Summer Day

Yesterday was Summer Day in Tirana, a national holiday, and this is what everybody did:

We didn't attend any of the festivities last year, because one of Terry's co-workers told him that people just go to the parks and throw their plastic bags on the ground. He said "oh, we can do that, we have lots of plastic bags lying around the house!" Actually it was because we had just come back from a trip to Elbasan, were settling into our new apartment, and for all I can remember it was probably raining.

But yesterday was gorgeous out. The traffic was blocked off the length of the main boulevard between Skenderbeg Square and Mother Teresa Square, with live music at one end and vendors selling sweets and meats and balloons and toys the whole length of it.

The kids were a little wigged out by all the people and noise, but Valerie enjoyed running up the side of the pyramid with Terry:

And we had a nice pause by the "twisty slide park" where we often play with the kids. (I don't have any pictures of Gabriel or myself because I was carrying both him and the camera. And then I ran out of space on my memory stick.)

It felt so good to feel the warm sun on our faces.

39

So as I enter my 40th year of life, the last year I will spend in my 30s, I invite my readers to give me your best words of advice. How might I best live life to the fullest in the next 365 days? How should I think about this moment in time? If you are past this point in time, what do you wish you had done differently at this point, or what do you think you did well?

Of one thing I have no doubt: the next 365 days will bring many, many changes and new challenges. As a parent, a spouse, an academic, and a human being in this world, I hope to grow and rise to meet those challenges.

Pooh Can Read!

Valerie is really and truly learning to read. At night when she's going to sleep, she'll often go through the alphabet with a litany of words she knows how to spell (although she says "write" she doesn't actually write the letters yet):

"You know how to write 'apple': A P P L E! You know how to write 'bee': B E E! You know how to write 'cat': C A T!" etc. all the way to Z O O and Z O O M.

(Sometimes she mixes it up and counts to 100. Perfectly.)

She understands how to substitute in different letters to change the word: "Take out T and put in P and it says 'cap'!"

She understands "put S at the end says 'caps'!"

And she can look at a page she's never seen before and sound out a new word - "You see the word says 'soon'!" (an example from this morning).

A couple days ago I thought of writing out sentences using words she knows mixed with new words and see how she did. She read this:

and she only needed help with "and." However, she also had some edits to suggest (note the sentences that are crossed out, with her suggested substitutions written sideways on the right).

She's having so much fun with it, and I'm hoping that continued practice will help her improve her oral use of articles and subordinating conjunctions (which, that, etc.) which she tends to drop (or else she'll over-correct and use "an" for everything).

Wordless Wednesday: Spring Green Edition

Fun with little ones

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed

Why yes, those are underpants on their heads!

And not crash helmets... please don't call CPS.

So last night we were hanging out on the big bed, and Valerie caught sight of a Forbidden Toy on the top shelf of Terry's closet (it's just an annoying, noisy plastic ball with a bell inside it that the kids love cheap plastic junk, I don't know why we haven't just pitched it) and wanted it. So I tried to distract her with the first thing that caught my eye - a round little hotel soap in its wrapper.

WHO KNEW it would be such a hit? Both kids wanted it, crying ensued, and so I went to the bathroom to get some unused bath soap in the wrapper for them to play with. I just sat there laughing, watching them - not for the first time asking myself why we spend money on toys, at all, ever, because they were just so entertained by this ordinary household object. I opened one end of the wrapper on each of two bars, and they spent the longest time just taking the soap out and putting it back in. Valerie would say "Happy Birthday, Pooh!" every time. And then I suggested they pretend-wash their armpits and feet, so they did that (V took this very, very seriously) for a long time.

It was the last toy they said goodnight to last night and the first thing they wanted to do this morning when they woke up. The fun tapered off a bit after Gabriel took an experimental bite of his bar... Just another life lesson.

It wasn't his last mishap of the day, either. This morning I took them to the big park by the lake and he took a face-first spill down some low steps, scraping his nose and getting a big red and blue bump on his forehead, right at the hairline. I might have shrieked louder than he did when I saw him go down - just out of reach - but he recovered quickly.
Nights without Terry here have been very hard, but there are many bright spots during the days... and even in the nights. This morning at around 5:45 after I got them both to fall back asleep (which I wasn't counting on, so was very grateful) in bed with me, saw them drifting into deep breathing relaxation, it was just a very sweet moment. Especially since I got to go back to sleep too!

Postcard from Tbilisi

This from Terry in Georgia:

The sun came out today so of course I was like "Let's move to Georgia!"

Very Russian sort of place - more so than Armenia. Lots of 2500 year old towns, fortress monasteries, Orthodox churches, blah blah blah.

Georgia itself reminds me a bit of Gambia - but not at all. What I mean is that the main part of the country is a giant river valley moving east west to the Black Sea with mountain ranges above and below. Down by the Black Sea, the river valley is enormously wide and flat (where the ADP is) and Tbilisi is up at the narrow end where it sort of oozes up on to the Eurasian Land scene.

Georgia is a country way more divided by conflicts and separatist movements. The bulk of the ethnic Georgians (85% of the country) live in the big river valley while the other ethnic groups who want to separate live up on the mountains that border either Russia or Turkey. So suddenly that was more understandable.

Another thing about Georgia, you can't throw a brick without hitting a castle. I mean, they are everywhere - plus stuff like 2000 year old towns, monasteries from before the birth of Christ (joking), and all sorts of history here - I mean, history that we don't know anything about in US or even in Europe. The joke here among the Georgians is that Armenians claim to be Christians from the 4th Century B.C.

Sneeze-Gargle (name of the town) is cool in an old, small town sort of way. The ADP manager and the assistant manager took me out to eat tonight as a host thingie. It was cool, but didn't work out the greatest since the place we went to had drunken old Russians and live music set at deafblaster levels. So we spent most of the meal making faces at each other and shouting "WHAT?" - not the best environment for reasoned discussion on international development dynamics.

He gets back next Thursday.

Spring

Spring has sprung in Tirana; the acid-green mimosas are in bloom by the lake and hawkers amble the avenues selling big bunches for a few lek. I'm told they're late this year, probably because the rains were late as well. It's so nice to have some warmer weather at last.

But my photo stock is still replete with indoor shots, so here's a healthy dose of Indoor Cuteness to get your Friday started off right.

This last photo is from the day a few weeks ago when we did NOT go on the cable car to Dajti. Some friends with a boy V's age had invited us to go along with them but it was a Saturday and an absolute madhouse. People were bussing in from all up and down the coast to see the snow! I had bundled the kids (and myself) up in layers upon layers of warm clothes, packed a picnic lunch, sent Terry back when I forgot the camera and their sunglasses, and then in the end we got to the cable car station and V threw an epic screaming hysterical fit and refused to get out of the car.

Hm. Awkward.

It didn't feel right to force her to do something she so clearly didn't want to do, and it wasn't just toddler stubbornness - the kind where they refuse to do ANYthing you ask, just out of sheer cussedness. It was specific to the cable car. Which was weird because she used to LOVE it.

Anyway, so we left our friends to wait in line for their tickets (almost 2 hours, it turned out later), and instead took the kids to a little park for a snack and then to Kolonat for pizza. Which was fine except that I was SWELTERING in all my layers of warm clothes.

I talked about it later with V and it seems like she's scared of the loud noise that the machinery makes at either end. I don't know why it was an issue this time when it hasn't been before (we've been at least 4 times) but maybe the last time we went she noticed it particularly for some reason. I've noticed before that she's very sensitive to loud noises, so I'm guessing that's what was up. We role played for a long time then going on the cable car with Dada holding her and helping her cover her ears when we go by the noisy part. I think next time the opportunity comes up I might be able to persuade her to go. But we've missed the high point of the snow.

~::~

We're surviving ok without Terry; nights are the toughest. A good night is one in which Valerie sleeps straight through without waking up. A bad night is one in which they both wake up at the same time and then keep each other awake while I try to get everyone calmed down and settled in to one bed. I wish I knew why G is such a restless sleeper. Hopefully he'll outgrow it like V did.

Happy Birthday

Happy Leap Day Birthday to Grammy Dot!

(I couldn't find a properly sentimental photo so I picked a funny one)

Hope you are celebrating with gusto!

Merry-Go-Round

Wow, I'm am way off track for meeting my posting goal for 2012. Time to step it up!

So here is a series of photos from last December that I thought I'd put up just because they are so stinkin' cute. Dot took these and I lightly edited them (cropped and brightened a little).

Terry left yesterday, just over 24 hours ago, on another work trip - this time he'll be gone 12 days (if you count departure and arrival days as whole days). So this morning I was moving around the kitchen in what sometimes feels like an endless feedback loop of picking up toys, washing dishes, and pouring the kids' beverage service when I heard an eruption of belly-laughing from the two of them. I turned around and saw that they were flipping themselves head-first over the back of the short couch onto the long couch and back again - I'd pushed the furniture together at Valerie's request yesterday; it makes a well-cushioned little indoor gym for them to climb and jump on. Around and around they went, just giggling and laughing their heads off every time they went over the top.

Times like that - and the moments pictured above - make every hour of lost sleep worth it.

quickly

I just wanted to mark the date: exactly 1 year since we moved into this apartment, and 17 months to the day since we moved to Albania. Today was an exceptionally good day; I was with the kids all day and everything went smoothly and calmly and it just felt like yes, we're getting the hang of it. Yes I was tired, but not exhausted; and we just enjoyed our day together. Nothing remarkable - washing dishes, jumping on the furniture, folding laundry, playing "tent" with the curtains, making cornmeal muffins and noodle soup. Watching my kids learning and growing. A good day.

my valentine

Cool dude

My cool little dude is almost 20 months old! I missed his 18-month and 19-month posts so here is an attempt to catch up a bit.

Height: we measured him a couple weeks ago, and he is now 31 inches - he grew well over an inch in the past two months. Incredible.

Development: He's started talking more, in addition to Mama, Dada, and a few other sort-of-words, he now says very clearly: Sun, Hajde ("come here" in Albanian), Agua, and Nëna (Grandma in Albanian). He says something sort of like "Lar-Lar" for Val-Val, and "Boo" for Pooh. And thanks to his sister's alphabetic orientation, he can identify a couple letters consistently and accurately, especially M and S.

He does adorably cute role plays either remembering things that happened, or telling us what he wants to do. He's currently fascinated by candles (we had a couple power outages recently) and one morning woke up saying "Wow! Wow!" and pointed up at the top of the book-cases, where Terry had put the candles the night before. This morning he burped, then put his hands over his mouth and mimed vomiting - ok not so cute, but here's the cute part: then he said "Nëna," and mimed cleaning the floor, because my mom had cleaned the rug after he threw up last week. He role plays putting toy animals and cars to bed, including trying to diaper a plastic horse, and giving a stuffed piglet a toy and blanket to sleep with.

He loves to dance and jump. One morning I just sat and watched him dance in circles around the kitchen, arms raised and jumping up onto his tiptoes, just brimming over with Life. He's such a delicious little squishy bundle of dimpled fun - I have to remind myself to soak it all in while I can.

Sleep: Sometime in December he dropped his morning nap. This was as the footsteps of doom for Pooh, since we used to use this quiet hour in the morning for some mother-daughter breakfast and craft time. But he just doesn't need it, and won't take it anymore. Then about a month ago he decided that a 7:00-7:30 bedtime is for babies, and oh no he's not a baby anymore! He's a big boy who sleeps in a bed, not in a crib, and not until he's good and readzzzzzz. So we've been trying to find a new equilibrium, one that will work even while Terry's away on work trips. Pray for us!!!!!

Catching up, and other sundries

So my mom left Thursday before dawn, and I’m feeling her absence. Last night after I went to bed I found myself thinking about little things to tell her in the morning and then I remembered she’s not here. You know, those random little stories that form the fabric of daily life but aren’t realy worth the trouble of writing a whole e-mail about them.

That’s why we have blogs, right?

Case in point: This morning Gabriel saw a helicopter flying by in the near distance – it was bright red, so it stood out well against the pale blue morning sky – he was so fascinated by it. Every now and then he would point out the window and go “Bzhzhzhzzz! Copt! Copt!” with a look of wide-eyed seriousness on his face. As soon as Terry got up, Gabe had to tell Dada all about it too. Adorable.

So much happened in the last two weeks, I don’t even know where to start in trying to record at least the highlights. I can easily tell you the lowlights! (That’s why my nickname is Eeyore! You can also call me Puddleglum!)

1. Gabriel suddenly discovered that he can choose to stay awake and play instead of going right to sleep when put down for the night. This has turned bedtime into a prolonged ordeal, from my perspective, and cut a deep hole into my night sleeping hours. Thus, time I used to spend blogging I’ve now consigned to trying to nap.
2. Valerie had a 24-hour stomach bug (or perhaps food poisoning, although we can’t figure out from what) wherein she threw up five times between naptime and bedtime, and then three more times during the night. The cutest moment during all of that was when she was holding a little blue pitcher on her lap, looking into it, and said “all that yuck will come out your mouth and jump into the pitcher. Jump jump jump! And then we will throw it in the potty.” Poor little Pooh was so, so sick. It was nice, though, that she’s reached the point where she can anticipate the need to throw up and ask for a bucket.
3. Gabriel was sick, too, with a brief fever in the night followed by diarrhea and vomiting in the morning. I don’t know if it was the same thing Valerie had or somethig different. He only threw up once, and she didn’t have a fever, so I’m suspecting different. I’m very glad they both recovered quickly.
4. I’ve been dealing with plugged ducts for the first time with nursing Gabriel. I used to get this a lot more with Valerie for some reason (possibly less experience nursing?) It’s very painful but I think getting better.
5. The weather was pretty icky the whole time my mom was here, save a few partly-sunny days that weren’t too cold to go out. So we spent a lot of time indoors, which was not bad in and of itself, but I was disappointed we didn’t get to show her more of Albania or even the environs outside Tirana.

I think for me some of the highlights of her visit were going out to lunch together just the two of us after my Albanian lesson, and steam-baking coffee cakes one afternoon. Valerie loved the cake and has been asking continually for more! Mom's last day here was kind of a nice day out, so we took the bus to Tirana International Hotel and then walked back around Skenderbeg Square (more like an oval) to the Millenium Café on the pedestrian mall that we in our family refer to as the “rainbow walk.” The café was empty but for a gardener and a cat, and the kids had a blast playing in the empty playground. We got popcorn and juice at the cinema that is part of the complex, then walked down to the taxi stand and bought some roasted chestnuts there before heading home.

(if you look closely, you can see my mom in a red jacket taking a photo of the square,

while Valerie runs up the steps towards her)

As when my sister visited, I was struck by how much the kids absorb our attention and energy and how hard it is to actually sit down and have a conversation since we’re constantly being interrupted. We have a fairly child-centered approach to parenting although we do try to set some boundaries around parental needs too.

On the other hand, Valerie is really and truly learning to read right now! It’s totally amazing to me. She’s not even four! She can recognize, sound out, and spell around 30 words right now. She loves using her letter blocks or alphabet puzzle to make words (stuff like cat, hat, big, pig, fox, box, but also frog and goat!). I want to get her some Dick and Jane books, I think she’d master those pretty quickly.

Gabriel is talking more and more, adding new words – or at least approximations of them – all the time (cf. “copt” for helicopter).

So that’s my update; I just remembered there was also the birthday party we all went to, and that I forgot to take my camera to, that was a lot of fun and a further little glimpse into life in Tirana. So stay tuned!

quick Photos

Mom!

My aunt just reminded me that my mom has been here five days already, and I haven't written a word about it yet! [Hi Cathie!] ;) It's nice to know I have dedicated readers who will give me a poke when needed :-)

So yes, Mom is here - she had no trouble on the [albeit long] journey and came laden with goodies and treats from Peru. It was a late-night arrival and I made the trek out to the airport by myself - a rare thing, for me to be out at all after 8 p.m. But it was worth it to see her come through the gates and give her a big, long hug. No matter how old you are, there's nothing like a hug from your mother.

I think Valerie and Gabriel recognized her voice more than they did her face. There is no substitute for warm, in-person vocals. Valerie has already christened her "Rabbit." A wooden puzzle in the shape of a rooster she brought was the unexpected big-hit gift, and Valerie has been taking it to bed with her every night (except last night when it was replaced by a lift-a-flap Winnie the Pooh book that came in the mail from friends in the US). I've kept more or less a normal work schedule this week, although Terry and I had a date night Weds. evening, which was a fun mid-week event. So Mom's had lots of time to make towers out of blocks and Shpresa has also been taking her (and the kids) out for walks to see different points of interest in the city center.

I'm glad it has not been as cold this week since all our wall-unit heaters have conked out and we only have 2 portable space heaters that we take from room to room. Shpresa improvised a hot-water bottle from an empty plastic detergent bottle that has been helpful for Mom since the room she is in is the coldest in the apartment.

I'll have her write a guest post soon once she's had a chance to form more of an impression of the city.

Happy Birthday Rosanne!

Super-Tia! Miss you!

Bundled

It has been COLD here. Power has been unreliable, and since we use electric heat, it's been a little worrisome. So far we haven't lost power for more than 10 minutes or so in the evenings during heaviest use time, but friends a few blocks away were out for like 10 HOURS, and they have a little baby. Even though it's been sunny, I haven't been taking the kids out much. I bought them some play-dough and that's been a huge hit. We make little snowmen and Gabriel grabs the balls and throws them across the room shouting "Gooool!"

Ouch

The bad news is that G has been sick with stomatitis - Valerie had it at about the same age, which helped me recognize what it was even after the doctor told us it was probably a respiratory infection (at that point he had a fever but the cold sores hadn't really fully developed on his tongue yet). It's kind of interesting to compare, actually - I don't recall that she ever had much of a fever, although her outbreaks looked much, much worse (bleeding gums, ugh), and she also didn't seem to be in as much pain - she ate a lot better than he has been.

Monday morning Terry woke me up saying G felt kind of hot and might have a fever. He was burning up. By the late afternoon the fever went up to 102, and Tuesday evening went up to 103. It would go down in the day but then up in the early evening. And he was miiiiiiiiserable. All day Tuesday, all he wanted to do was lie in my arms and nurse. He didn't want to eat anything, and on Wednesday I realized that he was having difficulty swallowing. The front of his clothes were drenched in drool (so at first we thought it was teething pain). He wanted food, he would point to it and go "eh eh" in this pitiful voice but one bite, and then he'd spit it out crying in pain.

Sooooo heartbreaking.

Thursday I took him to the clinic and they said the back of his throat looked red. I'd noticed his gums were getting red, too, but the doctor didn't think much of that. She said it wasn't strep, but to watch for blisters on his hands and feet. Otherwise she was pretty sure it would turn out to be a respiratory tract thing.

But Shpresa and I both noticed little sores on his tongue later that day, and when I got a good look at them I recognized stomatitis.

Since he couldn't eat food, we've been giving him herbal tea with honey in it, and what clear broths he could manage. Plus breastfeeding of course, his preferred food. He could sometimes take a few spoonfuls of very milky oatmeal. But he hasn't pooped since Friday.

The good news is that he seems to be on the upswing now. He ate a good deal of actual noodle soup yesterday, and this morning woke up a little more bright eyed and bushy tailed (in the immortal words of my father) :-) with actual smiles, and the fun-loving look in his eyes was back. He hasn't had a fever since what, Friday? I think? He's drooling less and I can hear him swallowing his saliva from time to time.

The other good news is that since it's a virus that Valerie has already had, I don't have to worry about him giving it to her. In fact she very well might have given it to him!

I'm worn out, though. His sleep at night has been terrible due to the pain in his mouth. Think about how much a cold sore hurts and then imagine having them all over your gums and three on your tongue. Terry's been away on a work trip for two nights. I think we coped really well the past two days all things considered, but I'm ready for a nap!!!

sorry out of office, g sick - updates soon.

I'm back!

Happy New Year, everybody! Here is a lazy picture post to get you started. One of my goals for 2012 is 150 blog posts. I posted 171 times in 2011, so my secret personal goal is actually 175 posts (lucky you!) but my realistic goal is 15o. So you can look forward to lots more pictures of these two little ones in 2012.

Little hug

Stop the presses!!!!

V. wearing a dress!!!!!!

Those red shoes used to be hers, but they work on him too.

By the artificial lake

My little hobbit