..all about Liya!

28 Splendid Months...

2012-02-29T20:39:00.000-05:00

...Masha Allah!

Let me give you an update on her 'specific behaviors'!

Determination: I am often amazed at her level of determination. If she decides something to/not to do, nothing in this world can change her mind. Even if I offer a chocolate or ice cream she would just refuse it because she doesn't want to change the 'particular' decision she has already made, merely for an ice cream or chocolate.

Adamant: Don't confuse with 1. She is adamant for weird things. For example, one day she mentioned it 'RED' instead of 'BLUE'. I tried my best to correct her and she already knew that she was wrong. She simply wanted to challenge me and repeated "No, No.. It's RED RED."

Quick Doer: Amazingly quick in doing things. Especially when she talks only we, her friends and teachers can understand because she talks very fast as if she has a train to catch in the very next moment. :P

Motivation driven: Highly... and extremely motivation driven. She will obey anything provided it must arise some motivation/curiosity in her.

Learning Style: She has a very unique learning style. She learns very quickly, tell her once she stores in her memory. But if you ask her in the very next moment she won't be remembering it. Ask her next day or after a few days she will tell you. She can never sits and listens to what you teach. She keeps exploring with her own 'learning items..' and lives and learns in her-own world.. just let her be.

Independent: Very independent. She can play and live in 'her-own' imaginary world for long time. She'll be telling stories to her toys and imaginary friends... she cooks for them. She teaches them rhymes and do her own things.

Self Centered: Very much. Everything she comes across is her-own. Sharing isn't caring for her.

Possessive: Especially about her Pappa and Momma. The other day we went for a party and J lifted his friend's son. Throughout the party she was clinging to him because she was afraid that her dad will again 'pamper' F uncle's son.

Book Worm: As you already know, books are my biggest weapon at home. A promise that " I will take you to library is best way to inhibit motivation in her to do a lot of other things."

Unusual Social Behavior: She behaves strangely if we are in a mob. But only if we both are around. If we're not around she talks to everyone nicely, she shows off her American English skills but if we both are there she just turns silent and pamper queen.

Organizer: Really appreciable organizer she is. Of late we have started including her in cleaning the mess she created at home. So every evening we ask her to put all her toys, paints, brushes, crayons, books, flash cards.... and numerous 'play items' back into its designated place. She does very cleanly. If she puts her hand in any silly household chore, she 'll just do it perfectly and neatly. Very impressive girlish behavior, I think.

Wordless Wednesday :: No more accessories...

2012-02-29T16:12:00.000-05:00

This is how she went...

... and this is what we got!

Apologies....

2012-02-29T14:30:00.002-05:00

...yes again! I have been away from my favorite place for a while. In fact, our house was swarmed with varieties of germs.

My little girl is so 'generous' that she never says no to her friends when they gift her with germs. And every 2 weeks she brings them in happily and transfers to Momma with love. Eventually, Momma and baby fall ill and Pappa goes nuts...That's what happening these days! Flue shots don't work any more! Dear winter, please stop spreading germs. We're tired of coughing and sneezing.

By the way, I have already missed out a lot of updates. Stay tuned for following posts...coming shortly!

1) Our Bucket List Update: We have something really exciting to tell you. Germs could not keep us away from reaching our tiny goals.
2) 28 months update: Let's see it in a different angle this time. No more eating, drinking and talking updates.
3) Book of the Week : We've another wonderful story to tell you.

Have a great rest of the week!
With love,

Love

2012-02-14T10:32:00.002-05:00

You might be having different opinions...

I just don't question you!

I respect your thoughts....

But let me make it clear

Below is my concept on LOVE

and LOVE DAY!

Stolen from a friend's blog- www.feelislam.com

According to ISLAM real love must start after WEDDING and wedding doesn't remark the end of love (that's how many people perceive wedding). Love is at the best when it's shared among the couples.. It's a precious feeling and a mercy poured from Almighty Allah.

Book of the Week :: If you give a cat a cup cake....

2012-02-02T09:53:00.001-05:00

Theme: Pets
Our Pick: If you give a CAT a cup cake

To Be Updated

Pink Eye!

2012-01-31T22:14:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, as Liya got back home from daycare, she gave me below piece of paper- a note from her teachers.

She was absolutely fine when she left for daycare, but came back with a red color on left most side of her left eye (conjunctivitis). Probably, she got it from there only. She was rubbing and scratching. We immediately called her primary care Doc but he wasn't available. The itching and scratching was increasing and so we took her into an emergency care. They gave an eye drop. She stopped rubbing and slept well, Alhamdulillah.*All Praise to Almighty*

As suggested, we took her to primary care doc and he just didn't give too much importance to it. He said she is alright, no fever plus a clear throat and chest indicate that she is all well. Continue the drops and she can return to daycare tomorrow.

She had not liked it when I told her she might need to drop Thursday class. But, she was glad to hear that she can return on Thursday.

Did I tell you, this is her 'first' disease apart from those mild cold tantrums she got once in a while. In fact it was for the first time she was taken to doc due to 'a disease'. She managed it quite well. She wasn't cranky due to this. But something quite funny had happened.

A couple of days ago, Liya ran through the snow and slipped. Just nothing happened and she got back home happily. Yesterday, when she went to toilet, she saw that there is a very small scratch on her knee. It's so small that I can't even take a pic and share here (he he.. heights of sharing). The moment she saw it she started screaming and wanted to 'go to' doc and 'get an injection'.

Somehow I made her calm and took her out. But, whenever she goes to toilet she will end up looking at her knee and the whole drama repeats. She believes that only if she gets a shot, she will be alright.
Today, she cried almost 4 times, and the 5th time when she went to pee, I gave her a book and kept it on her lap while she was on commode. So, she didn't cry because she didn't see that remnant of her favorite scratch. Lols!

Toddler Talk :: But I don't...

2012-01-30T09:35:00.000-05:00

The other day I was sharing moral stories with Liya. Story was about the importance of helping everyone in need and the beauty of sharing. She was curiously listening to the story.

I asked her: "How is this story, did you like it?"
She replied : "Yeah, I liked it".

I concluded "So Liya, the moral of this story is that we must help others. For example you must share toys with your friends and be happy for it."

Liya frowned and immediately said "But I just won't share my crayons and paints with anyone"...(As if the story is good, moral is even better and very good if others are practicing in their life, but I just can't do it.) lolz.

Always, teaching her the importance of helping and sharing ended up in big failure. But I don't want to give up.

Bucket List :: Jan Updates

2012-01-30T08:50:00.001-05:00

Welcome to 'Bucket List' updates with our lovely Rainbow. So, what are we gonna strike today?

~~17. Identify all colors~~

Yes, finally the confusions are over. Liya is no more confused at which is blue and black or brown and orange. Yay, we learned to perfectly identify all colors. Liya's favorite colors are purple and pink (yah, we're perfectly girlish!)

How did we achieve it?

1) Liya was having 'rainbow' theme in daycare, where they were teaching each color every week. So they finished a few colors. To easily identify color of that particular week, they choose all art projects, toys etc with that particular 'color'. I am sure this has helped her a lot.

But they are not even half way through the project, but little Liya learned all colors, how?

2) As you know, Liya does a lot of painting these days. As we were coloring we learned to identify them.
3) We were continuously announcing colors of each and everything we come across - pink blanket, white snow, blue chair, red pant, green ball, black top....
4) We watched a few videos and songs about colors.

Here is one of our favorite video.

~~Learn to recite bedtime dua (invocation)~~

Well, this is purely Islamic GOAL. Liya learned to recite one bedtime invocation. Everyday before napping she recites - بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ أَمُوتُ وَ أَحْـيَا (In the name of Almighty Allah do I die and live).
Her grandparents asked her to recite it so that they can hear, she told "that we have to recite before bedtime" (not while video chatting...).

Book of the Week :: It's Library Day

2012-01-26T09:23:00.001-05:00

------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------
Theme of the week ~ Books
Our pick ~ It's Library Day
Author ~ Janet Morgan Stoeke
------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------

Jennifer loves to read stories, Flores loves to read scary stories, Uma has just started reading. All of them smile when they hear 'something'. All of them likes 'something' which little Liya is equally passionate about. That's GOING TO LIBRARY.
This book is about kids' day in library. Liya loved it as as much as she loves to visit library. She learned what can she do in the library, why does Ms Faye find books easily, how should behave in the library etc.

Here is Rainbows story of the week.

Things Liya loved in India

2012-01-26T08:47:00.000-05:00

Chicks, Kittens, Ducks and Doggie...
...made her really happy. She was so glad to run behind live chicks, kittens, doggies, ducks. She was running behind a big hen of my neighbor and I asked what's she doing. Do you know what she replied?? "Momma this is chicken, we can eat it!"

Back in Kerala, fish is a part of our daily food and people can't just live without. No one goes to market everyday to buy it. Especially in the village area, the sellers bring varieties of fish to each doorstep, on a basket. In my childhood, they use to carry the basket on their heads and came walking from house to house. Later on they came on motor cycles, bicycles etc. The seller in our area parks his 'vehicle' a bit ahead of our gate and honks so that ladies from our neighborhood come out to buy. A gang of cats also gathers there especially to gulp the 'waste' he throws. Liya loved to roam around the 'fish' guy to watch how excitedly cats eat and the mess they make.

Tender coconut, Guavas, Oranges, Banana....
Most houses in Kerala grow some fruits and veggies. She loved eating them. She loved to take out small bananas from its stem, hanged on a small wall. Believe me she finished an entire bunch all by herself. She was so fascinated to eat homegrown bananas so that my dad cut down another bunch and hanged for her. But sadly, it didn't ripen till we leave India. :(

Mashrooms

Flowers: She loved to pluck and crush flowers from the small flowering plants in our yards.

Hibiscus

Auto Rickshaws: She was excited to see auto rickshaws. She badly wanted to ride on it. I have no idea on what she had in mind about rickshaws, but she was curious. She was referring to it as 'auto pasha'. Rickshaws are very common in Indian roads, which are common man's basic mean of transport. Not every one can afford to have a car in India, rickshaws play a big role in running their day to day life. Once, I took her to nearby town, in a rickshaw, since then she has lost interest in it... lolz. She learned that riding on an auto isn't as cozy as she expected.

Auto Rikshaw

Gifts
Many gifts were awaiting her back at home. Toys, accessories, dress etc. My inlaws had bought her a small praying rug, a pardha (burqa without face veil) and a few toys, when they went for Haj last year (2010). They had kept those well, all these months for their little grand daughter. Liya loved all gifts. Parda is bigger for her, so we hope to wear it while praying after growing some more older, insha Allah!


Silver anglets from granny

Praying on her rug, wearing her Pardha ...

Accessories:
Her cousin D had a lot of accessories. People there believe that girl should wear all gaudy items and must look cute. I bought many accessories for Liya because she was fighting with D and sometimes ended up in breaking D's accessories. Believe me, half of them are already broken, because she is 'handling' those extra carefully... lols.

Read another story in the series.

Updates - 27 Months

2012-01-20T21:16:00.000-05:00

I am here to give you a quick review of last month. Days are passing by and honestly I began wishing if her 'toddler age' goes a little longer.. :P. Sadly, time and tide wait for none.

English Skills:

MashaAllah, she is mastering English much faster and can now talk as good as she speaks Malayalam. Over last month,

She has learned to use a few CONJUNCTIONS in her sentences. She properly uses BUT and AND in her sentences.
The Use of "I AM" in reply to questions involving 'YOU' and vice versa.
She knows the usage of - everything, everyone, all of you, everywhere, you guys, over there... (probably I use these words a lot in my conversations..)
She knows to use WHICH and WHAT in a sentence, correctly.
"Then", "When", "I had", "I would have"
Use of adjectives to describe herself ("This hush little baby", "Cute Liya") - in simple words- boasting..:P
Exclamations - That's wonderful, that's bad, Ooops, Oh My Goddd, Oh no..!

Yay! I am trying to make a snowman

Whims and whines:

These have been the breath of our little home. Little Liya began to complain about everything...

"Pappa, this girl (he he referring to Momma) is not letting me do this, that.."
"Why did you do like 'that' yesterday"
"Why didn't you buy it that day?"

She is taking 'stern' decisions and implementing it successfully.
She has a new wish "I want to go to daycare..... eeevery day??" This sentence echos from her mouth every then and now. Looks like she is very much tired of seeing me all the day.

Peanut Biriyani from Master Chef

Problems and Solutions:

She has become 'very good' in problem solving. She has solution for everything. If anything is missing at home, spoiled or misplaced... consult her, she will immediately give you solution "Let's go and buy from waamart (Walmart) or pricerite!!"
Every problem in the world is so silly, Momma's laptop isn't working, ohh.. why can you just drop into Walmart and buy a new one? Paint stains on the dress? Oh, no issues get a new one!
Life is so simple, if you know how ti live it, huh?

Liya's modern art!

Comparison:

This is the most recent trait she has developed, especially comparing Momma with Ms J and A. In her words, Ms J is the most amazing person and ever reliable role model. For everything, she adds, Momma, but miss J does that why don't you? Momma why don't sit like Ms J, dance like Ms J, walk like Ms J...(Honestly, I am kinda of annoyed..;))

Doubts... why, why and why?

Why does momma and pappa close door when they go to toilet, but Liya is not allowed alone?
Why does she remove pant before entering toilet, while others are not?
Why can't she accompany Pappa to office?
Why don't deers wear jacket?
Why can't she pluggin her toy laptop to power?
Why does snow melt?
Why does no one come online in Skype?
Why her toy puppy doesn't eat?
Why shouldn't she waste water, tissues?

Destruction:

She has never been destructive, but things have completely changed. She destroys everything after she loses interest in it. The most annoying part is that she tores books, which is something I personally hate. Books are knowledge, and in my opinion we should preserve (and share) knowledge and treat with 'respect'. Well, she's too small that I can't present my 'theories and philosophies' in front of her.. :)

By the way, looks like this is a habit she inherited from J. I had heard his childhood stories from my MIL 'J', and she used to buy at least 3-4 set of text books for J in the beginning of every academic year. Because he was so fond of tearing away the pages, which have already been 'learned'..:)

Liya, not only ruins toys, colors, books etc after use, but also consoles me "don't worry, we can buy new from Walmart"... as if Walmart gives everything for free!

Discriminations:

According to Liya "this world is very discriminating." Because

Pappa is allowed to use scissor to crop his mustache while she is not allowed to crop her hair all by herself.
Momma is using 'real knife' to chop veggies, but she is not allowed to use knives in her kitchen. She is just given a toy knife.

False 'Aches':

Like I mentioned in my previous post, she's developing 'pains' very often in different parts of her body, sometimes head ache, tommy ache, finger ache, hand ache (especially when is she eating so that she can't lift food), feet ache so that she is unable to walk so we must lift her, 'hair ache' so that she doesn't want to comb... People say kids learn from kids, but from my experience I learned that kids have a lot of things innate especially tricks and tips. No matter they are left alone, they have inbuilt capability to 'find out reasons." They are just awesome, MashaAllah!

Modern 'art' -2 mixer of water paint and finger paint

Photography:

She is developing an 'eye' for photography. She arranges 'anything' she comes across, and instructs me 'how to take photos'. Especially to photograph her modern arts, her food etc. :)

Eating:

She has become really bad in eating. Momma's timetables have become history. Nowadays she eats as per her timetables. Her current obsessions are Avocado Milkshake and Strawberry Smoothie.

That's all. Have a wonderful weekend.

Video of the Week :: Rhyming

2012-01-17T13:23:00.002-05:00

Listen to Little Liya's singing... and can you understand the lines?

Toddler Talk : Ohh tommy Ache

2012-01-17T13:17:00.000-05:00

The other day, we were reading muffin man's story, just before our bed time. Liya suddenly craved for muffins and I promised "it's already close to bedtime, so I'll make it tomorrow Insha Allah".

Unfortunately, it somehow slipped from my mind and recalled it only when Liya reminded me, the next day night. I had to postpone. By the way, I have to admit that I am the biggest procrastinator in the world, especially when it comes to things which fail to inject passion.

The next day Liya had a very 'small' but smart conversation with me... This is how it went.

Liya : I have tommy ache....
Momma : Tommy ache....???? (Realizing that it's a pseudo ache to skip her meals).. Let's go to doctor uncle and get an injection...You'll be alright.

Liya: Hmmm...no need..!
Momma: Then how will go off?
Liya: It will go off if I eat muffin!!! (Subhana Allah- Glory be to Almighty)

Oh My God. That was her idea to remind me of the promise I made. What an 'innovative' trick... J and I laughed out!! Though, I haven't heard about muffins 'curing' tommy aches (rather than causing it, at times), we headed to nearby store, bought all ingredients and baked a simple vanilla muffin for her...

Book of the Week :: Zoo Parade

2012-01-11T13:54:00.000-05:00

Welcome to another story time. Today, let's look at yet another wonderful book, selected by Liya from library- Zoo Parade!

LEAPING, PRANCING,

DANCING, SWINGING...

WITH THE ANIMAL PARADE...
I have never heard about this book before. But as you know, Liya is always fascinated by animals. She loves animal books and we read a lot of them. She picked this from library and was so obstiante that I must borrow it. Well, I did...!

So what did we learn through this book? That's the interesting part, not just Liya I also learned few things...:) It talks about how different animals 'walk'..? Do you know the exact 'term' for 'the walking' of all animals. Honestly, I didn't know or I had simply forgotten. {yeah... getting older...;)}

Hence, we joined the zoo parade and learned-

How to...

PRANCE like a lion...

DANCE like a gazalle...

SAUNTER like a giraffe...

JUMP like Kangaroo...

MARCH like a camel with a bumpy hump

TIP TOE like an elephant

LEAP like a tiger

RACE like a leopard

SWING like a monkey

Have a great rest of the week!

Wordless Wednesday :: Artistic Again!

2012-01-11T09:56:00.000-05:00

Tuesday Treat :: We love library time!

2012-01-09T13:35:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I shared pics from library. Here you go!

Video

Pictures

Video of The Week :: The Little Teacher

2012-01-09T11:46:00.000-05:00

A sneak peek at how little Liya teaches her puppy dog!

Things Liya loved in India :: 2) Visiting Relatives

2012-01-08T10:25:00.000-05:00

Yes, I said it, Liya loved to visit our relatives. This is something I personally find extremely exhausting part of every vacation. Well, I love visiting relatives, friends; grab a cup of tea and have some silly chit chats... That sounds exciting, but every time we keep running from one house to another, spend few minutes and get back home extremely tired...and the vacation just goes on like that till the last day. By then, we would have dropped a lot of things we wanted to do... but after all I love the warmth, ties and bonds of relationships we especially get in Kerala.

Okey, let me come back to Liya. Why did she love visiting relatives, that's where the interesting 'point' lies. There is a special 'tradition' back in my homeland. They love serving a lot of 'eatables' for the guest. That usually include 'deep fried' snacks either home cooked or purchased from bakeries and stored to serve for 'unexpected' guests- cakes, biscuits, chips, mixtures etc. No matter you were running from house to house since morning, you 'll have to have a gulp/handful from each house.

That's the way people show their hospitality and love towards you. Every time we go on vacation to India, first few days we end up with stomach upset because of this 'serial' food-ing from everywhere. Apart from that, if you visit close relatives you will be buried inside a heap of all special delicacies- chicken, mutton, beef, shrimp, mussels and so on in different forms- fries, curries, gravies, biriyani plus appam, nool puttu, pathiri and rotis.... So we probably gain more calories in 2-3 weeks.

Liya was extremely fascinated by all these. I was not giving her chocolates, sugary items, candies, deep fries etc till age of two (well, I know I am kinda of paranoid, but her health is my first preference). But back in my homeland, they pamper kids by giving a handful of chocolates, candies or a bunch of cookies... Now you know why Liya loved it...! All things forbidden by Momma were coming infront of her, even if Momma was disliking it, Momma had to keep quite because relationships are to be preserved. Momma didn't want to sadden them. Liya happily grabbed snacks from one house, in the next house she kept it on their dining table and grabbed another handful.....and the story went on... In fact she had lost her apetite and throughout our vacation she barely had any healthy food. :(

She learned about this culture really fast, slowly she began directly going to host's kitchen, expecting them to give her a glass of juice or biscuit. How embarrassing is that when you step in to a house, your little girl just running to their kitchen. I honestly don't know how does she find kitchen. Usually the houses are bigger in our homeland where the 'kitchens' are not usually very next to entrance as you see in USA or Canada. Yes, kids are much smarter when need is theirs, aren't they?

Read Part 1- People!

Toddler Talk :: One uncle, two uncles...

2012-01-06T14:30:00.000-05:00

At Calicut airport, Air India Flight to Delhi.

We had just boarded the flight. Little Liya, very thrilled and counting people boarding behind us....

She uttered 'Momma look... one uncle, two uncles'..., then?

A sudden pause...!!
Has something gone wrong?

Yes, because she found that not just one or two but several 'uncles' are boarding flight, and she probably can count up to 10 not more than that.

She immediately resumed "...and many uncles", realizing that it's better to conclude than showing off her 'counting skills'. How smart!

Wordless Wednesday :: Little Traveler...

2012-01-04T09:26:00.002-05:00

...killing time at Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi on our way back to US after vacation.

She was badly waiting to get one for her...

She imitated exactly how other people were using the reclining seat...

She did ensure the 'safety and security' of chairs....

She scanned through the floor

That's how we spent almost 6 hours of transit duration there...!

[Dec Updates] Before 3 we'll

2012-01-03T21:52:00.000-05:00

First of all, sorry for pushing December updates to January. I am not finding anymore reasons - I am dare enough to admit that I have been lazy. :)

As you know we're on a 2012 project with Rainbow. So what are we gonna strike today?

~~We played in the first snow of the season!~~

(but we're yet to make a snow man...)

She absolutely enjoyed it. It was freezing chilly outside and I could not withstand the cold. But she was bouncing in the snow and was not ready to get back home.

~~Create 'own' stories and share with Momma and Pappa~~

Yay, little Liya is a wonderful story teller. She creates little stories and shares with her toys. At times, she tries to put 'Momma to sleep' by sharing stories.. Ha ha, how cute!

A sample story: There was a sheep. She was hungry. She told to her mom "Momma I am very hungry". Then Momma gave her food. And the story is over.

If she just don't get what to say, she will stop story right there with a sentence "That's it. Story is over."

{ For those who understand Malayalam- here is the Malayalam version : ഒരു ഷീപ് ഉണ്ടെര്‍ന്നു ട്ടോ.. എന്നിട്ട് ശീപ്പിനു വെശന്നു ട്ടോ.. അപ്പൊ ഷീപ് പറഞ്ഞു "അനക്ക്‌ വെശക്കുത്ത ഉണ്ട്... മാമു വേണം.." അപ്പൊ മമ്മ മാമു കൊടുത്തു. അപ്പൊ കഥ കഴിഞ്ഞു.,...}

She makes several stories. It's so much fun listening to her imaginations.

~~Not dressed by herself~~..;)

~~Dress Up Alone~~

Yes, little Liya learned to dress up all by herself. She doesn't know to wear a T shirt properly. She puts her both hands and yells out for help. But she knows to wear pants, skirts, jackets, shirts, socks etc. She also knows to dress up her dolls.

Reflections 2011

2012-01-02T16:53:00.000-05:00

For a Muslim(a), the word 'New Year' doesn't make any banging difference or it's not 'something special' to celebrate. From my personal perspective, it's merely a change of date!
But, I have to agree that it's always good to have a trace back through the ways traveled by. This helps being Thankful to Almighty, encourages to rectify our downfalls and extract the fragrance of lessons learned... and hence I am joining my lovely friends Salma and Marie, with my REFLECTIONS of the fallen year.

It has been a wonderful year. I have made a lot of friends and learned a lot of things through them - both Islamic and life in general. There have been moments of happiness, sadness, excitements, confusions, learning...and a lot more... as a mother, woman and a Muslima. There have been gains and loses.. There were additions into our family, relatives and unexpected, sad demises as well.

As you know, Princess Liya is my favorite abode in cyber world, and completely dedicated for my little girl. So, here I share with you the reflections from 2011, being a mother. Lessons learned as a mother have been most precious... Motherhood taught me a lot of things which I never 'grasped' from text books. I have done a bunch of 'experiments' which I never carried out in a chemistry or electronics labs during my school or college days.

Let me compile my posts on 'Lessons from a toddler'.

Nothing is trivial
Don't give up
Patience is the best weapon {though I haven't achieved it yet;)}
Appreciate every teeny thing
SMILE - or Make OTHERS SMILE- (most of the times) it's an eraser to wipe out anger!
Try to help- even if it creates some mess.. :)
Encourage others ideas {even if the idea sounds absurd to us}
Explore, learn, unlearn and re-learn
Be glad for the mess, because you can never mine GOLD without digging in the soil.
Do what others never dare to do, thus learn from mistakes
Celebrate every little thing in life
There is always always a way to achieve what you wanted- never fear the heights.
Procrastinate 'nothing'
Love, care and love!

Indeed it was a blessed year. There have been a lot of things we are grateful to Almighty through the year. Let's learn those:

We are grateful to Almighty Allah that:

Liya is 2, and is all spark and spunk!
'Princess Liya' (blog) completed wonderful 2 years on blogosphere
We've made a lot of amazingly wonderful friendships through blogging
We've a lovely bunch of readers
Little Liya can talk in two languages
We were able to visit India and meet our family and relatives
Little Liya has started on daycare
She's out from diaper much early
We all have been healthy throughout the year
Little Liya is hitting all her developmental milestones either earlier or as expected
She has made a lot of cute little friends
We're reading a lot of books
Little Liya knows to scribble, color, paint, and crafting with paper and scissor...
We've traveled to many places in US and Canada
We've seen four wonderful seasons- enjoyed the freezing snow, refreshing spring, blistering summer and colorful autumn
Liya learned a handful of rhymes both in Malayalam and English
Liya makes little stories and her imagination is flying far high.
Liya was under nursing until 2
She could get out from mom's milk quickly than ever expected

We are also Thankful That:

We were able to take part in Taraveeh Salat's (night prayers) during Ramadan, in the Masjid
We are able to make it to masjid for most of the Friday prayers
Liya knows how to do Salat
Liya got a small prayer rug
We're Muslimas.

AND for all teeny weeny things we 'have' OR happened through the year because

*** Little drops together make *an ocean****

Book of the Week :: Dance with Me

2011-12-28T19:17:00.000-05:00

Hello, Welcome to another BoW with us. Hope you all are having wonderful holidays. Let's join hands and dance for some time. It's a good time to have fun right? That's why we chose Dance with Me by Charles R Smith and Noah N Jones, for this week.

"Dance with me, Twist with me

Wiggle, move and bounce with me!

Move your body to the beat..."

This is an amazing book with a lot of beats and movements. I simply loved it. Mamma sang it and I danced. She taught me the suiting gestures for each line. The lines are very rhythmic and with a good punch&easy words.

Shake Shake Shake it, Baby

Come and Dance with Me!

The drawings are neat, cleans and more importantly fun filled. There are very few words on each page and story has been told through illustration, which gives a lot of room for kids to imagine. The colors are bright and appealing, the story is lucid.

We had so much of fun with this book. We danced like hell. We sang it aloud and I learned almost 80% of the song.

What's the underlying story :

Two kids and a dog are walking on the road, getting everyone to dance with them. A tale of two sides- on the left the children stop at a bus stop start dancing. Everyone has a "What's wrong with these kids, eh?' look on their faces. On the other side- everyone is dancing right along with the children. The lady throws the newspaper in the air and the man puts down his briefcase.

Lift your legs, up and down

Twirl your hips, round and round...

The kids are going inside a bakery store, and we learned about things over there (btw, I demanded for muffin and momma promised she'll bake tomorrow, IA). The kids also visited a pet store, I loved to know about a few pets as we scanned through the illustrations.

There they get a chameleon (or lizard) to shake its head, a dog to scrunch its nose, a ferret to rub its belly and chicks to stand on their toes. With all the movement its perfect for storytime, especially for younger listeners and dancers.

I bet, it would be harder for you to resist the temptation to dance when you read through, despite of your age!

What's happening in daycare!

2011-12-24T10:46:00.000-05:00

Hello,

It's Liya here. I am here to give you some updates from my daycare. Well, as you know, I love being there. I have so many friends over there. Sebastian is my naughty friend, I keep using his name very often, especially when I play with my dolls. During our vacation in India, everyone used to tease me calling 'Sebastian'...lolz!

A few days ago, I slapped Sebastian (shh,, Ms Jena didn't know about it) and I don't talk about him at home anymore these days. Momma tried to find out if it is true that I fought with him. She had no clue why did I do so, and I didn't tell either. Though she asked Ms Jena about it, Ms Jena laughed and said "No, never.. Liya is a nice girl. She won't do that, and it didn't happen at all". I gave some clues to mamma. She could not make wild guesses, but she got to know that it's a very 'light' fight between us just for a book in our book center. It was so trivial that even Ms. Jena didn't notice it. How smart I am!!!

All set to go!

Then, I have so many other friends, Morgan is my sweet friend now. I play with Myla and Cameron aslo. Ashruth is another cutest friend of mine. I often sing "Aaashuth, myla, camoon, morgi, sebastian.." because I love them so much. I love Ms Angela too - I call her Ms Anthela (poor me, I am yet to pick up pronunciation of some letters). I have few more friends too- Ryan, Lilyana, Tremor...

I was missing Ms Angela and Ms Jena a lot, during our vacation. One day, while Momma was putting me for sleep, I was simply not sleeping and she asked me why am I not. I said "I want a sweet kiss from Ms. Jena". As I get back from daycare, I keep talking about what happened in daycare "Ms Angela said this, Ms Jena did that, Sebastian was crying, Ashruth was sleeping, Myla is a good girl, Well done darling Liya etc..."

A turkey!!!!

I learned a lot of songs, stories, games etc at daycare. I learned about different cultures and holidays, too. I ask too many questions at home. Just too many questions. Momma goes nuts because she won't have any idea what am I asking about. Yeah, what can she say if I ask her "Why was Morgy crying? or Where did Ms Angela go, or Who grabbed frosty man's book? etc"

We made a turkey with paper, I brought it home and made my Momma to paste it on my wall. I get reminded of my friends and teachers when I am at home. I feel so happy for it.

Gifts from my teachers and friends!

There are much more things happening over there. I'll tell you later, Insha Allah *God willing*!

Book of the Week ~ Frosty the Snowman

2011-12-21T11:01:00.002-05:00

Welcome to another 'Book of the Week'. Once again Liya and myself wholeheartedly apologize for not sharing 'story time' with you, for a few weeks. Our theme for the week is SNOW.
Well, snow seems to be fairly late to hit Buffalo this year, we hardly saw one or two of them. Just a plain winter compared to last year. But yes, we are loving it.

Thumpety thumpety thump thump, Thumpety thumpety thump thump,

Look at Frosty go!

Thumpety thumpety thump thump, Thumpety thumpety thump thump,

Over the hills of snow!

We were learning about snow, and we have been reading Frosty the Snowman at school as well as at home. The book that we are having at home, is not the original version of the story but the one retold by Carol North .

But our Frosty is just like any other Frosty in the snowman books. Some children are making a snowman, giving him a hat, he comes alive, sings dances and plays with them. They go ice skating, sledding and they visit town, peep into pet shop, roam around the bake shop, grab a muffin and munch it.

As the summer creeps in, Frosty is starting to melt and soon he is going off. Kids are sad, but he is leaving a note to kids saying 'Don't cry, I'll be back next year'.

Liya loved our story time, like always. The book was very handy and lightweight. Ours isn't a board book, but it is no more a big deal, little Liya knows to handle her books carefully. She learned about things we will get in a bakeshop and in a petshop, she learned about ice skating and sledding. We also learned about two seasons- Summer and winter.

So, now we want to make a snowman.

Let it snow... let it snow,

Little Liya wants to make a snowman...

Let it snow... Let it snow!

Videos

Photos

..all about Liya!

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Wordless Wednesday :: No more accessories...

Apologies....

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Updates - 27 Months

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Wordless Wednesday :: Artistic Again!

Tuesday Treat :: We love library time!

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Toddler Talk :: One uncle, two uncles...

Wordless Wednesday :: Little Traveler...

[Dec Updates] Before 3 we'll

Reflections 2011

*** Little drops together make an ocean***

Book of the Week :: Dance with Me

What's happening in daycare!

Book of the Week ~ Frosty the Snowman

*** Little drops together make *an ocean****