Colombian food is a beautiful thing

Solid poops today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Juanita continues to impress me with her cooking abilities. The other day we had patacones. I already mentioned the sopa de ajiaco and now today she taught 4 of us Moms how to make empanadas! I LOVE Juanita!! Oh! And we went to el Corral yesterday for lunch for some amazing hamburgers. So I guess it's been the Triple Crown of foods this week.

I just really dig the comraderie of food here, in Latin America in general actually. Everyone gathers, chats, laughs, chops, mixes, gossips. Things are still homemade. It reminds me of growing up on our farm. We didn't have a lot of money growing up but we ALWAYS had good food. It makes me nostalgic. Also, my motto while in Colombia, "what doesn't taste good fried in oil?"

Lucy is terrific. As I've said before, there are lots of kids here which is great. It's like a built in babysitter but then all of a sudden a bomb goes off. You can tell they are trying to figure it all out, new siblings, new friends, new beds. In spite of it all, Lucy handles it so well. They all do really. Lucy is even going to the bathroom by herself, closing the door for privacy. I love it! It used to be such a power struggle to get her to go and now she is so independent.

Bedtimes around here are a crapshoot as you can imagine. Four people in one room, all needing different things. It had been ending in disaster most nights with Mateo going to sleep first, then expecting Lucy to calmly and quietly walk in and go to sleep which of course doesn't happen. She's exhausted from the day and comes in kicking and screaming yelling, "I want Josiah!" (her Buddy here) Therefore waking Mateo up and we start all over again. Then we're so exhausted we end up going to bed the same time the kids do. This is wayyyy too tempting for Lucy. "I want to sleep in your bed Momma. I love you Momma. I want a lolipop Popi." It was like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole night after night. Meanwhile we have this extra room that we're using for storage. Finally we figured out to get Mateo down. Bring him into the extra bedroom and THEN do Lucy's bedtime routine. It's been working like a charm except for tonight. Lucy might beg to differ;) Kurt went into our bedroom to check on Lucy and she had turned on all of the lights, had raided the frig and was kicked back on her bed, legs crossed enjoying a juicebox! How can you not laugh at that?

Mateo is doing soooo much better. When we brought him back to los Pisingos yesterday we weighed him and he gained 200 grams in spite of all that sickness! Shows you what a little love can do. He sat up unassisted with Kurt tonight. He's eating like a champ. Lots of bananas and rice cereal (no cork). He's discovered his voice and loves to use it now. And the smiles....the sweet smiles he gives me when our eyes meet.

I'm in love...

Smooch
PK