It's been a while....

Well, hello :)
Gosh, how long has it been? Funny how life gets in the way of things... especially blogging and reading blogs. I've been staying out of trouble, for the most part, and Naief has started proper school now - going from 7:30 a.m. to 1:50 p.m. on two days, 1:40 two days, and 1:07 on one day. Weird timings, but he's doing well. He's been having trouble in the mornings with not wanting me to leave. I think it's the Arabic, since he has Arabic, first thing, all but two days a week. This morning he was shy around his homeroom/Arabic teacher, which made me a bit nervous, but I hope it'll only be a matter of time until he starts getting the hang of it.

Hashim is helping with the Arabic lessons and I sit in... hoping I'll learn Arabic with Naief :) We both have four colors down as of tonight, which is pretty good since they all sound very similar to each other, have rolling r's and two use the throat to pronounce the word, which can be difficult to get right. I'm terrible with rolling my r's - never could get it in Spanish class... but I did do it, slightly, a few times tonight, so I'm feeling pretty good. Naief isn't rolling yet, but he has the throat thing down. ;)

Naief, after some nudging and turning it into a game, started saying the words after mommy would say them.... and is doing pretty good. I'm glad because all of the kids in KG1 stand outside in the mornings repeating after the teachers in Arabic, and I want him to know what's being said, what's going on and to feel like he's a part of it, which I'm not sure is happening within him right now. Must say it's hard, as a mom, to see your child uncertain like this.... aaaahhhhh, I find myself having to remind myself many times a day that it's only a matter of time.

Mommy is helping with his English homework... he doesn't like homework, I've realized. He'd rather play and ignore mommy... so we've gone to threats of losing toys or television time. Seemed to work tonight. Hope it continues.

aaaaahhhh, almost forgot... Hashim took me and Naief on a wonderful European holiday this year. We went to Amsterdam and Paris. Loved both places sooo very much. Rained a lot in Amsterdam, was quite chilly (could see my breath), but I LOVED IT. Such a difference from Bahrain weather, and I really needed that. Walked for two days straight all over Amsterdam. Loved the people, how everyone rides bikes - no matter if it's pouring down rain - cats are in all the shops and cafes, and you can always see something crazy there. I loved the people watching... I think it's the best I've ever had. :) Paris was gorgeous and the people were nice - such the opposite to what Americans are led to believe about Parisians. The food was to die for... the pastries, croissants, COFFEE... I now see the light. Anyway... from walking for two days straight in Amsterdam, we were exhausted when we first got to Paris.... and the walking is crazy there. We took the metro everywhere, which was really cool. Loved watching people, listening to them speak French... and they have the best stuff for children! The incredible park at the Eiffel Tower, the children's parks they have in various gardens around the city... they think of everything imaginable that a child could want to play on or with.

This was the only place I heard American accents... altho we did meet two Canadians at Versailles. Took Naief to Euro Disney which was really nice... very beautiful, lots of things for the little ones, Disney Studios next door, shows... great stuff. He was ready to come home by now and really only enjoyed the park in the afternoon on the 2nd day and the morning of the 3rd day... when we were packing to go back to Amsterdam, he wanted to know if we were going back to the house with the cats. :( made my heart ache a bit... poor guy. It was a bit confusing I think... going from this hotel to that, flying from here to there... I think he'll be better suited for travel once he reaches 7 or 8. Then he'll be able to understand and even maybe remember when he gets older.

Anyhoo... this is about it for now. Hope all of you out there are doing good... I think about you.