21 Months Old

Well I'm a week (ok, ok, nine days) late, but better late than never!


Wearing a dress that belonged to a little girl I nannied five years ago. I asked for the dress when she outgrew it in hopes that I would one day have a little girl to wear it!

At 21 months Noel:

*is still doing well in the potty-training department. She's not 100% trained (like, she won't always come up to me and tell me she needs to go), but she is trained enough. She tells us often that she needs to go. She is dry about 85-90% of the time after naps or even in the morning when she wakes up. She has accidents when we're not paying attention to her small signs that she needs to go. But overall, for not even two years old, she is quite potty-trained. It makes this momma happy.



*is starting to cut one of her molars. Lord help us.
*likes puzzles. We have an animal puzzle and an ABC puzzle and she's a fan of both, and can get most of the letters in their slots. She's a master at the animal puzzle.
*speaking of ABC's, she can sing the ABC song. She of course does not pronounce all of the letters correctly, but she gets a lot of them right, and she has the tune down. She also likes "twinkle, twinkle" and "the wheels on the bus."



*loves animals. She loves to pet one of the strays in our courtyard, and she loves to play with every farm animal toy we have. There are a few Little People cows and horses that she frequently sleeps with. Actually, she doesn't just sleep with them, they go everywhere with us. It's really funny how attached she is to those small plastic cows.
*has reached that stage where you have to repeat back everything she says so that she "knows you heard her." It's both endearing and annoying, but she will repeat whatever she's saying (at a very high decibel as well) until you repeat it back to her.


Her first time eating corn-on-the-cob. Neither she nor Lane could figure out that they were supposed to pick up the corn to bite it!

*has graduated up to 24-month clothes and size 6 shoes. She can still fit into a lot of her 18-month clothes, but since the weather has cooled down and most of her 18-month things are summery, we've just swapped out most of her wardrobe.
*gives us good-night kisses on both cheeks. It's very sweet.
*is just plain funny. Yesterday she was so upset because we didn't have any grapes. I showed her in all the fridge and in the fruit bowl that we didn't have any. So she looked at me and said, "Get some. Go outside. Now." Bwahaha, she's too smart for her own good!



*loves to be read to. She really loves our Little Pookie books, but really she likes any of our board books and a few of our "regular" books as well.
*will lie in her bed for a time out when she's pitching a fit. We'll ask her, "Do you need to go lie down in your bed?" and she'll say, "Yeah." We'll put her in her crib and she'll lie there, quietly, until she's ready to not pitch a fit and then she'll start yelling for us to come get her.
*loves to watch Mickey Mouse or Dora. It's kind of funny because Lane is about over those so she doesn't ever want to watch them, but Noel loves them. We sometimes let her watch one if she's up earlier than Lane in the morning or after Lane goes to bed at night.


Notice she's got that beloved cow?

Life Lately (Otherwise Known as Single-Parented Potty-Training)

I've been home alone with the girls for the past 23 days. Shannon comes home on Thursday. And I am so ready for him to be back! Yesterday I (accidentally) put Noel down for her nap without a diaper. It turned out ok because she wakes up from her naps dry at least 2/3 of the time so she was dry. But then I put her to bed for the night without a diaper, too! What is wrong with me? So of course the first thing I had to deal with this morning was a soaked toddler and her sheets and foam mattress. Thankfully everything came clean and we're no worse for the wear, I'm just obviously tired.

Six days into this crazy-long single-parenting gig I started to potty train Noel. Other than her showing absolutely no actual interest in the potty I could tell she was ready. She had all the words. She woke up dry from naps sometimes and could stay dry for an hour or two at a time. She would tell me when she had pooped. So I decided to go for it with "3-day potty training." And it worked. It was a rough first few days but by a week in I think I could say she was officially trained. She still has accidents but they're usually my fault for not making her go (and thankfully she will now pee on command unless it's only been like 30 minutes). In the past few days she's decided she'll go on the "big potty" so that has allowed us to venture farther from home and be gone for longer stretches of time. She's doing great, our budget is doing great (no more spending $32 for a package of 66 diapers!), and I just can't believe she's so big.


Torturing Playing with a neighborhood stray. Lane named the cat "Paint." She loves that cat and it *almost* makes me consider getting a pet. But not really.

We're also packing for yet another move. Our lease is only until September 15th and we had greatly hoped to be able to stay for longer, but I've had two neighbors approach me and say, "So, you're moving in September, right? The brother is going to live there, right?" So I think our landlady's brother is, indeed, planning on moving in here after he gets married. So in all my free time (ahem, at night after the girls are in bed) I've been packing up some of the things we can live without for the next three or so weeks. I seriously am beginning to loathe packing.

This is the longest that I've ever done the single parent thing. My previous "best" was 13 days...this will end up being twice that, including a solo international flight with the girls. But I think it hasn't been that bad up until the last 4-5 days, and I think we're just all kind of bored. Life has no real routine, I'm tired of my house being dirty, and I'm tired of eating PB&Js. I'm ready for real life to begin again, even if that includes *gasp* going to language class again.


A few tips for those (especially who live overseas) who will be embarking on single-parenthood:

1) Keep your expectations of yourself low. Yes, you may get all sorts of things done while the kids are sleeping, but you may also be so exhausted from handling "those days" all by yourself for days on end and in turn just want to go to bed at 9:00. It's ok. Get some sleep. The projects can wait.
2) Try to get up before your kids do, even if it's just long enough to drink a cup of coffee, say a quick prayer for the day, or take a shower. This is not always possible (when Shannon was gone for two weeks before Noel was sleeping through the night I took showers at night and slept until the girls got up), but is highly advisable. When the only minutes of silence you'll have all day are those that will happen before your kids wake up, try to make them happen. You'll be in a much better frame of mind for the day.


Beans, noodles, funnels, spoons, and tupperware. An hour of fun.

3) Stock your freezer and pantry before your spouse leaves. Make sure you have lots of canned whatever-you-use-a-lot-of. Crackers, raisins, cereal, the kinds of things that don't go bad. As well as flour and sugar because you will want to make cookies or need to make banana bread since your children refuse to eat the ones you buy without daddy around. Stock your freezer. Our staples this go-around have been bags of frozen veggies (because I'm too lazy tired to cook fresh ones), homemade frozen pesto, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, and pizza dough.
4) Make mealtime easy on yourself. It's not a time to be fighting food battles. Trust me: I'm all about the food battles...I want my kids to not be picky and to eat what they're served. We fight these battles regularly. But not when daddy's gone for almost four weeks.
5) Try to have some fun things that they haven't seen or played with. I'd been saving a few things since January for just a time like this. It was new entertainment for two days. We bought brand new markers. We borrowed a LeapPad for a few days. Save some of the things from packages that grandma sends and pull them out when you're at your wits' end.
6) Let your kids watch more TV than usual if you need to. We have a fairly strict no-more-than-two-shows-a-day policy at our home. And those are the 22-minute shows. But my girls have been watching probably twice that on most days so I can hang laundry (without them trying to un-do my work), take a shower, wash dishes, type emails, or just read a book for a few minutes. A bit of extra television won't hurt them for a few weeks. So relax about it and enjoy some peace.


Playing in the fountains on one of our long walks.

7) Do special stuff with them. Go out for ice cream. Go to indoor play places. Go out for pizza. Go for long, leisurely walks and don't hurry them home for dinner but let them eat sweet rolls and drink juice boxes. Make it a fun time for them. Try to enjoy the time with them. If you try to make it enjoyable for them, you will in turn enjoy the time more. And let's face it, a mom who's two or three weeks into a single-parenting jaunt who's still sane and enjoying her kids is worth much more than one who has insisted that her children eat every green bean and take a bath every night. Keep it fun.
8) Give your kids grace. They will not act the same when daddy is gone. They might not sleep as well. They might need extra discipline for a few days. They might need lots of comfort on others. Just remember that they don't necessarily understand that "daddy will be home in X number of days." All they know is that daddy's not home, and they miss him.

So there you go. I figured up the other day that Shannon has been gone for about two months of Noel's 20 months of life, so about 10%. I know a lot of other dads miss a lot more than that and that the moms have to "single-mom it" for much longer, but for us that's a good chunk of time. And these are the things I've learned that work for us, and help me to not count down the days (in a bad way).

Hopefully I'll be back soon but who knows with all the single-parenting and all the packing... 

20 Months Old

I missed Noel's 19-month post because we were traveling the two weeks before and the two weeks after, so...here goes month 20!



At 20 months Noel:

*is potty trained! She's been "trained" for about a week now but has only gone two days with no accidents and seeming to really understand the whole thing. Tonight she was playing and suddenly shot up (she was squatting), said, "Oh! Poo in da potty!" and ran for the bathroom. It was hilarious. And great. We did the "Three Day Potty Training" and I have to say...days one and two were awful, days three and four were alright, and by day five I think she pretty much had it. She is definitely enjoying wearing panties and seeing what she produced in the potty.



*says some really funny things. Some of my favorites recently are that she says, "Umm...yeah," a lot when you ask her if she wants to do something. She also gets all worked up about wanting something that she can't have (cookies, for example) and will pitch a mini-fit, yelling, "I. Want. SNACKS!" and lifting onto her tippy-toes at "snacks" and throwing her head up. And then she'll burst into a fit of giggles because all I ever do is laugh at her when she does because it's so funny.
*really enjoys coloring and is always asking me to draw her something...a ladybug, a giraffe, a cow, whatever. It's a good thing she's easy to please since my artistic abilities are seriously lacking.



*knows all the main colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, brown, black, white) and can usually tell you what color something is.
*calls all letters "ABCDs."
*has finally been swimming. We spent a week in Cyprus so we took her to the pool a lot and she had a blast. She really enjoyed walking around in the mini-pool and jumping to us in the big pool. She did not enjoy the sea, though.
*can walk up a few (four or five) steps without holding onto anything/anyone.



*has had a rough couple of weeks. She got an ear infection (to the best of my ability to tell), was really fussy, and didn't want to lay down to sleep, so I ended up holding her to fall asleep for a few days. Then she decided she didn't want to have to fall asleep on her own ever so has been pitching fits at bedtime and nap time for probably a week now. I think that she may finally be broken of it, after letting her cry it out at bedtime last night and nap time today, and at bedtime again tonight but she only cried for maybe five minutes before she gave up. I'm glad, as it's been rough!



*can sing along with some songs; "10,000 Reasons," "Wheels on the Bus," "Sanctuary," and a few others. Of course she can't sing all the words but she gets a surprising number of them correct.
*cut that last incisor tooth about a week before she turned 19 months old. I have definitely noticed an improvement in her mood!
*repeats, "I do it" about a million times a day. I've determined that toddlers want to do it themselves as soon as they learn how to express it!




*is still pretty picky when it comes to food. Four weeks of traveling followed by two weeks (with ten days to go) of single-parenting (with a week of potty-training thrown in there) are not reinforcing good eating habits. I seem to recall that we didn't really start cracking down on Lane until she was two and a few months, so I suppose we'll tolerate Noel's pickiness (but not cater to it) for another few months. I've noticed that she is big on texture. She doesn't like quinoa although she likes rice. She doesn't like pesto. She even turned her nose up at spaghetti sauce last week even though she used to really like it. She goes through phases with fruits, veggies, and varieties of crackers that she likes, though, so I think she's just a typical toddler. We'll focus on it more when life regulates itself a bit.

So there you have it. I'm sure there's more but as anyone can see from my lack of posting, I'm busy, busy, busy. So this will have to do. 

Hello, Cyprus!

Four weeks ago today we flew out of Istanbul and headed to North Cyprus for some much needed vacation. We hadn't been on a real vacation in two years (since we went here), so it was definitely needed! It was so good to just relax and swim and visit with friends. There doesn't seem to be much to do on North Cyprus, but that was fine because between two preschoolers, a toddler, a baby, and a rental car that wouldn't hold all of us (in our own seats) and our stroller, we just ended up staying at the resort most of the time.

The view from our balcony of the offices, pools, restaurant, and shops at our resort.

The view off our balcony toward the water. We watched the sun set every night.

Our living room.

We were headed to Istanbul (and I got LASIK while we were there!) so we investigated places we could visit that wouldn't cost too much to get to. North Cyprus is what we found.

Noel had fun!

The harbor in Girne.

And while North Cyprus itself didn't seem to have much to offer, we did have a good time at the resort, just swimming,

napping,

and playing in the sand at the beach.

We also left the resort a few times and ate out,

drove on the wrong side of the road, 

spent some time together as a family,

(Sadly, this is the best family photo we have from vacation!)

and climbed some castle walls.

All in all, we just hung out, chatted, ate out, and got some sun.

And it was great. It's seeming that our pattern for a "real" vacation is about once every two years. Any suggestions as to where we should go in 2015?

Life Lately

It's been a busy, busy few months. We left today for vacation and are enjoying a break back in our old stomping grounds of Istanbul before heading to Cyprus next week. So I thought I'd take the chance to update the ole blog since I rarely have time to anymore. What's been keeping us so busy?

1. The Circus. We took the girls to their first circus. It was small and slightly rinky-dink, and about a thousand degrees inside the tent, but they loved every minute of it. There were lions and poodles that did tricks, a man who breathed fire and a clown. What's not to love?


Before the circus began, when they were giving pony rides and letting people hold snakes and stuff.

2. A cold snap. Back in April it got so warm that they turned our heat off about five days early. We were all glad because we were sweltering. Of course, a couple days later it got cold. Like, really cold. So cold that Noel had to wear her snowsuit for trips to the market. So cold that we were wearing multiple layers of clothing inside the house and drinking hot tea and coffee all day long. So cold that we had to dry our clothes on the oven because they wouldn't dry just hanging on the rack:



3. A girls' trip. A few of the other ex-pat ladies here and I took a short trip to another city. We got to sleep in, eat our dinner without having to feed anyone else theirs, linger at the dinner table, and swim in an awesome swimming pool. It was my first night away from both girls and while I missed them, it was great to have some girl time.


The awesome pool where we ladies stayed.

4. Laundry. Sometimes I feel like it never ends. But at least in the summer I can hang it out to dry and it dries in an hour or two.



5. Camping. A few weeks ago we took our girls on a camping trip with some other ex-pats. The first day it rained all day and we were wet and miserable and sure we'd made a mistake by going. The second day the sun came out and made it all worth it. We ate s'mores and picked wildflowers, ate shashlik grilled over a campfire, climbed rock walls, and just enjoyed being out in nature.


Staying dry in the tent while it was pouring outside.


Playing with a beetle. This girl loves bugs.


Rock climbing for the first time.

6. Visiting friends. We headed out to some local friends' "farm" one day. The girls enjoyed fresh raspberries, currants, cucumbers, and saw other fruits and veggies that weren't ripe yet. They loved all the plants and the berries, and Lane enjoyed "swimming" in their small pool. While we're still learning the cultural rules around here, we're grateful that we're starting to make some local friends and acquaintances.


The girls exploring the tomato plants.

7. Canning stuff. One friend loaned me her canning equipment and another friend showed me how it all works here, and I've started canning some stuff. So far I've done some strawberry jam, strawberry-rhubarb jam, apricot jam, strawberry syrup, and one jar each of barbecue sauce and salsa. I have no idea how any of them will turn out (if my seals sealed correctly), but it's been fun and neat to know I'm making this stuff on my own, and hopefully making my life a little easier come winter.



8. Playing outdoors. With summer and warm weather have come lots of mornings and evenings to run around, pick mulberries, play in the dirt, ride rides at the park, and burn off energy. I've greatly enjoyed letting the girls run wild in the many awesome parks (not playgrounds, those stink, but the parks are awesome) here.


Riding the kids' train at the "big park" here.

9. Cooking. It's always an adventure around here. Last week I bought a couple of chickens to roast. The first one was completely normal. The second one looked like this when I took it out of its package:



So there you go. One long, long-overdue blog post. Hopefully now that I'm not studying every evening for the next few weeks (hooray for vacations!) I can update a little more. But no promises...

18 Months Old

Every month when Noel turns another month older, I go back and read Lane's corresponding post. It's so fun to me to be able to do this, and I'm so glad that I'm keeping track of some of these things!

At 18 months, Noel:

*is great at playing by herself. She is easily entertained and it's amazing to me to watch her imagination unfold at least a year before Lane's did. Watching her big sister has really helped Noel's ability to play at age-appropriate things much earlier than Lane was able to.
*is a royal hoot. We laugh so, so much because of her. I think that the fact that she's talking so much just makes her so much cuter. A couple weeks ago she went through a phase where she was saying all the time, "Fwiper, no fwiping! Ahh, mant!" She would repeat it over and over again, with an emphasis on the "t" at the end of "man." I find it hilarious that she was emphasizing the "t" when there isn't a "t" at all at the end of "man," yet that's what she was hearing I guess.
*still loves accessories. Bows, necklaces, bracelets, shoes, all of it. She's a mini diva.




*still has not cut those stubborn eye teeth. They've looked like they were going to pop through tomorrow for about a month now. (Update since I started this at least a week ago and haven't had time to finish it: at 18 months old she didn't have them, but at 18 months and eight days she has cut three of the eye teeth with another on the way soon.)
*is still pretty picky about what she'll eat. As a result we've cut out snacking, at least in the morning. We end up eating lunch pretty early some days, but I think it's helping her to at least try the food on her plate, or at least to eat what's there that she likes instead of shunning it and asking for a cracker.




*weighs 24 pounds to the best of my deduction. We'll get her to a pediatrician in a couple weeks for the first time in about nine months. She's in all 18-month clothes and in a size 5 shoe.
*has been on her first camping trip. (More to come on that in a "Life Lately" blog post one day, hopefully!)
*loves: strawberries, cherries, milk, peanut butter, pancakes, cooked bell peppers, beans, rice, Mickey and Minnie, Dora, shoes, necklaces, books.
*is doing much better at sleeping all night. She and Lane actually go to bed at the same time most nights now and they seem to do ok with it.
*is showing signs of being cognitively able to potty train. I'm not sure if she's actually ready or not, but I think we'll try a 3-day blitz in August when Shannon is traveling. We're just talking it up a lot until then, talking about going on the potty, about panties, and so on.



*has unfortunately picked up some bad habits from Lane. Lane is not very good at sharing, so neither is Noel. They bicker a lot. I feel like I usually can't leave the room for more than about 20 seconds before Noel will be screaming because Lane took her toy, is trying to play with her in a way she doesn't want to be played with, or because she wants something Lane has that Lane won't share with her. Today I taught Noel how to say, "my turn!" so hopefully they can start to understand the concept of taking turns. Often when other children come towards Noel when she's playing with something, she'll gather it into her arms and scream, "no!" at whoever is coming towards her. It's humorous (because she looks just like Lane when she does it) and sad all at the same time.
*can stack blocks at least 10 high.
*can walk up and down stairs when holding onto someone's hand. She can't do it alone yet, but she does pretty well when holding onto someone's hand.



*can say at least 242 individual words. That's when I stopped writing them down about two weeks ago. She also says lots of phrases: "I find mama!" "I wuv you, mama." "da doggie's gonna get you!" (a game she plays with Lane and Shannon) "my chomps on da couch." (my alligators are on the couch...I love how she calls alligators "chomps.") "get out," "get on da bed," "my turn!" and so on. Today she told me after I got home from class that Lane got a spanking for throwing a toy. Of course she didn't say it just like that, but I understood that that's what she was communicating.

Here's a list of the words she was saying before we left on our camping trip on June 7th (I haven't written any new ones down since then):
elephant, tiger, kitty, fish, sheep, pig, cow, frog, bunny, cock-a-doo (rooster), chicken, duck, moose, mouse, monkey, octopus, bee, goose, giraffe, panda, fly, lion, turtle, hippo, rhino, crab, bug, ladybug, snake, rabbit, zebra, doggie, birdie, apple, coffee, cheese, cracker, candy, cookie, rice, strawberries, banana, lemon, carrots, bean, water, milk, orange, olive, egg, juice, pancake, noodles, apricot, kiwi, broccoli, nut, raisin, sandwich, bread, corn, chip, yogurt, cherries, walnut, muffin, mama/mommy, dada/daddy, Lane, Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, Cinderella, Dora, Boots, Harper, Micah, Matt, Courts, Jennifer, Erica, Marvin, Shannon, Noel, Brittni, Dan, Mark, Ashley, Calvin, Faith, Luke, Whitney, Grant, Janna, baby, Elmo, Abby, Ernie, friend, you, me, I, guys, come, go, splash, run, swim, drop, jump, find, hide, tickle, sit (down), drink, bonk, sleep, cry, dance, eat, help, sing, play, clap, hug, kiss, color, yucky, mine, yummy, blue, pink, sad, silly, ugly, funny, hot, gross, white, red, green, yellow, purple, garbage, ball, pillow, book, potty, zoo, blankie, bath, balloon, phone, poop, puzzle, boat, pee-pee, clock, flower, sun, moon, slide, hat, bed, fork, spoon, plate, cup, leaf, tree, button, show, jammies, pants, shoes, shirt, socks, bow, dress, coat, glasses, rock, blocks, train, bite, feet, hand, teeth, eyes, belly, face, medicine, clothes, house, marker, octagon, towel, map, lotion, necklace, tree, up, one, two, three, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, yes, no, yeah, more, done, sorry, oops, bye-bye, nite-nite, please, again, amen, hi, hello, boo!, wow, ok, boo-boo, on, where, the, a, this, that, and



And that's it for now. I'm sure there's more but seeing how I'm already so late...I'll go ahead and hit publish and try to come back for another update in three weeks!