Nehir's Dreams

"Mom, let's talk."  Nehir has been saying this more often and he has had a lot to say about his dreams for the future.  Last night, he spent at least 15 minutes telling me about the jewelry store he wants to create.  First, he is going to make "the ring of fire" which will have pictures of fire all around it.  I asked him if he knew there was a song called the ring of fire and he said he did but he didn't like it because the idea of someone being trapped in a ring of fire was very disturbing to him.  I explained that the song was about feelings, not literal fire and the person felt they were surrounded by trouble, not real flames.  This made him feel better.  After clearing this up he told me about the beautiful ruby necklaces he would make, and how there would be a room full of gems that look like fire (fire was on the boy's mind apparently).  There would also be a room with video games, because he would sell jewelry and video games and movies.  The walls would have pictures of all the jewelry and movies and games, and when you touched it, they would come out of the wall.  There would also be a play room "to entertain the children."  

This morning he told me in addition to the jewelry shop, he also wanted to make video games, make robots, and drive a monster truck.  

Taylan was playing a game where he would run to BabaAnne, kiss her, then run to Nehir Abi, kiss him, then run to me, and kiss me.  It was very cute.

Exciting Updates

Let's see, what exciting things have we been up to?  Taylan was sick last week with a stomach flu, and then Nehir got a more sever case and has been sick for five days.  He seems to be OK today, he is eating and has more energy.  Now BabaAnne is sick.

Taylan is very willful and lets his frustrations be known with some impressive shrieking and arm flapping.  He has learned to say choo choo, and bi (for bird), and he says a lot of other things that I can't quite decipher.  He is now insisting on eating by himself, which means frequent baths.  I am trying to ween him, and he is not happy about this.  It seems to be working though, he can get himself back to sleep without nursing, although sometimes he won't do it and cries.  Taylan still loves the Bob the Builder song and seems to be developing a nice singing voice: last night I heard him sing "Baaa, ba ba"  (Bob the builder) in perfect pitch in his sleep.

Nehir got way behind in school between getting back from vacation late and then getting sick.  He has 20 pages of math to do this weekend, and today is the first day he had enough energy to sit up and do any of it.  He is now taking a nap, so I predict he will not finish 20 pages. He has been having a bit of trouble behaving in school, he seems to fancy himself the class clown, and so the teacher made a behavior chart for him, I hope this helps.

I made some behavior charts for the 6 year-olds where I teach, because they were making me crazy.  I had no control whatsoever and class was becoming a miserable experience for them and me.  So far, so good.  They seem to like the chart and the threat of not getting a sticker makes them snap out of whatever naughty behavior they might have been up to.  Let's see if it lasts.

Selcuk is working a lot, he came up with a nice scale to measure social capitol.  I think it is a good scale and will generate some interesting studies.

Well, that's the thrilling news from our lives. 

Stress

I managed to get Nehir to sleep by midnight, which is like putting him to sleep at 5 in the afternoon in American time.  I also managed to get him up again at 7:20 am the next morning.  Unfortunately, his service ( the van that takes him to school) never showed up, and I was out of Turkish money for a cab.  Nehir was anxious and kept saying helpful things like "What are we supposed to do, just stand here and stare at all the services and ours never shows up?!" or asking me "Why don't we just take a cab?!" over and over even though I had told him repeatedly that I didn't have Turkish money.  I finally accepted that his service wasn't coming and we had to take a cab to a currency exchange office, and then another cab to school.  When Nehir walked into class a half hour late, his class burst into spontaneous applause, and Nehir was grinning ear to ear.  That warmed my heart and helped alleviate my fowl mood.

Taylan and I then walked back to where we could hail another cab home.  There is a small grocery store about a quarter mile from our apartment so I asked the driver to drop us there so I could get some groceries I had forgotten the day before.  While in the store Taylan dropped a glass bottle of carrot juice on the floor, shattering it.  We then set off for home, but a torrential rain had started and the little rain shield on his stroller was not keeping him dry at all so we ran into a nearby office building.  I scrounged around in my purse for enough small change to get us home (taxi drivers often don't have enough small bills to make change if you are carrying large bills) and we took a cab the rest of the way.  

Now we are home and Taylan is listening to the theme song for Bob the Builder over and over and over.  According to my itunes library, it has been played 78 times since I downloaded it several days ago, and two of those days we were traveling, so you do the math.  Yikes.

Readjusting

Our flight home was OK, not great but not as bad as I feared.  Nehir cried after saying good-bye to Derya and told me he didn't want to miss her.  Later he told me he wished there could be two of him so one could live in each country.  I feel bad that the separations are hard on him, but I think overall this is a good experience.  When we got back to Turkey and were driving home he told me the city looked "festy" which he explained means it looks like a festival.  He likes Istanbul and is looking forward to seeing his friends and teachers.

We arrived back in Istanbul late last night, and got back to the appartment at 11:30 or so.  After feeding the kids left over snack food from the flight, we read Harry Potter and went to sleep.  12 hours later we woke up feeling disoriented and hungry.  I got the kids dressed and we took a cab to a local Pide restaurant (pide is thin bread with different toppings cooked on it).  Nehir ate Iskendar (thin meat with bread, tomato sauce, butter sauce and yoghurt) and meat pide, while Taylan and I split a cheese and spinach pide.  Both boys ate copious amounts which was good because neither had had a decent meal in a long time.  Both boys seem to loose their appetite while traveling.  The weather was nice so after breakfast or lunch or whatever meal it was, we went to the park in Ortakoy.  Taylan had a great time but Nehir was feeling pretty draggy.  After playing Nehir and Taylan split a waffle for desert and by then Nehir was so full he could hardly walk.  We had to go grocery shopping, however, so we walked up the road with Nehir moaning and leaning on the stroller.  After a short walk he was feeling a bit better so we got the grocery shopping done and took a cab back to the house.  

Nehir will go back to school tomorrow, poor thing is going to be so jet-lagged.  He is looking forward to seeing his pals.  I will take Taylan on a walk and maybe go to the park.  So life is mostly back to normal.

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig

Today the kids and I fly back to Istanbul.  It was wonderful to see everyone, but we are also looking forward to being in Istanbul again.  The vacation wasn't as relaxing as I would have liked, due mostly to a severe cold that swept through the family.  Taylan got a double ear infection and was unusually cranky as a result.  He is on the mend now.  Nehir is sad to be leaving but also pleased he will be seeing his Turkish friends and teachers.  

I will write again once we arrive in Turkey.