Neighborhood Seamstress

We had baby's uniforms special made for her. We did not do this because we wanted to, or because we are super picky, we did it because we had to! She is super skinny minny and therefore none of the uniforms we found at the store fit her. The skirt with the belt worked o.k. for her, because we could cinch it tight. The pants did not stand a chance of fitting her.

That is actually bad news for Costa Rica. When we moved here three and a half years ago they were all really skinny. Like we could not even find any clothes that were big enough for any of us. Now we can't even find any clothes small enough for baby. They are getting bigger here, and that is not good for them.

Uniforms

Today we went to talk to our neighbor lady about ordering some uniforms for baby. She took all the skinny measurements and asked exactly what we wanted. We ordered a pleated skirt as well as a pair of pants. She already has one pleated skirt and two button up white blouses. So we will have four shirts and three bottoms. While we were there we also added on a couple of princess dresses for Easter. We went from Snow White to Cinderella, and ended up with Arial! The one with the dress, not the sea shells :)

She is going to have all that done by Sunday. We have seen her work and it is excellent. WE will probably end up paying less than the store and we will get some pants that actually fit skinny girl and don't have to be belted or gathered. The skirt that she has now we have to tighten her belt pretty tight to keep it up.

I will post pics when we get them done. Most of the older ladies here sew and you can get anything done or fixed for a very reasonable rate. Teenager is taking some skirts over to get them adjusted and get a zipper fixed. They don't just get rid of their clothes here when they get a problem, they make it work and wear it out!

BUG DAY

Today was bug day at Maleahs' school. Yesterday we helped her find a mommy worm, a baby worm and a cricket to take in her jar to school. She came home grossed out because some of the kids had brought cockroaches. That is pretty gross.

Also since we brought her to school a couple of weeks ago, when there was no school, and she had to hang out with another class. They now have labeled us the retarded family and she gets special notes just for us. In her notebook it said they got out a half hour early today, her teacher sent a special note home with her in her uniform pocket telling us once again that she got out early today. Then when we got outside she told us "Mom I get out tomorrow at 10:00" and held up her hands to show me! Ok I don't speak Spanish too well, but I really am not retarded.

Her teacher did seem relieved to see us when we picked her up at 10:00.

BLUE SWEATER

One of my babies main reasons for going to school, is the uniform. She loves her uniform and I make sure that it is always ready and clean for her every day. On Friday the unthinkable happened. I had picked her up from school early and we were headed to meet her niece and hang out at the pool for the day. As usual we had to make a run for the bus. Once we were on we realized we had lost her blue jacket that matches her uniform!
Horror of horrors. She was so angry at me for dropping the jacket. Forget the fact that I had my backpack, and a bag with her swimming toys and towels, I had dropped the jacket. Well we have lived here in Costa Rica for two and a half years and immediately wrote off seeing that little jacket ever again.
There is the problem here of things getting swallowed up by the earth the minute they hit the dirt. Of course it was a size 6 jacket, and it had her name in it, and we were only three blocks from the school, we still wrote it off.
Monday she had to do the unthinkable and wear an orange sweater to school. Talk about mortified! She was taking it off before we hit the door to the school and handing it to me to take home. She would not be caught dead in an orange jacket instead of the uniform blue.
I tried to talk her into taking the jacket with her, because frankly it did not tie easily around my waist while I went for my morning run!
As we were walking to her classroom the janitor lady called to me and told me that someone had found the lost blue jacket. We walked over to the classroom and her teacher came out with none other than the lost blue jacket. My daughter was euphoric, and I was frankly shocked.
I realized at that time that I had truly lost my faith in mankind! I actually believed there was not another good person in the world who would actually take out of their time to take our little lost jacket back to the school and turn it in! You know once in awhile these days, you need a reality check like this to remind us that there are a heck of a lot of really good, decent, honest and cool people around. Sure made my week :)
(Tomorrow I will write about the neighborhood meeting that we have to attend because of the fact there have been 10 armed robberies in 15 days in our barrio, or neighborhood:( )