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| Julian likes a little pre Taekwondo action as well. |
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| Matthew is on the middle row, first one closest to us. |
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| Proud of his new belt, yes!!!! |
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Matthew Advanced a Belt in Taekwondo!
So, so, so proud of my Matthew for doing GREAT on his Taekwondo exam today and getting the next belt! He really impressed me especially in a part that it was just him and the teacher and the teacher was calling out combat poses and hits and he had to perform them right there on the spot. It was like an immediate reaction when the teacher called it out, he did it. I didn't even know he knew all the names and stuff because usually they do these in a group and there's a leader and you just follow what the guy up front is doing. But he did it!!! And did it amazing well! Unfortunately, I didn't get that one on video but got some others with pictures and stuff. Every 4 months they do an exam and get the next belt. Lately, he's been complaining that he's too tired to go to Taekwondo so we've decided to take him out of his extracurricular activities after school on Monday and Wednesdays (which are swimming and gymnastics) because it's just too much for a 4 1/2 year old (turns 4 1/2 tomorrow to be exact) to go to school from 8am till 3pm and then be expected to go to Taekwondo at 3:30pm. Hopefully he won't be so tired. We just started the new schedule of picking him up at noon today, so I hope it helps. Here are some pics, but the videos wouldn't really load. I sent a couple out in emails to some people and if you want to see them and didn't, let me know! SO, SO PROUD!
Sunday, April 21, 2013
A Few Cute Little Moments
Just to jot down a few cute little things....
Julian has really taken to our housekeeper/sometimes nanny, Arsenia. Arsenia is amazing and I love her so much and she does ANYTHING and EVERYTHING we ask. She also sees things that I might not have even have thought of and does them. In Costa Rica, housekeepers really do more than just keep house. At any given moment, she might start raking the leaves, wash my shower curtain, clean out my closet and wipe down my shoes, change the dog's water bowl, cook whatever I ask or just do the prep work and act as my sous chef and I can't count the amount of poopy baby clothes she has gotten her hands on.....mainly Matthew! Don't know what it was but it was really hard to keep Matthew's poop in his diaper and he pooped MUCH more than Julian but Arsenia was there ready and willing and I'll never be able to thank her enough. She takes care of Julian quite a bit during the three days a week she works with us. He doesn't even say that many words really but he's started saying Arsenia. He'll yell for her from the other room and she'll answer him from down the hall. It's so cute. The other day when he woke from his nap, we overheard him calling on the monitor for her. It was the first time I think he's woken from a nap and didn't call "mama!" I thought I would feel weird about it but instead I couldn't wait to run tell her that he was calling her over and over from his room. It was so cute and I know her heart totally melted. She walked in his room and started talking to him and I heard him start giggling. Such a sweet little moment.
We have started putting a larger (9oz) sippy cup in Julian's crib at night and most mornings when he wakes up, there's nothing left in it. Matthew, since this age or before has always slept with a water in his bed as well. It's just so hot here that most people drink at least some water during the night. I ALWAYS have a cup of water by my bed. I think I did in the states though too, just in case I woke up thirsty. April is the hottest month of the year and many times when I get ready to go to bed around 11:30pm, it's still 88-89 degrees in my bedroom. This has been the last few weeks but it has started raining this week and is definitely cooler tonight. The 88-89 is rare during most of the year but common for April. The other night I went to make sure Julian's music in his room was ok before I went to bed and all of the sudden he just sat up. I froze....and waited. He reached for his sippy and just started downing it. Then he closed the little flip top it has, put it back in the corner and laid down. Since we put that water in there, he rarely wakes in the middle of the night to nurse. I think before he didn't need to nurse so much as he was just so thirsty.....poor kid.....and poor me....if only I had thought of the sippy earlier, I wouldn't have been so sleep deprived.
Matthew has a few, cute things going on these days. The other day he asked me if a spider bit him, would he turn into Spiderman. I explained that that was a very rare spider and we don't have that kind here, so he doesn't have to worry (or get excited, whichever the case might be). His new thing is when I ask him to do something he doesn't want to do, like clean up the OJ he spilt on the floor, he says in a very winey voice, "but I'm SO tired of cleaning up juice", like he does it ALL the time. We went to a mass dedicated to my father in law's passing for the one month anniversary last night and he said, "but I'm so tired of going to church", like he does it all the time. In the last month, we've been to church 3 times for his grandfather but other than that, we almost never go. I don't see how he can be so tired of it. He uses this for other things too like taking a bath every night, hahahahaha.
As I said, we don't go to church much but when we went last night for the service for his grandfather, his cousin Emma was there as well. You would think that my children go a lot the way they behaved so well. I was so proud of them.....and then Emma popped over to our pew and I realized why it's good to only have two children instead of three. Three was WAY different. So, after a few minutes, Matthew went to the pew behind us where his aunt Marjorie was and she gave him a little container of broken up crackers that had obviously been smashed up in her purse at some point. Then, Emma and Matthew decided to go two pews ahead of us where there was no one sitting. These are wooden pews with enough space for about 5 adults. Matthew started walking in front of the empty one and tripped......spilling ALL the little pieces of broken crackers ALL over the pew and the floor. I was sitting two pews back and with Julian and couldn't do anything and Dani wasn't there. I just waited to see what he was going to do and he started sweeping all the crumbs and bigger pieces up with his hand and putting them back in the container. There wasn't much on the floor, I don't think but he took 5-10 minutes picking up every crumb off that pew and then brought me the container to throw away later. I was so proud of him and the way he handled that. He did such a good job and knew what he had to do. Also, at the beginning of the service, they make announcements including announcing the people who had passed that that mass was dedicated to. Matthew was playing with something in his hand and the priest announced in Spanish, Daniel Vargas Castro. Matthew looked up at me and said in English, "Mama, he said Tito". I had no idea he was even listening OR that he new Tito's real name. I was truly impressed. I was also reminded that he hears EVERYTHING....and he understands more than you think.
Julian has really taken to our housekeeper/sometimes nanny, Arsenia. Arsenia is amazing and I love her so much and she does ANYTHING and EVERYTHING we ask. She also sees things that I might not have even have thought of and does them. In Costa Rica, housekeepers really do more than just keep house. At any given moment, she might start raking the leaves, wash my shower curtain, clean out my closet and wipe down my shoes, change the dog's water bowl, cook whatever I ask or just do the prep work and act as my sous chef and I can't count the amount of poopy baby clothes she has gotten her hands on.....mainly Matthew! Don't know what it was but it was really hard to keep Matthew's poop in his diaper and he pooped MUCH more than Julian but Arsenia was there ready and willing and I'll never be able to thank her enough. She takes care of Julian quite a bit during the three days a week she works with us. He doesn't even say that many words really but he's started saying Arsenia. He'll yell for her from the other room and she'll answer him from down the hall. It's so cute. The other day when he woke from his nap, we overheard him calling on the monitor for her. It was the first time I think he's woken from a nap and didn't call "mama!" I thought I would feel weird about it but instead I couldn't wait to run tell her that he was calling her over and over from his room. It was so cute and I know her heart totally melted. She walked in his room and started talking to him and I heard him start giggling. Such a sweet little moment.
We have started putting a larger (9oz) sippy cup in Julian's crib at night and most mornings when he wakes up, there's nothing left in it. Matthew, since this age or before has always slept with a water in his bed as well. It's just so hot here that most people drink at least some water during the night. I ALWAYS have a cup of water by my bed. I think I did in the states though too, just in case I woke up thirsty. April is the hottest month of the year and many times when I get ready to go to bed around 11:30pm, it's still 88-89 degrees in my bedroom. This has been the last few weeks but it has started raining this week and is definitely cooler tonight. The 88-89 is rare during most of the year but common for April. The other night I went to make sure Julian's music in his room was ok before I went to bed and all of the sudden he just sat up. I froze....and waited. He reached for his sippy and just started downing it. Then he closed the little flip top it has, put it back in the corner and laid down. Since we put that water in there, he rarely wakes in the middle of the night to nurse. I think before he didn't need to nurse so much as he was just so thirsty.....poor kid.....and poor me....if only I had thought of the sippy earlier, I wouldn't have been so sleep deprived.
Matthew has a few, cute things going on these days. The other day he asked me if a spider bit him, would he turn into Spiderman. I explained that that was a very rare spider and we don't have that kind here, so he doesn't have to worry (or get excited, whichever the case might be). His new thing is when I ask him to do something he doesn't want to do, like clean up the OJ he spilt on the floor, he says in a very winey voice, "but I'm SO tired of cleaning up juice", like he does it ALL the time. We went to a mass dedicated to my father in law's passing for the one month anniversary last night and he said, "but I'm so tired of going to church", like he does it all the time. In the last month, we've been to church 3 times for his grandfather but other than that, we almost never go. I don't see how he can be so tired of it. He uses this for other things too like taking a bath every night, hahahahaha.
As I said, we don't go to church much but when we went last night for the service for his grandfather, his cousin Emma was there as well. You would think that my children go a lot the way they behaved so well. I was so proud of them.....and then Emma popped over to our pew and I realized why it's good to only have two children instead of three. Three was WAY different. So, after a few minutes, Matthew went to the pew behind us where his aunt Marjorie was and she gave him a little container of broken up crackers that had obviously been smashed up in her purse at some point. Then, Emma and Matthew decided to go two pews ahead of us where there was no one sitting. These are wooden pews with enough space for about 5 adults. Matthew started walking in front of the empty one and tripped......spilling ALL the little pieces of broken crackers ALL over the pew and the floor. I was sitting two pews back and with Julian and couldn't do anything and Dani wasn't there. I just waited to see what he was going to do and he started sweeping all the crumbs and bigger pieces up with his hand and putting them back in the container. There wasn't much on the floor, I don't think but he took 5-10 minutes picking up every crumb off that pew and then brought me the container to throw away later. I was so proud of him and the way he handled that. He did such a good job and knew what he had to do. Also, at the beginning of the service, they make announcements including announcing the people who had passed that that mass was dedicated to. Matthew was playing with something in his hand and the priest announced in Spanish, Daniel Vargas Castro. Matthew looked up at me and said in English, "Mama, he said Tito". I had no idea he was even listening OR that he new Tito's real name. I was truly impressed. I was also reminded that he hears EVERYTHING....and he understands more than you think.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Teaching Matthew About Death
As sad as it is to say, my husband's father passed away recently on March 18th. He went in for an elective procedure to improve his quality of life and didn't make it out. I'm sure no one in their wildest dreams thought when walking through those hospital doors to do an elective procedure that he would never walk back out. Very sad and sudden for everyone.
The procedure took place in San Jose about 4 hours away from here so my husband was working when it first got bad. They said he had had a stroke and that Dani should head there as soon as possible. When we told Matthew what had happened, he said, "Is he going to live with Jesus?" We really hadn't thought about it as so severe and pretty much expected him to come out of it so we told him that we didn't think so but Daddy had to go check on him anyway. That was on a Wednesday and still on Thursday night, although paralyzed on one side and having machines help him breathe, there was still hope and I was told not to worry about packing up the kids and going yet. First thing Friday morning, I got the call to pack things up, get Matthew out of school and head there as soon as possible. They said he may have only a few hours or days left.
Luckily our nephew Rolando wasn't able to go until after lunch so he could go with us and he could drive while I entertained the kids. We got there on Friday evening and went directly to the hospital to meet the rest of the family who was already there. I wasn't able to go in that night because they were changing linens and stuff and it was getting late so Dani, the kids and I went to my sister in law's house with her husband and our other nephew Jose to stay the night. Dani went back to the hospital in hopes of staying the night with his sisters but I think they got kicked out somewhere around the 3am hour. He was in intensive care and it was a shared room and they didn't allow people to be there at all hours. On Saturday, I didn't go to the hospital because there was really no one to leave the kids with since everyone was at the hospital comforting each other and hoping he would come out of it. On Sunday, it was the same basically and I really can't remember why I didn't go that day either. I think that I wasn't totally sure I wanted to see him in that condition and I thought it was better for the rest of the family to be with him as much as possible even though he was under so much medication, he may not have been aware. By Sunday, they were definitely saying he had hours to live but that his body and organs were really so strong since he had not been sick before and that was what was making it hard for him to pass.
After lunch on Monday, I went to the hospital with Dani. I told Matthew that he had to stay with my sister in law, Carolina because I was going to see "Tito" (his grandfather) and they didn't allow children in the hospital. I told him that he was probably going to live with Jesus soon. I was able to see Tito this time and I was really nervous that I might lose it and start crying if I walked in with Dani. LUCKILY, he got a call as we were approaching the waiting area just outside Tito's room and I greeted the other family members that were there. While Dani was around the corner, his aunt Melba asked if I wanted to go in and I said, "yes". She led to where we stopped and washed and sanitized our hands and we went in. I was really relieved to go in with her and not Dani. I just think 32 years old is so young to lose a father and I felt/feel so bad for him. Especially how close they were and that he had lived with us almost the whole last 6 years of his life. A little later Dani went in and we talked about him a bit and what was going to happen after his passing, etc.
After that we went to run some errands but I wanted to get back as soon as possible to let my sister in law go back to be with her father because I can imagine that she was dying to be there all the time. We were about 2 blocks from the house when we got the call. He had passed away right at 3pm as the family was finishing a prayer that is a prayer of mercy and compassion that is prayed at 3pm, at the time of Jesus Christ's death. Now, I'm not Catholic so I don't understand all this but basically that's what I got and that it was very special and meaningful that he had passed at precisely that moment.
We haven't said all THAT much to Matthew except that Tito isn't here anymore. That he died and his soul went to live with Jesus but his body stayed here and we were going to bury it. He kept saying that he wanted to see Tito but I kept saying that Tito wasn't here anymore, just his body with nothing inside. It is so interesting how Matthew is taking this all in and just says random things when we're not talking about it or anything. Later that day, Matthew said, "I'm so sad"....and I said, "why?". He said, "because Tito died." and he had such a sad, long look on his face. I tell him that Tito is so happy living with Jesus and he doesn't have problems walking now and he feels so good all the time. He's also looking down on us and taking care of us like an angel. The other night, when we were out on the porch, Matthew looked up and said, "look! it's Tito!" as he pointed up to the brightest star he saw. I said, "yeah, and look how he's smiling Matthew, he can see you." Since all of this, we've talked about how one day we'll see Tito again when we go live with Jesus and so far, Matthew seems content with all the things we've told him. Although the day of the burial, I thought he was going to have a little fit because he wanted to see Tito in the casket. It was a closed casket funeral. Somehow I managed to distract him from that idea.
The procedure took place in San Jose about 4 hours away from here so my husband was working when it first got bad. They said he had had a stroke and that Dani should head there as soon as possible. When we told Matthew what had happened, he said, "Is he going to live with Jesus?" We really hadn't thought about it as so severe and pretty much expected him to come out of it so we told him that we didn't think so but Daddy had to go check on him anyway. That was on a Wednesday and still on Thursday night, although paralyzed on one side and having machines help him breathe, there was still hope and I was told not to worry about packing up the kids and going yet. First thing Friday morning, I got the call to pack things up, get Matthew out of school and head there as soon as possible. They said he may have only a few hours or days left.
Luckily our nephew Rolando wasn't able to go until after lunch so he could go with us and he could drive while I entertained the kids. We got there on Friday evening and went directly to the hospital to meet the rest of the family who was already there. I wasn't able to go in that night because they were changing linens and stuff and it was getting late so Dani, the kids and I went to my sister in law's house with her husband and our other nephew Jose to stay the night. Dani went back to the hospital in hopes of staying the night with his sisters but I think they got kicked out somewhere around the 3am hour. He was in intensive care and it was a shared room and they didn't allow people to be there at all hours. On Saturday, I didn't go to the hospital because there was really no one to leave the kids with since everyone was at the hospital comforting each other and hoping he would come out of it. On Sunday, it was the same basically and I really can't remember why I didn't go that day either. I think that I wasn't totally sure I wanted to see him in that condition and I thought it was better for the rest of the family to be with him as much as possible even though he was under so much medication, he may not have been aware. By Sunday, they were definitely saying he had hours to live but that his body and organs were really so strong since he had not been sick before and that was what was making it hard for him to pass.
After lunch on Monday, I went to the hospital with Dani. I told Matthew that he had to stay with my sister in law, Carolina because I was going to see "Tito" (his grandfather) and they didn't allow children in the hospital. I told him that he was probably going to live with Jesus soon. I was able to see Tito this time and I was really nervous that I might lose it and start crying if I walked in with Dani. LUCKILY, he got a call as we were approaching the waiting area just outside Tito's room and I greeted the other family members that were there. While Dani was around the corner, his aunt Melba asked if I wanted to go in and I said, "yes". She led to where we stopped and washed and sanitized our hands and we went in. I was really relieved to go in with her and not Dani. I just think 32 years old is so young to lose a father and I felt/feel so bad for him. Especially how close they were and that he had lived with us almost the whole last 6 years of his life. A little later Dani went in and we talked about him a bit and what was going to happen after his passing, etc.
After that we went to run some errands but I wanted to get back as soon as possible to let my sister in law go back to be with her father because I can imagine that she was dying to be there all the time. We were about 2 blocks from the house when we got the call. He had passed away right at 3pm as the family was finishing a prayer that is a prayer of mercy and compassion that is prayed at 3pm, at the time of Jesus Christ's death. Now, I'm not Catholic so I don't understand all this but basically that's what I got and that it was very special and meaningful that he had passed at precisely that moment.
We haven't said all THAT much to Matthew except that Tito isn't here anymore. That he died and his soul went to live with Jesus but his body stayed here and we were going to bury it. He kept saying that he wanted to see Tito but I kept saying that Tito wasn't here anymore, just his body with nothing inside. It is so interesting how Matthew is taking this all in and just says random things when we're not talking about it or anything. Later that day, Matthew said, "I'm so sad"....and I said, "why?". He said, "because Tito died." and he had such a sad, long look on his face. I tell him that Tito is so happy living with Jesus and he doesn't have problems walking now and he feels so good all the time. He's also looking down on us and taking care of us like an angel. The other night, when we were out on the porch, Matthew looked up and said, "look! it's Tito!" as he pointed up to the brightest star he saw. I said, "yeah, and look how he's smiling Matthew, he can see you." Since all of this, we've talked about how one day we'll see Tito again when we go live with Jesus and so far, Matthew seems content with all the things we've told him. Although the day of the burial, I thought he was going to have a little fit because he wanted to see Tito in the casket. It was a closed casket funeral. Somehow I managed to distract him from that idea.
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