Halloween 2012: Year of the Monkey

Happy [belated] Halloween from Brazil! Although we missed the nostalgia of Halloween in the USA--fall foliage and crisp autumn evenings, carving pumpkins and raiding the kids' American candy stash--we still had a great time. Trick-or-treating at Portal do Morumbi, trunk-or-treat at our church and a party at the US Marine's house with the American Society of São Paulo helped us feel like Halloween made an appearance in Brazil too. 

This was the Year of the Monkey [and Banana] and boy did I REGRET that decision. The week of Halloween was painfully humid and my poor kids had costumes appropriate for trick-or-treating in Minnesota. They actually didn't even wear their costumes on Halloween because it would've been child abuse! (But that didn't stop me from a having a little photo shoot after the fact.) Thankfully little Po's friend loaned him an Ironman costume on Halloween. He loved it so much he asked Santa for one of his very own. Santa promised to take care of it...

Little Po went trick-or-treating with his American amigo Jack on Halloween. They had a riot! I loved seeing little Po excited about Halloween for the first time yet blissfully content when we only trick-or-treated for one hour. Love those sweet boys. 

Little Po loves Jack to death, they've been friends for 3 years and met as babies in Boston.

These pictures of the little guys trick-or-treating make me laugh because it looks like they ran through sprinklers but it's actually sweat. Yes, it was that hot!

Ironman and Spiderman share a laugh with their papas.

Trunk-or-Treat

I stole the black/white photo of the festive trunks without permission from a fellow expat friend. Thanks Erin! ;)

The American Society of São Paulo Annual Halloween Party

Pumpkin decorating, trick-or-treating for AMERICAN candy through a haunted forest and a debatably kid-friendly haunted house that inspired little Po's newfound fear of the dark. We love Halloween!

Halloween Treats & Sweets

Every holiday I find dozens of recipes and crafts I want to make with my kids and I never make them! This Halloween I told myself, "Dammit Maike! No more saying 'Little Po would love to make that.' Make it!" So make it we did. Obviously we didn't tackle the entire Best of Martha Stewart Halloween Handbook that I've worshipped for 3 years, but we did conquer one Martha craft, specifically the Batty Bag Clips for his classroom treats and trick-or-treaters... I cheated and enlisted a helper to do the painstaking cutting, our driver who non-surprisingly had never crafted in his life. It took him 2 full days to cut and assemble 70 paper bats! I think he still resents me for making him do "woman's work"...HA!

We also made mocha mummies and ginger frankenstein cookies and no, no one helped but little Po and me. Note: I recommend the mummy cookies. Yummy, cute and decently easy to make with a toddler. After we finished making mummy cookies little Po asked me when we were making "daddy cookies." Kids say the darndest things!

Hope you had a frightfully wonderful Halloween!

Grey Baby's First Year: Month Two

A SNAPSHOT OF BABY GREY AT TWO MONTHS OLD

Two month stats: 10.6 lbs and 21.7"

(or according to our Brazilian pediatrician 4830 grams and 55cm... whatever that means!)

6 weeks old: Chubbier cheeks emerged. 

7 weeks old: First smile and coo at mama while nursing on October 3. It absolutely melted my heart. We also started nighttime sleep training on October 1.

At 5 weeks old it's as if an internal alarm went off and Grey thought, "I'm not a sleepy newborn anymore. I'm a BABY!" He started tracking objects, became more alert and began pushing off with his legs to stand up while holding his head up. I love when he holds his arms straight down and stiff when standing up. Standing takes a lot of concentration!

His awake time lengthened and naps became shorter and more fussy. (Babies are traditionally the most fussy at 6 weeks old which was the case with Grey). Because his daytime naps were fragmented he was nursing around-the-clock and still refused to take a pacifier. At 5 weeks I snapped. I couldn't be the human pacifier anymore and made him learn how to take a pacifier because if he wasn't sucking when he was awake, he wasn't happy. Being the fast learner he is, Grey latched on after a 20 minute tutorial and has liked pacifiers since. Relief for mama.

If you so much as look at Grey's tummy after he eats he spits up. Not enough to be concerned he has acid reflux or food allergies but enough to change my shirt a couple times each day. My favorite is when I'm burping him over my shoulder and find a little surprise in my hair. Oh boy, natural hair conditioner! 

This boy loves baths and showers. I bath him in our bathroom sink every night before bedtime and look forward to bath time with him every day. Water has an interesting effect on him because he's both calm and serene yet very stimulated. Water is cool.

I absolutely adore watching his toes flex and curl when he's nursing and hearing him coo.

We had a scary experience with his 2 month vaccinations. Vaccinations are typically administered at a separate clinic at the hospital rather than during your appointment with the pediatrician (at least this is the system at Einstein, I'm not sure if it's Brazil-wide). Anyways, our pediatrician called us the day after Grey was vaccinated and said the nurse gave Grey the wrong immunization. We were freaking out. Well I, I was freaking out. Turns out he fortunately didn't receive something he wasn't supposed to and rather didn't get the full cocktail of 3 immunizations, he only got 2. We're still working out the details with the hospital but one thing is certain, no more incompetent clinical nurses are coming anywhere near Grey with a needle. 

This month was all about SLEEP TRAINING.

I've been eating, breathing and yes, sleeping, sleep training. But what a difference it's made for both Grey and me (hey, moms are important too!) The beginning of the month was still a fragmented newborn schedule which is code for there is no schedule. The sleep deprivation and lack of personal time was starting to take a toll on me. Will he nap 1 hour or 20 minutes? (Usually 20). Will he go to bed at 8pm or 10pm? (Usually 10pm). 

On October 1, the night before he turned 7 weeks old, we started nighttime sleep training and the most amazing thing happened, Grey sleep trained in one night. YES ONE NIGHT! I cut his 1am feeding, which he obviously didn't like, and nursed him at 3am and 5am like normal. The next night it's as if he thought, "CIO sucks so I'm just going to sleep," and sleep he did from 7:30pm - 5am! No CIO, no fussing, just sleep. FYI: I dream feed him at 11pm every night. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! At 7 weeks my Grey started sleeping through the night, something his big brother didn't accomplish until 5 months old. Sure we have off nights, sometimes he falls asleep closer to 8pm or wakes up to nurse at 4am, but 7:30pm-5am is his standard nighttime schedule. GO HERE TO LEARN MY SECRET. Hint: Her name is Natalie and she's my baby's sleep trainer. I call her "the baby whisperer."

Because Grey did so well with nighttime sleep we (meaning me along with Natalie's help) are introducing Grey to nap bootcamp later this month. Natalie warned me the average baby takes 3-14 days to tackle nap bootcamp but I think we're ready. Well, I'm ready. It's funny how your parenting style adjusts with a second baby. Even though my pediatrician assured me CIO was in no way harmful to babies, I couldn't do it for extended periods with little Po and hence why he didn't sleep through the night until he was 5 months old. (This might also have been because we lived in a 670 sq. foot one-bedroom apartment. CIO in small spaces isn't for moms who easily buckle under pressure). But as a second-time mom I'm more confident in my parenting decisions, especially when it comes to sleep training.

Thanks Opa for my new Halloween and Grey-theme outfits!

Grey's Newborn Photos

At long last! I finally received Grey's newborn pictures we took with Vivi Guimaraes what feels like 800 years ago (I posted this preview on Sept. 4). After sorting through +150 pictures I narrowed down my favorites starting with the most scrumptious of all, Cabbage Patch Grey.

Vivi looked slightly afraid when I pulled out real produce for a newborn photo shoot and I had to firmly prod her to take the cabbage patch picture. Don't worry, all props were bleached and Grey had a comfy barrier between him and the kale. She told me that no Brazilian mother would ever request this, especially since most wouldn't be at a photography studio with their newborn in the first place. But I'm glad I stuck to my guns. Can you say, "Christmas card?" 

Having a baby in a foreign country has actually been a surprising cultural education and I've unintentionally discovered some differences between American and Brazilian parenting practices, especially with young babies. For example: Taking babies out of the house within the first six-ish months is a big deal and often frowned upon in Brazilian culture. Other examples: Many Brazilian pediatricians advise parents that AC is bad for babies (because recycled air is potentially harmful before immunizations, hence babies don't leave the house) and letting babies CIO (sleep training term for "cry it out") would be considered madness! Parents and nannies rush to their babies THE NANOSECOND babies start to cry. No, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child doesn't have a significant following in Brazil. This book is the holy grail of child rearing in my opinion.

Maybe I'll write more about these interesting differences in a future post, maybe I won't. Publishing my opinions about cultural observations often gets me in trouble... which means I've probably already said too much so I might as well write a fun little post about babies and Brazil from an expat's perspective. Coming soon...

Like my hat?

My mom bought it at Sassy Babies in Bountiful, Utah.

She got my owl outfit and cabbage patch hat there too!