The Trophy

Kemarin siang, pembantu gue mengirim SMS;
‘Bu, tolong telepon Helena di rumah.’
Wah tumben nih pembantu gue sms, gue pikir dgn setengah panik.
Mana kerjaan gue lagi urgent2nya.
Langsung gue telp. Eh yg ngangkat pembantu yang satu lagi, ktnya Helena lagi ke rumah opung, jd gue telp ke rmh opungnya.
“Mama, aku dapat piala,” teriak Helena di telepon. “Aku juara satu baca puisi.”
Wah, langsung seneng banget gue!
“Selamat ya sayang,” kata gue. Suara Helena kayaknya happy banget. langsung gue sms suami, suruh dia juga telp anaknya.

Jadi di TK nya helena, ada dua pilihan kontes dalam rangka hari kartini, lomba busana daerah sama baca (deklamasi) puisi kartini dalam bhs inggris.
Waktu mau milih lomba ini, gue tanya sama Helena mau yg mana, katanya mau dua2nya, tapi kan harus milih. Nah dgn beberapa pertimbangan, gue dan suami memutuskan mengisi form lomba dgn lomba puisi.

Pertimbangan gue sih sbb:
1. lomba busana, hanya lomba penampilan fisik semata, bukan karya anak, tp karya /kreatifitas orangtua
2. Lomba puisi, adalah lomba anaknya sendiri, sebab dia yg perform dan hapalin teks, jadi lomba yang pake otak, bukan fisik doing
3. Helena udah beberapa hari hapalin puisi dan udah hapal, tinggal improvisasi dikit (leave it to her mother, hehehe)
4. gue sibuk banget selama weekend jd gak sempet beli perlengkapan lomba busana
5. bukan mau sombong, Helena kan udah cakep, mau dipakein apa aja pasti kece, tapi gue gak mau dia berprestasi hanya di bidang fisikal seperti itu

jadi helena hanya kita selempangin ulos dan dipakein rok ulos serta dikuncir dan dikirim lomba ke sekolahnya.

Begitulah, pagi harinya pas kita nyium dia seblm sklh, gue dan suami bilang: “Semoga juara ya...” tanpa tekanan lho. Lebih ke arah memberi semangat dan harapan.

Di teks puisi itu (mgkn ini intinya), ada kalimat “YOU ARE MY TRUE HERO”, dan di bagian ini gue udah ajarin Helena untuk ngacung tangan tinggi dan teriak pas nyebut “hero” nya. Dan pas latihan di rumah, pembantu2 dan suami gue udah ngakak ngeliat gaya dia yg semanga banget. dalam hati gue juga ada feeling dia bakalan juara puisi ini, walau mgkn gak juara satu.

Gue rasa di sekolah juga pasti gaya puisi helena begitu jdnya, bikin ngakak juri dan penonton, hahaha. Trus bagian akhir puisinya adalah kata2 “I WILL REMEMBER YOU FOREVER”, dan helena menaruh jari di kening, trus gue ajarin Helena tersenyum dengan jari ditaruh di kedua pipi denga senyum centil sambil menekuk lutut menunduk kayak angkat rok tanda mau pamitan kayak penari gitu dan bilang “Thank you madam kartini”.

Sebenarnya laki gue sedikit protes, ktnya gue jgn terlalu banyak improvisasi ntar malah Helena lupa. Tapi kan, buktinya bisa tuh, Yang. Hehehe.

Sebelumnya, minggu lalu, dia pulang sekolah dengan muka sedih. Katanya: “Mama, aku nggak juara,” Di sekolahnya ada lomba menghias telor paskah.
“Oh, nggak apa-apa,” gue bilang. “Lain kali mungkin juara.”
Dan gue rasanya trenyuh ngeliat dia begitu. Toh gue dan suami gak pernah nge-push dia mesti juara. Waktu di sekolah minggu gereja juga, gue sengaja nggak ikut lomba design telor paskah sebab kan mestinya itu karya anak2, ternyata yg bikin ya ortu2nya juga, dan tentu saja Helena gak dapat hadiah apa2. nyari telor subuh2 juga dia gak dapat doorprize karena cuma dapat tiga butir.

Jadi mungkin dia udah merasa dua kali lomba dia gak dapat hadiah, jd agak sedih. Syukurlah akhirnya dapat piala kali ini.
Ini jadi piala dia yang kedua. Piala yang pertama adalah dari sekolah minggu 2thn lalu, sebagai murid ter-rajin, sebab absensinya paling rajin sesekolah minggu-nya, dan ter-aktif, hehehe.

Coba tebak ‘ter-aktif’ itu maksunya apa?
Dia paling rajin jawab pertanyaan guru2 sekolah minggu.
Cth, pernah guru nanya:
"Siapa yang suka malas bangun pagi?"
Helena langsung duluan ngacung dan teriak, “AKU…”
“Siapa yang suka marahin kalian di rumah?” Tanya guru lagi.
Helena langsung jawab: “PAPA…” (pdhl papa-nya ada di situ, hahaha,,,)
“Siapa yang mau berdoa?”
“Akuu..” Helena langsung ngacung.
“Siapa yang mau bawain kantong kolekte?”
”Akuu..” Helena langsung maju.
“Siapa yang susah makannya?”
”Akuu…”
“Ada yang tahu artinya ‘roti hidup’?”
Helena langsung jawab, “Tadi pagi aku sarapan pake roti.”
Hwahaha… guru2 pada ngakak.

That’s my daughter.

boyfriend

one day helena asked:
"Mom, what Jesus called His Dad?"
"Bapa," I said. unsure.
"No," she said, "Jesus must use English, He calls FATHER."
I smiled only.

and in the church yesterday, while waiting her father, she played with TImo, one of her favourite friend in church. when I came to watch them while carrying evan on my hand, she yelled and introduced: "Evan, this is Timo, my boyfriend, hahaha..."

and when we're back home, she laughed in the car and said: "Whenever there's Timo, my boyfriend is Timo, but whenever I'm with Nico, Nico is my boyfriend. I can change whenever I want, hahaha."

oh no. my hubby just laughed. and I just stared at her and rounding my eyes.
who taught her that!!!!

OMG!

singing contest

last weeks, our church held singing competition.
it should be for groups, which includes: grandma/pa+parents+children.
actually, in the first place, it was my mom in law who's willing to participate in this competition. she insisted us to participate, and we're OK, for her sake only. and also because my daughter, helena, likes to sing, so we think this is gonna be a chance for her.
but later, my mom in law is chosen to be one of the judge, so she cant join the competition.
and the rules changed, the groups include parents and children only. and this made me worry. I dont want to participate anymore, you know, I am no good in such performance. its better to ask me to speech or pray in front of the audience than singing, (well... except in karaoke room, I mean). I mean, it only three of us to stand there in front of the audience to sing, my hubby, me and my daughter, and its a little bit scary for me, for i think its much more saver if my parents in law included, the more the merrier.

but the grandma already intentionally taught the song to my daughter. we become the representative of our sector. so we cant step back no more.
until last minute, I still try to ask my hubby to cancell our participation. but he said no, for several reasons. i have no self confident at all. i am sure we'll fail.
until the day of the competition, i still dont memorize the lyrics yet and also has no rehearsal with my team.

maybe, just half an hour, before we go to church, the three of us do rehearsal, and helena also, even still cant memorize the song well either, but the only person who still stays calm and confident is my hubby. thats the reason we still go on.

all i have to do is to prepare our costumes. helena and I wear the same type of pink blouse, and matching it with my hubby pink ham. we go to church, and while waiting for the contest to be started, I pray stupidly, hope that we fail this contest, because if we win, we have to perform again in front of all the church attendee next week on sunday service. so scaryyyyy...

and then its our turn. suddenly I feel so calm, no heart beat or nervous, just let it flow, I think. we stand in front of the audience, and helena between me and her pap. i took the mike and gave one to helena, but guess what's happened!

helena suddenly got nervous and refused to sing, and all she did is just hiding behind my skirt, and the only persons who sang is me and my hubby (actually only my hubby sang the sing because I cant help laughed while holding helena behind me).

we've totally messed it up.
and guess, I felt relief.
we lose it actually. we failed.
but I feel relief.

at least we tried.

then, later I asked why helena refused to sing.
she said, she suddenly got nervous to see the audience stared at her.
well I guess its just because we didn't practise it well, because helena get used to sing with her sunday schools friends and never got nervous like this.

or maybe its because of me, hahahaha....

Helena's question

As Helena grows up, maybe since 3 years something, until now, we feel harder to face her critical level.
Once she asked like this.
"Is that true that Jesus arose from dead?"
Me and husband said yes.
And Helena said, "So, uncle justin will also arise from dead?"
Uncle Justin is my brother which already passed away.
We answered, "Yes, someday."
"Why someday? Jesus already did."
Hahaha. So tough to be a parent...
So difficult to answer her questions.

Other time she asked,
"How's Jesus born?"
"From Maria's, just like you from Mom's," my husband answered.
"And who's His father?"
"Jusuf."
"Jusuf Kalla?"

Hahaha...
We laughed loudly.

Kaizen at home

Improvement should be done at home:

1. Helena should eat more fruits and vegetables
2. Helena should drink more water
3. Helena's undersized clothes should be removed
4. Evan's clothes needs new wardrobe
5. Mom's wardrobe should be re-layout
6. Papa should eat more fruits also
7. Mom should take sleeps more
8. Evan has to be brought to inhale sea air
9. Do 'clipping' of the newspaper, then sale the rest of it
10. Home needs new color painting
11. Mom and Evan should take hair cut
12. Helena needs more english songs lyric to memorized
13. Mom should practise more bataknese
14. Papa should take leave once a month in saturday
15. Mom needs to go to salon, manicure-pedicure and body spa
16. Subscribe NHK channel in indovision for Mom?
17. Evan needs new fruits type for snack
18. The maids need haircut
19. Papa's shirt needs new button
20. Helena wants batik clothes that similar with Pap&Mom's
21. Kids toys needs new bigger basket
22. Print out TV channel schedule to monitoring the kids show
23. Call grandma twice a week, at least
24. Morning walks on weekend for the whole family member!!!
25. Helena needs to go to the swimming pool
26. Buy new bigger book shelf
27. Mom (lately never again) make cake/ice cream on weekend
28. Buy grass cutter
29. Reorganize the flowers and plants
30. Papa should fix the tape recorder
31. Mom should spend more time with neighbours
32. Papa should take excercise
33. Papa should fix the window's nut
34. Mom and Helena should sing more often together
35. Papa should take Evan for morning walk often
36. (so many!!!!)

Forever

It's April 14, 2009 now.

I am creating a blog for my family/kids life's journey.
Something to laugh at when they're growing up,
something to read in happiness.

Love you, Martua, my hubby,
love you, Helena, my daughter,
love you, Evan, my son.

Forever,
Mino