No Need For Words and Other Misc Stuff

Antalya was playing with her Little People - talking to them, giving them rides in the little car, and fully engrossed in her own world.

Along comes Victoria and takes one of the Little People.

Antalya tries unsuccessfully to grab it out of her hand.

Both start yelling.

Now, normally this is where I jump in and negotiate the solution. But today, feeling both tired of the usual and a bit curious I just sat back and watched. I threw out a few reminders to Antalya to not hit and to be gentle, but that was it.

Within a couple minutes a new game had emerged between the two of them. Not a word had been spoken (one of them too little to know how to speak, and the other's words are only understood by me), but yet they both knew the rules of the game.

Victoria would take one of the Little People. Then yell.
Antalya would take the Little People back. Then yell.
Then both would laugh. Then repeat.

It reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend last week. We were talking about sign language, and somehow it came out that growing up she had a friend next door who was deaf. Neither of them knew sign language, but they would play together all the time. She quickly threw in, "I wonder how we communicated".

I've watched Antalya interacting with other kids long enough to know that when it comes to children - being able to communicate through spoken words is not a pre-requiste to making friends. Antalya seems to make friends where ever we go. And somehow, without any words spoken, games are created and understood.

I love this picture taken a few weeks ago because it illustrated so well what I'm saying. These four little kids had only met five minutes earlier. They had one thing in common - they were at the park and ready to play. They didn't care what each others name where, or age, or religion, or talents and abilities. And they didn't care that they couldn't understand a word Antalya spoke.

It seems most the time that the world makes more sense when I try to look at it through my daughter's eyes, than from my own.

And on a completely different note. I'm realizing I will never get "caught up" with posting pictures and details about our summer adventures. So here's a few highlights from everything I have been meaning to do a post about.

Antalya discovered tap-dancing this summer at my mom's house. She had a pair of tap shoes just Antalya's size. Take note of the outfit. This is the only way Antalya likes to play dress up - ten outfits piled on top of each other.


Happy Birthday Victoria! My baby turned ONE in July. We celebrated with a swim party, followed by pizza and Elmo cupcakes at the park.

A visit to Windsor Castle with my parents while they were visiting us. It has been the home of the sovereignty for 900 years, and one of my favorite castles to visit.


Searching for Robin Hood in the Sherwood Forest.

All the cousins on my side, minus baby Alivia who couldn't make it for the picture.

Antalya seems to find sticks where ever we go. This one was a real find - the biggest one to date. Found at Hyde Park in the London.


I wore this shirt when I was Antalya's age. Doesn't she look so cute!

And last, but certainly not least, I never got around to posting the adventures of our last day in Ireland. The highlight of the trip happened to be on that last day when we stumbled upon this old, abandoned ruin of a castle on the Ring of Kerry and got to explore.


And that's it - our summer in a nut shell!