Flavour of the Day with Noora

My nieces and nephews came back from school with report cards. Anticipated, their faces were filled with a million emotions, some had pride, others had wonder if the marks are good enough, and some had looks of carelessness.

In the same family, one got a marvellous report card, the other mediocre and one couldn't care less if the  grades were good or bad, high or low or if his parents would be happy or mad. It's so strange.

What is even more amusing is how anxious my sisters were. As if the grades are for them and not their kids! I can understand it, judging from the amount of work and time I put into homework with my step-daughter, the final grades really do get to parents.

When you have different abilities in the same family, how do you not compare? From now, I can tell that Mona (7 months) is a lot smarter than Yousef (2). I wonder how I will react when their report cards are due.

Flavour of the Day with Noora

First time to travel with both kids, Yousef (2) and Mona (7months) has been quite an experience.

The nights have been hard but the help of family during the day has been amazing! For the first time on a family trip, Yousef has really enjoyed a vacation. He played with the cousins, enjoyed playing outside, going to the mall and just hanging out. The day has come when Yousef comfortably left the room to go play somewhere I was not. I could not believe it!

It's so strange watching him interact with his older cousins and try to hold his place in the group, not as a baby, but as an equal. With the typical tantrum here and there of course.

I never grew up with cousins around but it seems to be like so much fun! I am looking forward to the years of video games and movie nights, hopefully by then the tantrums would be gone!

Flavour Of The Day With Noora

Distractions, distractions

Writing is one of those jobs where you can have ZERO distractions. And since the only free time I have to do my interviews and write is the 3 hours Yousef is at preschool, I need all the focus I can get.

This was a long weekend, which meant I had to attempt to work with the kids at home. I got my coffee, sat down and put on my serious face, NO DISTRACTIONS ARE ALLOWED. Ten minutes later, "I'm starving," Layla (8).
"What do you want"
"I don't know"
"Call me when you do".

5 minutes later, Layla again, "I'm starving"
"Ok so tell me what you want"
"I don't know"
"I'm making you eggs"
"Ok, you too Yousef (2)"

I make the eggs, hand them their plates, feed Yousef and then sit to write.
3 minutes later: Yousef is screaming over some toy Layla is playing with. 5 minutes later: he is still yelling. I go up stairs, grab a trunk of toys and come down.
I sit to write.
10 minutes later, Yousef is crying because the toy is not fitting in the car. I solve the problem.
10 minutes later, the dry clean company comes to pick up a load. Then, I remember I need to take 3 doctor's appointments for the kids for that same day. I do that and then sit to write.
Yousef and Layla fight over who gets to watch TV. I take Yousef upstairs, turn on his show, get my laptop and sit to write.

The first time I sat down, it was 9:30am. Now, it's 11:30am and I am getting no where! The deal was, my husband takes the kids to the mall in the morning, while I work. But, since he came back from a late project around 4:30am, I don't have the heart to wake him up.

I can't wait until my kids are teens, going through the phase where they just want to be left alone and maybe then, I can finally focus on having a job!

Flavour Of The Day With Noora

It is amazing how the human body can get used to doing exercise and how frustrated a person can get if  he doesn't have time to go as often.

I had 7 kilos of fat I needed to lose. So far, 5 kilos have been shed. For the remaining 2, my trainer told me we have to push up the bar on the degree of difficulty and increase the number of sessions. Unfortunately, this coincided with me going back to work as a writer for the magazine. Needless to say, my job is all about deadlines, lots of them. And since Yousef (2) is always stuck to me, the only time I have available for writing, exercising, or anything else I need to do, is those three hours he is away at preschool.

However, I have noticed that when I do not exercise, my body aches and my mood shifts from normal to annoyed. I've become hooked to being the good kind of active. I say this to differentiate between the good active of the gym vs. the bad active of running after 3 kids, running errands, picking up toys and dirty laundry off the floor, carrying two babies, bathing two babies and all the labour that comes with mama-hood. God bless the gym and the trainer that has become my lifeline!

Flavour of the Day With Noora

If just one thing changes in Yousef's routine, it messes up our entire day. The delayed lunch that caused  the delayed nap is the reason why my 2-year-old is still awake at 11:30pm!

I'm so exhausted, way behind my deadlines for work, dreading the long night I have ahead of me with my baby girl and just want to snuggle with a hot water bottle and fall asleep in front of the TV.

I got Yousef so used to a specific routine and explained it to him over and over again that now, he has to have it exactly the same way everyday or else he gets very fussy. Yesterday I had an urgent matter to attend to while he was with me in the car and it happened to be his nap time. The one thing he kept on requesting was a nap in his bed, not in the car, with his pillow and blanket. I always thought that a routine is crucial for kids but it seems that in Yousef's case, we took it a bit too far. I think I need to introduce a bit of chaos to our lives.

Flavour Of The Day With Noora

Bully in the Market

I hate violence. I hate toys, programs and games that promote violence. I do not buy Yousef toy guns, plastic soldiers or let him watch aggressive television. And when my husband is watching wrestling or some other kind of "violent sport", kids are not allowed to be in the room.

One of the sentences I hated was "if someone hits you, hit him." And for so long, I resisted teaching Yousef to respond in that manner. Yet, when we were at the supermarket and some random child who was initially playing with Yousef punched him in the chest with all his strength for no reason what so ever, I wished that my son had some pay-back violence in him.  Instead, he just politely smiled and stared at the child, trying to fight back his tears.

My heart shattered and tore and the mama instinct in me wanted revenge from this child who was barely reprimanded by his mother! When I think of this happening in a few more years when Yousef is ten and passively attacked by a bully, I get furious and pray to god that he will know how to fight back.  

However, what is right here? We cannot rid the world of bullies even as young as two-years-old but if I teach Yousef to fight back and hit, how can I make sure he will not use hitting as a technique to get what he wants?

Flavour Of The Day With Noora

Going Back To Work

In addition to this blog, I also work as a writer for Family Flavours Magazine. However, it has been at least nine months since I have worked due to the demands of having a new baby.

I have been hoping for the possibility of going back to work for a month; so when I got the call yesterday for an opening, I got an adrenaline rush like no other. Within seconds, my brain scanned all the arrangements that needed to be made. Mona (7 months) settled at home and out of the terrible weather, Yousef (2 years-old) dropped off at my mom's and sister's (his favourite sitters),  arrangements for the diesel supplier who was scheduled to come that afternoon, delegating the URGENT purchase of a new fridge to my husband, researching the topic of the workshop I was to attend, wearing the right clothes, driving around in the car to make sure Yousef was asleep by the time we reached my mom's so he doesn't get cranky, and finally getting there thirty minutes early.

During the struggle of getting Yousef into his clothes, packing his toys and colouring books, finding the right outfit, and explaining the plans to everyone involved, I could hear a voice say "please let this work, please let this work, I need this".

I hadn't realised how much I missed it; but when I was there, I felt like I belonged among people I had never met until that moment. I need to find a solution,  I want to go back to work.