Book of Gendis | Kisah Gendis

Please scroll down for English.

***

Proyek buku spesial untuk Gendis akhirnya selesai juga! Buku yang mirip dengan milik kakaknya, Elang, yang pernah saya buatkan dahulu. (Cerita tentang buku Elang bisa dibaca disini.) Buku yang bisa dibuka kapan saja dan sebagai pengingat siapa dirinya di mata kami.

Buku yang saya buat untuk kakaknya bercerita tentang kegigihan. Sedangkan di dalam buku ini, saya ingin menggarisbawahi bahwa Gendis akan selalu dicintai oleh kami.

Saya sendiri tumbuh sebagai perempuan dan merasa bahwa menjadi perempuan itu lebih banyak tentang permainan menyiasati hormon yang turun naik. Perempuan itu selalu memiliki banyak cinta. Akan tetapi, ada saatnya dia berada dalam perasaan terburuk dalam hidupnya akibat sistem hormonal yang tidak bisa dihindari. Saat hal itu terjadi dan kebetulan saya tidak ada di sisinya untuk mendampingi, saya berharap Gendis akan selalu teringat pesan utama dalam bukunya ini.

Kami mencintaimu, Nak! Kami menyayangimu. Semoga Allah SWT memberkahi.

Isi bukunya bisa diintip di bagian terakhir tulisan ini.

***

The special book project for my little girl, Gendis, has finished, yay! It is the same kind of book I made for her brother before. (Read here for the story of Elang's book. ) The kind of book that she can open anytime and be reminded of how she were in my (our) eyes.

The book I made for the big boy was about being persistence. While for Gendis, I wanted to point out the fact that she was and will always be loved, especially by us.

I myself grew up as a girl and felt that being a girl were more like playing a hormonal mind games. Girl is full of loves, but there will be times when a girl feel like they don't belong anywhere. Some kind of situations when the world seems like falling out into pieces. When it happened, and if I don't happen to be there beside Gendis to get through her worst time, I hope she can get my message through this piece of book.

We love you Gendis. I love you. Barakallah.


Please see below for the content of the book.

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Keluarga Kelinci | Rabbit Family

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Elang si sulung mulai menikmati mengerjakan sesuatu di atas kertas. Menggambar, mewarnai, menjiplak, memasangkan objek, menemukan jalan di labirin, semuanya.

Kesempatan untuk Ibu nih. Saatnya memanfaatkan kebiasaan si bocah yg mulai asik sendiri itu agar Ibu juga bisa sibuk sendiri. Setidaknya begitulah rencananya. Dibuatlah oleh Ibu selembar kertas aktivitas yang temanya seirama dengan si wortel yang dibuat sebelumnya.

Ternyata membuat lembar aktivitas ini cepat dan menyenangkan! Saya membuat prosesnya sesederhana mungkin. Pertama membuat sketsa konsepnya dahulu, lalu memindahkannya sambil menebalkannya di kertas lain. Setelah itu hanya perlu di perbanyak. Siap deh diserahkan pada si anak laki-laki.

Saya membuat rangkap dua lembar. Satunya untuk si adik. Terkadang mereka bertengkar memperebutkan sesuatu. Saya yakin mereka juga akan berebut kertas kelinci ini jika saya hanya membuat satu. Tetapi oh anak-anak, pada akhirnya mereka berebutan juga. Duh!

Rencana Ibu biar bisa konsentrasi ke pekerjaan yg lain juga gagal. Mereka tetap saja datang bolak-balik meminta ditemani mencari si wortel ataupun memaksa meminta Ibu juga ikut mewarnai bersama. Begitulah ya rasanya jadi Ibu para balita. Harus rangkap peran jadi teman main juga hehehe.

Jika ada yang berminat pada lembar aktivitas Elang ini, silakan diunduh dengan menge-klik tombol download di bagian akhir cerita ini. Lembarnya gratis dan bisa dicetak sendiri dirumah. Aktivitas yang bisa dilakukan antara lain menghitung kelinci yang ada, menemukan dan menghitung wortel yang tersembunyi, dan mewarnai. Bisa juga mengarang cerita bersama tentang keluarga kelinci ataupun sebagai pengantar pembelajaran tentang kelinci yang sebenarnya lewat ensiklopedi atau piknik ke peternakan.

Saya akhiri cerita ini dengan pose Elang dengan lembar kelinci miliknya. Sebenarnya dia punya banyak lembar karena dia selalu meminta saya membuat kopiannya setelah dia selesai dengan lembar sebelumnya :D.

Semoga bermanfaat dan selamat bersenang-senang!

***

My oldest started to like to do things on paper. Drawing, colouring, tracing, pairing objects, finding way on labyrinth, everything.

Ibu took advantage of that. When he's busy, I can get busy on myself too, that's my plan. So, to complete the carrot stationary pouch we made previously, I made an activity sheet that went in the same theme, carrots and rabbits.

Turned out it became a fast fun project as I kept it simple in the process. I sketched the concept first, then inked it on another paper, copied it, then it's done, ready to be handed to the son.

Oh I made two copies. Another one was for the younger. They fight sometimes for things. I bet they'ld fight for rabbit drawing too. And they did anyway! Even each of them had already held one on their own! Ibu can only laugh in tear lol.

My plan to be able to be busy on my own was also failing. They kept searching me to accompany them to find the carrots and insisted to do colouring with them too. I guess that's just a nature role of a mother, being your kids playmate lol.

If you interested in having one copy of your own, you can dowload it by clicking button in the end of this post. It's a free printable.

In this sheet, you can make up activities such as counting rabbits, finding and counting the carrots, and colouring. You can also make up stories about the rabbit family, even using it as a preambule in learning about rabbit before opening encyclopedia or going to the farm.

I'm ending this post with the picture of Elang with his sheet. He had plenty of sheets anyway as he kept asking me to make another copy as he finished one. Wishing you a good time!

***

Keluarga Kelinci | Rabbit Family

Lembar aktivitas | Activity sheet

Untuk mengunduh, silakan klik tombol di bawah ini | To download, please click the buttons below

 

Copyright STORYFOREL 2016

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Hariku | My Day

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***

Dalam tahun-tahun hidup saya, saya merasa mendapat banyak keuntungan dengan memiliki Islam. Yang utama adalah, saya merasa bahwa mengetahui dan mempraktekannya membuat saya merasa lebih baik di setiap keadaan hidup yang saya hadapi. Tentu saja, saya ingin mewariskan hal ini kepada anak-anak saya.
Hal yang paling mendasar dalam Islam adalah tauhid atau keesaan. Mengetahui siapa yang harus disembah dan siapa yang harus dimintai pertolongan. Hal ini harus jadi pondasi dasar di pikiran dan hati anak dalam hidupnya.

Dalam usia mereka yang mendekati 2 dan 4 tahun, menyampaikan sebuah logika dalam cara dan bahasa yang sederhana adalah sebuah keharusan, terutama dalam memperkenalkan Allah SWT sebagai satu-satunya Tuhan dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Tentu saja, cara termudah memperkenalkan Sang Pencipta adalah melalui apa yang telah diciptakanNya. Dan hari yang telah dijalani ini juga merupakan ciptaan-Nya.

Saya mendapati bahwa sebelum tidur adalah waktu efisien bagi anak untuk menyerap sesuatu dan buku adalah salah satu alat yang tepat untuk membantu. Jadilah saya menuliskan naskah ini untuk membantu mengingatkan anak-anak saya, lagi dan lagi, dengan Penciptanya sebelum mereka mengakhiri harinya. Lebih ke arah pemicu renungan tentang bagaimana mereka menjalani sebuah hari dan mengingat kembali siapa yang menghadirkannya untuk mereka.

Belum lama saya menemukan semangat saya untuk mengubah database cerita saya menjadi buku yang lebih menarik bagi El dan Dis. Apalagi kemampuan cerita secara spontan yang saya punyai juga terasa kurang. Walaupun scene yang saya catut dalam buku ini terasa lebih mirip dengan kehidupan pedesaan (saya menuliskannya saat kami masih tinggal di bagian antah berantah dari Pulau Bali), ternyata ceritanya masih tetap cocok untuk kami yang tinggal di pinggiran kota yang sibuk.

Versi e-book nya sedang saya kerjakan. Semoga bisa jadi lebih gampang untuk dibagi secara bebas. Untuk sementara, silakan nikmati isi bukunya di bagian terbawah halaman ini.

***
Through my years of living, I had benefited from having Islam. Most important was, I felt like knowing and practising it made my self feel better in every moments I faced. Yes, of course I want to pass that down to my young children.


The very basic part of Islam is tawhid or oneness. Knowing who to worship and who to ask for help. This should be the real foundation that settled in their mind and heart through their future years of living.
In their almost 4 and 2yo age, simple logic in simple language is a must in introducing The One and Only Allah SWT through their everyday bases. And of course, introducing The Creator through the creations is the easiest way, including today as an object.

I found that a bedtime book is one of an efficient tool for them to absorp something. So I wrote this script to remind them to their Creator before they end the day. More like a reflections on how they passed that one day and remembering who created it for them at the end.

I have just met my excitement to transform my writing into more appealing look of bedtime book for El and Dis recently. Eventhough the moments depicted inside the book are closer to nature kind of life (I wrote it when we're living in the middle of nowhere part of Bali), I found that it is still suitable for our more urban-ish life.

I'm working on the e-book version in hope it will be more accessible to share. Meanwhile, please enjoy the contents of the book below.

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Rumah Pintu Merah | Red House Door

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***

Ini adalah proyek cepat yang saya kerjakan hampir setahun yang lalu. Hanya dalam semalam, mulai dari ide, konsep, eksekusi sampai selesai. Dikerjakan karena saat itu saya sedang jenuh sekali dengan aktivitas harian plus kangen jahit-menjahit. 

Dengan pola sederhana yang dikira-kira karena kepedean dengan bentuk hampir kotaknya yang notabene setiap hari saya sambangi lewat gambar kerja bangunan. Sebenernya saat selesai, saya gatal ingin me-revisi proporsinya. Tetapi kemudian saya urungkan niat. Ketidaksempurnaannya membuatnya istimewa:).

Hingga usia si paling kecil yang hampir dua tahun ini, mainan ini masih bisa dipeluk-peluk. Semoga bisa bertahan lama sebelum dhedhelduwel dimainkan.

Saya sempat membuat cerita pendek untuk dimainkan bersama boneka rumah ini. Ceritanya berkisar tentang warna pintunya yang merah. Silakan dibaca di bagian akhir tulisan ini berhubung belum ditulis ulang dalam bahasa Indonesia.

***

This plushie is a fast crafting project I made almost a year ago. Only in one night, I made the idea, concept, sewing, until finishing. That was the time when I was bored of my daily activity and missed sewing. 

It has simple house pattern. I overconfident for its almost straight rectangle shape that I mingle with almost everyday through construction drawing. When I finished, I felt the itch to revised the proportion. But then I took a step back. Its imperfection has made it special :).

Today, up until my youngest is 2yo, this house soft toy is still huggable. I hope it will last long.

I even made a short story to play with this plushie. Something connected with the red colour of its door. Please read below, or pass it to your little one if you like:).

***

Mr Witsy had a new door for his new house. 

He wanted to paint it in red because it reminded him of the sunset that he loved.

He went to Mr Jeng store and asked for a bucket of red paint. 

Unfortunately Mr Jeng ran out of stocks.

So Mr Witsy went to the nearby mountain and valley. 

He wanted to collect all red color he could find.

Strawberry, tomato, and jalapeño..

Rose, dahlia, and aster

Apple, fig, and cherry.

Mushroom, orchid, and gladiol

When his bag full with things, he went back home

To his new house, next to the river

He pour all he got into a big bucket

Stirred slowly and mixed it well

Not for long time, he got color of bold red

He satisfied and sang happily

Now Mr Witsy has the door color he wanted

If you stop by his village, don't forget to knock and say hello!

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Book of Elang | Kisah Elang

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***

Ingat buku yang saya buat untuk Elang dan menceritakan tentang kisah tahun pertamanya? Beberapa waktu lalu saya sempatkan untuk membuat foto yang lebih layak untuk mendokumentasikannya. Bahkan dibuatkan slide videonya. Silakan dilihat yaaa.

Tentu saja yang punya buku (dan semua properti foto) tidak mau tinggal diam sewaktu sesi foto-foto. Lihat saja hasilnya! Tangan mungilnya sempat nongol di salah satu foto. Semoga rasa penasaranmu terus terpelihara ya, Nak!

***

Remember handmade book I created for Elang which told his first year life story? I succesfuly made some time to made decent photograph and video documentations about it. Please take a look.

Of course, the owner of the book (and all the photo properties) didn't want to be left out. He wanted to involve during photography session. So look at the result. One of his tiny hand is seen on one of the photo. Hopefully your curiosity will stay forever, kiddo!

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Puffer Fish Plushie | Boneka Ikan Buntal

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***

Saya selalu suka dengan ikan buntal. Fakta bahwa dia bisa mengembungkan dirinya menjadi bola besar berduri terdengar absurd untuk saya. Membayangkan bahwa yang perlu ia lakukan untuk mengusir musuhnya pergi cuma menggembungkan dirinya lalu melayang-layang di dalam air terdengar seperti kartun dalam komik. Puff! Boing! Boing! Lalu selamatlah dirimu. Saya sebenarnya berharap saya juga bisa menggembungkan diri seringan udara, agar dapat melompat-lompat untuk berpindah dari tempat yang satu ke tempat yang lain dengan mudah. Tetapi, berhubung saya merasa gak punya musuh, kemampuan super itu jadi gak penting lagi.

Saya gak sabar membuat boneka ikan buntal untuk anak-anak saya. Harus jadi boneka ikan buntal paling unyu!  Setelah berhari-hari (..hmm berbulan-bulan sih tepatnya), akhirnya saya mendapat bentuk yang saya inginkan. Ikan buntal yang bulat unyu dengan bibir tebal. Bagian bulatnya lebih mirip dengan ikan landak sih, (dan saya baru tahu ada perbedaan di antara keduanya) tapi gapapa yaa.

Saya harus akui saya gak terlalu suka duri-duri jadi saya ganti duri2 tersebut dengan pola polkadot pada kainnya.

Saya membuat dua boneka. Saya juga sempat menuliskan cerita panjang tentang mereka. Ceritanya tentang ikan buntal yang mendapati kekurangannya ternyata bisa menjadi kelebihannya. Ceritanya masih tertulis dalam bahasa Inggris. Silakan scroll ke bagian akhir halaman ini untuk membacanya.

***

I always find myself in love with puffer fish. The idea of being able to inflate the body into big spiny ball seems so absurd for me. Imagining that all it has to do after inflating is just flying floating in the deep to send its predator away is so comical. Puff! Boing-boing! Et voila, you're safe! I wish I can inflate myself and -hop-hop-hop- move from one place to another easily because I will be as light as the air. But, since I dont have any predator, we have to get rid of that wish away. Fufufu

So I could't wait to make pufferfish softies for my kids. It had to be the cutest pufferfish ever! After days and days and days (... eerr replace the days word with months-I'm hard to be pleased, pardon *grin*) I finally came up with the shape I liked. Round shape with full lips. Well, It's more like a porcupine instead of a puffer, (Oh don't you know there are differences between them?) but I like the 'PUFF' part so I'll continue with pufferfish name.

I got to admit that I dont like the spiny part, simply because spines were not cute :D, so I got rid of that away. I replaced the with polkadot pattern fabric.

I made two softies. I even came up to write a long story about them. Together, they made a story about a pufferfish who found out that his weakness could be his strength. Please read below.

***

There was a little pufferfish lives in tropical coral with his family. He plays happily with other coral fish all day long. One day when they were swimming between coral, catching each other, the little pufferfish slipped on a hairy anemone. He lost his balance,  and PUFF!!, all of a sudden he turn into big spiny ball. He tried to swim again but all he can do was floating slowly. He looked at his body and he felt so shocked. He's never been like this before.

All his friends swam closer. They surrounded him in amazement and curiosity.
'wow, you're.. inflating '
'My mom once told me that a puffer could actually swallow an octopus'
'Can you do bouncing? How far can you go?'
The little puffer fish who was literally not little anymore felt awkward. All of what his friend said made him mad.
'Leave me alone!' he yelled.
Everybody turned quite in a second. One by one, they swam away and left him alone.
He felt so sad. He spew the water and went home.

"Dad, I was inflating, in front of my friend." Once he's home with his Dad.
"Hohoho, finally you did it for the first time, my son. How does it feel?"
"I hate it. I became big and ugly. I think they're all don't want to make friends with me anymore. Why do a puffer has to become a silly balloon once he swallows water?"
His father smiled. "Sometimes in this life, my dear son, there'll be time in this life when you don't even like yourself. You'll wish God to transform you into others. But once you're able to challenge yourself to see things differently, you'll wish to reborn exactly the same."

The next day, the little pufferfish went swimming around coral reef alone. When he get to the end of red corals, he encountered other coral fishes from a far. All seemed happily chatting and singing. He's about to join them, but something crossed his mind. He thought his friend would think he's weird for what happened yesterday. He didn't want to accidentally inflate again in from of them. He turned his back and sadly swam away.

He was just swimming few meters when he heard mass screaming. Oh, it sounded familiar. Yes, it was his friends screaming loud. The singing and chatting has turned into loud screaming. He decided to the get back to see what happened.

He saw a big sea snake making move toward those little coral fish.
"Heeeellllppp!" yelled the gobies.
The little puffer's trembling. He wanted to help but he's afraid. He never faced a snake before.
He thought what was needed was gaining some time so that his friends could getaway and hide inside the coral reef.
The big sea snake was chasing one of the little anglefish. With his slim long body, soon he'd be able to chase her. When the angle swam to the right, she faced the snake tongue that coming out from his fanged mouth scarily. When she turned and swam back to the left, there's the snake tail ready to wrap her. There's clearly a fear on her face.
Right when the snake was about to grab her, the little pufferfish came and stood bravely in the middle of them. "Run!" He yelled to the angle fish. The sea snake stopped and felt surprise. This gave her some moment for running away.
'Aahh another little fish. Why did you ask her to run? Do you want to replace her and become my meal?' Said the snake in deep and terrifying voice.
The little pufferfish went trembling again. He's too afraid to say a word.
"Well then, if that's what you wish!" said the snake again. The sea snake come closer and ready to open his mouth.
The little puffer closed his eyes in fear. In darkness, he remembered what his father said last night.
With all the power he had, he opened his mouth. He tried to swallow as much water as he could.  What happened the day before was repeated again. Puff!! He turned into a big spiny ball. Bigger ball, and sharper spine!
The sea snake stopped.
"Aarrgh, turn out you're a puffer." He yelled in mad voice. He knew that he can't eat a puffer, not only they will clog and hurt his throat, they're also poisonous.
He's looking around searching for another little fish, but no one around. All fish has been hiding inside the coral reef. He looked angrily toward the puffer that was floating slowly in front of him.
"I'll be back!" The snake went away.
The little puffer felt so much relieve. He has just getaway from a terrifying predator.
All other little fishes that were hiding and watching from inside the coral cave, came out and swam closer.
"You're my hero! Thank you so much!" said the little anglefish.
"I never saw such bravery before." Said a butterfly fish.
"You're cool. I wish I can inflate just like you" said the others.
The little pufferfish was smiling. He finally understood what his father said. He's proud of himself.

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Mother and Baby elephant

Please scroll down for english.

****

El mempunyai sepasang boneka gajah. Salah satunya lebih besar daripada yang lain. Kami memangggilnya Ibu dan Bayi Gajah. Kami menggunakannya sebagai pemancing kegiatan mendongeng. Di bawah ini ada beberapa ide cerita. Bantu kami untuk menemukan lebih banyak lagi cerita tentangnya ya! :)

Sirah Nabawi: "Nabi lahir di tahun gajah lho. Kenapa disebut tahun gajah? karena pada tahun tersebut terdapat peristiwa" dst

Hal lingkungan: "Gajah binatang dilindungi. jumlahnya makin berkurang karena perburuan manusia dan kerusakan hutan tempat tinggal mereka". dst."

Hal keluarga: "waktu hamil gajah lebih lama daripada ibu lho, sampai dua tahun. Tetapi bayi gajah sudah bisa berdiri setelah lahir. Lalu bayi gajah akan ikut ibunya sampai usia.." dst dst

Hal mengenali diri sendiri: "Coba sebutkan apa yang gajah punya, tapi el ga punya.. mata ada berapa?kaki? ekor? telinga?" dst.

Hal mengenali kelebihan ciptaanNya: "Telinga gajah lebar, fungsinya untuk meradiasikan panas. itulah kenapa gajah di afrika telinganya lebih lebar daripada di asia. Gajah afrika tinggal di savana, gajah asia kebanyakan tinggal di hutan. Sedangkan belalai fungsinya untuk..." dst dst

Hal memahami kebudayaan bangsa lain: "Tahu ga?di Thailand gajah putih dianggap sebagai binatang yang suci." dst

Imajinasi: Cerita tentang ibu gajah dan bayi gajah..hmmm..ngapain ya? ada ide?

****

El is having a pair of elephant softies. One of them bigger than the other. We called them Mother and Baby Elephant. We used them as a starter.for storytelling. Below are some of the stories idea. Please help us us to add many more. :)

Sirah nabawi: "Our prophet Muhammad was born on the year of elephant. Do you know why it is called that way? On that year, there was an event involving Yemen king named Abrahah." And so on..

Environmental issue: "Elephant is a protected animal. The population is endangered because of human threat and diminishing number of their habitat." and so on

Family issue: "Mother elephant took longer pregnancy time than Ibu (mama). She will get pregnant for almost two years, while ibu have you after waiting for nine months. The different is a calf will be able to stand on their feet right a way after they were born." and so on.

Learn to know himself: "Would you tell Ibu, what elephant has that you don' have? Trunk? Feet? Tail?" and so on.

Understanding His Creation: "Elephant has a pair of wide large ear for radiating the heat. That's why african elephant has wider ear than asian. African elephant mostly live in savanah, while Asian elephant live in forest." and so on.

Learning other culture: "Do you know that white elephant is is considered as a sacred animal in Thailand?" and so on.

Imagination : It's a story about mother and baby elephant. hmm..any idea for the storyline, anybody?

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