Iftaar and Suhoor for Aisha.

The full moon above us, reminding that Ramadan is half over.

There is a big change in Aisha's eating and sleeping habits now, I think its because she is confused with the fasting trends. She goes to bed lately these days at 11:30 pm or 12 am, contrary to the pre-Ramadan days when she slept by 8 pm. She then wakes up for Suhoor, at around 3 am.

At Suhoor

For Suhoor, I creep out of my bed as silently as I can, goes to kitchen to re-heat the cooked food, and by the time I wake Dad, Aisha will be all fresh and alive! I feed her with our Suhoor dishes, which consists mainly of red parboiled (matta) rice, a vegetable curry, sauteed vegetables and fish fry (seldom), so that she too gets the reward for this Sunnah. After Suhoor, Aisha sleeps by 5 am, when we go to bed after the Fajr prayers.
Its a long sleep afterwards, waking up again only by 10 am or 11 am, sometimes even going beyond that. With breakfast at 11 am, her lunch automatically gets late, sometimes at 2 pm and her evening snack *breast milk* is at iftaar time. So, I nurse her and break my fast *multitasking* at the same time. I give her the dates and other fruits when we break our fast, and completely avoid the fried snacks. Aisha leans to take the snacks, and I have to push her away from it. I think the old rule, deny it and they will demand it, applies here too.

Iftaar Preparation.

I finish my Iftaar, dinner and suhoor cooking before Iftaar. I feel very tired after Iftaar (that's usual with me, I fell more tiresome after a meal), and all I want will be a place to rest, although rest has been out of my dictionary for the past 10 months. I love it that way though. Dinner time is after the Taraweeh prayer ( I don't go for it now with Aisha). Aisha will want to sleep, but she doesn't go to sleep. She waits patiently for us until the dinner is over - all tired and rubbing her eyes, but never sleeps or frets. It sometimes makes me sad to see the otherwise restless girl, all calm and quiet.

Enjoying the beauty of her cousin Neha Deedi's ring.