Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Nas Escolas










Here's an update on how things are going "nas escolas":

Grady and I just finished our second course -  it covered a full semester's worth of material in three weeks, which meant long days of university classes for us and long days in a new situation for the boys.  (Aunt Jenna watched the boys for the first course, so this is their first month in daycare/school.)  

Lucas goes to the creche (baby daycare center).  For the first two weeks he wailed everyday at drop off and his nighttime sleep pattern became more of an hourly wake up routine.  Thankfully they bumped him up from the baby room to the 1 year old room last week and his teachers' report a much happier baby!  He's now getting the stimulation and space to roam that he needs.  Drop off time only involves a little crying and his sleep patterns are slowly improving (emphasis on slowly... keep praying).  


(Graduation day - he's WAY too active for the baby room! 10 months old.)

Diego was very excited to begin school, but is having a really rough time.  He still loves to read his book ABOUT school in Portugal but everyday it is a struggle to drop him off.  On Thursday I had to pull him off the gate. :(  Pickup time always finds him happy but the I don't want to go to school comments often begin again at bedtime.  He is making some friends besides the teachers - I now hear stories about silly faces.  We think the language barrier bothers him more than he says.  Thankfully, he is picking up new vocabulary everyday, appears to love learning Portuguese.  He has a wonderful teacher who can speak English with him and it is clear that he really likes her.


(All the kids have these bibs over their regular clothes for school. 
Diego is being a CRJ in this shot - see his winglets?) 

The toughest part of his day is definitely lunchtime.  The school has lunch included - soup followed by chicken or fish with rice or potatoes and fruit - and none of it has dairy or beef (his allergies).  This means although he doesn't LIKE his food his options are to eat it or wait for afternoon snack.  He has a deal with his teacher that he'll eat five bites of soup - one for each year of his life.  Our progress is that he is trying a few more things.  Now instead of coming home with a changed shirt (from throwing up something at lunch) he comes home talking about how he ate EIGHT bites just because.  Little steps that are celebrated as almost-miracles in the Nace household!  

Still, he is struggling to adapt and you can just SEE the eagerness with which he embraces the weekend.  We are trying distraction techniques, different drop off times, rewards, switching who does the drop off... we may have even used a bit of bribery.  Please keep praying for this little man's adjustments.  We would love to see his excitement for school return.


(Weekend family fun on a rainy day.  Diego says "Tyler Lockett is my favorite player in the NFL.")

Grady and I look forward to starting our first regular semester course and hope life reaches a slower pace.  It is a struggle to retain everything when it is thrown at you so quickly in the intensive courses.  We have been living "corre corre" as the expression goes. (Running, running).  I also hope that Lucas will get back to sleeping... The last week was a big improvement because he only awoke 4-5 times a night instead of 8!  Having a brain that is fully alert would be such a boost to my learning.  This semester begins October 1st and continues until February.


(Keeping life interesting...and loud.)

A few recent highlights to tack on the end:

Lucas - Spends the days holding onto the highchairs at the creche while walking.  He eats soup several times a day like a good Portuguese baby.

Diego - School supplies include hat, sunscreen, toothbrush and toothpaste - all of which are regularly used.  He says "obrigado" (thank you), "sim" (yes) and "não" (no) more often than the english version.  Today he tried pomegranate from our landlords' garden... and surprised himself by liking it!


Sunday, September 13, 2015

Navigating the Doctor's Office








Time to celebrate!  Why? Because I managed to take both boys to their doctor appointments.  No big deal right?  I've been doing it for years now.  Except these were PORTUGUESE doctor appointments and who actually learns medical terms during your first weeks of language class?  

I fretted about it for days.  Grady, my go-to-make-him-talk-in-another-language-I-don't-fully-understand guy, had class but I have no classes on Thursday afternoons.  Lucky me, I thought.  Gah, how am I supposed to do this?  

First victory of the day?  I used my Portuguese to let the ladies at the Creche (Lucas' daycare) know I had to pick him up early for a doctor appointment - yahoo!  And guess what, when I got there, they were actually expecting me.  It's like they understood! :) 

Google maps worked and I found the building, but it turned out to be a complex structure with poor signage, in Portuguese.  Sigh.  I found an office and took a ticket (Portuguese offices love the number ticket system) even though I had no idea what I was taking a ticket for.  It worked, and I got to talk to someone and ask where in the world I was supposed to go.  Go outside, head around to the other side, in to the elevator and up to the third floor.  We've got this Diego!  Or not.  Third floor, another wait for the receptionist.  She kindly checked her computer to find me the right place to go.  Then it was up to the fourth floor.  But there were no signs saying whose office it was, no one was home AND the door was locked.  So it was time to wait and hope that they were just late getting back from lunch and that we were finally in the right place.  Tick.  Tock.  Tick.  Tock.  Do we wait or go back down?  Finally we head back downstairs but as we arrive we hear people walking on the floorboards above and rush back up.  

With much patience and kindness on the part of the receptionists, nurse and doctor we made it through both checkups for the boys.  Height, weight, conversations on diets and baby activities, a prescription for Lucas vitamins AND translated vaccination records all done!  Explanations on Diego's allergies, asthma and current medications - done!  Letters of health certification for their schools - done!  It might not have been pretty or correct Portuguese throughout, but all the points were covered and understood!  When the doctor learned we were moving to Mozambique after this she jumped right on the need to start those vaccinations as well and understood me explaining which ones we had already gotten and why we were waiting for others.


(When you move around with kids, you end up with quite the collection of vaccination records - Costa Rica, Tennessee, Washington and Portugal)

Whew, I got out of that office feeling like I had been run through the wringer and come out on top of the world!  Grady suggested I thank him for giving me this opportunity to triumph . . .  I'm not sure I go that far, but it did feel good (in the end).

So, what does it teach me?  Maybe I will finally start learning to let tomorrow's problems wait until tomorrow before I worry.  

It wasn't until I got home that I realized what I forgot... to tell them about the dead plant Lucas knocked over in their waiting room and all the dirt on their floor.  Whoops, sorry!

Ironically, when I started the next week of classes... we were studying all health related vocabulary.


(So this is celebrating my birthday and not the appointment's success, but aren't they cute!?)


(Diego-Mommy date to Santa-Clara-a-Velha, a convent that was once underwater in Coimbra.)