Letters to Santa

Today my boys did their letters to Santa on the computer.

I Googled 'email Santa' and got this cool site:

http://emailsanta.com/santa-claus-xmas-blog/

First we checked to make sure the boys were on the nice list (I have my doubts, but...)

Then the boys used the site template and wrote to Santa, who immediately responded with the letters below:

Very cute and the boys loved it. G also had these pictures we took to make his letter with:

Now, we'll just have to wait to see what Santa brings -and I have 14 days left of 'be good or else' threats. :)

G for Guapo

I just had to tell this little story about G. I've mentioned before the facination that many people have over my children. G gets most of the attention. I think it's cute, complementry, intrusive and a little disturbing all at the same time. I mean, it is always nice to hear complements about your children - but here they are almost revered - and that bothers me. I don't want my sons to grow up thinking that blue eyes and fair skin is 'better' than any other color eyes or skin. It is certainly not what we teach them, and no one has so much as told them so, but there is this facination and attraction in them that they, and we can't help but recognize. All the kids around ask about them - especially the girls. In fact, I make a point to remind them that the color of someone's eyes is not what makes them beautiful - it is what is behind their eyes in their spirit that makes them beautiful or ugly. Still, the boys garner a great deal of attention.


To add to that, G is a curious child. He LOVES to be 'one of the guys'. If any man is working on anything, he HAS to be right in there learning, helping, being part of the action. C on the other hand would much rather be off in his own world imagining other worlds and stories in his mind. This curious and helpful nature of G's grants him even more attention. The men (and ladies for that matter) seem to love him. G is usually right in the middle of the action (unless it's especially dangerous) and sooner or later, he's picked up a tool or shovel and is pitching in.


Today's story is a perfect example of this. There are paving crews paving the road in front of our house. G was outside first thing watching them. I knew he was interested so I instructed him that he could watch from the grass and had to stay out of the way.

Time passes, and I decide to check on him. Now he's standing right beside the workers as the paver slowly moves along the fresh asphalt. The men don't seem to be bothered by him - in fact, they seem to enjoy his company. Still, I remind him to stay on the grass and he'll have to watch from a safe distance.


Time passes again, and I go out to look for him. The crews have moved down the road a bit, so I expect he is on the grass near where they are working. Hmmm..... I can't see him. I walk towards where they are working. I pass the boss on his motorcycle who motions that my son is there, but I don't see him still. Do you?
Then the nice guy in the red shirt points him out to me. True to his nature, there he is - right in the middle of the action.
The little rascal has worked his way into their hearts and onto their equipment. I check with the boss - no problem -they just want to be sure he stays off the road for his safety. G is grinning like a cheshire cat. G tells me that they offered that he could ride the machine when they are ready. I am unsure about this, so I stick around to watch what is happenning. When they need to move (whatever it's called - lets call it Rolly from Bob the builder), they tell him he has to get down - they don't want him to fall off. G complies without complaint and watches from the sidelines. G also informs me that he was 'helping' to shovel the asphalt. Hmmmm.
I made him come back to watch from in front of the house so I can keep an eye on him. As I am watching from the balcony window, one of the gravel truck drivers stop in front of our house to talk with G. I watch/listen to make sure everything is ok. Yep, they just wanted to chat with the cute little guapo (handsome) boy. In fact, I overhear G invite the driver to go out to the beach to go swimming - to which the driver responds, "Sorry, I have to work. See you later!" Sure enough, a while later I see him in the middle again- so he gets sequestered inside the house. That's the end of that adventure - or at least until they are back to pave the other side of the road.


So -in addition to the cute story about my impetuous son, it always amazes me just how kind and friendly the people are here. He was never in any danger - they made sure of that and I knew he would be safe- but there is no way he would have had this opportunity with unknown workers in Canada or US. He would simply be 'in the way'. Not only was he not in the way, but they were enjoying the experience almost as much as he was.


Machetis are another facinating tool for G. They are everywhere here, and people leave them lying around. We have threatened him with all kinds of punishments to keep him from wielding one. So far, the temptation has turned out to be too great for him- the punishment is worth the price apparently. Even explaining that the Machetis can cut off a limb does not seem to phase him. Habanero Sauce is the next level.......


Mexico is almost taylor made for G. There is so much to do around here. He gets the opportunity to see all kinds of trades and work and loves every minute of it.

G's Eye Incident

Ok for those of you who missed out on this tramatic event - here' what happened to G's eye.

While I was in Canada moving the remaining things out of our house (BTW it is incredible how much crap one family can accumulate!), I get a call almost mid-way through my visit.
Bill calls me to tell me there's an emergency and G is hurt. He starts to explain that they had a fire going in our yard (this is mostly how they handle garbage here - to explain later) and something exploded out of the fire into G's eye.

I ask him if he took G to the hospital yet - oh no, it just happened and G was crying and wanted to talk to me. Ok NOW I freak out and yell at hubby to GET G TO THE HOSPITAL TO HAVE HIS EYE LOOKED AT - WHAT ARE YOU DOING WASTING TIME ON THE FREAKING PHONE!!!! He reminds me that the reason for the call is that G wanted to hear my voice so I quickly tell him I love him and to be brave and listen to the doctor and once again emphatically tell hubby to get his rear to the hospital.

Once I am off the phone - now I cry. I really want to hold my baby. I do my best to not let my mind go to the worst case scenario so I pray and trust that God will protect my little one. I go back to work on packing to try to keep my mind off my G.

I get a call back about an hour later ( that's right - there are no huge waiting lines at the private hospital!) from hubby at the hospital. G is ok -the doctor doesn't think there is any damage to his eye, though they had to wash quite a bit of plastic out of his eye. Most of the damage is to his eyelid. It burned off some of his beautiful, long eyelashes. Bill sent me a picture the next day:

That was probably the toughest time away from my kids I have ever experienced. I started to wonder if they were safe at all away from me (ok I know that doesn't make sense) and I just really wanted to hold my boy to 'make it better'. Of course he was fine shortly after the hospital as daddy spoiled them with ice cream. I couldn't wait to see them again.

I took some pictures when I finally saw him a week later. That was 2 months ago, and as I mentioned in my last blog - he still has a scar.

It doesn't seem to detract anyone from talking about how 'guapo'(handsome) he is. He will tell you himself that he has a lot of girlfriends. He will also tell you that he's not allowed to kiss any girls except on the cheek until he's 16. I've made sure he understands that! Here in Mexico it is customary to give a little kiss on the cheek - between women, children and adults and between the oposite sex - although between the oposite sex so far seems to be hit and miss - maybe only for good friends and family. I'll have to find out more about that. The French in Quebec have the same kind of tradition, except for them its 2 kisses- one for each cheek. And men kiss women on the cheek for friends and family or to show a desire for friendship. I am guessing that it is along the same lines here.

Anyway - sorry for going off-topic - but we originally told the boys they couldn't kiss girls at all until they were 16. Then they started freaking out when the girls tried to kiss them on the cheek - so we had to revise the rule. Now he knows it's ok if the girls kiss him on the cheek - but that's all.

So now those of you who were uninformed are updated as to the eye incident.

So now more details on the garbage thing. I don't know if it's because we are in the country or if it's just part of the way things are here, but recycling is definitely not happening here - unless you are talking about buying your Coke in the retro little glass bottles and returning them to the store for a refund. No recycling for paper, plastic, whatever. We have yet to meet the garbage collection guys to tip them ( a must here) and let them know we want our garbage collected. Most people in our little town would rather burn their garbage than tip the garbage guys - which explains why they don't automatically pick up the garbage. There is a dump in the neighboring town on San Isidro, but usually Bill forgets, and by the time he gets home, it's too late or he doesn't want to go back out to go to the dump. As a farm boy - he sees nothing wrong with burning it- especially since they are doing anything with it at the landfill anyway. I must say I am starting to see his point of view.

Ahhh la vida en Mexico!

TTYL