Every morning, I wake up to the loving little kisses of my baby. She presses her lips on my face and then lifts them, making half of a puckering noise along with a "ma ma." She gives me several ma ma kisses before smiling, giggling, and crawling away. What a wonderful way to wake up.
Needless to say, Aliyah has finally associated "ma ma" with me =) She actually started saying ma ma the same day I posted the last entry. She also picked up several other words including "da(t)" for "cat", "dal da" for "Yelda", "bi(r)h" for "bird", "haah" for "hot", and "gha ghaa" for "yucky (diaper)/clean diaper/anything dirty." "Num na" is still my favorite sound that she makes =)
This little girl is really getting to be a handful. She climbs on everything and gets into every drawer, cabinet, and curiousity-inspiring crevice. Now that she's walking, or should I say running, she can't be stopped. Amin and I took her to the mall this past weekend and after we finished shopping, we let her out of the stroller to stretch her legs. She was so excited, to say the least. She laughed and ran one way...then made a u-turn after crossing the threshold of a store and back again. Over and over and over, nearly crashing into several passers-by. Then she took off down the hall, her little bootie struggling to keep up with her sprinting toes. 'Plop'...on the floor...back up and in business...u-turn, squeal, wave, shreik, sprint, 'what's that?', slobber on railing as she gazes at the human traffic below...and off again towards Dada with Mama in tow. In the words of her ama, "she's rambunctious, that one".
She has lots of energy and no fear; the best combination. Did I just say best? She likes to explore and she sometimes manages to get away from parental eyes for a moment. I've found her in the laundry room, the storage room, the bathroom, all in the pitch black. She doesn't seem to mind the darkness and just somehow manages to go straight for the things she'd been eyeing earlier.
In my dua while pregnant with her, I asked Allah to make her outgoing and loving, just like her ama. She certainly is. When it comes to being outgoing, she is sometimes shy as all small children are, but for the most part she loves people. She waves to everyone and smiles at strangers. All depending on her mood of course, she may cry if around strangers or not wave until the person is already gone. Some people are scarier than others and kids are always welcomed instantly. I took her to the masjid one day and this older uncle was talking to her in farsi. He told her to be like a lion because she was scared of him. heh heh.
She's also extremely affectionate. She kisses me and hugs me constantly. I love it when she comes to me wanting to be picked up and then, in my arms, squeezes me and pats me affectionately, sometimes with a "ma ma." She always greets her cousins with hugs and kisses and squeals of excitement. She also gets so excited to see her da da and kisses him. She loves to blow kisses when da da or anyone leaves.
When I take her out, it seems like every five minutes someone says how beautiful and cute she is or what big, beautiful eyes she has. Today I counted seven in a span of about an hour and that doesn't include pointing and smiling from others. A random girl came and asked if she could hold her and then took a picture of her. That's actually the second time a random person asked to take her picture.
For almost a month now, Aliyah has been praying. She raises her hands as if she's beginning the prayer. She knows this as 'Allahu akbar.' She also makes ruku (bowing) and sujood (prostrating). Her sujood is basically kneeling and putting her head down on the ground, with her cheek touching the floor. She loves it when other people are praying and has caused me and Yelda to laugh during prayer so we had to start over. She comes over and tilts her head and bends slightly to come to my eye level (when I'm in a sitting position), and grins and sometimes giggles, as if she's trying to get me to notice her. She also likes to climb on me or hit me when I'm making sujood. She's such a cutie.
Aliyah loves to mimic people. One of her favorite things to copy is brushing her hair. She tries to take the comb from me. I've caught her a couple of times using a fork to stroke her bob. She also likes to try to put her barrettes in her hair. She'll hold it up to her head and expects it to stick there but it just falls to the floor. I'm adicted to cute barrettes and have managed to acquire quite the cutie collection.
One of my favorite things Aliyah does lately is when she wants something, ususally food, she'll point to it and shake her head. She really likes ice. She points to my glass and shakes her head and says num na. I think there may be a connection between her love of ice and her teething. She has three teeth fully in and two partially in. The bottom two came in first and are named Franc and Franc. The top left came in next, it's name, Bruno. I got the names from the French pastry team in this pastry challenge show on Food Network. The tooth to the left of the front top tooth made its way in fourth. It's name is Tootsie. Now Bertha, the front right tooth is on the way. She loves to 'brush her teeth' and smiles so big as she watches me brush mine. She sometimes makes a noise and sort of spits to mimic me.
Since the weather has been warmer and she has started walking, we've been going outside a lot. She really loves being outdoors. She helped me plant strawberries with Amin this weekend. She tried to get into the hole I had dug as if she wanted to plant herself. Then she picked up a rock and said 'num na?' No! please don't eat that Beebee...or dirt...or that grass. heh heh heh
I think if I wrote everything cute that she did I would never stop writing. I LOVE HER! =D Alhamdulillah =)
Beebee's favorite new word is no. She says no no no no no all the time. Maybe it's because she's always getting into things she's not supposed to and making me say no. Sometimes she'll point to something she's not supposed to touch and say 'no no no no.'
