor's face pronounce English words. Brain scans — a hair dryer-looking device called MEG, for magnetoencephalography — that measure millisecond-by-millisecond activity showed the students could better distinguish between those alien English sounds. And they pronounced them better, too, the team reported in the journal NeuroImage.

"It's our very first, preliminary crude attempt but the gains were phenomenal," says Kuhl.But she'd rather see parents follow biology and expose youngsters early. If you speak a second language, speak it at home. Or find a play group or caregiver where your child can hear another language regularly."You'll be surprised," Kuhl says.

"They do seem to pick it up like sponges."


=============================

yup, children learn and absorb everything quickly, not just on languages.

aku pun konon2 nak jugakla latih anak2 aku ni bercakap b/inggeris di rumah. i mean with proper sentences and correct grammar. bukan manglish yek, bahasa rojak bukan termasuk kategori 'bilingual' (w/pun aku selalu jugak merojakkkan bahasa :).

aku teringat kat Iman, masa dia umur 4-5 thn, after watching playhouse disney channel all day long; he just shouted 'hey, wait for me!' when he was left behind. Of course children love to copy and imitate others, but citing the phrase at the right moment meaning that they really understand the words.

and a few days ago, iqbal said, 'omi, may i borrow your water' when asking for a plain water to drink. hehehhe. muka serius pulak tu.

ayu? part ni ada konfius sikit. bila kita cakap 'are you....', dia perasan kita panggil nama dia, 'ayu'. mcm mana tu?

Thursday, July 16, 2009

freezing

apesal sehari dua ni ofis aku sejuk giler? harus aku bawak comforter esok. dah pakai jaket pun terasa sejuk sampai ke tulang! *gigil*


[spelling frenzy]
sejak hujung minggu lepas, dari bukak mata sampai tutup mata, si ayu tak habih2 mengeja. dah la tu, siap jerit2 sebijik mcm kat sekolah dia! bingit betul. setakat ni dia berjaya eja perkataan yg mudah2, sukukata yang mengandungi satu atau dua huruf. kalau masuk tiga huruf, dia kata dia tak belajar lagi. heh heh..

N, A = naaa... S, I = sik... NASIK!
A = aaa... B, H = bah... ABAH!
B, A = baaa... P, A = pak.. BAPAK!

lagi satu, ni mmg aku kurang faham..

U = uuu... M, I = miii.... UMI!
B, E, N, ten... BEN-10!
A = aaa.. B, A, H = bah... ABAH! (dah betul eja ABAH)
UMI BEN-10 ABAH!

bila aku tanya kat ayu, ape bende 'umi ben-10 abah' tu?
dia jawab: sebab, Iman Hariz Bin Hazril. Umi Ben-10 Abah lah.

hmm... adakah dia ingat Ben-10, Bin dan Binti tu semuanya sama? entahla labuu...

tapi cute jugak tengok mulut dia terkumat kamit bila kita bagi dia perkataan suruh eja. dia akan sebutkan huruf vokal dulu, kemudian baru dia padankan dgn huruf konsonan yg menghasilkan bunyi tu.

kalau aku suruh eja BU, dia akan bunyikkan U dulu, baru kemudian dia tambah B, U= buuu...
heh heh.. really cute!



[weddings]
having witnessing many weddings of close relatives, iman, iqbal dan ayu start to speculate on how umi and abah got married.

*aku mencuri dengar sambil tersengeh2 menahan gelak*
iman: masa omi dgn abah kawin, iman kan jadik baby. ayu dalam perut abah, iqbal dalam perut umi.
ayu: ayu masa tu kecik sangat. ayu tak tengok omi dgn abah kawin. ayu kena tinggal dgn bibik.
iqbal: iqbal pun tak tengok omi dgn abah kawin. masa tu iqbal kena tinggal kat tangkak, dgn atuk mama, dan atuk ude.

hehehhe... memandai-mandai je korang yek...

Friday, July 10, 2009

uke

ayu's now yapping a lot! kadang2 aku tak tau ujung pangkal cerita dia. dan kadang2 tu, aku hanya mampu memandang, bemused by her non-stop talking sambil berkata dalam hati, 'apahal lah budak ni tak berenti bercakap. bingit betul telinga.. nak tengok tv pun tak boleh.'

of coz le aku tak cakap mcm tu kat dia. heh heh. kadang2 aku angguk kepala. kadang2 aku cakap, 'hmmm..' atau 'iye?'. in approriate places.

kalau abang iman cakap pasal pensel, si ayu pun sebok la cerita kawan dia ada pensel barbie. warna pink. kalau abang iqbal cerita pasal kawan dia kat sekolah, si ayu pun sebok cerita pasal kawan dia kat sekolah jugak. dah sah2 diorang satu sekolah yg sama, mestilah diorang berkawan dgn org yg sama, dan cerita pun cerita yg sama kan?

malam tadi aku tanya, 'iqbal dgn ayu makan apa kat sekolah tgh hari tadi?'
iqbal jawab: ikan.
ayu jawab:
omi, tadi kan.. kat sekolah kan.. ayu makan kaki ikan. cikgu bagi kaki ikan kat ayu. tapi ayu tak nak sebab ayu tak suka makan kaki ikan. ayu suka makan ikan sahaja. kaki dia ayu taknak.

jawapan yg panjang lebar dan terperinci. dah besar sok boleh tulis novel. eh, kejap. sejak bila ikan ada kaki?

dan hari tu abah tanya ayu: 'ayu suka main dgn patung barbie ke?'
ayu jawab:
tak. kadang-kadang ayu suka main dgn patung barbie. kadang2 ayu tak suka. suke tak suke jadik uke. uke tu apa?


[shortcut]
ayu dah ambik shortcut. tak pass lagi tulis ABC sampai Z, dia dah pandai membaca dan mengeja. anak ke-3 dgn abang2 yg rapat2 umurnya mmg mcm ni kot, cepat catch-up. in fact i don't remember sitting down with ayu reading ABC. mungkin sebab aku dah tak larat nak ulang lagi ABC lepas iman & iqbal. bila aku ajar iman & iqbal membaca, dgn ayu2 sekali aku ajar baca buku. heh heh.

malam tadi ayu eja:
M-A, MA...... T-A, TA........ MATA.......
M-A, MA...... T-E, TE......... MATE...

heh heh. mmg terer.


[konpius]
iqbal konpius. mengapa ejaan lain daripada sebutan. dia tanya "'A' tu bunyik dia 'WA' ke? kenapa 'seluar' jadik 'seluwar'? kenapa 'keluar' jadik 'keluwar'?"

dan iqbal konpius ejaan english. dia tanya aku hari tu, 'kalau eja pensel dalam english, pen-cil ke, pen-sale? dua-dua boleh ke?'.

dan, 'kalau 'PU' dalam bahasa inggeris, sebut dia 'PA' ke? kenapa sebut 'pazel' (puzzle)?

berbuih2 aku menerangkan tentang ejaan dan sebutan ni. entah dia faham ke tak. last2 aku bukak dictionary program kat h/phone aku, bagi dia sendiri dengar sebutannya mcm mana. lama2 nanti ok la kan?

Thursday, July 02, 2009

the show..


I'm just a little bit
caught in the middle
Life is a maze
and love is a riddle
I don't know where to go
I can't do it alone
(I've tried)
and I don't know why

Slow it down
make it stop
or else my heart is going to pop
'cuz it's too much
Yeah, it's a lot
to be something I'm not
I'm a fool
out of love
'cuz I just can't get enough

I'm just a little bit
caught in the middle
Life is a maze
and love is a riddle
I don't know where to go
I can't do it alone
(I've tried)
and I don't know why

I am just a little girl
lost in the moment
I'm so scared
but don't show it
I can't figure it out
it's bringing me down
I know
I've got to let it go
and just enjoy the show

The sun is hot
in the sky
just like a giant spotlight
The people follow the sign
and synchronize in time
It's a joke
Nobody knows
they've got a ticket to that show

Yeah
I'm just a little bit
caught in the middle
Life is a maze
and love is a riddle
I dont know where to go
I can't do it alone
(I've tried)
and I don't know why

I am just a little girl
lost in the moment
I'm so scared
but don't show it
I can't figure it out
it's bringing me down
I know
I've got to let it go

and just enjoy the show
oh oh
Just enjoy the show
oh oh

I'm just a little bit
caught in the middle
life is a maze
and love is a riddle
I dont know where to go
I can't do it alone
(I've tried)
and I don't know why

I am just a little girl
lost in the moment
I'm so scared
but I don't show it
I can't figure it out
it's bringing me down
I know
I've got to let it go
and just enjoy the show

dum de dum
dudum de dum
Just enjoy the show
dum de dum
dudum de dum
Just enjoy the show
I want my money back
I want my money back
I want my money back
Just enjoy the show
I want my money back
I want my money back
I want my money back
Just enjoy the show

p/s: mula2 aku dengar lagu ni kat radio, ingatkan Yuna yg nyanyi. rupanya org lain. tapi lagu ni pun best jugak layan.