Panama

Baby face, baby face, baby face ... ayyyyy, those cheeks!!!!

Handsome big boy

My superstar - I found these sunglasses in a taxi and Santi just loved them!

M waving at the couple on the last room to the right of the 1st row from the bottow. They are waving back! And look how the cruise ship just barely fits through the canal - expansion works are currently in progress because these ships keep on getting bigger and bigger!

Showing off Spain's star

Our monkeys

Monkeys at the zoo

Let's not kid ourselves. The sole purpose of our trip to Panama was for Nico to see the canal and how it works. We saw that the first day we were there and practically had not much to do afterwards. We took the boys to the zoo, but hey, our lives with them is basically a zoo, we got some good supermarket shopping done (there was milk on the shelves!!!! and not just one obscure brand from Libya!!!) and breathed some safer air. But perhaps the sweetest part of our trip was seeing some old friends and meeting their 5 day old baby!! Precious. This couple also has a 5 year old so the boys were super excited to play with him. We had dinner at their place and didn't get back to the hotel until about 1am! Our two monkeys had a hard time waking up early the next morning!!!

The other highlight was celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary. Since I wasn't about to leave my boys with a strange babysitter, we took them out for dinner. I'm proud to say that at their very young age, they behaved excellent and enjoyed every bite of the vibrantly composed 12 course meal! YUP!!! They sat and behaved and licked their little fingers for two hours!! Mind you, we lugged a suitcase (small) full of toys and worksheets to keep them entertained, but hey, whatever does the trick.

One major improvement on the trip: Santi didn't lock himself in the hotel room!!

Kids Say the Darnest Things

Y'all remember Sofia?? Mateo's Brasilian friend??? Well, this is what her mother told me yesterday.

Sofia: "Mama, you know that Mateo really is the most handsome boy in the class. But I can't think of being his girlfriend because he is always bothering me. Martin, on the hand, is a bit ugly, but at least he's nice with me."

I could dissect this and analyze it on so many fronts (5 years old and thinking of dating?? Mateo being an "object of desire"?), but at 9pm, I'm going to leave it at face value. Good night.

Acts of Kindness

Below are three current acts of kindness from my boys. They make being a mom sooo worthwhile!!! And they are a wonderful reminder that, despite their sometimes irreverent and rambunctious selves, they have a marshmallow heart!

I. Mateo overheard when I told Nico that the driver had left me stranded on the street. I had given him a time and place to pick me up and after 10 minutes of waiting, I pulled out my cellphone and waited an additional 15 for him to get to where I was. Now this would normally be okay in the places where all you readers live, but here, people are randomly kidnapped from bus stops (this happened to a friend's niece this Monday), get killed after the robber steal one's cellphone, or steal your office while you are having lunch (this happened at Chevron two weeks ago!!). Needless to say, I was feeling a bit pissed that I was left out on the street that way after my yoga class (goodbye zen-ness!). So, the other day I left my yoga bag by the front door and when I come to pick it up to go to class, Mati has placed his Star War's Lightsaber next to it and tells me that I should use it to fight off the bad guys. Luckily, I haven't had to use it. Malandros ... beware!

II. In Art class, Mateo molded and painted the most beautiful bowl out of clay (I'll post a picture soon). I saw it exhibited at the Campo Art Show and raved about it to Mateo. Tonight, as I got in bed and reach out for my book, what do I see on my night table? Yes, the bowl!!! (Which filled me with so much pride and love that I couldn't resist sharing these acts of kindness in this entry.)

III. This morning our driver (NOT the one who left me out on the street!) was helping me pack all the bags I had into the car. As I was buckling Santi into his car seat, Santi noticed that the driver put the bags in the leg area in front of my seat. Very concerned, he told the driver, "Orlando, not there. Where mommy put her feet???"