When I become Big......

Abi and Ummi : What would you want to do when you become big?

Maimoonah: (just turned 3)

1. I want to eat on my own
2. I will try not to be messy
3. I want to recite Soorah Baqarah
4. I want to take the garbage downstairs
5. I want to use Abi's pens and pencils (Stationery)
6. I will look after small brothers and sisters, push them on the swing
7. I want to use Abi's Camera and take photographs
8. I will tell bunny "My darling, do not come on to my computer"
9. I want to use Abi's Computer
10. I want to type
11. I want to pour water from the big jug to the big glass
12. I want to switch on and off the AC
13. I want to switch off the toilet lights

The list would have continued... but she had to go to sleep and we had to halt it!

What do you think of the answer!?

Ramadhaan Activities V - Phases of the Moon

So we are having a track of what's happening to the moon each day masha Allaah and learning a bit about it too. What you see is the waxing crescent that we saw on the second day of Ramadhaan.

We are using this calander to have a track of the phases of the moon each day. We look at this site everyday to see how would the moon look like each night and then also look up at the sky for the moon. Then she colours the phase of the moon and sticks on to the Calander. This Calendar could be downloaded here

Then I had bought this thick board book sometime back at a book sale for half the price and it became handy now and it will insha Allaah be useful in the future too.

We on and off take this book and go through the pages that talk about the moon and learn the phases.

Then I make her count. I ask her how many days have we fasted altogether and she counts and tells me, masha Allaah! And this gives her number recognition too.

Also we downloaded a power point on the phases of the moon and watched them. This powerpoint and many other resources to learn about the phases of the moon could be found here at A Muslim Child is Born blog Insha Allaah.

Also here you can find some beautiful and interesting Montessori Activities with regard to phases of the moon here Insha Allaah!

The Muslim Woman Increases More In Worship Than The Man In Ramadan

Questioner inquires: What is the Muslim Woman's agenda in Ramadan so that she can worship Allah by way of it and at the same time complete the services of the people of her household?

Sheikh Sulaymaan ar-Ruhaylee, may Allah preserve him, answers: We say that the Muslim Woman's agenda is that of the (Muslim) Mans. However the Muslim Women increases in worship. That is because when the women strives in the service of her husband and the members of her household and she prepares food for them that which will sufice them, then she is in obedience to Allah, 'azza wa jall, provided that she seeks the reward from Allah. Therefore, in this is a reward for her and also an increasement for her good deeds. And it is befitting for the Muslim Women when she is preparing the food that she busy's her tongue with the rememberance of Allah. So while she is cooking she glorifies Allah, while she is cooking she is saying tahleel (Laa ilaaha illa Allah/ None has the right to be worshipped except Allah), while she is cooking she is remembering Allah and in that she will have a tremendous reward. (Like this) preparing food will never divert her from the obedience of her Lord, Glorified is He, during the day of Ramadan. So congratulations to the Muslim Women who services her husband and the members of her household and she seeks the reward from Allah, 'azza wa jall, and by that she does not become heedless concerning the rememberance of Allah and she performs what she is capable of doing from the different acts of worship during the day of Ramadan. For indeed she has achieved a great success.

Source: http://www.sahab.net/forums/

Jumma'h at the Masjid!

Today we went for Salaathul Jumma'h to the masjid and Maimoonah loved it masha Allaah. She has been asking us to take her for a long time and it happened today bi idhnillaah!

Ready to go for Jummah!

This is the Masjid we went to, masha Allaah very spacious and beautiful!

This is the inside of the Women's area!

We listened to the Khutbah and Maimoonah was sitting silently listening. The Imaam was talking about Ramadhaan and adhering to the sunnah. She caught few of the terms and later she was saying that the Imaam was saying about Sunnah, etc etc.

Then she prayed along with us masha Allaah and she had a surprise!! The Imaam recited Soorah Qadr in the first Raka'ah, she was thrilled (She just finished memorizing that soorah). Then she prayed the sunnah with me and returned home Masha Allaah! Caught her in sajadah!

Coming down from the stairs at the masjid!

Ramadhaan Activities IV - Colouring

We have almost reached the end of the first 10 days of Ramadhaan, subhanallaah!

These days we have been talking a lot about Ramadhaan and have been keeping to our Ramadhaan plans masha Allaah.

Maimoonah has been busy with colouring.....

While colouring we were discussing about the command to fast, regarding who are exempted from fasting etc etc.. She has almost caught the first part of the Aayah of Soorah Baqarah, ( Aayah - Command to fast) masha Allaah.

She has almost finished colouring this book...

Her colouring has improved masha Allaah, but there are times that she is not bothered too...

While colouring we have also been reading this book from the Daarul Kitaab Learn about Series.

And masha Allaah Maimoonah has memorized Soorah Al Qadr. Recites as if she knows Arabic, masha Allaah, I have also taught her the random meaning of the soorah. Masha Allaah Maimoonah has also been doing lot of reading. She has got the hang of reading now and day by day its improving Masha Allaah.

Ramadhaan Activities III - Good Deeds

We learnt about good deeds today. This is is the first time am doing these rewards chart with Maimoonah so I wanted her to know what is this all about. So first we made this Good Deeds chart. She helped me with it and we sticked on to our white board. We got this from here. Jazzakillaah sis Umm Abdul Basir for sharing! We are running out of space so I had to do a small one lol! We are not allowed to stick anything on the wall, part of the rent agreement : (

Then we read and discussed this book from the Learn about series of Daraul Kitaab.

Now she understood what these good deeds that we are always talking about masha Allaah. And I emphasized all these good deeds are done only for the sake of Allaah!

Then I took the gel pens which has a little bit of glitter and asked her to tell me some good deeds so that I can write them on the poster, masha Allaah she started telling by looking at the book then I wrote. Later she took a piece of paper and the gel pens and she said "Ummi now you tell me some good deeds for me to write!" So I repeated and she wrote : )

Hope you can see it better now!

Finally since she did a very good deed by learning she gets her star!!!

Ramadhaan Activities II - Door Decoration

Alhamdulillaah its Ramadhaan! Here is Ramadhaan Mubarak to all from Maimoonah and family Insha Allaah.

We made this craft today. Masha Allaah it turned out well. Maimoonah coloured, pasted and told me few of the good deeds to write on the paper and we hung it up on the door. We took this great craft idea from here. Jazzakillaah khayr sis Umm An Numan.

Then what else did we do today the 1st day of Ramadhaan... Few things.

Read out the bulletin board. She did the colour a picture a day, did some colouring, memorized a bit of soorah Al Qadr, read few books and taking the day cool masha Allaah.

She allowed me to recite and do my Ibadaah masha Allaah without a trouble. I hope she continues this Insha Allaah. Hoping to take her to the masjid today for Taraaweeh. Lets see how it goes. Hope all of you had a great day too!

Ramadhaan Activities I - Bulletin Board

Alhamdulillaah today is the Day of Shakk (doubt). So all are excited about sighting the moon tonight Insha Allaah and awaiting announcment.

We made our Ramadhaan Bulletin Board and the Ramadhaan Phases of the moon calandar. All this was thanks to our dear sisters Umm Ibrahim and Umm Abdul Basir. You can get all info from here and here. May Allaah reward these sisters for their efforts and for sharing with their generous hearts. Aameen.

Maimoonah is all excited about this Ramadhaan and on and off if I offer her some food or drink she tells me "No Ummi, I am fasting, I will have it after the Adhaan". So this is our frequently heard statement at home these days.

And she knows about a Bulletin board and keeps talking about it. She helped me with pinning the contents onto the board with great sense of responsibility, our little girl is growing masha Allaah..

Here is how Our Bulletin Board looks beginning of Ramadhaan and I hope it will get filled up with our learnings each day throughout Ramadhaan Insha Allaah.

Here is a close up..

On our Bulletin board so far you can see the ifthar dua, dua for the host, Soorah Qadr, command to fast Quraanic Aayahs, colour a picture a day. All these I downloaded from the sites I have mentioned above.

This one I did it on my own mainly for my reference .

Just listed out all what I want Maimoonah to know at the end of Ramadhaan in a nutshell. Its called "Ramadhaan at a Glance". This will help her to express what Ramadhaan is all about. And will remind me to talk to her about all these instead of discussing only few things all the time. I put it in simple sentences so that she could keep them in mind Insha Allaah. You can download this file here

Here is our Phases of the Moon calendar.

She is so excited to see the moon each night and paste on this calendar Insha Allaah.

Yet again Allaah has blessed us to witness another Ramadhaan and given us the opportunity to earn rewards, Alhamdulillaah!

Scooter!

So Maimoonah got a new kiddies scooter from her Abi Masha Allaah. We decided to get her this especially because this would keep her occupied in the month of Ramadhaan Insha Allaah and will give us time for Ibaadah too.

Maimoonah does not have many toys, all what she calls toys are educational stuff except for her stuffed toys and a couple of cars. And she is pretty happy with those masha Allaah. She has seen many kids in the neighborhood having this scooter and have tried a couple of times too. So finally she got one for herself.

We got her this last night and it was pretty late when we came home. Usually she falls asleep in the car but last night her mind was not allowing her to fall asleep even though she was very very sleepy, every now and then she was asking has the Village come now! I could not understand, my husband asked her why then she said I want to ride my scooter, lol!

So it was about 12 midnight you can see father and daughter doing the mechanical work!

Finally assembled and fixed!

Maimoonah in action!

Then she parked her scooter next to her and went to sleep. I expected her to wake up late as she went to bed late, but she woke up early and started riding her scooter! She wanted to take the scooter downstairs to the play area but her Abi wanted her to get used to it and master some techniques and then take it out Insha Allaah, she agreed! : )

So to take advantage of this new gift, I turned it on to fun reading. Taught her some words using Glenn Doman's method and she did well as this was an interesting topic for her at that moment. And masha Allaah she could read this small booklet I made for her. Alhamdulillaah!

This is what the little book says:

This is my scooter.

Abi bought Maimoonah a scooter.

My scooter is new.

My scooter is pink.

I can go on my scooter.

I can go fast.

I know to turn my scooter.

Thank you Abi, for the scooter.

I love my scooter.