.. is so wonderfully accepted everywhere and anywhere. 

I have exclusively breast fed Malu from birth.  She has never taken a bottle or pacifier.  And it’s a bond that has truly been amazing for both of us.  Thankfully we have never experienced any big problems throughout this journey. It is something I love and cherish.

With that said, at 1 year and 3 months we are still going strong.  She still breast feeds all the time various times a day.  And at around 10 months we stopped night time feedings.  

Ideally I would like to continue till the age of 2. In the US, they call this extended breastfeeding.  There are wonderful benefits for both mother and child from extended breastfeeding. 

In Brazil I have felt comfortable anywhere, in any situation, breastfeeding.  It is the norm here, at least in my village.  You can breast feed without a nursing cover/blanket in all public places and no one will bat an eye.  

But sadly this is not true for the US.  

I have read various horror stories of mothers being criticized or given a dirty look for breastfeeding in public.  Or worse, being directed to breast feed their child in the bathroom {I mean who wants to eat in the bathroom, I know I sure don’t!}  or thrown out of a public area/transportation.  And the topper, threatened by the police. 

I know this is not true in all parts of the US, but it does exist much more widely than here.  I wont get into my own personal opinions on this topic, because I could go on for days!  Let’s just put it this way, I believe there are some people with some serious hang-ups.  

And now we are heading back to the US.  

And I am still breastfeeding Malu. {whom is a toddler now, which gets even more criticism.}

And thinking about the two of them together gives me anxiety.  

Breastfeeding toddler + USA =  CRITICISM 

I hope I don’t get made to feel uncomfortable feeding my child in a public place.   

I hope I don’t get criticism for such a natural thing.  

I hope I don’t have someone ask me to put a blanket over her.  Because Malu will not go for that!

And I hope I can continue on this journey the same as I have done here.  

I am prepared to stand my ground, shall I have to.  

I am prepared to take the criticism, shall I have to. {But not without a heated discussion}

After all, I know what is best for ME and MY child.  

I will miss a lot of things about Brazil.   

But one thing I will miss the most, is living in my tiny village, and not having judgment passed on me for every little parenting choice I make.  

Any thoughts/opinions or experiences on this?  Please share with us in the comments!  

Beijos, Tanya

Here is Mamae Elvis with sweet baby  

Tsk Tsk .. and just so you can get an idea of the people of Carnaval .. the one below us is the star of Pipa Carnaval {obviously a man dressed as a woman .. but I must say he or ahheemmm …should I say she, makes a darn good woman!!!} 

And notice my chest hair .. teheheheeeee  :) 

Malu and I

The "star" of Pipa Carnaval

I wanted to write about this awhile back and instead it just sat in my archives  head waiting to be posted.  

Let me introduce you to our new pet “Bicho de Pe”  pronounced {bee shoe jee pay.}  The exact translation would be foot thang {is how I like to say it, but better known as thing}.   Bicho is one of those words in Portuguese that is hard to translate.  It is one of my favorite words.  I guess you could translate it as pet, animal, thing, creature .. all in one, it can be living or sometimes not.  It’s just one of those words that isn’t really translate-able (if that’s a word)  Anyhoo.. I digress.   A few weeks back after Max came home from the beach with Malu I noticed a little thing on her toe.  It looked like a callous with a big black center, but very swollen.  I told Max to take a look at it and upon examination he told me it was a bicho de pe.  Now I have heard about them before.  And known many friends who have gotten them, but me myself have never gotten one or saw one on a friend.  

SO what is a ‘foot thang’ anyhow?  It is basically a little female sand flea/bug/worm that lives in the shaded areas of the beach.  It boroughs into your skin {usually under your nails in the feet or hands, hence the name ‘foot thang’, but can enter in any part of your body}  And it lays it’s eggs, digging in further under you skin laying eggs the whole entire time.  It looks like a callous with a little black dot in the center.  I think the whole thing is disgusting.  But more disgusting in thought, than actual appearance.   

SO …here is my one year old daughter with a little flea under her skin laying eggs *gags*  I-just-couldn’t-get-the-thought-out-of-my-head.  I have been here 3 years and on the beach daily and never once run in with the dreaded ‘foot thang’ but my one year old daughter picks it up in the first year of life.  

The only treatment of the ‘foot thang’ is to remove it , usually done yourself…… {the locals then put Vicks vapor rub on the huge crater that is left behind.  They say it closes the hole quicker and suffocates the flea if you didn’t remove the whole thing. Kinda like a tick, you must be careful to remove the whole thing or she/he will grow back} 

….BUT I brought little Malu to the local hospital in hopes that they could rub a numbing cream over it before removal.  NO SUCH thing at the village hospital.   Upon which the very hesitant doctor then replied “por isso”  {for this, I don’t want to remove this from your young daughter.}  But after some gentle convincing, yeah I actually had to convince him a bit, he finally did it.  I was very nervous, because normally my daughter is very *intense* but on this day, she just stared while the doctor cut her toe open and didn’t cry a drop.  AMAZING!  And then which the doctor replied “ela e boazinha”  ”She is a good little one”.  And which I replied .. “yes she is”, with a big proud, mamae smile.  After it was all said and done she had a *HUGE* crater on this little, tiny, toe of hers.  It took about 2 weeks to heal.  And yes I did put the Vicks on it .. I didn’t want to take a chance with the “pet” returning.  

I took some pictures of the actual bicho de pe {see below} but forgot to take after photos of the crater left in her toe.  :-/

Bicho de pe

Psstt .. you wanna prevent yourself from getting a Bicho de Pe?   Then you should always wear your shoes whilst on the beach in Pipa, otherwise sooner or later you will have a little ‘pet’ pay you a visit!