Supermodel

Dentist
I went to the dentist today. For me, going to the dentist is like what supermodels must feel like during a photoshoot. It's non-stop praise about my gums, my homecare, the state of my teeth, etc. It happens every time. Both the dentist and the cleaner made separate jokes about scheduling me all day everyday so I can just be their one patient. They mean it, of this I'm sure. I've decided that I should just schedule an appointment with the dentist whenever I'm feeling down. It's awesome.

Mom's (most likely) townhome
Tomorrow is the inspection for the townhome on which my mom has put an offer. It'll be interesting to see the space without stuff in it. The previous owners* have moved out, so all of their stuff will be gone. Other than the inspection, we'll also measure all of the rooms to get an idea of what Mom will put where. All fun stuff, of course,

The walls are all white right now, so we're planning to paint all the rooms after she closes, but before she moves in. Anyone here in PDX want to help out with picking colors or painting? :)

* Technically, they were renters, not owners. The townhome is held in a trust. Not sure of the correct wording to describe this. Basically, family friends of the deceased owner were living in it.

Avery and friends
Avery's been spending more time with Lily. It's nice to have a friend for casual playdates in the neighborhood. I also think the two of them, who are very alike and therefore can butt heads a bit, are learning to solve their differences on their own. Last time Lily came over for a playdate, I didn't see them the whole time. It looked like a hurricane had hit the upstairs, but I'll take a hurricane over bickering any day.

I babysat the G kids (with Mom's help - because she offered and I say don't offer if you don't want to help because I will take you up on it!) on Sunday morning while the G's went to brunch. The plan was that I'd then leave Avery there for the afternoon and evening since D and I had our date night on Sunday night. However, Avery was In A Mood when the G's got back. She snatched something from Nolan and wouldn't apologize. I said apologize or we go home. She chose to go home, which in turn upset Elise who was looking forward to a playdate with Avery. So that is how Elise came to spend the afternoon at our house playing with Avery and Nain. All kids who come to the house immediately ask where Nain is and if they can visit her. Man am I going to miss her when she moves out.

We haven't seen much of Henry or Josie lately, but this Thursday will rectify that. Yipee!

Movies
D and I saw both Magic Mike and Ted this weekend (one date night courtesy of Mom, the other of the Gs). Both movies are very funny. I enjoyed both thoroughly. Ted is raunchy and oh-so-wrong in spots, but that's what makes it hilarious. Magic Mike had slightly more of a plot than I was expecting, however, not so much that it takes itself more seriously than a male stripper movie ever should.

Spanish speaker
After RHG's comment regarding hosting a student to get a native speaker around us (versus an au pair we don't need), I did some investigation. I found a program that looks like it'll work, however, there are no students from Latin America or South America, so the student would come from Spain. I did research on Castilian Spanish versus Latin American Spanish. Basically, it's like the difference between American English and British English - same language, but different nuances.

I emailed the program, but haven't heard back from them yet. I'll call them in a week or so if there's still no response.

Fever

Avery's sick
Avery has had a fever for the past two nights. We bought some infant Tylenol at the pharmacy in town yesterday, but failed to buy a thermometer (doh!) I'm pretty sure it's a low grade fever.  She's not throwing up and is drinking enough water. Plus, I keep giving her popsicles. I don't want her dehydrated. I know the hospital here in town is good and has English speaking doctors, so I'm not worried about being out of the country. If we need to take her to the doctor, we can. I'm just frustrated that we didn't buy a thermometer yesterday.

I've implemented sick rules this morning, so she's glued to the TV at the moment.

Henry & Avery
The great news for this trip is that Henry and Avery are getting along fantastic! There hasn't been a single big argument between them. Even small ones have gone like this:

Henry: "Avery, get in and I'll push please."
Avery: "No, thank you."

Seriously. They're so damn polite with each other it cracks me up. Henry is very good at honoring Avery's "No, thank you!"s.  I'm very impressed. He doesn't quite understand why Avery doesn't want to do something, but he's good at honoring it and either just continuing to asking without forcing her, or moving on to asking someone else. Yesterday, at the pool, Henry wanted to push Avery around in the floaty chair. Avery said, "No, thank you." So Henry decided to get Damian - who was swimming with his iPod - to get in the chair. First Henry starts to drag the lounger chair on the cement. Christie said something to him about that not being good, he asked Avery to help, Avery said "no thank you", I told Avery it's nice to do teamwork when people ask for help, she grabbed the other end and helped him carry it over to the edge by a deeper part of the pool. Christie and I didn't know what they were doing, so we just watched. Henry then pushes the chair into the pool. They both stand there watching it. After about five seconds, Avery says, "Uh oh." It cracked Christie and me up since it was such a delayed reaction to the obvious. Then Henry reveals his plan by yelling at the top of his lungs to Damian, "WANT TO GET IN THE CHAIR? I'LL PUSH YOU!" Damian, of course, couldn't hear, though I'm  quite sure everyone else at the pool did. But it was still hilarious. I'm not relaying this story very well. But trust me, it was funny.

Last night the two of them had a broccoli eating context (Henry won hands-down,  but Avery did not shame me).  They also had a milk drinking contest, with Avery entering the competition well behind Henry's start and coming in for the tie.

Casa Updates
Our new locks were installed yesterday. This means we won't use the key cards anymore. I am surprised at how much of a relief that is. Not having to remember the dang card is nice! The locks do have keys, but they also have a code you can punch in to unlock the door. That'll be what we use.

We bought some additional decor to get some color into our very neutral living room. I can't find my phone at the moment, so I'm going to post this without pictures, but I'll take pictures before we leave. We bought a new piece of art for a wall in the living room, a vase with paper flowers to go in it, and some watermelon "sculptures" to go on the top shelf of our new shelves.

Community Updates
Things are chugging along in the community with many steps forward and a few steps back. Within walking distance, forward steps include:

• fresh produce available at one store; milk, bread, baking products, etc at another
• two coffee shops 
• one wine bar
• three places for lunch, not including the wine bar or coffee shops which may have food (?)
• two places for dinner
• exterior modifications being done on the two large structures that are unfinished near us. They'll remain empty, at least that's my understanding, but the company that bought the common areas of our community at least agreed to plaster and paint the buildings so it looks better. I'm happy enough with that.
• rental facility for bicycles, four wheelers; it's also a place to book boating activities, etc. That's nice to see. D rented a bike. We're bringing our bikes down next time. Times I've used my bike since we moved to Portland: 0, so I'm not too worried about where it'll get the most use

Steps back:

• This isn't so much a step back as it is a bummer. An understandable bummer, but a bummer nonetheless. The hotel has finally started to charge the homeowners for the use of their facilities. That's fair enough, but who likes to pay money to use things that used to be free? It's now $5 a person to use the pool, the palapas or loungers on the beach, or the gym. I don't have a problem with the fee, but I do wish it could be applied toward a food/beverage credit as long as you spend maybe $25 at the pool or bar. Something like that. But, like I said, it's fair. 
• The restaurant that opened by the pool (not the pool restaurant, but another) seems to have closed. It's always tough to tell these things because they're not well signed when they are open. Maybe they just pulled the tables for some reason, but it looked closed to me. That's no big loss for me since they had pizza and pasta. The salad I ordered was so small I couldn't even make it through the meal without getting hungry again, so it wasn't truly an option for me.