Funny Girl

It's always fun to see how the kids do things differently, how each of them have distinct personalities and interests. Roqaya is always surprising us with the silly things she does. Since she could talk she's been all about the color pink. Those of you who know me well know I'm not super girly or anything so Roqaya's fascination of all things Girl is all her own choosing. She loves anything that is pink or sparkles.
At the library yesterday she decided she was going to pick all the books. Karim usually does this with me, but he was busy playing so she jumped right in. Here were her selections

We read a couple of these last night, and although they are cute, the stories are not very good. I probably should have picked up a couple back-up books, but the kids are happy so it's ok.

Roqaya also has some habits that are so far off from what Karim does/did, as well as what most people do. We did the "Peanut Butter and Jelly" song at the library some months ago and the kids really got into pbj's after that. I've never seen anyone each a sandwich in any other way than the "normal" way, until Roqaya started eating sandwiches, and almost anything layered. 

She separates the sandwich, then scrapes off the top layer with all the goodness with her teeth and then she's done. I've seen her do it with bagels and one time only, in the car, with a twix candy bar. I knew the chocolate would be a mess either way, but this was bad and we will never do layered candy bars in the car anymore.

**for the Egyptian aunties--I thought you would enjoy seeing Karim having a little Egyptian soda party here in MD :)

The Bad Man and the Happy People

A few weeks ago we did a lesson with the kids about Moses and the Pharaoh. How the Pharaoh was a bad man and very mean and that God helped Moses and the Israelites escape through the Red Sea. We've been following the events in Egypt since the protests began last month but haven't really involved the kids much with so much going on each day. But, yesterday that all changed when the Egyptians finally got what they were praying for. Last night we went over a few videos and pictures, showing the kids what the people in Egypt were doing. I told Karim the story of the Bad Man and the happy people of Egypt. We showed him these videos (the first one has English subtitles, but not the second which is the Egyptian National Anthem--correction: it's not the national anthem, it just contains the chorus line (ya belady, ya belady, ana behebak ya belady), the main words being "oh my country, I love you". Some of the images show some of the people who died during the protests)

then talked about why the people were so happy and what the Bad Man did to the people he was supposed to be helping, how he hurt Karim's aunts and uncles and cousins. Then he asked to see who the Bad Man is. We showed him a video of Mubarak giving his final, pathetic speech and out of no where the kids start yelling "get out! shoo! we don't want you!". I was surprised because I had not voiced my opinions out loud, just in type. It must be the Egyptian blood running in their veins. 

Since we couldn't be with our Egyptian family yesterday we did a little celebration for the kids and ourselves. We took them to pray in the masjid and then let them pick what food they wanted. Karim voted for a hamburger from McDonald's, not what I wanted him to say, but they both got their happy meals and were happy. We came home and hung out together and had some chocolate cake the kids helped me make the other day. With all the excitement we didn't sleep until around midnight and I'm really tired this morning, but it was "once in a lifetime" day yesterday so I can't complain. والحمد لله رب العالمين 

Growing and Changing

It's been a while since I last blogged so I will just try to fit in everything we've been doing the last few months.
The biggest change is that I started teaching Karim how to read. I put in tons of research time on homeschooling and finally have at least a tentative plan of what I want to do. For now our focus is on reading English and Arabic and then we'll go from there once we have to prepare for formal schooling. Karim was born 3 days before the Maryland cut-off date so he's always going to be a year behind his buddies, but really that is ok with me, especially considering his active personality--putting off sitting in a desk is better for all of us. So we've been working through The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading and so far it's been great. We started with short vowels and now we're almost done with the consonants, next we will start putting consonants and short vowels together to read small words. Then we move on to long vowels and common letter combinations, at which point Karim should be able to read simple books. He has picked up a few tricks for reading already. One of his favorite things is reading books and he seems to do well at memorizing words from these books that we read a lot as well as common words he sees around outside. He stores all these words and when he sees them elsewhere he "reads" them (but really he has just memorized what they look like).
We ordered him some Arabic language activity books to work on letter recognition and he watches YouTube videos to practice pronunciation and vocabulary. I was finally able to find an Arabic teacher book with English teacher notes, so we ordered that and will start it next week along with the activity work books. We're having a really good time and I have enjoyed teaching him and look forward to more with Karim and Roqaya when she's ready, although she is still getting a lot out of Karim's lessons.
It's been getting colder so we've been staying home more often. It's not easy finding indoor things to do that don't cost a lot of money. We have 2 weekly activities we do that work well--the Toddler group and the story time at the library, at what time we also do our weekly library check-outs which seem to be growing. Each time I leave the library I have more books than I returned. There are just so many good ones and I'm pretty sure the kids put some in the bag when I'm not looking.
We've been playing Wii fit and Wii sports to keep somewhat active at home (right now Karim is biking and I'm able to have a little time to myself). Karim (and sometimes Roqaya) has started helping out more with chores. Karim loves to vacuum and put laundry away and I recently started using a timer to motivate him to clean-up toys. I came across the idea in a book and wasn't sure if it would work, but the timer works for getting him to do just about anything--cleaning, getting dressed, getting ready for bed--things that shouldn't take long but do for some reason.
That's where we are and I will try to update more often

Go Fish

I recently picked up a pack of Go Fish cards for Karim and we've had a great time playing when we get some alone time during Roqaya's nap or when she is busy playing with her toys. I think it gave hubby and I inspiration to eat more fish. With hubby growing up on the shore of the Mediterranean and on the Nile delta he is familiar with many fish dishes. I grew up in Colorado so am familiar mainly with native lake and river fish. We found a nice little fish market and have been experimenting with different fish and recipes. We normally keep a supply of frozen Tilapia fillets in the freezer. When I was in Egypt we ate fresh, whole Tilapia (Bolti) several times and I really enjoyed it. So, we picked up a few Tilapia and had them cleaned there (cleaning a fish is something I'm not sure I'm ready for). We marinated them in butter and garlic and hubby made a nice stuffing of green peppers, onions, and lemon. They turned out really well and were very tasty. Last night we tried a different fish, a White Bass and changed up the recipe a little, using less lemon and adding a Serrano pepper.
I got pretty good at de-boning fish in Egypt but seem to have lost the skill. It takes me a while to get all the meat out, but on both nights, it was worth it.

This was the Tilapia with rice and salad

Eid Al-Fitr

We celebrated Eid this year on Sept. 10th and since that was a Friday we were able to extend the fun over the whole weekend! We started the week before with a few gifts for the kids to get them excited since this is the first year that Karim really understands what a holiday is. They both love painting and coloring (mostly on the walls) so we thought an art easel was a good idea. They really love it and so far we haven't had any major messes, although it would be nice if I had a separate art room because for now I have to keep it in the kitchen. It works out well though because they can do that while I'm cleaning the kitchen or cooking dinner.

Then on Thursday night Karim got the surprise of his life--a new bike! And, a big boy bike at that. He was so excited, and so was Roqaya, but she was a little jealous too even though she just got her new bike a few weeks before.

Karim was nice and let her have a turn though.

We got up early on Friday and got dressed in our new clothes and headed to the masjid.

After we prayed and had our breakfast (including our first cup of coffee since before Ramadan) we broke out the bikes to take them for a spin outside. Karim did really well and figure out the new bike right away. The brakes were a new feature and he was confused at first because he couldn't ride backward like on his trike. Roqaya mostly just walked around in her new helmet calling it a hat. And then she headed to her best friend, the swing.

The helmet on the swing turned out the be a good thing because she fell off right after I took this picture.
We went to see our friends for lunch and then headed home, all of us ready for bed by 8:00
We had made plans to do something on Saturday but we all woke up in the mood to relax. So we stayed home and just rode the bikes around the block and got ourselves ready for Sunday at Six Flags.
We had a really good time, I think I had more fun on the kid rides than I would have on the adult rides. I'm not really a thrill seeker so the spinning tube ride was about my limit.

So the Sky Coaster was definitely off limits for me.

We rode the carousel a lot and a variety of kid rides that are basically the same just with different characters to ride in--they all pretty much just go in a circle, something I'm not really fond of.

 Karim was not happy that his side of the plane didn't have a steering wheel. The line was small though so they were able to ride again and switch places, then everyone was happy.

At this point it was raining pretty steadily and the kids' clothes were soaked but we kept going and having fun. We took a little break on the train and then the rain stopped and the rest of the day was very pleasant. 

Roqaya fell asleep on the way to Thomas Town but woke up after a quick power nap and only missed one ride.

We headed back to the other side of the park with more kiddie rides to finish off the day. 

We rode the carousel one more time, ran into some friends on the way out and had a nice chat, then headed home. The kids both crashed right away in the car.

It was a great weekend!

Roqaya

Somehow 2 years has gone by since Roqaya joined our family. We didn't really do anything for her birthday since it fell on the second day of Ramadan. She did get a cake and Tayta and Geddo sent her a new bike. She got one just like Karim's but her's is pink. She really loves it and she is learning much quicker than Karim did since she has him to teach her. We practiced inside a few times and then took it for a spin outside. She did pretty well for her first time. She was able to pedal right away (it took Karim a while before he figured that out) but, like Karim, she doesn't understand the concept of steering yet. She didn't get very far because she kept running into the grass and getting stuck, but she had a great time.

At her 2 year check-up at the doctor everything went well and she is in the 95th %ile for height and weight--not too surprising.  Her hair is growing very nicely and I'm able to do more with it although most days we stick to the good ol' pony tail or pig tails because she's not very patient with anything that takes longer than 1 minute. But at least she doesn't pull her barrettes out anymore.

He number 1 favorite thing to do is whatever Karim is doing which is both good and bad as she learns a lot of good things from him, but she also learns the naughty things he does. The good thing is that she listens to me much better than Karim did at that age. Her best talent has to be in throwing a good fit. Something new to me as Karim was never a fit-thrower.  When she gets really mad about something there is no mistaking it. She's been practicing since she was about 6 months old so she's got it down now. I just hope this is one behavior she grows out of soon.


In true 2-year-old fashion she got herself stuck between the banister railings and it took me a while to figure out how to get her out. We were both happy to get her out and I was happy that I didn't have to break the railing. She hugged me for several minutes afterward. Before I got her out though, I made sure to snap a quick picture :)

Siblings

Sometimes I think about what life would be like if we had only Karim or just Roqaya. The responsibility of raising kids grows exponentially because it's not just the difficulty of having two kids, but also the combination of them together. This is especially true in Roqaya's case because she learns so much from Karim that she would have never gotten from Ahmed and I. I remember when Karim was younger and I would give him toys to play with but he wouldn't really know how to play with them so he lost interest. But, now Roqaya has her brother to show her how things work and how to have fun. He also shows her lots of naughty stuff which adds to the difficulty for me but in some way is beneficial to them. He teaches her what kinds of food are good, how to go the bathroom like a big kid (although she's a little confused about the standing up part), how to "swim" in the bathtub, how to climb in and out of the crib, how to ride a trike, how to eat with utensils, how to hold hands when crossing the street, what cartoons are worth watching, how to color on the walls (my least favorite), and how to make funny faces in the window. Perhaps less noticeable though are the things Roqaya teaches Karim. She has taught him how to be patient with those younger and less understanding than he is, how to be gentle, how to share, how to play cooperatively, and how to take turns.
I'm so glad they have each other and hope they continue to learn from and enjoy each other.