We need to recognise that every child is different, and appreciate their individual talent. God is fair, He gives some and takes some from us. I'm very blessed to have very independent children. I suppose it's God's way of compensating for the time that I need to spend with Adel.

Adam's a Mr. Popular in school. I reckon he aspires to be a rockstar and footballer rolled into one? He's a all rounder, good in studies and sporty. Sometimes he gets carried away with the attention he gets in school and I have to remind him constantly that his schoolwork should be his priority. Adlan on the other hand, is Mr. Know-All, an intellectual "sponge bob". He doesn't need any prompting for schoolwork and he excels in them effortlessly. He cracks me up too. Just yesterday, his friend at school fell on him and injured his right foot. I received a call from his class teacher informing me on his swollen foot. When he came home, I took him to the TCM for a rub and a bandage then called his teacher to let her know that Adlan would go school the next day with sandals. Guess what, I found out last night that he wore a sandal on his injured foot alone and wore a shoe on the other! No wonder, I couldn't figure out in the morning why he left one side of his unused socks on his
desk! I laughed so hard and asked if anyone thought he looked silly, he just remarked casually that no one noticed! Nayli is an eager learner. Where her peers are still learning to read and write, she can read everything and anything (including my emails or text messages) and writes short letters. She reads all her school circulars and tells me the gist of them. I hardly had to ask her if she finishes her school homework or her Kumom Maths worksheets. She does them as soon as she gets them, sometimes on her way home from school. More than a year ago, while I was busy with Adel, popping in and out of hospital, she was playing with an interactive globe which I had bought for the older boys. She could point to at least 50% of the countries on the globe by self-learning. It was such a "party piece" that I would show her off to people that came to visit. She could pinpoint within seconds where most Asian countries, she could even point to Bosnia, Georgia, Guatemale, Honduras, Czech Republic, Poland and a whole lot of others in South America!! I was impressed. I hope she keeps up with her spirit of learning!

As for Adel, there hasn't been any expectations at all (not that I have high expectations of all my kids). I just want him to be with us for as long as possible. *holding back tears* My greatest fear in life is: (hate to say this).. that should any of my children precedes me... I just want to be there before them. So I can greet them and say, do not be afraid, mama's here..

Okay, I'm starting to ramble...to pen-off today's blog, I'm going to show off one of Adlan's essay "A Blackout" which I so kindly got from his teacher. I was in the dark about this unpolished gem of a writer. p/s can't get the essay to come down here..