Happy Birthday!

Kaio turns 3 today!!! It seems like it was yesterday when we brought him home form the hospital! It is amazing to think that the little bundle we brought home that day is now a sweet, smart, bi-lingual, athletic and amazing little guy!
We have been planning his birthday for a couple of weeks now. He decided he wanted a pirate themed party. Unfortanetly there are not many birthday items with pirates, but we looked everywhere and believe we pulled off a great party! I have been involving him in the purchases and planning and he seemed very excited! Several times I joked we were having a 'Sherk/pilot/fireman' party and everytime he 'corrected' me saying it was a pirate party!
He had a fabulous day, was surrounded by friends and family, received lots of gifts and was exhausted at the end of the day!

Some 'comparison' pics

I was browsing some pics (it is just impossible not to take pictures of these little ones)... Can you see the similarities between the pics?
- Both like to eat and coincidentally have/had highchairs with dots!


- "jumping chair" - in the beginning it entertains them only for 3mins.. but after a couple of months - let the fun begin! (the pics were taken after 3mins during the first atempts in the chair)


- Same green outfit! (and 2 happy babies!!!)


- Both showing off their thighs...can you see the diference in the leg size, folds, etc?!


- And to finish - two cute faces!

A new Belgian in the family!

From now on we will have 10 passports between the 4 of us! This past week we went to Sao Paulo to sign the documents so that Josefine is now officially a Belgian! With her beautiful blue eyes and blond hair, she definitely deserves it!
Kaio stayed with Oma and Opa while we were away. As usual, he behaved very well and barely asked for us. It was also the first time I had a nice conversation over the phone while we were away. He told me he was playing with Opa and Oma and that we would return soon ("no outro dia" - the next day)! His vocabulary is great and he builds sentences really well.
Josefine continues to accept all foods very well and it impresses me that she pretty much eats any of the food I offer her. Like a mixture of collard greens and potatoes, or soggy rice with beans, etc. The other day when Kaio was helping me make her food and saw the puree of potatoes and colored greens he said he also liked potatoes but in the 'french fries format' - I don't blame him, the puree did not look appetizing!
Josefine has two teeth now and her hair is getting long. We constantly get so many complements on her good looks! This week we even had someone encourage us to sign her up for a competition a brazilian company is running to pick their new "model" for their advertising campaign...

9 month check

Kaio and I went with Josefine for her 9 month check up! They both behaved really well. Kaio was very protective of her and very curious when the dr. examined her. Josefine is now 8.5kg (18.7lbs) and 70cm (27.6inches). Which is exactly 1 kg and 1 cm bigger then Kaio at 9 months. Josefine has been struggling with another cold (I have lost the count of how many she has had!) and has not been sleeping well. She is also constipated and we need to give her some extra fiber and lactulose to help loosen her stools as it has been very painful for her the last couple of weeks! But, overall, she is developing brilliantly!
I have been explaining to Kaio where the beverages and food go when we consume them. Now he started saying things like:
Este suco vai all the way para down (This juice goes all the way down)
We have been called to Kaio's school due him hitting his classmates and although he does not hit us much at home, they believe it is becoming more then normal. They mentioned it might be a delayed reaction to all the huge changes that happened in the last 6 months/1 year - moving to Brazil, new home, new school, new culture, new language, new sister, new 'big boy bed', potty training, etc. If you get to think of it, they are indeed HUGE changes that Kaio took very well! We now need to ensure we emphasis his good behavior, his lovely big hugs, his kisses, when he is gentle with Josefine, etc. He is indeed a great little boy and just needs some support to get over this phase.

They finally arrived...

...her teeth that is! We always thought she would have teeth early since she has had red cheeks and chewed on toys since she was around 5 months. But they never came... until last week when we saw her lower gums go all red and a couple of days later her first tooth cut through!
Josefine is eating very well and we have been trying different foods, including french fries, avocados, corn, bread, etc. Kaio loves trying to give her his food! Today I was in a rush, making lunch and getting the kids ready and asked Jason to give Josefine her lunch, Kaio promptly offered to help. I thought that allowing him to give her a couple of bites would not harm and delay us too much, but instead he gave her entire lunch without much assistance. As she adores him, she was all smiles throughout the entire meal!
Kaio is making a big 'soup' of languages.. he constantly mixes both languages and clearly understands them both! Yesterday we asked him what he wanted for dessert and he said - Ice cream and sorvete!
Josefientje has become VERY attached to me and everytime I leave a room (even for a couple of seconds) she cries instantly!
She does not seem to have much interest in crawling but does want to stand and she can spend hours sitting and playing (on one side it is good that she is not mobile yet, as it will require double attention as I can no longer leave her seated playing... she will be all over!)
Jason recently started working again (after 7 months of sabbatical)and it has been very busy for me... before Jason would help me feed, dress, clean, entertain, etc one of them and often I had time to myself to run, read, etc (he took both of them) but now it is very busy trying to 'juggle' both. It is extremly rewarding and I LOVE being a mommy, but it is a whole diferent experience of motherhood and the days are just flying by....

USA

We just got back from 2 weeks in the US. We started with a 3 day stay with friends in Houston, followed by 10 days with grandma and grandpa in Colorado. (Overall) both kids did very well! Josefine had a bit of problems adjusting to the various new locations (specially when waking up in the middle of the night and not recognizing the environment), so we had a bit of a regression with her sleeping patterns. She also did not like the commercialized baby food and only when I made baby food from 'scratch' she started eating well again. She continues to develop and progress nicely, she now gets bored in sitting and wants to stand!(she still does need help with it), she also uses two fingers to pick up food (like Cheeros)
Kaio was very amused with all the new experiences (we took him to the aquarium, children museum, zoo, butterfly pavilion, mountains, etc) and had no issues eating (we had lot's of french fries!) nor sleeping (he also napped several times during the day, which was something he hardly ever did in Brazil!). He was still a bit shy at times but was very good in hugging and kissing people he met. (although aunt Carrie had to really work for her one-and-only hug she got!). Kaio was only speaking portuguese when we arrived (however he did understand English) and towards the end he would say sentences with a couple of words in English, like - aquele truck e' big! (that truck is big)
Some fun moments:
- Kaio, Jason and Steve going to get there hair cut together
- Kaio and Grandma playing for several hours together, it was hilarious to hear them 'communicate' - she would guess what he was saying in Portugues and would try to speak spanish to him
- Josefine walking backwards in the walker grandma got her (she did adore it though!)
- Kaio, Jason and Steve went to a baseball game
- Kaio and grandpa playing baseball in the backyard
- Going on a hayride in the mountains and eating marshmellow over a bong fire
- Josefine pulling Vinny's tail and ears just like Kaio did when he was a baby. (and Vinny not complaining about it)
- Going with both kids to the Mile High festival, have a picnic, dance to the songs of Train, Wheezer and Dave Matthews!
- Letting Kaio feed the giraffes at the Cheyenne Mountain zoo.
- Running a half marathon. Kaio helped me warm up by running next to me before the race started. At the finish line I was embraced by my two kidlets and husband
- Going to the Childrens museum in Houston where both Kaio and Josefine spend hours being entertained!
- Josefine trying all types of 'American' food, including Mc Donald's (a piece of the bun) and Domino's pizza (a piece of the crust) and Ice cream
- Kaio trying to help us with a 500 piece puzzle!
- Taking Kaio to the airplane restaurant and having to explain (several times) that the plane was not going to take off (we explained it did not have a engine, so when we were finally on our way to Brazil he kept saying - this plane has an engine!)

Tuning her skills

Josefine has been tuning several of her skills. Today I caught her following a fly. She followed it for several minutes, flying around the room, walking on the window (1.5 mts from her)and when she would 'loose' sight of the fly, she would look around searching for it. Also the other day, Jason and Kaio were playing soccer downstairs (we live on the 5th floor) and I pointed them out to her and she opened a big smile when she recognized them and followed them playing around! She claps her hands nicely together and when we join her with the clapping she gets very excited and smiles even more! She also waves to people! (she looks like those chinese cat dolls)Which is generally followed by a big smile!
She loves to sit (by herself) and play with things that are offered to her, although she does need 'new' toys to keep her entertained for longer!
This week she had another cold. It seems she has has colds on and off from her first week of life! (we had a break during the summer here in Brazil). She tends to get all stuffed and has a runny nose! Luckily she has managed to learn how to breath through her mouth when her nose is blocked, although it breaks our heart to see her sick like that! Last week she also had conjuntivitis (which probably came from Kaio), but which was better in 3 days!
Kaio loves to play pretend.. he loves being 'capitao gancho' (captain hook), Bob the builder (her puts on a hat and 'builds' houses) and the lobo mau bonzinho(the good bad wolf). He is very perticuliar in how he wants to arrange things (he uses chairs, pillows, other toys to build his ship, house, truck, etc)
Some pics:
1)Kaio helping with Josefine's bath. You can see she is sitting up nicely in it! (and does a lot of splashing!)
2)Kaio and Josefine playing in the new 'play house' build buy Bob the Builder (aka. Kaio Bernard!)
3)Kaio 'driving' his truck!
4)Kaio combing Josie's hair (she is not sure what to think about it, but he really enjoys it!)
5)Josie all dressed up for the cold!!
6)Josie eating cereal out of a bowl.

'Big girl'

Josie is changing so much. This week we have looked at her and commented several times (almost in disbelief)how much she has changed in the last couple of months.
Oma and Opa went travelling last week and they came back to a baby that is now sitting up straight, babbling a lot and eating 4 'meals' a day! (they were only gone for 7 days!)
Today we were having lunch in a restaurant and asked for a high chair. Kaio was eager to sit in it when it arrived, but we pointed out to him that he is the big boy that sits in the normal chair (which he had been doing for several months!) and that now Josefine sits in the highchair. He had a big smile on his face when looking at his little sister sitting up so nicely and being part of our lunch table! He loved the fact we gave her some of his pizza crust to 'suck' on and ate some of his peas... Kaio also understands that by eating someone grows, so he keeps saying how he will eat to become as big as us and how Josefine should eat to become as big as he is! Very cute!
Oma is going to Belgium for a month and she is curious to see how much Josefine will change again in the time she is gone!

Pictures

The other day I made a photo album of Josefine's first months (and pregnancy pics). It was such a dificult task. Just like with Kaio, we have taken SO MANY pictures of her! Here are some latest pictures:
1)Josie loves to stand. She does need support, however she is very sturdy on her legs!
2)Kaio having fun during the 'festa Junina' of his school
3)Kaio with some of his classmates
4)Josie sitting up nicely
5)Josie trying out a new hat!
6)In Bento Goncalves (the wine county here in Brazil)
7)Kaio having fun at the wineries
8)Josefine and I at sunset
9)Us with the gasometro (a landmark here in Port Alegre)
10)Kaio and I during a boat trip!

Check ups

This week we had Kaio's 2yr10month and Josefine's 7 month check up. They both are doing great!! They behaved very nicely while being weighed, measured, 'poked' and examined. Here are the stats:

- Kaio:
Weight: 12.4kg (27.4lbs)= which equals to the 9% (for boys of his age)
Height: 91.5cm (3') = which equals to the 25%

- Josefine:
Weight: 7.65kg (16.13lbs) = which equals to a little above the 50% (for 'girls' her age)
Height: 68cm (26'8")= which equals to almost the 75%

Josie is now well on her way to being weaned and the Dr. recommended starting her on beans (here in Brazil, black beans are served daily!), other meats, fruits and vegetables. We are also starting to give her some cookies. So far she has accepted everything well!

Josefine
mamamamama nanananana dadadadada - Josie has been babling a lot! She also screams, coos and makes all kind of noises. She is experimenting with her voice and it is adorable. She observes us, quietly, when we make a new noise and seems to be taking it all in.
She is doing really well at her swimming classes and is already going completely under water. She is all smiled during and afger the class!
We've started introducing food. She really likes her lunch soup (spinach, carrots, chuchu, meat and pumpkin.) as well as her fruit (mamao, pear, apple and orange) and chewing on cookies. It has also helped her sleep better and she is now only waking once a night for a feed!
Kaio
He is saying so much and seems to be picking up new words daily. He says full sentences and conjugates the verbs nicely. "quer brincar comigo?" (do you want to play with me?) "Este e' o meu barco, o barco do capitao gancho" (this is my boat, the boat of the capitain")(while sitting on the couch)"Eu estou com frio" (I am cold - after he comes out of his shower)"Hoje nao vamos lavar o cabelo" (today we are not going to wash our hair - he always tries to negotiate this when I say it is bath time!)
He also has become much more social. On friday, some good friends came for lunch, Kaio had never met them and he went over and kissed and hugged everyone! (5 months ago he would hide behind us and not get close!)
After we succesfully potty trained him using stickers (he would get the stickers if he used the potty) we started using the sticker scheme for his breakfast. He is so excited when he wakes up to go and play that it could sometimes take more then an hour for him to finish his bowl of cereal. So now we motivate him to finish his breakfast (fast) so he can get a sticker! It really works!

Memories...

Last night we got a babysitter (Oma) and went on a date! Although the intention is to 'disconnect' from everything and spend some Jason-Annelies time, we always end up talking about our wonderful kidlets and the journey of being parents!
Last night I was recalling the 2 unforgettable times I told Jason I was pregnant:
- Kaio: we had been trying for several months and Jason was totally not expecting anything when one weekday night he went to sit down for dinner and there was a present on his seat. He asked what the occasion was and I just told him to open it. I had bought a onsie and a bib with "I (heart) daddy" several months ago and I was finally able to give it to him. Jason's reaction was perfect he looked at it, looked at me and said "Are you pregnant, really?!" Followed by a big hug!
- Josefine: I had bought a t-shirt for Kaio that said "I am the big brother". I put it on Kaio and we waited for daddy to come home. Jason saw it instantly and asked again: "really?!" This was followed by a big family hug (which included the new big brother!)

Pictures

It's becoming harder and harder to choose the best pictures, they are all so darn cute and adorable!
1)Happy family
2)Kaio and Josie... just ADORABLE!!!
3)Lady in Red
4)Blond and blue eyed (and georgeous)baby!
5)First couple of bites of food (Kaio is attentively watching)
6)GOOOOOOL do Brazil (Brazil 3 X 1 Ivory Coast)
7)Kaio with Oma on the boat
8)Kaio with Titio
9)Kaio and a "Vinny"
10)Kaio helping with Josefine's bath!

Some Kaio cuteness:
- He grabs the phone (my mobile, a fake or toy phone) and says he is talking to titio ou titia. He talks to them saying "tudo bem contigo?" (Are you alright?) "Eu fui para escolinha hoje" (eu fui para a escolinha hoje), etc and sometimes e starts babbling in an imaginary language...
- He is learning a lot at school, 2 months ago they learned all about Indians (what they eat, how they dress and how they sit). Last week I sat down on the floor to play with him and crossed my legs, so he said "mamae senta como indio" (mommy sits like an Indian)
- He is a tattle tale - he comes and tells me "papai me bateu" (daddy hit me) - which is not true, but I think he expects me to tell Jason off because he was not allowed something... (At his school they motivate the kids to tell the teacher when a classmate hurts them, instead of hitting back)
- We discipline Kaio with giving him a warning and counting until 3 when he is not listening. We have heard him a couple of times him pretending to "discipline" somebody (imaginary). He says - "this is a warning! 1...2...3... voce nao te comporta" "Voce disse nao?! Vai para o teu quarto" (did you say 'no'?! Go to your room"
He sure is adorable and makes us giggle a lot!

Lobo mau!

Kaio came home form school very impressed by the story of the 'lobo mau' (bad wolf). Which is the story about the 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf. We also took him to a children play that had a similar story (however the piglets were the 'evil' ones and the wolf was the good one!). He has been very impressed with this story and is constantly asking where the "lobo mau" is. When he is playing he says that he is the "lobo mau bonzinho" (the good bad wolf) and also makes up 'weapons' to chase the bad wolf away!
He ins now constantly asking us to tell him (made up) short stories. He asks - "conta a historia do menino" (tell the story about the boy) or about the police on the horse, etc. I have also started motivating him to tell us stories (to help his imagination a bit) and the other day he told the story about mommy drinking sparkling water (very cute, short made up story!)

6 months already?!

Josefine had her 6 month check last week! She is doing great. She weighs 7.4kg (=16.3lbs) and is 65cm tall. Continuing on the 50% of her weight and 75% for height. The pediatrician continues to be impressed with her, how smiley, sweet and easy going she is! (she smiled the entire check and did not fuss once!)
We started introducing some foods and so far her favourite is banana. (unfortunately it 'blocks' her and we've had some issues with that). She definitely does not like the carrot/potato soup I've made and she makes the funniest faces before spitting it all out again! We have also tried papaya (which she likes) and apple (also a favourite).
She is now able to sit by herself for aprox. 30secs but then she bends to one side and falls, which is something Kaio find hilarious and he keeps watching to see her lean to one side and almost fall (of course we are always there to catch her).
Kaio is only speaking portuguese now. He has perfect sentences and uses his words very well. Everyone is very impressed he learned it in 4 months! Jason has now made a point of only speaking enlgish to him (which he does understand without any problems) so we ensure he does not loose his English knowledge.
Kaio has been playing by himself very nicely. He makes up stories and finds diferente toys/items to play out his 'stories'. One day I started telling him a story about a police officer (a short, made up story that lasted 2 mins) and now he is constantly asking us - conta historia da policia no cavalo (tell the story of the police on the horse) or - policia na moto (police on the moto). We always tell something diferent and he absolutely loves it! (we take advantage of this interest and teach him some lessons, like - "the horsey ate all his food so he becomes big and strong." "The horsey and the police officer were very good friends and were nice to each other and did not hit each other" etc)
Both Kaio and Josefine started swimming classes. They both LOVE it. With Josie I started the 'bebe' class, which is the one I enter in the water with her and we do all sort of activities to make her comfortable with the water. She really loves to 'splash' and being in the water. The teacher was really impressed in how she adapted easily in the water and goes to the teachers' arms without any problems. BTW, she is absolutely ADORABLE in her little bathing suit (pictures to follow shortly)
Kaio started a proper swimming class (where I don't enter with him), this class is normally for children that are 3+years, but because we have Josie they allowed us to 'try' this class and would decide if he could join it. To start, Kaio was a bit shy and affraid of the new situation when we got to the changing room, and the teacher had warned he might not even get into the water on the first class to allow him to adapt to the new situation. However, after another teacher (there are 3) played and envolved him with some games, he went into the water and followed the entire class without a problem! I was SO proud of my little guy (he is by far the youngest) but did very well and all 3 teachers said he was more then ready to start the class!!! We went to get a nice sweet afterwards to celebrate his huge achievement! BTW, he is also absolutely adorable in his sunga (Speedo)!

Cute cute and CUTE!

I have mentioned several times how Kaio and Josefine just adore each other and it is so true and absolutely amazing! It fills my mother's heart with so much proud, happiness, joy and excitement/curiousity in how they will continue this relationship as they grow older.
A couple of cute moments:
- in the morning, Josie has been sleeping until later and Kaio is always immediately at her bed side to see her! This morning he was on the toilet and heard she had woken up, he went running, without any pants and a dirty 'bunda', to be next to her bed saying good morning and asking if she had slept well!
- Josie and Kaio face each other in the car (with an empty seat in the middle of them). Everytime we go somewhere we can hear the giggles and happy squeals from the back seat! Kaio smiles and talks to her and she responds immediately.
- He call her "querida" (sweetheart), "amiga" (friend) and "linda" (beautiful)! And she always responds with a smile!
- When strangers walk up to me to see Josefine, he proudly says to them - "minha mana" (my sister)
- When she cries he goes running to give her a toy or to say - "teu mano esta' aqui" (your brother is here)
We really hope that they continue being so fond of each other and grow up to be friends!

Kidisms...

Kaio has a bit of dificulties saying some letters, like F, S and K. One word he has alwasy said 'wrong' is silly. He says - tui. We think it is adorable, but recently we have been trying to help him pronounce some words better (specially now that he speaks 2 languages and, at times, it is dificult to understand him as we don't know which of them he is speaking in). So we started trying to making him say SSSSS, which he does, then we say: sssssssssss sily, he then says - ssssssssssss TUI! It is adorable! I remember when my brother was his age he had the same with Supermercado(supermarket), which he would pronounce as 'fumercado', so I would make him say ssssssssssss supermercado and he would say ssssssssss fumercado!
The other day we were talking about going home and making some food for Kaio a couple of moments before we had talked about a frog. Kaio then said - "comida do togy' (food for 'togy') We did not understand what he meant by togy, so we asked him if it was doggy or some other words, when he saw we did not understand him, he said - comida do sapo (food for the frog) which shows he knows both languages and knows how to use them!!! Clever boy!
Sometimes when Kaio wants to start a conversation or doesn't know what to talk about he says - "mommy/Oma/daddy, what are YOU doing?". It is one of the few 'sentences' he still says in english.
Some recent pics:
- Daddy and the kids at the end of the day - a bit of TV time. We were able to convince Kaio to look at the camera for 2 secs to say 'cheese'. Josie was mesmerized.
- Blue eyes baby doing push ups
- Kaio and Josie having fun together!
- On mother's day with Oma
- Smiley baby
- Oma and Opa with the kids