charlie and the chocolate factory bliss

i bought charlie and the chocolate factory for the twins in april, thinking that their summer vacation would be a good time begin a chapter book with them. sadly, they were not interested at all! they found the chapters long and too complex, and simply could not sit still or engaged enough. so i put the book away in disappointment.

last month, they went to watch a roald dahl documentary on a school trip, and came home going on about roald dahl, the bfg, and charlie. so a couple of weeks ago, i took out the book again and they insisted i read it to them. this time, they are hooked! they are so eager to read new chapters, they talk to each other about the characters and events, and they bring up random things from the book in relation to daily events :)) i am ecstatic! i love their excitement and anticipation, and i love seeing them process new words and information. i even don't mind the gazillion questions they have!

reading charlie with them brings back wonderful childhood reading memories, and i cannot wait to read harry potter, the famous five and other books with them!

poetry

when i started searching for a poem for the twins' school recital, i was amazed at the amount of awesome poetry out there. i should not have been amazed really, but i had never given children's poetry much thought or time before. i can't remember having much to do with poetry until i was in my teens.. kipling's 'if' was my first favorite poem!

in the end, i went with 'be glad your nose is on your face' by jack prelutsky, as it seemed the right length, and would amuse the boys, i felt. and it did! the first few times i read it to them resulted in peals of laughter at specific lines. oh how i wanted to bottle up those moments and sounds!

i decided then that i must immediately find a good poetry collection for them.. recommendations are welcome! i should also read poetry for myself more often.. rupi kaur was a great start!

now we are six

the twins turned six at the end of last month, and they had their first birthday party to celebrate! (earlier we just had small celebrations at home with cake, but this time i couldn't get away with that :P)

i was SOOO stressed out before the party, while the kids were super excited. anyways, it's over now and the kids had fun, so it's all good :) 

  

a week after their party, i found this lovely cute poem by a a milne, while i was looking for something for their poetry recital:           

Now We Are Six

When I was One, I had just begun. 
When I was Two, I was nearly new. 
When I was Three I was hardly me. 
When I was Four, I was not much more. 
When I was Five, I was just alive. 
But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever, 
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

even though it was too short for their recital, i taught it to them anyway, and they enjoyed it :) 

ah, my babies are six! they understand so much and know so much, and are learning complex things like subtraction and body parts and the solar system. they have also finished memorizing the 30th separah of the quran, alhumdolillah! i am in awe at these tiny humans who live with me :)) and i terribly miss their babyness and babbling and cuddles.

'children of blood and bone' and other books

i loved the movie black panther. H might have actually enjoyed it more than me, saying that it was 'much more than the other captain america films'. and it was; not only was the all black cast long due, but the characters were good and real, and the plot was more than superhero action. 

i was hence excited to read children of blood and bone, for various reasons -black characters, magic, a new series to look forward to! and the novel did not disappoint. i absolutely loved all of it! in fact, i was surprised that i had not heard of it until z told me she was reading it.. i hope the next novel in the series will not be too long a wait, and i am also excited to watch the movies!!

following that, i read imbolo mbue's behold the dreamers, also a good read. 

i just finished we never asked for wings, which was a lighter read. being a mom, it was interesting to read about a mother who initially let her own mom take care of her kids, and then see her journey towards becoming a real parent. it was also sobering to read about those who live at the edge or even outside the 'system', which is something mbue's novel focuses on as well. 

kristin hannah's 'the great alone' is my next read, and hopefully it will turn out to be just as awesome as my last few novels :)

happy ramadan

as usual, this post comes late. i almost didn't write it, but i wanted to record what a lovely month we all had, so here goes.

eid was a few days ago, and the month leading up to it was one of the most spiritual and productive ramadans i have had in a lonnng time! first off, i sent the twins to sit with H in the men's section, so i was no longer relegated to the kids' area, and could actually pray namaz in the masjid. we would go early enough for me to pray quran, listen to the bayan and pray all the namaz! and i could do all this in PEACE, without shushing the kids, or refereeing them, or dragging them back to my masallah; pure bliss!

the hafiz who had come this year was awesome. he was young and passionate and driven, and he drove everyone else into doing things we had long forgotten/given up. not only did the twins continue their hifz over their summer vacation, but i did my own hifz, and H attended a workshop on proper quran recitation, alhumdolillah.

amazingly, none of us got sick this time, so we were all on track for fasting and going to masjid. alhumdolillah!

the twins sat quietly with H, listened to whatever was going on around them, had fun pre and post dinner with their friends. i also enjoyed having friends to sit with for dinner. even my MIL was happy sitting on a chair this year.

may next ramadan be just as peaceful and blessed, inshallah!

preschool graduation

at five, the twins have now officially finished with preschool, and will start grade one in june! wow. how time flies. when i think of them starting playgroup, so many milestones ago, they seem so grown up now.

attending their preschool graduation was fun. all the kids were so happy to wear their tiny caps and gowns, waving their rolled up certificates!

the twins have learnt and grown a lot, especially this past year. i am particularly happy with a's progress; he has become so much more confident and open since being separated from his twin. i hope their next school year is just as rewarding and fun for them, inshallah!

reading challenge

for the past few years, i have been using goodreads to record my reading activity. i have also been taking the goodreads reading challenge of reading a certain number of books annually. 

today i came across this different kind of reading challenge, which totally piqued my interest. several years ago i had decided to read only books by authors of color, to broaden my horizons, as well as do my tiny bit in supporting their work. that was definitely a good experience, and i think this reading challenge of choosing particular books will also be fun and interesting. i haven't decided yet which prompts i will choose, but here are some that i like:

-a book set in a country that fascinates you
-a book published the year you graduated
-a book by two authors
-a book set at sea
-a book with alliteration in the title

for more prompts, and a group to join, visit popsugar.

still me

i have just finished reading two lovely books, which makes me so happy. not just that the books were good, but that i was able to read two books in a row, that were just what i wanted to read. in fact, this is probably what makes the experience even sweeter; it is not always easy to find the perfect book to read for a particular moment!

first i read 'the one in a million boy' by monica wood, and i totally wondered why i had never heard of it before, or seen it on any goodreads/amazon recommendation lists! i loved reading about the boy, who is not named throughout the novel, as well as the 104-year-old woman he was helping. it reminded me a lot of britt-marie was here (without backman's humour). these days i find myself enjoying reading about old people.. (enough said).

immediately afterwards i started reading still me by jojo moyes, the third in the louisa clark series. i enjoyed it far more than after you, which i found a little sad and wallowing. me before you is still the best, but perhaps that is simply because it was the introduction of louisa and will, two fascinating characters. aside from the novel itself, i like the name: still me. the themes of immigrants, of not belonging, of always being torn between different homes, identities and cultures, fluctuating between different selves; these are all aspects that i have felt pretty much most of the past decade, in varying degrees. most recently, i have lamented to friends that my kids will never know the me that they knew, the me of cairo, the me of ahrc. for the twins, i am just mumma, which is an identity built recently, and devoid of so much of my past lives..

their response, and louisa's in 'still me', reminds me that i will always be 'me', made up of many different facets. and that i can be whichever me i want!

twins' first school picnic and my ferrero rocher shake

the twins went on their first school picnic/outing yesterday, and they had a ball, alhumdolillah. they were excited and looking forward to it for days, and they were up instantly yesterday morning, all ready to go (if only they would wake up like that everyday). it was their first time to be out without us for most of the day, but i am sure they hardly noticed. m said he had a great 'adventure' :) may they continue to find adventure in all of life's moments. 

a left his water bottle somewhere, and he came and told me that 'please pray i get it back'. i love the fact that he thought of prayer. i encourage them to give thanks for their day before they sleep.. i will try tweaking this now by getting them to find one specific thing they are thankful for each night..

**
their day-long outing meant that i was able to have a leisurely and scrumptious lunch (the highlight being a super rich ferrero rocher shake- i am still drooling!) with two lovely friends; alhumdolillah! it was a lovely time, and will most likely be my highlight of the month :)

goodbye, vitamin

i finished reading rachel khong's goodbye, vitamin. it was nice, a light, short read. the writing style was very stream-of-consciousness, which was a refreshing difference from the usual beginning-middle-end novels. also, i was particularly heartened to read about a 30-something character who is as clueless as a 20-something. she does not have a marriage, home, career and two kids. as someone who is forever bemused that i am no longer 23, and constantly wondering what i have accomplished in my twenties and thirties, it was nice to read about someone smart and good, but who doesn't have life all figured out and wrapped up in shiny paper.

twins catch up

i am not sure when this happened exactly, but the twins are little people now, with distinct personalities. a few months ago, m told me he did not want to dress like a anymore. i was heartbroken. together with the emergence of distinct personalities comes severe sibling rivalry. one twin is clearly more dominating and assertive, which works in his favour. as a parent, i am left reeling, wondering how to protect and empower the more passive sibling. oh, the curve keeps getting steeper!

i am very thankful that i separated them in school this year; i can see so much improvement in a. according to m's teacher, his academic development is progressing in proportion to his mischief! 

they started madressah this year, and they seem to be enjoying it and doing well. when i went to pick them up on their first day, their teacher said their english was excellent; still not sure if that was a compliment or not! now of course they speak in ld there. they have many friends in the masjid now, which makes going there a little daunting for me! until last ramadan, people were still telling me how good and quiet the twins were at the masjid.. unfortunately, all good things come to an end. now, everyone is surprised at how much masti (mischief) they get up to, sigh. 

their hifz (memorizing the quran) progress is also outstanding, mashallah. 

overall, they are healthy, happy and energetic boys. i wish for quiet at times, and wonder at their selective hearing, but otherwise, alhumdolillah. my next target: making them eat on their own, inshallah!

time in!

several months ago, i was shocked that i hadn't blogged in over a year! i went through all my posts on the twins, and i was so happy that i had some record of their growing up and my parenting journey. i immediately resolved to start posting again, so that i could read and reminisce as they grew older. 

and of course, months passed and i still didn't get around to blogging.

today is a new day however, and hopefully, i will be able to periodically keep up with the posts. there are so many things i want to say, to record, so that i can look them up later, so that the twins will have some notion of their early years.

i am currently reading goodbye, vitamin, which includes diary remnants a dad kept of his daughter growing up, which he shares with her when she is an adult:

Today, while I was trying to teach you to swim, you asked how deep the pool was. When I said four feet, you looked incredulous, and said, Whose feet!

...We'd asked you to be polite, so you said, "No more please, it's horrible thank you."

i want to be able to do that too. (i hope this blog is still around at that time!!) the things the twins say are simply marvelous, and i wish i could record all of them!  

apocalyse and station eleven

station eleven by hilary st john mandel was a very interesting read. mandel's writing is lovely, and i am definitely going to check out more of her books (so glad she has written several other novels!). i haven't read sci-fi and end-of-the-world books since i was a teenager, and station eleven was a good post apocalypse novel in the sense that it didn't focus much on sci-fi elements. having said that, i would have been interested in the book exploring further how the world went from here to there in such a short time. however, the book focuses more on individual characters, most of whom were quite engaging.

i am always struck by how fast technology is evolving, and the book underlined that as well. i have only owned a smartphone for the past six years, and yet, now it seems well nigh impossible to function without one. i went through school, university and a good part of my working life without smartphones, without whatsapp, facebook, google and wikipedia. my kids on the other hand, have yet to hold a camera in their hands; the phone is their camera, encyclopedia, radio and communication device all in one.

some days ago, feeling nostalgic, i took out my uni photo album and was looking through the pictures. i had to laugh at how itchy my fingers were to 'enlarge' everyone's faces :P