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.

Diaper Duty

Things are going well here. Erbay is starting his new job on April 1st and Lena will start as soon as her work visa is complete. Their new home will be ready for them to move in tomorrow. BabaAnne was in Ankara for over a week and Lena was in Uzbekistan getting her visa, so Erbay was helping out by watching Taylan while I was at work. On his first morning alone with Taylan he cooked him an egg and was pleased that Taylan enjoyed it. His pleasure was short-lived because a few minutes later, Taylan had a huge poop and Erbay panicked. He started to remove the diaper and this made him get the dry heaves, so he found one of his mother's scarves, sprayed perfume in it, and wrapped it around his face. He then called his mother and tucked the phone under the scarf next to his ear so he could talk with his hands free. His Mom talked him through how to use the baby wipes and clean him up. He then hurled the dirty diaper into the bathroom trash can without putting it in a bag first, so the bathroom stank all day until I came home. If I didn't know better I would have though this was a scene from "Three Men and a Baby" but it was Erbay's true-life adventure.

As many of you already know, Nehir was in a big celebration for his school's founding Anniversary. Nehir didn't enjoy himself much because a) he had to wait a LONG TIME in a boring locker room waiting to go on, and b) he wanted to dance but had to hold a flag instead. Apparently the dance teacher told the kids the bad dancers would hold flags and Nehir was unhappy about this, for obvious reasons. We talked to the principal who spoke to the dance teacher. She is generally fine, but we don't want her saying stuff like that to our kid or anyone else's.

Nehir got sick after that day and the Dr. thinks he may have H. Pylori because of a host of tummy issues he has had for his whole life, including being super-skinny and having a poor appetite. He will start treatment later this week and I hope this helps.

In better news, Nehir was STAR OF THE WEEK again and he was very, very proud. He is doing great in school. He can read English now even though he never was formally taught it. He picks things up so quickly! We are really happy for him.

Taylan is experimenting with talking more. He likes to repeat words. He also has learned the concept of being "naughty" and when he does something he knows he shouldn't, like throw food, he points his finger and says "No no no!" In anticipation of what I am about to say. He is so cute and funny it is hard to keep a straight face sometimes when he is pulling his antics. He also likes to pretend to cry when he needs attention. He makes an "O" shape with his mouth and makes a wimpery "OOh hoo hoo" sound. It is funny. He likes to follow Nehir around and do whatever he is doing. Below is a photo of Nehir and Taylan dressed up in what Nehir imagines Harry Potter wizard robes look like, holding make-shift wands. Nehir decided Taylan was Professor Flitwick because he is a short character.

The first photo was taken on a tour-boat on the Bosphorus that Erbay treated me and the kids to. Erbay took about 20 photos before he got this one. The one of Erbay and Nehir is also from the tour. I love it but Erbay thinks he looks like an alcoholic.

I have not written much lately but a lot has been going on.  Lena and Erbay are here and there is great news. I was being superstitious so I didn't want to write about the purpose of their visit until everything was confirmed, but as of today they have definite offers to come and work here in Istanbul. They will be moving within weeks and we are all so excited and happy for them. Selcuk is friends with an entrepreneur and set up the initial meeting.  Erbay's and Lena's excellent C.V.s did the rest.  Erbay has lived half his life in Uzbekistan and has long wanted to move back home.  Erbay and Lena seem more relaxed and happy than I have ever seen them.

 

Selcuk has NYU students here for an abroad experience over spring break.  They have a great agenda for the week and I am hoping to join them for some of the events.  I have been running a fever for four days now and I am really tired of being sick.  If I don't take Tylenol I am freezing, and if I do I am hot and sweaty.  Yuck.  I went to the Dr. yesterday who told me it was probably a virus.  Today I took matters into my own hands and went and bought some antibiotics because I think it is a sinus infection because my head has been killing me.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, antibiotics are over the counter here.  

I spent the whole afternoon trying to embed a video of Nehir dancing into my blog but it didn't work.  Instead, here are some cute photos.

What Is That Burning Circle In the Sky?

After a very dreary, rainy week and a half, during which my mood and temper deteriorated, Sunday dawned with bright sun and blue sky.  It was a glorious day and we celebrated with a family trip to the park.  Selcuk and I played one on one basketball while Selcuk's cousin Mehmet played football (soccer) with the kids.  We then attempted a family football game but Nehir was a bit miffed by our desire to play by the rules.  We then went to another area of town to visit his cousins.  It was a nice day and I hope the weather holds.

Nehir plans to write a series of books about a boy wizard named Jack who goes to a wizard school after his parents are killed by an evil wizard names Sand (the boy LOVES Harry Potter).  He says it is sort of like Harry Potter but sort of different.  The differences are that Jack doesn't use a wand (actually, Nehir changed his mind on that and now he does), Jack can never die, Jack is the first wizard ever, and Jack saves his family in the end after all.  The titles of the books are "Jack and the Boiling Iceberg", "The Volcano", "The Monster in the Cave" and "The Snake in the Temple." He wrote the first sentence in such garbled English I couldn't read it, which upset him a bit until he decided to just read it to me: "One day Mr. and Mrs. Spike went shopping but when Sand showed up the shopping trip was canceled because they were dead."  I guess if I were dead I would cancel my shopping plans too.  Apparently, at the end of the series, Jack will bring them back to life.  I know some of you are probably thinking that I shouldn't expose him to scary books like Harry Potter at his age, but he loves them and I am only letting him read the first two for now.  I keep him as sheltered as I reasonably can, which isn't as sheltered as I used to think I would keep him.  Ah well, I do the best I can.

I wish I had more news about Taylan, I say the same things every posting: he is cute, he likes to dance, he is cute, he likes the Bob the Builder Song, he is cute, etc. etc.  Today he climbed up on the dining room table to sneak sugar cubes so I moved them to the kitchen.  A few minutes later I found him on the kitchen table eating the sugar.  I was pretty impressed because he hadn't seen where I had put them and it wasn't our house so he didn't just go to the "normal" sugar spot.  Did he smell it?!  The boy must be gifted.

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.