This week, Ayla expanded her horizons yet again. Although her mommy is tired from fasting, she worked really hard to keep contributing to our baby's development. But before I go on, I must tell you about this interesting schedule that Ayla is on. Zaid and I wake up for sehri in the wee hours and no matter how much sehri moves day by day this week, Ayla manages to wake up sometime during the middle of sehri. Therefore, Zaid and I decided that we should wake up 45 minutes before Fajr every day of Ramadan. That way, one of us can eat while the other feeds Ayla. I realize Ayla is a good Muslim and, plans on fasting one of these days, but wow, does she have the schedule down pat!! She apparently gets hungry when Zaid and I need to eat :) Maybe she just needs to stock up for her 2-hour fasts. As her Dadoo says, Ayla's doing the Islamic baby fast - after every two hours, she eats. In fact, now when she spits up her rice cereal, I think she's just rubbing it in that she can eat whenever she wants.
And, lest you think our beautiful princess does this only during sehri, she also happens to be hungry right at iftar - again, no matter what time iftar is on a given day.
Monday, August 24 - As you can imagine, I was exhausted from the fast. However, I de
cided that from now on, whenever I go to the nursery, I would put Ayla in the crib so that she gets used to it. Zaid and I haven't decided when we will move her there but I started putting her in. When I first put her in, the cuteness I witnessed was beyond words!! Ayla looked so small i
n the crib - it kind of reminded me of the first time we put her in her bassinet. She was lying down toward one side of the crib and she only occupied the middle space. You should have seen the look on herface. It was one of what the heck am I doing here. I turned on her Little Princess set mobile and she seemed very amused by the music. I also put a few stuffed animals and a caterpillar toy which attaches to the bars of the crib with velcro. Later on, Ayla would be attra
cted to this toy because it had teething toys attached to it. In fact, she would flip over to the caterpillar, grab it, and start teething. But this would be down the road not now.
What I did notice however was that whenever I tried to leave the nursery and come back to see how Ayla would handle it, she would cry. She could tell she was in a new place and she got scared as a result. So, I could tell some training was needed and, I decided that whenever we move her into the nursery, I will sleep with her there a few nights to get her used to it.
Today, I also started playing the music that I bought for Ayla last week. I played Baby
Einstein's playtime music. Ayla seemed to enjoy it sooo much. It made her hyper as she heard it for the first time while standing in her activity center. I played it throughout the day. She would smile real big and start jumping in place. Considering that the music is in my laptop, when she looks at the laptop playing music, she attempts to "attack" the computer, really trying to put it in her mouth. Combining music-playing with reading really made me feel like I was contributing to Ayla's development :)Also today, Khala Sarah called with a special offer for Ayla :) First, she asked me to check my email. When I checked, I saw the cutest thing!! A cute Evite for Ayla's first iftar. Against a light blue background, it had a cute little elephant with a crown on it. The Evite was for this coming Saturday and would include Sarah, Samer, me, Zaid, Ayla and Adnan - a cute, little family get-together. Of course I replied yes - I was so excited and so was Ayla!!! I marked "Yes" and bringing one guest :)
Tuesday, August 25 - I am filling out the forms to enroll with Ayla's new day care provider. Boy, is there a lot of paperwork in this country. It's time consuming and now, I realize will take time away from me spending time with Ayla.
Every morning, I bring Ayla in front of the mirror behind my bedroom door. She look
s at it, and starts smiling. As each day goes by, she looks at the mirror, then looks at me, often touching her face or my face and then, touching the mirror as if to "connect" the images in her mind. And because she drools, when she puts her hand on the mirror, there are drool streaks! It is unbelievably cute to see her realize that she and her mom are looking at the mirror.
Ayla is also in the process of adding and perfecting another skill to her repertoire. When I try to kiss her on her tummy, she starts laughing - that's right, laughing!! The first time I heard it, I was in shock with happiness. It was this cute laugh which is hard to describe - you have to hear it for yourself :) As the days went by, Ayla's laugh got longer and richer!
She's also starting to look at a person's face when he/she hold her so that she can "assess" just exactly who is holding her. When she recognizes someone, she just goes back to leanin
g on their shoulder. However, when it's someone she doesn't recognize, she starts crying. Other things that make her cry include when someone comes from behind her and tries to surprise her or when someone makes a funny face or sound.
Wednesday, August 26 and Thursday, August 27, Ayla continued to work on important milestones. I keep putting her on her tummy for minutes at a time so that she gets used to it but our little baby usually can maintain this position for a few minutes before she gets upset. She starts crying and just kicking her legs. Also, the cutest thing happens - she appears to get her arms stuck under her tummy which makes her more upset :) I just want to make sure she is not too late in learning to crawl. Despite her challenges however, Ayla's getting better and better about tummy time, better than last week.
She's also enjoying the toys that I bought her. So, it's easier to keep her entertained. Before, I used to hold her and try to play with her but now I can lie her down or help her sit and she enjoys the music coming from the toys.
In the evenings, the special episodes I refer to as the "Baby and Baba Show" take place albeit with Zaid having less energy. He's so cute because he tries to remain energetic for Ayla though he goes to work and is fasting. He comes home a little before iftar. During this time, I prepare our iftar dinner in addition to getting snacks ready to break fast while Zaid plays with Ayla. At iftar, we take turns breaking fast and then, eating dinner while the other plays with Ayla. Zaid plays with her, feeds her, and helps comfort her in the nursery. It's so cute because he will sit on the rocking chair in the nursery and rock Ayla to sleep often listening to the Qur'an on his I-phone. The sweet melody of the Qur'an calms Ayla down and often puts her to sleep. He also takes her to the balcony. All-in-all, he gets valuable Baba and Baby alone time :)
Friday, August 28, we had iftar at Auntie Rahila's house. Imran mamoo and family were planning to leave tomorrow for Kuwait so we wanted to see them again in addition to breaking fast with our lovely family :) Of course, we managed to take turns breaking fast while engaging Ayla. Auntie Valerie is so cute because she takes Ayla out for a walk to provide her with some peace and quiet. Rahila Khala is still trying to work out what she wants to be called by Ayla some day. Candidates include "Khala Dadi and Khala." Our Kuwaiti family branch took some more adorable pictures of Ayla. Ayla did cry a bit but we took her upstairs to Nadia's room and helped her go to sleep. And, the evening cannot be completely explained without telling you that Nadia took more adorable pictures of Ayla.
Saturday, August 29, was the iftar that Khala Sarah and Khalu Samer set up with much, much help from Khala Weedy! Ayla wore the cutest outfit - pink OshKosh overalls. Her first set of overalls. Earlier in the week, I told Sarah that Ayla would be dressed in some of her finest :)We had some delicious burgers and great appetizers not to be outdone by some delicious cakes including a home-baked Red Velvet cake from Sarah. Chacha Adnan also came to make up a cute, little family iftar. Ayla maintained her Ramadan schedule by needing us exactly at iftar time - but this time, it was not for feeding but because her teeth were hurting. Our little angel starts making humming noises along with crying when her teeth hurt. Sarah comforted Ayla while Zaid and I were breaking fast. Then, Sarah and Zaid took turns walking with Ayla outside. Sarah and Samer have this nice lake with a walkway around it which is very nice and makes for a relaxing scene. We were hoping to walk Ayla around it in the stroller but our little princess eventually started getting sleepy. We put her in Sarah and Samer's bed to put her to sleep.
I taught Sarah and Weedy Ayla's sleep routine. First, you lay Ayla down between two pillows. The pillows must be close to each side of her body. Then, Ayla starts "hugging" each pillow in turns eventually, putting her face against one pillow and falling asleep. While she does t
his pillow-hugging, you must put the pacifier in her mouth. She will suck on the pacifier while until she is fully asleep eventually, spitting it out :) However, during this whole time, you can't be playful or make funny faces while she is tired otherwise she will be half-playful and half-sleepy and she won't be able to concentrate on fallin;g asleep!
While Ayla was sleeping, the rest of us ate, had dessert and engaged in wonderful and funny conversation. It's sooo nice that Ayla will have loving family around as she grows up and...her parents also enjoy having close family around. Thank you Sarah and Samer for the nice, home-cooked iftar!
Sunday, August 30, Zaid and I met our friend Zeshan for iftar at one of favorite Thai restaurants. Ayla was being so active and so cute. Zaid and I took turns standing her on our lap. She kept jumping in place and, the little mischievous one kept trying to grab the silverware and swat the plates and glasses. She's a handful!! Zeshan remarked how cute Ayla keeps getting and how active she is. He's the uncle of a niece and nephew so he's got experience with little ones! It's just so funny how Ayla just goes about her thing not really worrying about her parents schedule and plans. It's true what they say - kids really are the boss :)
This weekend, we also took Ayla to the nearby Dunn Loring Park. Although it's not that big, whether Ayla was in the stroller or in our arms, she had her eyes wide open as she checked out the trees, insects, and scenery. We went right before dark so didn't have too much time but we will have to take her to the park again since she enjoyed it so much!
Talk to you soon, Saadia
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