A Snowy Day and Other Activities

Our snowy day turned into more of a snowy week. Last Wednesday, we got about 5 inches, most of which is still here since snow doesn't melt in 15 degree weather. Although Abdullah is still enamored with snow and other forms of frozen water, he's learned that ice collection isn't the safest sport after having his fingers frozen. Perhaps as a form of revenge, he now seems to prefer kicking and stomping on ice.

Last week, Aunt Najah came to visit. I don't know if she's decided on her title yet, so we'll just go with the default. The kids enjoyed the attention and gifts that often accompany visits from family. Najah came bearing cookies since we're trying to downsize on toys.

Yesterday, I got a book in the mail from my MIL about Montessori education in the home. Although we wont be able to remove our curtains or move the outlets to make Abdullah's room more of a toddler haven, it did spark some ideas for how activities around the house. Most noticeably  I've moved Abdullah's clothes to a shelf where he can reach them. I'm not sure I would have done this at 18 months, but apparently kids learn to stop pulling things down after the 100th time, so maybe we will try with KC. Also, hearkening back to blanket training (which would have been blogged about circa July 2011 had I had a blog then), I've decided to let Abdullah learn to play with his toys on a blanket that he can unroll and roll up at will. I put 4 toys on the shelf beneath his clothes where he can get them at will. He enjoys rotating through them giving each about 10 minutes of time before packing it up and switching it out.

There is the small issue of an un-blanket-trainable person who tries to eat his toys and usually ends up having to be confined. 

Abdullah is very pleased with the arrangement and I've been impressed with the success of not responding to  his every call for attention. I've been working to try to ignore or redirect him when he wants to give me a gibberish description of his every motion or when he's frustrated that he can't get a peg in a hole. He learned very quickly to keep trying and seems like he's actually getting less frustrated. 

In other parenting news, a friend sent me this interesting view on parenting, which really resonated with me.

Also, Abdullah can stand on his head. KC is still cruising with no signs of walking aside from her dramatic let-go lunges, which always end with her on the floor. No teeth yet. She's officially 9 months.  

Talking the Talk, Running the Walk

In the world of verbal and motor development, things are definitely picking up steam for Abdullah and KC. KC's disconcerting gargles and gags have given way to a host of syllables soliloquies that rivals her big brother's gregariousness at that age. Oddly enough, like he did, she chooses to chatter most often when alone.

The two have formed what some might call a twin language. And by some, I mean the woman from my grandmom's block who asked me if my kids were twins. As KC develops, so does Abdullah's baby trances: the times (usually when he's in trouble or Skyping) and suddenly looses the ability to talk, walk, or pick up objects without flailing them around in the air. Now his trances consist of strings of jabber and futile attempts to stand while seeking out some object to pull up on.

Most times, however, he's speaking his own languge and making up for our poor parenting by narrirating his own day detailing everything to his morning report of what's in his diaper to his final instructions for bedtime prep. While most of his words are easially understandable (to me) either through correct pronounciation or simple context clues, there are times when things are lost in translation. My default is just to respond to every confusing string of words with a "yes" if we are in the house or a play area or a "no" if anywhere else.

At the mall the other day, I was reminded of why I need this rule. I had told Abdullah we were going to play and suddenly he started proclaiming "Ask, unour" over and over again. I couldn't imagine what word he was saying since he was looking straight forward and there was nothing within his reach. After about the seventh repitition, I finally said yes just to find out what the word was that he wanted so badly. Abdullah took off running down a long hallway full of early morning elderly mall walkers (all of whom found him more than delightful). Fortunately, his run is about as fast as my fast walk, so he didn't get very far.

Despite the parenting advices that suggest that too much "no" isn't good for kids, for Abdullah's safety, we'll keep the no-default policy for awhile longer.

Although the word "ask" is a statement usually made rather emphatically (I think he defines it ask, hey, I'm asking you for something!), Abdullah has started using "why" rather judiciously often acompanied by a hyper perplexed face.

After round 4 of furniture moving to try to maximize floor space and minimize access to objects, I had moved Abdullah closer to their closet and put the books table closer to KC's crib thinking that both wouldn't have the dexterity to manipulate those particular objects. Of couse, the next morning, the room was in shambles. I first noticed the mountain of blankets that Abdullah had strewn all over his crib and the floor. Either in an attempt to accuse his sister or an attempt to avert my attention, he wrinkled up his face, turned his head and slowly formed out "Why.... didat.... Dijah." Opening the door fully, I found a pile of books that had been obviouly manhandled the night before.

Diapers, Bikes, and Bread

What do these things have in common, there's a lot of them in our house. As winter winds on, the latter two are increasing while finally, alhamdulillah, we're close to putting the keibash on the first.

I have to say, I did think my mom was suffering grandmomnesia when she said that we were potty trained by 2. I knew for sure, looking at my crazy eyed 18 month old scooting around on his potty chair (which was thrust upon me by his sometimes overzealous other parent), I knew for sure that my MIL must have been mistaken for encouraging us to let him "sit on the pot." She must have meant that literally, I reasoned, toddlers and potties weren't meant to be together.

Happy to say today that Abdullah has been down to a diaper a day for about 2 or so weeks now. Just last week, he realized that he could ask to go potty anywhere and today even took his swankest tinkle yet when he alerted us in Gong Fu that it was time to go. I imagine their commodes must be as pristine as their tea canisters because as AK and Abdullah were coming out, a woman in socks was headed in. Hope he aimed true.

We had thought that our biking days would be limited until next spring, but a spat of autumnal weather has enabled us to venture out more than expected. This week, as the weather pushed just above 60, I decided to finally retrofit Abdullah's bike with a push bar to enable him to actually be able to bike to the park.

Every time we go out on the bike, I remind myself that next time, I'll ask my dad to go ahead and get the one with the pole attachment. I thought it'd be too cumbersome, but now, after watching Abdullah bike in circles and fight the pedals for 6 months, I realize, there's a reason for it. Maashaa Allah.

 



It's not the sturdiest solution, but it'll do for now.

KC got her first trip in the chariot last weekend outfitted in a hood padded helmet and a blanket booster seat. Although Abdullah suffered a great deal of random swatting from KC, they both seemed fairly amused by the whole endeavor.

Lastly, but not leastly, I think I've found the bread of my dreams. I thought eggs, butter, sugar, milk, and flour made cake. But no. Apparently, they make rolls. I subbed soy milk and soy spread for milk and butter, but these still came out delightful. Unlike some whole wheat disasters I've baked, turned out exactly as pictured, pillowly and perfect. I'll have to cut the fat and sugar down, but I think this will be the base for my everyday loaf. Autolyse Smautolyse.

White Whole Wheat Autolyse Loaf and Buns

I think this is a new-old whole wheat recipe. I've been trying to find the one the yielded this whole wheat gluteny beauty:

Didn't take pics of the final, but I remember it being a pretty bouncy loaf.

 

Today, I tried this recipe and it definitely seems to be a contender. I used white wheat flour for this one. Not sure what the difference is right now.

 



2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup water

2 teaspoons instant yeast

____________

4 cups whole wheat flour
1 3/4 cups water

____________

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup olive oil

3 teaspoons instant yeast

3 teaspoons kosher salt

Autolyse, mix, rise, deflate, rise, shape, rise, bake.

Added about 1 cup extra water and baked at 400ish.

 Here's what 5tsp of yeast gets you. These were dainty dinner rolls and a 1/2 full loaf pan before the final rise.



 

I think the yeast had already pushed this dough to the limit on the final rise. I figured I wouldn't get any oven spring, but I didn't feel like reshaping. Still got a great texture. Tastes kind of like a super crusty English Muffin. A French Muffin if you will. I've decided the rolls are actually burger buns. I'll them for my dad who is on a never ending search for a crusty bread for every occasion.

 

Did 1/4 cup of honey ever make anything taste bad? Bonus, Abdullah loves his new empty yeast jar manipulative. Alhamdulillah.

Next time, same recipe, 2tsp yeast (and maybe no steam).

Someone Wants Candy!

Someone who lives here eats a lot of candy. Hard to believe, but it's not me. In an effort to cut costs and to raise kids who know how to do stuff on their own, I try to make as many of the necessities as I can and for this particular resident, candy is a necessity.

I found these recipes online that claim they make "gumdrops" so I thought I'd give them a whirl. It's hard to actually fail at sweets making when you have kids short of my attempt at making fat free cream cheese icing with powdered Stevia. Even tasting like a spoon full of creamy, gritty bitterness, Abdullah still loved it.

I made three variations:
1) A basic Jell-o and Knox type.
2) The same recipe with extra Knox as suggested on that site.
3) This variation with fruit juice added. I subbed some cranberry juice and lime juice, which IMHO is a great flavor boost.

The juice one was pretty good. Actually kind of like jelly you could hold in your hand without making a mess. Abdullah liked them all. They're made out of sugar, so everyone in this house will enjoy eating them, inshaa Allah.

Pinterist worthy.

Next up, find a vegan candy corn recipe.

Purging: King Author Classic Sandwich Bread with Flax Seeds

I realized today why every mommy blog has a recipes/cooking section. It's not just to convince people that they haven't been following blog feeds all day. It's to fight mommy brain when you made the perfect dish and then forgot to write it down.

I've been searching for the perfect whole wheat sandwich bread recipe and have found a few contenders, but sadly have closed them all. Suggestions are more than welcome. One requirement: It can't have any ingredients like "milled buckwheat" or "orange juice" or other things that I wouldn't regularly keep on hand.

After finding out that a close relative of our age has less than perfect cholesterol levels, we've decided to try to phase out a lot of the meat (i.e. chicken breast) and dairy that we had been eating. The kids may or may not still eat meat and dairy. I can't confirm or deny their dietary habits in this particular forum.

To up the ante as it were, I've decided to shoot for a "plant based whole foods diet" emphasis on shoot for. I'm kind of a fan of fad diets (i.e. eating plans, not dieting strategies). They bring a new set of techniques and ingredients to the party and I don't really think I've ever seen one that was actually bad for you except maybe Atkins.

So, right now we're kind of in a purging phase. I used up the last of the coffee creamer just tonight so we're down to just having 2 bags of white flour and sugar left to eat before we can be processed free. We wont bother with the bags of left over almond bark or the 20 lbs of frozen chicken breast in the freezer right now. I'll have to find a way to feed those to the kids over the next year.

After realizing that I was out of whole wheat flour today, I decided to just take the leap and make a loaf of white bread using one of King Arthur's recipes. I used vegetable oil, added some flax seed and braided it to make it seem healthier.

Note to self, spraying loaf with cooking oil doesn't help flax seeds stick. Just use egg wash.

 

I'm glad I have kids to help me eat it. It tastes too good.

Cooper Kids Toy Guide

Even though our holidays for this year are long gone, Alhamdulillah, it's hard not to notice the onslaught of print advertizing for the winter season. It's hard not to see all the adds and think upon turning each page, Abdullah would love that! It's even harder for their grandparents who frequently update me on the toys they "almost bought."

I know many may wonder how the kiddos get in enough "play" without toys being sent in the mail on a steady stream. Many children, such as Abdullah and KC, have taken a liking to objects that may be often overlooked by the adult public, but whose value as a play thing should not be underestimated. In order to facilitate a better understanding of the many overlooked "toys" available for free or cheap, I've created the following list:

Top 10 Things Better Than Toys

10. Stick

Let's start with the obvious. Known to Abdullah as "sem" (I think, I can't really make out this word, but I know it means he's about to pick up yet another stick), the stick offers a creative child a host of options for imaginative play. Much to my mother's chagrin, in 2008, the National Toy Hall of Fame bypassed Furby 3.0 and the PS3 to instead recognize the humble stick's contribution to play history.

9. Box


This 2005 National Toy Hall of Fame inductee has been a parents' foil for ages. Even though kids obviousl prefer box play, parents still insist on over-riding their children's wishes by filling boxes with "toys." For Abdullah, boxes come in two types, "bop," or a regular, unimpressive box such as a box of toys which only serves as a holding container for something far more entertaining,  and "beee bop," or a big box, one which he plans to play with in and of itself, such as a box that he plans to put on his head, rip to shreds, or put on KC's head. KC is already learning the joys of box play, often bypassing the toys which Abdullah assigns her from the toy box and instead choosing to throw herself recklessly into the box. Apparently, she didn't get the memo.


Please see the National Toy Hall of Fame site via the links provided for more information on how to use the above toys in your child's play repertoire.

8. Containers

As you can see, a simple Chinese take out box is the perfect toy for any child. It teaches manners while encouraging children to have fun. Plastic containers with lids may also be used to allow children to practice stacking, opening, and closing. Paper containers however, offer the additional benefit of being ripable, a very desirable quality in children's toys.


7. Clothes

Learning to properly don a frock is an important right of passage for any human. Although I'm not completely clear on how clothes play works, I am sure that clothes must be a toy as both KC and Abdullah tend to burst out in fits or raucous laughter and flailing when I try to dress them.


6. Top and A Sock

This particular toy may not be available in all areas. You may need to substitute other household items, but the uses are endless. In the picture above, Abdullah had just finished practicing his sock saute flipping and decided that my socks needed a good scrubbing.

5.Dishes

Carrying objects on a dish, emptying the dishwasher, putting dishes in the sink, what a great many skills can be practices with these often misunderstood toys. Thanks to a very thoughtful former student, may Allah reward her, we have a nearly indestructible set of dishes that has survived Abdullah's handling very well over the past year.

4. Laundry

I challenge Fischer Price to even attempt to make a toy which promotes even half of the milestones that can be practiced through doing laundry. You see a pile of dirty clothes and a long day of labor, Abdullah sees a day of action packed play. Color sorting, dryer sheet counting, clothes throwing, button pushing, coin in hole maneuvering, hallway running, and a host of other activities beckon on laundry day. The happiest day of the week.

3. Mail

What is this a picture of? Junk mail you say? No no my friend, far from it! What you actually see is a visual and tactile wonderland. While other kids are looking through the mail to figure out which toy they are going to pester their parents to buy, Abdullah has been enjoying the recent increase in toy filled books which kind strangers have been sending him over the past few weeks. About 6 months ago, Abdullah got his hands on a Rainbow play yard catalogue. The next week was spent flipping through it with wide eyes gesturing and mumbling to me. Perhaps next blog, I'll post a Top 10 Best Reads for Toddlers. Rainbow Play Yards October Specials is definitely on the list. KC also enjoys a good bit of crinkly paper although her hand in mouth instinct has led me to limit the types of mail she's allowed to play with.

2. Self

To some, mostly grandparents, the thought of a child sitting alone is heart wrenching. When Abdullah's play is threatened by lack of toys or naptime, he has learned to keep the party going, as it were, through toe tapping, finger wiggling, bubble blowing, and, as of late, head standing.

1. Sibling

Some kids play with baby dolls. We just cut to the chase and gave Abdullah a baby to play with. KC in turn also seems to have quickly learned that Abdullah is here merely for her amusement and as a means to practice her wrestling moves.

 

So, now comes the tough question. You see that your house full of toys is useless and there are much more stimulating items for your child to play with. What can you do with the toys? Abdullah enjoys using them for decorations. I call this creation of his "Leopard Plays With a Ball."

 

November Milestones Update

I just realized that perhaps splitting up posts will be better for facilitating ease of milestone tracking.

We'll begin with KC, who is now surpassing Abdullah on the Public Attention Seeking Scale. In order to improve her PASS score, she's stopped spitting up on herself profusely. She's started responding to the comments and coos of strangers much to the delight of all, especially those particularly creepy strangers who feel the need to inform me that they "always wanted a girl..." with a distant look in their eyes.

KC continues to struggle with coordinating her primitive cruise, but has now finally gotten the steps down for crawling. Move one leg and one arm, THEN, move the other, not throw yourself repeatedly forward until you reach your goal. This skill seems to fade in the evenings when often after baths she is unable to muster more than an odd bobbly seated spin.

Abdullah continues to enjoy "being KC" by intermittently pretending he can't hear, walk, or stop flailing his arms. He doesn't seem to realize that KC can't talk as he never seems to be short of "words" unless we are Skyping or someone wants to talk to him on the phone. This week, he spent 2 days on and off walking around with a twist tie in his ear having extended conversations with "gan-mom." Perhaps he's preparing his speech for when he finally reveals everything he's been meaning to say.

Did I mention Abdullah can stand on his head? He can and as with most milestones, he enjoys practicing this in the wee hours of the night. Our neighbors below us have not begun banging on the ceiling in anger, so the sound of his body thudding in the crib must not be too bothersome.

Winter

It's cold. Autumn has gone and the hawk has arrived. Maashaa Allah.

Yesterday, we enjoyed a long walk to the park with no coats and bright sunshine. This morning, the same sun rose, cleverly warmly beckoning us to a sharp, frigid slap in the face. Actually, it wasn't all that bad, but after living through temps as high as 70 in November, you start to get used to perpetual summer.

Alhamdulillah, Iowans have lived through numerous winters and have devised a number of strategies for making sure that they continue to live up to their family friendly image all year round. As there seem to be a number of days coming that may put temperatures below my personal park-walk-threshold of 45 degrees, I've been developing a running tally of indoor fun activities for the kids and it seems that some introduces me to a new one on a weekly basis.

After the malls, which boast free spacious play areas and the community centers, which boast $2 play in gyms filled with random toys, our favorite cold weather option are the indoor playground equipment showrooms. These showrooms are an ingenious marketing tactic because you are bound to take a look at the pricing and descriptions while watching your child run wild and free. I'm sure somewhere in my subconsciousness, there's already been a link made between joyous play and $2000 home playground systems.

Autumn

Autumn. A time of such fleeting brilliance and varied temperament that it could be the season that is the most fitting metaphor for childhood.

These past few weeks, I've been especially grateful to Allah that we were able to move back to Urbandale. Many thanks also to those who helped make that move happen. With us being so far away from our families, it's good to know that we have their support and encouragement in times of need.

With the weather holding out and the trees blooming into a cacophonous colors, our walks to the park have been all the more enjoyable. Abdullah spends most of the time tracking dogs, squirrels, birds, and ducks (all of which he can finally distinguish from one another even though the latter two are the same) while stomping merrily through the piles of leaves that have accumulated along the trails. His leaf, stick, and rock specimen collection has taken new heights this year as he's discovered that he can not only pick up leaves and hold them, but he can also put them in our grocery bags, under the stroller, and in his pockets. By the time we reach home and/or the grocery store, I am left with a fairly hefty decision: How long do I let him keep his collections? Sometimes, I make him throw them down outside of the complex while other times I wait until he's sleep and throw them out on the balcony. While he enjoys finding rocks that he's collected in his coat pockets the next day, he doesn't seem to miss the piles of leaves that are no longer there when he wakes from his naps.

Aside from being a budding botanist (get it, budding! lol) Abdullah can:
* Put on all of his clothes including, socks, shoes, pants, underwear, hats, coats, and PJ's although sometimes they may be backwards and inside out. In that case, Abdullah happily takes off the offending item, shakes it back and forth and puts it back on.
* Name and find most items in the house. He assigns things by their owner so all baby toys are "Dija"s and items like shoes and books are referred to by their name and owner such as "shoe emo."
* Parenting. While he still spends most of his floor time with KC romping and laughing, he has learned that some times action is needed. As of now, his parenting consist of feeding her, wiping her face and other items that may be in her spit path while chanting "ooooh noooo... rag, spit", scooting away while whining "Noooooo.... stop," pulling her fingers out of her mouth, trying to pull her to the camera when Skype is on, and telling her "stop. emo" when she messes with Kareem's things.

KC has learned to hold her own on the floor front also. Her current endeavors include:
* Stalking Abdullah for food.
* Uncrawling.
* Pulling up to kneeling and standing.
* Climbing on low boxes.
* Sitting herself up to take a moment to savor the spoils of the food she stole from Abdullah.

Stop it!

I used to have a student in Nevis who would always take my index finger and point it at other people (i.e. his 2 other classmates) while giving out stern orders for them to do his bidding. He understood the power of "the teacher finger." This month, after spending the last 3 months running from KC as she tackled, spit, and grabbed her way to any and all of his possessions, Abdullah has started to experiment with giving the finger.

He waves his hands around with full toddler flourish and a sharpness that would make you think that KC really was in trouble for eating the flash card that had been assigned to her for studying, NOT FOR EATING! (emphasis Abdullah's) Other offenses include: playing with her toys that are interesting to him when he's already given her an assigned toy, standing up on things, and spitting up, especially if any lands on him or his toys.

He is still the dotting brother most times. Perhaps like many new parents, he's just a little sad to see KC making her own way in the world, trying to stand and choose what she'd like to play with. He does make sure that she's always fed when he's fed and toyed when he's toyed.

This weekend we celebrated Eid al Adha. In an effort to maximize gift potential, I decided some DIY was in order. I'm not sure how I work this blogger app, so just imagine a pic of a table full of chocolate pretzels right here.

Abdullah showed great restraint while faced with a boat load of candy, nuts, and pretzels especially considering he's a Cooper man, which means his snack gene is 5 times stronger than the average human. He did manage wrangle a few bits of chopped nuts in between the pretzels I had permitted him. Normally, when he finds things he will immediately tell me and ask if he can eat it by saying: ask, some more, food?, or naming what he thinks the object is. After being informed that he was not supposed to eat nuts, he couldn't help putting a few strays out of their misery. He looked shocked each time the crunch sounded letting me know that he'd once again found a nut and decided not to tell me about it.

I also had to DIY a hat and bonnet for KC. Imagine the pic here if it doesn't show up. It's red and white and cute all over.

In other milestone news:
Abdullah can ask what things are, run for extended periods of time (as he demonstrated to the super energetic Home Depot sales person whom he decided was his new playmate), make chocolate drizzle designs. His verbal memory is also improving. He can distinguish species of birds and has finally realized that all fuzzy things are not dogs. He can remember the names of new objects for weeks after only seeing them once, especially if they are food. Perhaps the biggest milestone of late, he can give real kisses instead of just ramming his forehead into your mouth or hovering his face close to yours. Did I mention that he can climb ladders? He's been doing that at the park for a few months now.

KC can stand with one hand! She has begun to wave intermittently, and climb over just about anything shorter than her. Her raking grasp is in full swing, often a bit too full to her disappointment. Her frustration with finicky toys and food is only exacerbated by the fact that she hasn't figured out yet that she can't pick up a new object without dropping the one she's holding. Never a quitter, she's devoting her every waking moment to stalking and acquiring new items to test out her grasping and chewing skills.

6 Month Fail

I was really excited about KC's progress for her 6 month check up. She's super social, moves more than AC was doing at 7 months, and even managed to start holding her own bottle a few days before the check up.

Still, the Pedi must have known to throw in some curve balls.

Does she play with toys? Yes.
Sleep through the night? She better.
Pass toys from hand to hand? Um... maybe.
Sit up? If she'd be still for a second.
Wave bye-bye? Is that really a 6 month milestone?!?

Despite not passing her oral exam, she got a thumbs up for her physical, showing off her immaculate roll and her preference for standing over sitting.

AC got a surprise check up too since we both had to get our shots. After a weekend of "vacation eating" with KK, I was glad that they just took my word on my weight and height. AC is still holding down his 50% spot on the growth charts.

In other news, AC has finally developed a sense of reciprocity. Whenever he steps on people (usually KC), he is quick to say "seu-sy" i.e "excuse me." This week, when AK, toddler-speak-name Emo, stepped over him, he looked up, rather unamused and called out "seu-sy emo." Emo just replied with the "is this kid kidding?' stare, but that didn't stop AC from requesting his rights repeatedly throughout the week.

خال خالذ Khalu Khalid

Someday, inshaa Allah, AC will learn to love people. Right now, he just seems to love visits. Staying out late, eating in people's laps, touching everything. That's life with visits.

This week, the offending spoiler was Khalid whose official name (perhaps unbeknownst to him) is the wonderfully alliterative, Khalu Khalid (maternal uncle Khalid). KK flew in for a weekend trip with an FB (Fellow Bostonian). AC, the consummate Drama Prince, thoroughly wowed our company with his renditions of his favorite cries including: "Really, That Hurt," "Saddened By Sitting," and "Just Need One More Piece of Pie." Apparently for KC, playing with company, not napping, and having bread for dinner was noteworthy enough that she felt the need to stay up until 10:30 Saturday night telling the wall about it.

Reminiscing over childhood while watching my own children begin theirs, I can't help but to wonder what lasting memories my parenting and their own choices will leave them with. In my head, I really only remember going to school, playing, and eating. There are moments from fishing trips, family gatherings, and our RV days, most of which are probably pretty muddled patchworks pieced together by family stories and things I assumed must have happened. Just this weekend, I discovered that my family probably wasn't actually in the Nation of Islam while I was alive, despite my memories to the contrary. Now, when people ask me if I was born Muslim, maashaa Allah, I'll just say, yes and forgo the details of my (invented) memories of our transition.

Ultimately, AK and I pray that they will be faithful, well grounded Muslims. We hope they'll productive childhoods, which will transition them into productive adults at or around the age of 15.

As part of that, I hope, as I would think most parents would hope, that they'll be mindful that the good and the bad that they experience is all part of the Qadr (divine decree) and never look back on their childhoods thinking if only my mom would have...

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: A strong believer is better and is more lovable to Allah than a weak believer, and there is good in everyone, (but) cherish that which gives you benefit (in the Hereafter) and seek help from Allah and do not lose heart, and if anything (in the form of trouble) comes to you, don't say: If I had not done that, it would not have happened so and so, but say: Allah did that what He had ordained to do and your" if" opens the (gate) for the Satan.

Adventure

After many long months of studying (again) AK finally took Step 3 last week, which meant that we finally were able to have a full day family outing over the weekend. We had planned to swing by the DMV to finally get our Iowa licenses, but after we waited 15 minutes in a non-moving line of 30 people which lead to another room full of another 100 people we decided to ditch that part of the adventure. I imagine it wont be too hard to keep the Iowa cops off of our tails for another few months.

First stop on our adventure, Bass Pro Shop. Bass Pro Shop? The place where you spent countless hours as a kid counting the fins on fake fish while your dad wandered aimlessly? Yes. The very same Bass Pro Shop. Aside from the fact that the Bass Pro Shop here has a spectacular array of (imitation) taxidermied everything from moose to raccoons including a reenactment of a buffalo stampede, sporting goods stores are our new hang out for window shopping. After narrowly escaping a sales pitch for a timeshare vacation in Branson, MO (apparently driving 6 miles is a weekend trip here), we tried on a few accessories for our upcoming (i.e. in 2 years) excursion and rustled up a lunch of fudge, beef jerky, and kettle corn, which are apparently the official snacks of outdoors men.

The second, and perhaps much more adventuresome stop for AC was Center Grove Orchard, a quaint (i.e. hand painted), family friendly farm that boasts a variety of attractions. AC was very entertained by the 50 ft slide, the hay maze, and a giant inflated pillow that was kind of like a wall-less moon bounce. Sadly, AC can't jump, so he just mooched bounces off of others while he sat and laughed hysterically. His favorite attraction by far, however: corn pool. Just as the name would suggest, the corn pool is a giant pit filled with feed corn. What does one do in a corn pool? According to AC, you repeatedly pick up corn and drop it. Boring you say? Apparently not because it was the only thing that caused him to cry when I told him we had to leave it. Fortunately, there were animals (and animal feed) to distract him before too long.

We wound up the trip with a walk through the corn maze. I was sure that we had finally found a way to expend all of AC's energy. The maze took nearly an hour and a half to get through and by the end AC was dragging a bit. When we got back to the road to wait for the hay ride home, AC sat for 30 seconds and then got up to pick grass and go explore the pumpkin that a fellow farm goer had just picked. He did go to sleep in the car after about 32 oz of Gatorade.

Battle Cries

The sleep wars have started. As you know, and often pine over, the Cooper kids sleep a lot. They have inherited my genes in the sleep department and Kareem's genes in the wake up running and don't stop till you fall down (literally) department.

As my mom has noted many times, my kids are strange, wal hamdulillah. AC actually loves his crib. When it's time to go to sleep, he happily cheers, "nigh nigh," walks to his room, looks around for what he'd like to have with him, and tries to climb up into his crib (i.e. the jungle gym where he falls asleep). We had to put the keibash on the milk at nap time routine after too many spills and his cups always winding up across the room. He's started asking for a blanket and his monkey instead. Fair enough since usually he talks to his blanket and/or his monkey quietly (or loudly) for a few minutes and falls off to sleep.

I had suspected something was up however when KC suddenly became extra chatty during the day. She's turned into a AC mini motor mouth and the only cause I could see was that AC's been training her during their naptime talks.

When the sleep wars started, I realized this was in fact the case. AC had been practicing the whole week, mimicking KC's various wails, cries, and shouts. Tripping over a shoe, he would fall to the ground and let out a cry that could bring grandparents running from the farthest corners of the globe. Waiting for lunch to get finished, he would wiggle and whine letting out KC's signature "choking wail" that is somewhat reminiscent of the classic "Whazzup" commercials. Playing with toys, he would suddenly drop them and begin the "beggars grunt," a sound of pure perseverance mixed with a weighty undertone of frustration. While I thought these shows were primarily for me, I found out this week that they were really for KC. The message: I'm listening and I LOVE what I hear, ramp it up kiddo. KC got the message loud and clear.

First there were just whispers of a revolt. KC seemingly muttering back to AC while he talked in his crib. Nothing to worry about. We did let KC have a few naps in the pack and play so AC would have less of an audience, but soon, she started with her own show, acking and gargling loudly as soon as she was laid down. Hoping her crib would lull her to sleep as it usually does, I returned her to the room yesterday. The acks continued. The gargling only got louder and then soon it grew into a symphony of the most inharmonious combination of sounds ever to be mumbled and sputtered by 2 supposedly sleepy children. KC was obviously leading the charge with AC imitating her every sound often following up with a laugh of glee. I went in to take his monkey out of the crib (a futile attempt at persuading him to go to sleep) I found him standing up in his crib, draping his blanket over the inside of his crib as if he was setting a stage for their next act. Forlorn at the loss of his monkey, he settled for a moment, but there is no rest for the weary, especially when they have a little sister egging them on. KC continued her noises until AC realized that the show must go on. Getting his second wind, he perked up, chatting just as jovially and loudly as before.

Since KC hasn't yet developed a sense of cause and effect, she really had me at a stalemate. The only choice was to turn to my earplugs and simply wait out their onslaught. The earplugs gave about 15 minutes of relief before the sound of AC's piercing, "no really, I'm hurt, bleeding, and in deep physical and/or emotional pain" cry started to creep through. I went in to see what disaster had so stricken my first born. AC lay there crying, tears streaming down his face, staring longingly at KC who had decided to lay down her weapons (for the time being) and rest up for tomorrow. AC was understandably heart broken. On a good day, AC could play and sing in his crib for up to 3 hours (I would imagine, not that he's ever had the chance). His trainee has turned out to be a sleeping turncoat.

With KC now starting to play with the blinds too, we may have to rig up some system for ensuring a quiet, peaceful nap time for the years to come until we can move into a 3 bedroom home with rooms big enough to place their cribs far from windows, doors, dressers, changing tables, walls, or anything else that might distract them from sleeping. Gladly, since AC now has a partner in crime, he has stopped kicking the walls and banging his crib against them to let us know he's up in the mornings.

In other milestone news:

KC continues to progress in her mobility. She still hasn't figured out how to coordinate her legs, but she can now move pretty much anywhere in a straight line by pulling herself along on her belly. When placed on the floor, she turns into a stuff seeking compass, immediately turning herself in the direction of any stuff that she's not supposed to have. I had been told that babies like to play with keys and phones because they see adults with them. I suspect this is in fact the case since KC's hierarchy of stuff is 1) shoes and feet 2) my stuff 3) AC's stuff 4) paper 5) chair legs and (only when all other avenues of stuff seeking have been exhausted) 6) her stuff.

With winter just around the corner (yes, it's August, but it's already getting into the 40's at night here) and KC growing out of her clothes once again, we're starting to pack away all the 3-6 month summer dresses. Apparently (according to AK) kids grow while they are sleeping. Long nights have certainly paid off for KC as she's moved from being a near premie to being over 50% in height.

AC has made great strides in potty training. This week, AK thought it would be a good idea to let him sit on the toilet as practice for going out. Worth a try. 2 year old on a toilet. Ok.

First, AC sat. Then, he looked around, found the toilet paper was within easy reach and became delighted. After learning that he was not, in fact allowed to play with this rather intriguing perpetual paper machine, he decided he'd try taking a dip in his personal pool. After he dunked one foot in the toilet, I took him off  and explained he wasn't allowed to put his feet in the water. A few hours later, we tried again. He sat. He looked around. Then, he pushed his torso up with his hands, raising himself off of the toilet, and let himself down half way into the toilet. After I explained that he wasn't allowed to put his body in the toilet, we tried again. He did manage to proudly pee in the toilet, but I'm going to stick with the 2 potty seats he has for awhile.

AC is now in full big boy underwear during the day and his post pee Smartie has been replaced with grapes since he was getting almost up to a pack a day. He tried asking for his Smartie too after I gave him grapes the first time. I felt bad for breaking what had been an unspoken deal between us, so I caved that once, explaining that Smarties were no more. He apparently got the hint and seems happy with the trade off.

Zagging

Not a month after her "in the mouth" phase began, KC has decided that just reaching for everything wont cut it. Fully living up to her namesake, she's begun employing a variety of strategies to move across the floor as she seeks out toys, shoes, and AC's feet. For longer distances, she goes straight for the barrel roll, flipping herself over and over until she is within arms reach of her target. Once close, she employs the classic baby windmill, pushing her belly firmly into the floor and moving one arm and one leg around until she's turned the right number of degrees to grasp her prize. For objects just out of reach, she has mastered her commando slither. I imagine it must take a wealth of her infant energy to complete this move because she'll only squirm forward about 3 inches before falling to the ground in exhaustion.

At this age, AC was content doing baby push-ups and flailing in place. At around 6 months, he began scooting backwards rather slowly until he finally got the coordination to actually crawl. KC scooted backwards only once before realizing that she wasn't going the right way and reversed her course. Maashaa Allah. Must be a woman thing.

Watching KC always reminds AC of his golden year and he tries his best to relive every moment of his infancy with her. This week, he's moved from sleeping sprawled out on his stomach with his hand nestled next to his mouth to sleeping with legs tucked under in a crawl-attempt position. He seems to be developing a strong childhood sense of fairness whereby everything KC is allowed to do, he should be allowed to do also. With him trying to follow KC's every milestone, it's been a bit of a challenge to get him to understand that it's ok for an 11 pound child to roll around on the floor kicking and cooing, but not so much when you're 35 pounds and living above people.

Since KC can no longer be trusted on her playmat, the "play yard" has been in full effect. This week, AC found himself inside of it with KC after learning that like the toys he constantly dangles over the edge of the play yard, he too is affected by the laws of gravity. Once upright, he grinned his most mischievous grin and began doing his run dance until he got himself forcibly removed.

The weather has taken another turn, back up to 100 degrees. I don't think I could have ever imagined that of all the places we've visited and lived, Iowa would be one of the hottest. Second only to Hot-lanta, where it was frequently above 100 first thing in the morning.

We brave the heat in short bursts, often with AC proclaiming "hop, hop, see" all the way to our destination. Once he sees his bike, the pool, or the path to the park, he forgets his sweaty worries and happily plods along. Pedaling is still progressing slowly as AC is easily distracted by anything moving or not moving, which causes him to constantly turn his head around and inevitably careen off of the path.

AC continues to explore indoors, finding new activities for himself almost daily. This week, he decided that he'd turn the end table in his bedroom into a private retreat. After a few days of going in there for a few minutes and hiding away alone, he decided that he'd like some company and tried his level best to drag KC along. He quickly found out that she's a bit to cumbersome to easily stuff into a cabinet. I imagine that he would have tired harder if I wasn't watching, but he's learned that trying to pick her up often ends in crying. He does seem to rather enjoy patting her back and offering kisses (i.e. raming his forehead into hers) when she does start to cry. Testing my sense of fairness, he's started crying more when he hits his head and looking up with a look of sheer disapointment when he's not greeted with pats and head butt kisses.

Old Friends, New Friends

Ramadan is over. The Iowan heat wave has broken and I'm hoping that the rainy season has begun. Iowa only has 3 seasons, Hot, Cold, and Rainy. I think this was probably the busiest Ramadan I've experienced. And the longest. And the hottest.  But Alhamdilillah for that since now I know fasting, nursing, moving, and traveling is doable.

At the beginning of the month, I started taking classes with a woman who has just returned from Yemen with her family where they were studying and teaching. She and her daughter held daily classes on Fasting and Tajweed. Taking the class did required me to move the kids nap time around to ensure that AC didn't decide it was time to play roll the baby (yes, that is his newest game) when I was trying to recite. Hopefully, no one could hear AC's one crib circus that he likes to put on for KC when he's not interested in napping. I kind of wish I could have recorded one of her daughter's classes just to let people hear her poise, confidence, and knowledge. At 18 she was leading classes daily for a hundred strangers from Iowa to Australia and everywhere in between. She was homeschooled and hadn't developed any of the anti-social maladjustment that seems to stigmatize homeschooled kids.

The woman homeschooled all of her kids between the US and Yemen. She keeps a blog of her activities related to Yemen here. After returning to the US, she also started a new blog on homeschooling and homesteading.

Later in the month, we were able to retrun to our old home at Candle Ridge after a drawn out battle of wits with our landlord. AK commented a lot when we first got here that Iowans wouldn't survive on the east coast. They would constantly be getting into fights with people who thought they were being sarcastic. My landlord is one of those people. She's a very no-nonsense woman when it comes to running the property, but whenever I go over to her office, she spends 90% of the time playing with the kids, talking about her grandkids, and telling me about kid friendly activities in Iowa.

Yesterday, I found a note on my door. I was sure it was a citation for dinging the garage, which I had forgotten to mention to her when we last talked. Inside was a note and a copy of a magazine article. She had copied an article on activities this weekend. When I last saw her, she asked if AC could wear SpiderMan slippers and we started talking about TV and kids. I haven't become a full force anti-TV activist just yet, so I just mentioned to her that we want AC to enjoy life how he does now, playing and exploring. Taking note of that, she mentioned in her letter some other things we might enjoy like watching the trees get cut down behind the pool. She's got our number. We'll be poolside Wednesday for sure.

Candle Ridge has many amenities that we missed greatly while living in our old home. Pools, parks, bike trails, stable construction, and, most importantly, Fareway grocery. Those of you who knew Ben P or his daughters, will know what I mean when I say, I AM Ben's granddaughter. Fareway is a small grocery store that's kind of like Sav-a-Lot with fresh goods. The first week we moved in, they had Tazo Tea's on sale for 50 cents a bottle. Limit 20. Fortunately, I had to go back for some things twice that week. The Fareway workers are another bunch that would have east coasters raising eyebrows. the first time I went over there last year, one guy at the meat counter loudly proclaimed to the one who was waiting on me, "You know she's our neighbor!" to which the other replied "Well, well, howdy neighbor!" Yesterday, the young, blond (they're all blond, I think it's like a Scandinavian stronghold) cashiers at Fareway switched shifts with huge smiles and happy waves of "see you after break." That happens a lot. People here are happy, really happy, and, for the most part, want to help make you happy. Sounds kind of like a lobotomy cult when I write it out, but I'll take it.

Ramadan ended with us all back in Jersey, much to my surprise. Everyone was thoroughly smitten with KC and cooing and her finger sucking. I didn't know that finger sucking was a cute tactic. Perhaps I wont hot pepper sauce her fingers so she'll be able to use that when she's pulled over for speeding. AC spend the week proudly explaining to everyone "Thasa Dijah" as he re-explored all of the places and toys he hadn't seen in months. One day, I left the house thinking he was sick and would be sleeping all day. I returned to the signature bang-bang of little feet and a giant grin frantically trying to beat GS to open the door. So much for being travel weary.

The kids were kind of groggy on the flight and AC passed the time caring for his new sock monkey. After he figured out that the tail was not actually poop and stopped handing the monkey to me, he rotated through burping the monkey, putting it to sleep, and letting it have tummy time while he bobbed it's head up and down. After a 12 hour evening of traveling, everyone in the house did need to sleep off the trip. Although both kids have a case of snot-nosiness, they are back up and rolling full speed.

When they did stir, AC became quickly attached to a 5ft gift wrap roll insert and spent the afternoon parading around KC showing off his impressive ability to lift it over his head, run clear across the room, and then slam it down. KC just kind of bobbed around in her chair watching cautiously.

Today, we were hoping to make our way to the Homemakers' carnival, but it seems it's been overcast all day and just started raining. Homemakers' is another Iowan speciality. It's kind of like Ikea, but it's bigger, has much higher quality (and more expensive) furniture, and boasts free cookies, juice, and coffee served in a small seating area. Times like this, I'm glad the kids are still small enough that they don't know plans. We'll have to settle for back up fun of playing in the rain on the deck.

Milestones Update

AC is drinking his morning milk on the bed this morning. Perhaps as a harbinger of things to come, KC has worked her way off of the pillow and over to him and is trying earnestly to wrench it from his hands. AC of course, finds this hilarious.

AC's vocabulary and comprehension continue to grow as he starts putting together sentences. Moving on from "That Dijah" he now also often says "Thasa Dija" to refer to her if she's far and "Thisa Dijah" to refer to her toys, clothes, toiletries, and bottles when he finds them.

Potty time is progressing well. After a day of no-nonsense training (i.e. no more books, food, and toys on the potty) AC has learned to just go ahead and get the job done. Yesterday, he only needed a diaper during nap time. We put him on the potty every few hours or so and now he's got the routine down. He goes, dumps, flushes, washes, and runs out the room for his "snack." Gladly, he hasn't figured out that one Smartie isn't a traditional serving.

We managed to make it to the pool this week. Last year, AC spent the time screaming at the top of his lungs while I tried to convince him that he was fine. He wasn't buying it. This week, he went in one step at a time and let me hold him up for floating on his stomach. He was kind of wary of floating on his back, but he soon found out that he could kick loudly and that relieved some of his fear. He also let me dunk him a few times without coming up in a dazed panic.

Other AC milestones include: Pedaling backwards (not forwards yet with any real coordination), putting dishes away in the proper drawers, explaining his toys to KC, sitting in the Masjid rows by himself until salat, trying to "count" stairs, and trying to put on shirts and pants. He speaks gibberish in 3 languages, using a different tone of voice to denote each one. English is his main language, which I still have to translate for most people since it sounds more like JarJar Binksish. His Arabic is higher pitched and mostly involves him making a sound like Arab women at a wedding. His last language is reserved for playing with KC. They have started a game where AC runs over and screams some gibberish then they both laugh, flail, and AC runs away. AC can also drink nicely from a cup although if he gets bored, he will opt to simply pour the contents on the floor.

As noted above, KC is coming into her own in regards to moving and grabbing. She has finally gained enough coordination to have entered the "in the mouth" stage. Alhamdulillah, AC has left that stage so he doesn't let her put random things in her mouth on his watch. I'm sure some people who saw her last weekend were thinking she was pulling them in for kisses. Sorry, she just wants to eat your face. She continues to be a prolific roller, only sleeping on her stomach (with fingers in mouth) and she can flail enough to make it across her crib at night. Just this morning, she made a solid attempt to crawl commando style over to some bread that AC left unguarded. She even tried to put one knee up to support her effort, but in the end, she settled for rolling onto her back and sucking her fingers.

KC: What You Missed

If I hadn't seen it myself, I'd never belive that girls really are all sugar and spice and everything nice. Or at least until they figure out how to womp their brother without anyone noticing.

7.19.2012:
Roll over both ways at will. Coo and laugh (this is kind of an old one). Stand up with hands held. Not that we'd ever do that.

Past 3.8 Months:
Hold her head up for long periods of time. Coo. Puke.Wiggle. Sleep through the night.

AC: What You Missed

No ruffle bound, hot glue gunned arts and crafts project can confine AC's momentous milestones. Sorry I'm about 2 years late in recording them.

7.19.2012:
Stack coordinating colors and shapes. Put on a shirt (i.e. put it over his head and put an arm through the head hole and wear it like a toga). Put on pants (i.e. put both legs in one hole and make the "this isn't right tone" until I come fix it).

Past 2 Years:
Talk. Eat solid foods. Walk. Run. Walk with a limp. Sneak. Open jars. Close jars. Drink from a cup. Make up songs. Count from 7 to 9 (no, he can't count from 1 to anything). Recognize letters in English and Arabic. Talk a lot. Clean KC's face. Feed KC. Give hugs and kisses. Recognize gross things. Frown in dissapointment. Scratch. Poop in the potty. Put on underwear.

Heads Up

KC is officially declaring her independence. No more back lying for her. As soon as she's put down, she rolls over so she can see the world. Unfortunately for her, the world tends to bob around a lot after 15 minutes of trying to hold up her megadome. Still, she continues to enjoy a good look around. Dare I say, look at her looking!

May Allah Accept It From Us and You تقب الله مننا و منكم

Just heard. Ramadan will start tonight. This year, I've decided that I'll try to give up interneting during the day. Since the night here is only about 8 hours, all of which I'll be likely sleeping through, there probably wont be too many posts for the next month or so. In the meantime, may everyone have a blessed Ramadan and may your fast be accepted. Ameen.