It is school days for Mama and Brother. He is off to pre-school and I am off to Spanish school for
four hours a day. There are two uniforms that Brother has to wear. One regular and one for P.E. days. The first day Brother cried when it was time for mommy and papi to leave, but by the second day he was happily jumping out of the truck to go off to school with barely a look back. His days are learning about colors and numbers and coloring and pasting things. He loves his finger paints.
After we drop him off, it's off to school to learn lots of Spanish words for me. Right now it's mainly verbs. I am not sure exactly how I am doing. My head is all filled up with so much stuff I'm not sure what is sticking or not. I try to look at my notes after class at some time just to review. But the times I've had to speak Spanish outside of class - I haven't found that I'm any better than I was before; but I'm hoping this will change sooner than later. Today I had to ask some clarifying questions to the teacher about reflexive verbs and a little light went off and it made sense when it never made sense to me before. Hopefully I'll have many more moments like that.
Other than school, my days are pretty much the same. My scheduled flight back to the states was the 12th so here I am, still in Honduras. There are obstacles still to be worked on. Kinks to be smoothed. Decisions to be made. And in all honesty, I sometimes struggle as I did before with life in Honduras. When we talk about schooling for the kids in the long time future or where to buy a house, sometimes my brain starts to send messages like "are you kidding me! I'm not going to be living in Honduras that long!". But I can accept being here today. Or maybe the next week or month. That is as far as my brain is allowing me to think ahead right now. I'm not trying to think too far ahead.
I miss Sister like a fierce protective mother. We talk almost every day but she doesn't really miss me or her brother. She's happy where she is at. Seemingly secure. This gives me peace, but I have been praying for direction on how to handle things. My mom is good at keeping me up to date on what is going on and keeping me in the loop with her. My parents now are taking on responsibility for helping with school work too. Grandma helps with spelling and grandpa helps with math. My friends have also been able to spend some time with her and be my eyes and ears. She is growing up so fast! She is almost 11 already!
We are searching for a car to buy now. The truck Papa bought is a work truck and seats only three across. It's very bumpy and can be very uncomfortable for this pregnant mama. Roads are not the most smooth in Honduras, truth be told (ha ha). I really would like something larger (SUV-ish) because of the prospect of three kids stuffed in the back. We also drive American style with car seats for the little ones.
The other thing that we are going to do soon is buy some paint for the house. I wish I could do the paint selection on my own. We went and looked at paint once before and it didn't go all that well. We had Brother with us that was in need of a nap. I wanted to look at pictures in the books they had to get ideas and inspiration but Papa seemed confused as to why I wasn't looking at the color samples picking out paint and instead looking in books. Sometimes I hate trying to explain my method of decision making. I just want to make a decision how I want to make a decision. But! It's just a little house and we aren't going to be here for forever so I will try to make a quick decision and have it be done and over. If you know me, I agonize about stuff like this. They have this anti-bacterial paint that Papa seems sold on. I don't know much about this kind of paint, but my husband is of the mind that if it says anti-bacterial and has a little stamp by some company that it is better. I'm not saying it's not good and could be a better choice, but I seem to question everything and think...are they just trying to make money?
One final thing I will mention is that we will be going to the doctor for a baby & mama checkup probably early next week. I'll be 3o weeks pregnant. That means there is only 10 weeks left! We are talking names and have a few we like, but are still searching and taking suggestion. My belly is growing and growing and this little girl is getting very strong and kicks and pushes really strong now. To the point where I want to push back it hurts! One time I swear I felt like I could have grabbed her little foot pushing through. I'm hoping that our first appointment will also include an ultrasound. Doc says that he likes to give them about every other appointment. Yay! Maybe I'll have some images of our little stow-away to share soon.
That's it for the updates for now!
4 comments:
I can SO empathise with you. Your paint choosing story reminds me of something funny. We bought a tiny house here in our corner of Mexico and my husband decided I shouldn't come to the job site when the fixing and painting was going on (or ever, until it was finished! Now that is frustrating), because he was convinced the abaniles, etc. would charge him more knowing he was married to a gringa. He said the plumber guessed right away when hubby insisted on the wall being chipped out for a hot water line to the kitchen sink. Que?? It sealed the deal when he painted 2 walls this pinkish/wine color that is my favorite (can't think of the color name). The guys were asking him "are you married to a gringa?" like teasing him because he kept blaming the little woman for stuff. Then one day the head abanil said to him "If I had known you were a "pocho" I would have charged you more. He said, "why on earth would you think I am a "pocho"? The next door neighbor heard him speaking English to me on a Sunday when I got to sneak over and check out my new tiny house, and told our chief abanil! What can you do? We just have to see the funny side of living as a foreigner in Latin America with a Latino husband!
Hang in there, it's worth it. You are giving your babies the greatest gift of both cultures and dual language. The rewards will be so great in the long run.
I can SO empathise with you. Your paint choosing story reminds me of something funny. We bought a tiny house here in our corner of Mexico and my husband decided I shouldn't come to the job site when the fixing and painting was going on (or ever, until it was finished! Now that is frustrating), because he was convinced the abaniles, etc. would charge him more knowing he was married to a gringa. He said the plumber guessed right away when hubby insisted on the wall being chipped out for a hot water line to the kitchen sink. Que?? It sealed the deal when he painted 2 walls this pinkish/wine color that is my favorite (can't think of the color name). The guys were asking him "are you married to a gringa?" like teasing him because he kept blaming the little woman for stuff. Then one day the head abanil said to him "If I had known you were a "pocho" I would have charged you more. He said, "why on earth would you think I am a "pocho"? The next door neighbor heard him speaking English to me on a Sunday when I got to sneak over and check out my new tiny house, and told our chief abanil! What can you do? We just have to see the funny side of living as a foreigner in Latin America with a Latino husband!
Hang in there, it's worth it. You are giving your babies the greatest gift of both cultures and dual language. The rewards will be so great in the long run.
I am glad to hear good things from you. I am taking Spanish lessons, too. Since I am also working at a bilingual school, I don't have time for 4 hours a day. In fact, I recently scaled down from 2 hours a day to one hour a day. Like you, I wonder if it does any good, but my communication skills are slowly improving. Keep blogging!
Your attitude about taking it one day at a time and not thinking too far off is brilliant. I had to do that when I was first alone in the states and will have to do that again when I move down to El Salvador. Of course, planning for the future is necessary, but staying in "the now" often allows for a healthier mind set, especially when thinking of the future causes mental conflict because of worry or other types of general anxiety.
It's so difficult to deal with watching your kiddo get upset when dropping them off at school/daycare. La Hija is having her first moments of separation anxiety these days and it is heart wrenching. She's fine as soon as I leave, of course, but it's so much easier to leave them and feel that pang of jealousy at how happy they are for you to leave them than to go with a pang of sadness at their fear.
Post a Comment