Saara

These are the little monkeys that are in the parks above where Evie plays, and on all our hikes (Sugarloaf, Leme Fort, Jardim Botanico, where Becki took this one, etc).  Evie's always asking, "Mon-teys, where are you?"  with her hands cupped to her mouth.  Other fun phrases of Evie's right now:  "I coming...you!" (I'm coming to you--especially when someone is sad or in trouble),  "I love you, mommy!" (My favorite), "Dada, Mommy, want Kun-kles!" (Snuggles).  "I run fast!," "I want beeeeeach!,"  "Night-night, Rosie!"  "Mommy, Dada, tiss-es" (kisses), "Dada, come (to) me!" (with her hand gesturing wildly to come on over). And "I want apple-cheese!" (Kraft Macaroni and cheese from the US).  

We went to the Saara market in Centro this week for the first time, I shopped while Rolf had a meeting, and then he met up with me, only to find that I'd bought 4 huge blue interlocking foam mats for our hard floor and strapped them to the top of the stroller.  Then I had Rolf go back and buy 2 more so that we could cover all our floors, he's a good soul.  So we took them on the subway, along with 6 balls we also bought for Evie, and got really funny looks.  But now our floors are softer for Rosie, she's crawling up a storm, and Evie's room is now her very own ball-room too, wall to wall with foam mats, balls, and perfect for babies.

Today we went to the gigantic cemetery behind our mountain, just a 20 minute walk.  It was a cloudy day, Corcovado in the backdrop looking down on all the memorials, and a very sobering/contemplative experience.