My darling tormentor

Aisha (2) had been carrying on for about 15 minutes. She lay shrieking and screaming; while writhing and contorting her body.

I stood and stared at her for a long while , then sat down sighing a mournful sigh. Which is when she abruptly stopped her tirade and said apologetically, '' I'm sowwy (sorry) mommy''.

I went over to her and lay my head in her chest. Seeking comfort. From a 2-year old. (Because my own mother was nowhere nearby to comfort me and tell me that this is all normal and that I am not the worst mother in the world.)

For a while, she tousled my hair and rubbed my cheek lovingly. Reassuringly.

''I love you, mommy. You are a cute girl.'' she murmered.

Right back at ya, my terrifying little darling.

Pretty mischievousness

Aisha (2) has, for the past few weeks, been even more obstinate, difficult and argumentative than usual. She refuses to have her nappy changed, to bath or eat regular food - she has no problem eating luxuries sneaked to her by relatives though.

A few days ago she refused to dress in regular clothes although it was freezing. Instead she wanted to wear something 'pweddy' (pretty). Eventually I could no longer fight her, so I opted to capture her cuteness/ mischievousness on camera instead.

 

With all the grace of a baby hippo

What a big girl!!

Aisha (2) hates having her unruly hair tied. Recently she allowed me to plait her hair, which made her look like such a big girl. She was keen to model for a few pics first before ripping her clips and pom poms out of her hair five minutes later.
 

[Please excuse the picture quality - these were taken with my phone as I, once again, misplaced my camera charger].

Caught - using bum cream as lip balm

Caught in the act!

And - all is forgiven

The million dollar question

Yesterday Nuha (7) voiced what had been bothering her since the incident on Friday night (when our car window had been smashed in while we were driving, injuring Shakeel (13) ).... (described here)

‘’Mommy, can I ask you a question?’’ she asked.

‘’Of course,’’ I answered, expecting her to ask for some assurance that the incident would never recur.

‘’What happened to the duck?’’ she asked.

I was confused. ‘’I don’t know what you are talking about, sweetie,’’ I responded. 

‘’The duck that hit the car. Remember, when we heard the loud bang, daddy shouted ‘’Everyone duck! Duck!’’ Did they ever find the duck that hit the car?’’

Thank goodness she saved that question for me and not for her older siblings, who would have mocked her cruelly and incessantly.

Hip hip hooray - she's back!

My joyful, cute, smiling, adorable baby (2) has returned after weeks of hour-long tantrums, grumpiness and misery. I am experiencing all the relief of a person realising that the huge terrifying bear , which had been chasing her for miles, had been temporarily distracted by a jar of honey. Nervous joy. Knowing that the respite will most likely be short-lived. But so grateful for the fleeting relief.


Yesterday morning, as I heard her gradually awaken from her surprisingly sound restful sleep, my stomach did its usual nervous flip. What would she cry about? Would it be my hair? The fact that she didn't like what I was wearing? I held my breath.


''Mommy?'' she inquired, checking if I was nearby. I peered over the mountain of blankets which she had kicked off,  nervously checking her expression. I was greeted by a huge smile - her increasingly- rare, nearly-forgotten beautiful smile. I choked back tears of relief and joy.
''Mommeeee!!!!'' she shrieked happily. Yes, happily! I prayed silently that her mood would last a while longer.


And it did. In fact it lasted for the whole day. And for the whole of this morning. There've been smiles, laughter, dancing and singing. So much joy. Mine and hers.


I've been planting dozens of kisses all over her chubby little face. I've missed her so much.
''I yuv you sooo muts'' (She still hasn't mastered saying the 'ch' sound, which makes her accent sound very Cape Flats), she said a million times, hugging me.
I loved it when she took my face in her hands, stared deeply into my eyes and said, ''You're a good girl, Mommy, '' echoing the words I'd been saying to her for the whole day. My desperate attempt at positive reinforcement - in the hopes that she'd remember those words when her next tantrum was about to hit. Hoping that she'd remember that she was a good girl - and that that realisation would magically defuse the explosion.

But thankfully it hasn't come to that yet. She has just finished breakfast, chatting away happily - after having spent a few minutes shaking her hips shamelessly to the neighbours' blaring ''I'm sexy and I know it''.

She is on her way to the doctor with her dad, where her liver will be examined to see if it has reduced in size (It had been a bit enlarged at last week's visit). I'm praying that everything is normal in that regard.

I'm so relieved and happy right now. Although this past week has been difficult I have never stopped counting and appreciating my blessings. Just now, with Aisha's return to her normal happy self, this has been so much easier to do.

Let's hope and pray that this light, joy and positive energy are here to stay.

Fast forward ten years

As mentioned in a previous post, my kids enjoy pretending to be older than they are, usually by emulating the grown-ups they admire. In 2 year old Aisha's case, the people she admires are her older siblings. So a few weeks ago she enjoyed playing dress-up, emulating her favourite people in the world.

Here she is sporting a school dress belonging to older sister Tharaa (10), twelve year old Shakeel's monitor badges and Nuha (7)'s school bag.

I just want her to remain my little baby!!!

Turfs or Barney- the impossible choice

Two year old Aisha has developed a liking to the Smurfs. No, they have not ousted Barney- not by a long shot. But she now will occasionally ask to watch 'Turfs' as well.


Cleverly, I got her to associate the one TV with watching Barney and the other with watching Smurfs. In this way there would always be a free TV for someone else to watch, since she couldn't possibly dominate 2 TV's simultaneously.

Or so I'd thought.

Yesterday she insisted that she wanted Smurfs to play on the one TV and Barney on the other. Sometimes she ran from one room to the other- most of the time she wasn't even paying attention to either; she just wanted to know that if she felt like watching either one, she would just have to step into whichever room it was playing.

This carried on for about 45 minutes, when I decided to put my foot down.

Me: "Aisha, you cannot watch 2 TVs. Choose- do you want to watch Smurfs or Barney?"

Aisha: "Turfs AND Barney!!"

Me: "You cannot watch both- it's either Smurfs or Barney. I'm putting one off".

Aisha (raising her voice in protest): Noooo, don't put off Turfs and Barney. Want Turfs and Barney!!"

Me (becoming really impatient): "Aisha, stop being silly!"

Aisha (escalating tantrum voice): "Aisha not silly- I cute!!!"

No arguments here.