The Paci Wars

Oh my goodness gracious! Well, here I am again...at least it hasn't been quite a year yet since my last post. I think I may be getting better at this. Well, no matter. I write this for myself and, in my defense, it is hard to find the time to sit and blog while I have these 2 running around. So anyways, all is good at our house. Fazal and Zahra and I have settled into a comfortable routine that definately has its moments of utter chaos. The latest is getting Fazal, who turned 3 this past August, to give up his beloved pacifier. He calls it his "patha"...don't ask me where he got that name, I have no clue! I know I am going about it the wrong way. Let me tell you, it's been a struggle and it's still going on! My father-in-law is a dentist so he is always worried about Fazal and his need to, at the very least, go to sleep with his patha. But his doctor was lways like well, as long as he gives it up by the time he is 3, it should be fine. Well, he's 3 and it is most definately NOT fine!

I started to wean him off a few months ago. I didn't want to start right after Zahra was born for the obvious reasons. So we talked to him about him being a big boy and only needing it for sleeping time, not during the day. He seemed to understand that pretty well and was actually really good about it. Then came a few days where he wanted it again during the day and I would always distract him. One day, I came home after running errands. Nasir was with the kids and it had been a particularly long day and what do I come home to? Fazal is running around with his patha in his mouth! Back to square one, so to speak. I glared at Nasir, knowing that he gave in, and proceeded to gather up all the pathas and took them into the kitchen and cut off the fronts. I showed them to Fazal and told him that they were broken and he couldn't use them anymore. Well, of course, he started to bawl. Of course, I realized what I did was horrible! He loves his patha and he didn't want to see them broken! So I began the whole "big boy" speech thing again and supporting and encouraging and only giving it to him when he went to sleep. He was okay for a couple of weeks, and again, he has started to ask for it again. But this time, the demands are accompanied by lovely temper tantrums involving screaming and flailing about. Even now, as I am am typing away he's at my shoulder, begging me for his patha fix! What's a mother to do? But I am resolved to be strong and get him through it, because I have realized that this is about him, not me. He has spent his whole life thus far with his beloved patha. Of course he needs time and patience on my part to get used to a life without it.

But that doesn't make it any less annoying!

Back to Blogging

Ok well, here I am again. I must be the worst blogger in the world. But to be fair, I did just have another baby. Yes, Nasir and I are now the proud parents of our baby girl! Zahra Noor was born on September 15, 2007, so she is now 4 and half months old. I have visited some of the blogs that I used to read, so I have yet again been bitten by the blogging bug. I am sure there are millions of people who are clamoring to see what I have written ;) But seriously, even if there are only a few people who do take the time to read this, I think I just like doing this for myself. I could describe myself as one of those old-fashioned girls who still wishes that people wrote letters to friends and reltives instead of sending an email, however efficient it may be. Don't get me wrong. Technology is great and email and all that is fun and fast. But there is just something so wonderfully romantic about sitting down with a cup of tea and some beautiful stationary and writing letters. I am so glad that Nasir and I wrote letter, not emails, to each other during our engagement. Even though I was in Oklahoma and he was in Pakistan, we wrote letters. Of course, computers over there had not become that common as they are today (we're talking about late 1990s here). So now I have this bundle of our old letters all tied up with a ribbon. I can't imagine doing that with email. I might have printed them out and then tied them up...but somehow it's not the same thing.

So, now dear readers, I have now finished with my musings for right now. I have some serious tending I need to do to my blog. And of course, I have forgotten the slight amount of HTML that I had taught myself so I will have to brush up on that so that I can update everything. So please, stay tuned!