AN EVENING WITH THE BABY………

My grandson is with me today. The day has been busy for both of us. It has been filled with new faces at a visit to the halaqa of Quran at Aunty S’s home, a ride in the car experiencing the stupid new rule that babies have to be in the back and face backwards, This confuses the baby’s vestibular systems as they ride backwards thus developing early motion sickness or distortion of directional movement in early infant development

Every ten years “research” comes out with a new rule that discards all old baby seats and fills the coffers of corporate America as every new parent rushes to buy the new stuff and the landfill receives tons of old unrecyclable car seats that are in good condition. Fear for the safety of the baby propels the parents to buy the new and not use the ones from an older sib or friend.

The car seat not only sits backwards but the baby is isolated from the driver mom and cannot see her nor can she see the baby or comfort it if needed with a touch.

I marvel at how corporate America has devised hundreds of gadgets to prevent the baby from being touched. Thus instead of carrying a 10 pound baby who feels the touch of your body and your love in the connection we carry the baby in a 20 pound car seat and break our back and the baby is touch starved while walking or visiting.

Thus after R cries in the car, sitting alone and moving backwards, and I am unable to see, or touch to comfort him we finally and thankfully arrive at his home.

We enter and all is quiet; the two cats are sleeping and raise their heads to make to regard me, with eyes alert but bodies relaxed. His parents are both at work;

We go through the process of unwinding after getting home. I feed him his milk; give him a wudu, which thrills him, putting on some bottom butter and baby powder/cream before putting on the diaper, followed by fresh clothes for the night.

I bring him to the rocker and place him in it next to the musallah. It is almost time for Maghreb. He smiles his eyes heavily laden with sleep and relief. Suddenly in the quiet of the evening in the silent house the call for prayer resounds through my little iPhone loud and clear. It seems as if I am in Mecca. He stops and listens carefully…with focused attention while looking at me.

I am sitting on the musallah ready to pray Maghrib and suddenly my heart fills with dua. I make dua for him, his parents, his little friends and all the new babies expected. Night is falling rapidly but he wants to be held. I lean forward and take him in my lap on the musallah knowing that Allah wants me to share this moment and place with him. I see  my cell phone with the app of the Divine names calling me and turn on the recitation of the Divine Names. He snuggles into my hijab and as I rock him I feel his body focused in listening to the Divine Names though the heat of his head tells me that sleep is near. And then something happens as the power and magnificence of the Divine Names permeates the atmosphere. I feel the angels stop and lower their wings over our little island of the musallah with the baby in the twilight of sleep, and me.

I feel stunned, honored and humbled to be included in the gift of the Rahma of Allah via the purity and innocence of the baby with me on the musallah. Meanwhile he drifts into sleeps enveloped in the Rahma of Allah with the wings of the angels lowered over him in the magical hour of dua and barakah with the Divine names as his lullaby.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T8XSyTFVHLc#!