Sunday, April 11, 2010: Hi Sam! I was hoping to not write another update until tomorrow. I was hoping to spend this time with you instead. I did make it to Mexico yesterday as promised. To my surprise Adriana Coronel Tenorio (AKA Adriana Howitt Coronel, Ari Coronel, Ari Coronel Tenorio, Ari Howitt, Ari Howitt Coronel) was not there but you were! That is all that matters to me. I love to see the look in your eyes when we spend time together. You absolutely light up, as do I! We spend most of the day playing. Doing various things: swinging on the swing, playing baseball, you were even showing me your digging skills in the back yard. Then it was off to have fish tacos for lunch. You love the shrimp taco! I don’t remember the name of the fish taco place, but it was very good. The fish taco experience came after I noticed Foska, was not barking. I don’t know what happened but Foska was not there. For some odd reason people like to steal other people’s dogs down there. I am not sure if this was the case with Foska, but it does happen. This is Adriana’s 6th dog since I have known her in 5-years. That is crazy. Littleman is 13-years old and I have had him since he was 2-months. I just don’t get how people can be so careless with animals.
Suffice it to say, everyone went into panic mode. No surprise there. So, rather than wait a day or two to see if Foska makes his way back to the house or put up posters with his picture, what does Maria Guadalupe Tenorio Toledano (AKA Lupita Tenorio, Marsha Tenorio) do? She buys you another rabbit! Of course she did not have enough money for all the food for it, so I had to bail her out. Again. So now there are 2-cats, 2-geckos and now 2-rabbits roaming that house and still minus a dog. I remember reading about how abducting parents will over-spoil the child abducted to over-shadow what they have done. All in the name of love. Adriana even made a comment to me the last time I was there that people have mentioned that she is over-spoiling you with things like this. Not so much because they really know the situation, but as an outsider looking in, Axel Alvarez Coronel (AKA Axel Coronel) does not get treated the same way. I am not sure he ever did.
The flip side of all this is the literal reaction to having all these animals in an already chaotic house. There is no way that poor nanny can keep up with all that. And I was right, she can’t. Adriana comes home to the news about Foska and she is not happy. For a minute there I thought I was getting blamed for the missing dog. I had to remind Adriana that Foska was dog number 6 since I met her. I think the problem is elsewhere. I like Foska. What am I going to do with Foska? It’s not like I can take her home with me. Adriana smirked knowing I was right. She certainly did not want another rabbit in the house. To make matters worse Axel comes in the room and tells us that he saw the rabbits trying to make babies in their cage. NICE! By the time you are old enough to read this there will probably be 100-rabbits roaming around there. All fully grown by then.
Why are the rabbits such a big deal? I know they are cute. They are a little bit of work, and cannot do much like cats and dogs. Even he geckos are more independent than a rabbit it. Then again, the rabbit was never meant to be a pet in the first place. That is just my opinion. More importantly, I have horrible allergies, which means you inherited some of that problem from me. Sorry Sam. Adriana actually has great tolerance for the things I am allergic to and I hope you inherited more of that from her than my allergies.
When we got the first rabbit the last time I was there, I could not breathe. I was wheezing and sneezing a lot. I did not sleep well at all that night because I could not breathe. I was really fighting to get air in my lungs. I had to sleep with the window open just to get fresh air, which helped a little bit. I alluded to being sick for a few days last week. I was recovering from that first night with the rabbit. I have never had a reaction to anything that bad before. It actually made eating difficult because absolutely no air was coming in through my nose. When you eat you don’t breathe at the same time. Not being able to breathe only heightens the awareness of everything else, like chewing food carefully so you don’t choke on what you are eating. I never thought about it before because it’s such an automatic thing we do as human beings.
So, fast forward to yesterday. I thought as long as I did not sit on any furniture where the rabbits have been I might be OK. Then Adriana asks me to help her put together a bed for Tina, the nanny. I agreed. I walked into the nanny’s quarters and I was shocked at the amount of mold that was on the walls. No air was getting in that room. Then again there are no windows. Just the door. It was just another sign of how crazy things are there. I don’t know how she does it. At least she is not sleeping on the cold floor now. That is when I started to notice my allergies act up.
As the day progressed, we were going to go bowling. You were completely excited! I could not wait because I wanted to see you bowl. By the time we left my allergies were full blown misery for me. It was worse than the week before. As we were driving to the bowling alley, being out in the fresh air helped calm things down. Unfortunately when we got there you were already asleep in the car. Adriana did not want to wake you up since it was almost time for you to go to bed anyway. You did not care for that strategy too much. I carried you to bed and when your head rested on the pillow, you awoke and were not happy. I felt so bad.
Adriana asked me if I was like that as a kid. I told her I was a high energy kid like you. The best thing to do is to let it play itself out. She did not understand what I was telling her. She does not understand that for an American baby, you are completely normal. As much as she tried to ignore the fact, you are ½ American. You and I are a lot alike Sam. I very much appreciate the struggles and frustrations you encounter and you continue to get older. I also understand how to manage those times when you are upset and frustrated. Because I was there and able to help, you got through it rather quickly. I am so proud of you! I hope Adriana took note rather than try to rescue you all the time when you are trying to express your frustration. It’s healthy to express it the way you do. In minutes you were back asleep. Sweet dreams Beautiful!
So here I am, with my allergies getting worse by the minute. I made the decision to head back to San Diego rather than try to endure another night like last week. Maria Guadalupe even noted that it sounded like I had asthma like symptoms and being in the house was probably not healthy for me. I am going to the doctor to get this looked at this week. I did not know this, but Maria Guadalupe has asthma. She has been able to keep it under control with no drugs. I imagine the dry climate in Mexico helps. I am not a big fan of pharmaceuticals. That being said, I hated leaving Sam. I was worried about being able to breathe. I am struggling today in my home as I write this, much better than last night though. I will go to the doctor this week and get on top of this.
It was funny because before you went to bed you said you were willing to make a deal with me. You would find another home for the rabbits if I bought you a fish tank with a bunch of turtles in it. I will make that deal with you any day of the week beautiful! I love turtles. When you read this part, remind me to tell you about the sea turtles in Hawaii. I LOVE YOU SAM!!!
