The Night-time Escapades of Sumayah

Yesterday we were out all day for a picnic so Sumayah didn't sleep and then of course fell asleep in the car on the way home. I tried waking her a few times when we got home but she was too tired so I knew she wouldn't be able to fall asleep at her usual bedtime. So she and I were lying in bed watching one of my favourate movies, 'The Wedding Planner', me hoping that she will grow sleepy. Skip forward a few hours to midnight, the whole house was dark and quiet, everyone fast asleep...or so I thought. When I turned off my night light to sleep Sumayahs room was quiet so I assumed she was sound asleep in her bed. But I was rudely awoken from my deep sleep when I heard her walking into the room just past midnight with no top on looking like casper the ghost! At first I thought she had gotten her hands on the powder again, but as she approached me I realised that she was in fact smothered in cream, all over her torso! I was partly too sleepy, partly too amused, partly too flabagasted to have any sort of angry reaction to this. When I took her back to her room to clean her up I discovered that what was left in the the 400g tub of aqueous cream was not only all over Sumayahs torso and face, but also on her pillow, her sheets and her duvet! What amused me the most was that this was all done in sneaky silence in a dark room. And this is not the first time either. You see I have been battling with Sumayahs sleep habit for all of her little life. For quite some time we managed to cut the night wakings to just one per night, quickly resolved with a measly 75ml sip of milk. This I could accept, the real problem was getting her to fall asleep in the first place. I would find myself lying in her room for sometimes 2 hours before she slept usually only at about 10. This caused havoc with my nightime marking. But finally this week I tried to implement the sleep training again and within one night she was allowing me to leave her room and she would stay in her bed till she fell asleep. It was like she was just ready, so there were no tantrums only a lot of back and forth putting her back into bed the first night. I guess because she understands alot more now so I could actually use reasoning rather than behaviour modification. But of course in between we had out 'incidences' one of them much like the one I described from last night. She was in her room with the light off talking to herself as usual and then finally it was quiet. We were in bed with the rugby on very softly and I can see her room door from my bed. So I thought it was safe to assume that she was asleep...again, I was mistaken. When we finally turned off the tv and lights to go to sleep I heard a faint sound coming from her room at about 11.30. I decided to investigate only to discover Sumayah sitting on the floor of her dark room with all the toys unpacked from the toy chest, her clothes unpacked from her chest of drawers and scattered all over her bed, and Sumayah with one of her pants halfway up her one leg. When she saw me she casually said, 'Mommy, I'm dressing' as though it was the most natural thing in the world for her to be doing at this hour! Yes, this is Sumayah, our little alien ;)

Wordless Wednesday 47

Supermom to the rescue!

I don't normally do a written post if I've already posted a movie clip monday, but today I make an exception. I have just seconds ago had to literally embody what it means to be supermom. My lovely little wild child of a daughter was slamming her bedroom door with much vigour and amusement. I reprimanded her once, then twice, then used the distraction technique. This worked, but only momentarily. While grabbing a very rare chance of doing-nothingness between packing away laundry and cooking supper, Sumayah's bedroom door suddenly slammed and I heard Bilaal calling out, 'mommy! The door can't open! Moommmyyy!'
So mommy strolls over to see what the problem is, only to discover that Bilaal is quite correct! Now bear in mind that the door has no key, so the simple explanation that it was locked was not possible. Bilaal was actually very calm consoidering he was trapped in a room with a toddler who likes to shout for fun and gets pleasure out of pinching her brother for no apparent reason. So I assess the situation, ask Bilaal a few questions about what happened and whether there was perhaps anything stuck in the door that could have jammed it, and I quickly realise the problem. Sumayah had slammed the door so hard (and believe me I am not surprised, we have seen how strong she is when she picks up her bike and carries across the room!) that she broke the spring mechanism of the door handle (says Mcgyver). What was I to do? Break the door down of course. Bilaal was amazing, I could hear him on the other side completely calm trying to distract Sumayah who was now hysterical that the door was closed and mummy-a (as she calls me in distress) was on the other side. He kept her away from the door just long enough for supermom to replicate the police-kicking-down-the-door manoevre I've seen in so many action movies, to the best of my ability. Well I'm not one half samson for nothing, because I kicked twice and it was just what was needed to reveal the part of the door handle that keeps it closed (see picture). All that was needed was a flathead screwdriver, a little wiggle and voila! The door is open and now unable to close, but at least the kids are free... On second thought perhaps I shoulda left them in there just a little longer... As we speak Bilaal is calling to me that Sumayah is switching his desk lamp on and off and its starting to smoke!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

A blogging break

I've been neglecting my blog somewhat, partly due to being very busy with work and partly because, like everything in life, sometimes its good to take a time out. Of course as Murphy would have it, this is when some very blogworthy incidents occur that I just don't get to etch into the blogistory pages. So I find myself playing catch up. I'll start with the most recent incident involving Sumayah, the toilet bowl, and an istinja bottle. Now for those of you who are not familiar with the istinja bottle, this is something you will find in every muslim household. And for those of you who hav never been into a muslim household, but have muslim work colleagues, you will recognise it as that label'less empty energade bottle that has the word 'do not remove' in black permanent marker, found in the toilet cubicles (i speak of course from a female perspective, I hav no idea what goes on in the male loos). As muslims we are required to rinse with water after using the loo and this is known as istinja. So anyway, now that Sumayah is able to open doors on her own, she has developed a new found love for the bathroom. If you just turn your back for second you hear the bathroom door open, and the sound of the hand basin tap opening to full blast promptly follows. This is when you find her diligently brushing her teeth and washing her hands. So now we have to lock all the bathroom doors. But a couple of days ago... I heard Yaasier exclaim, 'no Sumayah!', a common phrase in our house, so I wasn't exactly running to see what happened... And then I heard what she did! Apparently Sumayah had gotten hold of the istinja bottle, and was dipping it into the toilet bowl with its blue cistern block water and saying, 'mmm, juice, mm!' can you imagine?! If Yaasier had caught her just a second later?! So now the locking of bathroom doors are more vigorously enforced... that is of course until she figures out how to turn the key...she's already been practicing!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

wordless wednesday 39

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7