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.

Dressing up.

Learning the art of dressing alone...

Settling down - again.

Aisha settled down quickly than I thought, getting close to her Dad, Aunt and Uncle. I have always anticipated this situation, where everyone is a stranger to her. But Alhamdulillah, she acted promptly and wisely. The only problem is, she doesn’t like it when hubby S touches, sits or sleeps near me. She is so possessive of her Mom! Whenever S comes and lie down near me, she pushes him apart and gets between us.

Another change in Aisha is she has started eating well, Alhmadulillah. She has also put on a little weight, Masha Allah.

The climate is a bit harsh here, and so Aisha has got to stay indoors all day. She loves going to the park, but that too is a luxury that comes only once in a while. I take her out for some 10 to 15 minutes every day at dusk. She waits by the door when it is time to go out.

At park.

The best place to go during the summer is the shopping malls, where she can run along and enjoy herself. So we take her to the malls every weekend, for shopping and window-shopping. 

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.