Turkey, take 2

We took our annual trip to Turkey to spend time with family. Elliot is getting more and more brave in the water and liked both the sea and the pool.


























One of the sandcastles constructed:















Lots of time was spent with Dede:














Kerem Amca and Ebru Teyze came too!:













He made the short, easy walk to the ice cream stand often:

































He used arm floaties for the first time and loved it. It took a day of showing him the floaties before he would allow us to put them on him. After waking up from a nap by the pool he asked me to put them on and said, "I'm ready." I let him go in the water and he swam away.














He also learned all about, and practiced, splashing and being splashed.

words

There are a couple of words that Elliot says in his own adorable way. I'd love to try and get these on video.
Chechamals (chemicals)
Adult bebudge (adult beverage)
Bee-yah! (beer) anything ending in an "r" gets a "yah" at the end.

It has started

The question, "why?" is getting asked a LOT around our house these days. In a 2-minute conversation, it doesn't come up once or twice, but 7-8 times in a row.

Our tactical evolution:
1. We first thought he was being even more curious than usual, so we gave him earnest short but descriptive explanations.
2. We figured out that he wasn't really always looking for an answer and started asking, "why what?" thinking if he really wanted an answer he'd phrase the entire question again.
3. We ask him what he thinks. This showed us that he usually has some kind of idea about what he's asking us.
4. We sometimes throw a wrench into his plan with a completely random answer like Pink! or Bubbles! and so far it's working beautifully.

If he really wants an answer, he never shies away from #2. Then we randomly use #1 and #3 depending on our mood. This method is being trademarked.