december daily days 1-9

I have finally gotten around to uploading the pictures of my December Daily album. The quality isn't that great, but I think you can get the idea.









I'm really having a great time with this, even with the problems of developing 1-2 pictures a day. The last two days I haven't gotten the kids as they have been sleeping earlier than normal, but I guess that gives the viewer a little break! :)

You can also see the before pages.

funny things they say

In tribute to my December Daily, and as a direct result of my faulty memory, I am trying to be better about documenting the little things, the daily things, in my life.

Especially when it comes to the kids and the things they say and do.

Which brings me to the other day at the mall. We went to do a little Christmas window shopping and when we got back to the car, Kas got in and got really worried.

"¿Mi teta*? Where is it? Someone broke into the car and took my teta!" He starts pouting and within a few seconds silent tears are streaming down his face. Of course the teta was there, up front by the driver's seat, but the look of pure horror on his face was sooooo funny! As my sister said, oh the things those little kids have to worry about. Makes me want to go back to the days when I had nothing to worry about. Now it seems that all I do is sit around with a nagging feeling at the back of my mind that there is something I forgot to do... Worse is that there usually was something I forgot to do and now I didn't do it, which sets off a whole new worry. Well, I'm not the product of a Bauer for nothin'!


Later that day, Agustín was admiring the new Hot Wheel he got as an incentive to sleep on his own (we are going on about 3 weeks straight, and I am officially jinxing myself by admiting this in public). He was so excited about it because it was full of "gold". It actually looked like the color silver to me, so I asked him, "Isn't that more like silver than gold?" He simply informed me that it was too shiny to be silver, since silver "es un metal muy sucio"**.

Well. I can't argue with that.


*teta = bottle
** is a very dirty metal

First Day of December

Today is the first day of December and the start of the advent. We found these great retro advent calendars where you open a little window for every day (there is a piece of chocolate behind each one) - do you remember those? I used to love the advent calendar, opening the windows or drawers and finding some little treat. It made Christmas so real, and made it seem so close. I also like it for the kids because it will help them 9especially Tin) with dates and figuring out time better, which has been a bit of a struggle (could it be the age? When do kids start recognizing today, tomorrow, yesterday, etc.?) Actually, Tin was the one who reminded me that it started today, so it's already helping, although he thought that Christmas was tomorrow...

The beginning of December is also a special time here in Quito, when the Fiestas make the city larger than life and an otherwise somewhat conservative little mountain city comes alive. Parties and dancing on the street, traditional food kiosks everywhere, chivas with brass bands taking over the streets. But possibly my favorite part of this time of year is the bullfights.

We won't be going this year, and I'm a little disappointed. It is truly amazing watching a bullfight, and I really want to read the story Hemingway wrote about it now that I have come to understand it better. It isn't just about the fight, it is the bull, the bullfighter, the olés and handkerchiefs, the wine flowing from the botas, and the general festiveness. Every Quiteño putting on a Spanish straw hat and talking like españoles (a little annoying but something you get used to). It's man versus beast, and so exciting to see who will win. (Secretly I always hope the bull gets a piece of the bullfighter.) It's amazing how graceful both are, when the fight is good. Before I had gone the first time, I thought it was like a slaughter, but once you are there in person you can really see the art and culture and history behind it.

I'm thinking about all of this not because it is the first of December, but because today Tin was running around the house playing "bull". "Corre toro que te voy a matar" - singing it over and over. I can imagine that here little boys grow up dreaming not of being firefighters or policemen but bullfighters.




But it has also brought up another issue. Many people have been protesting the bullfights lately, oh, in the last two years or so. Usually college kids, hechos los hippies (acting like hippies), screaming and freaking out outside of the arena. They put up violent images of bulls being slaughtered (not by bullfighters but usually in slaughterhouses - or maybe the images are even photoshopped, not sure), and scream insults at everyone coming out of the arena. It is really distasteful. They call everyone murderers as they chomp on meat empanadas and hamburgers! I'm no tree hugger and I know living in Ecuador for so many years has snuffed out a love for animals I used to have, but these kids really go too far (I'm sounding like my grandpa now!). Anyhow, I was thinking about them because Tin was asking why they have to kill the bull. And I didn't know the answer. And then he said that he hoped the bull won, too.

Thanksgiving Hit

I tried the Miller family slush recipe this Thanksgiving and it was the absolute hit of the day! Why worry about the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie when it's really the booze people care about? :)

So here's the recipe (thanks, Dad!):

1 part frozen lemonade concentrate
1 part vodka
2 parts 7Up

Mix it all up and stick it in the freezer. The alcohol will keep it from freezing solid.

I couldn't find lemonade concentrate here, so I used orange juice instead, and it turned out great. I'm thinking any citrus-y juice might work (passion fruit, pineapple, maybe naranjilla?)

Ringing in December

I'm getting really excited to start on my December Daily tomorrow. I assembled the album this morning and LOVED using a lot of my new supplies and all those Christmas supplies I could never figure what to do with. Bought the photo overlays to help with some journaling squares - I love them and may try designing my own someday.
Here are the before pictures:

Go, Speed Racer, Go!

We're doing the Speed Racer thing for Agustin's birthday Wednesday. We bought the DVD but it was hard (for me) to follow. There was some very strange anime stuff going on, but the graphics were cool. Granted, I didn't know any of the back story, and I was trying to watch while the kids played and screamed and half-watched while asking me a million questions (why does he have eyes, Mommy? Who is the guy in the car? Why isn't the car red and blue?, etc.), so that might explain why I had a hard time with it, too.

On a slight Japanese twist to the whole Speed Racer theme, we will have a giraffe piñata. No monkey, but I'm sure the writers could fit the giraffe into the plot somehow.

random thoughts

On my mind today:

• I miss Halloween. The pumpkins are getting rotten but if I carve them now they'll rot even sooner. Ah, the dilemma.
• I'm sort of bummed out that I convinced Andres that October was too soon for Disney World - the McMahons are there as of tomorrow and it would have been fun to meet up.
• I love the word alas. Alas, I don't get to use it often enough. And when I do - alas - people look at me as if I were nuts.
• My camera has no batteries. Or, rather, it has batteries that work for one day and then stop working again. I change the batteries and the same thing happens. I can't find any rechargeable batteries here. It's a bit disappointing.
• Little boys coming up out of nowhere and giving me the best mommy hug. It just doesn't get any better.
• The pregnant bug is going around - I know of like 5 people who are all due early June. Weird.
• I need to find somewhere that sells good photo paper. I want to print out some photos and they just aren't working - I think it's the paper but no one around here seems to be able to tell me anything.
• I think geocaching would be so cool. Doesn't anyone down here feel the same? Maybe they do it in Guayaquil. They scrapbook there you know.

Tomorrow we'll be going to get our driver's licenses renewed. We had to get a picture taken for the paperwork for tomorrow and the lady surprised us with a composite picture of Andres and I in front of a cheesy sunset picture. Andres is glowing like God, and I am unsmiling, floating rapturously through the sky. So hilarious. If I ever want to laugh, I'll think of that moment where I am telling the lady, "The picture is just for our driver's license," as she photoshops the death out of Andres's shirt.

She was so proud of her work. And truthfully, it is one of maybe two pictures we have of the two of us together.

The kids liked the pics and stuck them up on the bulletin board.

to market, to market

Went to the market this morning for Halloween pumpkins. We found quite a few, of all different sizes and colors.



Got some fresh veggies and fruit (ovos and strawberries - mango season is just around the corner so will be on the lookout for those).



Andres needed to stop for some hornado.

Came back and had the in-laws over for lunch. The kids weren't so well behaved...they're sleeping now and I am SO enjoying the quiet.

School supplies

Forgot to put up the pictures of Agustin's school supply list. It took us about a week to get it all together.



Had to get Kas in there. Stickering up my couch of course...

It's that time of year once again...

Come the end of August, something special happens in the stationary and paper stores of Ecuador. It is the dreaded SCHOOL SUPPLY SHOPPING, and it is back! You may remember my experience school supply shopping last year - what started out as a fun, exciting moment of my eldest being old enough to go to school, turned into a hair-pulling, four-hour long ordeal. Aside from the general lack of product in the stores ("Thin wire? No sorry, we're out. Nope, don't have shiny foam either. No, I've never heard of PLAID fabric paint. We don't carry small rolling pins, and we ran out of markers and colored pencils and modeling clay yesterday"), the fact that the list itself reads like Morse code (1oo hjs papel bond tamaño INEN 75 gr.), and the lines that go to the back of the store, there is an additional problem: everything you buy wrong (brand, size, color) IS SENT BACK! Needless to say, school supply shopping is a small science here, and so this year I came prepared: I brought a translator (my Spanish-speaking and Ecuadorian-raised husband), and I got the list the week before classes started.

Despite my preparation and general prudence, there were still large crowds. My translator was indispensable, and although he does not enjoy this type of shopping at all, I will never again go on my own. Me: "Boxed pencil sharpener?" (He grabs it off the shelf and puts it in the cart. ), "Cheese eraser?" ("I saw those over here..." as he goes to get it), "2 HB pencils? 1 imitation rapidografo, black? 3 large sheets of "comet" paper?" (Hubby scurrying from aisle to aisle, grabbing normal things like fine-lined pens and pencils and tissue paper off the shelves.)

We were in and out within an hour, although we only had half of the items. Since then I have been briefed on what to look for ("brilliant foam sheets" = foam with glitter in it, "thin rope" = thin corded ribbon", etc.) so that over the next few days I can be on the lookout for specialty items, hopefully available in some of the smaller stationary stores. I am still struggling with a "non-traditional story book" (Pinocchio? Aladdin? The Three Bears? What is considered "traditional" here?) and finding a junior-sized rolling pin. Oh, and reusable paper towels - do such things even exist?

And the ever elusive PLAID fabric paint - which I have seen in the U.S. but never here.

So, the hunt will continue and come Monday, will we be prepared? Come back to see!

Note: You may remember from last year that cotton balls were a popular item. It seems that teachers get into fads, since they all ask for the same thing. This year there are no cotton balls on our list, but we have been hard pressed to find the glittered foam sheets and yellow folders. Who says teachers don't succumb to peer pressure?

today's plans

Daddy has to work all day today, so I'm home alone with the kids. We are planning a nature walk, maybe we'll do some arts and crafts, we'll listen to internet radio, and then hopefully the kids will be all worn out and take a looooooong nap.

thankful today for...

It can be frustrating to live in another country - deal with a culture and language different from yours on a daily basis, the little inconveniences and quirks that can get under your skin at a moment's notice. But tonight, coming home from the gym, as I circled the mall to go up the hill, I noticed three stores with little kiddie corners - a place where the kids can go sit, play, watch a video, color, etc. while their parents shop. And I realized that these are in quite a few stores - we've even used them.

And I felt happy and grateful to live in a country that so values children and families.

Upcoming work

Wow. I've got a lot of work coming up in the next month. My vacation to MN will be well deserved by the time we get on the plane.

Due to the dissolution of the university's language department, we will be taking on all of the language requirements for graduating students. This means that we will be acquiring quite a few new teachers and LOTS of new students. We have been going through the hiring process for the new teachers, deciding which teachers from the old language department we can use, since not all of them will be hired. Some need language lessons to improve their level of English, and that's what I'll be doing the whole month of July. So, I have to prepare the course and then from there teach it. Yikes! While not impossible, of course, it is going to be really tiring teaching a course on top of all the other responsibilities I have.

Then we come back from the US and begin the TEFL course, which is also very tiring. Really fun but so so so much work that I get literally burnt out for a month or more once it is finished, especially with a big class, which I'm sure, looking at the registration numbers, we will have this time. In September/October it looks like I'll also be starting a course at UCG in Guayaquil. This will be fun, last time that course was such a great experience.

In other news, I finished a review for a new language book series with Cambridge University Press. It was such an amazing, cool opportunity, and I got paid for it, too! There are some days I love my job and position and all the opportunities that are open to me for working here.

gross story #1: think daddy day care and DON'T READ if you are 1) not a mom or 2) have a weak stomach

(Note: No pictures in this one - you'll see why!)

Agustin has been potty trained since he was three years old, almost to the day. This greatly stressed me at first, since he was my first kid, and I imagined he would be in diapers as he walked down the aisle. It seemed like he'd never even have the desire to be potty trained. But, lo and behold, time works it's magic (as always) and one day, not long after his third birthday, he just decided it was time. No one told him, it was his decision, and from that day forward he stopped wearing diapers and not once EVER had an accident. Very cool. But he still needs help wiping after number 2, and has never said anything about wanting to be big enough to do it himself.

Until the other day.

He was in the bathroom, and calls me. "Mommy, I'm done doing poopies!"

So I go in, expecting to go through our little routine of cleaning him up and washing hands and all.
(Here's where the daddy day care part comes in. you know that scene, right?)

It was all over. Legs, feet, socks, toilet seat, hands, shirt, floor. Chunky and creamy (sorry for the image!) Since having kids, very little can really gross me out. Projectile vomit, dirt, garbage, sour milk, moldy food under the couch. But this was really gross. It took me days to get over it.
Turns out he had decided he is old enough to wipe himself. But he couldn't reach the toilet paper? Didn't know how much to use? Thought hands would be quicker? I don't know what he was thinking, and may never know, but we had a little talk and decided that he could learn to clean himself off, but with the help of mommy and daddy, who would teach him.

Andres took pity on my ordeal and the next day went in when Agustin called that he was finished.

Suddenly I hear a low scream coming from the direction of the bathroom.

Yes, again. Only this time he DID use toilet paper, but for some reason didn't put it in the toilet, just threw it on the floor. Lots of it.

So, something we are working on.

Yet another of the neverending stories of parenthood.

Isn't it great? Yes, it really, truly is.

cute story #1

Nicolas wakes up every morning like at 5 :30 am. Much too early for a weekend, and I'm the one he usually calls. So Sunday morning he wakes up, calls me, I go in there and try to get him to sleep a bit more, or read some books or something so that I can sleep more. But no, he starts telling me we have to get up - it's morning. So I get up, put him in front of Discovery kids, and decide to do a little early morning Internet window shopping. Suddenly, there is this little guy pulling on my pajamas.

Him: (in broken Spanglish): "I want to go downstairs."
Me: (still a bit groggy): "Why?"
Him: "I want to go downstairs to play with the bears."
Me: "What bears?"
Him: (getting impatient): "I want to go... downstairs...play with BEARS."
Me: (no answer, silently mulling over what bears he could be referring to)
Him: "DOWNSTAIRS...BEARS. Let's go mommy." and he starts pulling on my clothes again.

So, I get up and start walking downstairs with him, thinking, OK, he can play with his bear toys and I'll find something else to do.

Halfway down the stairs he stops. I turn around to see what's got his attention, and he is looking at me from the corner of his eye, a slick grin on his mouth.

Him: "The GUMMY bears."

Note: Andres had bought a small baggie of gummy bears at a specialty candy store the day before, and the kids were (obviously) really excited about it.

And no, I did not give him the gummy bears at 5:45 in the morning. He ate a soft-boiled egg and some toast and then got his gummy bears :) Note to all mommies: dangle gummy bears like a carrot on a stick to get your finicky kids to eat their breakfast.

a rare moment of peace in my day...

Both kids are taking a nap, so I decided to take a moment to post after a long absence. New York was great, and I'll come back to that a little later this week, hopefully post a few pictures. The convention was awesome too, although I got sick that first day and missed the whole first afternoon, including about 5 sessions I really wanted to go to. But regardless, the TESOL convention is definitely one of the best things I can do as a teacher/teacher trainer and it rejuvenates and motivates me like little else in the field...

A quick overview of our week:

1. Got home Sunday night to a distraught mother-in-law - turns out she had pneumonia while she was watching the kids! She went to the doctor on Monday and I stayed home from work, she's now got the right medicine and feeling better, but I definitely feel terrible about how bad she felt while we were gone.
2. Nicolas came down with a fever on Monday. We couldn't keep it down, so took him to the doctor on Tuesday and it turns out he has tonsillitis! What a nasty thing - after rotavirus it is the worst (so far) we have had to deal with. He cried constantly, had a fever that kept him delirious for almost 3 days, looked like we was wasting away (probably lost 2-3 lbs.) because he wouldn't eat or drink anything, and finally started feeling a little better yesterday afternoon. Quite a terrible week, just waiting for Agustin to come down with it now, hoping it won't happen, but even Andres and I feel like we have sore throats, so maybe we'll all get it. Not sure how contagious it is.
3. Talked to my grandma today and wished my uncle a happy birthday and it felt really good to make that connection with home after a week in NY being able to talk to my sister and mom whenever they got the time to call (and could locate us in the hotel room!). So great to think that we'll be there with them in a few short months. Will be our first time to the state fair in two years and we're really looking forward to it!

Guess I thought I had more to say. Will be back again with pictures and thoughts from our trip. In the meantime, here are just a few of the fun things we enjoyed while there:

• saw videotaping of Confessions of a Shopaholic
• waited outside of the David Letterman show with the paparrazi for a glimpse of an unknown star - never saw anyone though, haha
• shopping at Toys R Us, although our feet were screaming for our heads ("Off with their heads" at every painful step.)
• Times Square (you really don't have to say anything else here)
• Starbucks in the Trump Tower

And some things we'll be sure to get on the itinerary the next time we visit (hopefully the summer):

• Central Park
• a Broadway Show
• more Fifth Avenue (can't get enough)
• maybe the wax museum and Ripley's - just for the heck of it, wouldn't the kids enjoy that?
• A trip Uptown and to the East Side - we really didn't get east of Fifth Avenue.

On a side note, some guilty pleasures:

• coveting almost every scrapbooking kit out there (I want the CK April one!!!!)
• drinking raspberry coffee
• listening to country on internet radio - yes! Who would have ever thought? certainly not myself!