A beautiful day!

Today was a really nice Saturday... let me share it with you... :)

My night last night was long... Hafsa has a tooth almost through on the bottom so I was up every hour or two the whole night, but it was all made worth it come morning, when I got a cuddle in bed with my two girls... in matching pyjamas no less... Doesn't that increase the cuteness factor exponentially?








































So we frolicked until I feared that someone would fall right off the bed. Okay, that someone is Hafsa. This child has no regard for her own personal safety... Maymuna was always cautious, even as a baby, but now we're dealing with a new kettle of fish.

After leisurely dressing, showering and eating (for some) we headed over to the school/community center where Maymuna's preschool is. They were having a Vehicle Fair today and I thought that Maymuna might like to see all the trucks, engines, police cars and buses... Well, she wasn't that impressed honestly, I guess she doesn't care for vehicles just that much in general. She went inside the mail delivery truck and that was pretty much it for her, instead she wanted to show her Baba the preschool and her locker!! Her preschool room was closed but we showed Ozayr through the window and paused at her locker for a few minutes on the way out. Yes, my BABY GIRL has a LOCKER, people. I try not to dwell on it, this whole preschool thing is hard enough as it is. How dare she grow up!! ;)

It turns out what she really wanted was to go on the play structure outside the school, the one where the big kids play during the week. Here is Maymuna being a big kid.



Once we had exhausted this, we headed over to Lake Calhoun with a pinic lunch for Maymuna. We set our blanket out next to the play structure (this is play structure #2 for those counting) and just kind of lazed around there, watching Maymuna play and rolling around on the blanket with Hafsa. More pictures!!


We came home not long after lunch and relaxed a bit. Well, I took a nap and Ozayr mowed the lawn, a feat that can bring a fasting man to near exhaustion, and obviously I was tired just watching him. ;) This evening we went out to stock up on dates (Ramadan staple!) and pita bread and hummus. We stopped by the mall and had dinner, where Maymuna found the 3rd play structure of the day, the soft play area inside Rosedale. This is a phenomenon we've only seen in the United States... and trust me, it's VERY popular with almost-3 year olds!!

Both children fell asleep on the way home... so Ozayr and I took the long route through the city (it is Saturday night afterall!) and admired the night skyline a bit.

Now everyone is in bed except for me... so sweet dreams... goodnight.

The Not-So Amazing Race...

I began this post, deleted it, and started it again. This stuttering beginning to this blog entry reflects my current annoyance with one of the shows I enjoy watching - The Amazing Race. Jen and I were excited at the diversity of the cast this year - rooting for our distant (way, way distant) homies - Bilal and Sa'eed - who, were, as they say, "representin'" Needless to say, our first choice were eliminated on the first leg of the race - denied by Phil and his Amazing eyebrow raise at the finish-line mat in Beijing. A moment of silence please.



Our hopes then fell to Vipul and Arti. Sadly, they fell to the perilous climb up the Great Wall of China, arrived last and were promptly eliminated. Strangely, Vipul had the word 'Colege' on his t-shirt. A recent google search of 'Colege' resulted in google asking me 'did you mean: COLLEGE?' I learned shortly after that this is the Animal House spoof of 'College.' Ah, witty, witty, learned Vipul. A shame that you can no longer bear the hopes of the subcontinent on your race around the world (and four Canadians from Minneapolis - we, by proxy, assume Maymuna and Hafsa would have rooted for them as well.)First, Bilal and Sa'eed, then Vipul and Arti. Sigh.



Okay. 50% of our ethnic racers were eliminated in the span of the first episode. Jen and I don't really like Lyn and Karlyn - single moms from Alabama who seem mean and churlish (although I imagine this is careful editing, although, how much you can doctor the comment about another contender with a prosthetic limb "She can run the Ironman - but she can't stand in line?!" ?). At any rate, Erwin and Godwin are our next favourites. Not so-Secret Asian-men! Ah, (pseudo)witty, witty blog post.



We're not sure yet who to root for should Erwin and Godwin fall to Phil, the elimination mat and the folksily dressed country representive who bellows, 'WELCOME TO MONGOLIA!' Mongolia, incidentally, looks beautiful.




Amazing Race aside, we march inexorably forward here in Minnesota. Maymuna is starting to get the hang of pre-school; she is an artistic factory - churning out paintings upon paintings and making some new friends. Hafsa enjoys standing up as much as she can and seems to have little regard for personal safety. She has developed this remarkable eye/nose scrunch that I saw today. We'll try to document it with a photograph to add to her facial repertoire (beginning with Avocado Face). The fasting is going well so far - although the first few days are always a little challenging. This month is very dear to us - and we always miss our families during this special time. Please keep us in your thoughts.

Ramadan Mubarak!!

It's the very beginning of Ramadan this weekend, a very special time for Muslims around the world... I am including a little Islam 101 below for any non-Mozzy's who would like to know about Ramadan and our traditions this month!

• "Ramadan" [ra-ma-DAWN] is the name of the 9th month in the Islamic calendar. The Islamic calendar is lunar, each month begins with the sighting of the new moon. Therefore, Ramadan and Islamic holidays "move" every year according the Christian calendar, by 11 days.

• As a cheerful greeting, Muslims say "Ramadan Mubarak!" in celebration of the beginning of this month. I don't know the exact translation, but it's akin to saying "Have a Happy/Blessed Ramadan", like you would wish somebody a merry Christmas.

• During this month, Muslims fast (that is, don't eat) from sunrise to sunset daily. That's no food or drink. :)
  

• Certain people are exempt from fasting: those in ill health, children and the elderly, pregnant and nursing mothers, people who are travelling.

• Traditionally, many Muslims wake up before the sun is up and have suhoor [suh-HOOR], which is basically a big breakfast! Others (like Ozayr!) just have a tall glass of water instead.
  

• At sundown, Muslims will often break their fasts with a date or a glass of milk before partaking in iftar [iff-TAAR]. This is often a really festive time, we gather together with family and friends to eat together, it's very joyous. I remember one Ramadan that Ozayr and I only ate iftar at home something like 4 times that month.
  

• I could write a whole post about special Ramadan foods that we only make during this month - those foods are really a part of the tradition of Ramadan. At my in-laws house I can't even begin to describe it... chutneys, samoosas, almond milk, meat pies... all these things make it special, and often they start preparing weeks in advance.

• Ramadan ends with Eid al-Fitr. Literally the "Festival of Breaking the Fast," Eid al-Fitr is one of the two most important Islamic celebrations (the other occurs after the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca). At Eid al-Fitr people dress in their best clothes (kiddies often get a new outfit!), decorate their homes, give treats/gifts to children, and enjoy the day with friends and family. On this day we wish each other "Eid Mubarak!"
  

• A sense of generosity and gratitude is important during these festivities. Although charity and good deeds are always important, they have special significance at the end of Ramadan. As the month draws to a close, Muslims share their blessings by feeding the poor and making contributions to mosques and charities.

• Why do we do this?
  

• Ramadan is not a punishment or a hardship - and we don't dread it at all, it is a very special time of year. It's probably the most spiritual and personal of all of Islam's traditions.
  

• By not eating or drinking, really you are testing yourself and trying to resist the greedy part of you who wants to consume consume consume!!
  

• You are also learning to identify with, and have compassion for, others in the world who are going without - at sunset you can drink a cold glass of clean water and feast on any food you want, but far too many people in this world do not have that luxury.

• And on a purely spiritual level, it's the tradition that, despite its many social aspects, is most entirely between the individual and God. I could tell everyone I'm fasting and easily sneak a glass of water or a snack in when no one is watching. The honour of my fast is between me and God.

Well, there's so much more I could include, this is a tradition that's over 1300 years old after all, but I think I'll leave there for now... Ramadan Mubarak to all our Muslim friends and family -we are missing you dearly during this month. And darnit, we miss your awesome cooking too.

A picture post

Okay, let's lighten things up around here, shall we? Nothing like kiddie pics... right? At least I'm pretty sure that's what the grandparents tune in for and they account for like, 4 out of the 6 people who view this blog... so here are the great shots I snapped at the park today!















I've been telling people recently that there's been a big change in Maymuna and you can really tell from this picture above - she is so much more daring. She is on the right there, walking across those bars from one play structure to another. It's definitely pretty high in my book, but she seems ready to do it. Meet Julie, on the left, one of Maymuna's most awesome playdate friends. We have lots of fun with them every time we get together and today was no exception! You'll meet her little sister Sophie further down...















Here is Hafsa on the swing and Maymuna being a great big sister! Hafsa loves the swing, and Maymuna was quite happy to push her for a length of time... Now what will happen when they both want to be in the swing?? I hope Maymuna will be happy to take turns...




















This is Hafsa just hangin' out with Julie's little sister Sophie in Starbucks (below). No they don't order lattes yet, just milk (ha ha ha). Julie and Maymuna sucked back two huge apple juices lightning fast. Then Julie crawled under the table and Maymuna threw a mini-tantrum and in the end I think we disturbed about 4 business meetings and several students trying to work. When did Starbucks get so corporate? Well, mommies need refreshment too. We pretty much laughed off the bad looks and had a good time... :)















So now we're home, and tired and hungry, so I'm signing off... Here's Maymuna having some "down time".

I don't usually discuss world affairs...

I wonder if anyone here in the United States has heard of Maher Arar. Tomorrow morning his face will likely be all over Canadian newspapers and television news programs. His story is a sad one.

Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen of Syrian descent, was detained by U.S. authorities as he changed planes in New York on Sept. 26, 2002. He was held for questioning for 12 days, then flown by jet to Jordan and driven to Syria. He was beaten, forced to confess to having trained in Afghanistan -- where he never has been -- and then kept in a coffin-size dungeon for 10 months before he was released.

All the while, no one even knew where he was.

In fact, I wonder if he would have ever been released if it weren't for his wife Mounia who campaigned relentlessly for the Canadian government to find him and bring him home. She caused the biggest ruckus that one woman could. CAIR CAN and Amnesty International became involved in his case. CAIR CAN's executive director at the time, Riad Saloojee, had this to say:

"The fact is that he was detained through a secretive and non-transparent procedure. He was interrogated without a lawyer present. His lawyer said she was notified of his deportation and immigration on a Sunday afternoon when the U.S. authorities knew she would be unable to attend. Mr. Arar was allowed to call his family only after a full week had elapsed since his detention. His whereabouts were, until very recently, a mystery, because U.S. authorities have been thoroughly unco-operative about providing details of his deportation. In fact, at no point since his deportation did the United States ever admit that it sent him to Jordan. In what can only be described as callous indifference, if not the cruel conceit of a hegemonic state drunk with power, the U.S. allowed Canadians and Mr. Arar's family to labour blindly over his whereabouts."

Tomorrow Canadians will finally hear the truth from their own government, the admission that Canadian intelligence services were under pressure to find terrorists after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and falsely labeled Maher Arar, an Ottawa computer consultant, as a dangerous radical. They asked U.S. authorities to put him and his wife, a university economist, on the al-Qaeda "watchlist," without justification, the report says. Arar was also listed as "an Islamic extremist individual" who was in the Washington area on Sept. 11. The report concluded that he had no involvement in Islamic extremism and was on business in San Diego that day, says the head of the inquiry commission, Ontario Justice Dennis O'Connor.

So he is innocent. I knew that, and I know, sadly, what this has cost them. Is there any recompense for something like this? Can you provide a monetary value to give him back anything that he has lost? Can you get back his reputation? or his job? or the time that he has lost with his family? There is nothing that can be done to fix this. It is an outrage. But I think I am more sad than angry right now. I always really believed that if you had nothing to hide, you had nothing to be afraid of. Not true in these days...

CBC Background information on Maher Arar's story
The Globe and Mail: How Canada Failed Maher Arar
The Ottawa Citizen: Arar Cleared at Last
CBS News: His Year in Hell
The Toronto Star: RCMP faulted; Arar cleared

Swedish rites of passage

We had to go to IKEA over the weekend, we were looking for a guard rail for Maymuna's Big Girl Bed, which we bought there. Minneapolis is heavily populated by Scandinavians and the IKEA here reflects that: it is the biggest store I've ever seen. It's as big as most of the malls in Ottawa - probably comparable to Hazeldean Mall. If there were two of them stacked on top of one another. There are 20 checkout cashiers and they are all open. I dread going there on a weekend, but I rarely have the car to get out there during the week, so off we go... Saturday afternoon. Prime time.

The place is packed as usual and the first thing we pass is the play area. It's a pretty big sectioned off place where you can drop off your child for supervised play and continue shopping in peace. It boasts, as most IKEA's do, a ball pit with thousands of plastic balls in which children frolick and play. I should preface this story with a bit of background information, that I don't think I ever went into this sort of IKEA ball pit ever in my childhood - the crowding and chaos and noise doesn't appeal to me. I didn't think it would appeal to Maymuna either. You can see where this is going: I was wrong!!

We stood at the glass window watching the kids - there must have been 15 of them... or maybe 10, but ALOT - playing, throwing balls around and generally being rowdy as kids have a tendency to do in such places of extraordinary fun. They all seem to be big kids to me. Maymuna is jumping up and down with excitement, and turns to me with her huge eyes and says MOMMY CAN I GO???? Oh no. Please.

The last time we were there she didn't meet the height requirement, so I said, well honey, we better check to see if you are tall enough, see, they only let children who are tall enough go in. So we marched over to the height gauge on the wall and, lo and behold, my child is JUST barely tall enough. I mean, if I had taken off her shoes perhaps it could have swung the other way. This is even worse, if she goes in she'll be the smallest child in there! MOMMY CAN I GO??? Oh no. Please.

I see two little girls with their mom and notice they are wearing socks. I bet that you have to be wearing socks to go in the ball pit. I tell Maymuna, we'll check with the lady at the counter, but if you need socks we'll just have to come back another day. We get to the front of the line and the IKEA employee cheerfully tells me, like it's my lucky day, that Maymuna doesn't need socks to get in. At this, Maymuna starts tearing her sandals off, ready to go inside...

I fill out forms, double check there's no food allowed inside, we get stamped and they issue me a pager to carry - they'll beep me if Maymuna needs me or wants to come out. Alrighty then! My baby girl suddenly looks a bit unsure, but she marches right in past the IKEA staff... the wrong way. She is standing behind the sign-in counter, poor thing, no balls in there. A kindly worker points her in the right direction and then she is gone from view.

Not for long!! It's laughable and incredibly pathetic at the same time, but do I run and get myself a coffee? Or join Ozayr in the aisles of IKEA? No, my dears, those who know me best know already: I stand at the glass window and watch her play in the ball pit. She eases herself in and looks around a bit, and starts to play. She gets jostled a bit, but never knocked over. She gets covered in balls, but never buried. Of course should any such calamity occur I am waiting at the window, just off to the side (subtle, I know) ready to tap frantically at the glass to alert the IKEA staff to save my precious little girl.

At some point I've looked away long enough to locate Ozayr. The guard rail isn't for sale without a bed, so no luck today. OKAY, GREAT, WE'RE DONE! I'LL GO AND GET MAYMUNA!!

Just a short visit today? asks the desk attendant... I think he is smiling at me, knowing that I have barely taken three full breaths in the last 15 minutes, but I don't care, there she comes...

"My big girl! I am so proud of you! You went in the ball pit!" She smiles back at me, very proud of herself... I promise her we'll come back another day soon. We'll work up to a longer time in the play area next time, when we're all a little more prepared...

Avocado Toes

There's a face that Hafsa makes... don't worry you'll get to see it for yourself in a minute... We call it "Tylenol Face". Having never had anything other than breastmilk her whole young life, she was quickly introduced to painkillers at the hospital after her surgery. And she hated them. I used to feed her the Tylenol Codeine myself and the nurses thought it was hilarious. I would put a little drop on my finger and smear it across her tongue or the inside of her cheek, so little that she couldn't actually spit it out. It was a system that worked, but took forever, as you could probably guess. Well, she is better at taking medicine now, but the face she made then is still the same. Ozayr and I love the face, even though it signals her displeasure. It is also usually accompanied by a slow and thoughtful smacking of the lips. So you can imagine my surprise and delight when it reappeared again today: upon her first taste of avocado. Tylenol face is now hereby renamed Avocado Face:

Last days of summer

We had a cold spell earlier this week and now that it's up over 20 degrees again, I really feel like these are the last days of our summer. I love autumn, but I am sad to see this summer end... So I took some pictures of the girls, doing what they did almost every day this summer - hang out in our backyard together having fun. Both kind of doing their own thing...

We had the quintessential summer afternoon with some good friends this afternoon. Lunch on a patio, playing at the park and frappuccinos to top it all off (apple juice for the kids). At the park Maymuna was so daring... she climbed higher than ever before and took some leaps which made my heart pound. She was so proud of herself, and now she tells me "I climb like a monkey!" It reminds me how much she's changed this summer and how grown up she seems now. I think I have enjoyed my kids more than ever in these warm months.

To see the Summer Sky
Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie -
True Poems flee.

~Emily Dickinson

Can we build it? Yes we can!

It's a big weekend here at our house. First of all, Maymuna went to a birthday party Saturday morning for her friend Julie. Despite the horror stories I'd heard about the excessive birthday parties thrown here in the United States (and you know it happens in Canada too, people), I am thankful that Julie's mom is very reasonable - no petting zoos, no caterers, no tiaras, no gifts (though I guess some people did bring some anyway). I like the premise here: "let's have some fun at the park with our friends" as opposed to "you are Queen for the day, what colour tulle shall we drape the house in?"

Maymuna was a bit grumpy leaving the house, but upon arriving at the park she spotted the swings and that is just about her favourite place in the world. She had at least 15 minutes in that swing before I think she even said hello to Julie. Poor party etiquette, I imagine, but I tried. My girl is like that somehow, she wants to be exactly where the action... is not. So when Julie was opening gifts, Maymuna took the opportunity to go down the slide and have the whole play structure to herself. Again she abandoned her cake to get the big-girl swing on the right, just the one she wanted, before the rest of the crowd rejoined the mix. This behaviour used to concern me, but it doesn't anymore... it's just her quirky little personality, and she's still having fun, just on her own terms, if you will.

We had a great time at the park and were among the last to leave. The rest of the day at home centered largely around her new birthday party experience. The loot bag was promptly decimated, and the Bob the Builder party hat was worn by everyone in the family in turn. At lunchtime it was Ozayr's birthday and he wore the hat and we "sang" to him. Maymuna's singing is great, it's completely off-key and wacky "HAAAAAA-pee BIIIIIIIIRTh-day to my BAAAAAAAAAAABAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" I think her main philosophy is that good singing has to be LOUD.

Then I got birthday-ed at dinnertime. We talked alot about the different foods she was making for me... cake... ice cream... pasta (the food for any occasion according to this girl). This was some of our dinner conversation:

Maymuna: do you want pasta or...
Mama: pasta or what?
Maymuna: or pasta.
Mama: pasta or pasta?
Maymuna: yes.
Mama: okay, um, pasta.
Maymuna: okay.

Maymuna: I'm making you a CAKE.
Mama: a cake! great!
Maymuna: i'm BAKING it.
Mama: lovely! what flavour is it?
Maymuna: RED!!

Maymuna wanted to put the Bob the Builder party hat on to Hafsa so I indulged her (hey, being a big sister is hard sometimes, let's let her get a kick out of it every once and a while). So I put the hat on Hafsa and I even took a picture... then I got distracted by something. I think I was brushing Maymuna's teeth. Then she went to bed and I went to the kitchen. Then I thought to myself, it's quiet. Too quiet. I rushed back to the living room to find that I'd left Bob the Builder with Hafsa the Devourer... I pried it from her clenched fists (okay I took a picture first) and I tried to straighten it out to dry. Luckily Hafsa didn't actually bite any off. She doesn't have teeth, but trust me if you slobber on something enough it'll just come right apart in your mouth - this is the baby motto, slow and steady drooling and gumming. I know that Maymuna is going to want to wear that thing on Sunday so I hope it looks okay by morning.

Not long after this there was a knock on the front door. The refrigerator we got with our house conked out on us this past week and our new one was supposed to be delivered today. Ozayr cleaned out the fridge this morning and we were ready and waiting for them to arrive this afternoon. We waited and waited... our food slowly getting warmer and warmer in the laundry basket we'd piled everything in to BECAUSE WE WERE EXPECTING THEM ANY MINUTE. After dinner we decided that they just weren't coming and piled it all back into the freezer (which was barely holding at regular refrigerator temperature). Well, it was just before 9 p.m. when we got that knock on our door and I must say that the first thing I said when I opened it was "You. Are. Kidding. Me." They were suitably apologetic and promptly went to work replacing the old fridge with our gorgeous new Whirlpool side-by-side model. Ooo-la-la!! I didn't enjoy waiting all day for them to come, but it sounds like those delivery guys had an even WORSE day. And one of them has a 5 week old son. Though my pity abated somewhat on finding out that his kid sleeps through the night. Hmmm. Hafsa and I have GOT to have a talk.

I'm finishing this post Sunday morning... Maymuna woke up this morning to hear the new refrigerator had arrived while she was sleeping. I wonder what she thinks, that major appliances just appear in the middle of the night? brought by little elves perhaps? I told her about it and suggested we go downstairs to check it out. She looked at me with excited, bright eyes, "Mama," she said, "is it a pink one or a red one??!" Oh dear, my darling... it's just white...

She gets a bath almost every night now...

I don't like to put alot of pictures of the kids up here, but these are too cute to resist posting, machallah. It's either that or email them to EVERYBODY I KNOW. I think this is the least overbearing option...

Back to school

It feels like an autumn day today. A slightly rainy, cool, breezy day. On our walk this afternoon we saw some red leaves fallen on the sidewalk. I was showing Maymuna and telling her that before we know it, the snow will be falling. Snow! What am I saying! That's when it truly dawned on me that summer is just about over. We are going to a BBQ tonight, but I think that is our last holding on to summer's traditions...

You know that queasy, dread-filled feeling you used to get as a child just before school started again? Well, that feeling is filling our entire house today. It was a crazy summer filled with all kinds of up's and down's, but now Ozayr has to return to full-time serious professor business. And he doesn't even get a new back-to-school backpack or pencils to ease the pain. (Of course, the back-to-school outfit was always my personal consolation of choice, and fresh, crisp paper notebooks.)

I am optimistic about fall and winter this year though. With Maymuna every season is new, with more fun things to do as she gets older and wants to experience more. And I have visions of Hafsa rolling in big piles of leaves in the backyard. Ozayr and I will miss our annual autumn walk through the Gatineau Hills, which is a tradition for most locals to Ottawa/Hull/Aylmer. It is breathtaking all through September and October. I remember Ozayr's cousin's wife saying that when she moved to Ottawa from South Africa she only then realized that trees really do turn those colours. It never seemed real to her before.

Speaking of school... there is big news for my family. My brother Dan has been accepted to Medical School!! He will be attending Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. We are SO excited for him. On a purely selfish note, I must admit to being a little bit sad as well. Dan kind of shows up in Minneapolis periodically and spends an undeterminate amount of time here. He is a very low-maintenance guest and a good natured companion. I suppose our visits now will be few and far between, I can hardly believe the twists and turns in our family throughout the last year that have put so many of us in different countries. However I trust that this is best for him and I hope it is a remarkable adventure for Dan. I know that we will remain close; the distance of oceans is nothing in the face of Instant Messenger and the like... This picture is of us together at the fair this year. Dan is growing a Deadwood goatee by the way, though I think it's more a pirate kind of look. Arrrrr.

Well, the thunder rolls... the rain has finally started. I had better check on the kids. Leaving you with a picture of Gatineau in the fall...