I have a sister~I'm fortunate!

Summer 2010, Mariyah had no idea that her life will be turned upside down once her baby sister arrives to her world. Non of us had a clue of what kind of life to expect. That's the best part of adding a new member to the group.

The very first meeting was full of emotions. Mariyah totally believed that Selma is her new moving doll. She was so excited and thrilled.

She was jealous of course but never in a harmful way. She thought and still thinks that she owns Selma. Selma is hers and she is the one who could take care of her. She insists on feeding her from her plate or simply share her sippy cup.

She believes she's the one who taught her how to walk and how to dance. I tried my best to include Mariyah in anyway possible in the process of taking care of Selma. Mariyah was responsible of getting a new Diaper for her sister. was responsible of keeping Selma's socks on, patting her back to burp her and some other tiny responsibilities and she loved it and felt like a grown up.

Everyone feels bad for Selma though, simply because they think that Mariyah is the trouble maker and that she's controlling Selma's life and also because of the facial expressions of both girls...

LOOK!

Those who are close to me kept assuring me that there will come a time where both girls would become best friends and that the bond between them might get stronger than their bond with me. Should I worry?

I have 3 sisters myself and I remember how at a certain stage of life my sister became closer to me than my Mom!
**Mama is the closest to me now, so it's going to be alright :)

My question was always...When? When would they start playing together? When would they start enjoying time together especially when I'm too tired to take them out. Will they be able to entertain each other and give me sometime to relax?

There were two answers to this questions...
The first answer: Once Selma starts crawling.
The second was: Once Selma starts walking.

I couldn't wait for the first! Selma crawled later than I hoped but still...Mariyah was not interested in playing with Selma...She was actually jealous of her sis she started crawling herself!

Now, that Selma is walking it's happening!
They play & laugh like there's nobody watching :)

And Selma's personality is changing a lot. She doesn't want to be treated like a baby sister anymore...She Thinks she can do whatever she wants...Bye Bye innocence!

She enjoys pulling Mariyah's hair. She knows it makes Mariyah cry and she knows Mariyah won't harm her or hurt her back so she simply enjoys it! The best part of the whole thing is that both of them forget the hurt and pain really quick they get back to playing in a blink of an eye :)

Now, she follows Mariyah everywhere! Mariyah can't wait for her sister to nap so we could read together in peace...
So she could color and paint in peace...
So she could go for a swim in peace...
So she could watch her favourite Dinosaurs cartoon in peace.

Being a baby sister is not easy at all!
Being a mother of partners in mischief is not easy at all...

But it's a life full of fun, laughter and forgiveness,
The day I tweeted about it was the day I decided to post this...I'm becoming a lazy blogger, but...it's Ramadan!

@supernido

It's amazing how kids can easily forgive and forget! I wish I can be as pure and innocent as my little girls...
Aug. 7

 Al hamdulillah :)

Mariyah~Saurus

Some people might be against the idea of teaching kids about Dinosaurs. They don't exist anymore, so why bother!
 I myself was one of those people. I used to hear Jeeej mentioning their long names for a reason or another and I would wonder...Why? Why would he be interested in them...He told me once that he learnt everything he knows about them at school when he was little.

I learnt nothing about them at schools!
Now, I wonder why haven't we?!
They are so much fun!

With Mariyah, it all started when Jeeej was picking a nice movie for her to watch on Netflix one weekend. He thought about/searched for the movie "The Land Before Time". At first she didn't know what she was watching and then she started falling in love with the characters. Her favourites are Little foot and Sarah.

Then in one of our visits to the bookstore she discovered the dinosaurs section and started playing with the stuffed dinosaurs on the shelves and of course she named them Sarah, Sarah's father, Little foot and his grandfather...but a 5 year old boy was there and he started correcting her. He started saying the real names and Mariyah didn't like it...I was amazed myself by all the knowledge he's got!
Remember,,,I knew nothing about dinosaurs!

The little boy's dad was there and he told me that his son was Mariyah's age when he started learning about them...He suggested we watch "Dinosaur Train" and then he suggested the dinosaur museum in Berkeley University.

On our way back home that day Mariyah cried. I still remember what she said when she cried. She said: "I don't like the boy at the library. How come he knows and I don't!"

The next day she watched a couple of episodes of the "Dinosaur Train" and then later on I got her the Dinosaur book.

I am amazed by how fast she's learning about them. Their names and what they eat...who flies and who swims in the oceans.

We took her to the museum of course and it was a big surprise for her. She didn't know they'd be THAT big! The skeletons were way bigger than she'd ever imagined. Now she knows...a lot.
Now, when we go to Target every weekend, all she wants is a dinosaur. All she wants to read about is Dinosaurs. All she paints are dinosaurs!

Baby Long Neck
Mama Long Neck
Baba Long Neck
........ Long Neck

She even started coming up with names for dinosaurs
Like...TomorrowSaurus!

Meet My Little MariyahSaurus :)



* It took me so much time to shoot this video. I did it last Monday right after she came back from her Gymnastics class, while Baby Selma was napping.

And...We're done ;)