Chess Master

Now that I am working I am finding it very difficult to write regularly, but my goal is at least once a week.  This week Selcuk was in the U.S. attending to various research responsibilities so it was just me, the kids and the grandparents.

Nehir can now read.  His teacher is teaching a few letter sounds at a time so right now he can read words that are made up of the letters a, i, e, l, and t.  He is very good and he really seems to enjoy it.  He has also learned to play chess and he loves it.  He plays whenever he can.  He taught BabaAnne and Dede to play so they can play with him when Baba and I cannot.  Tomorrow they are having a celebration for Turkey's Independence Day.  His class will be singing the national anthem and his teacher told them they must stand still to show respect to Ataturk.  He has been practicing singing and standing still all week.  He is very cute.

Taylan has been super fussy.  He has a cold and cries a lot.  He also gets mad when I play with Nehir.  Nehir gets mad when I stop playing with him to attend to Taylan.  When Nehir and I are playing lego, the baby can't come into Nehir's room because he will smash all the parts.  Usually Baba watches Taylan while I help Nehir with homework and then legos, but because he was out of town, BabaAnee was watching him.  Taylan howled miserably until I gave up and went and picked up the baby.  This made Nehir howl and I ended up holding a howling Taylan while a howling Nehir was clinging to my leg trying to keep me from leaving the bedroom.  Ay ay ay.  This is the first time I have really seen them that jealous of one another.

For the most part I am enjoying teaching the little kids at the day-care/kindergarten, but I also find it difficult and awful sometimes.  Today I almost cried while I was teaching the six year olds because they are SOOOOOOO HYPER.  There is one child that I think has a real behavioral problem and should probably be receiving special interventions.  He is completely disruptive ALL THE TIME.  I think he needs to be evaluated and apparently the other teachers do too but the parents refuse.  Oh well.  It makes teaching that class a nightmare.  There are two other boys in that class who clearly have ADHD, but I find that easier to deal with.  The problem is all three of these kids are in the same class so when the very troubled boy is acting out (which is always) the other two boys go berserk.  The other kids are getting more hyper too, I think because that is the only way they can get any attention.  It is really hard.  Oh well.

Happy Turkish Independence day.  I will post pictures this evening, right now the kids want to go to the park.

Taylan's Big Adventure

I am posting some pictures of Taylan's trip to the US.  I don't have pictures of Nehir to post right now because we loaded the Bayram pictures onto the wrong computer.  I will get them later this week and post some.

Taylan coloring at Grandma's house.

Grandma reading to the boys

Derya reading to Taylan

Taylan walking with his hands behind his back, exactly the way Nehir used to!

Hugging Aunt Laura

Yes, I am finally writing an entry.

Sorry to all of you who have been wondering how my kids are.  We were in Ankara for a week without internet access, and then last week I went on a whirlwind trip to the US to change my visa from tourist to work.  Taylan and I flew Tuesday morning, arrived Tuesday at 1:30 (because of the time differences), then Derya drove us to Mom's for one night, then we went to NYC the next morning to fix my visa, back to Mom's for one more night, then back to the airport on Thursday afternoon.  We arrived back in Turkey Friday morning.  It was a very bazaar experience to be home for such a short time, but it was great to see Derya, my parents, Laura, Mandy and the boys.  

I lied and told Nehir I was going on a business trip in Turkey because I thought it would be emotionally difficult for him to go an only stay one day, or to have to stay in Turkey knowing I was going to the US.  I have only been away from Nehir one night before this, when he was three.  I was afraid he would be really upset, but I gave him a little necklace and told him it represented that I love him and am thinking about him even if I can't be near him.  I also promised to bring him Legos.  He liked the necklace, but it was really the Legos that made my leaving OK, the first thing he said when I got back was "Which Legos did you bring me?"  The boy loves Legos.

He is doing great in school.  His teacher thinks he will be the first in his class to learn to read. He is also getting better at writing.  He started staying late on Thursdays for soccer practice and he enjoys that.  He had fun during Bayram too.  Seker Bayram (sugar festival) is the biggest holiday in Turkey, and I think the whole Muslim world.  It marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting.  For three days people visit relatives and eat yummy food, especially sweets. The kids go from door to door saying "Bayram kutlu olson!" (happy bayram) and people give them candies.  The kids also receive money, new clothes, and sometimes other gifts from parents and close relatives.  It is a bit like halloween, a bit like Thanksgiving, and a bit like Christmas.  Schools are off for the whole week.  Nehir spent a lot of time playing with cousins. His older cousin, Jonbek, was particularly nice to Nehir.  He was such a wonderful friend to Nehir despite the age difference, I was so grateful to him.

Taylan had his lower back molars come in and one of his incisors.  He was pretty cranky and at one point his gums were bleeding. Poor guy.  He likes to run away after while we are changing his diaper.  He also likes to grab things he knows he is not supposed to touch and run away.  He laughs while we chase him through the house.  He clearly remembered everyone in the US and after the initial shock, he was very happy playing with all his relatives.  

Selcuk and I are well.  Teaching is going fine.  Selcuk's parents are doing well too.