Six Months Down...

It has been a little more than 6 months since we moved to our new home, and probably time to update everyone on how we are all doing.  I’ll start with Elissa, as she is the most fun to write about.  Lissie has grown at least one or two inches taller since Christmas, and her vocabulary has grown substantially as well.  People here often think she is around 4 years old, as she is much taller than other children her age!  We speak mostly English when we are at home, so she has still learned more English than Portuguese so far.  Currently, her favorite phrases/sentences to use are “I love ____” (she fills in the blank with such words as chocolate, blanket, dress, shoes, Xuxa, letters, and any other random thing she is excited about at the time) and “I need ____” (the blank is often filled with the same words listed previously).  She is absolutely obsessed with letters and the alphabet right now!  She has a small set of foam letters which she must have with her in her bed at night or she won't fall asleep.  At least once a day, she sits in the computer chair, ‘types’ on the keyboard and says “ABCs??  ABCs????” until I come over and turn on an alphabet video on Youtube for her.  She will then stay seated and continue watching various ABC songs, number songs, Elmo, and pretty much any other children’s video that looks interesting to her, for as long as I allow her.  She also continues to LOVE watching the old classic Christmas shows, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Frosty the Snowman.  (I keep my fingers crossed that one of these days while playing with her DVD’s, she will scratch these movies so badly they will no longer play...  6 month have passed of not-so-gentle playing, and no sign of lethal scratches yet.  Sigh.)  Elissa has also become quite the singer and dancer, keeping us well-entertained!  One day while watching an ABC song for about the bajillionth time, she suddenly blurted out “I need to dance now!”, hopped off of my lap, and starting running around the living room, every few seconds pausing to stand on one foot or twirl like a ballerina.  As always, she enjoyed showing off and making me laugh, up until the instant I got the camera ready for filming...  Elissa has also recently been singing the alphabet song in Portuguese, and when asked or told to do something that she doesn’t like, she responds adamantly “Nao, nao, obrigada!!”  I’m pretty sure she picked this up at a pizza restaurant we ate at recently, as we passed on several pizzas brought around that night.  However, she feels it applies when told to put on pants, lay down, sit down, put a toy away, etc., yelling as she runs in the opposite direction.

As for me, I spend most of my time either cooking, cleaning, or chasing after my little “Nao, nao obrigada!” runner and trying to convince her that pants will keep her warm or that she really is tired enough to take a nap.  Occasionally I do get some time for myself, however, and I enjoy filling it by working on crochet projects, catching up on Facebook, watching The Mentalist, and finding new recipes to try cooking for lunches (which is our biggest meal of the day here, like supper in the US.)  Tiago’s mother and I have even started taking a monthly cooking class from a local teacher, who comes to our home and demonstrates how to cook any 3 dishes of our choosing.  I can now make a pretty darn good risotto!  Also once a week I still teach a little English class for an English school in our city.  Little describes both the number and size of participants, as there are 4-5 class members from age 3-6 years old.  And while they (hopefully) are learning some English from me, I am picking up some Portuguese from them.  My Portuguese is no where near where I want it to be, but I can tell that I have made some progress.  While I definitely still sound like a foreigner, several people I’ve spoken with have looked at me funny when I started talking, and then congratulated me afterward on being able to speak in Portuguese. (When we first arrived, everyone was informed that I didn’t speak any Portuguese and I guess they are surprised when I actually speak enough for them to understand me now.)  Maybe one of these days, I will be ale to blend right in and everyone will think I’m Brazilian...

Tiago is adjusting well to working full-time and has learned pretty much anything there is to know about trucks and how to ship something from here to Uruguay.  He seems to be enjoying the switch in Lissie’s parent preferences these days.  As soon as she hears his car coming in the garage, she says “I think that Daddy’s here!” and makes a beeline for the garage to greet him with a hug and a kiss.  He is happy to be back in his home town, spending time with his family and eating all his old favorite foods.  On weekends he gets to play his fill of soccer with family and friends.  At church, our branch is of course happy to have all of our family, but I think particularly so to have Tiago.  He has been asked to speak in Sacrament meeting at least 3 times since we’ve been here (I’m kind of glad I don’t speak much Portuguese! haha), and he has been called to teach the adult Sunday School class, and is in the Elder’s quorum presidency as well.  And when he’s not speaking or teaching a lesson, he’s usually sitting with Lissie trying to entertain and keep her quiet while I play the music.  I admit, he usually has more success with that task than I do.

The seasons and weather are backwards, the holidays are different, and I definitely stick out like a sore thumb.  Still, these past 6 months have been very good to us.  Our family has been very  good to us.  And we are very grateful for how our Heavenly Father has blessed us and continues to help us adjust to our new home.