Smoke Screens and Steps

April has been kind of a crazy month. The initial farmer's strikes were paused, allowing food to once again reach the markets. But with negotiations continuing and new cries daily that the farmers will once again strike, the government decided to also wage war on the meat producers. With the price of meat spiraling, the government has called into effect some obscure law that allows them to seize control of all meat products to make sure that supply for the local markets is fulfilled, and at controlled prices. Thus producers are prohibited from exporting meat, and supposedly prices on certain key items will be lowered in stores. Meat producers are threatening to join the farmers in their strikes, and the head of the association that represents agriculture and meat producers, etc. was recently arresed for armed harassment. p.s. this is the same group that was key in the military coup that overthrew the very socialist "democracy" in the mid 70's and lead to almost 10 years of dictatorship and over 5000 persons being "disappeared". Crazy stuff.

As if that is not enough, the country is currenly plagued by smoke. Farmer's here often burn their fields as the cheapest way to get rid of the remnants after harvest, get rid of weeds and prepare the land for planting once again. It is supposedly illegal, but like many laws here it is spottily enforced at best. As it happens, the harvest has councided with a VERY DRY fall for us. 30 straight days without rain, supposedly something of a record. I was just thinking Heavenly Father loved me and was giving me a brief respite from humidity. Anyway, I digress. The small fires have grown out of control, there are thousands and thousands of acres burning, and the cities are hidden behind smoke walls so thick they have closed highways and even had to close the subway system in Buenos Aires. Apparently no houses/structures are threatened, but our little patio has been filled with ashes and we have been breathing smoke for a week now. Today at last we had a huge downpour, so we're hoping that has taken care of the problems.

As no one has of yet asked for our help in solving the world's, or even the country's problems, we've filled out time with projects and visitors.

I helped Julieta make invitations for her Quinceañera.

I finally framed our family pictures taken in January, as well as some others of Gabe and hung them, along with this most fabulous "R" that Lindsay made us for Christmas.

I also finally replaced these ugly "temporary-for-two-years" pillows...

...with these that I made. I got leather scraps from a store that makes shoes and other leather good, and cut them in the forms of flowers and glued them onto fabric. It was fun.
Mario's brother Enrique came to visit for 8 days this month, and it was lovely. He not only hauled some heavy scrapbooking supplies and an even heavier "Red Flyer" tricycle down here for us, he also brough us the games "Rummicube" and "Apples 2 Apples". I LOVE games and have been forcing Mario to play at least one round of Rummicube with me before we go to bed each night. Here in Enrique after church last Sunday with Gabe, I think you can really see the family resemblance.

Enrique's visit means that we also has the rest of the family in and out of town, which is always a lot of fun. Here are Paco, Pilar, Mario, Gabe and Enrique.

Gabe seems to be changing daily, and is more interactive and more entertaining all the time. He's been incredibly clingy, and mostly I think he's just bored. It's like he wants a friend to play with and as he doesn't have one, won't leave me alone. I by no means feel irreplaceable in his need for constant attention. He likes his Baby Einstein videos, especially if I will sit on the floor and watch them with him.
He loves to play with the garbage can, and expecially to take things out of it and chew on them. He is seriously a goat in that he will eat ANYTHING. Which I love when I'm feeding him spinach or squash or lentils, and I don't love so much when pieces of paper I can't even SEE end up in his mouth! He also likes to bite my toes if they are barefoot and in his vicinity.He did not cooperate for photos, but he has this hilarious smile that is kind of a snarl to show you very clearly that he has four teeth on top now. (Thus making toe biting a bit painful.) He uses anything and anyone to pull himself up so that he can be standing at all times. Adults don't mind, other kids at church are confused as to why this bully is throwing them to the ground. (side note - elastic waist skirts are very dangerous when your child uses your clothing as a leveraging device.) He doesn't like sitting, and even less lying down to be changed. After a month of pinning him down WWF style with one leg over his body and another over his feet to change him, he is fighting back stronger than ever.

This week I had to take Gabe to have blood drawn and to get an Ecocardiogram in preparation for possibly having his tear duct unplugged. The blood drawing was terrible. I had to lay on top on him and pin him down while the nurse pulled his arm tight to draw the blood. He screamed and I tried to sing in his ear but I was crying too much to get more than a few squeaks out. I felt the need to give him some kind of special treat after enduring that - something he would really like and doesn't normally get - but the only thing I could think of was allowing him to chew freely on electric cords and I decided electrocution wasn't really a fair trade off so no treat until he's old enough to appreciate a toy that is intended for children.

As he is getting taller, I can no longer just put something on the table to keep it safe. It has to be in the middle of the table, or he pulls himself up and just startes reaching for whatever can be grabbed, pulled down, and then inserted in his mouth. When the light is just right you can see a border of fingerprints all around the table.

Previous to today he just stood up, maybe did a few squat bounces, then plopped back down to crawl to his next location. However, today in abuela Susana's kitchen after church he started trying to walk. He continued trying throughout the afternon, despite the fact that we are NOT helping him because I'm not ready for my baby to walk - emotionally or physically. However, he is managing to get five or six steps in before falling. As his into-everything-cable-eating-key-smashing habits continue to make anything computer related impossible while he is awake, I will keep "blogging" on my ever growing list of things that can be done only during nap time.