Introducing Arabic Books for Kids, Proudly!.

Growing up in the eighties, I remember enjoying the Arabic books published by "Al-maktabah Al-khadra'". I read the stories until I memorized them. But then I wasn't a good reader, I mean reading wasn't a passion. It got better in high school though, until it became a hobby during my years at the university.

I'm not here to talk about my experience, I'm here to talk about my Mariyah's.
 Living in the states makes the whole idea of introducing her to books so easy and full of fun. When it comes to advices and encouragement I read 7aki fadi's blog and follow @Ala` Awaysheh. They are both mothers who are obsessed with reading and have smart kids who share the same passion for books. I'm lucky their kids are older than mine so I can ask them whatever question I have and they're always happy to answer.

We read at home and play/read at the bookstore, we attend Story Telling there too! One of her favourite places to go to...

Most of the English books Mariyah has were given to her as gifts by mothers or friends who have read the same books when they were little.
 I told you we're lucky ;)

Reading to her -and to baby Selma now- is something sacred. I make sure I read to them both at separate times, and sometimes together.
Mariyah loves reading and memorizing whole pages from different books. She "helps" me reading and she "fixes" my mistakes too. That kind of fun.

Her "time out" these days is saying: "I'm reading you one book or two tonight at bedtime instead of three".

Then at some point Teaching her the Arabic alphabets was not enough. I always wondered how I could make her enjoy the language and actually love it and be proud of it and it's beauty. I had in mind that once she turns 5 I'm going to get her the Jordanian schools' Arabic curriculum books.

And then something beautiful happened!

Through Twitter I was guided to @Kalimat Publishing and looking through their website's pages made me fall in love with their books and made me wonder why we weren't this lucky when we were kids.

I mean Look...

I got her this book because her favourite color is Blue. Because she is obsessed with dresses and glittery shoes and because she still remembers how great Eid was here.

I got her this book because tomorrow she'll go to her first Ballet class at the community center and because I'm scared she won't enjoy it although she doesn't stop talking about how excited she is about it...We'll see how that goes :)

I got her this book because she LOVES the moon. She is the happiest when she spots it during day time, I mean in daylight. She knows that once the moon is up, it's time to sleep and when the sun is up she knows the moon goes to Amman and so tete has to go to bed.

Aaaaand I got her this one, this particular one for a very VERY special occasion that I won't talk about here now...But I will do so soon soon insha'Allah :)

You see, these books worth a lot. She enjoys reading her book over and over and OVER again! She only knows about the 1st book so far. I'm giving her the second one as a gift tomorrow after her Ballet class.
They also worth a lot because the shipment from Lebanon was really costly. But to be honest, it's all worth it. The books themselves are really affordable. The material they're made of and the drawings/coloring, the simple and fun stories, the finishing, the covers...everything about them is beautiful. All four of them in fact.

I'm just glad I got them and I'm glad my little girl loves her book about the blue shoes. She asked us about دولاب الهواء، السكاكر و الأراجيح so we simply took her to San Mateo County Fair where she experienced the whole thing "Dima" from the book had. Now she can't wait for Eid!

Neither can I. Because I promised her a beautiful pair of blue shoes for next Eid...

Presence OR Presents?

I read an article a few days ago about the differences between a life with a working mother and another with a stay at home mother. One of the sentences that I liked was: Your kids need your presence, not your presents.

 The article reminded me about how lucky I am to be around my girls watching them growing. Watching miracles in front of my eyes, every single day.
Leaving them both at the daycare for 2 hours every single day aches my heart and I find myself running back to them to pick them up.

The report I get from the babysitter is short, Too short compared to the ones she gives to other parents when they pick up their kids. You see, those parents leave their kids there from 8 am to 6 pm.
I don't want to go into details and I'm judging no one, because I know that a lot of mothers need to work full time jobs for many different reasons. I don't want to be talking about this here. All I want to mention is that I feel blessed and happy when me and Jeeej fight over who discovered this about Selma or that about Mariyah first.

It gets serious sometimes :p

Who discovered the 1st smile. The 1st tooth. The second tooth...the 3rd...it keeps going...
Who heard the first word -which is Baba by the way, no matter how hard you try :(.
Who saw her crawling first and then the 1st step or two...

Yes...Selma is walking now...she takes up to 10 steps at a time and she is our Butter Ball :) The 1st time she walked "perfectly" was on June.14th. But then it was official on the 15th. When I called Jeeej to tease him that I saw her walking first, I knew he was going to get jealous and I heard it his voice. He couldn't wait to get back home from work to see her and then tell me: "It was me who taught her!".

It's fun, it really is :)
It is hard as well. Especially if you have no one to help but your partner. But I can't imagine my life differently. I wouldn't want anyone to steel these precious moments from me.

Today I found this picture. I took it when my mom visited earlier this month.

Posting it reminds of all the beautiful talks me and mama had about motherhood ever since I became a mother :)
May Allah bless all mothers and give them the power and the will to give their best to their kids.

Tempted to Compare

As far as I remember, I never heard my mom or dad compare between me and any of my sisters. They never compared me to a friend, that I am sure about. I grew up and turned out to be different from the rest.
That was expected and accepted.

Now that I have 2 girls of my own with 2 years difference, I can't help but compare. I don't do it loudly. Non of them hear it or even feel it.
I find myself saying: This one said that first. That one crawled earlier. This one's skin is clearer. This one ate that faster.
Silly stuff I know...but I'm scared it might get serious at some point and I actually don't want to hurt their feelings one day. They are both sensitive and I love them the same and I love the differences between them. I love the fact that each one is unique the way she is. It would be boring if they were both the same, right?

So there...
I MUST STOP!
But, My Dear Friends...

THIS:




This thing...this one thing I can't stop myself from talking about...

Mariyah has NEVER EVER done this!
She was actually shocked when she saw Selma right there. She was speechless. I was so scared when I saw my baby standing there. She did it so quick while I was unloading the dishwasher. She climbed and stood up and started shaking the rack. I took a picture by my cell and sent it to Jeeej right away.

Now, since we're on the subject,
Selma is almost walking and she is a fast crawler. She climbs on everything. Today she discovered that she can "drive" a chair around the living room. She is so loud and she puts everything in her mouth. EVERYTHING!

Today, she ate some of my cactus plant.
Mariyah was not like that ;)

I hope I won't do this again. I must stop!

This is what Mariyah did when she was one year old :)

When Doors Close...

If I stay home all day long, I won't complain. I don't mind it at all. I can stay home for so many days in a row without feeling the urge to leave and just go outside for whatever reason.

I think I'm like that...I really can't be sure about it though...I mean this is how I imagine my life...But being married to an anti-staying-home-all-day-long husband makes this life style kinda impossible.

And let's not forget that I have a toddler who's favourite thing to do is getting dressed once she wakes up in the morning demanding to go out.

Oh and I have a 10 monther who starts dancing in her place once the apartment's door opens.

This summer, we are not going to Amman for our summer vacation. So basically our days here must be filled with so many activities to kill time. Especially that my good friend's house will be closed since she is Ammaning this summer.

The daycare will be closed as well because the babysitter is going for Umrah this June too.

I know we're already half way through this month but still I have to figure out how to keep my girls entertained so they won't drive me crazy.

I try to show Mariyah that staying home can be so much fun. We color/cut and paste. We read and sing. We play and nap. We watch movies and nap again...yea, it can be fun but she just doesn't accept it. Selma is becoming the same. If we stay home all day she goes crazy after 4 pm. I mean really crazy with her mood and crankiness. When they go crazy I feel useless and I find myself getting them ready put them in the stroller, pack some snacks and go somewhere...ANYWHERE!

My mama came to visit last week and the girls loved it. We barely stayed home and they got excited about a life with no schedule. I enjoyed it too. StressLESS life. Quantity time with me and tete was way better than quality time. They didn't nap and they slept late. That kind of fun.

I don't know why I'm writing about this all...I just wanted to document that mama was here and that we swam the day before she left so she could see our new swimsuits.

I want to encourage myself to stop being lazy and just enjoy the beautiful weather these days. Not too cold to stay indoors and not too hot to swim whenever...But beautiful enough to have lunch by the fountain while chasing ducks or for a walk to the park.

I will miss you Amal!

My girls love yours so much I'm blessed we have you in our life.

And That's Why We Don't Celebrate Birthdays...

Sunday was Mariyah's 3rd birthday. My in laws wanted to spend the day with us so we went to Stinson Beach and then hiked a little bit in Muir woods. The weather was funny all day long and at the beach Mariyah got wet while carrying a bucket full of water to build castles using the new beach set from her grandparents. We were all excited for her and happy to see her having fun on her birthday.

The next day -Monday- she woke up with what the doctor called: "Croup"!

Mariyah got a cold at the beach and her cough "croup" is too dry and harsh. I've never heard her cough like that before.

And that's why we shouldn't have celebrated her birthday!

No, Really...
We don't celebrate a birthday!
I mean...we don't even mention it and we actually don't get gifts for each other...We don't celebrate the Valentine's, the mother's day or father's day.

We only celebrate Eid Fitr and Eid Adha.
Some might think we are close minded but we actually are not. When I met Jeeej online he made it clear to me that he doesn't celebrate but the two Islamic Eids. I found it different and I thought he was unique. When my birthday came that year and when my mom threw me a birthday/farewell party, he never called to say happy birthday. He actually called me but talked to me about everything but my birthday...I kept singing to myself over the phone: Happy birthday to meeeeeeeee....

Our first year together as a married couple, we had fights about it but then a year after another I realized that it's hopeless and that I should live with it the way it is.

To be honest...I kinda like it. Because having him -us- not celebrating these special days makes it important to be creative and get gifts for each other at random times for no specific occasion.

On Eid days, we get gifts and we celebrate it the best way we can. And now that we have kids it has to be extra special. Living in a materialistic country where every occasion is related to business/shopping/gifts makes our efforts kinda hard, but we are doing good so far.

We get Mariyah a gift every single week. Sometimes big and sometimes little, depends on our budget. We make sure we wrap the gift and use a gift bag. We leave it in her room to see and open when she wakes up in the morning.

She knows she is 3 years old and she knows it was a special day too, Remember, she went to the Beach and then hiking and then to a nice restaurant where she got to pick her own meal...but the gifts she got from my in laws were because they love her...not because it was her birthday.

I was actually writing this post yesterday but fell asleep before posting it and now I'm glad it waited because today my Jeeej got me a bunch of beautiful flowers on his way back home, for no special occasion...When Mariyah asked me about the reason, I simply answered:

Because Baba Loves Me :)

It's OK and sometimes beautiful to be different.