Puppy Love

Well, we are also grateful that the puppy's owner came to take him home last week. Our lives have returned to some stage of normal with the joy of putting carpets and rugs back out, purchasing less paper towels per week, and not worrying about every plastic or wood item in the house having teeth marks. However, Micah did eventually find that special 'man's best friend' bond and he has thus not given up on loving all kinds of dogs. He'd wake up from nap-time and run for the plastic balls to play fetch....or he'd put his head on the floor until Kral came and licked him all over.
Micah has also recently taken to eating snack only after Sleep-dog has taste tested first. I'm sure he learned this from TV...or something.

More work projects

Hooray! A/C has arrived!! We have enjoyed A/C bliss for over a week now and it has made such a difference in our daytime stamina. Thankfully now the weather is getting a bit cooler too (less humidity), but we sure appreciated that investment.


Micah helped Rick put together our new fans a couple weeks ago. He loves to sit with Rick's tool box and take all five of his tools out to examine. Favorite activities include pulling out and retracting the tape measure and twisting the screwdriver into our rug.

Faces

According to baby-center Micah is supposed to be learning 10 new words a day. He definitely is not saying 10 new words a day, but he has increased his body part knowledge and can almost do 'head-shoulders-knees-and-toes' without looking at Mom. He's excellent at Simon says...to the point that tonight we all had a dance party at the dinner table as Micah imitated Rick doing head-bobbing and arm-dancing to the radio. When we show Micah these photos on the computer, he always imitates himself...hands on head, hands over eyes, hands on ears...he can't quite re-create the last photo though.

Toyota's Hot Hot Hot

I think of this old jingle from childhood as I endure the third month of 90 degree temperatures! It reads 90 degrees on our alarm clock at 6:30am and 9:30pm (and all in between). Friends have told us that this summer is really weird and past years have only had beastly temperatures for two weeks of the summer. Sadly, they usually occur in late August...and we haven't even gotten to the 'typical' dog days of summer here. Another kind friend said it is predicted to be warm (not hot) through November! Global warming? El nino? Bu ne??

So, our lives are a bit like this....

Rick goes to school, Steph takes Micah to the park.

Steph pushes Micah up the hill, sweats profusely, rings out her clothes, takes shower #1, replaces outfit #1.

Steph takes Micah to school on the bus, sweats profusely, hands off Micah to Rick, dries out in air-conditioned classroom.

Rick takes Micah home, stops at park, pushes Micah up the hill, sweats profusely, rings out his clothes, takes shower #1, replaces outfit #1.

Steph rides bus home from class, hikes up hill with books and small groceries, sweats profusely, rings out her clothes, takes shower #2, replaces outfit #2 with pajamas (at 6pm).

Family eats dinner, Micah plays, takes small bath/pool time, goes to bed (at 7pm).

Rick & Steph wait until a seemingly acceptable time, Rick takes another shower, Steph showers her feet, crawl under the ceiling fan and think about sleep (at 9pm).

Repeat.

In addition to washing Micah's cloth diapers every other day, we are now doing regular laundry every other day because of all the stinky sweaty clothes piling up. If they sit too long, they start to grow things. Micah happily wears nothing but diapers at home.

We broke down and bought an air-conditioner for our living room on Saturday. The free installation does not come until Friday. We can make it, hopefully! We plan to eat, play, and sleep in that one room for the rest of the summer thanks to a pack-n-play and pull-out couch. Maybe then we'll be able to post about more exciting things. :)

a favor...

A friend of ours was planning to go on vacation and asked if we would kindly watch his dog for two weeks. We unknowingly said yes.....few questions asked. We were pleased to find out he was much smaller than we anticipated....but maybe not as pleased to find out that he isn't 'potty trained' and he likes to nibble on Micah's ankles. It's only two weeks...it's only two weeks...there's no place like home...there's no place like home.
Micah meeting Kral (meaning King)

Rick and I start taking language classes full time on Tuesday without the aid of a nanny. We will take turns watching Micah (and the dog!) while the other person attends 4 hours of class. Pray for us to have awesome patience with each other (and the dog!) and to find quiet, effective times to do our homework!

Flexibility

Micah is picking up new skills everyday. Yesterday, we caught him in the act of trying to touch his forehead with his foot (and succeeding!) Today our neighbors taught him how to shake hands when people say Merhaba (hello). And he's starting to learn a Turkish kids' song with hand motions. He won't do "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" yet, but he'll do parts of this song. ;-)

spice bazaar

We finally made it to the Egyptian Bazaar/Spice Bazaar last Saturday. I have been searching for months for Oregano....perplexed by the fact that Thyme and Oregano are both labeled with the same Turkish word. Rick asked around to find out where the best sellers were and we found an English speaking salesman. He was offended that I brought a "McCormick" seasoning jar to Turkey..."Why do you bring this McCormick? We sell to McCormick!" I told him I didn't know what it was called here and thus had to "make do". I again found favor and he graced me with another spice I would like to try for free - in the same seasoning family, but for seasoning meat. We'll see if I figure out how to use it! We got the equivalent of 8 jars of oregano, marjoram, basil, and red chili pepper for $3.50! Better than aldi...AND fresh! ;-) Alas, then we got home and realized that all of these green flaky spices were in bags without labels. So, trial and error or blissful ignorance will be the title of our future Italian cooking.