"No, I'm ok!"

This is a little conversation between Mona and me, just after lunch today:



As soon as Mona finished her lunch, she got down the chair and went to stand a bit behind my chair.

Without looking at her, i said: "Is Mona doing poo poo?"

Mona replied: "Nooooooo"

I turned around to look at her. Mona's face was red as she was pushing something down with a little grunt sound and while sqatting and clutching her diaper.

I said: "Oooh Mona is doing a poo poo. Does Mona want to go sit on the potty to do poo poo?

Mona stopped the pushing movements and gave me a stop sign with her hands and replied: "Nooooo, I'm Ok!!!"

I tried to contained my laughter and said again: "Mona go do poo poo on potty."

Again Mona replied: "Nooooo, I'm Ok!!!" and this time signed with her hands to turned back around and not look at her.

So i did... and let her finished her poo poo in privacy! lol...

Turning 20 months old...

Today, our little sweet pumpkin, Mona, turned 20 months old.
We are so happy and proud of her milestones achievements and we are quite excited to look forward to many more accomplishments.
Each day, we can witness how our little baby is turning into a unique little girl, with her own character, opinions and will, her likes and dislikes which she is now clearly manifesting (temper tantrums, and the excessive use of the word "No")...
We truly are witnessing each day the blessed gift we received growing, blossoming into a very beautiful flower, and this is truly the creation of God and what a joy and blessing for us to be able to witness the greatness of God at work in front of our very own eyes!!

Here are some of the new things that little Mona is doing or can do right now...

• Says "Tank Tu" (Thank You) whenever someone hands her something.
• Says "Sumthin" (Something) when she is not sure of what she wants to eat or which toy she wants to play with.
• Says "Nooooo" (No) whenever she doesn't want something that is being given, or done to her.
• Says "Gaw avay" (go away) when she doesn't need our help
• Says " All Done" when she wants us to stop whatever we are doing to her because she doesn't like it, she use this word specially at the doctor's office when the doctor is checking her up or when i am washing her hair.
• Says "Come" when she wants us to come, and says "Coming" when she is coming to us.
• Says "Lets gaw" (let's go) when she is ready to go out and is to impatient to wait for us to close the windows and doors before leaving...
• Says " Nona gaw outside" (Mona go outside) when she wants to go outside and play.
• Says many other words like 'cake', 'banana cake', 'bread', 'chips', 'cheese', 'juice', and many other food items, she usually can tell you what she wants to eat as long as you give her choices. She can also say many other words that are not related to food, like flowers, tree, birds, cats, bee, tiger, red, pink, pen, paper, book, ice cream, toilet, hungry, cold, sad, happy, etc... and using those words in the appropriate way.
• She can point to the moon and says 'Moooooon'.
• She loves star and loves saying it too, in a very low and almost magical tone, she says "staaarrrr" and it really sounds exciting when she says it...lol
• She can sing 'twinkle twinkle little star' and if you stop in the middle of the song, she can continue it for you.
• She can sing the french children song 'Frappe, frappe petites mains' along with the hands movements and signs and once she start singing this one, there is no stopping her.... lol.
• She can sing and dance out all of movements of one of the wiggles song "rockabye bear", she really loves this song and so do I, we love dancing to this one together, actually to most of the wiggles songs!! lol.
• She can start the prayer "O God Guide me" and also repeat after me all of the words for the prayer.
• She can name most of close family names and often ask for them, even at bed time!
• She can recognise songs that we often play in the car or at home and sing the melody or a few words from them when they are on.
• She can remove her Velcro shoes and slippers, she is still learning how to put them on properly.
• She can remove her pants and skirts, but often get stuck when trying to remove a dress or shirt.
• She can unzip her jackets and close them up when both sides are attached together at the bottom.
• She can say her name "NONA" (mona).
• She can count from 1 to 5 in order and from 1 to 10 but not in order.
• She loves taking care of her dolls and bears and you will often catch her feeding them imaginary food or drinks and changing their nappy and talking to them in her own little language and also doing 'Hi 5' to them and pretending they are doing hi 5 to her, kissing them and hugging them.
• She can pretend she is sleeping, by half closing her eyes and making snoring sounds lol... so funny when she does that.
• She can pretend she is surprised, she would just stand there and look at you and when you say 'got you', she will pretend to jump up as if you just surprised her by saying 'booh', lol.
• She loves playing hide & seek, ball, cricket, cars, pretend cooking, house cleaning, sliding, jumping on everything and from everywhere, and she loves reading books and often chooses which ones she wants us to read to her, loves drawing and scribbling everywhere, even on the cupboards, doors and walls.
• she loves washing her hands, and brushing her teeth and brushing her hair, and putting cream on her face and hair, and putting perfume on her.
• She loves playing with other children and often goes to them and play with them.
• when we say prayers together, she will now stay quiet and not make a noise, but would look at each one of us and when the prayers are done, she would say who had their eyes closed by naming them.
• She can recognize pictures of 'Abdu'l-Baha whenever she sees one and will often tell you 'It's Abha'.
• She can test how serious we are about something by holding what we call 'the look'. When she has done something that we are not very happy about, we call her name and by looking at her in the eyes, we tell her that we don't like it, well now she will look back at us in the eyes, without a word, and look seriously at us, without blinking her eyes and hold the look as long as she can, and when she realise that we are not going to give in, she tries to persuade us with her cute smile and see if that will work, and when even her smile doesn't work, then she stops the thing that she was not supposed to do, for example getting down from the glass coffee table, or hitting her cousin, or throwing food on the floor, etc... lol
• when mummy or daddy is sad or hurt, she will come and give us a big hug and truly this is the best medicine ever!!!

I think I will stop here as the list is getting pretty long...

Hope this gives you a little glimpse of what little Miss Sunshine is doing over here!!

Here is a little video recorded today, of her and her cousin Ajay playing 'jumping' with their grandmother. When these two little ones are together, they love to jump and jump and jump and jump.....

Our 3rd Wedding Anniversary

Today (14 Nov 2004) is our 3rd wedding anniversary.

I can't believe that it's only been 3 years that hubby and I are married and living together.
We are so busy living our little and happy life together and taking care of our precious daughter that it seems that so many years have passed since we got married on 14 Nov 2004!!!



We had a nice day today. The sun was out and it was a really nice day to be out.
We went shopping after lunch, then went for a long drive by the beach while Mona was having a nap in the car. We had ice cream and coffee and had a long and fruitful consultation on the rest of our future life together on a bench by the beach, while Mona was still sleeping in the car... it was so romantic to be just the two of us again for a short hour, sitting on that bench by the beach! (Mona was in the car, and the car was right behind the bench on which we were sitting).
In the evening, we left Mona with her mamani (grandma) and we went out for dinner in our favourite Indian Restaurant in the City. We ate so much yummy Indian food till we felt extremely full and couldnt eat anymore...lol... and we really enjoyed ourselves as it was a very long time since we last had a romantic dinner with just the two of us.
Then we went back for tea at Mamani's house and had fun watching Mona playing with her grandparents, until it was time to head back home.

My daddy send us this cute video montage of us for our wedding anniversary and the 3 of us really enjoyed it as it was a lovely surprise!!
Thanks Daddy!!

Celebrating the Birth of Baha'u'llah

Today, 12 November, Baha'is around the world celebrate the birth of Baha'u'llah, the prophet founder of the Baha'i Faith.
In this Most Glorious Day, i would like to share with you all, dear family and friends, our joy and happiness with a special poem dedicated specially for the children.
This poem was written by my dear mother in law, Shahla.
Hope you will enjoy it as much as we did.
Wishing you a very very happy celebration!!

Story for Children on the Birth of Baha‘u’llah

Once upon a time,
Under the blue sky,
The space whereupon the birds fly,

A Kind God existed,
From whose grace everything,
And every being has been created.

God is the best friend of children.
O children of the world!
Rejoice your happiness,
It’s the gift of your Lord.

He gave life to creation,
Then; every people in every nation.
The heavenly angels have been made,
Who always come to our aid.

In a big beautiful city,
On a colourful autumn day,
A baby was born,
To show us the way!

In a palace like dwelling,
The angels brought a baby,
Whose Majesty was like a King.

He had beautiful and bright eyes,
From childhood was ever wise,
And His mother said that:
“He never cries!”

The golden crown on His head,
And the heavenly roses adorned His bed.

A smile on His face,
Were as a bloom of flowers,
The glow of His eyes,
Would melt the hearts of His lovers.

He was fast growing.
His Majesty and Power,
With breezes of His love were flowing.

He was singing,
The song of Lord
The song of love,
Melodies from up above.

In all directions was His fame,
Rich and needy alike mentioned His name.

But… Alas…
The sunny day would pass.

One day the unjust,
The jealous people,
Put the Blessed Beauty,
To crisis like hell.

Around His body and neck,
Was place a heavy weighty chain,
That caused the Beloved of the world,
Immense pain.

The imprisonment,
Exile and fetter,
Journey in the snow and rain,
Didn’t make it better.

One day from among the dark days,
The world witnessed,
The Sun with bright rays.

He told the people,
Stop the cries.
With joy of love and Unity,
Open your eyes!

You can now fly,
Free as a bird.
This is a new song,
That no one has heard.

I’ve brought you golden wings,
The joy of thousand springs.

Come and hear My call!
Forget hatred,
War and all.

O, Children…
The angles of this story,
Bestowed upon us,
The King of Glory!

The wicked ones,
Fell in depths of miseries,
We heard on them,
Terrible stories.

Now… shall I tell you,
Who was the King of this story?
Who got victory,
Upon victory?

Baha‘u’llah,
Who put laughter on our lips,
Brought Roses of happiness,
Heaps and heaps!

Now, it’s upon us,
To wipe everyone’s tears,
To share the message of peace,
So the kingdom of God one earth appears!

And not to rest,
Until we are assured,
The hearts are thrilled,
By the joy of our Lord.

Shahla Ghotbi,

10 November 2007

Maman read 'O God' please!!!

This evening, as usual, we went about with our bedtime routine (drink milk, brushing teeth, pjs, go in bed and read book, say prayers and say goodnight, etc....), but i has a very sweet surprise tonight!!

After getting in bed with Mona, i told her "It's story time", usually she then goes and picks the book she wants to read. For the last two weeks it's has been a bedtime rhyme book, which i have to read at least 4 times each night before she decides she had enough. Then we usually say our night prayers, which had been pretty quick lately, because each time i start the prayer "O God Guide Me", she says "Noooooooooo" and turns the other way.

But this evening, it was different.

Mona got out of bed, went to her book shelf, came crawling back in bed and said: "Maman, read 'O God' peazee" and handed me one of her new prayer books "O God Educate These Children".

I was so surprised that she knew what the book was about and even knew half of the title of the book, as i only read it to her once so far!!!

I bought the book on Sunday, along with two other prayers book. Each book has a small prayer in it, and on each page there is a prayer line with pictures to better understand the words. The 3 books are board books which is so nice because i don't have to worry about Mona tearing them apart etc...

So I got her the prayer books: "O God Guide Me", "O God Educate these children" and "Blessed is the Spot".

Each night i had read one of the books with her, and so tonight when Mona chose the book "O God Educate these children" and called the book " O God" i was really surprised that she remembered it!!!

So i read her the book, and she asked for it again, so i read it one more time, then she asked for the other prayer book: " O God, Star" (O God Guide Me...make me a brilliant Star!!!! she loves stars at the moment!!!), so we read " O God guide me" two times and then she asked for her rhyme book, which we read once.

After that, i started chanting some prayers with her and she pretended to know the words and started singing with me (really just making sounds!!), then we said goodnight to daddy, goodnight to kaloo, pooh bear and baby (doll), said goodnight to star and moon and sand 'Twinkle twinkle little star", and then said to goodnight to 'Abdu'l-Baha and Baha'u'llah, and good night to maman too of course!

Then i continued to chant her some prayers while she slowly drifted to dreamland...

It was such a nice and special moment that i was so blessed to share with her, or maybe that she generously let me share with her.... i don't know... but all i know is that i feel so happy and joyful and proud of my little baby right now.

Persistence works!!!

Children's Devotional Meeting

Last Sunday was 'Words in Harmony' (Monthly devotional meeting organised by the Baha'i Community of Holdfast Bay, in SA.). Each month we have a specific theme on which we read sacred writings of all Faiths related to that theme.
And this month's theme was children.
So we decided to have the children attending the BESS (Baha'i children classes in public schools), to participate in the program. They actually prepared the whole program. They chaired the meeting, did the readings, sang songs, played music and perform a short skit.
They helped in the decoration and setting up of the snacks and refreshments etc...
The children was aged 6 to 13 year old, and there was around 15 to 20 children in the program.

The program was really beautiful. We had a great outcome, the hall was crowed with the regular group of people who usually attend 'Words in Harmony', plus the friends and parents of the children who were performing the program on that day. The hall was really crowded!! We had to get extra chairs from the store room to accommodate the guests.
The children were really just precious and they did their program so professionally.
We had a lovely time and everyone seemed to have really enjoyed the program.
I reckon more and more responsibilities should be given to the children, they sure did showed us how capable they are when given the right channel and tools to express themselves!!
Can't wait to do it all over again!!!

Of course, little Mona was excited to see all those children at the devotional meeting, and just wouldn't sit still. During the whole program, she was standing in front of the kids that were preforming, as if she wanted to be a part of the program too. She got really happy and enthusiastic when the children started to sing, and she clapped and sang with them too!! lol... It was really funny and cute to see her.
I think she is going to be one of those kids that is always first to participate in all the Baha'i programs!! (sounds familiar!!! lol)

Anyway, here are some pics of Mona getting ready to go and Mona at the devotional meeting.
Enjoy...