Santi dances cumbia

Mateo's 4th birthday party with friends video

For Mateo's 4th birthday, we had his closest friends over and had a magic party.

Here is a video with the highlights....pictures to come later..

Mateo and les microbes...los microbios

In this cute video, Mateo tells us what he has learned in school that day...first in French, then in Spanish...Something about microbes...

Playdates with Isabel

In an attempt to diversify Mateo's friends and control his temper, we've been having more playdates with Isabel. Isabel and Mati have been taking yoga classes together for about 2 months now and have slowly developed a nice friendship. For Mateo, it's a nice break from his usual school buddies and his behavior is very different when he's around Isa: he's more controlled and gentle.

Isabel herself is an adorable 3 year old. Her mom, Patrycja, is a good friend of mine, and she's very hands-on when it comes to raising her daughters. We see eye-to-eye an a lot of things: alternative medicine, use of cloth diapers, using eco-friendly products, and above all, the values we want to install in our children, such as compassion, respect, etc.

Here are a few pictures she took at a couple playdates we've had recently.

Playtime at Parque de la 93

An unwilling to share Mateo: "It's MY truck!"

At Bagatelle del Campo - a wonderful restaurant outside of Bogota, with a magnificent play area for children!

Smelling the flowers

Isabel!

And the Celebration Continues

Nico and I celebrated with Mateo his 4th birthday with all his classmates today, all 28 of them! Nico read them a story on why thunder makes noise from a monthly magazine Mati receives, "Pomme D'Api". Don't know how much they actually understood since most of them were too busy picking their noses!! But Mati was ecstatic and very happy that we were there. Enjoy the pics!

Egg-free "Madagascar" themed cake.

Nico getting ready to read the story.

Happy Birthday Mateo!!

Antonia, who over the weekend, decided to emulate her father and shave her face!!!

Birthday boy!

Santi's Vocabulary Repertoire

Santi continues to build his vocabulary, looks like he'll be another chatty little boy! Here are some new words.

A ta!!! = A table, time to eat

Gaa = Gracias, thank you, merci

Aga = a guardar, pick up

Awo = halo, hello

Happy 4th Birthday Mati!!!

Happy 4th birthday to our little Mati!!! We had a great day with the little prince ... practically Mati called the shots. In the morning, beautiful morning (sunny, warm!!!), we went to park, then had lunch and walked back home before the thunder, lightning, rain and hail struck!!! After their naps, we opened presents and played at home. Given that Mati's favorite food is sushi, we had sushi night, followed by a yummy egg-free chocolate cake with chocolate icing and sprinkles!!! All three boys loved it!!!

It was a beautiful day and Mati was pretty happy, which is what's most important. Thank you all for your calls, emails and cards ... he enjoyed it very much!!!

Our favorite 4 year old. HE chose the clothes he wore today!

Dancing to Michael Jackson.

More dancing.

The boys playing soccer at the park.

Chasing after bubbles.

First taste of sushi ... and loved it!

Oh man, another little mouth to share our sushi with!!

The cake!

A multi-tasker, just like his mother: talking with Tio Cucu and opening presents.

Favorite present: his knight costume given to him by Santi.

Santi joins in the fighting fun!

After he sang "Happy Birthday" to himself the whole afternoon, WE finally did the singing for him.

MORDIDA!!!

Like all men in this family, cleaning the chocolate off his plate.

Making sure he got all of it!!!

Santiago Max

Bla, bla, bla, ... awa ... bla, bla, bla, awa ... awa .... mama .... awa .... papa .... bla, bla .... ma!!!

Playing with water and sand, makes for a very happy Santi!

Little Baby Buddha

Paparazzi go away!

Where did Mati go?

Mati's First Horseback Riding Lesson

After much insistence from Mati, we finally organized for him to have his first horseback riding lesson. He was very happy and did well, so much so that we'll be having weekly lessons from now on. His buddy Pablo joined as well and he'll also be taking this weekly class with Mati - but they will be separated during the class. Right away, the instructor spotted their intense relationship (= they like to be wild) and suggested that each one have their own 30 minute slot.

I loved the class. While not being too draconian, the instructor demanded silence (what a pleasant break for my ears!!!) - for the horses sake: so they wouldn't get scared. I'm hoping that this little bit of discipline will help Mateo. We've been having so many behavior issues lately with him that I'm in desperate need of new discipline techniques. Time out has been maxed out and is no longer effective.

Unfortunately, he's been absorbing negative behavior from his friends and classmates. On Wednesday, he kicked me; on Thursday, he punched his friend Luciano on the arm; on Friday, he called his friend Juan Lucas "tonto". More and more he's talking like his friends from school, with their mannerism and, sadly, their bad words. He talks about killing with a gun, or kicking someone if he perceives that person to be bad. He's rough with Santi. I had a very serious talk with him yesterday about all of this. Telling him how sad and disappointed I was, emphasizing that in our house we had rules, STRICT rules about how to behave. It's gotten to the point where I've told him that either his attitude changes or I'm pulling him out of school. I'm going to ask his teacher for a conference to discuss the issue but with 27 kids in the classroom, I don't know how much help we can realistically expect from her. We'll see ...

Waiting with Pablo for their horses to arrive.

Riding with Ilona in the back. Ilona is Pablo's sister.

The end of the galloping part. He didn't like it very much, but managed well.