LO Loves Music

So, as mentioned in the previous post, our LO loves Music – Islamic songs, Quranic verses, Hindi film music, nursery rhymes, Signing Time songs, Baby Arabia’s tunes, Jolly Phonics songs… Everything…

He listens to Islamic songs such as ‘Bismillah’, ‘La Ilaha’, ‘Tala Al Badru’ and has recently started saying ‘Allaah’ when he hears the word in the song or when we ask him to. He also gets instantly alerted when he hears the ‘Azaan’, the call to prayer and will point his finger indicating to us that we should listen as well. He also listens to some Quranic verses that I sing them to him while he sleeps. He knows when it is time for us to say our prayers and will sometimes come and participate. He starting doing the action for ‘Salaam’ around 14 months, bending down for ‘Sijda’ at around 15 months and bowing down for ‘Ruku’ just recently, Mashallah.

His favorite Bollywood songs are ‘Lakdi Ki Kaathi’, ‘Akele Hum Akele Tum’, ‘Meri Maa, Mumma’, ‘Chanda He Tu’, ‘Chal Mere Ghode’… My DH has downloaded videos of all these songs and occasionally both father and son will sit and watch these songs. The LO seems to know the sequence of the songs and will sometimes even make appropriate facial expressions depending on the expressions in the songs. He does recognize a some new Bollywood songs, but I really don’t know which ones, I just know that when these are played, he will move to the beats… His other favorite Hindi song is ‘De Ghuma Ke’ which is a cricket lover’s song, which was played during the World Cup last year. I should also mention that he loves the tune played in the ‘Docomo’ ads.

LO’s repertoire of Nursery Rhymes and Activity Songs is extremely extensive already. When ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ is sung, he does the twinkling action, the up-in-the-sky action and the diamond action. When ‘Wheels on the Bus’ is played he does the round-and-round action and the shu-shu-shu action. He twists his fingers together doing the ‘Insy Winsy’ action, puts his palm on his face mimicking sleeping for ‘Are You Sleeping’, he turns around like ‘Teddy Bear’, falls down like ‘Jack and Jill’ and ‘Humpty Dumpty’, points to his head, feet and nose when we sing ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’, claps hands and stamps feet for ‘If You’re Happy’, claps and bends down for the Chicken Dance,  says ‘Baba’ when ‘Ba Ba Black Sheep’ is played, says ‘Papa’ when ‘Johny Johny’ is played, says ‘Lala’ when Elmo’s song is played, he also recognizes Barney’s ‘Clean Up’ song, ‘London Bridge’ and ‘I’m a Little Teapot’… Mashallah.

He has been watching Baby Signing Time videos and can do the signs for milk, eat, more, cracker, baby, hurt, cat and all done. He started signing milk and eat at around 18 months. He loves watching the songs especially ‘A Hard Day’, where he will empathize with the kids in the video who are crying or hurt and his face will reflect the appropriate expression. He also likes ‘Mom has a Mom’, ‘Diaper Dance’ and ‘the Pets I Love’.

We used to attend Nadia’s lovely Baby Arabia classes last term and the LO really enjoyed the sessions. We are trying to continue the learning, by listening to the songs on our way to nursery everyday. My LO will clap his hands for ‘Iza Gut Mabsut’ and will point to himself for ‘Ana Ismi Fou Fou Fil’. The other music he enjoys listening to are the Jolly Phonics songs and he will immediately respond with ‘aaa aaa aaa’, giving the sound for the first letter of the alphabet.

Hmmm, so what other cute music stuff does he do??? He plays the drum at times and presses the buttons on his toy guitar. At the nursery they have a number of musical toys like pianos and guitars that he also plays with. Recently I filled little water bottles with rice, lentils and peas, and they make different sounds when he moves them around… He truly enjoys this.

Also, he communicates when he wants to listen to a particular song, he will point to the remote control or mobile phone, clap his hands, do the ‘twinkle’ action, say ‘baba’ or move his head from side to side. And he will get quite hassled when we don’t understand exactly which song he wants to hear!!!

Well… That’s my musical baby J.

My LO Turns 21…

Well, not 21 years old! I’m not that ancient!! Just 21 months old!!!

I want to make a note about where he is right now, not for comparison or evaluation or to brag, but simply so that it can be a checkpoint for me and other bloggers. Following the Montessori system, I plan to make more organized observations form now onwards.

So at 21 months my LO weighs around 11 kilos is 84 cms tall with a head circumference of 48. His length and head circumference is in the 25^th-50^th percentile, while his weight is in the 10^th-25^th percentile, not ideal, but for a baby born at just 2 kilos, it is really great. Mashallah. He has 16 teeth – 8 incisors, 4 molars and 4 canines; just 4 molars left to sprout…

He has been going to nursery since the last one and a half months and really enjoys his time there. He does fuss a little in the morning, since he wants to continue nursing, but sometimes he also fusses in the evening at pickup time, since he wants to linger at the nursery. Basically, he does not like to be disturbed when he is enjoying himself!!! Most days, he runs to me saying ‘Mamma, mamma’ when I go to pick him up, and that is just so sweet. He has been doing some great art projects at the nursery, and the nursery files it all so we get to see it all. Maybe I'll post some pictures soon. He seems to be learning quite a few new songs everyday, sleeps well and he is eating better than before. Mashallah.

LO’s teacher, Ms. Fatima is quite appreciative of his demeanor and behavior. She has noted that he has become extremely confident, even when he is around older kids and is no longer afraid of interacting with other children and adults. She says that he is observant and patient and follows directions. He loves being in the water and he loves reading time. Music is his favorite part of the day and he participates whole-heartedly in everything that happens in the nursery.

Our LO has always been surrounded with music – whether it is our lovely Islamic songs and Quranic verses,  his dad’s Hindi film music, mom’s nursery rhymes, Signing Time Songs, Jolly Phonics Songs or Baby Arabia’s Arabic tunes. Even when he was just a few months old, he loved listening to rhymes when I massaged him. Music can instantly boost his mood and we do use it occasionally when he fusses. As such, at 21 months our LO can recognize quite a lot of songs, Mashallah. More details in the next post.

While my LO isn’t really talking yet, (I started talking at 2.5 years), he does say a few words. His first word was ‘Mama’ which he said at around 14 months. His current vocabulary has around 25 words and includes: Allah, Aami (Aamer, his friend at the nursery), Amm (come), Baa (bandd ie close in Hindi), Bae (bird), Bai (bhai ie big brother in Hindi), Bus, Bye, Chachi (aunt in Hindi), Chachu (uncle in Hindi), Cheese, Dada (grandpa in Hindi), Daddy, Go , Hapush (alphonso in Hindi), Hi, Jush (juice), Mamma and Mummy, Nai (no), Naani (grandma in Hindi), Shoes, Uncaa (uncle)…

Apart from these words, he has his own way of communicating with us using signs – some of which he has picked up from the Baby Signing Time videos and others concocted by him. He will sign milk, when he wants to nurse and eat when he is hungry. He makes a circling kind of sign to show that he wants to eat a dosa (crepe-like South Indian snack), puts his index finger and thumb together and moves it to indicate that he wants to write, touches his head to say ‘salaam’ (a greeting), puts his hand forward when asked to shake hands, moves his hands from side to side to say bye and touches his lips to give a ‘flying kiss’. Mashallah.

He prefers eating on his own and has lately started getting good at using his fork for his noodles and his spoon for his yogurt, Mashallah. His favorite foods are muesli, yogurt, cheese, noodles, bread, rice, orange, watermelon, crackers and of course fruit juices. He loves to clean, and there is loads to write about this hobby of his, but that is the subject of another post!

His current favorite toys include his shape sorting box and stacking cups set. He can put all the shapes in, including the difficult star shape and can sometimes stack all the 10 cups. Also, he recognizes a few shapes – circle and star. He has starting building his blocks as well, he has a small set and I am thinking of buying him his first Lego Duplo set. He will sometimes play with his balls and his cars, and he enjoys playing with Potatohead, which has helped him learn the various parts of the body. He loves his puzzles as well – parts of a body, numbers and transportation, though I think he is now bored with them and needs some newer ones.

He is quite keen to become independent and so he tries to undress, put on his shoes, rub soap over himself, apply lotion, brush his teeth and wash his hands. We haven't really focused on potty training yet, but I will work on it over the next few months. He is also keen to help around the house, so will sometimes help to peel cucumbers and potatoes, cut cheese, hang clothes for drying, load the washing machine and so on.

He loves to scribble on paper and on the walls and enjoys messing with paint. He will also often help to wash the table after his painting endeavors. He does quite a few Montessori activities as well, which Ill cover in detail in another post – pouring, spooning, sponging, opening and closing, and so on… He is also starting to get environmentally aware – he touches leaves very lightly, since he has been taught that leaves are our friends, he observes ants walking by and he asks for a tissue to murder cockroaches (not sure if this is a good thing, though the cockroach population in our house has surely reduced).

He knows the names for most of his body and face parts, and yesterday even learned to point at his brain and heart. He can recognize the UAE flag anywhere and I am trying to get him to recognize the Indian flag as well. Yesterday he pointed to a Pakistani flag on TV and did the ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ action showing the star on the flag. He recognizes a lot of items in his ‘First 1000 Words’ book as well as in some of his other books, Mashallah. He loves to read, and I’ll probably write more about his books in a separate post.

I’m sure I’ve missed some of the Mashallah cute things he does, but at least this post provides a starting point to my future record keeping.

Today Is Important

I forgot to publish this yesterday!!! So its actually a dya later than LOs 21 month birthday...

My little one turns 21 months today. I think it is a special day and there are a number of reasons for this. He now has just a quarter left before he turns 2 years old which is surely a major milestone. These three months are extremely vital for the two of us for various reasons:

·         I plan to wean him off the breast before his birthday.

·         I would like to have atleast started some aspects of potty training before his birthday.

·         This summer I need to make a number of important decisions about his nursery and school.

For these three reasons, I think today is an important day.

Another reason is that from today onwards I plan to become more organized in my approach to the LO’s learning and development needs. It has been around three months since I started doing Montessori activities with him at home. However, till now it has been very unorganized, irregular and unsystematic. I have not been doing the activities everyday and have not been making any notes about my observations. Bad, bad, bad!!!

Even before my LO was born, I had started recording tit bits about my pregnancy so that I would always remember the beautiful experience of having him inside me. After he was born, I used to write little notes about the highlights of everyday, about where we went, what we did and so on. I recorded every detail of his guests and his gifts and also his step-by-step process of eating solids. I continued making notes when he started sitting, rolling, crawling and so on. However, somewhere after his first birthday I became lax in my record-keeping and I do repent it!!!

I have not yet written the dates when he started walking, about the teething stages, his first words and so on. I do remember a few things, and maybe pictures will help me recollect some more, and I really should start writing it all up soon, else I will forget everything!!! I did start his scrapbook sometime back, but after 3-4 pages, I did not continue. So a lot of pending work to be done.

However, while I plan to continue writing about the past, I really want to focus on the present and future. From now on, I promise to be more systematic with the recordkeeping!!!

Happy Birthday...

The Four Month Nursery Selection Journey Concludes

It started in the middle of December last year and concluded yesterday with the LO spending a couple of hours at Golden Beach Nursery in Umm Suqeim 3. I sometimes wonder whether I went overboard with the research, tours, market surveys and recommendations. Is such an extensive investigation to choose a nursery and day care for the LO really something unheard of?

Since I am working full time, my LO needed to be with someone for almost one third of his daily 24 hour budget. Options such as like babysitting and full time maids were also considered (another post will cover these two aspects), but we finally decided that the nursery and day care option suited us best, though it was more expensive that the other two. However, trusting someone enough to leave the most precious thing in the world in their care was quite difficult in itself. Add to it the wide variety of options in Dubai, each with their own pros and cons, our familial budget constraints, our preference for the Montessori system, my exacting standards and my views on education (some of my future posts will cover each of these aspects in detail); and you have a real problem in your hand.

So it took four months to solve this problem. I did not ultimately choose my first choice, or second choice or third choice… Golden Beach was our fourth choice. It is less than a year old, but really lovely, managed well with caring staff and I do hope my LO adjusts well to the environment. I will talk more about the top three choices and why we could not go for those in another post, but this post is simply about why we chose Golden Beach.

I have always wanted my LO to be in the care of people who enjoy what they are doing and do not consider working at the nursery a chore. Smiles, hugs and kisses should be plentiful, genuine concern for the children should be paramount and providing a loving environment should be a priority. Apart from this, since we live in this melting pot called Dubai, a multicultural experience with playmates, teachers and nannies originating from across the world was essential.

Another requirement was qualified teachers and experienced nannies, who knew that they were there to not only to impart an education, but also to teach social and life skills. A child to adult ratio of around 4:1 for the LO’s age group would also be good. Also, I was not keen for the LO to go to a nursery which suffocated him in small enclosed spaces; so buoyant indoor rooms and abundant outdoor spaces, with a garden and a rich spread of toys and play equipment, with the children spending their day in different parts of the nursery was attractive to me. Child sized bathrooms and proper napping areas were required as well. These requirements seem to be quite adequately taken care of at Golden Beach.

While I was quite keen initially for my LO to join a Montessori nursery and day care, I gave up on that requirement after seeing what was on offer (topic for another upcoming post).  So while curriculum is important, I am now fine with the EYFS curriculum, since we will be doing some supplemental Montessori activities at home. For now, I would like my LO to simply develop his social skills, start trusting people other than family and know a little about the world around him.

So, I am relatively indifferent to the curriculum, though I would object to loud singing, television viewing, using alphabet names rather than phonics and force feeding. As such, I am comfortable with what Golden Beach has on offer, they seem to follow EYFS quite closely, and make observations on the child, keep records of his progress and share all of this information with the parents through daily notebooks, weekly portfolios, regular Facebook updates with pictures and so on. Also, I will be dropping him and picking him up, so I should be able to intervene and interfere if required!

Another lure was that Golden Beach provides all meals throughout the day, with everything prepared fresh in the nursery. Not that my LO eats a lot yet, but that’s one thing less to worry about every morning for working mothers like me.

In spite of this they were affordable (a very relative concept in Dubai)… The spring term is generally just over two months, with most nurseries charging the same fees as the three month terms. This actually put a lot of the nurseries out of our reach financially – I mean Dhs.10,500 for a three month term is Dhs.3,500 per month, but for a two month term is Dhs.5,250 per month!!! Golden Beach was priced reasonably, we negotiated an 11 percent discount and they allowed us to pay monthly. Also, since their term was for 2.5 months, they turned out to be less prohibitive than some of the other options.

It would have been nice if they would have a few vendors coming in like Dubai Drums, Baby Arabia or Super Skills. It would also be nice if they had a proper pool and the LO could learn to swim during his time here. Also, I wider selection of books is definitely recommended. Just a few recommendations from a difficult Dubai mom!!!

So my LO had a nice time there yesterday with us in the same room with him. But today we left him in the classroom for one hour, while we watched him on the CCTV!!! And he cried!!! We were told that this is normal and is to be expected and that soon he would adjust. So tomorrow we will leave him for 2 to 3 hours and slowly ramp up… Let’s see how it goes… Fingers crossed!!!

My Current Abode

Since I have a background in the real estate sector and still continue writing articles, I will be writing detailed reviews about popular communities in Dubai. I do believe this will be useful to people within the UAE, wanting to move from their current homes, as well as people abroad, who are looking to move to Dubai, but cannot figure out where to live.

I start by writing about where we live…

TECOM is a mixed use development with flourishing towers featuring apartments and offices, retail spaces as well as a number of hotels and serviced apartments.

Tecom’s greatest advantage is its accessibility through its numerous entry and exit points – from Sheikh Zayed Road, Al Khail Road and the new Parallel Road, whether coming from Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Proximity to the business districts of Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City, to hospitals such as Saudi German and Zahra; to schools such as American School of Dubai and Gems Wellington and to retail destinations such as Mall of Emirates, Lulu Hypermarket and Barsha Mall also adds to the lure of Tecom. The Dubai Internet City metro station within Tecom is a major draw for those preferring not to use their cars.

Tecom boasts of its own supermarkets – Carrefour Express, Geant Easy, Park and Shop, as well as a number of smaller groceries, beauty parlours, pharmacies and Laundromats. An Emirates NBD branch within Tecom is handy as is the Eppco petrol station, which includes a service center. F&B options are dotted throughout, and included within hotels such as Media Rotana and Grand Millennium.

The apartments themselves are mostly of a good quality with relatively larger rooms compared to those in other freehold areas. Amenities such as gyms and pools are standard, with ample parking provided for in all buildings. Rents have become reasonable too with one bedrooms ranging between AED42,000 and AED50,000 and two bedrooms between AED55,000 and AED70,000.

So, whats lacking? Footpaths and Greenery!!!

Tecom is probably the most pedestrian unfriendly location in Dubai with families either having to walk on sand or having to risk their lives by walking on the roads. Speed breakers are few and far between and the pedestrian crossings could surely do with a coat of paint. Poor lighting, sand hills and few pavements make life difficult for all, especially those with children, with walking to the local pharmacy or grocery becoming a nightmare for many.

Also, the area has just a handful of trees with nothing being done to improve the situation. I hear that as per the original plan, the center of the project was to be a car free landscaped area, which the adjacent towers would overlook. As quite a few of the towers are still ugly muddy holes in the ground, the landscaping has taken a back seat. Lack of green spaces and play areas and the ongoing construction works add further woe to the lives of the residents.

I do hope the authorities read this blog and do something about the maintenance of public spaces to enable the neighbourhood to evolve into a pleasant community to live in…

Who am I?

I am an expat woman, a working mother, a staunch Montessorian and a born researcher.

An Expat Woman
I landed in Dubai in January 2005, have been working in the IT and Real Estate Sector across functions such as finance, research and consulting, travelling across the region – the Gulf states, Levant and North Africa. I got married to my childhood sweetheart (DH) in December 2008 and delivered a dashing son (LO) in September 2010. I have lived in Ajman, Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi and now am back in Dubai which I love as much as my hometown. A lot of this blog will focus on Dubai, what it offers and why I love it so much.

A Working Mother
While I have been working all my life, I stopped when I was five months pregnant and it is only recently (February 2012) that I have come back to work. Still juggling with the responsibilities of managing both – work and home and I think it will take some time before I can get on top of things. As such, this blog will look at solutions for moms like me – maids, nannies, nurseries, day cares and so on…

A Staunch Montessorian
I have been enthralled by the Montessori concepts of respect for and independence to the child, joyful learning in orderly environments, concrete before abstract and so on. I am so convinced that this is just right for my LO. After reading a number of books and internet blogs, undergoing an online course and visiting the not so great ‘Montessori’ nurseries in Dubai, I have decided to supplement the LO’s learning at home using the Montessori method – just one hour every evening. This blog will include a lot of information about the Montessori system as my journey on this lovely process of discovery and bonding with my LO.

A Born Researcher
While I do believe that our destinations are written and God is the best planner, I have never been able to make decisions without complete investigation and analysis of the situation. As such the information I gather before making my decisions, with regards to which nursery or school the LO  should go to, why is breastfeeding and baby led weaning the way forward, why is baby sign language important and so on… This research I believe can be quite valuable and I do feel it may help others in my situation. My blog will also cover details on such aspects.

The Beginning

The beginning is a very good place to start...

Should I? Shouldn’t I? It’s been over 2 years since I have been pondering over whether or not to write a blog - about my journey before and after becoming a 'Mom in Dubai'...

Finally I have taken the step...