Baby Ais's first 'thank you'

A small thing, but Umi thought about it all day. I gave Baby Ais a slice of banana. Before I could even say "what do you say?", she'd already beaten me to it: "ankyu."

I never taught her formally. It's just that every time Abi hands me something, we say "thank you" in front of them. Every time. Turns out they're watching. Always watching.

A two-year-old is a master mimic. They don't do what we tell them — they do what we do. Good manners aren't a lesson you teach; they're the air a child breathes at home.

"Whoever does not thank people has not thanked Allah." (Abu Dawud 4811, Tirmidhi 1954)

So if Umi wants Baby Ais and Baby Mo to grow up grateful, my job is simple: be the person who says thank you the most in this house.