Day 19

It's day 19 and I think we are all ready to come home. The past week has been a little hard on Joey. I think he's slowly starting to realize that Sam is now a part of our family and he's having a hard time with the fact that Sam is getting so much attention from mom and dad. We are seeing a lot of pouting and acting out that we are not used to seeing with Joey but I'm hoping it's just a phase and things will eventually get better once we get home. I also think both Sam and Joey are getting a little bored at the hotel. I didn't bring that many toys so we are running out of ideas to keep the kids entertained when we are in our room. The place we are staying in Bogota is not a hotel but rather a bed and breakfast type place that caters to adoptive families. I've heard it's not as nice as the Intercontinental but it looks like they have toys and other things for kids so hopefully the boys will like it there.

Sam has been doing great the past couple of weeks. He really seems to be adjusting well to his new surroundings. He's been sleeping through the night and he loves to eat (in case you couldn't tell from the photos). I've been keeping a list of some of his favorite things:

• His favorite foods are papaya, bananas, waffles, graham crackers, cheese and of course his bottle of formula. The only baby foods they really sell in the stores here are fruit so Kim gave me some of the vegetables that they brought and he really likes the winter squash and peas with brown rice. He has 4 teeth on top and 4 on the bottom so we try to feed him as much normal food as we can and he does pretty well with chewing it up.
• His favorite comfort item is the stuffed puppy we sent him. He likes to snuggle up with it whenever he gets tired. It has a little tag on it which he likes to put up to his mouth and make this sucking noise... it's really funny and I don't think I've ever seen another baby do that before.
• His favorite toys are balls and trucks.
• He loves taking baths and splashing in the pool and he's not afraid to get his face wet.
• He likes it when we go sit outside the excercise room because they are always playing music and he loves to listen to music and watch the people walk by.
• He likes riding in the stroller but gets mad when we stop moving.
• He is an explorer and loves to see what he can get into... drawers, suitcases, whatever he can find. He also likes to hide things under the couch so if we are missing anything... a toy, socks, diapers... we can usually find what we are looking for under the couch.
• He loves Colombian women!! All of the women we've seen at the hotel and while we are out and about give him so much attention and he loves every minute of it. He's quite the little charmer... much like his big brother.

Last weekend, the hotel hosted a Latin Arabian belly dancing competition. There were lots of pretty girls with beautiful costumes. One morning they were practicing their dancing in the gym so we watched them for a little while. The boys loved it... they would both clap after each dance and I was hoping the girls didn't understand English because Joey kept telling me "Look mommy! Those girls are shaking their booties!"