Christmas Time!

My serious pirates ... one of their favorite games this Christmas. I love their creativity and imagination!

Decorating his ginger bread house ...

Ooops ... I got a little frosting on my finger ... gotta lick it ... again and again!

Ayyy Mati!

Los tres chiflados! One of my FAVORITE pics ... a lazy Sunday morning, cuddling up, watching some TV.

Venezolano

Life happens ... when did he get so big?????? I want my baby back!

His eyes .... pure trouble!

Okay, so I'm a bit late with the holiday season pictures, but life happens and I'm enjoying (and sometimes NOT) my little cherubs so much in all their innocence, mischievousness and joy! Santi in particular has been keeping me busy ... he has blossomed in so many ways. Just the other day, he decided that napping was not his thing. He got up and went to Mateo's room, which is right next to his. He played with Play-Dough: spread it on the rug and on his hair; he took the wipes (which I bring from the States and forego precious cargo space for!!) and cleaned the windows, and decided that all of Mateo's clothes were dirty and very diligently put them in the dirty clothes bin. And when he told me all that he had done with those big brown eyes expressing nothing but facts and innocence, it just made me melt ... and thank that I had a helper to clean up all the mess! :)

Santi-isms

Coming back from Santi's school, I have to fight against him falling asleep in the car, so I ask him lots of things, try to maintain something faintly similar to a "conversation". Here's the exchange, brief and to the point, that we had just the other day.

P: "What did you eat Santi?"

S: "Oh, I don't know mommy."

P: "Who didn't go to school today?"

S: "Bruno."

P: "Did anyone go to the thinking chair?"

S: "Isabella."

P: "Why?"

S: "Mommy, please don't talk." And with that he folded his arms behind his head and started dozing off.

Mateoisms

Abuelita Rosi: "Mateo, do you like your school?"

Mateo: "Yes."

AR: "How many teachers do you have?"

M: "Two."

AR: "Why two?"

M: "Oooh, in case one dies, we have another one!"

Skiing at Big Bear

No need to say much about "Skiing in Big Bear" ... except that it was inhumanely cold. How do people do it in the East Coast (or elsewhere where it's below freezing!!!)???? Everyone, although some more than others, had a great time! To summarize, in the words of my awesome five year old: "Dude, dude, dude!!! It was freaking!"

The Chief pointing to where they need to install the chains ... after 30 minutes, they decided to pay a professional to install them. Disclaimer: The ones they had bought were too small.

Bonding

What is Santi up to?

Just a little bit cold ....

Get me out of this mountain!!!!

"Look at that awesome pizza wedge, mommy!"

While the big boys were skiing, Santi and I went to the zoo.

I love how Santi is in the picture, not really wanting to be there ...

Before taking the lift to do the bunny slopes. Mateo came down all by himself!!!

"Jamaican beaches next year!!!!"

Snowman #2

Come on Tio Cooks, show me what you got ...

I love the expressions on these.

The Tiger

Before the procedure, a relatively happy Santi.

Back in his "room" after waking up from the anesthesia.

Fell asleep after drinking his juice.

Showing where his IV had been.

Another nerve wracking experience to check off!! Santi's procedure went well, as far as I can tell, and he's now on the recovery bend. As you all know him well, it's not a surprise that the nurses in the pediatric ward nicknamed him, "The Tiger". He fought every single procedure - starting from putting on the wrist bands, to taking his blood pressure - so the anesthesiologist decided it was going to be easier for Santi if he was sedated. So they did and that allowed me to change him into his gown and walk with him to the operating ward where I had to kiss him goodbye. I'm glad he was sedated because even though his fiery self was still there, he didn't realize that mommy was crying and that she wasn't coming along.

The procedure lasted about an hour and the doctor came to let me know that all had gone well and that the hernia is a pretty good size. About 10 minutes later, a nurse came looking for me. It seems the Tiger had woken up and was fighting. When I arrived, the nurse was having a hard time keeping him down and keeping him from ripping the IV line from his hand. Thing is that he wasn't awake. He was in a complete state of delirium, his eyes were closed but all the strength that little body has was manifesting itself!! (In fact, the nurse was so impressed with his strength, that when I mentioned that he has to have his tooth fixed next week, she looked at me and asked how the dentist was going to manage that??? I need to call the dentist today and warn him!) I took him in my arms and calmed him down. He slept wrapped in my arms for the next three hours with periods of "waking" up and trying to remove the IV line. When he finally woke up, he was much calmer but still not all there. We arrived home at around 5pm. Since he hadn't eaten all day, I offered him some crackers, but he fell asleep eating. He slept the rest of the evening and the night, waking up this morning at 7am. He slept with me - I was concerned about the effects of the anesthesia, so I wanted to make sure that he was fine. He would wake up and reach out for me and say "Mommy" and then fall back asleep. He had a good breakfast, but he is in pain where the hernia was repaired.

But as I'm writing this, he's playing pirates with Mateo and Tio Cucu. I think he's clearly doing better!

Thank you all for your well-wishes and thoughts. It made the whole process easier on me knowing that he's loved!

Santi

Santi will be operated tomorrow at 12:30pm, California time. Please keep him in your thoughts and send him loads of love. It's an out-patient procedure, but still, general anesthesia, freaks me out and I can't imagine what HE will feel.

I'll be in touch soon to let everyone know how the procedure went.

Much love,

Paty & Santi

Santi Goes Grocery Shopping

Back in the days when Santi still attended school, his class took a field trip to the supermarket. Their mission was to buy fruits with Bs. 20 ($5 at the official rate or $2.5 at the black market rate). All the students would then share their fruit and make a fruit salad in the classroom. (They had just finished a fruit tasting module, so the fruit salad was the "cherry on top".)

We rode the bus (Santi's FAVORITE part), shopped (Santi picked all his fruit, with a bit of mommy's guidance) and then went back to school.