Time for an update...
Alex: Alex is in the middle of her summer break. She loved her school year in preschool, which was an opportunity that I don't think we ever thought she would have since it's typically so expensive. However, even though she started in October and had an almost two month break during Christmas due to our visa issues, she really excelled. She made some great friends and is excited about going to kindergarten, even though she will occasionally say that she is a little bit nervous, which is cute. We tell her it's okay to feel nervous about new things and that she'll be great. They had an end of the year program for the elementary school students, and Alex got up with her class and recited the poem quietly and made her motions vigorously. After the poem every student received an award. (This is apparently a school-wide practice.) I was so happy for her when it came to her name and she had a massive round of applause; she's made some friends at Highlands! However, I was exceptionally proud of the award she got - best all around student. We were very proud parents.
She's had a good summer, but I think she's getting a little bored. It's nice when we have times to play with some other kids, but I think she will love being back in school. Highlands has two days a week that are full day and three that are half day, which was a little confusing to me at first but will hopefully be a good transition for her. Even though I went to a half day kindergarten, I think that a full day kindergarten has become pretty normal in a lot of places, including Virginia. She's on track academically with no problems as far as we can tell. She's actually doing a wonderful job with her reading skills and can pretty easily and quickly read simple words now. She's learning blended consonants right now (I think that's what they're called) and other weird things like "the silent e at the end of the word makes the (short) a say (a). It's a jingle that gets tuck in my head.) She also almost always wants to do a craft and is getting really great with the scooter she got for her fifth birthday in May. And the girl is a playing machine, which is totally normal, but I'm pretty sure she is an extrovert because she ALWAYS wants people around. She's gotten a little bossy with Micah and we've had to help her work through that, but she's a great kid who wants to do the right thing and tried hard to be obedient. She's incredibly affectionate and sweet and verbal and helpful. She started getting a (very small) allowance when she turned five, and she has chores to complete every day in order to get it. The only thing she misses frequently is making her bed because Jason gets up early and she hears him and runs out to be with him! She is also incredibly expressive and will surprise me at how grown-up she looks or sounds sometimes. And she is so girlie. (I have no clue where she got that from...) She would wear a dress every day if she could and will tilt her head and put her hand on her hip and say, "Well, I don't know if that's EXACTLY what he should be doing..." or some other random way of expressing her thoughts while looking like a tween. Let's just hope she's not boy crazy.
Micah: The boy will be three next week, but I keep thinking that he's already three for some reason. He talks all the time and is great at expressing what he wants or needs or ideas or jokes. He constantly cracks himself up, although sometimes he can't figure out if he wants to be laughing or wants to be upset. For instance, the other day Jason was chasing him around with a pair of pirate socks (I'm sure you can imagine the scenario), and Micah oscillated between cries of pain and ecstatic laughter. Jason would chase, Micah would tell him to stop. Jason would stop, Micah would plead with him to do it again. My son is a little bit fickle... He is also trying to learn how to work through when he doesn't get his way. His first response is to start throwing a little screaming tantrum, which is in no way acceptable and produced an immediate time out. He tends to respond to that and understand why it's happening and learn from it, so that's good. He likes to make weird, loud noises whenever we let him, and he loves cars and puzzles and playing with Alex. (At least most of the time:)
He is finally kind-of sort-of potty trained. He spends his days in underpants most of the time and wears a pull-up typically if we go out. During nap times and overnight he still wears a diaper, though, and he almost always poops during sleep, so I think it will be a while before he starts to wake up and realize he needs to go to the bathroom. He did actually start pooping in the potty a few weeks ago. He wailed and wailed and wailed about it, and then when he did it he got REALLY excited and happy and will willingly do it now that he knows he doesn't have to be terrified of it. He also had the habit of taking people by the hand whenever someone comes to our apartment in order to show them something special. He's not as free with hugs and his kisses as he used to be, but he's still a really affectionate kid. His favorite thing to do before bedtime is get superflipped by Jason, meaning that Jason holds him lengthwise in his arms and flips him onto his bed. Then he gets fall-down hugs from me, where he backs up on his bed as far as he can and basically attacks me so that I fall down. It's a nice way to say goodnight, even if it is is a bit rowdy. (He virtually never has sleeping problems, so we don't have to worry too much about winding him up, which is fun.)
Jason: Jason continues to work had. He gets to take short trips about once a month, and he really enjoys being able to do that. It's also nice because he's not gone for two weeks at a time like when he was with IJM. Their office moved a few weeks ago, so now everyone is in the same building, and Jason looks out to one of the busiest areas of our area of town. His office is huge now! He's been working a lot towards some possible grants (some from USAID), and bringing some new people onto his staff. (It's a little weird to think that my husband is responsible for hiring - and firing - people.) They're working on a number of new projects, including a bee project and a chocolate project (yummy on both counts), and SP might be doing some work in La Paz at some point if they can get some funding. I think that's the hardest part; getting grants is always difficult, but it seems like almost everything goes to Africa. And I am certainly not saying that Africa doesn't need it because it does, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of focus on Latin America. It's been that way for a while, though. However, SP is doing some great work here, and sometimes we get the benefit of it, like being able to buy llama sausage.
Jason also found a group that plays ultimate frisbee on Sunday afternoons, and that has been wonderful for him. He has really missed it since Nicaragua, and he will go out there and run in a way I couldn't imagine. Of course, sometimes he still comes home and is coughing for quite a while because of the altitude, but that's how it is for everyone playing.
Jess: And I am doing well. I just finished my last day of work for the summer session, so I get a break until September. I do, however, have to figure out what kind of schedule I want for this fall. It's not like I work all that much, but I'll have to figure out if I want the same schedule or even if I want to take a break for a semester. While there have been a few problems with Spanish lessons (sickness, travel, etc.), I actually do have a Spanish tutor now. We'll begin again after my parents leave and Alex starts school again. (Yes, my parents are coming. So much excitement!) I've really been trying to put myself out there more with the Spanish, but I am going to be very honest and say that it's hard to learn a language when you're thirty-three! I certainly know enough to get around and have some basic conversations, but I really want to go beyond that and not just smile and nod and pretend to understand when Martina (the lady who helps me around the house) is telling me something. It does feel good that she thinks my Spanish is good, though. And while it certainly isn't "good" by any means, I can get around and typically make myself understood if someone is willing to work with me.
Trying to get things done around here continues to be more difficult than in the states, but that's typical. For example, I keep trying to get money from the atm, and it keeps not working, and I kept trying to buy these shelves at the market, but the store was randomly closed. (This is typical - you never really know when something is going to be open. Except the grocery stores; they tend to be pretty reliable.) I got the flu a few weeks ago and it knocked me out pretty badly, but last week I started exercising again after a (too-long slacker) break. A note to anyone out there: Jillian Michaels is very mean to your abs... ;) I've also been taking something of a break after a pretty intense period of writing this past spring, but I imagine I'll pick that up again once Alex is back in school. One other thing is that I'm learning to do a ton from scratch because they just don't have things here. It's helpful when someone can help me do things like chop veggies, which is something I hate about cooking. But I'm trying to be creative to give the kids some good options, and while I'm certainly not a fanatic, I've become much more cognizant of what I'm putting in my body and for the kids and Jason. Yes, I'm still going to have a Snickers bar sometimes or go get a whopper jr., but I'm doing things like making my own granola and trying to feed kids things like oatmeal and quinoa and natural honey and cutting back on diet sodas and some other things. (For some reason I think I developed some acid reflux after the flu, and ever since then to varying degrees I have felt like I had something stuck in my throat. Water helps, so I'm cutting out other drinks for a while for the most part.) But it's definitely a benefit of living here; there are a lot fewer options for "fake" food, so even though it takes a lot more time, we eat a lot more naturally. AND I just found a device I can use to steam veggies instead of boiling them, so that made me very happy!
It's still winter here, so there are days when Jason walks to work at the temperature is right at freezing. On Sunday it was cloudy and rainy almost all day, which is pretty unusual, so it was COLD all day in a way it doesn't normally get this time of year because the sun is almost always shining. I love the weather, though, and the only thing I would change would be the dangers of the sun here. We have found some new restaurants recently, including a Brazilian place with an amazing lunch special for about five bucks, and I went to see my first movie here a few weeks ago. For six bucks you can go to the VIP theater and sit in an awesome recliner seat. We never went to the movies in the states, but it is SO worth it here. Spiderman, here we come!
