Photos

I am posting some photos from events I already wrote about. Nehir, Taylan and I are sick AGAIN! I am so tired of being sick. Oh well, what can you do?


Nehir and his wonderful teacher Hulya.


Taylan enjoying his toy from Grandma and Grandpa


The birthday party


The cake



Nehir blowing out Taylan's candles

Taylan's Second Birthday

Today we celebrated Taylan's birthday (he turns two on the 27th but we did the party today). He caught a bad cold for the occasion and spent much of the day crying. Nehir helped me make the birthday cake yesterday. We made vanilla cake, with strawberries and whipped cream inside. On the outside we put vanilla cream frosting with a road made out of chocolate winding across it. We put little toy cars and road signs on top, and a little guy using a shovel. I put crumbled chocolate around him so it looked like he was digging. I then put shaved white chocolate over the white parts, and strawberries all around the sides. It looked and tasted great, if I do say so myself. Taylan was very cute, he really appreciates gifts, whether toys or clothes, which makes the gift givers feel good. Nehir was really cute too, he wasn't jealous and he was very excited to show Taylan the cake we made and gifts we were giving him (that Derya picked out while Selcuk was in the US - THANKS!). He got a little wild but he is a high-energy, six year old boy, and it was all good-natured hyperness, not grumpy.

Children's Bayram didn't work out so well because it rained and the big show we were going to go to with Nehir's school was cancelled. There was some confusion about whether it was cancelled and when we called we were told to come in at 8:30. Nehir was one of SIX kids that showed up in the whole school, and we were the only family. The teachers were required to show up so there were lots of them. We went to some alternative show, which was lame and we left early.

I got my teaching assignment for the fall and I am only teaching one class, foundations of mental health counseling, so I am very happy. I am not happy about my research agenda, I am really insecure about it. I have all these ideas but I need to get concrete about them because they are all too vague or impossible to execute.

Let's see, more kid news... Nehir is doing his first long-term assignment for school It is about careers. He has to pick a career he is interested in, research the career, interview someone in that field, and then give a report in school. He chose chemist, which I think is hilariously precocious. Taylan can say "two" when you ask him how old he is. He also says "chee to" for cheese toast when he wakes up in the morning.

It is spring here, and it is lovely. Yildiz park is a nearby public garden with several historical buildings on the grounds and it was recently renovated. It is absolutely beautiful right now. The city invested a lot of money planting huge gardens and they are so bright and cheerful. Turkey is where tulips are from so most of the gardens feature lots of tulips. There are a couple that are on a hillside and have a winding stripe of grape hiacynths surrounded by other flowers so it looks like a purple waterfall. The Wisteria in Istanbul are spectacular, they must like the climate. I wish I could show our sorry excuse for a wisteria how a proper wisteria behaves! I would say "See, two grey blooms is not the norm for you, you should be in a purple frenzy during this time of year." Maybe I should shove some prozac in the ground around it. Another fun sign of spring around here is the return of the little lizards. I see at least one every time I go out. They scurry away as I approach and it makes me happy every time. That reminds me, the other day I saw a PARROT flying around. I am sure it was a parrot because it was green, had the right shaped head, and it wasn't flying very high so I could see it pretty well. Either one escaped or someone has it really well trained to return home at night.

Children's Bayram

Tomorrow is Children's Bayram, a holiday created by Ataturk to celebrate children. Today schools all over Turkey are putting on shows for parents (very much like Holiday shows in the US) and children are given honorary positions for the day, like principal, teachers, etc. Nehir was dressed up in very cute, traditional Turkish clothing and his class sang several songs, and then did a traditional Turkish dance. He then danced, with the rest of the primary school, to "Greased Lightening." He was very enthusiastic and adorable. He was clearly enjoying himself and he performed wonderfully (I am not biased or anything!) Tomorrow, there is some other thing with the school, I don't quite understand what, and then for the rest of the holiday, Nehir and Taylan will get to tell us what they want to do and eat, etc. I have a feeling Nehir will suggest watching TV or playing computer games all day. I guess I will have to intervene, kid rule can only go so far after all. I will write more about it tomorrow and hopefully post some pictures (although I mostly took video).

A famous singer was invited to sing a song, and afterwords she ran into Ayse who was outside with Taylan who had started to fuss. She took a shine to Taylan and took lots of photos of him. I have to say, there is something about Taylan that makes people want to take his picture. He has a way of batting his long eyelashes and making funny and cute faces at people. There are times when he seriously looks like he is just waiting for someone to come take his picture, like the other day, he got to the top of the slide platform, lay on his tummy with his head in his hands, tilted is head sideways and gave a sly grin. It was hilarious how much it looked like he was posing for a photographer. I wonder if he is trying to be cute?

In other Taylan news, I FINALLY weened him, thanks to a suggestion from BabaAnne that I use tomato paste to make the milk taste yucky. I know Taylan likes tomato paste so I used lemon juice instead and it worked amazingly well. He would beg to nurse, but then when he tasted the lemon he would make a face and pull off instead. He never cried or seemed upset. He actually seemed embarrassed for me. He looked like he was thinking "Oh dear, how to I politely tell Mom her milk tastes like lemons?" He was cracking me up.

I have actually written many blog entries in my mind, I just don't get around to actually writing very often. I will try to do better but don't hold your breath.