Give her some sunshine.

The summer has gone to sleep and autumn is creeping across dubai with its splendid evenings. Most of the residents have left the entertainment of shopping malls and have started enjoying nature. We too took Aisha to the pond pak near to our residence. It was fun as there were many kids and babies, some people who came out to burn their fat and some of them who ran away from their tight schedules and boring city life. 

Ready for a slide.

Sunshine and fun...I don't know how long it will stay because winnter is not far away. But now, let me try to get the maximum under this bright sky and tranquil weather.

To the beach.

I've always wanted to take Aisha to the beach, but never got a chance until yesterday. I thought she would enjoy the water, as she likes to play with water at home. And yes, she loved going to the river near our home in India. So we took her to the beach. Although we left at some 5 pm, we lost our way for a couple of times and by the time we reached the beach it was dark. We parked and walked towards the sea. Contrary to my belief, Aisha was frightened of the sea - the sound of the waves scared her. I tried to ease her and get her into the water, but she was adamant and held tight on to her dad. There were kids playing in the water, people swimming and even I immersed my toes into the water. Aisha watched all these, but never got down to step into the sea. Well, this was not how I imagined the trip!!

We got to the land where Aisha enjoyed her time playing with the sand and watched the lights of Burj Al Arab changing its colors. 

Conversations.

I always use the phrase ‘I’ll give you something else’ while communicating with Aisha. It often comes out, like when she is not eating her food, I allure her by saying, “After your food and I’ll give you something special.” Or when she is fighting for a toy with her cousin, I’ll distract her from it by saying, “Aisha here is something else for you.” And yesterday, it hit me back.

Aisha was playing with her doll and I asked her to give me the doll.

Aisha : No.

Me     : But I want the doll.

Aisha : No

(I acted crying)

Aisha : Mom, I’ll give you something else.

Me     : ?!!!!

 ******

                               

One day, while I was busy cooking, Aisha came to me and said, “Aisha poo.” I just didn't listen to her. She sometimes says ‘poo’ or ‘pee’ to get my attraction. For my sake, I decided this was one of those moments. She repeated it 2 or 3 times and went away. A few seconds later, hubby called me to say Aisha has pooed in her panties. I quickly take her to the washroom, when she says, “Aisha said Aisha has to poo.”(You didn't listen to me!)

******

I’m busy washing the dress when I suddenly notice that the house has gone silent. My instincts tell me trouble is on the way. I call out, “Aisha… what are you doing?”

Aisha : I am doing nothing, Mom.

Relaxed I resume washing but silence for a couple of minutes more makes me nervous again.

Me    : AISHA….Where are you… What are you doing…

Aisha: I’m doing nothing.

The pin drop silence made me pause my work and tiptoe to the hall, to find Aisha in the middle of a pool with wet newspapers, tissues, spoons, vessels and clothes surrounding her! The water jug lays empty on the floor. And she said she was doing NOTHING!!

 ******                        

Aisha :Mom, Aisha fell and got hurt.

Me     :Where, dear.

Aisha :Here.

(She points to her bruise and I give her a kiss on it.)

Me     :It is all gone now.

A few days later, I cut my hand with the knife. I tell hubby I have hurt my finger. Aisha comes to me and asks, “Where, Mom?” I show her the cut. She kisses on it and says, “Its all gone now, Mom!” Well, the cut hurt less after the kiss and I felt lot better! I think the medicine should introduce the kiss-therapy for pain relieving. 

Some PS brushes used to change the background... I couldn't show the messed up room behind her.

Snaps.

Plucking flowers.

 Aisha peed on her doll and she started to wash it all by herself.

Morning visitors

The climate has changed and we no longer keep the doors and windows closed. And today, when I switched off the a/c and opened my window, we had a surprise waiting for us. Guess who came to visit us in the morning? They feast on the dates, sleep on the palm...

Aisha loved to watch them.

Hair Bands.

Inspired from the blogs of creative moms, I too tried to make some hairbands for Aisha. With glue, ribbons and plain hairbands, I made these bands with changeable bows so that I can attach a bow that matches with the color of her dress. Here are a few snaps from my work table.

1. Loop the ribbon around the band.

2. Make bows. I have made some bows with ribbons cut from Aisha's old dresses.  Some of the bows are from Aisha's dresses.

3. Stick the bows to a clip and attach the clip to the band.

Not great, but not bad too.

Eid-ul-Fitr 2012

Ramdan is over and now eid is also over. Back to the normal schedule - office hours are till evening unlike in Ramadan when you have to work only till noon. I've to cook breakfast and lunch separately when in ramadan I cooked for iftar, dinner and shuhoor at one time. Sometimes I feel that was easier. All your cooking for the day is completed within a few hours.

Eid dress.

Well coming back to eid, we went for the eid prayer in a nearby school. By the time we reached the school, it was time for prayer and the roads were blocked with the traffic. I stepped out of the car and walked across the road ( in dubai, you can never do it on a normal day) among the cars. It was really fun to break the rules. I met our family friend on the way. After the prayers, I met some of my ex-classmates (my 12th grade classmates whom I have not seen for years) and I was really happy to see them. Now this is the spirit of eid - celebration with family and friends. Aisha was not that happy, she was hungry and sleep deprived!
After prayers we went to meet my sis-in-law and had our breakfast from their home. Lunch was at another relative's house.
In the evening we drove to Hubby's cousin's home, from where I met another friend whom I was seeing after 12 years. We had lots to say and so little time. She was a very good friend of me. We promised to exchange the rest of our stories through phone before we said goodbye.
It was almost 1 am when our day ended - happily with the smiles and hugs of my friends and family.

Going to meet her relatives.

With her eid gift - tablet.

Mehandi and chocolates.

I was doing the Mehandi for the first time for Aisha and was not sure if it would harm her skin. So I applied it only for some 10 minutes and removed it. I started putting the mehandi while she was asleep, but she soom woke up. 

We got some eid chocolates from Hubby's office. Well, Aisha had the lion's share.

...Waiting for eid

Kerala Style.

My co-sis has sent Aisha a beautiful silk skirt, a traditional dress worn by lasses in southern India. Aisha loves it so much.

And here comes Aisha's first google search.

We make rice porridge for the post-tharaveeh dinner and Aisha love the spicy porridge with sauteed peas. Enjoying her midnight dinner!

My Blog Is all gone wrong!!

I bought a Samsung Galaxy S2 and that made my blogs look the way they look now! I synchronized my google account on the phone and all the images on my google account got downloaded to my gallery. I didn’t want these photos on my phone, so I simply deleted it from my gallery. The images were automatically removed from my account too. When I checked back my blogs, there were no images in it. I’ve lost all my images!!! I don’t know what to do; I’ll have to sit days and weeks to put back the images. Well, let me try. I am sure I’ll not be able to put back all the images, but let me try to put some of it. I don’t know why deleting those images from my mobile phone caused it to be removed from my google account too. They should have at least notified me about it. Sometimes gadgets make your life worse.