I Really Need To Learn Turkish...

Matt went to work for the first time this morning. I was confident that I would be fine going out with the kids since we'd be doing things I know how to do - go to the grocery store and the toy store. I had no idea it would be SO different without another set of arms.

I geared up with Chase in a front carrier and Amelia in a stroller and headed down a teeny elevator, through narrow hallways, and heavy doors to the Akmerkez shopping center. It was much more difficult with a parent:child ratio of 1:2 and no handicap buttons to open the doors automatically. We first hit the toystore where the kids had a blast playing with toys. Chase walked out of the store and Amelia went after him carrying a stuffed dog that sent the alarms BLARING! It scared her half to death. OK, time to go.

I try to find an elevator to get one floor down to the grocery store, but can't find it. So I decide to carry the stroller down the escalator. I hold Amelia's hand to get her on the escalator then reach for the stroller. Amelia freaks out and tries to climb back up and falls and bangs her knee on the grooved edges of the stair. She is WAILING! By the time we reach the bottom, there is a nice Turkish man who stops to help and 2 security guards coming to see what happened. I have no idea what they are saying and I'm trying to calm Amelia down and "talk" to these people. Before I know it, they are wisking us down a long hallway to the elevator and down to a doctor where they put ice on her swollen knee. She is crying even harder at the thought of being at the doctor. She finally calms down when the doctor gives her a pen that lights up. After a few moments, I say we're OK and they help guide us back to the grocery store where a canister of Pringles makes Amelia's pain go away. At least now I know where the elevator is :)

Her knee is swollen and you can see the 2 bruises from the escalator.
She is covered in bumps and bruises since she runs everywhere she goes
and is constantly falling and running into things. We go through
LOTS of band-aids

After our eventful morning, we decide to stay in for the rest of the afternoon. The kids had fun playing and watching movies and eating almost an entire bucket of cherries. I pulled out my Turkish dictionary and start writing down words to help me communicate. My Turkish is pretty limited to "merhaba" (hello) and "tresecurler" (thank you). This gets me pretty far, but it's time to learn more.

Matt wasn't going to be home until after 7, so we decided to go outside for a walk after dinner. We saw a green space out our window and tried to walk there, but never made it. I was too scared to cross the street :) But we did find a patch of grass with big rocks that Amelia could climb. It felt SO good to get outside. The weather here is wonderful. Windy, but warm. I have been craving warmth.

All in all, we are having a great time here. Although we do need to get the kids sleeping better at night. They think going to bed at 9pm is just a nap and are awake from 12-2am. Ugh. I'm up at my usual 5am and they sleep until noon. Today I woke them up at 9am and hope we have a better night.

Matt had a good first day at work and picked up a temporary Passat to drive (our permanent car will be either an Audi or BMW wagon). A Turkish co-worker led him home and Matt says he would have no idea how to do that himself. It's going to take a while to get used to these crazy streets and horrific traffic. There are 15 million people here! It is insane. And they all need to drive at the same time :) They say a 4 mile drive could take an hour at the wrong time of day. Yikes. Matt better plan to leave work at an early hour...

As for my kids, Chase just started saying "no" and I love the way he says it. And he will say "Hey, Sis!" whenever she walks in the room. Too cute. And Amelia makes me laugh everyday with the stuff she says. She is talking like a grown-up, but I love that she still calls the color gray gravy, pretzels are pencils, and when counting, she gets to twelve then repeats "eleventeen, fourteen, sixteen,..." I love my kids!