Questa è Enida

I was not going to write about Raya anymore today, to be frank. I was pretty content to leave it for another year before I let it get to me again. But it is still in the air. My homesickness is still affecting my moonlady-ness. Or is it the other way around?

I still reward myself with one Batang Buruk each time after doing dishes. Thanks, Tuan Nor! And dinner tonight was the Raya leftovers. Not to mention that all sms updates from family and friends today revolved around who went Raya-ing where. Well, I guess I’ll indulge a tiny wee bit more.

Baju Raya-wise this year is a re-run for all of us, The Johnsons. Yes, I am stating the obvious, rather obviously. I am glad, nonetheless, that Kitreena still thinks of the world about her dress that she herself hand-picked at a place in Bangi last year. She did make a comment about the sleeves getting shorter when she had it on yesterday.

I should just let her wear this Baju Raya whenever she wants from now on, Raya or not Raya, before it shrinks on her. While the long sleeves may never be short sleeves, as  I hope she never grows hands longer than 50 inches, I can almost see the dress becoming the most beautiful Jackfruit Wrap within the next two years. Imagine a purple karong nangka, with beads, labucci and glitters summore!

Kitreena has grown and gone through quite a bit between mid-July and this Raya, you see. Since we got her a T-scooter when we came back from Malaysia, she has been a rider. A good one at it too, I must say. So good that it inspired me to get a T-scooter for myself! Yes, these days I send her to school riding it! I see no other mothers riding anything else but their big fancy cars. I guess that’s why Kitreena’s classmates thought I was a cool Mom! Woo hoo!

And within the last 2 weeks Kitreena has also been riding her bike without the training wheels. This girl is funny when it comes to milestones. She had been riding her bike (training wheels and all) since her 3rd birthday. Yeah, pre-Edrick era! Recently when we saw that she could balance on the T-scooter well, we nudged her into losing the training wheels. She got so scared and was so not willing to try that she totally abandoned her bike!

We then coaxed and cajoled her with a pair of roller-blades. Within just two hours of putting the fresh-from-the-shop pair of RBs, she was already gliding down Pokrovsky Boulevard leaving me green with envy! (I have mine too since 2003, but had been too scared to fall on my big 72kg butt back then. I admit that I am now so motivated by the jealousy towards Kitreena’s ease at picking up the speed and balance, I’ve signed up for ice-skating class! Yes, my butt is almost 15kg lighter now. And yes, I digressed!)

To cut another of Kitreena’s riding stories short… one late afternoon about two weeks ago, Daddy just lost patience with his daughter’s fear. He took the training wheels off of Kitreena’s bike, put her helmet on and just forced her to pedal it! As though she had been practising all these years in secret, Kitreena just rode off! Yeah again, gliding down Pokrovsky Boulevard leaving Daddy with his jaw dropped to the ground and Mommy with her eyes rounder than a rounder’s field!

We should not have been surprised, really! Kitreena had done the very same thing when she started to walk. As a baby, she was extremely cautious and got tremendously easily frustrated when she kept on falling. So cautious that she refused to even try to walk. It took her 2-3 months before she got tired of sitting and crawling. One day, she just picked herself up and started walking!

I hope she wouldn’t just pick our car keys tomorrow and start driving around Moscow looking for the Malaysian Embassador’s house. After all, she was very disappointed yesterday for not getting her Raya’s servings of Keputat! Did I tell you she wanted spaghetti with Sambal Tumis Udang for her school lunchbox today?

Aaahhh my Malaysianized Canadian monchie!