Onam.

The festival of Malayalees, Onam, is also a festival in UAE, especially for the department stores that make everything a consumer product. This time there were flower carpets, big and small, in most places. The ona sadhya (feast) is served in banana leaves, and Aisha wanted one leaf when she saw stacks of it in the store. So we

A small flower carpet.

too decided to cook a sadhya for Onam. Sadhya is a pure vegetarian meal with lots of side dishes along with rice. We flipped through cook-books, browsed the cookery sites and asked our parents for suggestions of experiences. Shopping for the banana leaves and vegetables was the next step. We bought six leaves for everyone of us, and Aisha and her cousin divided it themselves from the store.
Eating on a banana leaf was new to Aisha. It is a common practice in Kerala to serve on banana leaves. The senior citizens still believe that food tastes better when served on banana leaves. Aisha was impatient for having to wait for so long to eat on a banana leaf. We prepared dinner so that everyone can join in for it. But Aisha and her cousin couldn't wait to be served on leaf and so they had their dinner earlier, before Dad reached home.

Poems.

Some poems recited by Aisha. Now-a-days its been difficult to record her audios or videos because she wants to be the one behind the camera. This audios were recorded with great effort.

A malayalam poem.

The first stanza of the song 'I am a barbie girl.'

First stanza of the Arabic song 'Shakhbit shakhabit.'

Sleep Time Prayers.

Beach.

Aisha was afraid of beaches the last time we took her to a beach. But that was during the night, when we could hear only the roaring of the sea. This time, she enjoyed most of it. She got drowned once when she fell flat into the water. A wave pushed her down, she was immersed in water from head to toe. But she was never frightened. She was excited to play in the water and she wanted to go deep into the sea. In the end, we had to drag her into the car to go home.

A for Aisha.

Aisha's first As. She is left handed too!

Enjoying outdoor.

A drop in temperature brought a change in entertainment activities in Dubai. People are seen often in open-air areas. We went over to a near by park to celebrate the climate change.

Eid al Fitr

Ramadan was over before I knew it, and now Eid has also come to an end. When its over, I feel the anticipation was a better feeling! We had guests for Eid, mostly my in-laws. It was a busy day. We attended the Eid prayers and then returned home to prepare the lunch. Even though Aisha was sleepy during the prayer, she never made any fuss. She slept as soon as we reached home and so it was easy for me to concentrate on the lunch.

Eid dress.

While the adults were busy cooking, the kids had a party time.

Our room looked like an artist's work area with the colors, water and papers spread on the floor.  

Alphabets.

Aisha learned her capital letters from A to F. She points other alphabets if we ask her, but she is not thorough with it. For some letters, like S, when asked she replies "Scooter", as in the rhyme S is for scooter. Same came with I - ice cream. The credit goes to an ABC learning game on my phone, which helped her to learn the letters. Now we have got another time-pass activity at home, to find out the hiding alphabets. I take a newspaper or anything that has letters on it, and ask her to find letters. We do play this game from every place - there is no place without letters around you. When travelling, I ask her to count how many As or Bs or Cs she sees, teaching her to count and the letters. It is a good way to keep her occupied. She also knows it when I write her name, although she does not know the letters in it.

Art work.

Some of my drawings I did for Aisha. She often comes to me asking me to draw something for her. I google 'how to draw' sites and make the sketches.

Ramadan Special - I

Snaps...

Aisha's cousin behind her.