WAN MIKHAIL’S FIRST HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI

(Forgive me for this extremely belated post... Been too busy spending time with Mikhail, didn't have time to spare for his blog!)

Mikhail was born in the month of Syawal last year. I remember celebrating raya with my HUGE belly and stuffing myself with lemang, lodey, rendang, nasi dagang etc with the excuse that ‘baby nak keluar dah ni… mengidammm…” I couldn’t find a proper baju kurung to fit my 9-month belly and was to malas to tempah one. But I found a gorgeous outfit in a maternity clothes store – black maxi with black and white batik gown – that I could wear comfortably during pregnancy and even after.

Anyway, this year, I left buying my baju raya to the very last minute. 2 days before raya, actually. Not because I wasn’t bothered with raya, but because I was concentrating more on Mikhail’s raya. Courtesy of the Mommy, the GrandMa and the Nenny, the little boy had a variety of raya outfits, 6 pairs of baju melayu with 6 matching sampins and the appropriate headgear (kopiah putih ala pakcik) and 6 pairs of shoes too. I also got him shirts and t-shirts and other assorted accessories. Hehehe, macam main dengan Barbie doll plak.

On the first day of Raya, I was awakened by a handsome young man, dressed in pure white baju melayu with a purple sampin. Hehehe, my husband. He had gotten up early to shower and dress for the morning prayers. After sending him off, I waited for Mikhail to wake up and then bathed and dressed him up in his royal blue baju melayu and black and silver sampin.

Then I saw what everyone else was wearing and decided that Mikhail’s lilac baju melayu with purple sampin would match better. Hehehe… Like I said, macam main dengan Barbie doll.

He was a good little sport and after the change of clothes and the combing of hair, he basked in the glory of all the praises, gushes and compliments donned upon him by his GrandMa, Atuk, Uncles and Aunties.

Once the men got back from the mosque, we had our breakfast of lemang, ketupat, rendang and laksa johor, courtesy of my mom, the Greatest Cook In The World. After stuffing ourselves, we posed for pictures. Mikhail seemed to know that he had to behave for the picture-taking session and we managed to get a lot of excellent shots around the house. Halfway through, though, Mikhail had a pout plastered on his face and no amount of cajoling could wipe it off.

The highlight of the morning was when Mikhail 'salam' my dad and received his 'duit raya'. The little boy was happily doing it and when he graciously accepted the 'duit raya', all of us started hooting and clapping... which shocked the little boy who then proceeded to pout... then his lower lip trembled... and his eyes watered... and then he burst into tears, bawling his little heart out! We were all sooo amused and spent the next few minutes 'pujuking' him.

We then proceeded to go to Tok Wan’s house (my father’s mother and my only surviving grandparent). Her lodey, nasi impit, sambal sotong, ayam goreng and sirap bandung is another highlight of my raya, sejak zaman kanak-kanak lagi. Again we stuffed ourselves silly while Mikhail was passed around among all the Toks. When they tried to give him 'duit raya', the little guy actually jerked away from the duit raya packet, pouted again and gave us pleading looks. Hehehe, trauma pulak anak aku. But a little bit of coaxing cured him of that. Once that was done, we excused ourselves to drive off to beraya with Wan’s family.

We spent the rest of the day going from house to house, visiting with relatives while Mikhail smiled and laughed and charmed himself a ton of duit raya. He was a brilliant little sport, not fussing and tasting little morsels of the raya cuisine. He’s a big fan of nasi impit with lodey. The little guy had his baju melayu and sampin on for the entire time with no complaints. By the end of the day, we were all pooped and went home to fall into a deep sleep.

The next day, first thing in the morning, we got into a mad rush to pack up for our trip to Cameron Highlands with my family. We were going to stop by in Taiping to beraya with the Perak Clan (my mom's family) at Wan Chor's house (my mom's eldests sister). Mikhail was strapped into his car-seat in the back with Mommy. I was armed with snacks and milk and a bag full of knick-knacks. That was a tip I got from a baby website. Have a bag filled with odd bits and pieces to pass to the baby if he fusses. It worked like a charm!

Mikhail slept most of the way and only woke up to poop and eat. To entertain him, I passed him different items to keep him interested.

It was great fun to feast on good food with the Taiping family. Mikhail had a blast crawling all over the place and being chased by his curly-haired 2nd cousin, Jasmine. After our hungers were satiated and the goodbyes were made, we headed off to continue our journey to Cameron.

Once we arrived, we rested for a bit and then left Mikhail in the suite with the family while Wan and I drove off to Brinchang to get some dinner.

The Cameron trip was filled with good company, good weather (I love the cold, and so does my son) and good food. We especially enjoyed the steamboat dinner with fresh veges. And the highlight of the trip was when we went karaoke'ing. Hehehe, yeah, we did. Mikhail's first karaoke session. He was a good boy, taking turns sitting on everyone's lap while all the warbling was going on. The cutest part was when he was sitting next to his singing Daddy and started clapping his hands and head-banging to the beat! But the moment we held the microphone near his mouth, he froze. Not a word, not a single movement... The little one just froze. Hehehe, stage fright ker sayang?

We enjoyed ourselves during that trip.
It was a nice little getaway before work started after Raya.

For the rest of the Syawal, Mikhail was taken around to 'beraya' and he eased into the groove. He no longer views packets of duit raya as evil and has learned to 'salam cium tangan' when receiving them. He has developed a PASSION for nasi impit and lodey and loves sampling the variety of kuih raya on display. I know some people are probably shaking their heads at me "Apa punya mother, kasi anak makan adult food", but hey... I'm his Mommy. I know what I'm doing, okay, so shushhh :)

I know this is really really really really really late but SELAMAT HARI RAYA MAAF ZAHIR BATIN, EVERYONE!