Short return

The last three weeks have been hectic to say the least. First we were preparing for the kiddos first week of school, then Danno came into town with Cinnamon and then the whole fambly got the flu this past week...thus no blogging. Even tonight I would rather be in bed right now but between the Mrs. reminding me that "it is time to post to the blog again" and the pang of guilt I feel that Payton is getting gyped...I am sucking it up tonight.

First...Payton went potty all on her own last night....out of the blue. We set the training potty out about 4 weeks ago and we have all long since forgotten the failed experiment. Well, last night she simply took off her shorts, then her diaper and went all on her own. I didn't even know until about 5 mins later when I happened to notice a wet spot near the potty...and then saw that there was a big puddle in the potty. Way to go Payton!! I think Kade was more excited than anyone ;-)

Second, Payton went south at school on day two....to the point where she made herself throw up...wonderful! So we finally broke in and let her take her chupetta (a.k.a., paci) with her to school. That next class with chupetta in hand...she cried for the first 15 mins or so but then decided that she was done. Apparently a LOT of the little tykes in Payton's class are having similar issues and the teachers deal more with crying kids than anything else...so the teachers were happy that one of the kiddos finally started to get into the groove. The really funny part (as relayed from the quasi-English speaking teacher through the Mrs to me) is that apparently once Payton stopped crying she started walking around the room with tissues and wiping the tears from the other kiddo's eyes ;-) Now that I can TOTALLY see ... our little Miss Independence. Now the past few classes she has been doing better and better. Apparently today she did not cry at all....so maybe just maybe we have already started to catch a break there. We will see.

Finally, Here's another Kade exchange we had in the car the other night:

Kade: "Mommy, I know why you don't like Costa Rica..."
Mom: "Really, why is that Kade?"
Kade: "Because all these friggin' Costa Rican's drive like idiots."

Seriously....we need to start thinking about what we say as adults!

Payton's First Day of School

So this is going to be more pictures than anything else ... because it was an uneventful day for the most part. Payton has been watching Kade go off to school for so long that she fell right into the routine. We took her to her classroom, set her down and off she went to look at a doll. No crying, no nothing. I think Jen may have a bit of an issue feeling like her daughter did not care enough to cry.....but.....
when mom went to pick her up she was in a full on death cry for "mommy". The teachers said that she did great all morning...right up until about the last half hour when she apparently decided that she had enough...and that was that. This is very similar to the path we followed with Kade....so it will be very interesting to see how the second day goes tomorrow....I am betting that it will be a lot more lively for all involved ;-) We will have to get the scoop from Jen tomorrow. FYI - the picture in the lower right is of Payton telling everyone to hurry up!

Double the pleasure!!!

How about that....thanks Mike!

Can I post now?

So I did not want to immediately run to the computer and post "GIANTS RULE" after the game...so I waited....and waited...and then the power went out...then I got busy....and so here we are on Thursday night...a full 4 nights after the superbowl. We had a great party...mainly because of three major things. First, because the Giants won. Second, the fact that it was a great game and we had a great group of people watching the game with us....everyone got into the swing of it by the end. Third, Gina and Rich (huge props guys!!) brought the best wings I have had in a loooong time from a little bar/restaurant in Escazu called Chi Chi's....no Mike...no relation to the crappy Mexican place in crapchester. They even served it with blue cheese dressing (not Ranch), carrots and celery sticks! It was the perfect side to go with all those heaps of sweet victory. The best part is we had a few Patriot fans in the house. You might be able to pick them out in the pictures....they tend to be the really refined ones drinking wine at a stuperbowl party. They were really letting me have it with about 2 mins to go ;-) Good thing that didn't last very long! Lastly, as you can see, all the kids settled in to watch Aladdin...somehow they ended up with the bigger of the two TVs....how about that sports fans!


On a separate note, Payton's eye is still getting better. It is a little red still but definitely better. The pre-op picture on the left shows it the night before we went in. The top right Payton pic shows it the day after we took off the bandage and the lower right picture is from a few days after that. If you click on that one you will notice that she has many scars on her face....it has been a tough couple of weeks for Payton. First, a month or so ago she fell against the coffee table and cut the inside of her top lip with two of her teeth. Unfortunately one of those actually cut through her lip which is why she has that scar. Then she had her Cyst...and then finally the day we got her bandage off she fell while we were walking and the nose rest on her sunglasses punctured her forehead. All three were pretty major injuries....we are trying to get her to slow down but she just refuses for some reason ;-) Finally, the last picture is of the two kiddos the day that daddy was in charge. After getting them dressed they both wanted their hair done....so this is what we ended up with. I do think it was the first time I ever did Payton's hair...I have a lot to learn!
FYI - tomorrow is the first day of school in CR. Kade gets a new teacher as he will now be in pre-kinder and Payton will be going to school for her first time!!! Big day tomorrow...I bet the kiddos sleep in ;-)

On the way home....

Today we were coming home from Pricesmart and our familia had the following exchange:

Kade: "Daddy is the president"
Rob: "Yeah...you go that right!"
Jen: "Uh, no..."
Payton: "Blah blah blah blah!"
Kade: "And mommy is the worker!"
Rob: (he he he)
Jen: "Daddy is the treasurer"
Kade: "noooooo"
Payton: "Blah blah blah blah!"
Jen: "Kade, if mommy is the president then you can be the vice-president..."
Kade: "ok, daddy is the worker.....he can build things!"
Dad: "That's true..."
Payton: "blah blah blah gracias"

And that was the trip back from Pricesmart. As you can see...it is election season in the Cavagnaro household.