You know you have Brazilian kids when...

Kids at Museu da Republica, Catete

1. They know their way around dead cow: At four years old, Little Bear has hung out so much at traditional Brazilian barbecued meat restaurants (churrascarias) that he already knows the names for different cuts of beef.  Yesterday he was requesting fraldinha (flank steak) while snubbing the noble picanha (rump) or fatty cupim  (hump). Along the same lines, he also eats whole chicken hearts like only Brazilian children can.
2. They don't have vocabulary for winter garments: My children have pretty much no idea what gloves, scarves or woolly hats are, let alone winter jackets.  As summer draws to an end here it's actually become cool enough to wear clothes again, and the other day Little Bear asked excitedly if he could put on some 'long shorts''.   A year in Rio has robbed him of the words 'trousers' and 'jeans'
3. They actually ask to brush their teeth and wash their hands: You can't get a cleaner child than a Brazilian one.  Kids in the playground barely get a chance to play between nose-wipes, hand washes and getting dirt dusted off them.  This is a country where you commonly have four bathrooms in a two bedroom flat,  everyone takes their toothbrush to work so they can brush after lunch, and many people shower at least twice a day. Well, my kids have picked up the clean bug from their dad. We have to brush their teeth approximately every five minutes and they are meticulous about hand washing after going to the loo.  I shouldn't complain but it's just so very foreign.
4. They drink coffee and tea:  I was shocked to hear about friends' children being offered milky coffee as a drink at their nursery.  My kids aren't exposed to that, but they are offered mate, a caffeinated ice-tea drink, on a regular basis.  I didn't think they liked it, but according to Little Dove's teacher, on Friday she drank litres of the stuff.  As for Little Bear, this weekend he has decided that milky coffee is delicious and has been drinking all the dregs of Mr B's lattes.
5. They play at valet parking:  If my children are playing at driving in a toy car, one drives up to the other, gets out, gives them the key and goes into an imaginary restaurant, allowing the other sibling to park the car.  Spoilt brats I know, but it's just a reflection of the fact that here in Brazil - and especially in Sao Paulo - you get valet parking everywhere.  When I was a kid, I would dress myself and my brother in rags and we would play 'paupers' by sitting in the corridor begging money from passing parents.  Clearly my children have bigger aspirations.