Hari Raya Haji

Happy to have many willing 'victims'!

This year, we spent Zara's first Hari Raya Haji at Tok's house, where Mama (my MiL) spent most of her formative years. These days, it's brimming with cousins of all ages (mostly babies!), and has become quite the playground for our little girl since she started becoming more mobile and finally being able to join in the fun.

Now that she cries less around strangers and allows people other than Mummy to carry her, Zara can be such a joy to have around (note I say 'can', because she has her fair share of moodswings too!). She particularly likes Aunty Nina, who's carrying her in the picture above, and Nanie Fa'i, whom she bullied into walking her around most of the day.

HRH is generally a more quiet affair than HRA, with the exception of an hour or two before Zohore when the poor cows were being slaughtered in a compound right opposite Tok's house! I found that quite traumatic and kept Zara well out of earshot for that. The rest of the time, when she was not with Nina and Nanie Fa'i, Zara entertained herself with the balloons left over from Ilhan's birthday party.

Oh joy! A yellow balloon!

A little chomp is mandatory...

I LOVE this balloon!...

...And now I hate it!

After tiring of the balloons and with Nanie Fa'i in hiding, Zara then pestered me into walking her around the house. This is a new favourite activity of hers - although she can crawl pretty well these days, she prefers to be on her feet... But because she tends to fall after 5 or 6 steps, she prefers to have her hands held, hence requiring willing victims to help her 'walk around'.

Once the festivities in Tok's house wound down, we proceeded over to Nek Pon's place nearby, which was also packed to the brim with relatives. Here, Zara spent plenty of time entertaining people with her new tricks, including clambering over a sea of legs, cruising around furniture, 'chatting' with cousin Hamzah and showing off her limited walking skills. 



Cruising around a captive audience.

'...And then Abang Hamzah, the balloon attacked me...'

'Abah, hands up!' 

Fending off the paparazzi...

All in all, it was a pretty eventful HRH, despite not having done very much at all... thanks mostly to our little entertainer, who has obviously inherited her Abah's outgoing personality!