Christmas and New Year

First of all happy New Year to all of you.

I have spent some time travelling since my last post, but now I am back in Istanbul in my normal surroundings and it is not half bad.

We went to Denmark for Christmas. It was nice to be back in the old country and see my family there again. I got a cradle in the plane to sleep in which was nice, but about 5cm too short for me, so I had to put my legs outside while I was sleeping.

In Denmark we enjoyed Christmas. I especially liked the Christmas tree with all the colours and sparkly things on it. The highlight of the trip was when I had my first tooth. It is nice to have teeth as I can now bite things. I like to bite my parents so that they don't forget me. Not that I think that they will but it is nice to be sure.

We came back to Istanbul just before New Year's evening after a stop in Hamburg to see Stefanie and Ivan. I did not enjoy the trip back very much as it is quite upsetting for me to have to travel this much within 10 days, so I let people know about this in no uncertain terms.

Also during this period I have started to eat other food than my mum's milk. some of it I like very much, but some of it I do not appreicate at all, so I just spit it out again if I do not like it.

Kurban Bayrami (Sacrifice feast)

During the last week I have had 4 days off due to the public holiday of Kurban Bayrami. This is the muslim holiday for sacrificing. The tradition is to sacrifice a ram or an ox and then share the meat with the poor.

For this we went to my grandparents for a couple of days. Many of our relatives in Istanbul came to visit us there on the first day of the holiday. On the second day we then made the return visits. In each visit we then have a lot of food and of course some of the ram which has been sacrificed. It is very nice to see all the family and to get the news from what is happening in their lives at the moment.

I did well the first day and talked and smiled to all the people visiting. On the second day it was getting a bit tiring, so I got annoyed with all the eating and talking and not being able to follow my normal schedule of eating and sleeping.

It was therefore necessary for me to make a point to my parents, and I therefore choose to wake up in the middle of the night for a couple of nights or three. Not really for any particular reason other than I wanted to.

Curiosity

I like to check what is happening around me, so as you can see I read the newspaper and try to get information about what is going on in the world. I especially like to read my farm book about the horse, pig (pictured), cow and chicken. It keep me informed about what is going on on my grandparents and uncle's farm in Denmark.

Reading the farm book also gives me knowledge about the problems being a farmer, such as lack of political understanding of the workings on a farm and how it should be put by the EU in order to provide the most positive output for the general public (for more on these views you can contact my granddad for detailed information).

5,5 months

Recently I have realised that my arms are not just something sticking out of my body without a real end, but that I have five fingers at the end of each arm. It is amazing what you can do with these fingers. I can grap things, I have especially become fond of my mum's hair which fit perfectly into my hand both on the left and of the right side of her head. I also tried with doing the same thing with my dad, but somehow it did not really work... I am wondering why, sometimes his hair on his face is longer than the hair on his head.

I have also learned this turning thing. So when I lie on my back I can now turn around so that I lie on my stomach. It was fun the first couple of times, but now I am feeling like a circus horse doing the same trick all the time to everyone that shows up to watch me.

Happy birthday to Granddad

I have been out of the loop for a little while, as this blog has been closed in Turkey. The telecom authorities closed it as the blog was being used for showing Turkish football league games without the proper rights, so this also hit me.

After I did a lot of lobby work by talking to several politicians and people with influential I managed to get the blog opened again.

The main reason for this work was so that I could post a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my granddad in Denmark!!

Resently I have started to eat real food. Actually what has happened is that I am getting apple, pear and grapes, as juice. In the picture you can see me suck on a grape.

I am also using my voice more and more these days. I e.g. make sure that people know when I am hungry or want to sleep. It is really nice to be able to communicate properly, especially in the middle of the night if I suddenly wake up and want food.

There is talk about getting what you want from other people, which is really to be able to sell your idea to them. I am considering to be a sales person when I grow up as I am able to sell my idea to my parents everytime I open my mouth.

Seker Bayrami (Sugar holiday)

I had my first Bayram at the end of the Ramadan. It was Seker Bayrami, which seem to be a very nice thing as it includes a lot of sugar and sweets especially for kids. I am already looking forward to next year when I can actually eat all the sweets that are being offered.

We went to my grand parents for this holiday and we enjoyed the day together with my Turkish family.

Autumn

Lately it has gotten colder in Istanbul. So my nose has been blocked and the noise level has increased at night in the bedroom. This has meant that I will be expelled from my parents' bedroom by the end of the week and have to sleep in my own bed.

This is of course a large step in my growing up in line with moving out of my parents' house and getting married, at least according to my mum.

I am thinking that instead of moving to the bedroom my running/blocked nose, due to the wet weather, could be fixed by moving to Denmark, as surely this most be a warmer and less wet place. At least is was when we went there for my aunt's wedding.

New things that I have started to lately include holding on to things, screaming out of joy, laughing and general conversation.