Play doh saves the day!

Last week, we moved out of our apartment and into my mother-in-law's apartment until Oliver and I leave for Kansas this Friday. Well, unlike our place, she has TV. In just a week's time, I have come to deeply appreciate how captivating that little box can be on a young mind.

Oliver, had already come to love the TV from visits to abuela's house, but now he had it to himself all day at his every whim. He started watching it so much that I practically have all the songs to his favorite Discovery Kid shows memorized! Since the TV is in front of the bed we're sleeping in, he'd even wake up as I was trying to put him to sleep pleading, "tele," in his sweet little toddler voice. By then, I knew it was time to take action! So on Sunday, I bought him some play doh. Since Sunday he has spent hours with his play doh. I even enjoy playing with play doh. He brought it over to his great-grandparents' house and played play doh with his cousin Diego too.

Thinking back on the past week, I suppose that part of the TV fascination was also that he wasn't feeling well last week. This week he seems to be back to his normal exploratory self. Right now, for example, he's hanging up hangers on the rim of the glass coffee table. I'm glad to see that he's back to thinking up his own new games!

in need of a new identity

The unhappy camera incident (see prior post--Rateros!) and a timely phone call, have acted as the catalysts for some major changes and big decisions in our little family. The phone call came just a few days after Jaime's new camera was stolen. It was my mom calling excitedly with news that the Hesston Public Schools were interested in me as an ESL teacher.

Now with Jaime's visa process already well under-way and with our economic situation getting worse with the stolen camera, starting a well-paying job in Kansas had a strong appeal. It didn't take much discussion to decide that the move to Kansas was the best option. Not long after the phone call, I gave notice at my job, started touching up my resume, making phone calls to long-lost references, and got down to the work of writing a philosophy of education among other job application requirements.

Yesterday came the more difficult part of saying goodbye to family. Even though, I won't leave for another two weeks, Jaime's entire family on his mom's side leaves early Tuesday morning on a two week cruise to celebrate his grandparents' 55th wedding anniversary. So it was yesterday at the weekly Saturday family lunch that I said my goodbyes to all of the family. Mariana, Jaime's sister, was the first to almost set off my sobbing by saying that we have to get together on Monday since it will be our last opportunity for a long while. She was on her way out with some friends and I managed to hold back the tears and nod a yes. Saying goodbye is always hard for me, so I waited till the end of the afternoon and started slowly just saying goodbye to one person at a time (at a normal Saturday lunch sometimes we number up to 30 people). By the time I got to Jaime's grandmother, I was already sobbing uncontrollably. She hugged me and was absolutely sweet, just telling me that we better come back soon. And she's right. I hope we come back soon.

The only glitch in our plan is that it means leaving without Jaime. That, and this blog needs a new name, or so it seems. Mexico mom just won't sound right once I'm writing from Kansas.