Guayaquil, Ecuador

Estoy en Ecuador! Y estoy muy emocionada a ver mi sobrino, Michael Anthony. El tiene 3 años y siempre esta sonriendo. Su madre (mi cuñada, Ericka) habla Español a Michael, y mi cuñado, Chris, habla Ingles a Michael. Pues, Michael entiende los dos. No le gusta hablar mucho. Creo que un dia, de repente, el va a hablar perfectamente en dos idiomas.

I´m heeeeeere! In Ecuador with my brother-in-law, Chris and his family. Ericka, my sister-in-law and I just returned from a "cuñada" bonding trip where she brought me out to an Ecuadorian restaurant for lunch and took me to the area mall to buy some clothes for my expanding waistline.

I was especially excited to see my nephew Michael Anthony. He is adorable and so sweet! I haven´t seen him in two years and boy has he grown. He´s much taller now and he just loves to giggle. He´s been so cute showing me all of his toys. He loves his cars and his super heroes, just like his daddy.

This morning Michael took my hand and said, "come, come, come", and brought me over to his toys to show me one of his trucks. I was very impressed because living in a bilingual household, he is somewhat hesitant to speak either language. He understands both very well but he mostly uses sign language and a sort of gibberish to communicate. It was so cute to hear him using his words correctly. I have a feeling that one day soon, Chris and Ericka will wake up to find Michael speaking in full sentences in both languages.

This morning Michael was wearing his batman pajamas when I woke up. He was very patiently waiting for me to wake up so that he could come into his room (where I´m sleeping while I´m here) to retrieve the cape that goes with his pajamas. Very shortly after I woke up, I was "flying" him around the house. Now if only we could teach him that my puffy belly is not actually a soft place to practice his superhero punches!

Photos will be uploaded shortly. I´m hoping to take another belly shot soon as I seem to be growing. I didn´t have access to too many full length mirrors when I was in Ollanta, so when I arrived here, I suddenly noticed that I do seem to be growing a bit. In fact, Ericka was kind enough to bring me to a shopping center so that I could buy some new blouses and stretchy pants. It´s very warm here and all I have with me are my enormous prego jeans and a bunch of long sleeve shirts!