A good day

It's a good morning when I can change the diaper of a crying, screaming, kicking, toddler without losing my temper or hurting my back. Actually the struggle begins with just taking off his clothes. He begins to cry when I try to take off his pijamas. He physically holds to his buttons and zippers and sleeves and it's really hard to pry him off so I can undress him.

This morning gabriel was not only doing all of the above but he also pulls the new diaper off that I am trying to put on or he puts his hands down to block me from attaching the sides. I then quickly snap his onsie on at the bottom before he pulls off the diaper. Well today during the entire process I just keep saying I can do it I can do it, kinda of in a way like it was a game or something. You see Luna is there and she observes everything, so I am glad I showed her a positive way to deal with a difficult situation. In the end I said, "Yeah mommy did it"

Tips for traveling with a 2 year old

DON'T DO IT






Just kidding:) I do not regret our 30 day trip to Colombia with my 22 month old and 5 year old. Although there were several times I said I would never do it again and twice I almost bought an early plane ticket home. Let me highlight a few happenings;
-Gabriel threw up all over my husband, Ignacio, on the plane ride to Miami.
-He threw a temper tantrum on the flight to Colombia, in which his shoe fell off and he threw it and it hit a sleeping man in the head.
-Knocked over the christmas tree in one house where we stayed
-knocked over a huge flower vase filled with water at another house where we stayed.
-Countless fits and crying spells
-In short in was a lot of work, but he's 2 and we both had prepared ourselves for this and I think that's how we were able to make it through the trip without being miserable.

Now the amazing and enjoyable things about this trip are too many to list, by I name a few;
-Luna and Gabe spoke and practiced a ton of spanish.
-Luna expercienced another culture and will remember this tip.
-spent time with some wonderful friends and families (I charish these relationships)
-Saw some really beautiful sites and country side.
-Ignacio and I grew up a lot, learned a lot about ourselves, life, other people etc. In short the trip was character building. (as cheezy as it sounds)
-realized how freaking nice we have it and how spoiled and childish we are.
-Were given priceless parenting advice. Our good friend pointed out something we were doing, that if continued could effect our gabriel in a very negtive way. I am SO grateful for this, in fact it is worth the entire trip.