Back to Dubai.

This was Aisha’s third long distance journey in the past year, and we were going back to Dubai. We booked our tickets on the RAK airways, to Ras-Al-Khaimah, an Emirate in UAE. The flight was scheduled at 3:45 am (Indian time), and so we started from our home at 10 p.m., reached at my home at 11 pm, and then started off again at 11:30 pm. Aisha slept almost throughout the journey, waking up only to say goodbye to my parents, brothers, niece and nephew and SIL. The check-in service providers at the airport helped me with the check-in, doing all the scanning, fill-ups and luggage check-in. Thanks a lot to them. Aisha was with my Father-in-Law, sleeping soundly. After saying good-bye to him, I took Aisha and we proceeded towards the immigration and security check. I was longing to take some rest and put the sleeping Aisha on the bed in the lounge, when Aisha woke up! No more rest. I was wondering how did she come to know that I was going to put her down.

At the airport.

Munching the biscuits.

It was around 2 am and Aisha was all fresh and fervent. She ate the rice pancakes and biscuits I had packed for her. With her stomach full, she started running through the aisles. I had a difficult time, as I was sleep deprived and had a slight headache. Aisha, however, enjoyed the time, watching the fishes in the aquarium, waving at the people who passed by her (did I tell you she was scared of strangers? Well, not now) and window-shopping. The flight was delayed by one hour because of the bad weather conditions in UAE, and it was 4:40 when we finally took off. By the time Aisha also got tired and bored with the long stay at the airport, and slept even before the plane took off. She slept through out the journey.

It was around 7 am (UAE time) when we reached UAE. No wonder the flight got delayed; the airport was situated at the center of a desert and even a slight breeze would make the place dusty making it difficult to see. I almost slept the entire journey, waking up only for the breakfast. I kept aside the croissant they provided, for Aisha, but then I slept and when they took off the food, they took the croissant with it. When I woke up, it was gone. Aisha woke up before the landing, and she was hungry. I gave her the few pieces of biscuits I have packed, but she wanted more. She started whimpering. I called hubby and asked him to buy some biscuits for her.

The airport was a small one, compared to the Dubai airport where we had to walk miles to reach the exit. We quickly got out of the airport and into hubby’s car. My Brother-in-law, co-sister and niece in law, Z, were there to welcome us back. Aisha ate the almond-honey flakes brought for Z. After breakfast at my SIL’s home, we reached our home at around 10 am. I bathed Aisha and put her to sleep. Well, Aisha was all surprised and confused when she found Dad sleeping with us as it was only Aisha and Mom for the past six months.

Dubai - Walk with daddy.

Updates

Motor developments:

Aisha can walk, run, climb stairs, jump, climb on chairs and get down all by herself and do almost all activities an adult does. Aisha has got six teeth, 3 up and 3 down.

Social Developments:

She knows her immediate family, i.e, grandparents, uncles, aunties and cousins. Knows all of them by their names although she calls them with a single name, either Mummy or Mamma. She is still scared of strangers, especially the ones who try to play with her. She doesn’t act scared if the strangers don’t give her any attention.

Linguistic Developments:

Aisha can speak some words now, both in English and Malayalam.

The English words are – sit, stand, come, cup, daddy, mummy and baby.

The Malayalam words are  - kakka (crow), kozhi (hen), chappathi (pan cake), meow (cat), bow-bow (dog) and poovu (flower).

Aisha can also sing the first two lines of the Malayalam nursery rhyme, 'Kakke kakke koodevide '(crow, crow, where is your nest?).

Sari Sensation

Sari is an unstitched strip of cloth draped round the body. The cloth is usually 5 meters long. There are many different styles of wearing a Sari, the most common being Nivi style, where one end of the Sari is tucked into the underskirt worn beneath it, wrapped around the lower body once and then gathered into pleats which is tucked in the waistband of the underskirt. The cloth is then wrapped once again around the body, over the blouse and then draped over the shoulder, with or without pleats. It is a lovely dress worn mainly by the ladies of Indian subcontinent, although I’ve seen similar wrappings of long cloths on some African ladies too. It is very difficult to wear the Sari beautifully and gracefully. But once you wrap it neatly on your body, you will look like a princess – with your curves displayed perfectly and the petal like pleats.

The Sari has another factor too – you will want to wear one only until you are able to wear it. At least, that was the case with me. I longed to wear a Sari since teenage, but never got any chance wear it. Usually it is married women who wear a Sari. I waited patiently till my wedding day on which I wore a Sari for the first time. A silk Sari. My hubby bought me some four to five Saris, which I wore for some parties. By then I was no longer interested in Saris. The problem is the difficulty to wear it gracefully.

My MIL always wears Sari, and Aisha often tries to imitate her, using my shawl as a makeshift Sari. She wraps it around her body, walks two steps, slips and falls. Well, as of now, she too longs to wear a Sari. So one day I dressed her up in a Sari, with my shawl.

There was no underskirt or blouse, as you can see. Just the Sari, tucked in her panties.  She loved it a lot, especially at the thought of being granny, my MIL.

Puddling.

With the rain pouring down, it is easy to get wet and puddled. But I never thought Aisha would like to get dirty and dabbled with mud. Usually, she never likes anything wet, pasty or sticky on her body. She will ask me to clean it immediately. It does happen a lot of times during her outdoor playtime. She will dig in the mud, get her hands muddy and then come to me to clean it. Once I clean it, she will go out to play, dig in mud and get disgusted again with the mud. The process repeats for four or five times until I lose my patience and drag a yelling Aisha indoor. 

Today Aisha surprised me by playing in a puddle, though she never touched the mud with her hands. I think she loved the play with her cousins, who also joined her in the puddle.

They were marched straight to the outdoor bath-area after the play.