Rain rain go away

The mango showers (the name comes as the rain helps in ripening of the mangoes, also known as the pre-monsoon showers, April showers and Summer Showers) has hit Kerala with its full fury. As usual, the prediction has gone wrong and the state is in a huge chaos. The monsoon comes in June, and so people, mostly housewives, start preparing for the monsoon in the summer. They sundry almost all spices, rice and wheat to grind it and store it for the monsoon. The also dry coconut to extract oil from it and mangoes are dried to make pickles. So when the forecasters predict the rain for next week, everyone starts the last-minute preparations - buy spices, rice and wheat, pluck unripe mangoes and cut the coconuts. The very next day, the rain starts!!!
As for Aisha, its like she is seeing the rain for the first time. It seems very strange, it hasn't rained since we came here. Kerala is a place blessed with rains - at least one rain per month. But it has been almost five months since we landed here, and no rain till now. Whoever says that there is no climate change is just being economical with the truth.
Coming back to Aisha, although she was thrilled to see water dropping all around her, she was depressed at the thought of staying inside all day. The hens stayed in their coop, the squirrels took the shelter of their drey, the birds went to their nests. No cats came along. Aisha got really bored and I had to take her out to watch and feel the rain.

I was worried if she would get sick, but Alhamdulillah, I was wrong.

By the river side.

I have always loved to go to the river and I was waiting eagerly for Aisha to grow up to take her to the river. We live near to River Thootha originating from the Thootha hills, which joins the second largest river in Kerala, the Bharathappuzha or Nila, and flows to the Arabian sea. My niece and nephew who arrived a week ago from US joined us on our venture. I was a little bit worried about our (my SIL and me) ability to take care of the three - my nephew who is 5 years old, niece who is 2 1/2 and Aisha.
Aisha has not been near such a huge amount of water before (she has gone to the beach once, but never got near the water), she was scared and surprised at the same time. She wanted to touch the water, but she was terrified if something would harm her. It was only after repeated re-assurance did she touch the waters. After all, it wasn't the water that attracted her, but the pebbles and the sand. She loved to bite the pebbles and I had trouble in throwing away each pebble she grabbed. But with thousands of pebbles for her to mouth, I had to run behind her to stop her from mouthing it.

The Timid Toddler.

When the race was over, and the anxiety gone, she stepped into the water - but made sure not to leave her grip on my fingers.

Aisha watched the fish and the tadpoles swimming, the cranes and kingfishers who fed on them and the construction of a new bridge across the river.

The return trip (You can see my nephew and niece in the background).

Sorry.

...and we are back!!!
I'm soooo sorry for disappearing from the blog world for such a long time. I know I've done wrong. I was a bit busy, a bit lazy and something kept me away from writing anything. I think the writing instinct in me went down for a few months. The work-laziness directly proportional theory also played its part - the more work, the more lazy I became. The transition again from India to Dubai is making me go insane! It takes a lot of time to prepare for the journey, and then you have the post-journey getting-settled-down syndrome (??!!). It took some days for Aisha to understand that she cannot always run out, see the hens and be pampered by grandparents. Here it is only two of us.
Now that I'm back, let me first complete the updates -strike off some of the assignments in our bucket list updates.
NB: I've dated my posts according to the time of the events.

Fever

First of all, thanks to Jellybeans for her comment and her post, I'm very happy and honored to know that this blog was a inspiration to you!
Wondering where I was for the past one month? Well, I have got some bad news. My Father-in-law bought some woods for our wood burning stove and we had to pile it neatly in our garage. It was a tiresome work, in the hot sun. Of course, Aisha joined in for help. I stopped the work half way, because Aisha was 'working' with us in the sun and I was afraid if she would become ill.

My Mom-in-law, who was there to complete the job, fell ill the same evening. Within a day, like I anticipated, Aisha was also bedridden. And on the fourth day I too became sick. Almost everyone in the house was whining, groaning, coughing, sneezing and blowing their nose. Although the fever gone, no-one has completely recovered from the illness. Aisha is getting sick after two months.
Aisha's favorite pastime now is to eat the tender mangoes that falls from the mango tree. The summer has its benefits too- summer is the time for sweet mangoes. But now, its unripe and sour. Aisha loves it though.
Well, there is another matter - I am going to visit my parents next week. My elder brother and his family will be joining us and they are going to meet Aisha for the first time! Moreover, my younger sister-in-law is expecting her baby in April. So, its busy time with a family gathering, baby shower etc. I don't know when I'll be able to come back to my blogging world, but until then, hope you will all wait for me and the stories about li'l Aisha.
Have a happy April! Get in touch with families and friends and let God shower His blessings on all of you.
PS - My Sister-in-law's baby is also having the same problem that occurred for both of my little kids and took the life of my son- cord around the neck. Please pray for her and the baby. 

Updates.

I think, until now, the updates of Aisha has been mostly about her motor development. But now its mostly about her language developments.
Aisha can pronounce her name correctly, Masha Allah! I never thought she could do it so quickly. I believed the digraph is a difficult phonic for the babies to pick up. But brilliant li'l Aisha has done it. Well, here stands the proud MOM! She has also started using two syllables together, like Ma-Ba, Ba-Pi or Da-Pa while speaking. Looks like she has started creating her own language! Earlier she used to make a 'kolakolakola' sound, but now its something like Ma-Ba-Pi-Di-Tha-La-Pa-.... She speaks faster and louder when she is angry. It makes us laugh to see her shouting at us in her won language.
Aisha can understand almost all Malayalam sentences said to her, and also some simple English commands. Aisha can identify an 'A' in her book. That is the only alphabet she knows in her A-B-C book. She points to the cat and makes a 'meow' sound, knows the parrots (thatha in Malayalam), ball, elephant and doll.
Coming back to her motor developments, she learning the art of climbing a chair to reach the higher/safer places that is out of her reach. Once she gets mastered in it, we'll have to search for new heights.

Aisha's new book - The Malayalam Rhymes book.

Reading!!

Enjoying an evening.

Gardening - Part 2

Aisha has started imitating everything we adults do, sometimes bringing in a lot of troubles. She loves challenging jobs- the more adventurous, the better. Loves to chase the chicks into the coop, as her paternal granny does. The other day her grandpa was working with some fertilizers he brought from the agricultural department. Aisha wanted the sack of fertilizers all for herself! And yes, she has started potting plants!
Some snaps of her daily activities:

Planting a tree.

The potted plant.

Playing with the fertilizer sack.

Helping grandpa with the fertilizers.

Chasing the chicks into the coop.

Summer Styles

Its still spring time now, but the summer sun has already started boiling the earth below it. I really don't know what I'm going to do before the rain comes pouring in during June. Aisha is sweating all the time, and has developed some skin rashes too.

We had a marriage function to attend and I bought some cotton dresses for Aisha. I selected some simple frocks, as I didn't want the dress to cause more discomfort to her already sun-burnt skin. 

Ready for the Wedding Eve.

Dressed up for the wedding.

Waiting for the bride and groom.

Bucket list updates.

There is nothing much to cross off from the list. The truth is, I have been a bit busy to put up updates of Aisha.
Aisha can now speak a few words now. She can mimic the mewing of a cat, clucking of a hen and crowing of a crow.
I'm crossing off a few of her updates- playing with mud and her first dance steps. You can visit her project 2012 list to read or watch her updates.
Thanks for visiting and have a good week ahead.

Play time.

Helping hands - moving a watermelon all by herself.

She loves spinach. So I pluck a few leaves from them everyday to mix it with her rice. Today, she is doing the  job.

Just Dance

Watch her dance...

The free spin, the rocking and the sitting half way down... I wonder how she learned all these steps. Might be from me. I love to dance with her, to rhymes and songs. She can now enact a few rhymes.

Anklets

Aisha now knows the art of doing a mischief silently, so that no one will notice her. The other day, she went upstairs by pushing away the barricades I've put at its entrance. I searched for her everywhere and was a little tensed when I could not find her. Then I saw the chair (obstacle) moved and guessed where she has gone. I could see tow eyes popping out from the top of the staircase! So, to easily  find out where Aisha is, I bought a pair of silver anklets for her - anklets that jingles a lot.