khitan boys (the circumcised)

For syar'i and/or medical reasons, khitan (circumcision) is a must for (moslem) men.  In our society, it is usually done when boys are around 11 years old.

Untuk alasan syar'1 dan/atau medis, khitan adalah sebuah keharusan untuk seorang laki-laki (muslim). Di lingkungan kami, khitan biasanya dilakukan ketika anak berusia sekitar 11 tahun.

Ar and Ir are 9 but they've asked to have it. We needed to make sure they were ready for this. I mean, it's kinda freaky to know that a part of your penis will be cut a little. But they convinced us they were ready. This has persuaded their cousins Muyas and Azam to have khitan too. 

Ar dan Ir baru 9 tahun, tapi mereka sudah minta. Kami harus berulang kali memastikan bahwa mereka benar-benar siap. Maksudku, agak ngeri kan ya, membayangkan nanti penismu diiris sedikit... Tapi mereka meyakinkan kami, bahwa mereka siap. Ini membuat sepupu mereka Muyas dan Azam, jadi berani dan minta dikhitan juga.

So we gave them what they wanted. Yesterday afternoon the khitan was done by my brother in law, Muyas's father. It was great, like we had a massal khitan. No party nor celebration, but it was merry enough to have grandparents and uncles and aunties and cousins come together to give supports to the brave boys.

Jadi kami ikuti kemauan mereka. Kemarin sore mereka dikhitan oleh kakak iparku yang juga ayah Muyas. Seru, seperti khitanan massal. Tidak ada pesta atau perayaan, tapi cukup meriah dengan embah-embah dan om tante dan sepupu-sepupu berkumpul memberi semangat pada anak-anak pemberani ini.

So glad that the boys didn't cry during the surgery. Brave boys. At night when the anesthesia slowly stopped working, they started feeling the hurt and pain, and cried. But it wasn't too long. I was ready for a long sleepless night, where I might need to fan the hurt penis all night and keep talking to calm down its owner. But it wasn't necessary. They slept tight and so did I.

Tidak ada yang menangis selama operasi. Hanya malamnya, ketika obat bius mulai berhenti bekerja, rasa sakit mulai terasa, mereka mulai menangis. Untungnya tidak lama. Aku sudah siap bakal melek semalaman, mengipasi penis yang kesakitan, sambil terus bicara menenangkan si empunya. Ternyata tidak perlu. Mereka tidur pulas, dan aku juga.

This morning I bathed- well, wiped- them- with wet clothes, and they said it doesn't hurt any more. 

Pagi ini aku memandikan, eh, menyibin mereka, dan katanya sudah tidak sakit lagi.

So one worry has over, one more step of being a parent is passed. Congratulations, big boys!

Jadi sebuah kekhawatiran berlalu, satu tahap jadi orang tua terlewati. Selamat, big boys!

The Graduated

Okay. She's now officially graduated from elementary school, and ready for High School.

 There she is in her graduation day, wearing her graduation gown with kebaya inside. She's the only girl with simple black headdress, while almost all the girls had white headdress with vary accessories and styles. But I think she is beautiful just the way she is.

High School will definitely be different. But I know she'll make it, like she always did.

The Hemorrhagic Conjunctivitis (or something like that)

This should be a common viral eye disease. But when it happens to a 2 years old baby, things become a little more complicated.

It is hard to prevent Dek Aik's hand from rubbing his itchy eyes. Now as it is puffy and scratched inside the eyelid, and bleeding, the doctor said he needs to stay at hospital and have infusion to inject some medicine that should stop the bleeding.

It's gonna be a hard sleepless night. How do I make his eyes open, to rub the ointment every 8 hours, and put the eye drop every 3 hours? How do I make him stay still, so I can put some ice on his eye for 10 minutes every other hour to reduce the puffy eyelid?

No need to question.

***

Nothing hurts you worse than seeing your baby hurt.

The Trio

June 10th was a special day, when I and 9 other writer friends launched our book, an anthology of ten stories for children. This book is a media literacy project by LESPI and Tifa Foundation.

As I wrote a story in it, I also wrote a song based upon my story, with the same title 'Mumpung Tak Ada Ibu' (When Mom Was not at Home). It tells about a girl who secretly watched an adults program on tivi, while her mom was not home. In the end she regret it, for the ghost she watched on TV haunted her around, even into her dream.

The cool thing about this is, Ar and Ir asked me to join Ibit to sing the song and performed at the launch, just because they thought the song was cool. This is fun. I didn't think it was that cool. But my kids loved it. And they who usually refuse to perform, wanted to.

Here is their performance... :D

There was an error with the sound system but the show must go on, and there they go.

Oh and you can see Dek Ai' running here and there. He looked so excited watching his siblings performing :D

The Toy Car

Most baby boys love to play with toy cars, and baby girls love to play dolls.

With his delayed motoric development, playing things has come a little delayed too for Dek Ai'. I introduced him to piano. And ball. And blocks. And rings. And books. For months he was only interested in opening the pages of books without paying any attention to the contents. He likes to hit his fingers on the piano keys. It took times until he finally likes to play with ball and blocks. But not toy cars. I almost gave up.

I brought him several kinds of toy car. Bus. Truck. Sedan. Big. Small. Never attracted him, still. Last week I decided to give it one more try. I gave him this toy-bus-alike-train. He didn't response good at first. Then at least once a day I sit on the floor with him. Put our hands on the toy and push it forward and back ward several times - before he push my hand aside and leave.

One day I run the toy in front of him and it caught his attention.

Last night for the first time, he played with the toy car. I let him do, no interruptions at all. I didn't want to bother the joy he just found. He played with it for almost one hour.

This morning I put other toy cars he refused to play with, before. And he started to like them.

It's not about what toy to play. But I believe playing with toy cars is a part of the efforts to develop his motoric control.

***

Few months ago I was so jealous seeing a friends baby playing with toy car. Now it feels so good to see Dek Ai' doing the same.

He's late but he'll catch up I know.

the hitting sticks

Tiga minggu terakhir ini, setiap sabtu sore ada keriuhan baru di rumah. Ar Ir Ibit dan anak-anak di blok berkumpul dan berlatih bermain perkusi. Ada juga beberapa anak dari luar blok, yang kebetulan sering main bersama.

Ideku mengumpulkan mereka berawal dari hari-hari ketika aku sakit dan harus istirahat di rumah beberapa hari. Aku melihat anak-anak ini bermain sepakbola, petak umpet, kejar-kejaran. Kadang berkumpul di rumah salah satu dari mereka, merubung play station atau main game online di komputer.

Aku melihat energi berlimpah pada mereka. Dan alangkah asiknya jika energi mereka itu disalurkan untuk sesuatu yang terarah. Aku bukan mau bilang, aktivitas bermain yang selama ini mereka lakukan tidak ada gunanya. Tentu saja ada. Semua itu adalah olahraga alami buat anak-anak. Jadi aku tetap membiarkan mereka melakukannya, bahkan kadang aku ikut bergabung main petak umpet bersama mereka.

Orang tua anak-anak ini sepenuhnya mendukung kegiatan yang kuusulkan ini. Hanya saja, kemarin ada satu ibu yang menyarankan untuk tidak mengajak salah satu anak dari luar blok, yang menurut dia nakal dan tidak sopan.

Terus terang aku agak heran. Anak yang dibilang nakal dan tidak sopan ini, sejauh yang kulihat ya biasa saja. Bahkan setiap mau masuk ke rumahku dan mencari Ar Ir, selalu mengetuk pintu dan mengucap salam. Aku melihat sih, dia punya potensi berlaku negatif dan cenderung mendominasi. Mungkin karena dia yang paling tua di 'gerombolan' bermainnya.

Lalu kupikir, mungkin aku yang tertipu dengan sopan santunnya. Sambil lalu (dengan sungguh-sungguh) aku bertanya kepada sekitaran tentang tingkah laku anak ini. Aneh, hampir semua mengatakan hal yang sama. Anak ini nakal dan suka berbohong.

Entah ya. Antara percaya (karena banyak yang ngomong) dan tidak percaya (karena belum lihat sendiri). Kalaupun benar, mungkin ada sebab dia berperilaku begitu, entah apa. Yang jelas sebenarnya dia masih bisa diajak beraktivitas positif, dan harapanku, itu membuat lupa pada kebiasaan buruknya (seperti kata orang-orang).

Pagi ini anak-anak berkumpul. Main badminton. Nonton tivi. Jalan-jalan keliling blok. Sesekali dari mulut mereka keluar suara ketukan yang diajarkan guru perkusinya kemarin sore.

Biar deh apa prasangka orang atas anak-anak ini. Atau mungkin atas aku. Aku sendiri punya masa kecil yang penuh energi dan banyak mimpi. Taman bermainku adalah kebun, tanah lapang, hutan. Perangkat mainku adalah kayu, pepohonan, tanah, batu, pasir.

Jaman dan lingkungan mungkin sudah berbeda. Tapi setidaknya anak-anak ini punya energi dan gairah yang sama besarnya. Mereka bersemangat sekali belajar main perkusi. Selalu datang sebelum gurunya tiba. Dan terus bertanya kapan mereka akan tampil.

Ha. Aku sendiri masih bingung mereka mau kutampilkan kapan dan di mana. Nanti juga ketemu. Bukan soal sulit. Jadi kujawab aja, mereka akan segera tampil, kalau latihan mereka rajin dan selesai berlatih satu komposisi.

Aku juga tidak sabar ingin melihat mereka beraksi.