First day of Ramadan

We all staggered down the stairs in the wee hours of the morning. Had no trouble waking the kids up because they were all so hyped up about fasting that a mere,

"Kids, suhoor," brought about fluttering eyelids that soon turned into wide eyes gleaming with anticipation.

All decided to eat rice with me. Alhamdulillah these kids are not very fussy about food and have no trouble eating the leftover dishes we had from dinner last night. Though N does complain sometimes,

"Why are we always eating that?"

I always reply,

"That's what we have. If you want to eat something else, you can cook it yourself. Some people don't even have food."

It's rather harsh, but when it comes to food I'm not going to molly coddle them because as it is, I do think we have an abundance of food that we even get to make choices as to what to eat in one day.

They had a dental appointment at 1 pm, and we just told them to try not to swallow the water. S displayed such a dismayed look on her face when I told her that it might break her fast, that we then just told them it's okay. She's really determined to have a full fast this Ramadan.

On the other hand, I was the one exceptionally tired, even more so than them. H at least got to take nap when i told him to go downstairs because he was making such a noise chattering away while his sisters tried to do their work. After a while, I realized that it was so quiet downstairs, and asked N what H is doing.

"He's sleeping," she said, and I was so surprised that I had to go and check it for myself. He truly was. No wonder too. They didn't go back to sleep after suhoor and we started school right after.

We went to the dentist around 12:30 and got back home at 10 to 3. I was exhausted, but had promised them that we would do the Ramadan crossword puzzle and the paper chain. So we did. By the time I was done, I was really craving for sleep, so I joined my husband in bed. He was already oblivious, slumbering deeply like a bear.

"S, wake us up at 5 okay!" I hollered to her, hoping my voice would carry all the way downstairs, where they were watching TV. I had asked S and N if they wanted to take naps but they refused, and i couldn't help but marvel at their perseverance. There I was extremely exhausted, and there they were, on the first day of fasting, not to mention that this year the fast is longer than last year because Ramadan has moved forward about two weeks, romping about with vigor, with no complaints of being lethargic like last year.

% pm, S woke us up and I got up rather groggily.

"N, S, make wudhu!" I hollered for the second time, as I struggled to get out of bed.

N just turned 7 few days ago, and instead of celebrating it as a birthday like everyone else, we celebrated it as the age when she would start choosing one prayer to pray consistently. S had chosen maghrib as her first one and when she turned 8, I asked her to choose another one. So N is now in the process of doing her Asr constantly since she had chosen that to start with. Sure beats trying to pray 5 prayers everyday. At least this way they get to get used to performing a prayer with its movements and recitation. Not too overwhelming and most importantly, they get to feel like it's their choice and that they're not being forced into it.

We prayed Asr and I faced my next hurdle: cooking.

Masyaallah, the kids all managed to do a full fast for the day. Before, in the previous years, when they lament on wanting to break their fast before time, I made sure they have activities to keep their minds off their hunger and when all else failed, I said,

"DO you know that people who fast, they feel joy at two times? One is when you break your fast at the right time, and the other is when you meet Allah. If you hold on until it is time to break your fast, just imagine how relieved and happy you'll feel because you fasted a full fast."

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and when it doesn't it's no big deal.

So all of them got to color their four quadrants full last night, marking one day of their ramadhan fasting chart. Alhamdulillah.