Oozing with Enthusiasm

I didn't mention Juan Carlos (8 yrs) the other day-he has no hair issues at this time (or girl issues, thank goodness).

But, I must say-the child lights up like 100W bulb when he's excited. People always comment on this aspect of his personality (and physiology). It's like his face actually lights up-like one of those glow worm toys. If you know him-you know exactly what I'm talking about. You can't help but smile when you see him like that.

Saturday was his first soccer game. He had fun playing last year and improved a lot-but he never scored during a game. Saturday he was fast, he always seemed to be near the ball, and he SCORED TWO GOALS!

The best part of that was watching him run down the field after he scored with a huge grin on his glowing face (it's also the best part because I didn't get a picture of him scoring an actual goal).

Remember how I said Julio hasn't gotten hurt yet playing football (and I very clearly knocked on wood)? Well, he got a helmet to the knee in the first five minutes of his game on Saturday and sat the game out. He's ok now. It was probably for the best-the smallest kid on the other team was bigger than him (Julio's one of the biggest on his team). A lot of big, tough boys. I was perfectly fine having him on the sideline with a bruise. :)


Fall is crazy-but it's fun watching the kiddos!

The Times I Most Want Another Baby...

... are when they are like this (Pedro this afternoon after a tough couple of days of preschool):

Look at that little face, what an absolute angel (again-when he's asleep-whole different ball game when he's conscious):

Of course, those two shots were hard to get because Juan Carlos was intentionally trying to ruin the picture running back in forth in front of me...

...thus bringing me back to reality.

My Unbloggable Life

It has been almost 3 weeks since I last blogged. I know I'm not the most faithful blogger, but 3 weeks without the excuse of pregnancy or summer vacation? Come on!

I guess I feel pretty uninteresting lately-just a lot of normal life stuff. Let's see-

The End of Fall Soccer

Hallelujah!

Soccer kept things hopping this fall-4 practices on three different weeknights and then 2 or 3 games every Saturday for 7 weeks. Whew. I was pretty much burned out after week 2. Julio's poor team, who went defeated until their last game, finally posted a "W" and Julio scored the winning goal. Man, that was one bad team. Julio is currently OBSESSED with playing tackle football next fall (gee, I can't imagine why he's not interested in soccer anymore). I've only got 9 months to talk him out of it-any ideas?

Juan Carlos's team won every game but their first one, and then lost the last game. :( He made a lot of improvement during the year and had fun so I imagine he'll play again next year.

Flu Shots

First time I've ever got one-after getting the flu a couple of years ago I'll do whatever I can to prevent it. It didn't even hurt.

Puppy Update

Work. Lots of work.

Oh, and I've realized that Coloradans, at least where we live, are crazy about dogs. Remember how I always talked about how much Brazilians loved kids and babies? Well, that's how the people are here about their dogs. People could care less about my kids, but everyone's all talkative and friendly if I'm out and about with Quakey (yes, his name has evolved into Quakey which is much easier because we don't have to explain why we named our dog "underwear" in Portuguese).

His latest naughty trick was getting in to Juan Carlos's backpack, removing a full chocolate milk box and then ripping it apart on our bedroom carpet. Not good.

Margarita's a Girl

Margarita has succumbed to peer pressure and started dressing like a girl. No more Nike t-shirts, plaid shorts and flip-flops. She is wearing cute skinny jeans, blouses and even an occasional scarf! The bad thing is is that she has the wrong mom for help with fashion advice. And, she has the same affinity for black, grey and white that I do-so our closets are looking pretty similar these days.

Fall

After 10 years of living in cities nicknamed "The City of Eternal Spring" (or worse, Small Town, Mexico which I nicknamed, "The City Whose Weather Most Resembles That of H@#$"), I am LOVING fall. The leaves, the crisp air, the pumpkins. You'd think I'd have taken a million photos of all of my favorite local trees, but no, I've been too busy with soccer, student teacher conferences (Pedro is one of his teacher's favorite kids ever-and she's been teaching for 20 years-wow!), piano lessons (I was the oldest student by a good 20 years to play at my teacher's Halloween recital last week-won't be doing that again!), cub scouts, and all the other random activities that come up to preserve the lovely memories.

But, I have loved it all the same.

That's about it. See? I told you, pretty boring. But, boring is good sometimes.

My Kids Are On A Roll

One last post before it's Puppy Time. T-15 hours and we'll be dog owners once again. (sigh)

Anyway, earlier in the week it was Pedro that was cracking us up, and today it's Juan Carlos (7 yrs old). I was going through his Friday folder which contains all of his graded work from the week and I came across this little gem in which he has to list 10 mammals. I was there that day, helping some of the kids with this worksheet. He had one mammal left to go and told me he was going to put "naked mole rat", a totally acceptable mammal. I left him to finish up and went on to the next kid.

I should have checked his work. (you can click to enlarge)

Not "naked mole rat". No, no. He ended up writing "naked male" You can see the teacher's obvious confusion-the double question marks and the arrow pointing to #4, "people", which would obviously included all naked males (and clothed ones for that matter).

Oh my. I've been laughing all night thinking about what she must have been thinking when she read it.

("peking bird" was also a mystery-maybe he meant "Peking duck"? or a "pecking bird"? Who knows)

Have a great weekend!

Another Week

Has another week come and gone? I tell you what, my biggest fear living here is that I'll wake up one morning and- BAM! I'M 45! Seriously, the weeks fly by.

So, the happenings of last week...


Tuesday

Tuesday night we went to the Rockies vs. Padres game. My mom's cousin's son, so her second cousin? And that would make him my second cousin once removed or something? It doesn't matter, any sort of extended cousins are just "cousins" in my family (especially when they are major league baseball players). So anyway, my cousin is the third baseman for the Padres and when they come to town we go to the games. This time we got to sit in great seats with his parents and the kids even got to go down by the dugout and talk to their "cousin". It was great fun.

Wednesday

Wednesday was a busy day. I helped out in Juan Carlos's class for the first time. I'm doing a swap with a friend where one stays home with the kids and the other volunteers in the classroom. She has the cutest 5 month old baby girl who makes me insanely baby hungry. Pedro probably doesn't have quite the same effect.

A little later in the day the boys' school had their annual "Jog-a-Thon" fundraiser. All the kids had to run around a 220 yard. lap for 20 minutes. We all had to pledge money per lap, the goal being to raise $35,000 ($85.00 per kid-sorry, we fell a bit short). Juan Carlos's goal was 15 laps and he ended up doing 16. The cool thing was that the kid had a grin on his face the.entire.race. He never complained (and if you know Juan Carlos, you know this is a minor miracle). Guapo, my mom and I took turns running around with him and he was pretty tough to keep up with.

Me and Juan Carlos:

Guapo and Juan Carlos:

Grandma and Juan Carlos:

Then there was poor Julio, who came home with a fever Tuesday after school; we drugged him with Tylenol so he could go see his "cousin" play. He woke up Wednesday morning worse (go figure), but he still wanted to run for his school-so I drugged him again and he went and ran/walk 13 laps. What a trooper!

I was greatly discouraged when we got home and lo-and-behold, what do I find in Juan Carlos's backpack but yet ANOTHER fundraising opportunity-this time selling cookie dough and wrapping paper.

AGGGGGGHHH!

Coupon books, jog-a-thons, silent auction dinners, cookie dough-make it stop!

Anyway, later that afternoon (poor Julio still under the effects of the fever reducing drug), we had cub scouts: we took a hike on a trail to pick up trash. I know, I know, I'm super hot in my cub scouts shirt.

But, I do have to mention here how much I'm enjoying being a den leader-it's so fun. The boys are cute and it's only an hour a week-how hard is that? Janice was right-it's a great calling to have.

Thursday

Julio still sick; Margarita comes home with a fever and a sore throat.

Friday

I take both both kids to the doctor, despite the fact that Julio is markedly better, and after one quick whiff of Julio's breath he diagnoses them both with strep. Ok-how guilty did I feel for letting Julio run in the Jog-a-thon?

Saturday

More soccer. Speedy Juan Carlos, who tends to shy away from the ball, sprinted his heart out to catch an opponent quickly approaching their goal and stopped him. His teammates were full of high-5's and celebratory chest bumps and instantly dubbed him "Lightning Bolt" which supposedly he "hates". He's retold the story 100 times this weekend- about how it was the same as scoring a goal since he stopped one. So cute.

Now if I could just get my act together and do a mini-posts during the week I wouldn't feel like such a lame blogger.

The dog's coming in 6 days. Help!

Officially a Soccer Mom (I think)

Just wanted you all to know I experienced an American first today: I went to Julio's and Juan Carlos's first soccer games. In my minivan, of course.

Are there any other requirements for being a "soccer mom" that I don't know about?




Unfortunately, both teams lost. :( Julio scored the only goal for his team, so at least there's that. For the most part the parents behaved-only a few who got a little too excited with calls made against their sons.

All and all, a fun time!

Next time I have to take orange slices (maybe then I'll be a true soccer mom?).

36 Years Young

Is it just me or is time going faster than normal? :)

Another year has gone by- luckily I'm still in my mid-thirties and not my late thirties, right?

I feel a bit lost today because Ballerina Girl and I usually go to lunch for my birthday and she's in the States for her niece's wedding. No one else besides my family knows it's my birthday. That's not totally true, the maid did bring me a gift which was so thoughtful, and my piano teacher texted me.

I can't believe I've been driving for 20 years now (only one ticket, thank you very much...ok, I have spent the last 9 years in countries where the cops don't pull you over unless they need money)...Only two more years until my 20th high school reunion...I've been out of college for 14 years...grad school for 12... only 4 more years until I'm 40? Aggggh!

Deep breath.

It's all good.

Changing the subject, here's the note Juan Carlos left for the tooth fairy the other night. I had to bribe the kid to wiggle his tooth out-have you ever met a kid who doesn't want to wiggle their loose teeth? Since it cost us $100 to get the first one pulled, I told him I'd give him $10 if he could get it out himself.

He wants a necklace with his tooth on it and the money. That's so Juan Carlos. Our tooth fairy is not that talented or creative, so she just left the money and the tooth, just in case he wants to make his own necklace.

Ok, back to my birthday.

Tomorrow Guapo and I are going to Recife for a couple of days without the kiddos for a little birthday trip. Should be fun.

Tchau!

I've Just Got to Get This Over With

When you get away from your blog for too long, does it haunt you day and night? Do you feel guilty every time you get on your computer and then start to avoid using your computer altogether? I do. I don't know why it happens, the lulls that is- I guess for different reasons, getting too busy, nothing bloggable going on, etc., etc. And once I'm behind I never know where to start again. I don't like to go back and cover what I've missed; I prefer to start with where I'm at, but that makes it a little choppy.

Oh well. I've got to get back to it so I can start to use my computer again instead of relying solely on my iPhone.

I've missed blogging about two birthdays, a fun trip to Sao Paulo, meeting a blog friend IRL, and an abudance of house problems including, but not limited to, termites, broken appliances and oodles of leaks; I will try to do a catch up post or two at least on the birthdays.

But for now, just a cute little Easter story.

Guapo and I were up a lot last night because Pedro had the croup really bad. It was scary and we started thinking we were going to have to make a trip to the ER, but his airways finally opened up and he could sleep, although with labored breathing.

We had told the kids last night that the egg hunt would not begin until 8am. When 8 am rolled around the three big kids stormed into our room demading that we bounce out of bed. Because we were so tired we didn't move quickly enough for them.

Juan Carlos (6 years old) asked, "Which do you like more, Easter or sleeping?" to which we both grumbled, "sleeping".

In a shocked voice he asked, "WHAT??? You mean you don't like the ressurection?"

So cute.

Ok. I'm back blogging. That wasn't so hard.

(And just for the record, I do like the ressurection. Very much. Even more than sleeping.)

My Baby No Longer

Well, Juan Carlos finally lost his first tooth (albeit at the hands of our dentist) earlier this week.

Have I ever mentioned the kids' dentist before? She is about the coolest pediatric dentist I've ever met (granted, I haven't met many, but there can't be many cooler than her).

From a mom's perspective, she takes time each visit to review proper brushing technique; if they're not brushing properly, she'll have them come back once a week until she sees improvement (pain in the butt for me, but ultimately worth it); she doesn't charge me for little things like putting fluoride on a couple of teeth, she lets me have her cell phone number, she doesn't freak out when I show up with all four kids in tow, and she always fits my kids into her schedule.

From a kid's point of view, she lets them poke around her office, examine the "prize drawer" before they're done, make the dental chair go up and down and up and down and up and down, spray the windows with the little water sprayer dealy-o (only if they're willing to then clean them off with a paper towel. They always are.), and watch when their siblings who are having their teeth pulled:

I normally don't have pictures of my big kids on my blog, but Juan Carlos's face is so contorted here that it really looks nothing like him:

Voila!

The Tooth Fairy visited while Guapo was out of town; she left Juan Carlos the equivalent of $6 USD because (I think), a) it was his first tooth and, b) it was a bit of a traumatic experience (see his face in the above photo). Gaupo claimed, had he been home, the Tooth Fairy never would have left that much money because he only got a quarter per tooth when he was a kid. Lucky for Juan Carlos he was traveling!

And, the best news of all, he still ran up to me when I arrived at school today and gave me a big bear hug and kiss, so maybe he'll be my baby a little while longer...

Be Very Precise When Making Deals with the Tooth Fairy

A couple of years ago, about the time Juan Carlos was turning 5, I started teasing him about how he couldn't grow up and that he always had to be my baby. As he watched with envy as both Margarita and Julio were losing teeth and receiving money from the Tooth Fairy, I would explain to him that that wasn't going to happen to him because I had had a long talk with her and explained that he was going to stay my baby forever, so he really had no need to lose his baby teeth.

Kindergarten came and went and Juan Carlos watched nearly all of his classmates lose their lower bottom baby teeth, but he never did. And now, more than halfway through 1st grade, the kids are to losing their upper front teeth like crazy and yet Juan Carlos still has yet to lose a single tooth.

We had a close call a few weeks ago when it appeared that he had a loose tooth, but then it mysteriously un-loosened itself. It was so cute, during those few days that it was loose, I would complain about "that darn Tooth Fairy not keeping her promise," and he would tell me, "Don't worry mom, I'll still be your baby!" Melts my heart.

Then, after it appeared that she remembered our little deal and the tooth ceased to be wiggly, we noticed that he had a gap between two lower teeth that was never there before. Upon inspection of his mouth, this is what we found:

Do you see that? The white behind his front teeth? It's his permanent tooth:

Well.

That's not exactly what I had in mind. It's true I didn't want him to lose his baby teeth, but I also meant that I didn't want him to get his big boy teeth. Now he's like a shark growing a second row of teeth (and, oddly enough, his latest obsessions are sharks and shark teeth, coincidence? I think not). It now appears that he'll have to have the baby teeth pulled by the dentist on Monday unless he can do some serious loosening between now and then.

While there is some discussion in our house right now of the validity of the Easter Bunny, Juan Carlos will always and forever believe in the Tooth Fairy. You don't want to mess with her.

Welcome to The School of Hard Knocks

When I went into help in Juan Carlos' 1st grade class last week, his teacher pulled me aside and told me she had to show me something. It was a writing assignment where the kids were supposed to respond to a letter from a disgruntled young woman, Lizzie, who was upset that she couldn't join the boys only Soccer Club, despite her supposed soccer skills.

She first showed me a few of the other kids' response which were generally along the lines of, "I'm sorry. It's not fair, you can play with us" or "the club should be for boys AND girls" or "if you keep practicing, we'll let you join."

Then she showed me Juan Carlos' paper:

(you can click it to make it bigger)

"I am sorry but that is how it is. You can make you're own club" (please disregard the grammatical error, he's only 6 :) )

His teacher loved it. I felt like in those two short sentences, that she had a window into our home and how we deal with a lot of the problems around here. "You're going to have to work it out.", "What are you going to do about it?", "You're ok" , "You're going to have to deal with it.", "You can handle it", "Life's not fair", "You can't always get what you want" (sung to them in my lovely singing voice. You know the song, from the Rolling Stones?)

Not that he's not a compassionate little guy, he is, actually his answer surprised me a little. He will often come home and tell me he helped so-and-so who was sad, or showed the new kid around. He draws pictures when we're sick and gives great hugs. And I do like that he realizes that sometimes life isn't fair and offers poor Lizzie a suggestion. But, it still made me feel a little weird.

Like I'd better watch out or I'm going to be complaining about my arthritis in the nursing home someday and he'll tell me, "Sorry, but that's just how it is. Take some aspirin and suck it up."

One Deranged Fish, One Defamed Cat

I just wanted to clear Kitty's name.

Pumpkin jumped. Kitty actually saved his life by being on the scene last night-otherwise we never would have seen Pumpkin laying there looking like a little red grape (which are often found on my kitchen floor).

How do I know this?

Last night, I put Pumpkin on top of the refrigerator, a place where Kitty for sure couldn't reach. This morning, I went downstairs to see if Pumpkin was still alive; he was swimming around as good as new. I woke up Juan Carlos a few minutes later to tell him the good news. When we went into the kitchen, the bowl was empty, and there was Pumpkin, looking like a grape again on the floor.

I think it's a cry for help-had he really wanted to commit suicide he would have jumped during the middle of the night-he waited until he knew we were up.

A Quick Break From The Madness

I don't know what it is about going home, but as the date approaches I turn into my most obsessive self. Whereas I thought that while Guapo was traveling, I'd be leisurely blogging and whatnot, instead I've inundated myself in a slew of new projects. For example, this morning I spent almost two hours going through all of our medicines, throwing away everything that was expired and then separating them into gallon Ziploc bags according to their category. Why?????

And tonight I'm working on a few *meaningful* Christmas gifts that I can't really talk about because those who are receiving them may be reading this (and if they're not, they don't deserve the gifts!). We're talking some time consuming projects.

I had to take a quick break though and write about my sweet Juan Carlos (6 years old) tonight.

He won a beta fish at the school Halloween party (don't you love it when live animals are the prizes? yeah, me too). Anyway, he's been taking very good care of "Pumpkin" ever since; tonight Kitty somehow got Pumpkin out of his bowl (how I'll never know), and we found him on the floor in a little ball with Kitty looming largely over him. (Why do these things always happen when Guapo's out of town?)

Juan Carlos immediately broke down; I got him out of the room and called Julio to "take care" of the fish (i.e. put it in the toilet). Julio instead put Pumpkin in his bowl and he started to swim. Juan Carlos was relieved but I tried to explain to him that the fish was probably in shock and still might die.

And this is what got me, and why I had to blog tonight, he said, through his tears, "I want to take a picture with Pumpkin before he dies."

How sweet is that? Sometimes I just love my kids so much it makes me want to cry.

So, we had a little photo shoot; if I had time, I'd download them. But I don't, so just imagine a sweet, blond boy with red, swollen eyes trying to smile as he holds up his injured little fish.

I hope Pumpkin makes it through the night-it's been over an hour now and he's still swimming around, so I think it's possible.

And now, back to my projects.

Confessions of a 1st Grade Room Mom

Sorry, I don't really have any confessions, it just sounds a lot more interesting than:

• How I Got Bullied into Being a Room Mom
• Why I Hate Being a Room Mom
• Remind Me NEVER to be a Room Mom Again

Juan Carlos' first grade class had no volunteers for a room mom. I have avoided that job like the plauge ever since the one and only time I've ever done it; it was for Margarita's kindergarten class long ago, back in our Venezuela days. But when his very nice teacher begged me to do it and promised me she would ask nothing of me, that I would be a room mom in name only, I warily accepted the position.

Why don't I want to be a room mom?

1) I hate planning parties
2) I hate when other people complain about the parties I've planned when they offered no input or support in the first place. (I've had a little experience with this)

Well, it's true, she has asked nothing of me in my two month term. The PTA President is an entirely different story. She and I are good friends, our daughters are best friends so when I complain about her demands, I do it with love in my heart. And, it's not her fault the Children's Day Ice Cream Social and Teacher's Day with its accompanying parent-provided Teacher's Appreciation Lunch fell in the same week this year, leaving me to collect the many items that my class was responsible for.

It's almost as if parents didn't enjoy receiving my daily emails imploring them to send in this many kilos of sprinkles and that many kilos of M&M's, a half dozen pasta salads, and, oh yeah, enough money to get two decent presents for the kids' teachers.

Do I like being responsible for a group gift?

Ummmm, NO.

When I asked for suggestions, several people recommended buying clothing or handbags for the teachers. Ok, if any of you know me, you know I have a problem with shopping (other than at Target and other stores that have carts), fashion, trends, etc. I would NEVER in a million years purchase a handbag for someone else. So why that might have been a perfectly acceptable suggestion to someone with a normal level of fashion sense, it made me break out into a sweat.

I ended up going with a gift certificate to a popular bookstore here. Gift certificates are not as mainstream here as they are in the States, so I had to really do some ground work to find an acceptable store that offered them. I added a nice lotion gift set and baked some banana bread. The teachers both seemed happy with their gifts (If they were hoping for a nice handbag, they hid their disappointment well).


It was worth all of the frustration when I saw how pleased they were to be recognized and how excited the kids were to know their parents were all apart of the gift (well, most of their parents, but we won't discuss names right now). I really have a deep respect for good teachers; especially early education teachers-I could never do it and I'm glad there are people who can and even seem to enjoy it.

So, I'll be room mom to help them out and I'll try not to complain too much.

(Well, maybe just one more little thing and then I'll stop complaining; just when I thought I could relax until the Christmas party, it's one of their birthdays and I have to send a cake in tomorrow.)

Aggggh!

My Kids-September 2009

Here's a very grandparent-friendly post-a little synopsis of what my kids are up to right now. (read: you may be wise to have a little shot of caffeine before you read on).

Margarita (11 1/2 years old)

She is adjusting to life in middle school- lots of things to remember, assignments to turn in, etc.

She's getting great grades- we're almost at the end of the first quarter and she's got all A's.

She's learning her FOURTH language- French.

She still loves animals, especially cats.

She still fills my water bottle every night.

She is taking piano lessons.

She is on the middle school basketball team. I'm so proud of her, she is one of only four 6th graders that play with a bunch of much bigger girls (practically women, I tell you) who have played together for years and she never gets discouraged.

She is doing Destination Imagination again this year, despite the fact that her best friend isn't doing it with her.

She gets Pedro ready for bed almost every night.

She doesn't care if her clothes match at all, she has taken a dislike to normal white socks, and she avoids brushing her hair at all costs. It's (mostly) fine with me (except for the hair part), the longer the boys don't notice her the better. We lovingly refer to her as "Punky" (as in Punky Brewster).



Julio (almost 9 years old)




Julio is my non-tween tween.

He would live with his ipod going 24-7 if I let him.

Sometimes I have to go into his room to tell him to "TURN IT DOWN!"

He likes all of those Disney singers-like the Jonas Brothers and Demi Levado, but he also loves John Denver (?).

He takes awesome photos with our good camera (this irritates me to no end).

He is taking piano lessons. His teacher is teaching him some Star Wars songs and the Indiana Jones song. His favorite place to practice these is during Primary at church (much to my chagrin).

He cares what he looks like and his clothes are always matching.

He plays soccer and tennis right now.



He must be bouncing, kicking, or throwing a ball at all times.

He is doing GREAT at school. Does well at every subject (not to sound braggy-but it's true!)

He has a big heart and loves his family very much.

Juan Carlos (6 1/2 years old)

I picked up my copy of So You Want to Raise a Boy by W. Cleon Skousen (yikes-what a name), which I've never actually read cover to cover, but pick up occasionally just to see if my boys are within the range of "normal". I was cracking up reading about 6 year old boys-it fits Juan Carlos to a tee (keep in mind this book was published in 1962):

"First and foremost he appears to be a wiggle-worm. He acts as though every part of his anatomy were attached to springs or someone had put itching powder in his breeches. Even when he's sitting he puts out more energy than a whirling dervish...He wiggles and writhes. He is so uncomfortable in one position that the teacher may see him pulling faces, jerking his arms about, striking some nearby boy or girl just to get a rise out of them. He wants to wrestle, run, jump and holler...he talks incessantly...With all this loose energy being thrown around, parents may get the idea Junior will accomplish something. Unfortunately, this is not the way he feels about it."

The kid is ALWAYS in motion.

He does what he refers to as the "Happy Dance" where he moves his feet so fast you can't see them. It looks like he's samba-ing.

He is happy with his teacher and his friends.

He was recently a fireman for his career day at work.


He takes a tennis class once a week.

He still resists going on playdates without me, and I don't push him.

He loves reading and has, on his own, started reading "chapter" books at home.

He was a proud owner of some sea-monkeys. Now he's grown bored of them and wants to take them out to the lake and set them free.

He still hasn't lost a tooth. (hehehe)

Ever since we went to Disneyland, he does this weird thing where he puts sunglasses on and says, in a very creepy voice, "Do I look like (pause) Micky Mouse?" He's got Pedro doing it now too.



He still loves me, but sadly (for me), I see him wanting to spend more and more time with his dad. This is another thing that book says happens between 6 and 7 with boys.

Pedro (2 1/2 years old)



Where to begin?

He is, for the most part, a very sweet little boy. However, when things don't go his way, he turns into a monster child in a matter of nano-seconds.

When he's mad he kicks, screams and hits. Today he pulled my hair in the checkout line at the store. When I put him down so he couldn't reach my hair anymore, he kicked me in the shin.

He eats only with his yellow fork and spoon.

He talks like a trooper.

He takes a nap in his crib (2-3 hours, yay!), but sleeps at night in the big bed.

He's taken to getting up before dawn and playing with his trains while the rest of us sleep on.

When I answer "yes" to whatever he is asking ("Can I have a pickle mom?" "Can I set my train down here?" "Can I watch a train show?") he responds with an enthusiastic "Yipee!"

When I tell him to do something that he doesn't want to do he says, "No fair!"

He likes to play "squeeze the lemonade" where he squeezes you or you squeeze him.

We sing Primary songs every night before he goes to sleep; if a song has the word "spirit" in it, he immediately stops me and says, "Mom, it's 'spirick' NOT 'spirit'".

He refuses to go on the potty, but tells me exactly when he's pooping (and asks me to leave the room) and when he wants me to change his diaper.

He is always a big hit with the ladies. Here he is with Margarita's basketball team (I am so kicking myself I didn't have the right lens on when it happened).



He loves all things to do with transportation, but especially trains and airplanes.

My kids are all healthy and happy-so I feel extremely blessed. :)

A Somewhat Happier Post

Things are going ok here.

Repair Update

The hot water heater guy finally showed up today after not having hot water since Friday and it appears that the problem has something to do with the hot/cold water valves for the washing machine (it's not all automatic here like it is in the States, if I want to wash my clothes in hot water, I have to turn the hot water knob on). I guess if they are both on, it kills the heater? So, I don't know-maybe it is working, sort-of? We'll see if I can figure out the secret to getting hot water, otherwise that guy's going to be coming back again.

The washer guy STILL hasn't shown up. The billing people however DID show up at Guapo's office demanding payment for the parts and labor which was interesting. They were pretty ticked when he wouldn't pay up. (me sighing and shaking my head. sometimes I just don't get it.)

Someone's supposed to come tomorrow to fix it. I'll believe it when I see it.

And, for the time being, we're giving up the dream of having a working land-line or in-house phone on our second level where we spend all of our time. So, if the building starts on fire and they are trying to call us from below, I guess we're just out of luck. (Note to self: give my cell number to the guards... )

Luckily all the problems I have are just annoying. We are all healthy and relatively happy, so I don't have that much to complain about.

Projects

I finished piecing the quilt for my brother's baby:



Pretty cute, eh? Once again, I would like to try to machine quilt, but I am too afraid to ruin it, so I will hand quilt it-it just takes so much time!

Random Thoughts:

I don't want to forget that the other day Juan Carlos (5 yrs) was eating a piece of cantaloupe and he said to me, "Here mom, you can have the rest of my antelope, I'm done." How cute is that?

It is so hot here right now I feel like I am back in Small Town, Mexico. I constantly have sweat dripping down my face. We don't have central AC, just window units that can't quite keep up with the heat. Sometimes when I start feeling hot, I have to go into a room where it's not on and then return to the original room to get a little relief.

I'm glad Valentine's Day is almost here-I'm getting sick of this background.

That's it from here!

Christmas Trip: Colorado Portion

I can't believe it's already been 10 days. We've had a great time in Colorado and we are headed to Utah in about 15 minutes for the second part of our trip. Here are the highlights of our trip so far:

(This picture was taken minutes after arriving at my parent's house) Pedro, obviously feeling very comfortable in his new surroundings, got right on making a mess of my mom's bathroom:



They ended up putting up a gate to keep Pedro out of the bathroom.

We got to pick out a real tree this year (Guapo's dream):




Although we were hoping for a white Christmas, it only snowed for about 5 minutes one day. I don't even think you can see the snow falling in this picture, but I promise it was:



We went to a Nuggets game in my dad's office's fancy-shmancy box. They were giving out free reindeer webkinz to all kids and the Nuggets won-so it was pretty much a great night for all involved:



They climbed the wall at the mall:



They got to make fudge and cookies with grandma (I can't tell you what a treat it was NOT to be in charge of these activities!):



(of course, no one wanted to eat Pedro's creations).



The one bad part of the week (and it turned out ok in the end) was that on Christmas Eve day we lost Juan Carlos and Julio for about an hour and a half. Unbeknownst to any adults in the house, they had gone over to a neighbor's to play and were in the basement where no one could here our repeated knocks, so we assumed the neighbors were gone. We frantically searched the nearby park and pond; finally, worrying (well, more like hoping at that moment) that maybe they got lost and wouldn't know the address or phone number of my parents' house, we called the police and they started searching. I'm pretty sure it was the worst hour and a half of my life. I felt like I was suffocating, about to throw up, and pass out all at the same time.

Guapo kept returning to the neighbor's with no luck; then he just felt like he should go inside, so he just opened the front door and he saw their shoes by the stairs (after, the officer joked that he was going to have to charge him with trespassing). They were fine and had no idea they had caused all of us such grief. The nice policeman in charge of the search talked to them about always telling someone where they are and he gave them a sticker:



What an ordeal! I so thankful am it ended happy. The experience served as a very strong reminder of what is really important in life.

That night we did our traditional steamy fondue with the family:



...and later that night Santa visited the house:



We finally joined the 21st century and got a Wii for Christmas. I am a staunch opponent of video games-we'll see how long before I regret the decision. Speaking of the which, please let me know if you can recommend any good, ACTIVE, games for the kids.

And, Guapo and I got a "grown-up" camera. So hopefully the quality of our photos will improve (I'm still scared to use it-so I've got nothing to show you yet.).

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday!

End of the Week

The quilt is quilted.

I think that's the fastest I've every quilted before and therefore the most pain-free quilt as far as Guapo's concerned. I don't even think he even saw me quilting once.

But, someone is seriously trying to mess with me because now I can't find the fabric for the binding. Where could it be??? I am at a total loss. I just had it Sunday and now it's nowhere to be found. It's not like it would get thrown out. Or would it? Is my maid totally sabotaging me?

In addition to quilting until my fingers bled this week I also had some other activities. One of those was to change my layout, and even though I spent lots of time reading a tutorial on how NOT to lose my widgets, I have seemed to misplaced them along with my fabric. :( Sorry bloggy friends, you are still my friends, but your names aren't there today. They will be soon. Please leave me a comment even in you find my post dull, just so I won't have to google you. :)

Bookclub Christmas Party

Remember last year's fiasco? First I tried to save myself some energy so I bought a potato salad that ended up costing me upwards of $60.00 and then, as if that weren't enough, I lost my awesome bag chocked full of American food stuffs in the white-elephant gift exchange and was left with some Unicef place mats.

This year's party was held at Ballerina Girl's home. She is the best hostess; the kind of hostess I dream of being. You arrive at her house and she looks lovely and relaxed (whereas I usually look frazzled and sweaty), and her home looks beautiful (she doesn't have a Pedro, so this helps). And while she's whipping up her own lovely flower arrangements, her Indonesian maid is whipping up all sorts of yummy foods for us all to eat. It was great.

This year was an improvement in that I spent hardly anything on my dish (I made cinnamon rolls). As far as the gift exchange, I fared a lot better mentally this year. Getting my present stolen last year really annoyed me. Bookclub members still talk about my loss on a regular basis (ok, really only when we were discussing plans for this year's party... and I brought it up).

This year, a very nice serving dish was stolen from me and I was left with this decorative wall hanging:



Do I love it? No. But, I'm not losing any sleep over it so I think I've really matured in the last year (not really. Let's face it, the serving dish didn't have anything on macaroni and cheese, chocolate chips, and Stove top stuffing).

All in all a good experience.

Kindergarten Field Trip

Juan Carlos has a touch of separation anxiety, so his teacher invited me to go on their field trip with him. The plan was to go to a marina where we would visit a naval museum and go on a ferry ride. I wasn't looking forward to it; I may have been hoping for rain (isn't that awful?) so it would be canceled. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my kindergartner, but hanging out with 39 of them all hyped up with field trip glee right next to a large body of water isn't my idea of an ideal day (especially when there are quilts that need quilting).

But, it turned out great and I'm really glad they invited me. The weather was perfect, the kids were cute, and no one fell in the water.


And, it reminded me how grateful I am for kindergarten teachers. I could NEVER do that job. There are like 1000 other jobs, many of them blue collar, that I rather have. I really think they deserve six-figure salaries. I am thankful that there are so many different types of people in the world that enjoy doing different things.

Have a great weekend!

Trouble in Kindergarten

Juan Carlos (5 years old) came home yesterday a tad bit quiet. As he was walking home from swimming (in his swim trunks) with Guapo, he broke down and started crying. Between sobs, he told Guapo he had gotten in trouble at school. Guapo tried to ease it out of him, but he wouldn't budge; he even suggested that Guapo just call his teacher to find out about it.

So, they get home and Guapo asks me if I knew about this problem and I told him, no, I did not and I went to try to get the 411 from Juan Carlos.

This triggered AN HOUR (no exaggeration here) of crying and no information except for the fact that he had to "talk to his teacher" about it.

You can imagine how hard I was racking my brain trying to figure out what the heck a kindergartener (more specifically, my kindergartener who is not at all the troublemaker type), could do to bring on this kind of remorse.

Finally, after he calmed down a bit, he agreed to tell me in the morning what had ensued in his classroom. I told him he would have a much better night's sleep if he just told me about it now and didn't have to think about it any longer.

At last, last he revealed his crime to me: while amongst classmates, he said, "I hate sisters," which was overheard by his teacher who then proceeded to talk to him about it.

I know his teacher well, she was Margarita's teacher last year, and she is a complete sweetheart, so I was certain that she didn't come down too hard on him for his comment. I still couldn't believe that that had caused such a reaction from him, so when I saw her today I asked, "What happened yesterday with Juan Carlos?" and she looked at me, totally confused. When I explained what had happened at home she was completely surprised. She told me she heard him say it, called him over and told him that wasn't a nice thing to say and THAT WAS IT. She felt horrible that he had spent so much time worrying about it.

I don't think we are going to have to many disciplinary problems with Juan Carlos.

(And I should mention that he adores Margarita, so I'm not sure what the context was, but I certainly wasn't about to bring it up again!)

No Cold Sores...I'm Totally Relaxed...No Cold Sores

Tomorrow Guapo and I are headed to California. Guapo's brother is getting married on Friday and we are going. Sans children. He is marrying a super cool, smart, beautiful girl who actually blogs-so now I have someone in my family to share my blogging hopes and dreams with. If you get a chance, you can wish her well here.


Anyway, it is always crazy to leave the kids. We haven't both left for more than a night since our 10th anniversary a couple of years ago; I was in the depths of pregnancy despair-so I'm thinking this will be a whole lot more fun. The childcare team will include 6 adults-Vanessa our maid (as long as she doesn't show up with a note tomorrow), Vanessa's cousin (a preemptive strike on my part so no notes are needed during the 5 day trip), Sergio the driver, and three nice girls from chuch who are going to take turns spending the night here to help out with the bedtime and morning routines. It feels good to know it takes an entire staff to replace me!

We are going to Disneyland on Wednesday. What kind of parents are we to go without our kids who have never been???

Right about now, I am just trying not to freak out about leaving because if I have too much stress I will get a cold sore, and that wouldn't be too nice for the wedding photos.

...deep cleansing breath...

Amid all of maid issues, (that for the time being, seem to be better), and all of the preparation, there hasn't been a lot of time for blogging. So, here are a few things going on that I don't want to forget.

Julio (almost 8 years) update

He lost his first big front tooth last week. (the glasses are a poor Photoshop attempt to disguise Julio, we don't actually make him wear Harry Potter glasses).

He got a horrific hair cut two weeks ago. Poor kid knew it. He wore a hood to school the first few days. Think Roman-gladiator-helmet-haircut. After he shed the hood he came home and told me the kids were making fun of him. Sadly, I can't really say that I blame them...

Oh well, it will grow, right?

Juan Carlos (5 years) Update

Juan Carlos is fine. Ever my baby. He is learning to read and write which I can't believe. I am finding homemade books and lists of words around the house. So cute.

He loves his swimming class too, now that his teacher knows that he is never, ever going to put on his speedo.


Margarita (10 years) Update

She is currently the smarty-pants of her 5th grade class. Not to brag, but she brings home A+ work all.the.time. We are pretty proud of her hard work.

Stickers are all the rage amongst the 5th grade girls right now. She can't wait for me to get back with a new, cool, American stickers.

She is such a helper with Pedro-I am grateful for her everyday!

Pedro (18 months): The Semi-Functional-Human-Magic-Eight-Ball

Pedro has learned how to say, "Yeah". He says "yeah" to everything. Well, almost. If you ask him if he wants to go to bed he says, "no". But, to everything else he answers, "Yeah". So, the new thing is for the older kids to continually bombard him with senseless questions and hear him answer "yeah".

"Am I your best friend?" Yeah

"Are we going to the zoo on Saturday?" Yeah

"Are you going to marry La La* when you grow up?" Yeah

"Were you kidding before when you said Julio was your best friend?" Yeah

"Do you want to eat a dog?" Yeah

You get the idea. It can go on for hours. (I'm keeping it clean here, folks, for your benefit, lots of the questions have to do with poop.)

*He is into the telletubbies right now. I'm not for sticking my kids in front of the TV, but I will admit it's nice when I need 5 minutes without him destroying something. Vanessa, for religious reasons, does not approve of the Tubbies. Twice now she has swapped out the tubbies video for a more appropriate Veggie Tales video. Which he does not care for. We'll see who wins that battle over the next 5 days.

He is also trying to jump, but he's in that super cute phase where the rest of his body jumps, but his feet don't actually leave the ground; he just kind of lurches forward. I love it.

Oh, and puddles. It's been raining a lot here and he's discovered puddles. They can be very distracting when we are trying to walk. :)

A Moment of Sadness

When I put Pedro down for his nap tomorrow it will be the last time I nurse him. I have been slowly weaning him since we got back from our summer vacation and this trip is the perfect opportunity to finish the job. He's over 18 months now-I've never nursed a baby this long. It makes me really sad to quit, but if I don't do it now I'm afraid I'll end up like my very-Italian-grandma who nursed my Uncle Lee until he was 5. Yes, 5. Sure it was during the Great Depression, but does that make it right? I must not become that woman!

This very well may be the end of my nursing and little baby days.

Ok, I'm crying now.

...deep cleansing breath...deep cleansing breath...deep cleansing breath...

I love you kids!!! Be good!