Day 9

Altogether a wonderful day! No tantrums, not even any "almost" tantrums. Granted, we did all fun stuff and rarely had to tell anyone No, but it's all still good in my book!

One neat thing with Jonathan...We have been trying to wean him off his addictive need for sugar, but it has been difficult because if he isn't allowed to have a sugary drink, he just refuses to drink.  So yesterday Brent instituted the rule that he has to drink half a glass of water before he is allowed to have any juice, etc.  Well, today, Brent didn't even have to remind him. Jonathan came up to Brent and said (in my translated version), "Can I have juice after I drink some water?" We were so proud of him for remembering and asking so sweetly! And another time, at dinner he wanted seconds of his yogurt drink (popular here) and Brent said he could but Jonathan poured himself water before he drank the yogurt! LOL!  I am so thankful for the little glimpses of progress!

We spent most of the morning in the pool which wore them out pretty good!  Then we walked down the road to the food court area and ordered Patitos con queso (kind of like a mozzerella stick the size of an egg roll), empanadas con carne (empanadas with beef), and bunelos (like a giant doughnut). All of them are very Colombian foods and all are fried! It was all yummy, the chicos ate very well. Jake was the only one who didn't care for any of it. He came home and had peanut butter and jelly.  This is definitely a cheap meal. All 9 of us were fed for about $20.

We chilled out at the house with coloring and watching a movie, then headed to the soccer field for a short game of futbol. It was so cute seeing all of the kids playing together. The chicos definitely are Trautmans though. They have no concept of how to play the game! LOL!

The other adoptive family was at the pool (with their new son!) so since everyone was hot and sweaty, we all changed clothes and went back to the pool for a while longer. We thoroughly wore them out! At one point, Jonathan was begging Brent to take him back to the apartment!  It has been sooooo wonderful to be here with the other family. All the kids get along wonderfully. It is A LOT of kids in the pool though! Both couples are constantly on the lookout for potentially drowning kids!

Fried chicken for dinner (at hit with everyone) is another cheap meal here. I only cost us $17 for all of us. We have found that any traditional food places are pretty inexpensive, but if we go to Dominos Pizza we can plan on paying double what we pay in the US.

It is interesting trying to grocery shop and cook here. I am learning that I can't shop for more than 2 days ahead of time. There are no preservatives in the food so everything goes bad by the third day. Makes things a little challenging!  Also, so many food items are sold in bags- like milk, ketchup, mayo, jelly, etc. It saves space and is cheaper to package, but it is a pain to get them to stand up straight in the fridge! The kids LOVE any kind of condiments. Just letting everyone know to buy stock in makers of ketchup, because they put it on EVERYTHING! It is gross to watch. The worst was ketchup and strawberry jelly mixed together on a ham sandwich. Ugh.

We are finding some things that we like here better than in the US. One example is the Queso Crema. It is their version of cream cheese, but oh, so much better. I don't know how I'm going to go back to the bland cream cheese at home!  They also have a yogurt drink (actually I think they do make it back home, but I'm too cheap to buy it) that is sold in a bag. The kids all love it and it doesn't have much sugar and it is cheap.  The apple juice is nothing like the watery stuff at home. It is thick and syrupy. I like it better here, though not everyone agrees with me.

The children are starting to remember to take their plates to the kitchen, scrape them and wash them each meal. I'm hoping this will continue once we get home. The girls keep their bedroom fairly neat. Luisa is an organizer. The other day she pulled all three girls' clothes out of the closet and refolded and organized everyone's stuff. I'm going to take full advantage of this! Hope it lasts! The boys, on the other hand, are total slobs. I don't even like walking into the room! LOL! Who knows what i'll find!  So, we need some work in this area. 

Everyone went to bed well tonight so I'd say it was a fully good day! Thank you Lord!