queen of procrastination.

i've been in full moving gear for the past week.

we scrubbed the new place from top to toe. packed boxes.

oh, but the boxes.

we don't have enough boxes. not nearly enough boxes.

so, i packed and took a bunch of stuff yesterday. and some more today. emptied the boxes in a corner and brought the boxes back to our place to re-pack.

kind of a pain.

went to the cafeteria at the bus station to beg some boxes of pseudo-mother-in-law. she had none. went to the supermarket depot and it was closed. we were lucky enough to score some inside the store from the liquor-stocker which means we'll look like alcoholics on moving day.

and now, when i have the boxes, i'm on the internet instead.

maybe i should get back to work.

on the move...

to my 5 loyal blog readers.

have no fear.
we are still alive and well.
we are just in the middle of a move.
and we have a lot of junk. yes, junk. to pack into very few boxes.
the logistics of it are insane.

once i figure out how to fit it all in boxes and get it into our new place, get our internet set up and have a minute to breathe, i'll be back.

sincerely yours,
melanie

someone made god angry.

i had this whole post about the healthcare reform bill passed last night in the states. you know, a little pro, a little con.

and then the earth shook.

no, no, not because the bill was passed. it really, literally SHOOK.

for about 5 seconds and strong enough to get me out of bed and send our neighbors screaming and yelling to the parking lot (you'll probably never meet more dramatic people than dominicans).

it seems there are more important things happening in the world than the passing of a bill that may or may not come into being (because who knows who will take office in 2012 and what they will do to impede or proceed).

if you check out some of the websites that track quakes, you'll see that last night's 4.6 on the richter was just one of HUNDREDS of quakes since january's disaster in haiti. hundreds died in chile.

i'm not saying that healthcare isn't important... i'm just sayin' there's more happening in the world than CNN and FOX news project.

St. Patrick's Day Tot School

samil has been in love with his letter blocks this week. he's built towers, roads for his cars to drive on, thrown them at amely, and used this spatula to transfer them from the playmat to their home in an old used wipes box.

just a note: we use wipes boxes for EVERYTHING. all of the kids stuff is stored in old wipes boxes. plastics are expensive here, and this cheap (almost free) alternative makes it easy for me to organize on our budget.



the only day (besides the block photo from monday) that i was able to take pictures was st. patrick's day! (the camera somehow got packed in our neighbor's moving boxes after some water play with their daughter) we did a lot of activities - especially because amely decided to sleep in until almost 10am and samil and i were able to play together for almost two hours!

i've seen this sticker activity all over the place - but i got the shamrock idea at ramblings and adventures of a SAHM. i thought it was cool, samil... well, not so much. he put three of the stars on the lines, and then decided to fill the shamrock up with stickers. we had read a book the night before that had a sticker chart on the front cover page. when i pulled out the stars, he ran and grabbed the book and filled in the spaces that were empty.

i wanted to make a paper-bag puppet with samil from a pattern i had in my teaching box (from when i actually taught in a classroom) but it was missing a ton of pieces. i free handed what was missing and cut it all out. added some cotton to the mix (for his beard, of course).

samil loved this. but didn't want to color in the white pieces.

we mixed blue and yellow food coloring/water to make green.
yes, that's a snot-sucker from the hospital in his hand. i don't know why but we have like 6 of them in the house. i think that when amely was in ICU, i absent-mindedly put hers into my purse each time we were allowed to visit.
samil loves doing this - but we're having some issues with listening and samil keeps trying to drink the water every time we do this activity. our water is not potable and he needs to learn not to drink it. (and it's not just with transferring activities, he does it in the bathtub, too)

he also decided it would be more fun to put on the lid and shake the colors up.

i cut out these yellow circles a few weeks ago, attached some paperclips and sent samil looking for them with his magnet wand. he.loves.it. and he's extended the activity to collecting and THEN taking off the clips and sorting the coins from the clips.

we practiced counting shamrocks. still not a big hit.

patterning his shamrocks and "gold coins" was way more interesting for him.

we also played with some moon sand that my aunt had sent us awhile back. i completely forgot about it - it was hidden in the closet so samil couldn't get to it. i threw it in a tub and let him go - completely forgetting he had a glass of water there. i freaked out. for like 10 minutes. before i realized that it was moon sand and doesn't get wet. oops.

we have two tot-schoolish playdates next week that we're really excited for!
check out carisa's blog to see more totschool fun!

taking it in...

we've been cooped up for a week. and yesterday i woke up with a nasty ear/sinus infection. i decided enough was enough, though, and took the kids out for a walk. mostly, i needed exercise and they needed fresh air. plus, i needed to get some antibiotics at the pharmacy.

i love law and order. i love criminal minds. i love all of those shows.
but.

i hate that i'm so desensitized to what they show on those shows. you know, all those dead bodies, creepy pedophiles. things that should, maybe, make me throw up a little in my mouth are commonplace. they don't impact me anymore.

it's the same with living here.
things that impressed, awed, scared the hell out of me no longer impact me like they used to.

but when we left on our little walk after a week of not leaving the apartment, i noticed the little things that make this country so great.

the little old man brewing coffee through a sock in his little lean-to of crooked sticks holding up a tin roof. the man up in the coconut tree trimming the branches - no ladder in sight. the haitian workers with their levels and hammers singing as they walked to work. the women sweeping their backyards with twig-brooms - sweeping dirt off of dirt.

right now we're listening to lawn mowers and sprinklers. our neighbors are playing some merengue on blast. the laundry is on the line, drying. it's a beautiful day to re-discover this place.

as soon as the baby wakes up, we're outta here!

food thief!

samil was hungry yesterday.

he was eating like a fiend.
so when he asked for MORE rice when he woke up from his naptime, we gave it to him.
he went and sat at his table...

until he came to me with this little face.

mommy. AMIIIIIIII. AMIIIIIII. MOMMY!!!
apparently, amely stole his food. right from the table.

she knocked that bowl right on the floor.
and started to eat.

she thought it was pretty funny.
and tasty.

when i tried to take it away from her, she started grabbing handfuls of it from the floor.
and shoving it in her mouth.

love it.

maybe i'm the one who has it all wrong...

when i had samil, i was laid up for a few days because i'd had a c-section. dominicans are good about taking care of sick people - or at least they're present during sicknesses. i think it comes from the fact that you can't just leave someone in the hospital. so, if someone gets hospitalized, they need to be accompanied 24 hours of the day. and who doesn't like to hang out with sickies?

i'm kind of independent. and i didn't like the idea of having someone to "take care" of me. my mom was around for a few days after he was born - and then. then amalio's step-mom came. i had resigned myself to the fact that she needed to be here. see, there are all kinds of hilarious post-partum beliefs that range from the new-mom only being allowed to eat fish soup to new-mom not being allowed to wet her head for 42 days. and since i'm against all kinds of non-logical beliefs (i understand the hair thing to some degree, but still think it's ridiculous) and she is all for non-logical beliefs, i knew we'd butt heads.

never did i imagine she would show up to take care of me with a slew of children in tow. okay, that's an exaggeration. there were only two. but they were two children who had never been to the city and were used to living on a farm. to my small, small apartment. me, laid up in bed with a brand new baby.

i was livid.

and my anger only grew as everytime the damn kids asked to play outside, SHE SAID NO. because "the city is dangerous" and "you don't know those kids playing out there."

recap. me, in bed with a c-section. new baby. crazy step-mother-in-law. two kids who spend all day, every day playing with cows now locked in my apartment.

it's amazing i didn't suffer from post-partum depression.

okay, all of that was to say this.
our neighbors are moving. they bought a house on tuesday and are moving today. well, at least that was their plan. except they went to the capitol this weekend and still haven't packed a single box. besides the point, that is.

when they came home from the capitol, they came with the whole family to help. because dominicans aren't just good with sickness, they're good at helping people move, too.

what does this have to do with my post-partum story?
they showed up with 4 adults and about 20 kids. really? you have not one box packed and you want your house filled with every kid from the campo? and on top of it, they left their 3 year old daughter home from school today. TO HELP.

i love kids. i love to have kids around. and my house usually has at least one borrowed child. doing crafts, singing, dancing. playing.

but to have all those kids around during times when something really needs to get done? i don't think i could handle it.

is it me? am i wrong?