.: I am Irfan :.

I was supposed to see Shahid at Nenek's house today.
But poor Shahid came down with an infection and has been in the ICU for the past few days.

Be strong, Shahid, and get well quick.
Abang Irfan wants to play with you ...

17 May 2008

We woke up early today to visit someone whom I had heard alot about and feel a great affinity with, despite the fact that I have never met him and never will.

Almost exactly a year ago today, while I was still safely cocooned in Mama's tummy, I could faintly hear Ayah as he choked back on his tears while he recounted what a wonderfully generous man this person was; how he always had everyone's welfare (before his) in mind, how he had a wonderfully wicked sense of humour, and how I would have absolutely adored him if I was around.

And sometimes, I can see in Ah Ma's eyes as she plays with me, how she misses him.
And how she wished for him to be here, with her, playing with me, making me laugh, showing me the world through his eyes.

We drove up to Mandai today to visit Ah Kong.

Ah Ma bought him kopi and some cakes, which we laid out on the floor.
And we (Ah Ma, Mama, Ayah, Ah Gu & Ah Gim) all sat there as a family as I showed Ah Gong my new toy car.

Hello Ah Kong, I am Irfan.
We all miss you.

If you don't know my Ayah, you wouldn't know that he's nuts about music.
He is especially nuts about Radiohead and his favourite Radiohead song is called Weird Fishes. (Yes, I think it's a pretty bizarre song title too. You're not alone. :))

Coincidentally, I was on Youtube recently and came across this video:



And that gave me an idea.
Maybe I'll surprise Ayah by singing him his favourite Radiohead song on his birthday!

*clears throat* You have to excuse me now ... I have a song to memorise...

p/s: The actual song can be heard here:



p/p/s: After seeing the videos, I finally know why Ayah sometimes shakes his head from side to side when listening to music. He's doing a Thom Yorke!!

For Mama's first Momma's Day, I wanted to do something really special for her.
The only problem is I can't walk, have barely mastered getting my thumb and index finger to meet and have the language mastery equivalent of the Teletubbies.

Thank god for Ayah and the power of subliminal messages, though.

Ayah once told me that Mama and him used to give each other hand-made cards.
"What a cool idea!" I thought.
I decided I'll do the same for Momma's Day.

So, a few nights ago while Ayah was blissfully snoring away, I sidled up beside him and whispered into his ears, telling him specifically to get a card (preferably with cats in it because Mama loooooooooves cats) and some fancy paper to decorate the inside.

Eventually, Ayah found himself at Borders, bought a card with a really cute cat on its cover and decorated the inside with an equally cute picture of me.
Nice! Well done, Ayah!

(cover) ...............................................(inside)





















Mama's face totally beamed when I gave her the card on Sunday morning!
I'm so happy that my card made Mama happy.

Mama, when I grow up, I promise I'll make more cards and gifts for you, ok?

But before that happens, Ayah, I guess I'll still need you to back me up a few times more! hehe
Thank you, Ayah! ;)

wow!!!
what a day today has been!!
I can't wait to let everyone know how we celebrated Mama's first Mother's Day (p/s: i love you, Mama!! :) :) :) ), but it's late and I'm tired from being out all day.
I'll keep it short for now but I promise I'll write more another time.

Here's a teaser of what we did today:
+ surprised Mama with a handmade card
( picture to be uploaded soon)

+ had Momma's Day lunch with Nenek, Pak Long & Family, and Pak Ngah & Family. I had a great time discussing the finer points of pushing a toy car with Abang Shahrin. He's got mad skills!! (Ed's note: For the benefit of the uninitiated, mad skills/z means "To be able to do/perform amazing/unexpected things". For e.g. "I gots me mad skillz, yo". To be said after performing an extraordinary feat. Courtesy of Urban Dictionary.)
















+ saw baby Shahid for the first time!! Hello, Shahid!!! Abang Irfan can't wait to play with you!!
















+ had Momma's Day dinner with Ah Ma, Ah Gu and Ah Gim. Ayah got himself a complimentary dessert because his fish was bad. Hooray for Ayah!! (no hooray for the bad fish, but double hooray for the delicious fudge!!)

















+ help Ah Ma choose the birthday gift that she's going to give me!! :) :) :)
No. The slide is not the gift. The tricycle is. But I love it all the same because it's from Ah Ma!! thank you, Ah Ma!! (Note: I haven't actually received the gift yet, considering my birthday's not until 3 weeks later. But you can't really blame the soon-to-be-year-old for getting excited, can you?)






















sigh ... I wish the day would never end ...

once again ...
IRFAN LOVES YOU, MAMA!!! *cheeky smile* (note to Mama: you know which smile I'm talking about, don't you? *cheeky smile*)
sweet dreams ...

Ayah told me the other day that even though he used to sing and play bass for a band, he had always wanted to play the drums.

Recently, Ayah's been going to YouTube alot to watch videos of people playing drums on a Playstation 3 game called Rock Band, and practice drumming along.

Which ultimately led to my first drum lessons.
At the ripe old age of ... 11 months.
Ayah figures that it's never too early to start, and who knows, I might like it too.
And who cares if we had to double up a beat up dictionary and pencil case as a makeshift "drum set".
Anyways, I DO think it is kinda fun! :)



On a separate note, methinks this post is Ayah's lame attempt at convincing Mama to allow him to buy a PS 3 and Rock Band game.
Mealsothinks it is not going to work.
Nice try though, Ayah.
Hurhur

hmmmm ....
IN-teresting ...

Dear babies,

There will come a time in your young life when you will be faced with the following challenging situation:

• you are rolling around on your Mama's bed
• when the sight of a fallen hair on the floor catches your eye
• and you are overcome by the uncontrollable urge to make a dash for it, grab it and put it in your mouth

An industry survey have found that a situation as described above is the root cause for 63.8% of all workplace injuries.
An analysis of the survey results reveal a most simple reasoning:

Inexperienced babies do not know how to dismount safely from a 60cm (or higher) platform

Now, I don't know about you, but I personally feel that the possibility of getting injured is an unacceptable reason for getting in the way of a fallen hair!

I have thus done a video tutorial designed to teach babies how they can have their cake (or hair/rubber band/dirt/etc) and eat it too. And in a safe way, too. Enjoy:





Here's a step-by-step guide:
1. Position yourself approximately 45cm away from the edge of the platform from which you will be dismounting
2. Face the opposite direction of the aforementioned edge
3. Lie down flat on your stomach
4. Pretend you're Spiderman
5. Pretend you're Spiderman scaling down a building and move backwards towards the edge
6. Slowly go over the edge until you can feel both your feet planted firmly on the ground
7. Smile :)

The last 11 months that I spent in the booming "Being A Baby" industry have provided me with a wealth of experience, which no amount of money can buy.

I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to learn from the best; folks that are proven experts in this field, folks who have "been there, done that".

For that, Mama and Ayah, I can't thank you enough.

In order to "pay forward" the good fortune that I have had, I decided to come up with a guide for all those aspiring to enter the very exciting but very challenging "Being A Baby" industry.

This guide, which comes in a book and an accompanying VHS tape (pardon me, I'm ol-skool), will contain valuable insights to surviving and excelling in the industry.

I sincerely hope all the aspiring babies out there will benefit from this book.

This book (and videotape) is available FREE at all good mama shops.

11 months, that is.

Mama and Ayah find it hard to believe that it has been 11 months already.
It seemed to them like only yesterday that I was still a busy little soldier kicking away in Mama's tummy.

But here we are.
From a slimy, wrinkly, curious, little blob (ed's note:according to Ayah) 11 moons ago, I have now grown to a .... still slimy (no thanks to my constant dribbling), but not so wrinkly, more curious than ever, but not-so-little ... boy!
Quite a big step from a blob to a boy, innit?
Heh.

From a helpless little infant who needed Mama and Ayah to carry me everywhere and do everything for me, to an independent (if I may say so myself) toddler who can wobble to the bookshelf to grab my favourite book, drink from a straw and get down safely from the bed all by myself!

Now, if only I can master this tricky little thing called walking ... *evil snigger*

I am Irfan.
And this is my blog.

This blog is 11 months late and it's all Ayah's fault.

"But that's cool" Ayah said.

I'm not sure what that means .... but i guess that's cool, too.
I'm sure I'll get it in time.

11 months have passed and there are so many things that I need to share.
But I need to sleep now.

So....
Be cool.