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We didn't set our alarm on this Saturday morning, but we woke up on our own at around 7:30 a.m. When we emerged from our room we could see Humberto was out on the roof trying to fix the cable so that he could watch the World Cup. Craig took a shower and then we went over to the house for breakfast. The cable was fixed and Argentina and Germany were playing. We had tostada bread with strawberry jelly and bananas (or nanos as Eddy calls them). We had some of abuelo's fresh orange juice. We played with the kids, giving piggy back rides and tossing the kids onto their beds. Eddy still sits in his little cubby in the TV stand, just like on our last visit.
After breakfast, Humberto left to give a tour. We would have a day of relaxing around the house, enjoying the kids' company Yasmin wanted to go down to the lake, so Craig, Mukul, Paola, Yasmin, Yoselin, Aracely, Eddy and I took a walk down to the lakefront. I carried Eddy. Since our first visit with the kids, we have always poked at their noses and said "Beep!" The girls will often beep our noses as well. Totally spontaneously, Eddy reached up and poked my noise. "Beak!" he exclaimed. When we got down to the lake, the girls wandered around. Mukul sat Aracely and Eddy in a tree for a picture.It was another gorgeous sunny day and the volcanoes looked lovely. Paola carried Eddy as we started walking back to the house. We stopped at a snack concession to buy the kids frozen treats in the hot sun. Aracely got frozen chocolate covered strawberries on a stick, Yasmin and Yoselin got home-made popsicles in little plastic cups, and Paola got a creamsicle. She gave Eddy a bite and he liked it so much that he ended up eating the whole thing. Paola is always really generous like that with the younger kids, worrying more about their happiness than her own. Craig rewarded her by stopping at another place and buying her another ice cream all her own. When we got back to the house, Rocio and Josue came over. Paola was making a papier machete guitar for school. we all had a nice fresh slice of watermelon. Craig offered to buy Rocio and Josue ice creams since they had missed out on them earlier. Josue was too shy to go along, but Rocio and Craig walked to the store and came back with an ice cream for Rocio and also one for Josue. Aracely's toothache was still bothering her today. We played monkey in the middle with the kids in the hallway. It's really a nice place to play with plenty of room for moving around. Paulina served us a delicious lunch of red beans and hamburg, rice, fresh garlic veggies, and fruit smoothies. Yasmin sported a nice frothy "bigote", or moustache, from the smoothie. After lunch the girls got their journals out. Mukul wrote the girls'names in Hindi and Paola and Vanesa were very impressed. I played volleyball with the girls using the clothesline as a net and a tiny little ball. The ball would get stuck on the roof of the house, and Paola and Vanesa climbed a ladder to try to bat it down with a broom. Eddy had an outdoor bath in the sink, and so did Aracely. Vanesa went to the office to work on her algebra homework. Paulina would model my name to Eddy: "Estefania" "Nia" Eddy replied cutely. Yasmin did her homework, while Yoselin went for a bike ride with Eddy's stuffed bulldog hanging in a plastic bag from her handlebars. While Eddy was down for a nap, Paola helped Paulina with the housework. Craig and I sat outside while Yasmin and Yoselin used our shower because it has a water heater that the main bathroom doesn't have. I wrote in my journal. Aracely came over to me and drew in my notebook. She wrote "0+0+0+++00000" and drew what looked like a cloud. Que es esto? I asked. "Lago," she answered. The lake. She then drew some curlicues. What is that? "Basura en el lago." Trash in the lake. Out of the mouths of babes - d'oh! (Humberto had told us that the family had helped to clean up trash from the lake after the tropical storm, so we assume this is what was on her mind.) She also drew some stick figures with many arms. She said that the figures were Craig and myself, and that she had written that she loved us. It is interesting to notice the developmental stages that the kids go through. Paola used to draw us pictures and write us notes. Then Yasmin would write us notes and Yoselin would draw us pictures. Now Yoselin writes us notes and Aracely draws us pictures. And as each kid learns to write, they are also able to chat with us online in between visits. Today Aracely proclaimed that she cound count to ten in English and she proceeded: "one two three fork five six seven nine ten." She's a character. Mukul is a good artist and he had a constant queue of kids askinng him to draw various things in their notebooks.Paulina sat with us and we shelled and ate some peanuts that Mukul had bought. It started to rain and we went inside. We had bread and tea (the first time we had had it on this visit). The girls watched Hannah Montana. At the beginning of ther second episode of a two-parter, there was a crash of thunder and the TV blew out. It was raining very hard. Paulina put it succinctly, "No mas tele." So much for Humberto's World Cup viewing. The kids drew some more, and we had some grape gelatine.Then we went in to the girls' room and I wrestled the girls. Eddy joined in as well. I had a little routine that I used to go through with Yoselin: I would try to beep her nose. She would cover her nose and I would say "No beep? Triste." Sad. Then she would uncover her nose and I would beep it and say "Hooray!" Aracely had picked up on this in the past and she started doing with me. She would recite all of the words in unison with me. It was very cute. Aracely also asked me to sing Rock-a-Bye-Baby, and she would sing with me, approximating the words. Eddy is really cute when he speaks. He tends to leave off the first syllable(s) of words. Aracely is "Teli", I (Stephania) am "Nia", bananas (bananos) are "nanos", and shoes (zapatos) are "patos."When it stopped raining, we headed back outside. Vanesa and Paola played volleyball against Yoselin and me. Yasmin soon subbed in for Yoselin. She was giving commentary. Eddy watched us through his parents' bedroom window. Paola and Vanesa were Spain and we were the USA. "Punto Estados Unidos!" Yasmin would shout when we got a point. Yasmin is very competitive and would probably do well at a team sport. Paola currently plays basketball at school, so Yasmin probably won't be too far behind her. When Humberto got home from the office, he Craig, Yoselin, Yasmin, Paola, and I walked to the tienda (store) to get some tortillas to eat with dinner. The tortilleria we used to go to was no longer open. We had delicious spaghetti and ham for dinner.We had spaghetti in a garlic alfredo sauce for dinner and banana bread for dessert. At 10 p.m. we went to our room, and I wrote in the journal until 10:45. |
    
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