Worth Mentioning. . .

*Emma's new phrase when she sees something she especially likes is "Oh my doodness, (goodness) Mommy!!" It's incredibly cute! The first time she said it was at the mall in Ottumwa. We were walking through the store and passed some toys. Loudly, she said, "Oh my doodness, Mama, TOYS!!" She was ecstatic! I was just laughing at how well she had said it and in the perfect context! Apparently I say that a lot.
*Noteworthy. . . you can take a pair of pliers through US Homeland Security at least 3 times without being questioned, but you'll get stopped at the first security gate in Brasil. However, the Brasilian security won't make you take off your shoes and they don't limit you to a few 3oz. liquids in a ziplock baggie:)
*Yesterday, Emma was playing with a box of chocolates and kept saying, "Dose are tsocolates, Daddy. Tsocolates." I said, "How do you even know that word?" and then Kevin asked, "Emma, who told you what those were?", to which she immediately replied, "Dod did!" (God did!) Hmmm. . . what do you say to that? We were laughing so much at her!
*At the airport in Rio de Janeiro, we had to take an elevator to get to our gate. As we stepped into the elevator, Emma asked if she could press the button. Normally we would say yes, but we stopped short. There was an elderly woman, sitting in a built-in chair next to the buttons. She looked at us and we told her which floor. She pushed the button and we were lowered to the bottom floor. Wow. Not a job I'd want to have all day. The elevator had to have been 50 years old and it was dark and musty. Although it seemed like a terrible job, it was a job and this woman was being paid to work. She seemed thankful to have a job.
*We have a plastic spoon that we use for disciplining Emma. However, that spoon was packed with our air shipment (dumb idea) and I really haven't been doing much with her. Apparently, the idea to buy a spoon has come out of my mouth more than once. . . while we were at the airport, in a bookstore, Emma started saying loudly, "Gonna buy a spoon, Mama?!" over and over until I realized what she was saying. Was she mocking me? Hmmm. . . today I looked for a spoon at the grocery store. No luck. Only metal ones. I'm not that hardcore. (My apologies to those of you who are shocked that we discipline Emma in such a way. . . only that you are shocked, not that we do it).
*People here use a knife and a fork to eat everything, including pizza. There are very few foods that actually touch their hands. Most use a napkin to hold a sandwich, so their hands don't get dirty. So the other night, we were eating with a Brasilian couple and Emma was eating with her hands because I had forgotten her small, plastic silverware and the forks we had were huge. The woman turned to her husband and the only word I understood (thanks to Cincilingua) was guardanapa or napkin. Emma was a mess and I was just happy that she was eating. Then I got a little insecure that she wasn't eating properly. We tucked a cloth napkin down her shirt, which she thought was really odd, and I stopped there. I decided not to care what they thought. She'll get her silverware soon enough and be eating like a normal person soon enough. I probably need to get over my insecurities pretty quickly. I'm going to be different. I am different. That's OK.
*Tonight we ate pizza with two other Americans, Mollie and Aaron. Mollie will be working with Kevin and Aaron is getting married in a few weeks. His wife will move here sometime in June. It's good to know other Americans will be here. However, it was strangely normal, eating pizza and speaking in English. I can't hide in an American ball forever. Tonight was nice, though. Pray that I'll start reaching out, that I'll try harder than I want to in this moment. Tomorrow will be better. Emma and I are alone tomorrow. We'll see what the day brings:) Boa Noite. Good night!