A weekend in practice...

Our family, here in Argentina, consists of 5 nieces and nephews, all of which are well into their adolescence, or late adolescence in some cases, all of them except for Clara. Clara is 8 years old. And for those of you who might ask, "Did Claudio's Italian blooded mother accept you right away?" The answer would be "Yes, absolutely." It was Clara that held the looming rings of fire I seemed to have to jump through, not only in the beginning, but up until about 4 months ago.

When I first met Clara she was 4 years old, a child without a father who had never heard the word "No." She loved her "Tio" more than anyone else, and insisted on calling me "Juana" for nearly two years. She refused to hug me or kiss me hello or goodbye and continually showed me who was boss whenever she had the chance. Yet all of this has changed in just 4 short months, coinciding with the announcement that she would no longer be the baby of the family.

This surprised me greatly, as I had prepared myself for yet another firing round of jealousy, first having stolen her super uncle, now her title...however it has been quite the contrary.

Clara immediately conjured up a gender neutral name "BianJu," a mixed version of Bianca, and Juan, so as not to assume the sex of the baby...She began wanting to sit in my lap, give me kisses, hold my hand...she even began calling me "Tia" something that, up until then, had be a rare mistake on her part. She wanted to touch my belly and was always concerned about whether Bianju would be upset by the noise, or the food...
The truth is, it has been a true 180` turn around.

Which is why this weekend was so incredibly enjoyable.

After discussing with Claudio, we decided to invite Clara to spend the entire weekend with us. On Friday after work Claudio drove to pick her up, overnight bag in tow, while I eagerly made her favorite dinner, steak and potatoes. (for those of you who have been to Argentina, this shouldn't surprise you.) By the time she had showered, (using her own big girl shampoo to prevent lice) she asked me to brush and braid her hair, we played a quick game of "chancho va," a card game that would be translated to "there goes the pig," it was time for bed. We tucked her into her couch bed, kissed her goodnight, and wished her sweet dreams.

The next day we awoke to her coughing, surely meant not to wake us, and as she crept quietly towards the bathroom, we sneaked quickly into her bed. Crawling under the covers and turning out the lights, we had hoped to scare her, though she is much to quick for us. Instead, she quietly made her way back to her bed and flung herself in the middle of where we lay, covering us in good morning hugs.

It was at that moment I thought to myself, "This must be what it feels like to be a parent, to have eternal unconditional abundant love from your child...it must be the most amazing feeling in the world."

After breakfast we dressed and left for Clara's first adventure. We drove across the bridge to the neighboring province, just to have lunch and spend the day in the quite space of Victoria's green grasses.

In case you are curious, this is what happiness looks like:

Bianju in the middle

He's going to be a great daddy!