Ramadan 2012.

Ramadan is here. I am fasting every day, unlike my last Ramadan when I did not fast on some days. Masha Allah, I don't feel much trouble even with the long fifteen hours of fasting. The only problem is that Aisha's schedule has gone all wrong.
Aisha sometimes wakes up for shuhoor. She then sleeps till noon, and thus misses her breakfast or takes her 'breakfast' at noon. I give her lunch in the evening and puts her to sleep. She wakes up just before iftar or after iftar, and then stays awake until midnight till dad comes home after tharaveeh. She is also not eating much as she doesn't see anyone eating during the daytime. And so she has lost some weight too.
Some snaps of Aisha's ramadan days.

Praying with dad.

Updates.

Aisha is learning faster than I thought. She knows many rhymes, and even the chronological order in which it comes. I sometimes sit wondering at her memory power, masha Allah. Often I try to make her listen Quran, the small chapters (Suraths), so that she may learn it by-heart, like she learned the rhymes. But don't listen to it much, as there is no animations or music to attract her. I searched for video recitations of Quran by kids, but they are either not correctly articulated or they are the big  Suraths. If anyone reading this finds such a video, please share it with me.
I forgot to put in some changes I made in Aisha's life since I came to Dubai. The first one is, I started brushing her teeth with a finger toothbrush. Earlier, I used my fingers to brush her teeth, as she had only some five or six of them. But now, she has got nine or ten of them and sometimes bites me when I do the brushing, so I started using a finger brush.
Aisha has stopped using a potty. I use the trainer seat for the water closet, which is easier for both of us.
Aisha can understand a lot of words now, both English and Malayalam. She can say vellam (water), pattu paavada (silk skirt), deedi (sister), ta-ta (going out), choru (rice, which means food to her), kanji (rice soup), meemi (fish), poyi (went) and many more. I don't remember. She also uses the words get up, dress, car, plate, chicken, bye-bye, hello, water-bottle, bathroom and stuck (usually when her CD stops working). She also uses two words together, like deedi-water-bottle to say that it is deedi's water bottle.
She knows all of my in-laws now, and she calls her cousins, dad, uncle and aunt (hubby's siblings) by their name. She calls me Bhabhimma, which she learned from her cousin who calls me by that name.

Dubai Summer Surprises - Part II

I never thought the tour to Modesh World, another summer event in Dubai, would be a disaster for me. I lost my camera from there. I was so sad, and is sad even now. Hubby bought it for me some months back, and now its gone! I kept it on Aisha's perambulator, and I think someone stole it from there. I lost all the photos I took on that day. When I called hubby to tell him the bad news, he consoled me saying that I should thank God as Aisha was not harmed. Well, when I thought about it later, I felt hubby was right. Aisha was sleeping in the pram when the cam was stolen. I went to the nearby food court to get some drinks, while my in-laws has gone to the washroom. I was so confident that no one would think of stealing anything from such a place, and that too within a couple of minutes. But I was wrong. Alhamdulillah, Aisha was not harmed! And yes, I learned my lesson. Never ever leave my belongings or Aisha unattended for a second - even if I'm standing in the VIP lounge of a seven star hotel.
Well, that was all my thoughts and feelings. As for Aisha, she enjoyed the day. She didn't like the rides, and she cried when I put her on a ride. But she liked the infant play area, which had slides, trampolines, seesaws and crawl-through toys.

I couldn't get any good pics without my cam. :(
After the picnic at Modesh world, Aisha points out the picture of Modesh whenever she sees one, on newspapers, televisions etc. There are many Modesh mascots put up across Dubai to inform and remind people of summer surprises. Aisha has got a Modesh mascot for herself which she feeds and puts to sleep.

Dubai Summer Surprises - Part I

Aisha on train. You can see her older cousins behind her.

Summer in Dubai is scorching, and as I said, outdoor playing is out of the question. I think the government knows that and they have planned so many surprises for the kids during their vacation. Most of the expatriates leave for their home country during the vacation, so Dubai is kind of quite and hustle free in summer.  So we, including co-sister, my sister-in-law and I planned to take our kids to the summer events across Dubai. Both my co-sis and SIL were leaving to India for the vacation. As it was a ladies only group, we took the metro to reach the destinations. Aisha was getting on a train for the first time. She was thrilled at first, but later when she got sleepy, she began to cry. By the time we got out of the metro, she was yelling and everyone was staring at us!

Walking through the streets of Kidzania.

Our first destination was the Kidzania, a family entertainment center where the kids get to know how the real world works. It is mainly meant for kids above 3 years old, who can understand the functioning of banks, hospitals, groceries, police station, post office and many more. They can also learn how to make cookies, Coca-cola drinks, cakes, milk etc. They also take part in services provided by firefighters, police, doctors, engineers, air-hostesses and stewards, pilots etc.

As Aisha was not old enough for these activities, I left her to walk through the streets and enjoy the sights. After lunch, she fell asleep and so I took her to the prayer room where she slept soundly for a couple of hours. Later when she woke up, I took her to the infant play area where she had a kitchen all for herself. She enjoyed her time there.

Click on the photo to see more of Aisha's photos.

We spent the entire day at Kidzania, enjoying the different activities and learning along with the kids. Aisha was happy to see other kids playing although she was a bit reluctant to share the toys. A couple of times, she tried to snatch the toys from other kids. I have never seen her doing this before, and so I was a little surprised by her behavior.

Kidzo

Aisha also loved the currency of KidZania, the Kidzos, that she borrowed from her cousins. She takes it for real money and plays with it.

We came back home late in the evening after deciding to go for the next summer event, the Modesh world.