Valentine's Day

Yesterday was the seventh anniversary of our engagement, one of the happiest days of our lives. Eric very eloquently captured the significance of this milestone, saying, "Seven years ago today we became engaged, and little did we know then that one month later, in another part of the world, our son would be born." It is so interesting to look back and to know that during the first years of our marriage, as we were forging our life together, our son was following his own path in life, and eventually, when the time was right, our two paths would meet. Life is both mysterious and wonderful.

We celebrated the day with a bunch of fun activities, beginning with a ride up the Teleferico (a gondola that climbs one of the local mountains). It was a beautiful day, and from the top we had a 180 degree view of the Quito valley, and its surrounding mountains.







Also at the top we discovered El Volcan -- a great amusement park. There were tons of rides for kids, and Jairo (and his parents) had a blast. Because Jairo has lived a very simple life thus far, we are very fortunate that we are able to share many firsts with him (e.g., amusement park rides). It is so precious to watch him as he discovers new things, and to see the wonder and excitement on his face. There was a lot of this at the amusement park!









One of the many things we've learned about Jairo is that he is a very capable and confident boy. Usually this is a great thing (and occasionally not so great -- see previous postings re: hiccups). This quality often manifests itself in Jairo's desire to help out when he sees a need, which he did at the amusement park. As Jairo was waiting for one of the rides to start, there was a little boy who was unable to get himself into his seat, and no adults were helping him. So Jairo unbuckled himself, and went over to help the boy (who was not much smaller than Jairo himself). It was really sweet to watch him helping this boy, and it made us appreciate his desire to take charge (as long as it's not his parents that he wants to take charge of, which doesn't go over quite as well).





Ironically, Jairo later ran into the same boy on another ride, and he was having the same problem. So Jairo jumped out of his seat, and went to help the boy again. And this time, he decided to sit with the boy. This left Eric to ride the ride alone, which was pretty funny to watch, because he was the only adult on the ride!




After a long day at the Teleferico and amusement park, we came home and cleaned up for a special Valentine's dinner. We hadn't taken Jairo out to a restaurant yet, so this was another fun first. He wore a new outfit (a gift from my parents), and he looked adorable. We went to a fondue restaurant, thinking he would enjoy the fun of dipping his food into cheese (who doesn't??). It was delicious, and was topped only by the chocolate fondue we had for dessert. A decadent meal, right up our alley!






After dinner, we came home and exchanged cards and small gifts. We had each made a card for one another, with Jairo's art supplies. It brought back great memories of our childhood, when we made all our cards for our parents. His cards to us were very special -- lots of hearts, and endearing sentiments -- and we will always cherish these very first gifts from him.




As for his gifts, we gave him some small chocolates (which he ate for breakfast in his bed the next morning before we woke up), a couple books, and a new set of Spiderman pajamas, complete with mask. (We had planned to give him just chocolates and books as his gift, but the previous day we came across the PJs at the bus terminal -- quite a random find, but definitely a good one!) To say he was excited about the PJs is an understatement, and we have had to bite our lips many times to keep from laughing at how incredibly adorable he looks!







It was a long and great day, and we were all spent by the end of the day. And once again, Jairo demonstrated his championship sleeping skills by falling asleep in the taxi (which he does on any trip longer than 10 minutes).




On this Valentine's Day, we are so thankful for all the love in our lives!