Second Trip to Guatemala - Part 2

The following morning, we hurried to get ready to see our kids. As you can see in the video, I was keen to look nice… what can I say; I want my kids to think their mommy is pretty… I want them to be as proud of me as I am of them. We had planned to meet Jessica early that morning. We wanted to give her some gifts for her and her family and have breakfast together. They were a bit late arriving, but all our concerns washed away as we saw the smiles on Carolina’s and Nelson’s faces – they seemed so happy to see us! I wasn’t sure how they would react when they saw us… but as I swept them off their feet and up in the air and heard them laugh in delight I knew we would pick up right where we had left off. And low and behold, Jessica had brought her daughter Velvet who seemed eager to meet us and join in the fun. Oh, my little girl and my sweet little boy – together again at last!!!

Breakfast ended up being somewhat crazy… Jim and I had developed a pattern of eating with the kids at the hotel. Now that we had guests who we were struggling to communicate with, it was challenging. And – it was a little confusing – it was a little unclear who was supposed to be taking the lead with the kids. Apparently, I must have over-fed Nelson, it seemed we had finally all settled down when everything Nelson had swallowed so far started coming right back out! As Jim described it – a steady, slow-moving river of eggs… Maybe he sensed some of the uneasiness at the table. Not a bad uneasiness mind you, just not quite “at ease.” Poor kiddo… had to change his clothes right off the bat that morning. It was somewhat of a relief when breakfast concluded and we headed to the quiet of our room.

Did I say quiet? What was I thinking? We entered the room and Carolina and Nelson immediately looked around for their familiar haunts – the bathroom – yup, there it was! The toy drawer – yup, there it was! And packed full of new toys!!! We changed Nelson into some clean clothes and played with the kids. Velvet was anxious to participate in everything, and I wanted her to feel included. When I lifted Carolina or Nelson in the air, I made sure to lift Velvet also. Carolina and Velvet started jumping on the bed and each of them seemed to be vying for my attention. I felt a little badly for Jessica, but I know this wasn’t a reflection of anything more than just curiosity and a desire to be part of the new source of fun and excitement.

Our lawyer Osskar arrived after a while and Jim talked briefly with him. We were apparently still on target to bring the kids home in January or February. As I write all of this down now, I think to myself that it just can’t happen soon enough. I miss them so much!!

Velvet cried when she and Jessica left, but Carolina and Nelson seemed to have settled back in to life at the hotel with Mommy and Poppy. I didn’t take long before Carolina spotted the unusual shape in the corner of the room and moved in to investigate. Oh my goodness! A tricycle! And for us, a similar source of surprise, it was way too big for her. She couldn’t reach the petals! We took it out into the hallway and pushed her around. Then it was Nelson’s turn and he was equally delighted to zoom around in the hallway. We explored the new toys in the toy drawer and after a while, started talking about “la piscina” the pool… I had been anxious to spend time at the pool each day we were in Guatemala to get them more used to the water. On our last trip, the pool was an obvious source of fascination, but they were clearly hesitant. I explained to Carolina that she would need to wear her swimming suit. I showed her the new swimming suit I had brought and exclaimed at how beautiful it was and she happily agreed to wear it. If you recall from our first trip, changing Carolina’s clothes so she could wear her swimming suit had been challenging. Not so this time… I changed Nelson into his swim diapers and swimming suit without any issue – such a cooperative kiddo – he’s always game for anything we set out to do. We had sent pictures of our first trip to Jessica, so perhaps anticipation had been building to return to the pool. Anyway, it was a vast improvement. With water toys in hand, we headed down to the pool.

Carolina showed no hesitation about getting into the pool. Nelson too was ready to get clamber into the pool and followed his sister’s lead. The look of pleasure on Carolina’s face as she lowered herself into the water was priceless – this look of wonder and surprise! So cute… There was another family at the pool with a son who was about the same age as Carolina. Sam raised the bar. He put his head under water and splashed around and was generally an all around show off – “Watch me do this! Watch me do that! Look at me now!” Well look and exclaim in wonder at each of his miraculous feats we did and this seemed to be a source of inspiration for Carolina. She was very pleased with herself for lying down in the water and dunking her face quickly in and out of the water. I showed them both how to blow bubbles in the water and amazingly, both Carolina and Nelson began to show an amazing affinity for the water. They had turned into little waterbugs overnight – how had that happened?!! It wasn’t long before I lifted first Carolina and later Nelson into the deeper water and we played “uno, dos, tres – ariba!!” Little by little, I allowed their faces to get a little wet until eventually, we plunged our heads underwater together. We were having a blast!!