"My children used to play outside when things were better two years ago but now they're stuck to the TV, if we're lucky enough to have electricity," she said.
As she spoke, a pair of U.S. helicopters flew low overhead, the thud of the rotors shaking the house in what has become so common that most Baghdad residents barely flinch.
Her 4-year-old son Murtadha burst into tears and put his hands up to his ears to block out the noise. "Mama, afraid, afraid," he managed to say, his voice faltering with tears.
Khalil, 14, saw a body in the street while driving in the car with his father. At first he talked about it often, his father said, but then he went through silent periods. He has also started sleep-walking.
His mother Um Khalil, a university professor, said Khalil and his friends used to talk about their hobbies or whether they wanted to go into science or study literature or come up with some great invention. Now they talk about mortars landing near a friend's house or the father of a friend killed or kidnapped.
"Their thinking has become gloomy," Um Khalil said. "They are not thinking of tomorrow because they know that tomorrow may never come."
