Photos of Nicky from October and November

The cutest Vampire in Brazil... or at least in Teixeiras, Juiz de Fora....

Watching futebol (soccer) with my Papai and Vovo

Happy Birthday, Mamoo!

Finally I got the photos onto our computer, so here are some shots of Nicholas in October and November.

At the beach with Papai


In the pool with my cousin Jo-Jo

Since Bruno was OFFICIALLY nominated for his appointment (yes, can you believe it?) we took the liberty of visiting Tia Renata and Pedrinho, as well as many other members of the Xavier clan, in Vila Velha, ES. Even though this meant traveling to the very hot coast in the beloved VW Parati (no air conditioning...), we had a wonderful time. Nicky especially cultivated his passion for the ocean and got a taste for the "chique" life, complete with pool and playgrounds. He also met many other babies and showed that he, like all other toddlers his age, loves to steal toys from his friends.

Right now we are arranging housing and a car WITH air conditioning for this poor northerner and her Swiss-blooded dog, who right now would rather be laying in a snowbank. Luckily we think we have found a house to rent across from the lake in Ouro Branco, so at least she'll get to swim! We plan to move the second week in December.

We hope you have a very happy Thanksgiving! Nicky will post a little entry for this very special holiday soon.

Words, words, words

Nicky is "talking" up a storm and learning lots of new words. Some that come to mind:

macaco (monkey)
pato (duck)
cinza (grey)
dirigir (drive)
pera (pear)
pão (bread)

As you can see, he is picking up Portuguese much faster than English. I am not sure if this will change once we move to Ouro Branco, but obviously he is sensitive to the dominant language. However, he does understand the English words that refer to the same object. For example, if you ask him to point to various body parts in English or Portuguese, he will do so... even though he doesn't say any of these words yet. Mama and Papa will have to become more insistent about only using Portuguese around other Portuguese speakers and English only at home.

We are still waiting for official word on the job but, unofficially, we have every indication that we'll be in Ouro Branco the first part of December.

In other news, we've been enjoying lots of sunshine and 80 degree weather-- in November! Fun to be in "upside-down" world-- but will it ever feel "right-side-up"?

December 3rd!

We have almost official word that Bruno's ceremony to become a professor in the Federal university system will be December 3rd-- that's right, less than a month away! It still isn't published in the daily bulletin of the government, but should be this upcoming week. However, we are greatly pleased to know we won't be waiting "indefinitely" for Bruno to begin this job, which he is very excited to start. The campus is totally new, and he'll be responsible for building a lab and graduate program from scratch-- a great opportunity for Nicky's creative Papai.

So, we'll be off to our little "mountain town" soon...

Photos coming.... stayed tuned!

More words from Nicky!

It seems like these days Nicky is picking up 1 or 2 new words a day. Today these are "owl" and "door"; yesterday he learned the word "azul" (blue) and it seems he is referring to the color. He has become very fond of drawing with crayons, and this may be helping him to pick up the words for colors. He also loves songs... the current favorite is "meu pintinho amarelinho" about a little yellow chick.

Nicky is saying a lot of phrase-like utterances, but I can't quite decode them yet... I don't think it'll be too long before he is using something like a sentence, since he seems to understand fairly complex commands (er, requests... sometimes complied with).

He is fond of calling to his family members, louder and louder and louder....Lately I have been transformed from Mama to Mamoo, which I find very funny (does he consider me a cow??).

I will post photos of his vampire Halloween costume soon!