Expanded Post- Water Play-Entertaining Baby!

Entertaining Baby
I'm reading this book that has been giving me the simplest yet most brilliant ideas for entertaining my toddlers. Basically, kids like to do so many things, and the only reason we stop them is because it's an inconvenience to us-changing their wet clothes, bathing them, whatever. But what is a wet t-shirt, a wet bathroom floor, some spilled dry beans on a carpet? Five minutes of extra cleaning on my part and hours! of entertainment for her!
So the other day, I opened the bathroom door, pulled up a step to the sink, filled it with water and bubbles and gave my 2 1/2 year old a couple of measuring cups. She was in there for at least 1 1/2 hours, and fully enjoying herself. Brilliant! Let her play with water! She enjoys it, and all I do is change her afterwards and wipe the floor.
Another idea that holds great favor in our household:

• Setting up a dry bean station: I fill a jar with dry white beans and place it on a flat pan along with empty jars of all sizes, and a couple of measuring spoons/cups. My kids fully enjoy spilling it all over the floor and elsewhere, but they also come up with the most amazing , creative concoctions, including white bean tea! It's amazing, but you have to watch out for the hungry 18 month old child who you think is old enough, and smart enough to know not to eat this tasteless treat. No matter how vigilant you might be, their appetite will be smaller that day, their mood will change around evening time and their diaper that night will be *full* of dry beans!
• Putting on some kid songs: I put on some anasheed with kids singing and a nice beat. My daughters insist on wearing their 'dancing' outfits (skirts which are 3 sizes too large for them) and twirling around!
• Good ole' play-dough: I set my daugthers up either on the floor or on their little table with a clump of play-dough and a couple of rolling pins, cookie cutters and measuring spoons. Lately, I've also added a store-bough play-dough squeezer to the fun. My three year old especially enjoys this (putting the dough in the contraption and squeezing it out through a shaper to look like thin spaghetti, thick pasta, stars, crescents, etc).
  
• Bath time! With lots of bubbles, plastic cups, and a spray bottle! Oh yes, and much patience for me! Perhaps cleaning up the bathroom sink at the same time would be a useful endeavor for me.
  

Please share your toddler fun ideas!

Discovering My Child

As a parent, I am slowly seeing that I should discover my child, so that I may help her reach her potential.
We were in NYC this weekend with my husband's cousin, showing him a part of America and seeing it ourselves in a new light. We went to the Madam Tassauds wax museum as part of our tour. Not something that I would ever have done on my own, or that I would do again, but it gave me a deeper glimpse into my three year old's abilities, and now I'm trying to discover how to build on that momentum.
In the wax museum, there is an 'American Idol' station where visitors can try there luck in singing. We were sitting at the cafeteria for a short break, and saw two different visitors perform. After the second one finished her performance, Sumy hesitated for about two seconds, and shyly ran up to the lady for the microphone. I was so impressed with her bravery and her jur'ah. She definitely gets that side from her father. It was so cute how she looked kind of shy, but her eagerness to sing overrode her tiny bit of shyness (she's not a very shy kid, usually).
She got up on stage and sang the two lines she knew from "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" with the prompter helping her along. And she finished the whole song and came off stage.

So now, I need to figure out what that tells me about Sumy's abilities/personality and build on it. Any help would be appreciated. :)

But this is what I'm thinking: I've always wished I had a nice voice to sing in public, for performances, Eid celebrations, weddings, etc. But I have no such talent. So, I might teach Sumy a few songs in Arabic and English so that she can entertain people. "The Blue Sky is Blue Like Blue Bubblegum", etc. I believe that putting happiness into ppl's hearts by singing is a great asset, and maybe she can do that a bit.
What else? Hmmm, need to develop her outgoing personality and not clamp it down. More on that in another post inshaallah.

Playing With Beans

Yesterday, I decided that my 18 month old is old enough to understand that she can't eat raw beans, or that she'd taste one, not like it, and continue playing with them. I was optimistic.
I give her and her older sister a couple of empty jars, spice jars, measuring cups, etc, and let them play with the dry white beans for a while, until my living room carpet was covered with beans, and they were ready for their nap.
Shifaa woke up a couple of hours later and didn't eat much for lunch. We went to mama's for iftar/dinner, and again she didn't have an appetite. I know you've guessed the reason, but I didn't have the forecasting that you have, and so I wondered why she was acting so spoiled and crying over everything. I attributed it to her teeth, and went on with life.
She refused to eat dinner, and I refused to give her anything else that she thought she could get (yes, I was being heartless).
Than night, right before her bath, she pooped. I changed her diaper and laughed. It was absolutely filled with dry white beans. Eeeeewwww! I know, I'm sorry for the details, but it made me smile, b/c I finally understood why she had a 'full' stomach all day, and I guess now I knew why she was acting so 'bratty' all day!

I'll have to watch her better next time. Yes, there will be a next time!

Enjoying the Moment

My 16 month old is now walking, so I *usually* let her take the walk from the car to our apartment on her own. It's a three minute affair if she's in my arms, and a ten minute affair if I'm following her. But the immense pleasure she gets out of it keeps me going.
She squeals in pleasure as soon as the apartment door opens and starts running out towards the elevator. She gets in and says 'ai!' even if there's no one in the elevator. And if ppl are there, she waves and stares at them.
As soon as the elevator door opens, she walks out, and starts observing everything and everyone and saying 'ai!' to the receptionist. Once I'm able to get her out of the building she starts observing every little thing in her way.
She squats down and touches the wet flowers, the wet asphalt, anything. She picks up random rocks and stuff and starts meandering left and right. She fully enjoys the moment and doesn't realize that we need to get to the car.
I love it, I love observing her, I love how she takes it all in, at her eye level.
And so I let her walk, unless I really need to get somewhere...
:)

She's Walking!

I keep on mentioning this reflection of mine to my friends and family, and yet I still feel the need to write it down and share it with everyone. I'm amazed at the complete difference in personality that my two daughters showed when it came to walking.
My youngest, 15 month old daughter, is finally walking. I don't mean just walking as in she never walked before, but as in she has finally decided that instead of crawling everywhere, she's gonna get up and walk. She's been working on her walking skills for over a month now, but she'd tease us, take a few steps here and there to show us that she could do it, but she just never really cared to pursue it. That and she's a very careful baby when it comes to her safety. She never felt it was a safe endeavor, and so, she didn't walk! :) And yet, the thought process that has finally brought her to the decision to walk, continues to amaze me.
And oh how different this process was for my older 33 month old daughter! :) That's almost three year old Sumy. She discovered her ability to take steps at 1 year and 3 weeks old. And she never looked back. As simple as that.
One day we were living with my parents and Sumy was a walker. Then we went away with my in-laws for a two day vacation to PA. The evening we left my parents house, Sumy discovered walking. She took a few steps and fell. Was amazed, got right back up, took a few more steps and fell, and got right back up. She continued like this for a good hour, and she never went back to crawling. Amazing, subhanaAllah! My sis in law caught a good 15 mins of it on camera. I should look it up.
SubhanaAllah the differences that kids have in approaching life. Now I wonder, does this really reflect on differences in their personalities? Differences in how they approach life in general? Or is it just a walking issue? A physical issue? I'm not really sure, but i'll discover it as I continue to live and grow with my girls.
Alhamdulillah.

Where My Time Flies...

So, it's really busy business being a mommy. Whenever someone asks me what I do, I answer, "I'm 'just' a mother.' And then I explain that being a mommy is busy business, but I rack my brains to remember why it's a busy business... Can't I do more with my time? (Answer is yes, but when I can't....)

So, this is why I can't do much more with my time....

Today I came to write a check for a bill that arrived in the mail. I sit down and start writing check. Baby is hungry. I get up and put an egg to boil, come back and entertain her a bit to get her to forget her hunger. I run off and find another, working pen, and start writing check again. Older daughter finally agrees to use bathroom. I get up to help her.
The egg is ready by the time we're finished in the bathroom. I cool it down under cold water, and put it for Baby to eat. A couple of minutes later, Baby decides it's nasty and lobs it over the side of her high chair. Big Baby (older daughter) decides she wants an egg too, and I hear the sound of an egg cracking in the kitchen. I run to save the egg and my kitchen and pour some milk for Baby. I retrieve the egg, let her drink milk, and give her some egg to try again. I sit down and finish writing the check, but the envelope isn't the right size, so I get up to get another envelope.
I run to the kitchen to make an omelet that I'm convinced won't be eaten by Big Baby, run back and clean up the once again lobbed over side of high chair egg (stupid me), and address the new envelope. I take down Baby, wash her, place her on the floor (upset of course, because she's sleepy). And I finish the envelope!!! I run, make the omelet and run back to stamp the envelope. Alhamdulillah, it's done and waiting to be mailed tomorrow.
By the way, much to my delight and surprise, the 11 pm omelet gets eaten by a hungry 2 1/2 year old Big Baby. :) yay! And thirty minutes after I put my mind to getting this item off my to-do list, it's accomplished. Mission accomplished!

Potty Training and Independence

A light clicked in my head a few weeks ago while I was potty training Suma. She likes to do things on her own! So I told her, 'Sumy, when you need the bathroom, go inside by yourself, take off your pants/underwear, and sit on the toilet.' And Sumy liked that idea.
Yesterday, she didn't even mention anything to me, I just saw her looking uncomfortable for a few minutes, going and coming, and then I heard her 'peeing.' She went into the dark bathroom on her own and undressed and sat, didn't even need to tell me. :) She's done it before, and each time, I'm so proud of her! :) It's so cute, Allah yihfath-ha.
So, maybe in the path to being potty-trained, we need to teach kids to do it on their own, and they'll make less mistakes! Obvious, but I'm stating it nonetheless. :)

Water Play

I started writing this a while back and got busy with my husband's visit. So here's a quick reflection.

I'm reading this book that has been giving me the simplest yet most brilliant ideas for entertaining my toddlers. Basically, kids like to do so many things, and the only reason we stop them is because it's an inconvenience to us-changing their wet clothes, bathing them, whatever. But what is a wet t-shirt, a wet bathroom floor, some spilled dry beans on a carpet? Five minutes of extra cleaning on my part and hours! of entertainment for her!
So the other day, I opened the bathroom door, pulled up a step to the sink, filled it with water and bubbles and gave my 2 1/2 year old a couple of measuring cups. She was in there for at least 1 1/2 hours, and fully enjoying herself. Brilliant! Let her play with water! She enjoys it, and all I do is change her afterwards and wipe the floor.

Being a 'Yes' Mommy

I recognize that parents' first reactions to most questions posed by their children is 'no.' For some reason, it's an inborn thing in parents, and probably humans. So, I'm trying to become more of a 'yes' mommy, only saying no when I have to. I'm not always successful, and still trying harder, but it comes in stages.
The other day, when I was getting Suma ready for bed (2.5 year old), I took off both of her socks. She was talking about something, paused and said, 'Put them back on, so I can take them off." I did, and she proceeded to undress her own socks. It took an extra 30 seconds on my part. And life went on smoothly. Most importantly, inside of me, I wasn't boiling at her for making me do this, I wasn't impatient and trying to hurry her off to bed. I took it all in step, and I was rather proud, alhamdulillah.
So, here's a reminder to myself, 'Be a 'yes' mommy!'

Potty Training My Oldest

I can almost safely say that Suma is potty trained, alhamdulillah. I'm still afraid of dressing her in regular underwear when we're out, but she hasn't had any accidents yet, ALHAMDULILLAH. She's 31 months old now, i.e. 2 years and 7 months. I'm a happy woman. We started our trip over a year ago, and she was half way potty trained in about two months, i.e. she was using #2 in the bathroom, and has been for the past 10 months almost. But I never seriously tried to potty train her past that, until two weeks ago. And now we're in cloth. All praise is to Allah. :)

Updated: 3/21: When I wrote this post, I knew I was speaking too soon. :) Yesterday we had three rather solid accidents. I have to keep it up on my own part for her to keep it up on her part. :)

My Baby's Birth Story

Shifaa turned one today. SubhanaAllah, birthdays always remind me of how fast time flies, and how we never know what the future holds for us. It's been a whole year that I have been meaning to document my little one's birth story (as I did with her older sister's in the first month of her birth!), and I have not done it. So today, I go forth!

Shifaa's expected birth date was February 28th, 2007. My husband works in Iraq, and I was living in the States, awaiting her delivery. In the beginning of February, my *lovely* husband told me that he had a conference to attend at the end of February (24-26th) and would travel to the States after that. He was counting on our second baby coming after the delivery date, just as her sister had. I was pretty upset, and told him that there was a 90% chance he'd miss the delivery, and if he did, I would be so upset at him. He wasn't too worried (ahem, ahem).
On Friday, February 23rd, in the middle of the night, I woke up to this really weird pain, and thought it was a contraction. I woke up freaked out and awaited another, but none came (thank God!). I promised myself that tomorrow I would get my hospital bag packed and do last minute things. On Saturday, I got a couple of big things out of the way, but I had yet to pack my bag. Tomorrow. I went over to visit my in-laws that day and had my sister in law drive me back home.
I went to sleep and woke up at 3 am Sunday morning with this really weird feeling that I needed the bathroom. In the back of my mind, I had a feeling that my water had broke, but I assumed I just needed the bathroom. I waited in bed for thirty minutes and the contractions became very real and defined. I got up, went to the bathroom, and realized that my water had broke. I decided to take my pre-labor shower (a very long affair). Meanwhile, I was wondering how I was going to wake up my father and mother to drive me over to the hospital (the joys of giving birth without your hubby around).
Around 4:30 am, after I had finished my shower, and my contractions were getting stronger, I decided it was time to knock on my parents' bedroom door. We got in the car around 5 am, and found that the weather was sleeting and snowing. My father and mother sat in the front and my sister sat in the back with me, timing my contractions. They were almost a minute long, and about two minutes apart, but I wasn't super worried. I had the same experience driving to the hospital with my first daughter, and she arrived 14 hours later.
We got to the hospital around 5:35 am, and I walked in. I had to stop and wait out a couple of contractions along the way. It was a pretty quiet night in the 'birthing inn' and the nurse was very relaxed and taking her time. My mom was freaking out and asking for a wheelchair, but I was more into walking to help along the labor.
I got to the delivery room and went into the bathroom to change. I couldn't get out because I kept on feeling like I still needed the bathroom (sorry, tmi). The nurse came in, and said pretty loudly and authoritatively, "I need you to get onto the table, now." I got on the table, and by now the contractions were really, really bad. I had intended on not getting an epidural, but I asked for it a this point. The answer, "Sorry honey, you're about to have your baby."
The nurses woke up as soon as they examined me, and I heard one of them calling for the doctor on call, " I need a doctor here, now." My midwife had not yet arrived. All of this was around 5:50 am, right after we arrived.
I was screaming now, and my mom was holding my hands and reassuring me. Surprisingly, she was pretty good. I thought she'd freak out and run out of the delivery room (she's not a touchy, feely kind of mom).
They told me to wait a second, and I had no idea, what I was doing, other than screaming really loud (I think I was over-dramatizing a bit). My midwife ran in, threw off her sweater and told me to push. I think I pushed about three times, and then my mom said, 'SubhanaAllah.' I was still screaming, but I looked down and saw a baby in my midwife's hands. And suddenly I realized it didn't hurt anymore. :))
My second little girl was born at 6:05 am, three hours after my water broke. It was the best labor ever, and I still smile when I think of it. I was walking around ten minutes later, and I felt great, alhamdulillah!
And what made it even more amazing is that I had no hard feelings for my hubby. If he had been there, we would have had a longer drive to make, and perhaps not made it in time to the hospital. God made it easy for me, and for that, I am thankful.

Hello World

One day, I will get more serious about posting to this blog.... Until then, hello world!