A Little Waldorf Companion

I love Waldorf dolls.

picture borrowed from Maria Ribbeck 

picture borrowed from Gopita

picture borrowed from The Parent Vortex

Waldorf dolls are intentionally simple.  They have no facial expression and no brightly coloured doll 'make-up'.  They certainly do not have batteries and do not move or make robotic doll sounds.  The reason for their simplicity is to inspire imagination and creativity (two characteristics I believe are vitally important to encourage in young children).  Also, waldorf dolls are made with love from natural materials like cotton and wool using traditional European doll-making techniques.  Their natural softness makes them oh so cuddle-icious! 

I believe all children (girls AND boys) should have their own "babies" to love and hold and take care of.  Young children are naturally very self-focused.  Early childhood is the time for the child to learn all about his or her self and how the self relates to the rest of the world and vice versa.  Most children love dolls because they remind them of themselves.  Children can learn so much through doll play.

So for ages I've been wanting to make a little companion doll for Ky.  But to make a true Waldorf doll, seemed to me, to be a bit beyond what I was capable of.  So I kept putting it off (while often browsing through how-to doll making sites) until I happen to stumble upon an already made basic doll body while shopping with my mum when I visited Australia recently.  It was the perfect canvas for the little baby I had in mind for my little baby.  I bought it immediately!  It's made of calico and stuffed with some kind of soft stuff (I'm determined to continue imagining the soft stuff is beautiful organic wool, when deep down I know it's most likely synthetic stuffing).

I also bought a single ball of lovely multi-coloured wool for its hair.  I love this wool!  The beautiful sheepy colours and the varying thickness is so yummy.  I imagined a wonderfully messy dreadlocked pony-tail for our little doll.  But I had absolutely no idea about how to attach the hair.  Luckily, I found this simple tutorial from Crafty Sheep and within 20 minutes I'd crocheted-up a little cap.

As you can see I didn't worry too much about being neat with my sewing.

It was time-consuming sewing the cap onto the doll but worth it once I started hooking the pieces of hair onto the cap.  It was so easy and so satisfying watching the hair sprouting and transforming the naked doll body into a baby with character.

only his back bald patch to go

How's that for a full head of hair?

Before the hair, Ky was not at all interested in the doll.  But even before I'd finished the hair, he was asking me "Kaya's baby?"

How's he looking so far?

It was a very cute thing to see Kaya cuddling his naked, face-less baby.  But he wasn't entirely happy.  He asked me "jacket? eyes?"

I think I'll start with the eyes.  Once he's got a face, he'll be a real baby doll!

Singing

The littlest member of our family just loves to sing.  Often he sings new words he learns during the day.  But lately he loves to sing a little song he calls "Jungle Dars".  He got his inspiration from his (latest) two most favourite songs:

This one:

And this one:

Ky's version goes a little bit like this:
    
     jungle dars
     jungle dars
     jungle jungle dars
     jungle dars

The lyrics may not be particularly deep and meaningful, but the melody is just beautiful.  To me, my little angel's lovely lilting voice really does sound like that of an angel.  I could listen to him all day long.

Censorship

After my last post, I've been feeling so inspired to blog.  More so than every before.  However, each time I attempted to access my blog (except for today)  I was confronted with these bold red letters:
 

Bu siteye erisim mahkeme karariyla engellenmistir.

Which tell me that my blog has been blocked by order of the court!

I realise since beginning my blog I've offended some people, but did I also offend the nation of Turkey to the extent that the government had to block my blog?  Or perhaps it was because of my use of the v-word in one of my more recent posts ... you know the one!  That word pertaining to a certain lady part.  Seriously, who knows the reason.  In fact, I don't think my blog was special, I believe all blogger websites were actually banned.  Every day I come across websites and blogs in particular that have been blocked from public access here in Turkey.  For a supposedly democratic society, for me it's interesting how people's opinions, thoughts and ideas, which are not in line with the government's thinking are erased, deleted or blocked (like my website).  Thankfully, unlike many unlucky individuals here, I have not been arrested ... yet ...  I have a lot of thoughts about this and similar topics but I fear this blog is not the place to voice my opinions...  

I don't want to get all political anyway.  I just wanted to let you know why I hadn't posted anything recently.

Hopefully my blog will stay accessible and I'll be free to write more blogs more regularly.

It's Not Where You Go, It's How You Get There

After almost 2 years, we left our Antalya home on the Turkish Mediterranean coast for another adventure.  We're not entirely sure where our next (semi) permanent stop will be but we're certainly going to make sure the journey is as full as can possibly be.  Already, in the week since we left our last home, our travels have taken us from spring into winter, from sun and swimming into snow and shivering, from a modern city into an ancient metropolis.  Needless to say we've really enjoyed the journey so far.  My limited vocabulary is not colourful enough to adequately describe all that we've experienced but I hope these amateur pictures will give you some idea.  

First Stop: Fethiye.  A picture perfect seaside town about 3 hours west of Antalya.  We stayed here for a couple of days to enjoy the sunshine and beautiful sea views.

Shepherd(ess?) watching over her flock with a lovely view of the coast-side  town of Fethiye.

Early one morning we walked about 20 metres from our hotel (opposite the town quay) to explore the ruins of Telmessos, an ancient Roman amphitheater.

Uncovered not so long ago, in 1993, this amphitheater dates back to the 2nd Century!

Second Stop: Kaya Mezarleri (translation = Rock Tombs).  These tombs are located within the actual city of Fethiye.  Only a 5 minute drive from our hotel.

These tombs belong to the family of Amyntas, the king or governor of ancient Telemessos (the original name of Fethiye) during the Hellenistic period (200-300 BC)

Kaya was just as impressed as we were by these wonderful old tombs carved into the side of a slope overlooking the whole of Fethiye.

Third Stop: Kaya Koyu (translation = Rock Village).  A 20 minute drive into the mountains above Fethiye we came across this abandoned village.  The history of this place is quite a sad story.  Originally a Greek village dating back more than a thousand years, the inhabitants lived in peace and harmony with their Turkish neighbours ... that was up until 1922 when the "population exchange" occurred and all Greeks in Turkey were ordered to return to Greece and all Turks were ordered to leave Greece and return to Turkey.  The village was abandoned at that time. Unfortunately, during the forced eviction, many belongings were left behind only to be stolen by "treasure hunters" who also looted the place and destroyed many of the buildings.  Now all that remains of this ghost towns are a number of dilapidated buildings overgrown with wild fig trees and the occasional goat.

Entering the old village of Kaya Koyu.

Next Stop: Oludeniz (translation = Dead Sea)

A beautiful sunny day to play on the deserted rocky beach.

Even warm enough to take a quick dip in the sea!

A panoramic view of the Oludeniz beach.  Beautiful!

Next Stop: Patara.  Another ancient Lycian city dating back to the time of Apollo!  This place is so rich  in history and interesting facts and discoveries, I couldn't do it justice by trying to describe it here.  But if you ever visit Turkey, this is one (of many) places well-worth the visit.

The first excavated stonework we passed on our way into the National Park of Patara.  Much of the city has yet to be uncovered, including an Apollo Temple that archeologists know to be buried somewhere in there ...

Patara was once a busy trading port but over the years as the geography changed, it silted up and became a marshy swamp.  I think the marshes provide a lovely water feature to this scenic picture.

This cow is oblivious to the yet to be discovered treasures of this ancient city.

Patara beach is 12km of beautiful fine sand and climbable rocks perfect for boys big and small to play

Next Stop: Saklikent (Fethiye).  14km long Gorge located between Fethiye and Antalya.

A couple of hundred metres inside the canyon.  The walls were so high we could only just see the sky above.  The water looked so clean but boy was it cold!

The current stop on our journey to Who-Knows-Where: Ankara.  We're back in the house Murat built and we decorated together before our wedding in 2008.  This is the house we thought would be our home for at least a few years but in fact we lived here for just a few short months before we moved to Antalya.  Murat's parents are looking after it for us now.  It feels nice to be 'home' even if only for a few days or maybe a week or so.  I wonder where our next stop will be...

Our house is one of those in the background.  The first day we arrived it started snowing.  What a treat!  

This was the view from our front door this morning.

Three days later, it's still snowing.  The car is pretty much buried and the snow is up to the bottom of the windows of the ground floor of the house.  If the snow doesn't let up soon, we'll be prisoners here.

I don't want to blog. I do want to blog. I don't want to ......

Someone asked me the other day why I haven't been keeping my blog updated ... well that's one of the very reasons I haven't been bothered - she's the only person who's noticed I haven't been writing!  Imagine that.  The world does not revolve around me and my little family.  My friends and family obviously have better things to do with their lives than read about mine.  Who'da thunk it?

Actually, that's not the most important reason why I've been feeling reluctant to write.  The main reason is because a certain few people from the Turkish side of my family have been feeling offended by some of my descriptions of my experiences here in Turkey.  I've been hearing little comments here and there over the past year about how I've been disrespectful to the Turkish culture by discussing my observations in my blog or on facebook or even in emails I've written.  This has really surprised and upset me because I have never meant any disrespect.  Why is there such an intense sensitivity to anything even remotely critical (intentional or not) of Turkey, I wonder.

As a result of those comments I've felt the need to moderate my words, check with hubby on the acceptability of my posts before posting and on many occasions, even refraining from writing what I really wanted to write about.  So without freedom of speech I haven't felt like writing at all.

That was until now, when I actually started writing.  And I just don't want to stop.  As well as having the potential to be my outlet, this blog could also be a great record of Ky's earliest experiences.  I have so much I want to write about.  Kaya has changed so much.  So much stuff has happened since my last post.  So many things are in the process of happening.  Changes changes changes.  Are you interested?  Is there anyone even listening?