This Week 20 & 21/52: Believe!

The past two weeks have mostly been swelteringly hot, with occasional rain showers/ thunderstorms, which suggests that we're moving early into the rainy season.  Emma took her first dip of the year in the swimming pool (not counting New Year's Day!) the Saturday before last, then went in again the next weekend.  She loves playing in the pool and splashing around; in fact, it's almost impossible to persuade her that it's time to get out.  Despite wearing sunblock her shoulders were a bit pink the next day.  Mine were more sunburnt, though, and Emma kept pointing out my pink shoulders to my family on Skype whenever I mentioned the pool!

We had an interesting talk at school last Friday (in Mexico the last Friday of every month is a teachers' training day).  It was pretty inspiring, I just wish I could remember more of the details - I can't even remember the name of the person who gave the talk!  What I took away from it was the importance of self-belief and changing the internal dialogue you have with yourself from negative to positive.  Here are a few points that stuck in my mind:

• Believe - really believe - that you can achieve your goals, and moreover, that you deserve to.  
• Write down your goals.  
• Congratulate yourself, and others, on achievements however small or seemingly insignificant.  
• Be disciplined - you will probably have to do things you don't want to in order to get where you want to be.
• Get up early.
• Keep positive energy levels high (the purpose of regularly hi-fiving each other throughout the talk!  Seemed to work!)

I guess these are all things we've heard before, but I seem to need constantly reminding in different and inspiring ways, so I thought I'd share these points to reinforce them and remind myself too!  They're all definitely things I need to keep working on.

We've been eating...

Mangoes are in season right now, and Emma loves them.  Chopped, spooned out of the skin, in a smoothie or just blended with water to make a refreshing drink, it's all good.  I love mango in a salad, too - in my last Things to do in Mexico when you're hungry post I mentioned this delicious Mango, jicama and chicken salad.

Emma says...

Some of Emma's new or favourite words and phrases at the moment:

Iya = here
Oya = hola (hello)
Ven, mami /ten, mami = come here, mummy / here you are, mummy (usually to hand me a little bit of snot - how nice!)
Mami, het mee peez = mummy, help me please!
Yutty = yucky
Baashoon = bathroom
Wass = rice
Paapul wawa, yeyo wawa = purple water, yellow water (her new scientific discovery that the water in the bath turns different colours according to the colour of the object you put in it!)
Toto sito = tonto mosquito! (Silly mosquito! Unfortunately lots of them about at the moment)

She's talking so much these days and can often be heard chattering away to herself, or us - I just wish I could understand a bit more of what she is trying to say!

My Quote of the Week is about how it matters what we tell ourselves.

Linking up this week with #KCACOLS @ A Moment With Franca