10 months!

Wow, that sounds great. Two more months and its her first b'day! 10 is always great. Aisha has grown 'two digit' old, lolz. Big deal.
She imitates our face expressions. Claps her hand. Tries to gargle the water I give her, trickling it down her chins. She knows when Dad and Baba are ready to go out, she starts to mewl. She gets excited when I dress her in new clothes, and when I change her diaper - she understands that it means going out.
She rolls to kitchen and out of it, opens the cabinets all by herself. 'Helps' Mom a lot. She slithers in the kitchen until I finish cooking.
She loves to sleep near her dad. Rolls to me when she is hungry, and rolls back to her dad when she is full.
Anybody walking in her vicinity should take her. Or else she starts to cry and kick her feet.
She laughs at herself in the mirror. Earlier, she used to smile at my reflection, but now she loves her reflection. She loves watching babies and toddlers, in real life or on TV.
At times, she is a bit afraid of strangers. She was very friendly with everyone when in India, but now (I think that's because she sees only me, her Dad and Baba all week) she is becoming a little unsocial.
Aisha doesn't know to suck liquid from a bottle. She just bites the nipple of the bottle. So I use a weaning bottle to give her water or juice. I put a nipple to the weaning bottle and squeeze out the liquid.
That's all about Aisha's 10th month. I'm looking forward to the Ramadan month. 

Taking care of Aisha.

I wanted to write this post long ago, I don't know what kept me from doing it. I think everything has a time. This post is dedicated to my Mom, Aisha's granny, who taught me to take care of her. As a mother of five, and having a long time experience with children (mom's younger sisters and brothers, my brothers and my niece and nephew) I think Mom is excellent in taking care of babies and kids. She taught me a lot of lessons, some of it I follow, some of it I try to follow (with little success). Mom never gave her ear to any of the myths followed by the people here. That was one of  her greatest qualities, swimming against the tide is very difficult.
Aisha used to stop crying whenever Mom took her, from her fist day onwards. I don't know what magic she had, but that was a truth. Aisha loved to sleep in her arms more than mine. I think even Aisha understood that he granny is good at taking care of babies.
When I started weaning for her, I was at my in-laws home and didn't actually know how much to give her or when to stop. So weaning time was terrible for me and Aisha. But when I reached my home, Mom gave me instructions about how to feed her. She asked me to stop feeding whenever Aisha acted like she doesn't want to eat. That made my weaning more easier.

Mom advised me not to give Aisha canned food, she always chose organic food, giving home-grown veggies the priority. I still follow it.
She also refused Aisha TV, PC and mobile. Mom never allowed me take Aisha infront of the TV or PC. She took Aisha from me whenever I wanted to watch TV or browse the web. She never allowed me to make a call with Aisha. I know this sounds a bit odd or anti-tech, but I'm sure technology has its own disadvantages. In Dubai, I try to follow her advice, but sometimes it doesn't work. I can't ask everybody to switch off the TV when Aisha is in the room, nor can I lock Aisha in another room. So it doesn't work when someone else is here, but when we, me and Aisha, are alone, I never keep her infront of the TV. I manage to keep her away from my laptop (except while chatting) and mobile. I don't know how long this will work. When Aisha grows she will insist on playing with all these gadgets!
Aisha never slept at night during the first four months. It never occurred to me that the problem was with the light in the room. But Mom found out. One day she switched off the light, and Aisha fell asleep. And the moral is, no lights and dim lights in the room. I stick to it even now.
Mothers in Kerala give kids an oil massage before their bath. Many of them massages the kids with a lot of oil. Mom never did that. She massaged Aisha with what oil was necessary. Never bathed Aisha in oil! Everyone was against this, but Mom never listened to them.
When Aisha gets a cough or cold, she takes some Mexican mint leaves, extracts the juice and gives it to her. Aisha will recover in minutes. Mom takes some Tulsi (Holy Basil), extracts the juice and oozes out a drop or two into Aisha's nose when she suffers a running or blocked nose. She breathes fine after a couple of hours.
In Dubai, I miss her advice and opinions a lot. I have to make a call to her everyday to clear my doubts.

Clap, clap, clap...

Aisha has learned to clap. Earlier when I used to sing the rhyme, Two little hand to clap, clap, clap... she used to pat her fingers on her thigh or on the floor. But now she claps. The disappointing fact is that she claps only from the bathroom, when I bath her. As I said in an older post, bath time is her time for singing, and now, clapping. I wonder if she will grow into a bathroom singer, lolz.
And here is a video in which Aisha drums on the water jug...

She is now trying to imitate everything we do.

Silence means...

...something fishy is going on. When you hear no sound of your kid, be sure he/she is upto some mischief. Some snaps taken during those silent moments.

Too happy with a slipper.

Bits of paper, laying on the floor, makes the place untidy, pick them up...

...Put it in your mouth!

Girl of small things.

Who kept the switch on?

Let me switch it off!

They have closed it tight, but...

I pulled out what I want!

This one is a little difficult.

But I'll open it soon!

When kids get bigger to feed themselves.

Aisha wanted the weaning bottle for herself, and we had a fight for it while feeding her. Here is the result.

She puts her fingers and toes in her mouth while feeding. A bath in the porridge is the result.

And the innocent look that says, what have I done?

I feed her after her bath. Aand bath her again after feeding her. Thank God, she loves it.

Ta-Ma-Ba-Pa

Did I tell you? Aisha has started saying 'Ta', 'Ma', 'Ba' and 'Pa'. Isn't that wonderful?
She started saying 'Ta' first, two weeks ago, may be because she hears the word 'ta-ta' often, which we say when we go out. She loves to go out, and so, her priority was for 'Ta'.
She calls me 'Ma', when angry or sad, while crying. I think 'Ma' came from Umma, meaning mother in Malayalam. 'Ba' is her Baba, her dad's brother and 'Pa' maybe for her dad, Uppa in Malayalam. These are the words we speak to her often, and so I think she picked up those.

Waiting eagerly to hear her next words....

gulfnews : Crisis of unimaginable proportions

Some pictures from todays gulf news.

Please click the picture above to see how worse the conditions of some children are.

• Think twice before you dump your slightly charred or a little over-salted food into the dustbin. 
• Think four times before you throw your left over food to the waste.

Your child could have been among them if Allah hasn't shown mercy on him/her. Be thankful to Allah, the Almighty.

Aisha's Bald Again.

We trimmed Aisha's hair yesterday. The summer is burning Dubai, and we thought it would have some cooling effect if we removed Aisha'a hair. Earlier, we used to shave her hair, with an expert barber, but here in Dubai we don't know if there are such barbers. We decided to do it ourselves.

Before trimming her hair.

Public speaking.

When her Dad S came with the trimmer, she was sort of excited. She wanted the trimmer for herself. The sound of the trimmer made her even more delighted her. We thought she would sit still for us. But once we started the trimming, me and my BIL holding Aisha while S doing the trimming, she started yelling. I think the sound frightened her and the bits of hair poking on her body annoyed her. Me and my BIL tried to calm her down with all sorts of mimicry and mono-act, but our actions fell flat. By the time we finished the job, we were exhausted and Aisha was whimpering, and her hair unevenly trimmed. I think I will never ever trim her hair again! I hope her fifth hair cut will be the last, at least for a couple of years.
 

After hair is cut.

Uneven hair on her head.

Dad's creativity on my head!

With Aisha...

...slithering and crawling (seldom) around the home....

 No shoe on the bottom layer of the shoe-rack.

 Doors of every room closed.

 Wires and sockets made inaccessible.

Closed sockets. 

Unreachable wires. 

 Tucked slippers.

 Flower pot on curtain hangers or....

... on stools.

Locked cabinets.

Before and after.

Before Aisha came to my life it was:
8+ hours of sleep.
10+ hours of browsing, reading and writing (things I do in my leisure time ;)).
5+ hours for cooking, eating, bathing and other daily activities.
After Aisha came to my life, it is:
Less than 8 hours for sleeping, cooking, eating bathing, browsing, reading, writing and other daily activities.
20+ hours for chasing Aisha.
That doesn't balance, right? Well, I don't know how it works!!

All strapped up!!

Little Aisha has never known this before. In India, she used to run free and wild, wherever she likes. But here, its all strapped!

Inside a food court.

In a car.

At home.

I feel sorry for the poor little angels, but its how they are brought up here. For Aisha its new and she definitely dislikes all these straps. She has to get used to it. So, its me who is struggling to make Aisha understand the difference between Dubai and Kerala.

Updates 9 months.

9 months and Aisha has grown into a naughty and sweet  little bug. Some moments captured.

Grab the tiny tit bits... 

....hold it tight.... 

....and into her mouth!!! 

Aisha loves it under the table. I used to wonder why, and one day I found out!! 

Just thought I could teach her about photos and faces. I took a Diana Argon poster... Hope Diana doesn't see this!!!! 

Aisha's favorite place.

Loves to play with water.

Trying to crawl.

Taking a bite from the table leg.