Flying Internationally with a Toddler

I have now done the flight back and forth from Indy to El Salvador 4 times.  The first was when she was just 5 months old and the others have been in the past year.  I have to admit that flying with a baby/toddler is something I do not look forward to.  I guess the motto "expect the worst, hope for the best" is a great way to describe how I feel about the upcoming trip in less than a week.

When Liliana was still a baby, I flew with her and my mom to El Salvador for a vacation to see Eduardo's family.  I didn't expect the trip to be too bad and it was WAY worse than I expected.  Liliana screamed and cried the WHOLE way there and back.  She couldn't sleep and her ears bothered her.  It was exhausting to say the least.

The flight from Indy to San Salvador isn't quite as bad as the trip back.  It's about a 12 hour day of traveling.  Delta has one flight that always leaves and arrives at the same time.  It takes about 2 hours to get to the airport from our house, then you have to be an hour and a half early to the airport and wait and go through all the annoying checkpoints where they search everything twice.  After that we wait to board the plane, which we get to do early because I'm "traveling with a young child and need additional time."  So we get settled and then again we wait for everyone else to board and then there's usually some delay that keeps us from departing on time, god forbid.  Once in the air it's a game of Liliana falling asleep, waking up, keeping her entertained, taking her to the bathroom and calming her down when she is crying from discomfort, especially on the way down.

The flight from San Salvador to Atlanta is about 3 hours.  Once we are in Atlanta, we have to go through Customs.  We get off the plane and head down to pick up all our bags.  There are carts waiting and you have to take all your suitcases off the conveyer belt by yourself.  Doing this with a baby is near impossible alone, but with a toddler is slightly easier.  Sometimes you will get a nice gentleman eager to help in the struggle.  Once you have all your bags you have to try and stear the cart full of 8 bags and hold the baby/toddler at the same time.  Not an easy task either!  You get in line for customs. They look at you, your customs form and your bags and tell you to pass or you get pulled over.  Luckily for me, we've always been told to move on.  Then you maneuver your cart to the area for unloading.  Some big guy usually unloads them and you are sent on your way.  Then we wait in line for the x-ray machines and have to undress, take off shoes, all that fun stuff.  Then we have to get to the next line to wait for our turn with an Immigration official.  We show them our passports and the customs form we filled out on the plane.  Sometimes they ask questions and sometimes they don't.  I've gotten asked things like "what does your husband do?", "where do you work?", "How long were you gone?", that sort of thing.  An any case, we answer the questions and move on.  We then have to make a made dash to the opposite side of the HUGE Atlanta International Airport and pray we make it on time to the flight.  We barely do and board again.  We get situated and the game of keeping Liliana entertained, fed and sleeping continues.  She's been a trooper!  We take our 2 hour flight to Indianapolis from Atlanta and arrive about 10:30pm.  It's been a long day.  I barely can walk to the exit of the airport at this point.  My arms are sore from carrying a toddler and 3-4 carry-on bags.  We greet whoever is waiting for us and proceed to get our luggage.  We walk out to the carry and lay back for the 30-minute drive to the house.

It may be more expensive now to have to pay for a seat for Liliana since she turned 2 in December, but it's worth it!  Even though she still sits in my lap most of the ride, we at least have the extra room to eat, play and sleep when we want to.  And it's more privacy for nursing!  I'm hoping for the best on Sunday and will be thinking about some special surprises and treats I can take for Liliana for those "intense" moments.  I will let you all know how it goes.  Wish us luck!!

For more on traveling to El Salvador from the States and those visa and passport requirements, check out my ES Visa Requirements.

My Bilingual Baby

I have to say that one of the greatest things about marrying into another culture is that my daughter and I get to experience another language.  This has proved to be way harder for me than it has for Liliana.  At 26 months, she is fully bilingual.  We knew right away that we wanted to bring her up bilingual.  We didn't want it to be a choice when she is older because babies and children are able to absorb so much when they are young.  My little one is a prime example of that.

Last week I would have told you how Liliana is saying atleast 2-3 new words every day.  But this week she seems to have bumped it up and repeats nearly everything we say now and remembers it!  I am constantly blown away at how much she can remember and repeat.  Those little minds are incredible.

Since we live in El Salvador most of the time, Liliana's vocabulary mostly consists of Spanish words.  But she understands everything in both English and Spanish.  I still speak with her in English most of the time, but find myself using all the Spanish words I know with her.  I've been making a point lately of showing her how to say things more in English because I know she is picking up on all the Spanish around her.  She knows the English and Spanish versions of a lot of words, including her numbers.  We've been doing a lot of number counting in both languages lately and she knows both perfectly.  She will even switch back and forth between the different languages on her own.  One sentence she will say "moon" and the next sentence she says "luna."  It's incredible she knows that both words mean the same thing.

Going back to the States may be a little tricky this trip next week because my mom and friends don't understand Spanish at all.  I've been thinking I will make a cheat sheet for my mom of words that Liliana frequently uses.  I have no doubt in my mind though that Liliana will be able to get across what she is trying to say.  Once she is submersed in the English language fully again, I know she will pick up whatever she is hearing and being taught.

If only I could be learning Spanish as quickly as she is!!  Yesterday I found she was saying a word that I didn't even understand.  Liliana spends a great deal of time with her abuela (grandma) and learns so much from her.  I had to ask Eduardo what the word meant.  It's actually really cool because she and I are learning Spanish right along side each other.

I find that Liliana learns from other kids really fast, especially when she first started talking.  I still remember when she learned the word "no" from her good friend Pearl ;)  Here in El Salvador she learns a lot from her brother and sister and loves to repeat everything they say.

When people here find out that Liliana is bilingual, they get as excited as I do.  I think that speaking two languages has so many benefits and again her learning so young is perfect.  Spanish is already spoken so many places and I feel she will have such a broader range of relationships because their won't be the language barriers in place for her.

I've always planned on homeschooling Liliana and I think that in homeschooling we will be able to explore the two languages and cultures more than she would ever get to in public school.  I'm really excited about it and already love any chance we get to learn and play together.  My little one already is the one I look up to and I truly believe she is one-of-a-kind and completely incredible.  I will keep you updated with how the language learning progresses!

If you are looking for any bilingual learning tools/toys, check out my Amazon Store!  It has a vast variety of toys, books, DVD's, dolls and more...

Preparing for our Upcoming Trip

So Liliana and I are headed back to the States in 2 weeks.  Now that it's reached the 2 week mark, I'm starting to get nervous AND excited.  We will be staying with one of my best friends, Sara, and her 2 children.  She has a daughter that is a few months older than Liliana and a 4-year old.  I am so grateful Sara is letting us stay with them and most of my excitement about this trip now is because we are staying with them and Sara and I will get to see each other so much.  It will be great.

I planning on making my Cultured Veggies for Cleansing Waters the first week or so.  It's going to be crazy, but I'm determined to make it work this time.  I need to make about 10 batches, which is roughly 120-140 pint and quart size jars.  I'm creating my list of flavors and ingredients I will need to buy.  I wish I had the money to pre-order the jars because they are hard to come by in Indy and it's a lot of driving around and searching for them.  But I don't, so I will deal with it.

My mom has given me her dates of when she is not working so she will spend those days with Liliana.  It's much easier for me to make the Veggies without having to entertain a toddler as well.  Though I will have days when Liliana will be "helping" me and I must say the age she is at right now is a good one because she likes to "help" me with everything, especially cooking.

I will be putting up a display of Esperanza Imports items at Cleansing Waters for the weeks that I am there as well.  Hopefully with the traffic my mom gets in her office, they can sell a bunch of stuff for me.  That would be a godsend!  I'm trying to stay very positive about everything.  I will have to sort through and put labels on everything the first day I get there as well as shopping for the jars and veggies, but I don't want to think about all that or I will get totally overwhelmed!

I also recently found out that the Binford Farmers Market indoor market will start on April 2nd and I am planning to be able to stay until then and not pass up the opportunity to take my Esperanza Imports stuff there.  I have done several markets there last summer and winter and they have said they would welcome me back anytime, so I'm going to do it and sell, sell, sell.

For now I will do what I can from here.  Any organizing and list making I can do, I am attempting to do now.  I've already started packing bags and am taking back anything we aren't necessarily using here as well.  Since all my Import stuff is already back in the States, I don't have to take much.  I know whenever we end up leaving El Salvador there will be a lot to go back, so if we are not using it now, it's going this time.  I'm also planning to take back my food processor.  It's a larger one than my mom has and I just plain like it a lot more.  The Veggies seem to go a lot faster with mine.  It's really heavy and I will have to cusion it a lot, but I'm sure I can do it.

I'm staying positive about this trip and am trying to only send out positive vibes to the Universe.  We certainly don't need the negative energy that has been around us the last 2 visits.  It's just not fun!  So we want to be happy and have fun.  And let's not forget our purpose, which is to make MONEY!  I was going to say I really need money to put food on the table.  It's been a pretty sad state of affairs here the past few weeks.  But I don't want to limit myself.  I would love to make enough money to be able to take the kids somewhere fun, do fun things.  We are in El Salvador for goodness sake!  I want to experience more of the beauty this country has to offer.  Unfortunately no matter where you live, things require money.  So I'm opening myself up to receiving all the bounty that the Universe has to offer!

Our New Business

Yes, that's right!  We have started another new business.  Eduardo and I seem to have become quite the entrepreneurs.  We opened a tienda, or store, on our property a several and it's doing fairly well for the size.  We hope to get more money to invest in making it bigger, hence making more money.  But while we are waiting for that to happen, we have been racking our brains about other businesses we could start.  I swear if Eduardo and I could get paid for all our brilliant ideas we would be filthy rich!  Ha!  While I daydream about all the ways I can make money in the States, Eduardo daydreams about how to make money in El Salvador.

Well we went to Sonsonate, the closest city to us, last week and our new business presented itself to us.  We had seen there was a new store going up the weeks prior, but we weren't sure what it was going to be. Well we happened to drive by and stop the day it was opening.  It's basically a used clothing, bedding, toys, shoes outlet.  The prices range, but there are some AMAZING deals.  It was EXACTLY what we were looking for and had actually talked about doing in the past.  We loaded up on bags of clothes and have been back 3 more times already.  We are buying and selling used clothing!  And the funniest part is that it ALL comes from the States.  I'm talking good brands too and at prices that are just insane for the quality.  Of course as a gringa I'm the only one who realizes the quality and the good deals and that gives me an edge ;)

We started by taking the clothes out to el monte, where a lot of Eduardo's family lives.  They bought some of it.  Then we have been selling to our neighbors.  Today my MIL and I both had the same idea at separate times and told Eduardo.  Great minds think alike!  We opened up the garage doors and put a couple tables and some boxes outside for all the foot traffic we get on our street.  We've talked about taking the stuff to the Mercado, but it seems like other people have caught on and are also doing that.  There's many options of how to sell anything here, but this one for now seems great.

Eduardo is sitting outside in the garage right now.  He can watch the tienda and sell the clothes at the same time.  It's perfect.  We've already made all our money back and have TONS more to sell, so it looks like this could be a great investment.

The door on the right is to the tienda.  

Going to the store for the buying can be exhausting because it's basically just HUGE piles of clothes you have to dig through, but it's fun at the same time.  Liliana likes to go and look at all the toys of course, but then I can't look at the clothes.  So we're trying to schedule our trips around when she is sleeping or out with my MIL.  They also have clowns there, which is very common around here and she is super scared of clowns.  I never encouraged that, she just naturally doesn't like them, so it's best if we just go and bring her back a present and of course she LOVES that :)

So we now have the Tienda, our clothes selling business, Esperanza Imports and Kelsey's Cultured Foods.  What will be next??

Sick Babies

There is nothing worse than feeling so helpless because you have a sick baby.  I remember the first time Liliana got sick when she was a little baby.  It didn't happen very often so it was actually shocking and so sad.  The feelings I had were overwhelming with helplessness and frustration.  I had no idea what to do.  What I have learned since then is that most of the time there isn't much you can do except love and hug on them and I have to admit that when they are sick it's even more enjoyable to do.

For those of you that don't know me very well, I am pretty much anti-doctor and anti-pharmaceutical medications.  You won't find me running to the drug store or making an appointment with our pediatrician when Liliana gets sick.  Instead you will find me calling my mom, giving Liliana homeopathics and looking for answers in our children's health book The A, B, C Herbal.  Sometimes I find what I am looking for and most of the time it helps, but then there are the times that nothing I do seems to help.   That's when I have to sit back and ride out the storm.

I know that when Liliana gets sick, it means that her body is fighting off something that isn't good for it, so I don't usually see at as a bad thing.  Especially when it comes to having a fever.  But, that being said, since we have lived in El Salvador Liliana has been sick more than I think she would if we had stayed in the States and that fact makes me feel so bad, so responsible for her sickness.  I know there are many things that contribute to her being sick more often.  The water, certain foods, her eating more junk than I would normally ever allow and her having parasites from the water.  But knowing all those things only makes it harder, not easier to accept.  

This afternoon Liliana started throwing up and continued to 6 times throughout the evening.  I was home alone and it was really sad for my baby girl.  She wasn't able to keep anything down.  Even her chi chi that she wanted so bad made her sick.  Then everyone came home and she was feeling a little better, happy to see everybody.  Later in the evening the kids went out and came back with ice cream for her.  She had just thrown up from having chi chi and my MIL wanted her to eat ice cream?!  It may sound harmless, but these are the things I just don't understand about people here.  I will most likely being doing a rant on the food habits of Salvadorans tomorrow.

Whether you are in the States or in El Salvador, I suppose there will always be people with differences in opinion on how you should deal with illness.  As moms we all just want to do what it is we think is best.  Problem is there are a lot of moms and a lot of opinions out there.  There are also a lot of uneducated moms in my opinion that are quick to call the pediatrician instead of investigating for themselves what could be the cause of an illness.  After 3 days of Liliana having a fever last week I finally caved in and gave her a tiny bit of some kind of Children's Tylenol or something along those lines.  It instantly broke her fever and though I know a fever is a good thing, I couldn't stand to see my baby suffering anymore.  So I know there is a place for medicine in society, I just wish people could see there are different approaches to medical care and it has to do more with overall health, about food and lifestyle.  But we all do what we can given our individual situations and those things don't mean that we are bad mothers, it means that we are the BEST mothers!

Side Note:  I have a plan to create a go-to list.  When I'm under pressure and in the midst of Liliana being sick or even myself, I tend to go blank about what to do.  Under normal circumstances I could rattle off all my suggestions, but I guess I'm just not good in the midst of the chaos.  So what I want do is make a list for common ailments and then put next to them the things to do.  It will include topical and internal supplements including the Bach Flower Remedies.  It's just all in my head right now, but I'm excited to do all my research and put it all together and post in on the fridge!  

My Cultured Baby

My new blog is up and running and I'm having a blast with it.  I'm posting mainly on the other one now, so  if you are subscribed to this one, check out my other.  It's basically a continuation of this one.  The site is www.myculturedbaby.blogspot.com.

We are still in the waiting process.  Sometimes it seems like time is flying by and others it's just dragging.  But we are hanging in there and still making the most of what we have.  Again, for all the latest, check out www.myculturedbaby.blogspot.com.  

Thanks everybody!!

Maynor's Birthday

Yesterday was Maynor's birthday.  He turned 11 years old.  It's still shocking to think that the last birthday Eduardo celebrated with his son was when he turned 2.  So I'm really glad we are here for this.

We picked the kids up in the afternoon and stopped at the "mall" in Sonsonate for lunch which is a rare occasion.  They were very happy to get to eat pizza and Liliana had her favorite Chinese noodles!  We stopped for a birthday cake after lunch.  It would be for the prayer session my MIL was hosting this week.  She hosts a prayer group every week or so.  This is the first time we sat in on the group since it was be held especially for Maynor's birthday.  

The Prayer Group

After the group, we served cake and soda (the only thing anyone drinks here.  GAG!!)  Maynor seemed to enjoy himself and it was a good day.  

The white cake

The chocoate cake

One of Maynor's uncles in the States sent some money for him so we decided we will all go out to dinner tonight and celebrate again.  We are going to Pizza Hut of course, which is a fancy restaurant in El Salvador.  It's the kids favorite and it's budget friendly so there you go!  I will make sure to take a bottle of digestive enzymes with me ;)  

Liliana looking a little sugar buzzed!

Oh, I forgot to add we had gotten Maynor a pair of new shoes and a couple shirts and he was very 

happy with that.  So different than the kids in the States!  Nobody expects much here, so most people are very grateful for what they do get.  It's a nice example even for me.

This photo was taken by Liliana.  I kept having to squat to where she was holding the camera.

Patience

“Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience.”

I am not a patient person.  I admit this is one of my many character flaws.  I can trace my impatience back to several things in my life, but I'm going to save the childhood re-living for another day.  The positive thing is that I have learned to be more patient over my time living here in El Salvador, which I consider the Land of Patience, not to mention how my patience has grown since becoming a mother.  But again, that's a story for another day.  

I honestly don't know how these people here do it.  It's like being patient really is in their blood.  For example, most people take the bus as the mode of transportation in the country.  Depending on where you are going and the time you have to arrive, more than likely you will be waiting for the bus every day.  Once you are on the bus, you will then have to stop a dozen times for more people before you actually reach your destination.  Which means you had to get up earlier, get to the bus stop earlier just to take 2 hours to get somewhere that's only 45 minutes away.  

Then you have the bank.  That's the worst.  I've been to the bank on two separate occasions this week, which is actually quite unusual for me to even leave the house so it's been exciting.  The first time I went was with my MIL.  Luckily the bank is in the "mall" so Liliana and I could walk around and play on all the rides and have fun.  The reason I say we are lucky is because it took 45 minutes just for my MIL to get through the line in the bank.  Then once she got up to the window, they wouldn't even do the transaction in which we went for.  Of course during the waiting I got impatient.  Liliana had played on every ride twice and there were creepy gang members there freaking me out a little, so I was ready to go.  My MIL?  Well let me tell you...I just couldn't believe that she had waited all that time in line for nothing!  But her reaction?  Not much.  It didn't even seem to phase her, except her saying her feet were tired and that's completely understandable.  She never complained about the bank once!

The second time I went to the bank was with Eduardo.  It was a similar scenario.  He waited in the long line and Liliana and I took to the rides again.  I didn't find myself as impatient this time as I knew what to expect.  I went to check on Eduardo at one point and he had waited in the long line only to find out he had been in the wrong line!  He was very happy about this and was getting impatient.  Ha!  I think the States took away some of his patience.  

Then there's the grocery store.  There's always atleast 5 people in front of you and the person working always seem to be going very slow.  There's the restaurants where food seems to take twice as long to prepare than in the States.  And then there's Immigration and waiting for a visa that sometimes feels like a dream.  That's a true test of patience.  But let's not forget the daily life of just hanging out.  Now that doesn't sound bad does it?  Just hanging out all day, never knowing what will happen next.  Well let me tell you, that's been a whole other post on control I think ;)  

So what makes Salvadorans so patient and myself and lots of other Americans I know to be so impatient?  I really wish I had the answer.  One thing I do know is that it seems as if people down here appreciate life more.  They take the time for the little things.  Nobody misses the afternoon coffee with homemade pan dulce, or sweet bread.  People work the land and live on the land.  They are in tune with all their surroundings.  They don't rush around all day like chickens with their heads cut off.  I first saw this type of lifestyle as "lazy", but it's actually quite the opposite.  It's just so different than the life most of us Americans know that it's hard to adjust to at first.  

People here aren't so self-absorbed and feel as though the work revolves around them.  Come on, let's be honest.  That really is how most Americans are, even if they aren't aware of it.  We get mad about waiting in lines whether it's the grocery store, bank, movie theatre, whatever.  We get mad if our computer seems to be running slower than usual and we can't check our email or Facebook at the exact time we want to.  We get road rage when people aren't driving how we would like or are preventing us from speeding.  How screwed up is that?!  I think Americans have a lot to learn from Salvadorans and other Latin cultures.

But as I said in the beginning, El Salvador has had a positive influence on me.  I feel I appreciate more what I have right now.  I appreciate the people around me and I don't take them for granted.  I appreciate where my food comes from and the lengths everyone around me have gone to for getting that food on our table.  I don't expect everything to be how I think it should be (probably because it never is).

I may still be a slightly impatient person.  Okay, maybe more than slightly.  The States definitely brings it out in me!  But I'm learning from this culture and I'm coming to more of a balance with both worlds.  I love that Liliana is growing up knowing both cultures and taking the best of both!

"I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end."
 - Margaret Thatcher

Liliana and the Moto-Taxi

Our little town of Izalco has introduced something new to the area lately...Moto-Taxis.  They are a mix between a motorcycle and a regular taxi car.  They are bright red and are really small and cute.  They also are Liliana's favorite thing in the whole world right now, which makes me them extra special.

Almost every evening lately my MIL, Ana, has been going on a walk with Liliana to the park in town.  We don't frequent there often because of the gang situation here and it's just not that safe for us as a family.  But for Ana to go with Liliana alone doesn't seem to be a problem.  Anyway, Liliana enjoys these trips oh so much.  It's her favorite part of the day.  They will spend an hour or two hanging out and walking around and THEN on the way home, they take a Moto-Taxi!  So exciting.  The Moto's usually are hanging out around the park so they are easy to find and it's only 35 cents for Ana to ride with Liliana one-way.

Every time we leave the house now Liliana is so excited because she might get to go on "el moto."  She claps for joy.  It's super cute.  If we are in the car and she sees a moto, she screams "moto, moto" so excitedly you can't help but laugh.  She never cries if we don't get to ride in one, she usually just says "no esta moto", which basically means "there's no motos here."  She gets it and is fine with that.  She knows there will be another chance.

I'm excited the motos have come to town and I'm grateful for how much Ana loves to take Liliana on walks and gets her out of the house.  I sometimes feel guilty that we are usually so pent up with no where to go and no money to get us there.  The "Moto" is a bright spot to our days and seeing my baby girl so happy and excited brings so much joy to my heart I can hardly put it in words.

The Mango Tree

Across the street at one of Eduardo's aunt's house there his a huge mango tree.  It's a great big tree that offers much beauty to our icky street.  In the last few weeks the mangos started growing and ripening.  For some reason, Tia Rosita and her family do not cut the mangos and sell them, which is what everyone else in El Salvador would usually do.  Instead they leave them there and let people take them from time to time.  It's been quite the place to be lately.  The mangos are perfect now and the tree brings lots of fun for boys and girls of all ages.  They stand outside and throw rocks and other things to try and get the mangos down.  This can sometimes take a LONG time as they are very high up.  People are usually quite respectful, but we occasionally get the loud bang on our roof from a hard mango or rock.  But all in all the mango tree brings fun and enjoyment to all around.  I think it's sweet that the family lets people walk by and take there mangos for a delicious afternoon snack for free.

The mango tree has been there for as long as anyone can remember.  I remember Eduardo telling me stories about that tree long before we even married and came to El Salvador.  The sad thing is the Mayor's office is talking about cutting it down!  The street we live is going to be getting an actual paved road in the coming months and the tree may be in the way for some reason.  Eduardo and I do not understand the reasoning as it's not in the way, but everyone else on the "council" is in agreement to cut it down.

Well whether it gets to stay or go, we are enjoying the tree and the fruits its gives right now.  I hope they decide to keep this beautiful gift that serves all the community and see that there's already so much land all over the world being torn down and we should keep what is left.