Pillager!

Domingo is really getting into Destruction-mode these days. Some times, he'll play very quietly and calmly for a really long time. But then he'll get his viking blood up, and start to destroy! and head-butt! and climb and fall!
I can usually get him to calm down by offering to read a book on the sofa, but that will often lead to Domingo only half-listening and doing sommersaults on the couch. This condition is only heightened when he's in the company of his lovely primas who add fuel to the wild fire.

Before bed Domingo will often need a few stories and sometimes a song or two before he's calm enough to get to the business of bedtime. The other night I was telling him one of his favorites "fuentos" the runaway bunny ('nejito 'darin) and Domingo was being lulled into calm, but then I forgot the last line. Domingo sat up and said "'nahoria?" Like, "what are you doing lady, you are leaving out the best part?" So we had to start all over. Even though I tell him this story pretty much every night, Domingo has a pretty amazing memory.

Holy Cow!

As spring training is well under way, and opening day is inching ever closer, Domingo dons the requisite head gear, and pays tribute to the great Harry Caray.

It's beginning to look a lot like Easter...

Actually, it's not. It looks much closer to Christmas around here. I must say I am so sick of this weather!! It snowed yesterday, real snow that didn't melt the instant it hit the ground. I'm moving to Florida. There is this ad campaign for visiting South Carolina that I totally HATE. It says "Time to Thaw" or something equally inane, and every time I walk out of or into the parking garage where this ad campaign seems to have its headquarters, I want to punch someone. Now I love South Carolina, probably more than the next person, but these ads were just designed to piss people off. I mean it's 20 degrees outside, and there is a flipping 10 foot sand castle in the basement parking garage, they are just asking for someone (me) to stomp all over it.
In other news, we had a fun but not exactly relaxing weekend this weekend. We were in Morris and had to stay over at Leticia's in case both she and Ian got called. And while the bed is perfectly comfortable, the breakfast choices are quite tasty, there is just something about that place that isn't exactly calming. What could it be, I can't quite put my finger on it...

Oh YEAH! It's Thing One and Thing Two! To borrow a phrase, they can throw a whirling dervish out of whirl. We had an awesome time, and Domingo especially was in heaven (except when one of them would take his toys, or wanted to play with one of their own toys, or when the subject of toys came up in general).
This weekend they are coming up here, so we'll see if it will be any more restful, I doubt it.
That said, I'm so glad we live close enough to see them all the time. Domingo is so enamored of them, this morning he was asking for more PRIMAS, and asking to go to Casa Primas! When he pretends to talk on the phone, he's always talking to "Fia" and "Ciela". As he gets older he is becoming an actual playmate for these guys and it's great. So I guess we'll stick around and just have to wait to "thaw" until the regularly scheduled time of year, July.

Domis in the mist

This past weekend Grandma and Farfar came for a visit, and actually to help out when I had to work on Friday and Saturday. Domingo had a wonderful time. They went to Oak Park and the Zoo. Then on Sunday we had lunch with Tia Hez and Tio James and drove around looking for houses to buy. We're still in the "dream" phase of the whole house buying deal, but I really wish we could just get to it. Ah well, some day, soon.
Here are some more pictures from this weekend.

Just to compare

This was taken about a year ago. Same hat as below. Incredible.

Who stole my baby?

And put this boy in his place?

18th month day post!

Late again, I know, but with good reasons. First, Mama and Papa actually left the house this weekend somewhere other than Abuela's, and second, Blogger was all messed up the other day and wouldn't let me even read my daily blogs, let alone post one, so here we are.
A year and a half, WOW! So what's been going on this month? We have been smack in the middle of dealing with the "18th month sleep regression". I don't know if this is myth or reality, but I've read in various places, and heard from various sources that 18 months is just a rough and needy time. Your sleep has gotten a bit on the funky side, and you will often wake up with what seem like nightmares, a lot of very soulful tears and screaming for mama when I'm actually right there. Your day time temperment had become a little less than charming lately too, with tantrums, and not wanting to share, and generalized oopa-mamaism. But then a few days ago you started to come back around, your sleeping is seeming to improve steadily, your tantrums are pretty isolated to dressing/diapering related activities, you are not so intent on me picking you up all the time, but you still cannot share if your little life depended on it. Oh well, three out of four is ok I guess. Along with this sleep regression really has come some incredible developmental strides. You have started stringing words together, are counting, and are making some leaps of logic! For example, the other day we were in the car and you saw three buses. You said, "un bus! otro bus! otro bus!, Muchos buses!" It is so cool to see your brain put together those concepts.
You continue to pick up words and phrases everyday, but still cut off the first one or two syllables for lots of words. This makes it really hard to get what you're talking about sometimes, and I know that can be incredibly annoying for you. You know exactly what you want and what you're saying, and we are not imaginative enough to figure it out. Fortunately you are such a calm little boy, you take it in stride and laugh at us when we repeat what you say and flounder around looking for what it is you are talking about. Either that or we just smile and nod and say yes. Maybe your father and I have promised you a new SUV on your 16th birthday without our realizing.
But the calm only goes so far. You have such a hard time sharing, it's moved beyond your books, and is now what ever you happen to be playing with, or what other kids are playing with for that matter. If it's in your line of sight, it rightfully belongs to Domi. It is your world after all, we're just living in it. You also don't have a lot of patience for Mama's inability to summon things out of thin air. I'm often reluctant to point out things to you, like trains or buses or planes, because I know that in the seconds after it is gone will come the inevitable request for "mas" X, and then the subsequent rage when I can't get another bus or train or plane to instantly appear. Fortunately you are nothing if not forgiving, and with a song or two you are back to your cheerful self.
You have officially outgrown the bedtime story your Papa and I have recited to you since you were only a few days old,
Buenas Noches a Todos. This is a little sad for me, but is all a part of you getting big. We started by reading it to you, but one time, we forgot to bring it to Abuela's and just had to go from memory. From then on we used to recite it while you would nurse, and then we started saying it while you had your glass of milk. But recently you have decided you don't want that story any more and demand "otro fuento" (you can't say the "k" sound, it comes out as a t or f, like instead of cola (tail) you say tola, it's pretty cute). Usually you ask for Runaway Bunny ('nejito 'darin) or Goodnight Moon (noche luna) or How the Rhinoceros got his skin, the later of which you demand very firmly 'ceronte piel! Fortunately Mama has always had this amazing memory, and never knew why she was granted this gift, until now. I can recite pretty much any story that we've read, and that has turned our short little bed time ritual into a series of "mas fuentos". But I don't mind because it gets the job done.
Maybe one day when your little sister is here we can all recite Buenas Noches a Todos.
Speaking of, we have started talking to you about your sister. You know her name, (which by the way is insanely cute when you say it) and know she's "inside" Mama's panza, although that concept was very strange for you I know. You spent a long time in the bath tub trying to see where exactly in Mama's panza your sister was hiding, and after awhile I think you just gave up and said, "ok these guys are nuts, I'll just go along with it until it gets too weird." I honestly don't know if this is the right way to go about introducing the idea of the baby to you, but either way, no amount of talking about it is going to truly prepare you for how exactly your world will be rocked when she comes. I know that it will be hard for you to share your Mama and Papa, your toys, your space, but you are such a sweet and loving boy, I know that soon enough you will adore her, and win her over in a second, just like everyone else you meet.
Finally, I have to post this video of why I don't bother cleaning our mirrors anymore. Not that it was an everyday affair or anything, but really with this going on, what is the point?

smooches for Domi from alice on Vimeo.

Pulpos and "burbur"

Domingo continues to be obsessed with octopi, so Chris purchased what was supposed to be the last Domi-present for a very long time (that lasted all of a day when he bought him another lagartija, his other obsession). But look at that face, it's pretty hard to resist. He ran around my parents' place this weekend with his pulpo securely tucked under his arm and whenever one of his cousins tried to wrest it from him he would scream bloody murder. Leading his cousins to correctly state with pouty faces that Domingo doesn't know how to share. Too true.

The other cutest thing on the planet that Domingo has done recently is say Big Bird. He doesn't have many English words, but the few he does say come out like he has a mouth full of marbles. It's so funny because he realizes when the word doesn't come out right. You can tell because he'll move his tongue around his mouth and try to say it again a few times until he gets it. His pronunciation in Spanish is usually really good, so I think it's weird for him not to "get" a word after one or two tries. There were a few times when he'd just give up and say "pajaro grande" rather than Bur-bur. But after a few days of Chris constantly asking him to say Big Bird, he's got it down so it doesn't sound so much like bur-bur any longer, but it was so insanely hilarious and cute while it lasted. Here is a clip.


"bur-bur" from alice on Vimeo.