One problem with Ecuador is that we don't have a high chair, but we do have a 15 month old baby who is a messy eater. We did primarily baby led weaning with Maeve so she's used to feeding herself. Funnily enough, she eats more when we feed her. Meal time is usually a pretty big mess, but fortunately over the last almost 6 weeks, Conor and I have both chilled out about it. Maeve loves utensils, she loves eating off our plates and she loves avocados. Oddly, she would not touch avocados in the USA, but here she loves them! It's not uncommon for me to be preparing a meal and giving her bites of avocado. It's so funny to watch her scoot towards me with her mouth open. My little bird. 

Maeve, oh Maeve. Tonight when I was telling my mom about Maeve, she pointed out that one of the challenges this big age gap gives us is that Maeve is going to want to do what her sisters do and feel frustrated when she's too young! Fortunately, the big sisters are really patient most of the time. I couldn't help but snap a couple of photos of Maeve "helping" sweep. Add a couple annoyed squeals when she doesn't get to do it her exact way and that's my baby! Reminds me of Holly vacuuming when she was two.

We don't have a dishwasher in our apartment which is kind of awesome. Conor and I keep meaning to give our girls more responsibility, but it's easier to do everything ourselves. Here in Ecuador, the girls take turns doing dishes, wiping the table and sweeping. And it's awesome. Of course, we sometimes still help them with dishes. But it's been so great to have them pitch in more!

Also, those cheeks! 

Maeve is 15 months old today. She's the jewel of our family, we all adore her! Maeve still isn't walking although she loves to motor along and walk with someone holding her hands. She scoots everywhere on her bottom, but in the last couple of days, she's begun to explore her hands and knees. I have mixed feelings about that! Of course I want her to crawl on her hands and knee, but Maeve scooting around on her bottom is so uniquely her. A part of me will be sad when she walks and no longer scoots. I feel as though I should take many more videos!

Maeve is finally beginning to sleep through the night only because Conor and I are so under slept and desperate! It's tough to listen to her cry in the night and actually, last night, I gave in and fed her. But those nights where I sleep straight through without any interruptions are heaven! Conor and I are wondering why we didn't insist on her sleeping through the night sooner, but there's a few reasons why including her lack of weight and height and my own push over heart. 

Maeve is the only white baby I've seen in Ecuador and turns a lot of heads. Maeve is a really tricky name for Ecuadorians to say (Katie too actually). Her name is usually pronounced, "mab." Or sometimes I over pronounce the "v," which makes it sound like a two syllable word.

The other day, I had Holly take a couple photos of Maeve and I. I need to make a greater effort to be in more photos.  

The zoo here in Cuenca is a very worthwhile experience! We had heard and read good things, but we did not realize the treat we were in for! First things first, the zoo is on the side of a mountain and is absolutely not stroller friendly. The paths are rugged and steep. Fortunately, Maeve's favorite mode of transportation is the ergo and we didn't even bring a stroller. If I was going to this zoo with a 2-3 year old, I would want a back pack carrier for sure. The zoo is one big loop of one way paths so all of it needs to be experienced if you want to make it to the exit. A lot of families passed us! We were soaking up our first visit.

One of the first animals we saw was the Andean bears and lucky us, when we arrived at their very large enclosure, they were about to be fed. A female bear came lumbering down to the spot the keeper throws the food. He threw her some mango and papaya. Then the keep called the male bear's name to get him to come and have something to eat. And sure enough, he made an appearance. It was pretty cool! 

There were a ton of snakes and frogs and other animals native to South America. The condors were a neat thing to see and the monkeys were one of our favorites! Near the end of our visit, the rain hit pretty hard for 5-10 minutes. We somehow lucked out and were back near the covered lunch tables and managed to stay reasonably dry. But after the rain, the trails were pretty muddy and slippery. We had to be careful as we descended.

Lunch at the zoo was seco de pollo (rice, chicken and a small salad) for me and hot dogs for the girls and a sandwich for Conor. I love seco de pollo. It's so simple and so reliable and so Ecuadorian.

Once we finished at the zoo, we walked down to the highway where we thought we would be able to hail a taxi, but I guess it's illegal for taxis to stop on the highway? So that was a little tricky but eventually it all worked out. Just a part of the experience! 

One of our most favorite parts of the Amaru Bioparque Cuenca Zoologico (Cuenca Zoo) was this one pathway through a thicket of trees in which small monkeys lived. We almost walked straight through without realizing just how close we were to these adorable animals. And then we all lost our minds when we saw the teeny-tiny monkey on it's momma's back! Seriously, go watch this video Conor posted on his Instagram account. We totally wanted to tuck that baby monkey into our backpack and bring it home with us. Obviously we didn't. I think one of the amazing parts of this experience was that there was no fence separating us from the monkeys. They were right there so close! Holly and Greta both have a new found obsession for monkeys (they started playing "monkeys" before we left the zoo!) and Maeve was like, "meh, I'm cuter."

I wish every day was Saturday.