Here's our 14-month-old girl:

Why are her fingers in her mouth?  Perhaps it's because she's got about 6 teeth coming in simultaneously.  I can't be sure on the number because when I investigate with a finger in her mouth I get out of there fast before she can bite me.  Have I mentioned that she's in a biting phase?  No?  Just ask Sophia.  Or her teachers.  Or Suzy.  Seriously, the kid is like a puppy.  These are the super-fun back teeth, too, so you can imagine how much screaming we've been enduring in the middle of the night.  I can't blame the poor kid.  It must feel like her head is going to explode.

The kids were both in a good mood last night and so we celebrated by going out to dinner.  In a restaurant.  *WITH* both kids.  Proof (via lousy cell phone pic):


We went to a cafeteria-style Greek restaurant (that happened to be donating a portion of their weekend profits to a mother fighting cancer who lives in our neighborhood).  Esen ordered while I got kids settled and entertained, food was fast and tasty, and everybody made it out alive.  Hell, I'll even go so far as to say that I enjoyed it.  Later, after we got home, I got to thinking... I don't think poor Ella has even been in a restaurant before.  We went out with Sophia quite a bit, but that was two-against-one.  I just didn't like the new odds, particularly because Ella was sort of a late bloomer in the food department and wasn't likely to be particularly entertained at a restaurant.

After we got home, both girls miraculously disappeared into Ella's bedroom to play.  Esen and I sat in the living room and talked (and listened).  It was great... lasted for about 30 minutes and gave us a small taste of the wonderful world of kids-close-in-age-play-together to come!

Ella's other milestone is some great progress with words... she says a few, but just seems to understand so much of what we say (in English and Turkish).  Recognizable words include: Ella (sounds more like Lella), Lale, uh-oh, baby, puppy, Suzy (zee-zee!), daha ("more" in Turkish),... and BABA!!  Everybody and everything (except Sophia and Suzy) are BABA!!!  She even walks toward me saying BABA!!! excitedly.  In the restaurant, us girls were getting settled at the table and Esen was ordering.  There were lots of distractions to look at, but when Esen started ordering across the room and Ella heard his voice (which was hard to hear) she started screaming, "BABA!!!  BABA!!!!"  Sophia even started to chime in and I had to get all preschool teacher on her ass about using her inside voice.  It was comical and sweet.  I've been working a lot lately, so Esen spends more time with both of them and it shows (this is also why Ella says "Lale" I think).  Ella can also shake her head "no" and that's awfully useful for an opinionated baby.  Just ask Sophia.

Me:        Sophia, this is falafel.
Sophia:   Like WAFFLE!

Since falafel isn't an easy word to find a rhyme to, this gives me hope that she's smarter than she looks.  :)  Another example that tells me the wheels of pre-reading are spinning in that head of hers:

Me:        Sophia, this is a harmonica.
Sophia:   Max Weitzman's mommy's name is MONICA!

Blue eyes in a blue tunnel:

Lounging:

Room for two?

Butterfly girl picnic at the park:

Every cucumber got sucked on, but few got eaten:

Cheddar bunny crackers were more popular:

... but (miraculously) shared...


Video 1 for your viewing pleasure proves once again that little girls like to be scared by their baba:
 

Video 2 indicates that Ella's going to need kissing lessons pretty soon:
 

Kaan Amca!!


Sophia and I got back from running some errands this morning and there was a rental car parked in our driveway.  She was extremely concerned about who this intruder could be, but I figured it must be one of the Onur brothers.  You'll never believe how we got lucky enough to spend 6 hours with Kaan on a random November Saturday.  En route to Australia to visit the other brother, Ilke, he missed his connecting flight in San Francisco thanks to the bad weather on the east coast.  He couldn't get out on another flight for 24 hours and sweetly opted to rent a car and surprise us!  We ate, we painted, we enjoyed the park and, most importantly, we were saved from a hum-drum Saturday.  Tesekkur ederim, Kaan Amca!

Here's a nice impromptu family picture, which would have been really nice if Ella (aka the Unibomber)  wasn't so damn fixated on her bunny crackers:

Apparently I never hit "publish" so here it is with a bit of delay...

Some weekends we do little more than survive and get a few things done around the house; other weekends we actually have plans and activities that keep us hustling around during those few precious hours when neither kid is napping.  This weekend involved some hustle.  Hustle can be good or bad depending on how things actually pan out, but this weekend's hustling was well worth it!

Saturday (following The Haircut and naptime) we piled into the car to head over to Davis to spend a few hours with friends.  We get together far too infrequently with this family!  They are the perfect match for us!  Michal is my friend and research co-author.  Her husband, Bryce, is a soccer player who loves to cook, so he and Esen are a great fit.  Their 5-year-old daughter Noa is a dream with Sophia... Sophia just follows her around like a puppy.  And they have a baby boy, Oren, who is just a few weeks younger than Ella.  I like to call it the quadruple playdate because there's something for everyone.

Ella and Oren... babies with blue eyes (I tried to take some pictures of them playing together, but every time the camera came out, two little zombies attacked me!):

Noa and Sophia playing peacefully in Noa's bedroom while everyone else was enjoying some quiet(er) time in the kitchen:

Check out the grip on that marker in the picture above.... yeah, that's my 2.5-year-old, holding a marker like a pro.  Her wonderful teachers must have showed her how to do that and it has revolutionized her drawing.  She now draws shapes and tiny little things that involve more detail (not that any of it actually LOOKS like what she claims it is, but a month ago she was mostly just scribbling and drawing straight lines so this is a big change).

Noa is super sweet to Ella, too... they all look like they could be sisters, huh?

Uh-oh... here comes the *BOY*!


Walking to the park... holding hands as Noa explained "the rules" to Sophia regarding sidewalks, cars, crossing streets, etc. (sorry, these are cell phone pics):


Bryce made some homemade pizzas that were to die for.  Sophia ate a ton, even Ella ate some, and we were all in a pizza coma on the ride home.  Miraculously, both girls stayed awake on the drive home (about 25 minutes) despite the proximity to bedtime and were easy to get down for the night.  I was really expecting Ella to fall asleep for 20 minutes and then be recharged for 4 more hours because that's how she seems to work... just like a little robot.

It's always so nice to spend some time with friends who have encountered certain parenting challenges before us... we learn so much and, most importantly, learn that we're human.

I challenge you to avoid being patted down for a nap in my house!
 
If only Sophia would let us sleep once Ella does her job...

My friend Kristin is taking a photography class and needed a portrait shot for her portfolio.  She knew that I've been longing for a digital SLR to take some higher quality pics of the kids and suggested that Sophia be her subject.  Although Sophia didn't agree to many solo shots, some of the results are just amazing. I'm really grateful to have this stage preserved so well... especially because it's just the two of us and I too frequently feel like Sophia gets less than half of my attention since her dear sister came along.

... or if you don't care to hear me talk about breastfeeding.  I don't talk about it very often anymore, but it has been a daily part of my life for about two-and-a-half years now.  Despite a very few challenges associated with breastfeeding, it is easily the single most rewarding part of motherhood for me to date.  In my heart of hearts, I have easily become a "lactivist" after nursing two children past their first year of life.  It is something I am passionate about, but I try to maintain some reserve on the topic because I am usually in the company of (a) men - who are not interested at best and squeamish at worst, or (b) mothers who formula feed - who are, of course, within their right, but just don't see things as I do (or, to be fair, face different constraints).  I try not to be judgmental... honest... because women are already so judgmental and harsh when it comes to the choices of other women.  We don't need more of that. 

But then I read things like this: http://www.motherchronicle.com/watchyourlanguage.html. 

And then this: http://www.phdinparenting.com/2009/11/04/helping-themselves-breastfeeding-advice-nestle-style/. 

And so many other extremely convincing things... ESPECIALLY this: http://www.phdinparenting.com/2009/05/14/the-scientific-benefits-of-breastfeeding/!!!!

And then I see ads like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-qX4EwocbI&feature=player_embedded (which translates to "Nothing like mom. Nothing like breastfeeding."... full translation at http://breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com/2009/09/nada-como-mama-nada-como-mamar.html) and I think we soooo need to change the way we think about boobs in this country!  I lugged these (enormous) boobs around my whole life and NEVER, until I used them to nourish and comfort a baby, did I love them.  For all the squeamishness I have encountered in the past few years about breastfeeding (and it really hasn't been that much because I live in a breastfeeding mecca), it has done more for my self-esteem and self-worth than I would have ever thought possible.

Back to your regularly scheduled program of cute kid pictures and videos.  Thanks for listening (unless you took my advice in the title).