person of the year

Continuing with the Best of 2009 Blog Challenge, the new person who came into my life this year and changed it for the better is...


Dete!

I've written about her here before. Where would we be without her?

Certainly hungrier, wearing wrinkled clothes, and living in a dirty house.

But more than that, Dete is in many ways the person closest to me here aside from my family. We often spend an hour or more together each day, commiserating about our kids, gossiping about the neighbors, talking about the latest disturbing story in the news.

I love to see her interacting with my boys, too. She totally gets them, and appreciates each of them for who they are.

R., who can be prickly and defiant (as you may have gathered), feels comfortable enough with her to hit her and call her stupid, which is what he does with us when he's frustrated.

He's also started calling her Detinha and Detita, which is really cute.

I see, she says. When I make bolo de milho, it's Detinha, huh?

Yesterday, we went to a feijoada at a friend's house in the condominium. Dete was cooking for another family here that she used to work for. When you want to eat, bring me Ju and I'll hold him, she said. And I did.

But later, when I wanted to take a break from the party, I found myself standing in the neighbor's kitchen with Dete, talking.

She's like family, really. I'm pretty sure she feels the same way about us. She sometimes mentions how she has six kids now--her three and my three. Once I overheard her telling Ju that when he grows up and comes to visit, she'll have an extra room in her house just for him.

Raising kids can be so hard. It makes it less lonely to feel that there's someone else who cares about your kids that much, who's not only there to hold the baby so you can eat, but also to laugh at a something funny that E. said, or to remark on R.'s progress with Portuguese.

I feel lucky indeed to have her.