More mazes

Maddie has been doing a great job working her way through this book -- about 5/8 the way through this one now.

Just Little D

Little D has been enjoying his free time these days and is quite talkative too -- he says a few things in Portuguese and can piece together some sentences in English as well, his latest:  "where are you mommy!".

Of course he may be speaking Portuguese more often than I realize!

Just Maddie

On our way back from Starbucks Cathy and I were discussing how we thought we needed to say our order in Portuguese to add more shots to our coffee -- most of our efforts to this point have yielded poor results for a variety of reasons, none of which I will bore you with.  Well, as we're discussing, Cathy says "just say, mais dois shots".  Almost immediately, Madison chimes in and says "Be careful when you say mais. Mais could mean 1, 2, or 3".  What!  It's official, she already knows more Portuguese than her father.  Our girl is a sponge, sometimes her memory amazes me.  Speaking of which, she beat me in an honest game of Princess Memory last night.

Textbook breakfast

Finally (with our furniture here) the kids can start eating in the right places at the apartment.  Yesterday they both sat here calmy for about 10 minutes while they ate their entire breakfast! 

3 Months

I received a comment that my updates were lagging this week. There is (of course) a good reason – our sea crate arrived Monday, we have been unpacking all week long. The movers were able to get all but 4 items from the sea crate into the surprisingly tiny service elevator and up to our apartment. So what to do with the other 4 items? Send them back to US, sell them here? Not necessary, the moving company informed us that they had haulers to get this type of job done. Maybe the haulers were some sort of crane devices? Not the case. After lunch break was over, in walks your typical 4th and goal linemen equipped with only a bag, two ropes and a piece of cardboard. A few of the guys came in just for this job and were not part of the moving crew that was assisting us earlier in the day. The rest is history, see for yourself. Just another common practice down here in Brazil…

Anyway, it had been exactly 3 months that we lived without our stuff – it’s nice to finally have a home!

6 Month (after) Spica Update

Assimetria dos centros de ossificacao das cabecas femorais, menor a esquerda.
Discreta verticalizacao do teto acetabular esquerdo.
Demais estruturas osseas sem alteracoes significativas apreciaveis ao metodo, para a faixa etaria. 

Using online translator:

Asymmetry of ossification center of the femoral heads, the lower left.
Slight left vertical line in the acetabular roof.
Other bony structures without significant alterations to the appreciable method for the age group.

A couple weeks back I had mentioned we took Dylan to get his follow-up Xray (6 month checkup after the spica cast was removed).  The "plan", as I understood it, was to get the Xray at the hospital and review the results with specialist approximately two weeks later.  However, one thing I have learned here in Brazil, what is planned versus what actually happens are never usually the same.  For instance, about 6 days after the Xray we returned home from work to find an envelope from the hospital -- which contained the hard copy of the Xray and the 3 sentence Portuguese diagnosis shown above.  You could imagine our reaction!  First, online translators are by no means an exact science, you can understand the general meaning but often times the sentences are a bit broken.  Second, even if this was a diagnosis in English I wouldn't be able to understand it! 

The two words we immediately pulled from the document were "asymmetric" and "slight".  After your child has surgery due to asymmetry from a dislocated hip that he was born with, our immediate reaction was this is bad news -- with the hope that the word "slight" might lessen the blow.  Now we were scrambling to get a hold of the doctor here in Brazil to get a better explanation AND trying to call the surgeon who performed the surgery back in MI.  In the mean time we were reading and re-reading the translated diagnosis and reviewing his Xray -- some of the asymmetry was rather obvious.  For the next 3 hours we were envisioning a re-spica scenario and wondering if his hip would ever heal properly.  Finally the doctor from MI called, although he didn't have the Xray, he did say this diagnosis is very typical and what he was expecting... then the specialist from Brazil called and spoke with Cathy, he said based on the Xray that a re-spica was not going to be required and this is quite typical for a child that has this type of surgery.  The reason -- for the first 9 months Dylan's hip was not developing properly... only one side was developing, the left side didn't really start until the spica cast was in place.  Now the left side is playing catch-up with the right, so all things considered, the situation is good with his hip still in place and (now) developing properly.  The biggest concern after this type of surgery is that the hip begins to wander and doesn't want to stay in place, so far this is not the case for Dylan.  The doctor here in Brazil said that we just have to keep monitoring Dylan's hip development, with the next Xray follow-up in 3 months. 

Oh, and more good news to go along with his results -- the brace he's been wearing for the past six months (after the cast was removed) -- no more!  So for the first time in about a year, Dylan is in the clear... recall that this all started with a recommendation for physical therapy early last year (for torticollis), which in turn led to a flat head since he was sleeping in the same position every night, which then led to a 3 month long episode wearing a helmet... and finally during his 9 month wellness visit, the dislocated hip diagnosis -- which, as it turns out, was all related. 

Now our 1Y6M15d old is walking around like a champ and climbing up things with the best of them.  In fact, the little guy is getting rather resourceful now when it comes to a climbing challenge.  If something is too high for him to climb up on he will wander into Madison's room and grab her step stool.  Next thing you know and he's crawling around on top of a table!

Treats

Maddie manages these treats well.  Dylan gets about half in his mouth and the other half on the floor. 

Brazilian Birthday Celebration

We went to another to birthday last night for one of Madison's friends from school -- more fun times. Birthday parties are a bit different down here -- open bar, waiters & waitresses serving a wide variety of hors d'oeuvres, cakes that rival what you typically see at a wedding, magicians, the list goes on... and many of the parents dress up rather nice for these events too.

At first we didn't know where to start, however after the standard tour of the facility on the hanging train we began to feel more comfortable.

Carnival

Maddie's class had a Carnival celebration last Friday.  Of course the rookie Americano parents were not aware this was a day that the kids could dress up in costumes, so Maddie was just one of three kids sporting a uniform -- as soon as she got off the bus we heard all about it.  Good news is, it wasn't a deal breaker and she had a great time! 

So Maddie is off of school for the entire week and we are off from work until Thursday for the holiday, what to do?  Nothing crazy for us this year, perhaps next, but we have accomplished quite a bit in our free time -- purchased a TV stand, took a trip to the hospital for Dylan's 6 month follow-up Xray, 2010 taxes are almost complete, visited two new restaurants, multiple Portuguese lessons, hit up the gym, etc.  I know it doesn't seem like much (sounds almost like a typical weekend in the US), but when you walk into a place and do not know if you will be able to communicate, it's always a win when you get what you went in for!  For instance, the TV stand purchase -- first you have to flag someone down and point at what you want.  Step 2 is telling them you would like it today (no delivery) and you would like to make the entire purchase today as well (no line of credit).  Step 3 is walking over to the computer to have them enter your name/address/etc, I usually just hop over and start typing the data in myself.  Step 4 - obtain invoice and find out where to pay for it.  Step 5 - after you pay, find out where to hand slip to.  Step 6 - Hand slip to guy and listen (cluelessly) as he asks questions.  Turns out he was asking me if I wanted him to assemble it right there or just pick up the box from the warehouse -- I opted for the box, which is awaiting assembly in the back of our apartment as I write this.  I did happen to luck out on this trip as the first person I interacted with was a student who was learning English -- it wasn't great, but it made Steps 1&2 go a tad bit smoother.

Anyway, enough writing for now, time for relaxation.  Unfortunately the weather hasn't been too great these past few days, low 70's and overcast, which ruined our plans for going to the pool on our days off -- however I do think I will participate a bit in a smaller Carnival celebration and order up a Caipirinha (or two), enjoy the cool outdoor breeze.  From what I understand they have specials at the local Clube down by the pool area, I'm thinking this is where I will make my guest appearance for some Carnival festivities -- low key, always my style.

Morning Walk

Feeding the fish.

Some pics from the morning stroll.

Artistic Skills

Maddie came back from school on Tuesday with a folder packed full of about 50 activities she completed in February  -- crafts, counting, folding, cutting, tearing, circle what you want to do when you grow up, etc.  I can already tell that it's enhancing her creative side. 

A couple of nights ago, Cathy was working with Madison on the magna-doodle -- Maddie was having fun tracing her hands and feet over and over again.  We stepped away to start getting ready for the kid's bathtime and returned to see the sketch of the pic above.  Maddie thought it would be funny to trace her bum!  I had her repeat this accomplishment again so I could snap a few pics.  Talk about creative, I didn't try that until I was in 6th grade!

The Bath Time Boogie

Bath time has been quite the chore lately.  The kids now spend 90% of the time standing, slipping and falling -- somehow we were able to get a couple of pics of them in a semi-relaxed state.

DETERMINATION

DETERMINATION - When your kids want to go to bed and you decide it's a good time for a picture.

Appetizers

The kids were relaxing and having a granola snack on the floor while we were getting ready to take a trip out for lunch.  We ended up at an Italian joint that offered up free food for the kids -- and I'm not talking about a standard kids plate with mac-and-cheese or chicken strips -- this was entree food right off the menu!  Too bad Maddie wanted nothing to do with it... Dylan on the other hand, ate about two-thirds of the plate.

Cutting edge

I still try to get in some activity time with Madison at night, most recent focus on sounds for each letter and piecing together words -- starfall.com has been a great site for learning both.  I have to admit though, I definitely have been more skewed towards technical learning and probably haven't put in enough time with fine motor skills -- scissors being one of them.  We did buy Maddie scissors a few months back but it appeared she wasn't quite ready... or I wasn't ready.  Well the time has arrived, Maddie received homework last week -- lacing and cutting exercises!  I was actually excited to get working on them with her, it's nice to have a syllabus to work off of.  At first she struggled quite a bit to even cut a straight line, 3 nights later -- she's working the zig-zag. 

Limited toy selection



Sea crate is supposed to be at our door around the 1st week of March, until then -- the kids will have to keep improvising, here's Maddie's play stroller.

School update

Gym day!

 

Maddie is liking the school scene -- the first week of classes went very well.  In fact, she had school all five days last week.  You see, here in Brazil, they don't cancel classes for snow. 

Playing around in the afternoon

All part of the experience

We have had quite a bit of paperwork to complete over the last couple of weeks, some of which I've highlighted below:

Once the employee (and family) arrive in Brazil, the employee (and each family member) must apply for a Residence Permit ("RNE"). Applications must be submitted to the local Federal Police Department in the place of residence in Brazil.

In addition, the employee must apply for a CPF (Tax) Card and an Employment Book (Carteira de Trabalho) in order to be assigned to the Brazilian company's payroll.

For the RNE, we took the entire family to the police station for some fingerprints -- I described it as finger painting to Madison.  Regardless, she wasn't too thrilled with the whole idea and gave the local police worker a difficult time... it wasn't until Dylan did his finger painting that Madison reluctantly joined in.  The whole trip took about 1.5 hours and other than the fingerprints it was rather easy -- RNE complete!  At first when we arrived, our driver (who didn't speak a lick of English) stopped in front of the station where we saw a line of about 100 people waiting to get in.  After about 5 minutes in the car waiting and watching the line growing, we figured we might as well get out and join the crowd-- we were reassured that the representative who handles our government related paperwork would be there.  After about 5 minutes in line and zero clue if we were even in the right line, the representative arrived.  That's when she told us we could go right to the front -- Brazil is very accommodating (and respectful) to families with young children and this was no exception.

The RNE is required to obtain the Employment Book, fortunately the kids did not have to make the trip.  It took roughly 1.5 hours just to get to the place for the Book and we had arrived 30 minutes early for our 2:00pm appointment.  Looking around I thought - great, we're the only ones here, this will only take a few minutes.  Well, the entire building was in a meeting and it was supposed to be done shortly.  Keep in mind this would be like you going to the Secretary of State (or DMV) while all of the workers were in another room having a meeting.  The meeting (in our case) lasted until 3:45pm!  At which time we were immediately called to the front of the room, signed our Books and they were stamped -- done in 10 minutes! 

• 1.5 hours to get there
• 2.25 hours of waiting
• 1.5 hours to get home

A mere 5.25 hours for a 10 minute stamp.  No complaints here though, after all -- we are working in a foreign country and obviously some process and paperwork is going to be required... it's all part of the experience.

First day of school

Here's Maddie at the bus stop.  All went well -- got on bus, off bus and into class with no issues.  For a little girl that loves routine, this was a huge (successful) step into life in Brazil!  We peaked into the classroom without her seeing us and it appeared that she was mingling, exploring and already getting a bit comfortable.