Recent Little Missy Pictures

Being happy!

Playing intently.

Goofing off.

With Daddy.

With Mommy.

Being a "silly goose".

Ready to go!

Running!

New Passport

Today we went to the Federal Police to pick up Elisa's new Brazilian passport. It is pretty cool that she has duel citizenship. She has both an American and Brazilian passports and birth certificates. After 2 years the Brazilian passport expired, which makes sense. Her infant picture is so cute in the first passport, but you can't really recognize her in the picture today. The new passport has her in her little pigtails. Really cute, but it was a challenge to get the picture just right.

It is neat to me that our little girl has already needed a passport and will have been on 5 international flights (Brazil to US to Brazil) before her 3rd birthday. We already have a world traveler on our hands!

First Dentist Visit

Today was a big day for little Elisa. She went to the dentist for the first time!

We prepped her for about two weeks with questions like, "Elisa, did you know that Mommy is going to go see a lady who will clean her teeth? This lady is really nice and is our friend. She will clean your teeth too!" We talked it up mainly while brushing her teeth in the evening before bed time.

So, this morning we all got up and got ready for our 10am appointment. Dr. Claudia was great with Elisa! She is a pediatric dentist, but happens to be the best we could find. Jennifer and I have been going to her to get our teeth taken care of for most of our time in Brazil. Her office is full of toys, coloring books and stuffed animals and puppets that have huge teeth. While we (the parents) visited with Dr. Claudia, Elisa checked out the office and got acquainted with the toys and such.

Waiting for our turn.

Elisa is playing dentist with a pig that has huge teeth!

Around 11 o'clock Jennifer got in the chair to have her teeth cleaned. This gave Elisa the opportunity to check things out and see that there wasn't anything to be afraid of. When Jennifer finished it was Elisa's turn.

Jennifer laid down in the chair with her, but she still started freaking out. She cooperated for the entire cleaning, but cried a lot. We did end up having a break in the crying that lasted about 2 minutes. She really got the hang of letting the sucker deal get all the water and spit out of her mouth.


By the time it was all over she was a real pro! She has been practicing opening her mouth and showing her teeth. The picture below is a great one of her doing this while sporting her new toothbrush!

Check out my clean teeth and my new Barbie toothbrush!

Although it was a little rough, she had a great first dentist visit and we are really proud. Later on in the day Elisa said about Dr. Claudia, "Nice lady!" To end the day we took her to the store and bought Tutti Frutti flavored Sponge Bob Square Pants toothpaste. What can I say - it was her choice!

Play-Time

Elisa loves to play! She has quite the imagination when it comes to her toys. For her birthday this year she was given a Little People doll house. She loves to play with it. When the doll house is out we hear a lot of "MOMMY! DADDY! DOLL HOUSE PLAY!!"

Just today she had the little family that comes with the doll house sitting in chairs at a little table having a meal together. She calls the mommy doll "mommy" the daddy doll "daddy" and the baby "baby Elisa". It is a lot of fun to watch her pretend at this age. I am confident that the fun will continue!

Playing with her doll house...


Play-time with her box of rice...

Dodói (Ouchy)

Elisa hurt her little toe on her right foot pretty good today. Fact is... she dropped a brick on it! We have a decorated brick that we use as a doorstop for Elisa's room. While Jennifer was preparing Elisa's bath Elisa was up to no good (she is two, ya know!). Anyway, Jenn saw that Elisa was walking around with the brick and she went after her to intercept it. Before Jennifer could catch up to Elisa there was a thud and a loud scream/cry. The brick hit the little toe and the area between it and the toe next to it. Jennifer called me and I raced home to possibly take Elisa to the Emergency Room.

Before I got home Elisa was done crying. She was able to tell me all about the brick "jumping" and her "dodói" ("ouchy" in Portuguese) on her little toe "right there". We ended up taking her to a really good clinic and had x-rays taken. There is no break, but she did get her little foot wrapped. She screamed a lot during the x-ray and while she was with the doc. She isn't a big fan of medical staff.

I have to say that Elisa was a trooper through the whole thing. She doesn't really cry due to pain, just when she gets scared, so it is hard to know how much it hurts. She is getting around and acting like the only thing slowing her down is the bandage. Anyway, it made the day a little out of the ordinary. Here are a couple of pictures of the banged up Elisa and the culprit.

I think that it is interesting how it is her toe that is hurt, but her foot is wrapped. I don't know...

The infamous brick.

Father's Day in Brazil

Today was Father's Day in Brazil. This was by far the best of the 3 Father's Days that I have celebrated as a daddy. As Elisa gets a little older her ability to interact becomes deeper and a lot more fun. She knew that it was a special day for me. She made me some sugar cookies and put them in a tin can that she had decorated for a present. It was really sweet (no pun intended). We went out to the Salgado's for house church this morning a celebrated Father's Day with home-made cinnamon rolls that Jennifer whipped up last night. They were awesome. Then my sweet girls took me out to lunch at the Outback Steakhouse (Father's Day tradition). After lunch I went out to the Chácara for a graduation celebration that was an amazing experience. I really enjoyed my time with my family and friends today. It was a Father's Day I won't soon forget.

Here are some pictures of me and Elisa enjoying our time at the Outback Steakhouse today:

What a silly little girl!

Giving Daddy sugars.

Watching US Men's Basketball destroy China!

Lhaumar's Birthday

One of the many things that we love about Brazil is the birthday parties. Brazilians know how to celebrate! In fact, you could say that 9 out of 10 parties are so overboard you would expect a dignitary to be present!

However, it isn't always possible for people to have outlandish or even simple parties. Our really good friends, Claudio (Claude) and Rute (Ruth), have never been in a position to have a party for their youngest daughter, Lhaumar (Lau-Mar). This year, however, in their fairly new house, Claudio and Rute threw a party for their little girl!

On Wednesday of this week Lhaumar turned 9 years old. She was so excited to be having a party. We picked Claudio up from work and headed over to their house for the festivities. We have been able to go to several birthday parties over the last few years, but this one really ranks up there as being extra special.

Elisa loves this family and really had a great time playing and eating goodies. Our family is really blessed to have friends like Claudio and Rute and their girls. We hope they are able to have many more reasons to celebrate in the years to come and that they are able to throw many more shindigs like they did earlier this week.

Rute and Claudio welcoming their guests!

Sascha, Elisa, Jennifer & Lhaumar at the party.

Lhaumar with our friend Jenny.

Elisa eating some of Rute's chocolate cake. Good stuff!