¡Feliz Día Papi!

To our ready, sure, and steady in the midst of the wackadoo of life.

To the one who will hold us tight, but always go on our adventures.

 To a silly spirit

 

























 

To the one who has our back, whether we realize it or not.

To our quiet but constant cheerleader.

Kick back and relax Papi...

 

It's your special day!

We love you!

Hanging Out

Please don't call child services.

No really.

 I'm right there.

I swear. 

 Laughing my *** off...

Cooking with Fanny

I think Peanut would watch Cooking with Fanny all day long if it were a television show. Of course, she might be banging on the screen and screaming, "Fanny! Fanny!" the whole time as she tried to jump through the screen to get to the hostess, but some days I might be able to live with that if it let me get the dishes done. I digress...

Peanut loves to help cook, and she loves Fanny, so this is a total win-win. I get nervous only occasionally as Fanny has the confidence to use remarkably large knives around my daughter, but by and large the language acquisition skills and the sheer thrill of sorting vegetables overrides my anxiety. 

What's that? An onion, or part of my finger! (Just kidding people)

Taste testing is a bonus.

 

Really, could you get a happier face? 

 

And, just in case you thought I was exaggerating about the knife...

  Yup sister, I thought the same thing.

Animal Dreams

This is totally not Peanut.

Peanut seems to have a love/hate relationship with animals. Perhaps it is better deemed an attraction/profound uncertainty relationship (though that isn't quite as snappy and probably would not fit on this kid's knuckles). She seems to hear every animal in our neighborhood (of which the variety is greater than you might imagine...), and imitates them with great gusto. While in the kitchen I may hear a high-pitched "Guau! Guau!" (Spanish for Bow-wow or Ruff-ruff, or whatever the kids these days are saying). Later while we are eating comes the "Ki-ki-ri-kiiii" of the rooster next door. Birds offer the widest range of possible noises, and don't get me started on cat fights. Whenever she actually sees the animals in question she always puts out her hand to beckon them and says "Ven! Ven!" (Come here!), but if they actually do come...well, then she is not sure what to do.

Part of the problem is that her mom is not sure what to do either. I am not completely trusting of pets in the States either, but here they are less often people-oriented. Toddlers are also a perpetual challenge because you never know when that cat tail is going to look like a good pull toy, resulting in a well-deserved cat-smack that sends your animal dreams into nightmares. Luna, the dog across the street, is a good bet for a quick petting fix, but even when she comes running up to Peanut I usually have to brace myself against a wall to not get knocked over as my daughter runs headlong into my knees.

Still, the idea of animals captivates the Nutter, so we take occasional trips to the zoo, and one day went so far as to a farm with a petting zoo outside of town. There she touched a few of the animals...

 

was content to look at some of the others (while mom obviously wants to have a full on conversation with them),

It was big, but as we did not size all the other animals, I think we were going for "Pig"...

 and very willing to jump up and ride others (okay, if they were made out of rock).

Because the zoo is one of the only things to actually do in town that does not involve shopping or just randomly riding the bus, we go there fairly often. She now announces several of the animals before we get to them, and makes sure to tell them all "Chao" before we leave them. She is totally cool with her friends when they are behind glass, 

or wrapped up in someone's arms,

and evidently even when her mom let's her hang on the fence to see the anteaters before seeing the, "Please keep your kids off the fence" sign that is prominently located immediately to the right of her daughter's dangling legs.

Oops.

But get an animal that joins her on the other side of the fence, and she turns into a monkey that climbs up your legs and makes funny sounds in that hopes they will help her get off the ground faster. I am not sure what to do really, except try to make her feel as comfortable as I can and keep all animals in reach as safe as possible. So if we come to your house this fall, then let us make a deal now: you warn your beloved cat/dog/fish/lizard/wewillnotstayatyourhouseifyouhaveasnakesodon'tworryaboutit, and I will warn Peanut. We will all see what happens from there.

Their Fault

I mean seriously, I haven't written since MARCH? Good Lord. Peanut could be fifteen by now, and you all would not even know it.

Okay, perhaps you would know if she were suddenly fifteen. I probably would have found time to write about that. I pointed out on our other poor, ignored, sad little blog that we were not celebrating May in Colombia this year, but that still leaves April unaccounted for here. I blame it on Matt and Emily.

The truth is, they came down to Colombia to visit (sans the Satch-meister, sadly) and they infected us with their devil-may-care attitudes and their general zest for life and their departure left us depressed and bereft. Come to think of it, perhaps it was they who took away May here too...this is all starting to come together now that I am back into the swing of things... I mean really, just look at these sinister faces. Yeah, you see what I mean.

Before they arrived, we had talked a lot about Matt and Emily coming, so when we went to the airport in Cartagena to pick them up she kept looking through the window as if she would pick them right out. Since 8 months had passed, almost doubling her actual age when she saw them last, we thought we should stay vigilant as well. Plus, you never know what Matt will look like at any given time. (Tell me I'm wrong.) Though she was quiet an observing at first (as is her way), it was not long before Peanut woke up asking for "At" and "Emi" as soon as I walked in her room. (Okay, full honesty, it was mostly for Emi. That must be tempered, however, with the fact that "Emi" seemed to apply to either Matt or Emily.)

We started in Cartagena with carriage rides, cold drinks, walks through the old city and the fort with a great city view and stayed in a hotel with a pool on the roof and a double-decker bedroom with great peek-a-boo stairs. We got to open presents that included new clothes and shoes from Satchel, a puzzle, and fine imported food stuffs like JIF peanut butter and rice cakes (we ask for only the best). In Barranquilla we visited the (well air-conditioned) Caribbean Museum, ate the required Crepes and Waffles meals, and headed out to the beach - as well as dancing it up a bit with the neighbors and taking our afternoon park walks. 

We don't know if At and Emi had all the vacation they might have wanted, but we had the visit we desperately needed. Thanks y'all. Except for that ruining our blogging part. That was not cool.