La Rebeca

La Rebeca

My little sister is quite possibly the cutest lil creature I have ever encountered; she is well aware of how precious she is, so she tends to milk it to her advantage. Bequí is quite brilliant to be only 2 years old and 3 months, but I have to say un poquito spoiled tambien. She can totally talk circles around me in Spanish, and at her preschool she is learning French which can sometimes make for a thoroughly confusing playmate. At times, I’m completely lost and have no clue what she is asking me to do which results in her crying hysterically and consequently tattling on me. I’m starting to see the side of ignorance that is not really bliss. For instance, last night she spotted some gummies on the counter and absolutely had to have them. So I opened them up and we went through the whole, “Solamente one more for mamí, and entonces one more for papí, and one for Juaquin tambien (who’s totally not here yet). After I had given her a million gummies, I was like ok “es suficiente, Elmo’s tired, so let’s go put on our pajamas and get ready for bed.” She started to well up like an allergic reaction, shoved a handful of gummies in her mouth, and asked if I was going to share with Elmo too. So, as I unscrewed the top, I said “bueno, este es el ultimo” and when I handed it to her she sounded off like a fog horn. She was crying so frantically I couldn’t understand what she was mumbling, something about a oso, totally had no clue what a oso was. Finally, I realized there were gummy worms and gummy bears in the jar and by the time intuition caught up with me, I pinched hold of a tiny red bear and the crying finally ceased. This is only an example of one small crisis we run into daily.

I must say you can see the tantrums of the terrible twos coming a mile away, even in Spanish. It usually starts with pero, lo quiero (but, I want it) and then ignites into a full blown forest fire from there. As a word of comfort to anyone whose child, or child you were temporarily responsible for, has made that extremely embarrassing public display scene; from experience, children do in fact lie down and scream bloody murder in grocery stores in Ecuador, just like in the States. After three excruciating minutes and a last resort utterance of, “Chau Bequí, I’m leaving” the howling subsided enough to make way for the pout. I’m starting to get a little better at taming or at least detouring the fickleness of little human emotions.

I have become well versed in the grammatical construction of mandatos or commands in being Bequí’s shadow. When I come home for school Bequí is usually right at the door waiting and says joyfully, “La Raquel, vamos a jugar (let’s go play). She throws out ven acá (come here), sigame (follow me), acompaname (accompany me), and no toquele (don’t touch it) on a regular basis, so it is always good practice.

Bequí has a fascination for anything Disney and has recently seen The Princess and the Frog, so anytime she sees a saple, she kisses it which totally cracks me up. Needless to say, we play with princípes y princesas and even refer to her room as el cuarto de princesas (you can see why).

An average day consists of cooking in the easy bake oven, reading touch and feel books, and hiding in la casa de pelotas. We also frequently put Señor Papas’ nariz en su boca and subsequently giggle uncontrollably at how seriously distorted poor Mr. Potato head appears.

Elmo goes everywhere Bequí goes. In case you were wondering, yesterday, Elmo got put in time out for some unknown reason and got told, “Estoy enojada contigo. Siéntense, y no hacer malas cosas. That lasted all of two seconds before Elmo was apparently crying, so then he got a bottle and a galletita (cookie).

Last night, we had a conversation with little Juaquin and told him how we couldn’t wait to meet him. Bequí then broke out the alphabet song and called Juaquin a bailante or dancer because he moved in Mamí’s tummy while she sang. It was precious!

Being a big sister is an extremely rewarding and delightful, yet challenging experience. I have become a proficient diaper changer/bottle maker and have attained a whole new Spanish vocabulary associated with what it means to be fuchi, or stinky.

Oh, how renovating it is to see and imagine the world each day through such little, sparkling eyes.