Khalid and Maryam

Today Imen and I took a couple of photos of Khalid and Maryam. Khalid is getting close to four years old now, and Maryam’s recently turned two. Over the past year they’ve become real best friends, playing well together and looking after each other.

The first photo was in the morning, just after they had woken up. Maryam’s hair is usually soft and straight, but after a long night’s sleep it can be a bit messy, but she’s still very cute. We’re trying to grow it.

Maryam’s hair looks a lot better when it’s been tidied up. Khalid’s also being very cute in this photo. I asked him to say ‘Cheese’ in front of the camera, and he did a good job!

Today was also a special day for Khalid. This morning he drew his first picture with recognizable people. Although he’s been drawing lines and basic shapes for a while, today he drew something much more impressive. To be honest, I was a bit taken aback at how spontaneous the change was compared to his previous drawings. He showed me his picture this morning. ‘There’s Baba and Mama and Maryam and me’.

35-Minute Run

Great news on running. After three 30-minute runs last week, yesterday I went for a 35-minute run. The last two minutes of the run were an intense sprint across the park. Looks like I’ve finally managed to get back into it, or at least make a start in doing so. The fact that we live near to three parks in Beckton is really helping. Let’s hope the weather stays reasonable this October, so that I can stick to the running plan.

Milton Keynes Play Centre

Over the summer, although we hadn’t booked any holiday due to the house move, we still wanted to get out of London. We ended up making several day trips to Milton Keynes, which has a nice  large play centre for children. The kids absolutely loved it, because they could run around freely and play all day long…

Khalid and Maryam especially loved the sandpit. We all had a great summer – a real shame it didn’t last as long as we would have liked.

Khalid’s Baby Photos

Imen and I recently came across some of Khalid’s baby photos. Here he is at four months old, when Imen took him up to Edinburgh to see his uncles, great aunts and great-grandmother for the first time.

Compared to Maryam, Khalid was a very peaceful baby – he hardly used to wake us up at all.

At around five months old, Khalid could sit up by himself, but we still kept plenty of pillows around just in case!

30 Minute Run around Beckton

Yesterday morning I went for a very good run around Beckton Park. As I’ve not been running for a while, I had originally planned to run for just 20 minutes. The weather and the parks were really nice, so I kept going for a full 30 minutes, despite really pushing myself for the last 5.

We recently moved to Beckton to live a bit closer to Khalid’s nursery in Forest Gate. Imen being able to drive has been a real help, as we live in more of a residential area now compared to living around Canary Wharf.

Khalid is now 3 years and 1 month old, and Maryam is 1 year and 5 months. They’re both very happy, active, talkative and very cute! We’re able to have good conversations with Khalid. During the day when we’re out and about, he especially likes to ask what different signs mean. Maryam has a large vocabulary compared to Khalid at his age. She started to talk later than Khalid did, but seems to have picked things up more quickly. Having an older brother has really helped with her speech development.

Let’s see if I can keep up with the running – hopefully I’ll do more this week when the rain stops again.

Holiday in Wales

We’ve just come back from a week-long holiday in Saundersfoot, Wales. Imen recently passed her driving test, and we were really keen to take a break and go see the countryside.

Khalid and Maryam absolutely loved the holiday. The weather was okay for this time of year. We had a mix of days that were both sunny and rainy. On sunny days, we went to the beach – only a few minutes away from our rented apartment. We spent rainy days chasing the children around the indoor play centre at Folly Farm Adventure Park, home of the only Giraffes in Wales.

Khalid is now 2 years and 9 months old. He is a very curious boy and likes to explore his surroundings and figure out how things work, although his favourite thing to do is to run around and play with other children.

Maryam is 1 year and 1 month old and is a very happy toddler. She started crawling around 5 months old, and started walking at 11 months. She is still breast feeding but to loves to eat everything we do, especially strawberries, grapes, chicken and fish. She’s always smiling, and likes to be given lots of attention and love.

Maryam is just as adventurous and curious as Khalid, and she was really keen to get out and play on the beach.

We all enjoyed walking along the seafront – it was the children’s first time to play near the sea.

Both Maryam and Khalid wanted their shoes off so they could run about in the sand.

Eventually they both got tired …

… and decide to take a break.

Khalid pointed the way home.

What a long day – but lot’s of fun!

Maryam’s First Words

Maryam is now just over 6 months old. We have been letting her play a lot on the floor under our supervision, and she has started to crawl in the last few weeks. Also, on Sunday and again today, Maryam said her first word “Baba”. This is a bit different to Khalid who said the same first word (which means “Daddy”, in Arabic) earlier at 4 months. He only started to crawl later at 8 months.

Maryam is very cute, very healthy, and has grown very big and tall compared to when she was first born. She laughs and smiles a lot, especially when happy after eating, and also when playing with her big brother Khalid, who is now 2 years and 3 months old.