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. 

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.