get ready for some cute pics

because this week we took plenty!  i don't know what i was complaining about last monday - seeing as tuesday was a national holiday, children's day.  naturally, we spent the day with our child, letting him do what HE wanted to do.  we went to the mall and let him loose - which he loved!

running away from daddy

he kept dashing into stores, trying to ditch ben.  it was pretty hilarious.

independence!

enjoying a snack while mommy shopped

what a treat having a day to ourselves in the middle of the week!

gettin' some love from dede

the rest of the week was pretty normal. 

my little who from whoville

reading the paper with daddy

making daddy smell his feet - a favorite pass time

on an evening walk - our neighborhood.  we certainly do live in a different part of the world!  sometimes i forget that.

the weekend involved two cooking classes - one at the swissotel, from a chef

and one from agatha's mom.  she cooked up an octopus - greek style - and we got to watch.

just add 1 cup of white wine, carrot, celery and black pepper.  the water seeps out of the octopus, cooking it!

emre loves her!  can you blame him?

and THEN emre had his first experience with markers. WASHABLE markers - luckily.

my little artiste, focused on his masterpiece

yes, he did manage to get some ink on the paper

proudly displaying his efforts

i was pleasantly relieved to find the marker came right off with a wet cloth.

creative little bubba

on sunday we made a morning trip to ikea to buy emre a his-size table & chairs.  with all that coloring, we figured it was time.  then we got all dressed up for a series of visits, beginning with a gosende grand from new york, a special treat!  marybeth arrived on friday to visit with a friend.  we'll see her again later this week & i'll be sure to take some pictures then.

summer hipster.  the fedora's too small this year, dang it.

daddy tried to get him to hold the cuban, but he wanted none of it.  good boy.

after we visited with marybeth, we had dinner with agatha & her mom and then rushed home to greet our evening visitor - uncle fazil can!  he arrived from boston on sunday and we were so happy to see him.  but, he was mostly happy to see emre.  ah, well!

balkaya family, gathered around emre's new table

it was a busy weekend, but a fun one, too!  the weather is gorgeous here - 80s this week - and we are settling into summer.  hooray!

little lion man

yet another wonderful weekend went by in the blink of an eye, and here we are back at monday, again.  at least the weather is supposed to warm up by the end of the week.  and at least emre will make this week pass, as with all the others, in a flash.  i know i shouldn't wish the time away, but i enjoy our weekends so much, it's hard not to wish for them.  we spent this one much like the others: entertaining friends, taking walks to the park and the grocery store, brunching and skyping with family, and with plenty of play time in between.

in emre news (is there any other kind of news?), he's now got eight teeth - the eighth one is just now emerging on the bottom left, which explains the cranky, sleepless, appetite-less baby we dealt with last week.  here's hoping he gets a break from that chore for a while now.  he's also talking more than ever - he'll repeat actual words if we say them enough times (yesterday it was 'truck!' as we watched the big dump trucks come and go by the park).  he really seems to understand almost everything we tell him, which is pretty darn cool.  i can ask him if he's hungry, and he'll rub his belly & point to his mouth if he is, or shake his head 'no' if he's not.  or i'll tell him to stop doing something and he'll give me a coy smile & keep doing it - that's when i really know he understands.

we keep ourselves entertained watching emre play or dressing him in silly outfits.  mom made him this lion outfit last fall & he's finally able to fit into it now... and it's adorable, though he wasn't sure what to make of it!

oh - i'm the lion?

thanks, mom!

emre gets a thrill out of doing anything & everything independently these days, which makes our lives a lot easier.

want him to eat?  give him a fork & he will go to town.  he loves to drink from his sippy cup, too.

putting cheerios into his cup, then eating them.  this game lasts for a while, and is especially great at 6:30am when i haven't had my coffee yet.

putting the cap back on, all by himself

figuring out the lamp switch

demanding applause, of course

trying to get him dressed usually involves a chase around the house - but he does enjoy putting his legs & arms in the holes.  he tries his best to put on socks, but no dice just yet.

handsome boy - modeling his outfit from gigi

at dede's birthday brunch

my poor, tired & cranky baby, rubbing his gums

happy birthday, ben!

today ben turns 34 years young... perfect excuse to share my vast collection of benisms from the past year or so to celebrate.  enjoy!

after doing a funky dance across the living room while snapping his fingers to 'white christmas':  you're not the only one who has talent in this family, you know.

sitting at the vespa bar in bodrum, on the phone with eric:  we're at this really cool bar called skespa!

i know i'm anally retarded and all...

let's do something where i can use the sifter.  it's perfectly normal for a man to want to sift!

did you see that rooster?  it was huge!  it looked like a... what's the bird- with the wings?

we've had some nice adventures.  now let's get you to france so you can fucking qu'est-ce que c'est!

katie, i should not be on j-date for a multitude of reasons besides just not frustrating the jews.

why would anyone watch that beauty show one - that 'suki boom boom'? (referring to honey boo boo)

america was making amazing hot sauce and here we were, just struggling to form a republic.  seems like an unfair advantage (upon discovering frank's red hot sauce has been around since 1920).

b: the only difference between me and an angel is a halo.

me: so you've got wings?

b: the wings & halo are a set.  you should know that.

after renting a peugeot in istanbul & declaring it the worst car in existence:

b: i would buy michelin tires, but i'm protesting the french these days.

me: why?

b: it's just in general... their attitude is appalling.

(i think he's since forgiven the french)

eyeing the leftover helium balloons after e's birthday party:  have you ever inhaled helium?  is it... fun?

singing his version of his favorite christmas song: but baby it's cold outsiiiiiiide... duh duh duh.... don't caaaaaare... baby it's cold outsiiiiiiiiide... doo doooooo... don't give a shiiiiiiiiiit... (long pause) IT'S COLD!

on my commenting on the large population of russian prostitutes in ankara: once you see russians, the neighborhood doesn't matter.

catching up

ben was away last week for 3 days - a birthday trip to madrid, to see real madrid play galatasaray and visit with adam.

while daddy was away emre kept me PLENTY busy.  he is still teething, and we know that because of his crankiness, constant drool and general irritability.  but he's also too busy a lot of the time to be bothered by it, thankfully, with the exception of nighttime.  so, we didn't sleep a lot, but we did get in lots of midnight cuddle sessions, so i'm not complaining!

thinking of starting my own 'reasons my son is crying' blog - here it's because he couldn't have the camera.

still mad for cheerios

on thursday night - our second night without ben - i decided to break up the evening with a dinner out & walk around the mall.  emre was the perfect gentleman on our date, and kept all of the restaurant staff & patrons in constant animation while he gave them plenty of smiles in return.  always makes me feel so proud to be out with the cutest kid in turkey!

on a date with his exhausted mommy

emre's fancy dinner - a meatball with mashed potato

i didn't grab the camera fast enough, but he was carrying BOTH of these heavy items when i found him in the hallway.

keeping himself occupied reorganizing the kitchen towels until bath time 

after a long week, we were so glad to have ben back home on friday night.  we spent the weekend doing nothing much - taking walks, napping, playing around the house, and having a lunch out on sunday afternoon.  pretty much perfection in my book!

helping daddy unpack - he found the cubans!

he took a nose-dive on the playground (hence the scratch on his nose) when he tripped while running & almost did a handstand/somersault - luckily it was on rubberized turf.

my sweet little moustache man

testing out his car seat while daddy tries to go back to sleep  - we were up at 6 on saturday morning

loving his mega blocks

check out those cheeks!  and lashes!  and those curls!  i mean, really.

little chunk at lunch with daddy