Life is a box of chocolate

Today it's been two years since we moved from Birmingham to Istanbul. We moved from one city whose symbol is a bull to a district in Istanbul one of whose symbols is also a bull ;) Life is indeed 'like a box of chocolate' ;)  You really never know what you'll get. Before we decided on this district of Istanbul, we had to look for houses in 21 different districts and we ended up in the one with a bull!!!

Ozgurluk Park, Istanbul. First day of bayram

Delfina seems to be very content with her life in Istanbul. She spends her mornings with lots of kids in a playground / park nearby. And we come home for a noon nap and lunch, meantime she plays with her toys at home and then again out to feed birdies and play with a ball with some other kids or ride on her new scooter. Unless her mother instead took her to a gallery, museum or for a ferry ride ;)
She is a big girl now. She has most of her teeth out except for the last ones at the back. She started sleeping in her own room last week Friday. It was a big step. Arranging a video chat with her Kiwi grandparents and exhibiting her room to them and showing her room whenever a friend came to visit helped this process a lot, methinks. She has her slide, tent, chest of drawers [every drawer of which I am intending to paint a rainbow colour], her toy boxes are now all in her room ;) Her books are in the bottom shelves of our family bookshelves ;) So I guess, the moving process is over and we are 90% settled. There is still stuff to buy for the house, but nothing comes easy... or let's say time settles you back in ;)

exploring the world on her own

We gave lots of balloons away to the kids in the playground last weekend, because it was bayram [religious festival time, like Xmas when family members get together, people visit each other and exchange pressies]. I keep on teaching Delfina to give or to share but when she finds out that she can't straight away borrow other kids' toys or bicycle, she gets angry. For instance, whenever we go out to feed the birds, I buy a pound of bird food and give it to all of the kids there to feed the birds together and it is fun ;) But when Delfi wants to go and pick a handful birdfood from other kids, I keep on telling her that she needs to ask permission. Unfortunately not everyone is willing to share the whole pack with other kids :( And she gets upset. When we gave balloons away on Monday, she was ok to share her balloons until a boy did not want to give his toy truck to Delfina. Then she changed, and started to cry not to give any balloons away. Well, I did not force her afterwards. I guess bringing up a child with communist ideals in a non-communist environment is difficult.

playing with her best playmate Alexia

Have you ever realised how many 'social rules' you need to teach to your kids? I don't necessarily believe in teaching her some of the rules but I  have to teach her so that she does not experience any nasty reaction from other people. In a Turkish TV series that I watch, a kid tried to get some figs from an old and grumpy man's garden. Finding out that kids were 'stealing' his figs, he started shouting and tried to teach the kids a lesson. Later on, when the main kid's mother told her not to 'steal' anything from anyone, he said 'what did that old man do to ripen those figs? Did they ripen in his hands? Why can't I eat them?' It is true. Modern  societies all around the world have rules: we own stuff, we buy and sell. Doesn't it come to one's mind that the whole story of ownership is completely random. Who is the first owner? People sell and buy and declare everything on their land belongs to them. As Delfina is getting closer to her age 2, she started developing the whole sensation of 'it belongs to me and you can't touch it' or 'it is MINE'. For the last ten days or so, she has liked to share other kids' stuff but has not liked to share her 'own'.

maybe we gave up to 50 balloons away on the bayram day ;)

 It is true that for the first half of your life you learn stuff, you look at the world to discover and then when things commence to become mundane and daily, I think the best thing to do is to have a child and then you start questioning the world from scratch again ;) It is really making me tired dealing with this 'sharing' business. But this is a stage of her growing up and it will pass. I know. It is unbelievable how time passes. It is like yesterday I was working at Birmingham Conservatoire with my wonderful colleagues and today Delfi is 21 months old. And next time I open my eyes, I guess she will be celebrating her 21st birthday somewhere in the world! 

with her sleepmate :)

She doesn't talk yet but she can express herself very well. And she is doing her best to imitate sounds in English, Turkish and Korean.. She loves Korean kids songs ;)
http://kr.infant.kids.yahoo.com/infantzone/index.html?service=song&mode=sublist&cate_no=110&sort=latest&endpg=8&pg=7
 She loves music and to dance. I guess it's got to do with the fact that I spent my first months of pregnancy at Birmingham Conservatoire ;)) 'Life is like a box of chocolate' and really you don't know what is to come. Learning about the existence of Delfina was absolutely  a delightful taste.. My little friend is growing up so quickly... Hope she and all babies in the world have a green, just, peaceful and healthy life...