Kalin Riley

Kalin stands up all by herself now. She got a dolly and playdoe for Christmas!

This was Kalin's 2nd time out of Turkey, 1st time to Bulgaria, this time to Greece. ...which didn't look much different than Turkey, but hey it was cool. We woke up early in the morning to catch the bus, of course everyone was all goo goo gaa gaa over Kalin. Everyone was offering her cookies and mints and stuff, which promptly went into our bellies...yesss... That's one thing I really like about the people here, they just LOVE kids! When we arrived in the afternoon, we walked around a bit, got some lunch (donor/gyros things), then we had some nice greek pizza for dinner. The town was like a party town or something, cuz nothing opened until like 5pm and they stayed open till like super late, clothing stores and all.
Our hotel was right next to a club, and the music didn't stop until like 4 am... now if we were still young that wouldn't have bit a problem...but since we are old tired parents now.... it was quite disturbing... (heheh)
Anyway, too bad we couldn't stay longer, it would have been nice to walk along the waterfront.
Kalin wasn't too fussy on the trip...as long as we were singing "Old Mc Donald had a farm" ...I think everyone on the bus learned the song...

Kalin loves watching her school videos while on the potty... she also loves pulling herself up so she can stand up by herself as much as possible.

By Dave Barry, Miami Herald (back column)

One of these days, a police officer is going to pull me over for driving erratically. He will suspect that I am driving while intoxicated, but he will be wrong. In fact, I will be driving while being a little teapot.

I am often a little teapot while driving. This is because when my 20-month-old daughter is in the car, she demands to hear her favorite CD, "Traditional Children's Songs From Hell." At least that's what I call it. It's one of those CDs with those old songs that we are required by federal law to expose our children to, because they connect us with a time when we were a simpler, happier, much stupider nation. Consider "Old McDonald." It starts out fine: "Old McDonald had a farm." But then it goes to "E-I-E-I-O," as though the lyricist had a bunch of extra vowels he needed to get rid of before moving on.

Couldn't he have come up with WORDS for the second line? How hard is it to think of a line that rhymes with "farm"? For example: "Thresher tore off his left arm." Or: "Slept with six goats to keep warm."

But "Old McDonald" is Handel's "Messiah" compared with 'She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain," a song apparently written by somebody with a severe case of attention deficit disorder, as we see by the highly informative first verse:

"She'll be comin' 'round the mountain when she comes!

"She'll be comin' 'round the mountain when she comes!

"She'll be comin' 'round the mountain!

"She'll be comin' 'round the mountain!

"She'll be comin' 'round the mountain when she comes!"

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. Will she be comin' "round the mountain? 2. When?

I am forced to listen to these brain-shriveling songs constantly when I drive. I'm so used to hearing them that sometimes I'll be halfway to the airport, singing, "The wheels on the bus go round and round! Round and round! Round and round!" when suddenly it dawns on me: Sophie is not in the car. I can play my own music, with intelligent lyrics! (Example: "I said na, na na na na, na na na na, na na na, na na na, na na na na!")

The biggest problem with children's songs is that many of them call for actions on the part of the listeners. My daughter, who is very strict, expects everybody to perform these actions. So if we're listening to "I'm a Little Teapot," and she notices that I'm using my arms for some frivolous activity such as steering, she will repeat, "Daddy do it! Daddy do it!" until I let go of the wheel and form my teapot handle and my teapot spout. I have discovered that I can, in fact, steer with my forehead, but visibility is a problem.

But the worst song, from a driving standpoint, is "Where Is Thumbkin?" This is the one where you sing about, and display one at a time, the various fingers on your hand: Thumbkin, Ring Man, Pointer, etc. As you can imagine, this can create misunderstandings in traffic when your fellow motorists see you holding up Tall Man.

Yes, a small child can get you into trouble, and not just in a car. There is a house in our neighborhood that has a large plaster goose on the front porch. For reasons known only to her, my daughter LOVES this goose. Whenever we walk past it, she toddles up onto the porch and gives it a kiss, while I watch nervously from the sidewalk. Lately she has started insisting, with increasing vehemence, that I also kiss the goose. So one recent Sunday morning--I am not making this up--I found myself tiptoeing onto a porch belonging to complete strangers, bending over and kissing their goose. This kind of thing can lead to trouble.

POLICE OFFICER: Hold it right there, mister! Put your hands up and STEP AWAY FROM THAT GOOSE.

ME: You don't understand! I was just --

POLICE OFFICER: Wait a minute. ... You're the same guy I saw holding up Tall Man on the expressway!

But getting arrested is a small price to pay for the joys of parenthood. I know you parents out there agree. You're happy, right? Sure you are! If you're happy, and you know it, clap your hands!

I'd clap with you, but it hurts, with these handcuffs.

Kalin is getting her first tooth! She is going through the teething thing quite well...Not super fussy. TG!

The little poochy is 6 months now. I can't believe how much she's grown. Every day with her is a joy, we are so blessed to have her in our lives. And Kiran you are such a good father to her. I love you!

Kalin sits up all by herself now. And she loves yogurt, bananas and avocado and I'm sure she would love other stuff too if I would give it to her. She's almost crawling also. I do flashcards with her, but she mainly wants to eat them. But loves it when I read from the farm animal book, she thinks its funny when I make all the sounds. She loves music and bangs her head to the music ...like Jamie used to do. She says "mama mama mama" all the time, although I don't think she knows what it means yet.  

At the beach(the Black Sea), the Grand Bazaar, the blue mosque and the Cisterns.

lately we've been doing alot of sight seeing(which Kalin hates). Although Istanbul is full of cultural things, kalin can't seem to get over the heat and sun that shines on her bald head. I'll post lots of pics soon as i can get them of Dar's camera.

Kalin is 3 months old now. She can almost roll on her tummy, and she really likes grabbing things and putting them in her mouth.

Kalin likes sucking her thumb now...well it's more like her whole fist. heh..
and she makes lots of cute noises...

She's so pretty...

Kalin smiles a lot these days, but she gets tired a few seconds later cause it takes alot of muscles to lift her cheeks.

We're trying to teach her to like sitting in her chair also to go to sleep without being rocked. She really likes music, she stops fussing or falls asleep when she hears it.