My Boys :Their Antics gave me headaches

Hello all,

I couldn't sleep well last night. Awake at 04:15am, tossing and turning trying to bring back the sleep without much success. I finally got up, did a sunnah prayer and here I am sitting right in front of my PC. It has the calming effect on me at the wee hours of the day as I didn't hear any noise or sound around me except for the keyboard where my fingers were pressing on it.

In a week's time, Sara will be seating for her final exam in her last year of school. To me and to other parents, this exam will either make or break their future. Her future lies in this exam. She has been studying hard throughout the year and whatever the outcome or result will be,I will always support and love her the same.
As many of you may have knew it , (for  those who followed my blog) I have four children, two boys and two girls. The two boys are the big brother to the girls. I don't know if any of you experiencing the same situation I am (was) in. The girls usually will study religiously or get their homework done without much push or yell for that matter, from us (the parents). I can't say the same words for the boys.

Let's start with my eldest, Ariff.  When he was in the final year, he treated this exam like any other monthly test. He acted so cool that one wondered if he was the genius with a score of over 140 in IQ test. Believe it or not, a day before his exam, we thought of going fishing and leave him at home alone to do some revision in peace. I am sure you guys can guess what happened. He insisted to tag along. This will help to clear his mind prior to sitting the exam, he said. As if he'd been burying his head in books all these while!
After the result came out three months later, he casually walked towards me and got inside the car. It was a nerve-wrecking moment for me. It should be the other way round.
So I asked him, "Well, what did the result says?" I never expect too much from him as I knew the limit of his accomplishment from previous tests and exams.
He replied,"Ok I guess". I pulled the result paper from his hand and squint my eyes over the little printed writing. "You got a D for English and an E for History (I think) and you said "Ok I guess"?
Do you know what's his next words to me? Read this, " Ma, you should be proud of me, it's  Damn good for my English (referring to his D in English) and I got Excellent for my History (referring to his E in History).
I looked at him in total disbelief. Half of me was about to laugh at his stupid dry jokes and half of me was ready to explode. I give up. Good thing I had sent him to this preparatory school, a vocational school when I saw him lagging too much behind others academically. In this school was where he studied his bakery skill and he is now just a step away from being a pastry chef.

He stands at 5' 7", I think, and weighs  about 95kg (equivalent to 209 lbs). Right, now that you can imagine how he'd look like, can you imagine how he'd behave?  One look at him people will definitely think that he was the quiet type and prefer to be on his own. Wrong, he was neither. He'd sing loudly and he'd do things that will irritate his sisters. He's got a big voice and sometimes he intentionally yell their names at the top of his voice. The funny thing is, he is afraid of Sophie. Not afraid as in literally translated afraid. Afraid in a sense that when he mocked or angered Sophie on purposed, and she would dare him to come down from the stair-case, he wouldn't. He kept a watchful eyes on Sophie in case she came after him. And when she did, he ran with his loud thumping sound as fast as he could afraid Sophie might get to him.

There's another thing that I find it both amusing and annoying. He has a little problem in hearing on his left ear. If we were to speak softly to him, we would have to repeat another two or three times. He would sometime use this to his advantage. He pretend not to hear what I was saying in case he didn't feel up to doing what I wanted him to do. One day, he drove me and Sara to do a little grocery shopping since it was his day off. While inside the car, I was saying something nice about him in a low voice. I was sitting at the back seat behind his seat while Sara in a front passenger seat next to him. He turned a little and said to me, "You really think so ma?"
Both Sara and I was amazed with his reaction. I slapped on his shoulder and said, "So you can hear when I said sweet thing about you. What about other times when we talk about you. Can you hear what we were saying?" He gave that sheepish smile which suggested that he did. Like mother like son. I used my sickness to my benefit (refer to my post Using My Sickness to my Benefit ) and he used his imperfection to suit his mood.

Soffian was far worse than his big brother. As you guys may know from my previous writing, he was always looking for trouble or in trouble. He was suspended from attending the school a couple of times. Reason being, smoking and fighting. A few times his cases were highlighted during school assembly and a few times too I had to fetch him from police station after making an official  police report. One police officer was about to take down his report saw my son standing in front of him and said, "You again? And he went on, "a person like you should  seriously think about joining the police force or the army.You fit very well."

There was one time, he was walking with one of his classmate within the school compound and passed by a row of teacher's cars. His classmate said to him, This car belong to one teacher that I can't stand to see her face. Let's scratch her car. My son, always trying to be the hero, picked something from the ground and scratch from the the back towards the front. Right at that moment a passing teacher passed by and saw him doing it.
To cut it short, he was suspended from that school. The story didn't end there. The school disciplinary board had asked him to call us his parents to come to the school immediately. He (Soffian) would always call me for whatever misdeed he'd done because he knew how his dad would react should he inform his dad.
For this case, probably out of panic, he had mistakenly gave my husband's cell number to the school board. Imagine my husband's reaction when he received the call. To my surprise, he didn't hit the roof this time. He merely said, "Your son got into trouble again."

There was one incident which make me laugh even though I wasn't happy with what he did.
As far as I remember, he never finishes his homework. My girl's school bags was always full and heavy with books. Soffian's bag was  always empty except for a few exercise books. One day after school has entered it's first quarter of the year, one of his teachers had gave him warning to finish his geography homework within the next few days. That nite, he called Sara and asked and made her write all the notes and whatever exercise that needed to be completed while he sat and watched his sister doing it for him. See how smart he is. When trapped in one situation, he was quick to find a solution to help him wriggle out from whatever problem he was in. If only he would apply that brain into a useful manner.

He skipped school like its his father's property. Each week, he will give excuses not to attend school. Sometimes when I lost my temper, he'd obediently wake up, take his shower, take a leisurely breakfast while his sisters were fuming having to wait for him, I succeeded in making him arrived safely to school. You think he'd be a nice little boy for that day? Nope, you're dead wrong! The moment I left him in school compound, he together with a few of his close buddies will change their direction. Instead of going to their respective classes, they played truant. They skipped school and went out to do something else such as snooker.
Do you know how I found out about all his antics? From he himself. He will always tell me what mischief he's up to and how he lied to me about many other things. How do one describe this type of character.

He has since left the school, about four years now. But his legacy in that school lives on. Earlier this year, a boy in a junior class was telling all his friends that he was Soffian's brother. He'd go like, " Hey, in case you guys don't know,I am Pian's brother". I wonder how did he get to know about Pian's reputation.
Sara's classmate heard about it and asked Sara if she has a baby brother. She answered no.
Her classmate then told her about the boy who claimed to be Soffian's baby brother.
I don't get it! How could anyone idolize someone like Soffian.

To this day, he is still the same. I am still hoping against all hope that one day he'll grow up and be serious in his life. As for his brother, Ariff, he's matured in recent years but the little boy mischievousness is still inside him.


That's all for today!

Good nite people
Rose (21:43hrs)
29th.Oct '13