The Latin Man

I'm going to start by saying that Mr. Rant is a very involved Father and Husband. He plays with the kids, helps with the kiddo responsibilities, and even does stuff around the house.

That being said, he is still very much a Latin Man.

What do I mean by that? Well, let me explain. You see, this weekend we took a Latin woman friend and her kids out to the country with us. At one point I was annoyed with Mr Rant, which is not uncommon while staying at his Mother's place, when my friend pointed out that I married a Latin Man.

Alright, I'm seeing that I didn't clear anything up there. My point, Latin men are incredibly spoiled by their female family members.

Take Mr. Rant at his Mother's house. The kind of lazy that takes him over is mind boggling. It is as if he forgets that he has children to take care of. Actually, it's more like his Mother expects him to relax and let her and I take care of them.

The problem here is that I am not a Latin woman. That is not going to fly in that if you don't get off your ass and remember that I am not the only one capable of serving juice to small ones your ass is going to go flying right out that window over there.

It is just amazing how time turns back and my husband and his brother become 15 upon crossing the threshold. Sure Mr Rant does play with the kids and, at this point in our marriage, is pretty good at remembering that he is married with children even though he is at his Mother's place. Although there is still a sense of entitlement towards pampering.

Take this weekend. Mr Rant sprained his ankle while snowboarding and thus couldn't go on the hike to the waterfall with the group. He stayed back home and napped with my friend's baby, and took care of the little guy when he woke up. I will say, Mr Rant knows his way around babies.

Anyway, upon our  return and after eating lunch, Mr. Rant declared that he needed a nap... Let me rephrase that, another nap. I laughed. He had to be kidding. I had done everything at that point with our kids and he needed ANOTHER nap?! 15 minutes later I couldn't find him. Low and behold he was napping in his Mother's bed with Mommy.

While I get that we were at my MIL and he did have that life threatening sprained ankle, enough is really enough. I am calling for equal opportunity spoiling! Momma needs a nap!

10 Ways Rio de Janeiro is Spoiling Me

There are certain aspects to middle class life in Rio de Janeiro that are definitely spoiling me.

1. I leave the dishes for the maid when she is coming the next day. Sure, it's her day to work but do I really need to stop cleaning up after myself at 2pm the day prior?

2. Complaining about services. I'm too lazy to take the car and drive to the grocery store, so I go and have the store deliver the groceries to me. The obvious trade for that convenience is the fact that I have to be home to collect them. I always get annoyed after around 30 minutes of waiting. I can't be bothered to carry my own stuff out nor can be bothered to wait. For me that translates into lazy  spoiled.

3. I resist leaving my general neighborhood. I basically have everything I need here and will attempt to stay in the area even though I have a metro and plenty of buses or cabs close by.

4. I love to order for delivery. You think not wanting to leave you neighborhood is bad, try not wanting to leave your house. I love to call and order food for delivery. I doubly love to get stuff from the pharmacy that way. That last one is partly because I am a horrible impulsive shopper at pharmacies. New toothbrushes for everyone!

5. I expect doorman help if I need it. I know it's part of their job but I find it odd that I now consider it a given. Of course I can over-shop and not have hands to open the door, Antonio will get it for me.

6. My kids know how to hail a taxi without having been explicitly told. I have those city gets who take taxis... in my defense, they also take the metro

7. I no longer clean toilets unless I really have to... or my two year old explodes all over the place (I'm not that mean).

8. If I wanted I could actually hire a cook to come into my home and make a weeks worth of meals for my family.

9. I can also easily hire someone to come in just to spend the day ironing all the clothes I own (this is very common).

10. Finally, I live in your vacation destination.