The Mammen Ladies' Liberty Adventure

In September, Zahra and I went to Philadelphia to spend some girl time at Bryn Mawr and in Center City. We got to hang out with Nini Ella and her sweet Curly Sue and with my favorite Bryn Mawr babies.

Zahra cartwheeled all over town and began perfecting her back walkover. We enjoyed a touch of fall. We spent time with some super accomplished Mawrters and discovered ways we can better support the alma mater I love. She earned a junior ranger badge at a Independence Hall and we had great conversations about our country's founding, Alexander Hamilton, and our first President's legacy as a slave holder. We ate adventurous food in exotic restaurants and also played super-Philly game of putt-putt. We stayed in a fancy hotel, thanks to Uncle Peter. The whole experience was fabulous and I can't wait for future girls' trips with my one and only girl.

Ziyan is Two

*This is listed in my drafts, but perhaps I already published it... Either way, I wanted to share it again,.*

In the midst of Ramadan, Ziyan turned two. We hosted a party, complete with a 3 foot Cookie Monster balloon that has only just deflated, and marched on. But now, Ramadan is over, and I return here, to document and memorialize and love on my sweet third Z.

Ziyan came to us because I just was insistent that there was another baby for us. We weren't done. I knew it, I was outrageously persistent and he was born into this very house just over two years ago. Now, this two year old very much runs the roost. He talks all day. He tells stories! He wants you to know about his day and where he went and who he misses. He loves loves loves technology and video chats my parents multiple times a week. Mostly, he likes to see their smiling faces and immediately hang up, eager to call Nini or Nini Juju...only to also hang up on them. He starts the most ferocious circular game of "calling each other back" where I can easily have three people calling back sweet Ziyan who surely *accidentally* hung up. He loves counting, colors, trucks, and tacos. Probably in reverse order. He hits. He is just brimming with energy and he lets out out in multiple unexpected explosive ways: hitting, shaking with excitement, shrieking, spinning in dizzying circles.

"I hold you". I am the lucky mother who gets to hear his husky baritone baby voice exclaim "I hold you" multiple times a day. And he does! He is the perfect snuggler: he holds on just like a baby koala and he is as hot as a bag of coals no matter the weather. He lisps on "yes(th)" and I hope it never goes away.

He is inventive, or at least encourages me to be. What do the animals on your "old MacDonald farm" say? We have cows and chickens, but also a head that says "shoulders knees and toes" over here and over there."Here's some shoulders,  there's some knees, everywhere there's toes toes." He definitely appreciates a good joke (a la his father) and we make them all day. But with his snuggly side, we have a mommy on the farm that says "I love you" here and there. It's everything you could want in a tiny little package.

Ziyan is Two, in all ways amazing and exhausting. I love that he'll be my baby forever. As I always tell him, even when he's thirty, I'll be calling him baby.

it's been a while

For more than a year now I haven't been able to get this app to work to upload photos. And guess how often I download my photos to my computer and then sit down to write a blog? That's right, it's been 10 months.

This weekend I went away and had 4 days without my kids. It was relaxing and amazing and a great chance to connect with some of my favorite strong ladies. It also really made me want to blog about the things I saw when I got back. They had changed so much! I returned to two kids who are noticeably taller, the little two. The length of Ziyan's calf is astounding to me!  I returned to really appreciating how funny Zayd is. I returned to be completely enchanted by Ziyan's creativity and fervor for life. And I returned to be reminded that though she is known for her brilliance and determination, Zahra is also a really sensitive little girl who needs to be encouraged to stay so brave.

Here's some musings from this week:

I finally gave in and just told Ziyan that it was Halloween. He asks every day and he's so disappointed when I say no. And he doesn't remember the trick or treating part so it's really only about the costume. This resulted in him wearing his costume to Zayd's soccer practice last night and then Chipotle afterwards. And he's definitely wearing it right now at school. So I hope this really cheap costume is going to last until October 31st. But I might go make a additional costume in case this one loses its luster in the next two weeks.

Zahra can't get enough of math and has spent the week sitting at the island with me doing 3 digit addition and asking me to "make it hard". 

Zayd is the most hysterical. I was having a talk with the kids about how to identify safe people if you ever feel like you're lost in a public place. I mentioned that moms with little kids are a great option. Zayd immediately quips "Right, because they already have the kids so they don't want to kidnap you. Plus because they have kids they know how hard they are and they definitely don't want any more work."

Ziyan's currently obsessed with the Lion King. His favorite song is the instrumental stampede song. He listens to it all the time and imagine what the characters are doing when the violins get anxious sounding or the brass starts to swell. He's also amazing at this finger game he invented where he assigns a different Lion King characters to each of his hands and then acts out the scene where Mufasa is trying to climb up the hill and Scar pushes him back down. His ability to entertain himself is much appreciated and simply awesome.

Zahra is obsessed with these tween shows that air on Netflix including Fuller House. I watch them and cringe and can't imagine these are good for her, but she really connects with them so I'm letting it go. And since Zayd has been allowed to bring a little fortnite into his life, really how do I begrudge the Tanner sisters??