Days 2 and 3 at Pipo

Day 2: We had a really bad bedtime Monday night, which made for very poor sleep for all of us that night, so yesterday at school was harder for Caleb.  He was much more clingy when I dropped him off, which I expected, and I gave the teacher a heads up that he hadn't slept well, but he still managed to  make it the whole time and was in a good mood again when I picked him up.  The tia said that she could tell he hadn't been in a very good mood or enjoying himself much, which I also expected.

When I asked him what they did at school, he said they played inside and outside again, and that they painted again, too.  I asked him "Con que colores pintaste?", and he answered "AmaLillo (amaRillo - yellow.  he says it like a Chinese person, swaping some of his r's for l's :)).  I asked in Spanish what other colors he painted with and he answered me "No más (no more)."

At bedtime he mentioned something about a girl named Sofie.  I asked him who Sofie was, and he said a little girl at his school.  He told me they were playing together yesterday.  I was excited to know that he learned someone's name without my help and had enough fun with her to tell me about it.

Hopefully now tonight he (and we) sleep better and get a better start tomorrow...


Day 3:  Last night Caleb went to bed pretty well for us (thank the Lord!) and when I left his room I was less stressed out too, which was a great feeling.  He slept super well and didn't get up until 7:40, which is about a half hour later than he has been waking up here.  At drop-off he was clingy for a minute, but I was later told he was fine after a few minutes, as he often is when he gets upset when I leave him.   I also asked tia Andrea if there was a little girl named Sofie in the class, and she pointed out a little blonde girl to me (proof that Caleb knew what he was talking about and got her name right :)).

When I returned to pick him up today, tia Andrea told me he had been in a much better mood today, and that he was talking to her and telling her all sorts of things in English.  Its English not Spanish, but at least he was feeling noticeably more comfortable with his environment and his teacher, and maybe within a few days he will start using some of his Spanish words and expressions with her.  Instead of running right to me and wanting to be held and leave he wanted me to come in and play with him, but the teacher suggested we leave right away so he leaves wanting more and looking forward to it for tomorrow.  The tias at Pipo have been very helpful guiding me and other parents whose kids are trying to adjust to preschool, as many are in the same boat as us right now beginning the school year with tears, so we are grateful for them and their recommendations!

Today they got to paint again, but this time with blue.  I'm seeing a pattern that seems they will get to paint all week.  Not sure why its only one color each time, perhaps for a color theme each day related to other things they are doing - I will have to ask about that tomorrow.  I do know that they are doing 'testing' all week to see what the kids do and don't know in order to help structure the rest of their lessons this year - colors, numbers, shapes, parts of the body, up/down, inside/outside, stop/go, and many other things that she told me and I can't remember now.  I'm hoping they give us individual reports at some point.  It would be interesting to see, especially since Caleb's vocabulary in Spanish is much smaller than the other Chilean kids'.  Later today Caleb started moving his arms in circles (either like a swimming motion or like pedaling with his hands motion, not sure which he intended...) and said "we did this at school today."  I like hearing the little things that they did as they gradually come back to mind for him. :)

Casting

On Saturday we did something interesting, probably a once-in-our-life thing... we went to a casting for a T.V. commercial!

There is a girl named Zuzu, about our age, who lives in our building.  She is Chilean, but lived twelve years in London so she speaks great English, and she is trying to get her own casting company going.  She has a friend who is making an American TV commercial and they are looking for a lot of people to be in it, all different ages, sizes, and talents.  We were among some of the people she invited to come to the casting.

Saturday morning we spent about an hour and a half hanging out waiting for our turn.  We had to fill out a form about each of us, including such questions as "Do you have a fear of dogs?, Do you know how to ride horses bareback?, Do you have any special talents, and Do you know how to drive a motorhome?"  Not sure if some of these have to do with scenes they need in the ad maybe...

Lots of people waiting for their casting turn.  
(Zuzu is the one in the pink and green) 

An American family we met who teaches at the American/Canadian school here, NIDO 

Look how cute daddy dressed Caleb :)

This family brought sidewalk chalk to entertain their kids.  Landon has never played with chalk before, and of course, it went in the mouth first.  Great idea for entertaining them for a while, bad one for keeping them clean!

Caleb and Landon also kept busy "doing construction" with the "hammers", and Caleb told us.  Again, good entertainment, bad for keeping clean.  Oh well.

When we were up they had Jimmy, me, and the boys all sit together, introduce ourselves to the video camera, and just talk about who we are and what we like to do as a family.  Then they took video of each of us individually, front view, side view, turn in a circle, and show your hand... show my hands??  I guess maybe they need some hand shots, too...  She asked if I like to swim, I said yes, she asked if I can dive from, say, three meters... I said sure!  I think I could do it without freaking out... :)  Again, seemingly random question though.

Anyway, who knows whether we (or any one of us individually) will get chosen, but it would sure be cool if we do!  Either way it was a fun and different way to spend our Saturday morning.

Push-ups with daddy

Caleb doing push-ups with daddy... 

(click here or below for video)

Day 1 at Pipo - Success!

Today was Caleb's first real school day at Chilean preschool, Jardin Infantil Pipo.  You may remember back in January he went for a few days for some summer workshops, and we called it his first day of school, but now the schools are all in session in Chile and this is actually the start of their normal, more structured, school schedules.  Though he is now more adjusted to being here, and his nap time has been pushed back later compared to January, we were fairly nervous about how it would be for him starting out because he doesn't know anyone really (except the director and a few of the teachers) and everything is in Spanish.

This morning before school...  The boys had taken this suitcase out to play with yesterday and Landon thought it would be a good place to sit and drink his bottle!

We have been building today up all weekend, talking about it, about what they might do there, and we got Caleb a new little water bottle and lunch box to take his snacks in, too (they call the snack la colación)

Caleb knew that today we would be dropping him off there, and he seemed fine with it.  This morning he was a bit shy when we first arrived, wanted me to hold him, and didn't want to take off his sunglasses right away or pose for a picture, but as soon as we were inside tia Andrea (one of his two teachers) came over to him, gave him a kiss (the typical greeting here, one kiss on the right cheek - it would never fly at schools in the U.S., but I think it is really nice that the tias are so affectionate with the kids here, especially since many kids start jardin so young here), and immediately took him over to find something to play with.  It made for a quick exit for mommy, which was good for him, too.

All morning long I was staying close to my phone in case they called with him upset, but all the while hoping it wouldn't ring.  I was so excited as noon approached and we hadn't heard a thing.  Caleb made it the whole morning, and on top of it, was happy and chatty when we picked him up instead of tired and clingy.

On the walk home he told us that he had played "2 times" (trying to say 'both' inside and outside), and that they painted (which he has been into lately with his watercolors).  It was such a huge relief to see how excited he was about his morning!  Thanks for all your prayers, and we hope that with each day it only continues to be even more enjoyable for him!

Having fun with some home-made entertainment

In my preparations for the long flight down here, I was looking for all sorts of ideas online of activities for toddlers that might help entertain Caleb and Landon.  We didn't use as many on the flight as I thought we might, but they have ended up being fun to have to play with while we are here, too.
Here are a few we have been playing with recently...

Spanish body parts dominoes (matching)

Caleb made me smile when he was able to tell me the Spanish words for hair, nose, mouth and eyes without a second thought about the answers.  We hadn't used any of those words in a while. 

Practicing counting with stickers

Click here or below for video of Caleb playing with felt shapes:

Click here or below for video of Caleb with the magnets.  This one was planned to be used with a metal cookie sheet while traveling, but since we're here now the fridge gives them a lot more room to spread them out.

Exercise ABCs - motions and activities to go with each letter of the alphabet.  We have a lot of fun and many laughs playing with these! 

I have been saving t.p. and paper towel rolls lately trying to come up with a creative way to use them for the boys... Thought of making tunnels to drive some of their cars through.  I used Caleb's watercolors to paint them, but with little precision because I knew they will probably only last a few days, if that!

When I told Caleb I had painted these for them, he wanted to do some painting himself.

And the one that I was most excited about and quite proud of, partly because it took me a while, but also because I think they turned out cute, are the felt Nemo, Dory, Crush, and friends that I made for him.  I saw a lot of felt scene ideas online as a good quiet play activity for kids.  Around the beginning of the year Caleb was really into watching Finding Nemo so when I saw other normal felt fish ideas online, I thought maybe I could try making some of the characters from Nemo.  I found some pictures to copy in Google images, then went at it.  This video is 10 minutes long of him playing with them, so just skim through and watch as much or as little as you like!  :)

Click here or on the image below to see video of the felt Nemo & Dory fish:

One answer - Pipo

I mentioned in a post last week that we have been praying about whether Caleb will get to go to jardin (preschool) this month, as all the schools we asked in were full already.  It was seeming to be a closed door for some reason, but now it appears the door is back open.  On Thursday I received a phone call from Pipo (the preschool we were hoping to send Caleb to) telling me that two kids aren't going to come, so there is now space for Caleb!  I was very excited, and when I got off the phone and told Caleb what they said and that he was going to get to go to Pipo, he got a big smile on his face.

We are hoping that his enthusiasm for going to school makes for a really good experience for him.  The days that he spent at Pipo in January were only two weeks into our time here, and now that he has had more time to adjust, and pick up on a bit more language, hopefully he will be comfortable and have fun learning with the Chilean children!  He will start this Monday morning, so please keep him in your prayers... pray for restful sleep for him leading up to and during the month, pray that he learns a lot being immersed in the language, and pray for him to be so busy having fun that he doesn't think about and miss mommy!

Update to come soon on how it goes...

Grapes in Los Andes

Jimmy had to drive North a couple of weeks ago to check out some grapes near a town called Los Andes.  Looks beautiful there, though not too different from something you might see in California!  Our worlds are not as different as we imagine they might be...

Caleb + Bedtime = Exhaustion

(He climbed out of bed and over to this ottoman and was completely asleep like this)

Bedtime has always been challenging with Caleb, but these past few weeks have been harder than usual, and it is really wearing me out.  Caleb used to go down pretty easily at naptime, and bedtime was the hard one, but these days he rarely goes down for either without a huge production and tantrum.

A lot of factors are possibly playing into his behavior... new place, away from friends and family, without pacifier, later bedtime, and just so much change in general wearing on him.  We would appreciate your prayer for him and us in this, and for lots of extra love and patience until we get home and hopefully back to a better sleep time routine!

Chile returns to 'normal' in March

It's March, which in the Northern Hemisphere would be the equivalent of September, and means that most people have returned from their vacations, are back to work. and schools are getting started this week.  Everyone is returning to their routines, and there is a very noticeable difference in the volume of traffic and people everywhere you go.  Jimmy's work commute (which is still nothing compared to what he has while we are in Lodi) has gone from 20 minutes to about 30, and a friend told me today that she heard commute times on average will increase by forty percent in the month of March!  It takes a lot longer to get anywhere, which also means that if we take any taxis, they will be more expensive. :(

A Chilean school bus!
Amazing how small they are... Shows you that not many kids require bus services - most either walk or get dropped off.

The weather is also starting to change noticeably, and it started the day that March began.  It is much cooler at night and in the mornings, and we have actually started to close the windows at night - the first time they have been closed since January!  The cool weather is also causing the smog to compact, making it much more visible around the city.  Glad we got some good pictures of the mountains and city around us before this heavy smog started!

We are also noticing a lot more people, and some new faces that we haven't yet met, around our building and in the backyard playing.

On the right is my friend Mariel (from Buenos Aires), and her daughter in the pink, Mikaela (20 months).  Mariel is 37 weeks pregnant and having the baby boy this week... please pray for her and their family!

We're not sure if Caleb will end up getting to go back to Pipo this month (the preschool he went to in January for a week)...  We are having a hard time getting him a spot for the AM group, even at several other schools that we checked out, so we're praying about it and wondering if God is closing that door for a reason... We shall see...

Tourists for an hour in Plaza de Armas

This afternoon we were trying to decide what to do, and were feeling tired of going to the backyard and the parks to play, so we decided to take a quick visit down to the center of Santiago to see Plaza de Armas, the main square and touristy center of town which we hadn't yet seen in the 8 weeks we have been here.

It was certainly crowded, but nice to see the downtown area.  Due to the Spanish colonization, the architecture of some of the larger buildings is much more similar to that in Spain than the area where we live in Santiago, so it was also pleasantly familiar :).

El Catedral de Santiago.  Interesting contrast with the tall , modern building next to it.

 

Inside the cathedral

Central post office.  A big, stately building, just like in Madrid.

Clock tower on the Museo Histórico Nacional (National History Museum) in Plaza de Armas

I loved how the plaza has these back-to-back benches along two sides of the plaza - plenty of space to sit, relax, and do some people watching (which we of course didn't do, with two toddlers!)...

...Instead we stopped for a quick treat... This McD's has its own walk-up window just for ice cream!