15 Months!

Dear Kamelya,

It feels daunting to write this post because there have been so many changes lately to record! As your daddy said tonight as we were getting you ready for bed, "She became a genius in the past three days!" He said that because he was singing you sloop john b and you were copying his hand motions and even trying to sign along in parts. You surprise us with every day with all the new things you can do.

So, pal, we moved to Kosovo since I last wrote. You've done really well adjusting to our new home and life. You are more and more social all the time and really love to play with other kids. Daddy and I are still your favorite playmates though. You still love some of your old favorites, like peekaboo...

and reading books.

Even in the bath!

You know so many words now! Probably at least a hundred (mix of Turkish and English). All of a sudden, one day, you just repeating back whatever we said. When I ask you to say a word and you can't say it, you just say "nursing" with your soft little lispy voice. It's so cute. You can also almost say your own name! You say "elya" and it sounds sort of like "hiya". You also learned a lot of new signs (besides "more" and "all done"). You do cuddle, book, sleepy and others. You can even do animal noises! You also really loves having us sing you songs with hand gestures. Daddy makes up all sorts of songs for you and adds in hand gestures. Right now your favorites are the ABCs and Wheels on the Bus.

You have some new favorite things these days too. Since we haven't had all your toys, you've had to make do. You're current favorite things are: toothbrushes, banging pots and pans, climbing in and out of your carseat, running wildly to and fro, playing with magnets on the fridge, wearing scarves and playing hide and seek. You also enjoy getting into everything and making a mess.

All of these things make you squeal with delight.

You can play with your toys in new and more sophisticated ways now. You play with the ring toy and love it, when you couldn't even use it a couple weeks ago. Daddy teaches you all sorts of tricks with them.

I've pretty much given into your love of sesame street (elmo in particular) and let you watch a few videos on youtube every day. Your favorites are Elmo's Song, Sing, the ABC's and 1,2,3,4. This is you watching Elmo:

We went to Izmir for New Year's and you had a great time. With all that attention and affection and delicious food, who wouldn't? Minik was your best pal. You would kneel down and get right into his face and smile big. Sometimes you would bring him little presents and try to put them into his paw. One time I saw you lift up his big floppy ear and lay your head down underneath. You really loved playing with Nene too, bringing her everything you could find in the room and saying, "got it!"

There's so much more to write! Elif got you a cup with a handle and you can drink water out of it by yourself now. Sometimes you spill a little, but still! You've started feeding yourself with a spoon too. (Mostly yogurt). You love to eat kofte now and ask for it by name all the time. Actually, you remember all sorts of things now and can ask us for whatever you want.

There is so much I want to remember about these sweet days with you. Our walks, our cuddles, dancing around together and being silly. It's hard sometimes adjusting to a new place to live, but you keep me smiling all day long. This time together, you and I, is special. You are growing up so fast and I'm grateful that I get to share this time with you. You have become even more attached to me recently, probably because we are always together. If I leave the room for even a moment, you start calling out, "mama! mama!" The truth is, I am just as attached to you. When we put you to sleep at night, I miss you!

So many changes! All of a sudden instead of a baby, we have this beautiful, smart, funny little girl.

Whom we love very much.

Love,

Mama and Daddy