Let It Go Adeelia!

Undoubtedly, our children’s firsts will always bring excitement to the parents. The first smile, first word, first step, first tooth and the list will go on and on. Nevertheless, whatever milestone, achievements or occasion, it will definitely make us, the parents to squeak with joy, brimming with pride and happiness. Aren't parenting make us more sentimental?

So the last couple of weeks had been about Adeelia’s few firsts. First, it was her first school concert. Adeelia just loves to perform. I suspected that she had watched Barney and Hi-5 a little too much that she might think that we are all living in a musical-where-everything can-turn-into-a-song world..hehehe.

Even though we had seen her voluntarily performing ‘Let it Go’ (well sort of, the lyrics was quite a mouthful, right?) during family gatherings, on top of her thousands of times rendering the song in the house and in the car, attending her first school concert was still exciting as we got to see her perform as a group, in a more formal occasion. Furthermore, Adeelia had been working really hard for the concert. She practiced the lyrics and the act that been taught by the teachers everyday at home complete with the opening chant! We heard it too much that MH and I had memorized both the lyrics of 'Rama-rama' and 'Bismillah & Alhamdulillah' ourselves!

While waiting for their turn to perform

Watching her so diligently practicing, we decided to further boost her morale by giving her full support and encouragement. We asked her about the preparation every day. Since it was musim demam and the kids were prone to catch a flu or bad cough, we made sure that she avoided icy drinks prior to the 'big' day and she even voluntarily gave up her favourite ice-cream because she didn't want her voice from 'rosak', hehehe. See the effort? We also got her a new blue jubah for the concert to match with her blue school tudung. Well, actually that was because I can't stand a mismatched outfit...hahaha. We were so impressed with her effort that I practically harassed the teachers by asking about the date of the concert every other day until they blasted out the information. Talked about being a pushy mom =) 

Adeelia with her proud  Mama =)

Receiving her prize

With her BFF: Aina

The following week, was Adeelia's first time entering a contest. Muslimah Cilik Fashion organized by Taman Equestrian Putrajaya. It was my sister in law who suggested Adeelia to enter the competition along with her daughter, Regina. As we didn't really have any plan for that weekend, plus MH got to work, so I said yes. 

The event: Mahabbah Horse Carnival

As excited as any mom could be, I rummaged through her wardrobe that instant only to find that she had nothing to wear! It happened that my colleagues and I went to check out the new shopping attraction - IOI City Mall Putrajaya after work on Wednesday, so I did a little shopping for her, hehehe. Adeelia was so lucky that her great aunties from work had helped me out to pick up her attire for the contest. We unanimously decided getting her to wear a dress or gown was too cliche, so we put together a more hipster look. And this is it:

Adeelia with cousin Regina 

The rest of the participants - Muslimah Cilik

She got the 4th place (even though I secretly think she deserves better, *devil grins* but who doesn't right?) But we had fun at the carnival despite the heavy raining. After the show, we watched the horse-back archery demo and left for home as I got another wedding to catch that night. 

Overall, it was a great experience for both Adeelia and us, the parents. Yes, she didn't get to be the lead singer for the performance, didn't collected as many prizes for her achievements at school and wasn't in the top 3 for the fashion contest, but the whole thing has given us some invaluable experience. 

For me, I learn a lot about her character through out the whole experience. I am so proud that she was so calm and collected during the process, while her over-protective and over-action Mama got all nervous and excited about the whole thing..hehehe. I also realize that she's now a big girl (sob..sob) and knows exactly what she wanted. She refused to wear the headband ala Erica from Suamiku Encik Sotong that I had got for her (no matter how hard I insisted!) and chose to wear a different hijab style for the fashion contest instead.

The exposure helps her to understand the importance to focus on the task given - in this case it was to sing her heart out while doing the act for the song or sashaying in a the fashion show while some kids got distracted hehehe. I also believe that by joining such activities will help to make her more confident, sociable and to adapt easily into different situations. The most important thing is we want to inculcate to her that efforts should count more than the results. I definitely don't want her to be so kiasu in life that she forget the values and the real essence of life. Insha Allah...