Sana’s Blog
Hadithuna Weblog
Kite Runner Movie!
08 Aug 2007
I just found out the “The Kite Runner” has been made into a movie and will be coming out on Nov. 2nd! This was my favorite book of all time so I’m excited! You can get info about the movie and watch a preview at: www.kiterunnermovie.com.
potty training
02 Aug 2007
I am happy to announce that my 2 yr old is finally potty trained! Well, for the most part. He basically goes to the bathroom on the potty almost every time, under the condition that I take hime regularly. If not, he may or may not tell me that he needs it when he reaches a point where he can barely hold it in anymore. I don’t know why kids always have to reach that point before they say something! But I’m very proud of him nonetheless. He has made great progress. Many mothers warned me that potty training a boy would be horrible. One mother told me she thought it was possibly worse than labor!
Most of my friends decided to potty train gradually, introducing their child to the potty a few times a day over a long period of time. From observing this technique, I personally found it to be too drawn out and ineffective. Instead, I decided to try the “stay at home for a week” technique (after encouragement from my mother). The first day was really bad. The kid had ten accidents! By the second day there was major improvement. By the third day he was going half the time and and we were able to go to the park in underwear for an hour, accident free!Â
So, for all those mothers out there who are thinking about potty training soon, I strongly recommend taking a week off and dedicating your life to this. It is incredibly hard to stay home all day, especially in the summer, but I highly recommend it. The results are a lot quicker.
In general, this whole potty training experience was one of the biggest tests of my patience thus far. I spent over an hour at a time entertaining my toddler on the toilet until he decided to use it. I cleaned up nasty messes and even had a break down by the second day. And the poor child! He didn’t know what was happening to him. He was scared and ashamed. It was really challenging for both of us. But alhamdulillah, by the grace of God, we got through it! Let’s just hope he doesn’t regress after his lil’ sister enters the world this fall!
what I’ve been up to
20 Jun 2007
Today I took Zayd to the beach. They have a huge splash pad section for kids that he loved. We just met up with some friends and everyone brought some snacks. Then we took the kids to play in the sand a bit and dip their feet in the beach water. It was such a beautiful day.Â
I’m so grateful to have the beach minutes away from my home. In a way, I think I take it for granted and don’t go enough. How many people can say they live 5 mins away from the lake? It’s one of the great things about Chicago.
I cannot express enough how fun it is living in Chicago in the summer. It’s even better than the one summer I spent in NYC (as a mother) because Chicago is a lot more kid friendly. Any day I want to plan an activity there is something interesting going on…festivals, fairs, attractions, concerts, etc. It really seems endless.
Nada’s coming on Thurs. I’m excited because there are a bunch of things I’ve been wanting to do but need someone to do them with. I’m going to take her the Zoo on Saturday and the Takin’ It to the Streets Festival on Sunday inshallah. We also plan to see the Color Purple, a recent broadway hit in Chicago. And of course, it’s tradition for us to see a movie at the park :) They bring huge screens and play movies at the park all summer long. We just need to bring our lawn chairs and snacks!
Well, just thought I’d update you on what I’ve been up to.
Sana
Summer Fun
08 Jun 2007
Hey everyone, I know it has been a long time since my last blog entry. To be honest, I didn’t think people were reading since responses were drastically reduced; but then some secret readers confessed to missing my blog so I figured I’d write again :)
A lot has been going on this summer. My sister Nada is coming to visit at the end of the month. One of the main purposes of her visit is to attend the “Takin’ it to the Streets” festival on June 24th. This is a huge Muslim festival that takes biannually and usually gets about 4000 participants. So, we’re really excited to be going to that! We also plan on seeing the musical The Color Purple which I have been dying to see, not just because Oprah is a producer but because I actually think it’s a really powerful story.
Next on the summer agenda is a birthday party for my little guy. He’s turning two! We decided on breakfast at the beach. I’m praying for beautiful weather! I’ve just been thinking of game/activity ideas for the kids. Here are some of my plans: water balloon game, unwrap the present, face painting competition and racing. Let me know if you think of any other good ideas for kids generally aged 2-7. I was also thinking of cookie decorating but I think they’ll have enough junk with the birthday cake :)
I also have two vacations planned for this summer -Â One with my husband and the other with my sisters. With my husband we are going to California and will inshallah take Zayd to Disneyland for the first time! The second plan is to visit the Hawaii of Canada, Prince Edward’s Island (in August). Now that, I’m really excited about! Last year my sisters and I went to Quebec and we had a blast…even with 4 kids! This time we’ll have 5 kids and I’ll be 8 months pregnant, but I’m sure it will be great :)
So, so far the summer is coming off to a great start and the future look promising inshallah. Let me know about your summer plans.
delusional mom?
14 May 2007
When I had my first baby Zayd I moved to Chicago when he was only two months. In Chicago I hooked up with a playgroup for kids Zayd’s age and have been a member of this playgroup since. Naturally, I learned A LOT from my playgroup friends and I believe that my experiences with them have shaped my parenting drastically. For example, it was completely normal for my friends to put their children in developmental programs consistently throughout their infancy and into the toddler age. Many of my friends have had their children in music class literally since the babies were 3 months (and these classes are not cheap!). Such behavior encouraged me to try out such classes for myself. Consequently, Zayd has been enrolled in gymboree, music class, gymnastics, and art class and he’s not even two years!
I often reflect on whether all my efforts to improve my child’s development have paid off. Are these programs really beneficial? Recently there have been several incidents in which Zayd has impressed me with his athletic abilities such as the tall towers he can build with legos, the fact that he can jump when most kids his age cannot or his ability to hang off a bar with his feet off the ground. Now, it’s hard to tell if this is just natural or if it’s something he learned from all these classes…or could it just be his delusional mom reading too much into things? I probably will never know for sure. However, I am becoming more and more convinced that these classes are indeed beneficial to his social, physical and mental development. Â
Updates
02 May 2007
I just wanted to announce that I recently made some updates to my blog. I added a pic to the “about me” section. I also added sidebars including a: word of the day, quote of the day and article of the day. I hope you enjoy the changes! :)
In other news, I will be visiting my family in Toronto on Sat. inshallah. I’m really excited for several reasons:
1. I will meet my new niece Layal (aka Layool, Lulu, Lultee, Luls, etc).
2. All my sis’s will be done with school so we can paaarty!
3. My bro is coming
4. All the gals are going to a spa for mother’s day!
5. I will take Zayd swimming for the first time in a pool so he can finally wear his new swimming shorts
Wooooohoooooo
Sana
Corporate America
26 Apr 2007
I haven’t actually done the research but I think it would be safe to say that most people do not enjoy their jobs. While the level of dislike can vary from “not crazy about it” to “I want to bang my head on the wall everyday”, the bottom line is that liking your job is rare. This is so unfortunate because most people spend more than half their lives at work. If you are anything like my husband, you spend 90% of your life at work. That’s the sad reality of life as a corporate attorney. Yaman, my husband, comes home at 7:30pm on a good day (that’s about 11 hours of his day at work), and on many days, does not get home till 10:00pm, 11:00pm….sometimes even in the middle of the night. He has literally gone 3 days with only seeing his son for a total of less than half an hour. This is so ridiculous to me! What kind of a way is that to live? That worst part about it is, he doesn’t even particularly like the work he does. Actually no, the worst part is that when he gets home, it’s not over. He is still constantly bombarded with e-mails from his blackberry and is sometimes expected to respond immeditately, even if he’s in the middle of dinner. I don’t know how he puts up with it.Â
I always tell Yaman that I would rather him make less money and spend more time with his family. Life is too short to miss out on all the things that really matter. The problem is, I think it is very hard for many men to sacrifice financial prosperity for anything. I feel like many men are just so obsessed with money and success. It consumes them. I know not all men, but MANY of the men in my life at least. So, I don’t know what the solution is. Is there a job out there that would make him happy and still pay well? Will that job allow him ample time to spend with his family? Does that even exist? If so, I’d love to know about it!
Sana
VTech
19 Apr 2007
Two things are really bothering me about the whole VTech massacre, besides the fact that over 30 innocent people are dead for no apparent reason. The first is the amount of attention the media is giving the killer. Reporters keep mentioning that this was the worst school shooting in US history, emphasizing that the killer broke a record. In addition, they continue to interview people who associated with him and continue to analyze his personality. They practically made the guy a celebrity by posting his pictures and videos all over the place.
I remember watching a horror movie once where the serial killer murdered for the mere desire to become famous. I wouldn’t be surprised if giving this killer so much attention encourages other depressed and hopeless people to follow in his footsteps. I think the media needs to stop focusing on Cho Seung-Hui and start focusing more on the innocent victims who lost their lives that terrible day.
The second thing that disturbs me greatly is the fact that this sort random school killing only happens in the US. I have never heard of such a massacre anywhere else in the world. What is it that drives people in this country to that point? I really wonder. Is it the prevalence of empty and depressed lives with no family or true friends to support or fill the void? Is it the obsession people have with violent movies and video games? What is it?
Sana
crash
16 Apr 2007
The other day I was parked at a meter and a car in front of me was attempting to park too. He didn’t notice me behind him and began reversing his car. I honked to catch his attention but he continued to reverse and hit my car. I got out to see the damage. The man also got out of his car and waited for me to say something. “You hit my car,” I said. He looked at my car and said “nothing happened….there’s no damage.” I then showed him the scratches he caused on both our cars. “My car is even more damaged then yours,” he said, “why are you complaining?” I couldn’t believe this man’s reaction. No apology, no asking if I was ok. In fact, he even started to walk away as if nothing happened. “I think you need to stay here until we resolve this.” He came back and his wife started yelling, “What’s your problem…you can’t even drive!” At this point, I was very annoyed. Initially I wanted to be nice and try to resolve the problem without making him get a ticket but then I threatened to tell the police. “Go call the police! Go ahead!” he yelled. There just so happened to be a police man right next to us so I walked up to him and told him what happened. “Don’t worry, I saw the whole thing,” he responded. Then the wife tried to tell the police that it was my fault and the police shut her up knowing that she was lying. The police was very nice to me, asked if Zayd was ok, and told me he would write a report and give the man a ticket. I was so lucky to have had a police witness because I know the guy who hit my car was very susceptible to lying about what happened.
Later, I called the guy’s insurance company and told them what happened. They talked to the guy to confirm that the stories were the same. According to the insurance rep, he started off lying but after asking more questions he eventually admit to being at fault. So the insurance company sent someone out to get an estimate of the damage. I was surprised to discover that they were going to send me a check for $500 for the damage. It was literally just 2-3 small scratches. Alhamdulillah, we got compensated for the ill treatment and the scratches. I hope that guy regrets how he handled the situation. Had he been nicer, I wouldn’t have even got the police or insurance co. involved.
Sana
Facebook Craze
05 Apr 2007
I recently opened a facebook account to see what all the hype was about. I had heard of facebook from my sisters, but didn’t really know what it was. It was shocking to see how many people I knew also had accounts, and how many actually used their accounts regularly! E-mails almost immediately began pouring in informing me that various friends added me to their facebooks, or wrote postings on my “wall”. At first, I didn’t see the advantage of facebook over e-mail. I thought, if you want to get in touch with someone, just e-mail! Later, I realized that facebook was such a great way to keep in touch with more distant friends that you would have never randomly e-mailed. Also, it’s a great way to see what your friends are up to, browse through their pics, etc. So, next time you’re on facebook, poke me or add me to your friends list :)