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.