so here's what we've been up to

still getting back into the swing of things, and therefore not posting regularly just yet.  getting there!  we've had a busy couple of weeks.  first, emre became a boy (still not sure HOW or WHEN that happened):

wearing the hat grandma gave him - he put it on himself before our walk!

he loves to talk on the phone with grandma & grandpa (and sometimes, with no one)

my handsome little guy

out on a dinner date with mommy

he fell in love with our waiter! he offered to pick emre up, and emre immediately clung to him & put his head on his shoulder, as if they were long lost friends.  what a nut.

oh yeah - and emre gave me a black eye, accidentally.  he was swinging bumbeeee around, i was sitting on the floor - wrong place, wrong time.  it hurt, but i didn't realize it was so bad until the next morning!  ouch.

casualty of emre

king of his domain

helping daddy unpack the box of goodies we mailed from the us.  everything was brand new again!

then it was time for one last visit with ado, before he returns to australia.  as always, we had a wonderful time & loved having him around (emre loved it the most)!

ado's back!

enjoying a 'nack' he got for himself (hopefully he didn't steal it from another child) after class at gymboree

he ate 3 biscuits in total

back home, it was time to read the paper, just like uncle ado...

...or, chew on the paper?

ado & ben, resurrecting an old game from ben's childhood

yep, emre was inside!

but, he didn't want the game to end.

such a ham

playing at the park with mommy

takin' a rest

a brief pause amid the cyclone of destruction that is emre's play

oh, mom.

tickle time with daddy

one afternoon during his visit, ado was sitting on the couch with his feet up, eating an apple.  when emre saw this he immediately demanded that evelyn give him an apple.  but that wasn't enough - when ado got up, he snuck into his spot and put HIS feet up while he ate his apple on the couch (ado - i need that picture!).  he's definitely mimicking more and more of what we say and do - which means we have to be careful (can you guess what 'dit' means?).

he now has to sit in ado's place on the couch.  

and in the biggest news of all, we have a preschooler!  emre started this week at the international preschool.  he'll attended 3 days a week for a couple of hours.  his first day went great - his teachers were all impressed by how social he is (but we weren't surprised - they just don't realize yet that he's a remarkable kid. they'll catch on soon enough).