Al Ain Babies 2

And now for our beautiful little girl, Lily.  When Lily first arrived at Abu Dhabi Airport she saw me and raced along the walkway and into my arms.  My heart melted and tears sprung.  I had missed her so much.  She wouldn’t let me go…and I didn’t want to go anywhere. 

Having fun with Meriana

Lily is a bright wee button, and instantly understood that she was in a new country and would be staying in Al Ain for some time.  She’s begun to connect the dots and tells us about how she will be 5 when she gets on a plane to head back to Cruickshank Road.  She’s occasionally slipped and asked when she will go back to pre-school to see her best friends Courtnay and Jamie, but generally she’s got the whole thing sussed.  We love her ability to think positively about things; on one occasion she said all was ok being in Al Ain because she was going to make new friends here.

So it was a worry that after the first week of being here we noticed a change in Lils.  She was becoming a little more clingy and withdrawn and obviously missing her routine and her friends and family in NZ.  She was still her chirpy self, but around others was beginning to become shy.  When we first came to visit our new home in The Village we realised what was going on.  We’d had few children at Al Muwaiji village, and this neighbourhood was swimming with children.  It was early evening and the air was alive with the sound of children playing.  Almost immediately Lily was in her element.  She connected with some of the girls who were playing, especially Abby, a little Scottish girl (5) whose mother I work with.  It took them all of 5 minutes to become firm friends.  In fact, as I write this, they are outside playing on the streets of our neighbourhood.  Abby and her parents have given Lily Abby’s old bike with training wheels.  Lily was so overwhelmed when they gave it to her.  Last night she told me it was ‘absolutely perfect’ and that she was going to share her scooter with Abby whenever Abby wanted to use it. 

I think that act of kindness deserves some double choc-chip muffins.

So, since we moved in to the new place we’ve had the old Lily back again.  In fact she has begun to assert even more confidence than before.  She now wants to go outside to play on her own.  We’re obviously cautious about this and have discussed all the rules with her.  But she would simply never have this opportunity back in NZ.  It reminds me of when we were kids.  We were gone from our homes for hours, even at a young age. There was a community of kids and their parents that we all knew…what’s so different here?  Lily’s fairly sensible and knows the rules, but we still keep an eye out.  At the same time she wants a little bit of control about her own day and play, and so we want to give her some of that too.  She loves to head around the block to visit ‘Andrew’s place’ (another gorgeous Kiwi family) or to visit Abby’s place. 

She’s just ducked her head in the door to tell me she’s just made a new friend…

Another exciting part of Lily’s life at the moment is her preparation for school.  We’ve managed to secure a place at a school called Sunflower School.  It has an Aussie Principal and is well sought-after.  We’re again in the right place at the right time!  She will be in the ‘Purple Cats’ class with a little American friend called Mae and two other Kiwi kids she is yet to meet (and 9 others from all places of the globe).  Jason attends this school for the dad’s playgroup once a week, so Lily has already been shown around the school by Emma the Principal and loves it already.  She will have a teacher called Miss Dora, a teacher assistant called Miss Tracey and an Arabic teacher called Miss Noha.  She will do exciting things like learn Arabic and karate.   She will be going from 8.30am through to 12.30pm each day. 

She’s taking it all in her stride.  She is excited, but realistic.  She said yesterday, “I will probably be sad when daddy leaves me on the first day and I will probably cry, but that’s ok, I will dry my tears and find a friend to play with.”

The carol singers and our girls

The I-want-to-grow-up phase has also included no longer taking baths.  She’s got her own bathroom here and it has a shower.  We’ve bought a shower curtain (pink, of course) and she’s wanting to have a shower by herself every day.  She’s also wanting to brush her hair on her own and every day she chooses what she will wear by herself.  In order to get her scooter she promised to tidy her bedroom every day and make her bed.  Till now it has worked and we’ve had a tidy room from Miss Lily.

Christmas has hit big-time here.  We’ve seen Santa twice already; once at the rugby club (arriving in a beautiful big red 4 wheel drive) and once at the Danat Hotel at the Christmas tree lighting night (arriving via a camel).  The best part of the Rugby Club night was the tambourine that Santa gave her, and the best part of the latter evening was the carol singing by a group of Filipino singers dressed in Christmas garb.  Lily was absolutely captivated by them and sang along with them as they sang Christmas carols.  She even had a photo with them alongside her friend Meriana! And even better, she sat on Santa’s knee on both occasions. In a few days we are heading back to the Rugby Club for a carol singing evening.  After all this singing Lily recently declared that she wants to be a singer when she grows up.  Unfortunately she has her father’s talent for that…

We have loved watching our little girl grow so much in the last few weeks.  She entertains us with her dancing, her singing, her quips and her ability to hop on one foot (thanks Chloe from pre-school!).  She easily makes friends and is great with her little brother.  She’s neat to have conversations with and she has a good radar for when others require care.  As my back has been in such bad shape lately, I’ve spent many a time being ‘fixed’ by Lily and the equipment in her medical bag.  She has kissed me, told me ‘you will be all right my darling’ and healed me with her ‘magic’ kisses.  What a delight it is to be her mummy.