Domingo and Amalia

3 years old!

2011-06-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

Amalia-
I know it has been a long time since I have posted on this blog, but I would be remiss if I didn't come back to document just how amazing you are on this, your third birthday. (Actually your birthday was yesterday, but I'm sure you'll forgive me for being a day late since we had your party two days early!)
You get more and more incredible every day. You have the funniest, spunkiest, orneriest personality of any 3 year old I have ever met. You constantly blow me away with how smart and funny and stubborn you are. You say the most amazing things, letting your father and I know that you are really listening and learning from us, even if we think you aren't. The example I always use is when you gave Daddy his "choices". You test your limits with such gusto it is almost all I can do to correct you without bursting into peals of laughter. Other times it is all I can do to keep my temper in check when you so forcefully and blatantly defy those limits. But it's all part of the learning process. You are never mean spirited, just spirited.
This past year you have made the most incredible leaps and bounds in all areas of your development. You have always been a very empathetic, loving, and social baby, but from two to three you have left almost all semblance of babiness behind.
You are getting more and more "girly" all the time, without any real support from the other members of your family you are adamant that your favorite color is pink, and all your favorite clothes are pink, food containers, shoes, bags, toys, etc. must be pink. You are still very loving with baby dolls, and have now discovered ponies which you think are the BEST. But at the same time you want to take ballet class, you also want to take karate, so all the girliness is tempered by your desire to kick butt! I will take it.
Another area of your personality that has become more apparent is that you are definitely NOT a morning person. You are happiest to sleep in (with mama of course) until 8:00 or 9:00, but that also means that well after everyone else is asleep you are content to chatter away until all hours of the night, using every excuse that your clever little mind can think of (I have to pee, I don't like these jammies, I need to give Daddy a hug and kiss, I have to look out the window, I need a drink of water, I'M NOT SLEEPY!!!!!!!) as you can see, there are quite a few!
Your favorite person in the world remains your hero and nemesis Domingo. You will do anything for his attention, even if it is negative. The best is when you play together, which is definitely more often than when you fight with each other.

You were born on the longest day of the year so the fact that your favorite song is Here Comes the Sun is so fitting since you fill our lives with sunshine.
Happy 36 monthday Amalia.
Love Mama

further proof that they are listening!

2011-04-06T19:00:00.001-07:00

Amalia has been on a serious roll these days, saying and doing funny things, and really coming into her own in terms of her personality.
She will be 3 in a few short months, but she sometimes acts as if she's going into her teens, or like she's already someone's mother!
At night our goodnight routine is usually 1.)read a book 2.) say a prayer 3.) goodnight "family" kiss all together. Usually there is a count down to the family kiss. Amalia started this tradition where she does the count down and adds a little exclamation before the kiss, for example the first time it was 3-2-1 OCTOPUS! Cute and funny and of course Domingo has to one up her and exclaim something himself. But lately Amalia's countdown is 3-2-1 "wuv". (She is still not pronouncing ls effectively, but the ws are ridiculously cute, particularly in the love countdown.)
Domingo once again had to one up Amalia and his countdown is 3-2-1 "rainbow love." It's all just too much. But that doesn't compare with Amalia's exclamation tonight.
Today in the car, Chris was saying something to her and she said matter of factly "Daddy don't talk to me. I don't want you to talk to me. Here are your choices..."
I'm sure I have listed her choices to her in such a matter of fact tone at least a hundred times. Choices between brushing teeth or sitting on the naughty step, or playing with us or continuing to cry in a tantrum in her room and the like. But to hear that parenting rhetoric parroted back with such confidence, such bossiness, that was really something else.
I don't really know where she gets that from since really Chris and I are not super assertive bossy people. I might have been more so in my youth, I would have to demur to my parents and older sister on that one, but I can guarantee I never told my mom or dad what to do in such an off handed and natural way, never for a moment thinking this kind of language and tone were not appropriate for a 2 year old to be using at all, let alone with her parents. I guess I should be pleased that we are raising such a self-confident child who understands that this is how you talk to people who are being unreasonable, you have a choice, either do what is right or suffer the consequences, it is all personal choice.
As soon as the words, "you have a choice" came out of her mouth I turned to Chris with a smirk on my face and said "are you listening to this?" But any hope of seriousness or trying to make it a "teaching moment" to explain that this is not how children speak to their parents, children do not set the rules, went out the window the minute she set out our "choices". What were those choices you ask?
"One: you can kiss me. Two: you can hug me. Three: you can let me eat chocolate."
Given those choices, how can you not just love this kid?

could it possibily be?

2011-02-18T15:23:00.000-08:00

That the ground hog was right? I don't want to jinx it, but after the insane blizzard of a few weeks ago, the weather is starting to look down-right springy.
Domingo has been completely and totally disturbed by all the mud an dog poop that has emerged since the snow melted. Amalia is true to form and LOVES jumping in mud and puddles. Let's hope it continues!

Return of the Monthday!

2011-02-03T18:04:00.000-08:00

Well, not really. But Amalia and I did just go to the doctor for her 2 and a half year check up (a month and a half late-oops!) so we have another stat sheet to put up. And I also took some more pictures of the blizzard that ate the back yard.
School is back open tomorrow, and Chris and I are assisting, and taking the bus so that should be interesting. Amalia and I took the train to the doctor's office today, and so she is officially a city-kid. She had no problem and people were really nice and gave us a seat on the super crowded train on the way back.
Amalia is doing great. Once again she's still a giant among babies, but she's coming back down to earth particularly in the weight category. I think the hideous cold she had and her less than usually enormous appetite these last few days may have helped a bit though!
Weight: 34lbs (90%)
Height: 38.5 inches (95%)
Head Circ: 20.25(>95%)
BMI: 16.25 (50-75%)
The doctor was really impressed with how verbal and social Amalia is. She went through a bunch of the ages and stages stuff with her, and she is doing all of the things she would have expected a much older kid to be doing, talking in complete and complex sentences, knowing her colors, shapes, upper case letters(she spelled the word HONEY on a coloring page in the waiting room) and some of her numbers(I asked her to press the elevator button number 4 and she got it right away), she jumps and kicks a ball and can stand on one foot, I don't exactly know why that's on the list but she can do it! So the doctor said, just to keep doing more of the same, and to work on letters and numbers. The only thing she will not do is speak in Spanish for heaven's sake! It makes me cukoo, but I know that she understands most of what is said to her, we just have to keep trying.
I remember a little over a year ago I was concerned because she just wasn't talking anywhere near as much as Domingo at her age, and now she is just such a chatterbox! The first thing she said when the Dr. came in the room was "Hi, I'm Amalia, I'm going to be a doctor like you when I grow up!" The doctor was like "whoa! fantastic!" This whole, "be a doctor" thing is totally and completely her invention. I'm sure that since there are loads and loads of MDs in the family, it's only natural for her to hear about it and say that's what she wants to do, but she's taken it to a whole other level of play (and I really can't say that I mind, I'd LOVE it! So long as she never says, "I want to be a lawyer when I grow up!") she makes me wait in the waiting room, she takes my temperature and then gives me a shot and says "Don't cry, now you can get a sticker!" at least she doesn't charge me a $20.00 co-pay!
She was so great in the appointment today, I was by myself and a little worried about it, but she was terrific. So maybe it's karma paying me back for just how miserable she was as an infant, because she is really just a joy in her "terrible twos". But man did I earn it!
Here are some more winter fun pictures!

My attempt at shoveling out our car, but I had to give up when Amalia was screaming she wanted to go back inside for hot chocolate.

Exhibit A

Meanwhile Domingo was "swimming" in the snow. He was so ridiculously happy rolling around and eating the snow like a puppy!

In the 5 minutes of outside time, before she became too cold and wet and fun in the snow became unbearable misery. This kid is more like her mom than I ever realized!

bad delinquent blogger makes good!

2011-02-02T17:41:00.000-08:00

For those of you who still sporadically check on this site (mom), sorry it's been months since an update! I blame facebook. It's so easy to post the funny things the kids say and do and the very occasional picture we take over there, so the blog is woefully neglected.
Anyway, here are some long delayed pictures from New Years, school, random, and the great blizzard of 2011! There really was a lot of snow! It was the 3rd biggest snowfall on record, they closed the schools, and Lake Shore Drive! It was pretty wild. We were glad to be warm and cozy in our little house, and then went out to play in all that white stuff! The kids got thrown around in the drifts for a bit but quickly complained they were wet and cold. Maybe there are some of my genes in there after all!

proof that you do love each other, or that we forced you to hug.

Holiday Card 2010- looks like an emo band's cover art

story time at school.

I'm sure this is the result of some great injustice, like we said no to m&m's for breakfast.

On our way to the Redmoon Winter Pageant. They were very well behaved, enjoyed the show, and Domingo fell asleep at the restaurant under the table, just like I used to do.

New Year's finery.

sibs

In SB with Farfar

Amalia looks so full of teen angst in this one!

baby pile!

snowday!

whee!

Jokster

2010-11-13T09:18:00.000-08:00

Domingo told me this joke last night, he claims to have made it up himself:
What do you call a new born Rhino?
A Cry-nocerous!
Hilarious.

down memory lane

2010-10-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but lately the kids have been really into watching old home videos of themselves and Chris and I from when we were not nearly as grey as we are today. And last weekend my mom had some long-time (notice I didn't say old) family friends over and they watched old home videos of when we were kids and they were so young. It must be something about the fall air. Needless to say, it got me in the blogging mood, and I often go back through the archives and look at how these children have gotten so big. Seriously, who snatched my babies away and replaced them with these giant children? Domingo is just such a boy I can't stand it. We were watching a video of Domi's first bath (not one I've put on this blog since it is a little too full-frontal) and I was dumb-struck by just how small he was. He was so YELLOW! Like a little sweet potato! It cracks me up now to think how defensive I was about it at the time. Also, Amalia LOVES this video and asks for it over and over despite the fact that it makes her a little weepy herself since she gets very distraught by the "baby crying." She is another one. Although all of my photos and videos of Amalia's first days (that were not preserved on this blog) were lost when the computer died, I still remember like it was a moment ago, just how small and delicate and impossibly perfect she was when she was born. Now she is such a child it stops me in my tracks on occasion. She is the queen of "by myself" or "mom let ME help YOU." She also has the need to "tell" you something of the utmost urgency, usually when you are in the middle of talking to someone else. She will grab my face and hold it in her two hands and plea urgently, "mom I have to tell you something." That something is usually what she had for lunch or that she went to the park or that she wants a snack. Her enthusiasm and new found independence are so incredible, particularly considering about a year and a half ago I was so concerned that she wasn't talking enough! HA!
Domingo made a comment to me today that normally would have me laughing my head off, but today just made us both sit and think for awhile. He said "mom when I'm a grown up, you'll be so OLD!" Then he said he didn't want me to be old because he always wanted me to be his mom. This child is four and he's thinking about things that are so delicate and sophisticated and hard to grapple with! We talked about it for a while, I explained that I would always be his mom no matter how old he gets, no matter how old I get. That is one of the wonderful and infuriating things about moms, no matter what you do, where you are, who you become, we are always going to be your mom!
And as I sit here in our nice cozy living room looking out at the changing fall leaves, I really do have a twinge of bittersweet feeling that these are the last of the baby times for me. That from now on, it will just be looking at pictures and videos not holding and nuzzling feathery soft milky babies. But then I get pounced on by my lion-boy and snuggled by my t-rex girl and I guess I can make do with the baby pictures if I get to keep wrestling with the real deals.

Happy Birthday my big 4 year old!

2010-09-15T06:10:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful summer vacation at the cottage which culminated in Domingo's 4th birthday party.

While I'm not usually one to brag about my culinary exploits, I have to gloat a little about the dinosaur cake I made from SCRATCH! Grandma did advise on the shape, I was planning on a T-Rex, Domingo's favorite, but this Brachiasaurus just worked out perfectly if I do say so myself.

The table was beautiful thanks to the end of summer farmer's market in South Haven, beautiful and delicious multicolored tomatoes, local flowers, and enough chipa guazu to choke a burro. We also had Abuelo's secret recipe chicken that never fails to please. It was a wonderful party and delicious meal. Domingo has a pretty sweet set up with his birthday being on or around Labor Day every year. He got to celebrate again with the primas in Morris last weekend along with Abuelo!

I realize I have lapsed on the month day updates, but I may do a once a month update for both Domingo and Amalia, and I think a year in review at birthday time makes sense.
Over this past year Domingo has really stretched out, and this once super-duper chub is now a skinny, scabby-kneed, scruffy haired little boy.

While he is still obsessed with all things prehistorical (mammoths, dinosaurs, homo erectus) and animals, he is also developing new interests like "mythological creatures", Super heroes and other fantasy topics. We are raising quite the little nerd! (which is said with the utmost excitement and love)
We just finished a new chapter book called James and the Giant Peach, one of my very favorites when I was little (not nearly as little as him, but still). I see his imagination working full force when he listens to stories, and later acts out different scenes with his toys. Today he lined up his whales and prehistoric sea animals and said "this is like the battle of the Alamo, remember in Davey Crockett?" Early American history also seems to be strangely intriguing to him as well, either that or it's just the fact that it was a battle!
He is getting much better about playing with a sharing with Amalia and others. He almost never gets into fights over belongings with his primas, and adores his baby prima Lucy, sometimes even letting her play with his stuff!

School is starting up again, and he is excited and eager to go. He has asked me to be the helping mom and said that he really likes it when we are in his school. I love the school so much and am so glad we are able to send him there again. He is so curious and interested in learning about the world around him, how it works, why things happen. He is so careful and concerned about others, whenever I say "oh no" or "oh my goodness" he runs over and asks "what happened?" Or if Amalia is crying he always needs to know why. (Unless of course he's the reason, and then he already knows! And to his credit, he always fesses up when he's done something to make her cry.) But scuffles between them are also getting to be a fairly rare occurrence. He is starting to appreciate the total adoration of his little sister, and she is starting to develop interests of her own, so there are fewer skirmishes where we have to intervene.
He is growing so fast and so big, it almost happens before my eyes.
I want to slow down these moments grab him up in a hug while he still lets me and cover him with smooches. Fortunately for me, as he has gotten older, he has held on to the sweetness that he had as a baby. He spontaneously gives kisses and hugs. Out of nowhere he'll come up and say "I love you mom." And today he told me I was the prettiest girl in the world. How could I not just want this time to last forever?

More Michigan!

2010-08-09T19:19:00.000-07:00

This weekend we were in Michigan again, and aside from the bugs it was a wonderful time! Domingo got to hang out with his new friends Joshua and Owen. Here are some pictures, enjoy!

Another great Michigan weekend!

2010-07-29T08:48:00.000-07:00

Here are some new pictures from our great trip to the cottage this weekend. The primas and abuelos came along. Then we had a birthday celebration dinner for daddy. The weather threatened to be ugly- lots and lots of rain. But fortunately the rain stayed mainly overnight, and we got to go swimming in the lake every day! The waves were as big as I've ever seen, and the water was so warm, I couldn't believe it. I got in the water every day, so you know it was crazy warm.
This weekend we are sticking around town, and I'll try not kill myself running the rock and roll half marathon on Sunday!

campfire marshmallows!

she is getting so big!

giant boy!

hope these guys are always as close as me and my sis!

Fun on the Fourth!

2010-07-08T06:13:00.000-07:00

We had such a great fourth of July weekend. We spent some quality time at the beach, saw some fireworks, and had some yummy food and more cupcakes!
We got to the cottage super late on Thursday night and got back home super-duper late Monday night. These kids are turning into night owls! Last night we went to the kids first baseball game at Wrigley (that they might remember that is) and they had a great time. It was a minor league game between the Kane County Cougars and the Peoria Chiefs. They made it to the end, saw the famous dancing chicken and got to take a run around the bases after the game! Unfortunately, we didn't bring our camera to document the fun time, but here are some other good times captured on film.

2 YEARS OLD!!

2010-07-01T07:11:00.000-07:00

Amalia, last week you turned two years old! You are right in the heartland of toddler-hood and are taking it all in stride.
Over this past year you have changed so much. Last year you were still scooting around, mostly babbling babytalk, and were so super chubby! Now you don't walk anywhere, you RUN! You cannot keep quiet, you just talk and talk and talk. And while you still are no waif-child, you have slimmed down considerably since your scooting days. You are so very tall, and still just about the prettiest little girl I've ever seen.
We had your doctor visit and here are your stats:
Height 36" (90-95%)
Weight 32.5 lbs(95%)
BMI: 17(normal)
The doctor said you are doing great! And that you are just a BIG girl.

You are still such a funny, charming, and loving child. You'll gladly give a total stranger a hug. Kisses good bye are your specialty and will make the rounds through the family members like a true Paraguaya. Your favorite human being is still Domingo,

although the primas, and prima Lucy are right up there all tied for second place.

Your favorite thing to do these days is lay in bed at night after the lights are out and tell knock knock jokes. You've come up with some really funny ones, and it is all I can do to not burst out laughing when you come up with a good one, or when you forlornly call out knock knock after I've said it's time to sleep and stopped answering who's there. You also have discovered the Mickey Mouse Club song, and it is your favorite thing ever. You and your brother are total 50's throw backs, since his new favorite song is Davey Crockett. Which you like to sing as Davey Chocolate. I think you guys will be running around in mouse ears and coon skin caps before too long!

Last week we had your birthday party. First one on your actual birthday, the summer solstice. The longest day of the year is a wonderful day to be born I have to say.

We had a nice little dinner and chocolate cake with tio James.

Then the primas came over on Friday (with their parents of course)

and we had a super fun weekend, going to the farmer's market, the zoo,

and of course your big birthday bash including our fancy homemade cupcakes. Not really all that fancy, but tia Leticia brought her decorating stuff and we didn't do too bad. I mean, I don't expect Martha Stewart to call me any time soon as her new icer or anything, but they weren't bad for my first attempt.

And what Latin American birthday would be complete without the obligatory pinata? Abuela went the sissy way out and bought the kind that you pull strings and not beat until it explodes.
Tia Leticia is of the opinion that you have to learn early that you have to work hard to get the sweet things in life. Maybe next year we'll traumatize you by having you beat Dora the Explorer until her head comes off.

This was the aftermath, all kids scrambling for fallen candy, you just excited that you have two lolly pops!

Amalia, you have had an amazing 2nd year of life. You've got to meet so many wonderful people, go to amazing places and do incredible things. And you are only 2!
But even as you get bigger and bigger (you are about 1/2 as tall as your DAD!) and talk more an more (Where is my Minnie Mouse mama, I want it?) and learn to do more and more (running, jumping, SWIMMING!, playing the kazoo, dressing like a viking) you will always be my little baby girl and I love you.

Love,
Mama

23 months, Grease, and Baby-oke!

2010-06-03T06:01:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since my last post! Amalia has turned 23 months, and I can't believe she'll be two this month! Not because she's too little, no, no, since she is still a gigantic girl, but because time goes by so quickly.
This past Memorial Day weekend we were at the cottage in Michigan, and I was just remembering how little both Lucy and Amalia were the last time we were there last year. Last time, Amalia was just starting to walk, Lucy was still just a teeny baby. Now Amalia is chasing along behind Domingo, Theo and Freya, and Lucy is toddling not too far after. Both Domingo and Amalia can get up and down the stairs to the beach, (although of course they prefer to be carried) which is a major coup for my back since the climb up is hard enough without a 30+ pound weight!
Then Domingo and Amalia got really into "singing" karaoke. Singing is in quotes because they didn't really get that you are supposed to sing words. They held the microphones and just sang "oooh" for minutes at a stretch. To their credit, they weren't too terribly off pitch.
The last time we were in Morris to hang out with the primas, tia Leticia, and tia May, we made a few trips to Gehpard Woods and were exploring and investigating "nature". Chris and Domingo caught a teeny tiny baby turtle that was so cute I wanted to keep him. Domingo named him Grease, because the water he was swimming in looked "greasy". No we weren't in Louisiana! But ultimately, we decided that wild animals belong in the wild. So we returned him to the I and M canal where they found him. We then saw this huge wild deer jump into the canal and swim across and run into the forest behind us. I have never seen something like that before, in the middle of the day no less! Then we caught loads of tiny baby frogs that were very very jumpy! It was also catch and release, and soon those frogs figured out that if they stayed on the surface near the water's edge, we would grab them. So they would dive to the bottom, or go out too far and we would have to move on to the next little frog. We saw some baby goslings, and a big fat water snake. It was a day full of amazing nature.
So we are really looking forward to another summer with lots of trips to the cottage, Morris, and heck, we may even stick around here for a bit!
Here are some pictures!

NASTICS!

2010-04-29T06:58:00.000-07:00

Or as most people pronounce it, GYMNASTICS! Amalia and Domi have been taking this great gymnastics class through the park district. It's 45 bucks for ten weeks! They have a spring floor and rings and trampolines! Sometimes I love this city.
Domingo is in the "big kids" class. Parents don't go up with them because the teachers say that when the parents are around the kids don't pay as much attention. Amalia is in the Moms' and Tots' class. I get to race after Amalia on the obstacle course and the highlight of the entire day, aside from swinging on the rings, is that if they make it around the course, they get a stamp! Amalia for hours will proudly show you the ink stamp on her hand and usually wants more.
Since we started gymnastics, Amalia has been practicing at home by doing something insane and then yelling TA-DA! If she could keep it to just jumping off the couch and not the other furniture, then I'd be ok with it. Anyway, here are some pictures from our awesome time at NASTICS!

22 months already!

2010-04-27T21:16:00.001-07:00

Did I miss something? Oh yes, in less than 2 short months this little lady will be 2 years old. I can't believe it.
Amalia you are just a marvel. Everyone who meets you says the same things over and over, you are so adorable, you are so funny, you are so mischievous, you are so sweet. It's true, you have developed this really great personality that is all your own. And just as you are talking more and more, you are exerting a little more of your own independence, and moving away from always being so compliant with me, your dad, and most importantly and surprisingly, your brother! I knew the day would come when the scales would fall from your eyes and you would see that your brother was not the idol you made him out to be, I just didn't expect it to be this soon! While you still adore him and pretty much want to do everything that he is doing, you have stopped accepting his "trades" of cruddy non-toys that he offers when ever you have something that he wants to play with. You assert your own wants and this will very often lead to conflict, but you are no push over, even when it comes to fighting with your big brother. Hmm, I wonder where all this spiritedness could have come from?
Oh speaking of non-inherited traits, you are as stubborn as any person, or horse/donkey hybrid I have ever met or read about. If there is something you want to do or don't want to do it is just about impossible to change your mind or get you to forget about it. This has become a bit of a problem in the mornings when we have to leave for work and you weren't quite done with us yet. You pout and cry and stomp your feet and it is really an impressive show. The best still remains your angry pouting hominid face, complete with lower lip jutting out and brown prominently ridged. I must get a photo of this, but it is often a fleeting expression since once you see the camera you start hamming it up.
It really is wonderful that we've moved into this great house with its nice little yard. You love nothing more than going outside playing in the dirt, rubbing it in your hair (again, you and your brother don't seem to share a single characteristic and if you didn't look so much a like I would think you were switched at birth, or maybe he was!) and playing in the great outdoors. You even like the train and always let me know that it's going by.
It's hard for me to realize in the fast day to day how much you've really changed and grown in the past few months, but looking back to the monthdays-past I can really see the difference and it is incredible. My little peanut is a giant walking, talking, singing, dancing, running, climbing, "nastics" doing girl. But as I snuggle next to you when it's time to sleep and you pat my face oh so gently as you fall asleep, I know too that you are still my sweet little baby.
Love,
Mama

Spring time Sibs!

2010-04-07T19:01:00.000-07:00

It's really true! I was driving home today and saw little leaf buds on every tree. Spring really is here!
The kids have been having some spring fun by going out in the back yard, planting seeds in containers and Spring "cleaning" both the garden and the house.

I missed Amalia's monthday post last month, but suffice it to say that the terrible twos come early around these parts. Amalia is now the same age Domingo was when she was born, and she is by far much clingy-er and more jealous than he ever was despite there being no new-born to compete for my time and attention. And not to take the comparison too far, but she is also much more prone to "tantrum" then Domingo ever was. I suspect it is partly due to the fact that he was much more verbal than she is and was able to talk things through at a much earlier age. But that doesn't account for it all. Amalia just has a much fiestier personality. Domingo has two modes, happy and miserable. He very rarely gets angry, and when he does its more like a flash and loss of control where he'll clench his teeth and fists and grunt or shout and then in a second, it's over. Not so with little miss tantrum-in-the-middle-of-Target. She has the perfect little angry Neanderthal face when she doesn't get her way or when she is frustrated, or generally displeased, which is more often than you might think. It is hard being a toddler with lots of wants, particularly with a mom who denies you unlimited cookies, power tools for toys, and doesn't even have her own ipod! (The fact that she at 21 months is perfectly able to navigate Chris's ipod touch blows me away!)
But despite her entering the terrible twos with gusto, she still has moments of unbearable sweetness. She hugs and kisses just about everyone she sees. She always says "Thanks!" when you give her anything, especially "yummyyummycheese."
She loves Domi even when he's making her life miserable: stealing her toys, demanding his story be read first, pushing her, tricking her, eating her candy, and basically paying me back for every mean thing I ever did to my sister and brother as a child, and there were lots. But there are really great moments between them too. Today I was changing her diaper, which she continues to hate, she said "Domi, Amalia's crying!" and he came over and said "It's ok Amalia, don't cry." It was one of those incredibly sweet exchanges that you hope for when you have more than one child. Of course it immediately devolved into snatching and grabbing of toys, but I captured the moment in my mind.
Here are some more Easter photos. The kids had a really great Easter in Morris, and who wouldn't with all that chocolate!

Birthday fun! and Misc.

2010-03-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

After being admonished by unnamed sources for never updating this blog, I am happy to report new fun pictures! And old ones I never got around to posting! Enjoy!

Curtain call for "Sleeping Princess" and "Puppy meets Kitty" two plays by Sofia and Graciela respectively.

Kitty and Puppy cast photo

"Sleeping Princess" wakes up after being kissed by the magic prince in a dog costume. We may have some copyright issues with this one...

I need to know two things here, 1.) why am I constantly making this face as it gets captured on film over and over again, and 2.) is Amalia as terrified of me in this picture as I am of myself right now?

That morning cup really hits the spot.

Domingo's post vacation hair- still ridiculously long, but without the Florida humidity to give it that natural bounce and curl.

This is Domingo's friend Charlotte. They decided to go off to Mexico while we were at Polly's birthday party. Charlotte asked Chris if Domi could come with her, and he being the liberal guy he is said yes.

Uf DA! Polly's mom gave us this little t-shirt because Amalia is quite the li'l Norska.

I am kicking myself for not jotting down some of the hilarious things that Domingo has been saying recently. He is just incredible sometimes. Chris and I will look at each other and say, man that's one for the blog, but by the time I get a second to sit down and type, it has vanished from my ever shrinking memory banks. Man oh man, age is a killer. In better news, it looks like the tentative beginnings of Spring around this joint. So hopefully I'll be posting some pictures of outdoor fun pretty soon!

The triumphant return!

2010-03-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

Although the weather was less than ideal upon our return, and it was pretty much ideal when we left Florida, prompting us to say that maybe we'd just stay another week, we in fact are back in town.

I woke up this morning and only after checking facebook with all the complaints about daylight savings did I realize that we sprang forward today. Good thing for the internet or I would've gotten to work really late tomorrow!
Well, we had a fantastic trip to Florida, even though Amalia got a little stomach sick on the plan ride back to Chicago. Hmmm. Maybe I should have been a little more aggressive in trying to stop her when she was licking the glass at the children's science museum.

Domingo had a great time on the plane and then on his first ride on the train. He just stayed glued to the window the entire time.
On this trip we learned a few things, one, there actually is a food Amalia will not eat. She refused fried calamari and said quite plainly, "I don't like it". Domingo on the other hand has never met a sea creature he wouldn't eat. He was guzzling little fried tentacles like nobody's business.
We went swimming everyday, sometimes twice, and my children can never doubt the extent of my devotion to them since I actually got in the water on a day it was 65 degrees, and the water was not much warmer.

But overall, we had a wonderful time, got to spend some great quality time with Grandma, Farfar and baby Lucy aka Owl aka Momo aka "babycrying". And when it was time to leave, no one could fault Amalia for this little meltdown.

I feel the same way.

Florida!

2010-03-11T05:46:00.000-08:00

We're having a lovely vacation down in Florida! Complete with fries and chips for lunch followed by ice-cream chasers.

Although I've missed Amalia's 20 monthday post update, we did take her to her pediatrician appointment (two months tardy) and she's still on target for being the biggest girl on my side of the family. She's above 95% in all areas, 36 inches tall, 30 pounds, and I don't remember exactly her head circumference and don't feel like taking it again down here in Florida, but it is equally giant, full of juicy brains.
And she is now talking up a storm, in full 4 and 5 word sentences, usually aimed at pointing out the indignities of the life of a 1 and a half year old.

Either that, or saying "Amalia want to watch TB."

We've been keeping very busy in a lazy kind of way. Amalia and Domingo walk the 20 feet to the pool at least once a day, sometimes twice. Amalia loves to walk down the steps and lunge into the water face first. She knows no fear. Domingo, as always, is a bit more tentative. But once he decided he liked jumping in, he wanted do it over and over again until his parents were both water-logged and worn out.
Then yesterday we went to the beach and it was so sunny and nice, until of course you step in the water. I'll take the 85 degree pool, but not these Norse-children.

But I can't complain too much, they are having such a blast, and no one said I have to get in the water!

I'll post more pictures when we return!

Historic happenings/belated 19th monthday

2010-02-05T21:09:00.000-08:00

Well, our camera has been MIA for quite a while, and I do want to get some pictures of our new house up here soon, but I'll have to make do with a written report of the goings on here at Chez D and A. The paint is dry and the floors are done, the furniture is mostly moved in, even if the beds are still in pieces. Thanks moving man! (They neglected to leave the hardware so we've been sleeping on the floor for the last week and a half!)
But overall it's been wonderful to be in our new place. Domingo at first did not like this development at all, calling the new house a "sad house", saying he wanted to go back to the old house, and that he did not want to move. The other day I told him to go pick out a book to read before a nap and he said, "mom, I can't, there are no books in this house!" and after being in our old place where the problem was you couldn't pick out a book because they'd all come tumbling off the over-stuffed shelves, I realized we had to get some toys and books out here asap. So we've been talking a lot, playing a lot and getting used to the new place, and I think we are over the emotional hump for him. I think that because so much of his life is his "things" being separated from them made the transition that much harder. Once the toys and books came out he told me he loved his new playroom, which I have to agree is pretty awesome.
Amalia is another story altogether. This past month she turned 19 months and is having no trouble at all adjusting to her new surroundings. She loves the play room, loves the yard and the "sofa" which she demands to get on by herself! In fact that is a pretty common refrain around here these days. "By MYSELF!!" is said with such gusto regarding everything from tooth-brushing, to boot-donning, to sleeping.
Yes, tonight marks a serious historic milestone for our little family. For the first time since she was born Amalia is sleeping by herself in her pack and play. (That is a bit of an exaggeration since the first few weeks of her life she slept in the pack and play next to me, which is basically what we're doing now, but those first few weeks don't really count as sleep, now do they? I didn't think so!)
I was completely taken aback this evening as we were climbing into bed (on the floor) and Amalia looked at me and said, "no this one" and pointed to her pack and play. I asked if she wanted to sleep in there and she said yes. She sat up a few times, called for mama a few times, I held my hand up to the side and she put her hand against mine and then settled in and went to sleep by herself. I should be so happy and wonderfully relieved that she is taking steps on her own to move on from the family bed. Maybe I'm deluding myself and it's just that she was sick of sleeping on the floor and as soon as the bed is assembled she'll be clamoring to get back in it with me. But for now, it is a very bittersweet pill to swallow.
She is so so determined to be such a grown up kid like Domingo (who shows no sign of ever giving up the family bed by the way) and I have to fight every urge to hold on to the chubby little baby that she really isn't any longer. She is getting to be so big, so much like a child, and less like a baby as every day goes by. Though she still has her chubby cheeks and sweet tummy, she's taller, leaner and talks in phrases and is so bent on independence.
She is still just about the sweetest most generous and loving child I have ever met. If her brother gets in trouble, she cries along with him, even when he is in the soup for being mean to her. You cannot give her a thing without also giving her one for her brother, a cookie, an m&m, a goldfish, floss, anything! She gives him his share first and takes her own after he's got his. This astounds me to no end, because I was never really consciously aware of the hero-worship I must have felt for my older sister, only the advantages that I took of my little brother, so I'm much more familiar with what is going on in Domingo's little mind than in hers. I stand gaping every single time I give her a treat or a toy or a kiss and she demands one for "Mingo", every single time. I'm sure the end will come for this too, like cuddling with my sweet girl all night, her total selfless devotion to her brother is something that is probably just too good to last. But I will mostly definitely do all I can to remember both these little treasures of her babyhood, and relish the time I have had to enjoy them.
Love Mama.

Lazy blogger!

2010-01-08T12:31:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks have been crazy busy, what with Christmas, New Years, fixing up our new (to us) house, blogging has totally gone by the way side. Here are a few updates:
I am on a New Year health kick which I am celebrating by eating a potato pancake lunch, with sour cream! Seriously, I'm actually doing pretty well, and it's all about portion control. I am determined to get back to pre-domi weight, or at least pre-domi size, and am eating salad 5 days a week, and oatmeal for breakfast every day. We'll see if it works.
On a related child-oriented note, Domingo honest to God gags on mashed potatoes, making him eat them is seriously like a punishment. But he will gobbled down mashed potato pancakes. Who birthed this being? What kid hates mashed potatoes? He's not Norwegian or Paraguayan, I think he's alien.
Amalia is talking more than ever and her official cutest word to date is "PETE" pronounced in spanish and is her version of chupete, or pacifier. She yells Pe-te! when ever she finds one and it's the best thing ever. It is totally her lovey and I have a feeling it will be next to impossible to separate the two when the time comes. Yikes. What did I wish for when I begged Domi to take one.
I don't even have any pictures from the last few weeks to show, so I'll have to remedy that shortly!

Winter Solstice monthday!

2009-12-21T16:36:00.001-08:00

Amalia, your 18th monthday/half birthday is today on the shortest day of the year! I realize that the posting over here has been pretty light recently, but I promise there is a really good reason. We've been working hard trying to get your new house ready for you to move! Well, all of us will be moving, I don't want you to think that you are getting your own place quite yet.
I kind of didn't want to post about the place until we were ready to move in, but it just doesn't make sense to keep NOT mentioning the reason we've been so busy lately! But soon enough we'll have lots of pictures and a brand new house from which we'll be updating!
But despite being super busy, we've still kept some tabs on what you've been up to, a little.
So! Developmentally, you are plugging right along. You are officially a little parrot. You now repeat everything we say. I have stopped counting all your words, but there are many. Your absolute favorite thing to do is sing and listen to music. Your favorite song is the theme from Totoro, and still, Home on the Range reigns supreme. You started liking that song since I would sing it when reading "Cowboy Pequeno" or as it's rightfully called, Cowboy Small. There is a page where Cowboy Small is singing Home on the Range to his fellow cowboys, and you always would ask for mas, mas, mas! when ever I got to that part. It became kind of like your lullaby, and it remains your favorite song before bed.

Your Cowboy Pequeno homage.

You are still growing like a weed, and LOVE to eat and drink more milk, or "all gone" as you still call it, than any other baby I've ever seen. You are more of a milk lover than even your brother was when he was your age, and that is quite a bit!
We haven't taken you to your 18th month check up for the official stats, but my back tells me that you weigh at least 30 pounds.

Delicioso!

And everywhere we go when people ask how old you are, they follow up by asking if you are really tall for your age. You are quite tall and I suspect that you are still off the chart percentagewise in all categories.

You are still obsessed with "Omingo" although you do fight with him a lot more than before. You are kind of a brute. You hit and push and grab and fight, sometimes with Domi, other times with Mommy! We are in the process of really trying to get you to be a little more "suave" as we say over here, but it is a very hard lesson for you to learn. But, with a little patience, we are definitely learning it together.

This coming month we'll have a lot to look forward to, Christmas, seeing tio Gustavo, playing with primos and primas, and hopefully moving into our new house.
Amalia, thank heavens the days are going to get longer, so we'll have more time to spend together. Happy half-year birthday sweet girl.
Love, Mama.

Happy Delinquent 17th monthday!

2009-12-09T02:42:00.000-08:00

Amalia, these last few months have been super-crazy busy rather than their usual just super-crazy. You are quite nearly 18 months, a year and a half! But I would be remiss if I let last month go by undocumented.
You are really coming into your own in the talking department the past month or two. I was dutifully noting all your new words (like PIE!) and then realized that I've stopped keeping track because there are so many! Just to show you I'm not totally shirking my documentary duties, some new words you've pick up are more/mas, apple juice/jugo, cabeza, nariz, boca, pie-meaning foot in Spanish, as well as pie the food, bump, owie (those were learned together) hi/hola, and Domingo, which you pronounce "ingo"or "omi". I must say it's very sweet. So you definitely will have 20 words at 20 months, so I can stop worrying about language in general and start worrying about something else, like your Spanish. Unlike Domingo, you are speaking both Spanish and English pretty equally, if not a little heavy on the English. So let's try to work on the ol' espanol chica.

You too senor giant boca.

I think the fact that you can FINALLY get your point across makes for a much less frustrating life experience. You did not really take to the baby signs very much (except for MAS!) so now that you have some vocabulary at your disposal, I think you are less likely to throw a tantrum, or at least I'm less likely to feel bad about it, because, dude, I know you want m&ms, I hear you, I feel your pain, but you are not getting m&ms (at least not any MORE m&ms).

You may, however, have more pasta with a giant spoon.

You are such a quirky, funny, beguiling little girl. You love reading (EAD!), playing with babies (your absolute favorite is "your" baby, cousin Owl), and singing. Your favorite songs right now are Totoro and Home on the Range. It is really hilarious how you kind of mumble the melodies, and then yell out the last words of the phrases in those songs. I have to get a video of if some time, but we usually sing before bed or in the car. Yes, your favorite lullaby is Home on the Range, I said you were quirky.

This month (or two) has flown by, it's starting to get colder, it snowed for the first time, and we have a whole bunch of new stuff to look forward to in the coming months. But first there is this:

Oh Amalia, please don't ever change.
Love,
Mama

That which shall not be named...

2009-12-04T15:21:00.000-08:00

Of course when the camera wasn't on she was screaming PIE! at the top of her lungs, and when I turned the camera on her, she became a petite demur flower. I must admit I find it pretty amusing that one of my children is so adamantly in love with the dreaded P word. Pretty soon she'll be asking me to pass the chips and you know what.

Give thanks

2009-11-29T08:44:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving weekend has come and is nearly gone. We had a wonderful time with family and friends, met some new(ish) members of our clan and had more food than is almost imaginable.
Here are just a few pictures from meeting our new cousin Liam, as well as a few from before Thanksgiving of my two little savages.

Unbelievable!

2009-11-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

This past weekend's glorious weather was all the birthday present I could wish for. But on top of that I got tons of great stuff too! How can it be November and 60 degrees? We had the most wonderful weekend with a trip to the farmer's market, zoo, restaurant and park. It was a busy weekend, but so incredible. I feel ready to tackle this next year with renewed vim and vigor. First task: reducing the amount of Animal Planet that gets aired around here.
Enjoy!

I'm alive! from alice on Vimeo.

Happy Fall!

2009-11-06T10:59:00.001-08:00

Daddy commandeers the blog!

2009-10-26T17:26:00.000-07:00

Amalia is a proud norsewoman! Hurrah!

16th Monthday!

2009-10-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

Amalia tomorrow you turn 16 months! Look at how far we've come! There has been a lot going on in your little world this month. Most notably, you've started talking a little more! In fact today when your brother was coming after you trying to give you a kiss and you said clear as day "I don't want to." It was a good time to teach your brother about boundaries.
You are also a big fan of NO! Other words you've picked up are book, up, go, baby, all gone (which you use to mean milk too, since two seconds after I give you your milk it's "all gone!") jugo, agua, and uvas. Sadly, I think you are also saying M&Ms and say it ALL THE TIME, I guess that is to be expected in a potty training house. It's funny to me that you are speaking both English and Spanish where your brother only spoke Spanish for the first nearly two years of his life, but it only makes sense since you hear your father, brother and I speak to each other in English, and only Esther and I speak to you in Spanish.

All Gone! from alice on Vimeo.

You are getting much more into books (which you pronounce ook) and demand to be read four or five before bed and cry when I say it's time to turn out the light. You really love the tactile books that have different things to touch and pull. Donde esta el ombliguito gets an Amalia thumbs up, as do all the "este no es mi" books, the lion one being your favorite.
You can point to many body parts, mouth, nose, head, ears, and belly button of course, and it is pretty obvious that you understand so much more than you can articulate. It is very frustrating for you (and me) to know what you want and not be able to get your way. Sometimes it's because you can't tell me what you want, other times it's because you can't have what you want, but no matter what it's NO FUN. And you have no problem letting everyone know it.

I also couldn't have a month day post without commenting on your growing relationship with your brother. For the most part, I have to say, it's wonderful. You wake up from naps or in the morning and the first thing you do is go and look for him. You smile and laugh when you find him, even if when you first got up you were crabby. That isn't to say it's all sunshine and roses. I've caught little glimpses of what awaits: "stop touching me", "I was playing with that", "That's MINE!!!!!" are sure to feature largely in your future vocabulary. But for now, I'm content to just sit back and watch as you guys figure out your relationship for yourselves, only intervening when I think someone's well-being is at stake.

In other big news, I neglected to mention last month that you are officially weaned! It really was a simple Amalia-led process. When I realized that you were really not interested in nursing any longer, and I was continuing more for me than for you, we stopped. One night I just didn't offer to nurse, and you never made a single indication that you wanted to. So without even a whimper a very significant milestone was passed.
I thought I might be sad or wistful, but I am just happy that you've taken another little step towards independence. When I really sit down and think hard about what the end of nursing means, for you, for me, then it's true, I may feel a little nostalgic for my little babies, for the fact that I will, in alln likelihood never have another little nursling, and my children are now bustling, busy, fighty, giggly little people. I mean, look at you! How did you go in the blink of an eye, from a round little grub, to a scooting scooter, and now to a fully fledged toddler? The walking break through really did happen in a matter of weeks. Now you toddle around from this toy to that, or from one room to another like you own the place. And along with the increased mobility, not surprisingly, you are in fact starting to loose some of your chins!

Another month has gone by, and I have been so lucky to spend my days and nights watching you change and grow. As we play outside and see the seasons change along with you, I'm glad I get to share with you what a very beautiful place this world can be.

Love, Mama.

Give a hoot!

2009-10-05T21:24:00.000-07:00

One of Amalia's very few unfortunate habits is her love of wasting the camera battery by turning it on, and off, on, and off over and over until the only picture we get of the awesome time we had a Dolinger farm was of the guy holding the owl. This was our 5th year going to the farm (the first year we went was when the twins were just under a year old!) and it was super.
Domingo was totally wowed, rapt if you will, by the raptor display. SOAR (Save Our American Raptors) brought a horned owl, a peregrine falcon, and a kestrel to the farm to show people, and talk about their organization that saves and rehabilitates wounded birds of prey. It was really fascinating. The owl in this picture is apparently really really small, and her wings and bones are bent because she was kept by a person who found her when she was a fledgling and didn't know what to feed her so she was malnourished and got rickets. All of the "teaching" animals can no longer be reintroduced into the wild for one reason or another. It was a really neat part of a really great day!

Cornfest '09!!

2009-09-27T22:43:00.000-07:00

We had a ball! We ate some corn, ran a race, pet some goats, won some prizes, watched some dancing, and best of all, got to see tio Gustavo! Now will have sweet meat-filled dreams until next year!
Enjoy!

15th Monthday!

2009-09-24T10:53:00.000-07:00

Amalia, your 15th monthday was Monday, and you've had a very busy month!
You are now officially walking. But you are still pretty tentative on your two feet. Even though you are totally capable of walking as far as you want, you will often plop down and scoot if it looks like the walk will be too taxing.

You are still not very talkative, at least not in any language that we can understand. You are babbling and singing and laughing as much as any baby I've ever known, but you are still not quite able to get those words out. It's pretty frustrating for you to know exactly what you want, and not be able to express it in a way that I can understand. I'm sorry I can be so thick some times! I will say that it must be hard to get a word in edgewise with your brother around. He is a little chatterbox, and while he does profess unending adoration for you sometimes, most of the time he's making sure you don't touch his "stuff".

And although, I am just a tiny bit concerned about your lack of verbiage, you are totally on track, and in some areas even a little bit ahead, in all other aspects of your development.
We had your 15 month check up and here are your stats:
(All beyond 95%)
Height: 33.5"
Weight: 28lbs, 14oz
Head Circumference: 19.25"
Although I don't really want to make a habit out of these comparisons, it is kind of remarkable to note, you are a quarter inch shorter than Domi, and nearly 3 pounds heavier than he was at 15 months. But, if you can believe it, your weight has slowed down over the last 3 months (you only gained 1 pound), and you are still right on track with your growth curve, so we are not overly concerned. I think I can explain away the weight difference between you guys pretty easily, since Domi crawled on all fours, and you never did, I think he was probably burning off more calories than you in these last few mobile months. Now that you are walking, climbing, pulling, and every other kind of action verb, you can tell you are starting to slim down. I can actually see your neck! The other explanation is that while Domingo used to eat a lot more than he does now, you have always been my champion eater. You continue to eat and like everything you try, it is such a joy! You love everything, from apricots to zucchini, it's great. Chris and I were just marveling on how traditional baby food was really not part of your repertoire for very long. Even before you had all those lovely teeth that you now have (10 so far with the two top molars pushing through slowly and painfully) you would still gum our table food with gusto! And now that you have a mouth full of chompers, look out!

I'm gearing up for fall, and then around the corner, winter. I'm excited for some quality one on one time that we'll get to spend together now that Domingo is starting school. I'm so happy I'm able to be with you, help you conquer new things, like running and talking and riding the seesaw. You tackle everything you do with such zeal, it's incredible. And I know I say this to you, and everyone else, all too often: I have never ever seen such a beautiful child. You hold my heart in your perfect chubby hands. I'm very lucky to be along for the ride.
Love, Mama

Primas!

2009-09-21T20:30:00.001-07:00

And ZOO! We hung out with the primas this weekend, and went to the farmer's market and zoo before a quick trip to Morris. We'll be back there this coming weekend for CORN FESTIVAL '09 whoo hoo!!
I'm sure there will be loads of pictures from that event, but for now here are some from last weekend.

There should be a law...

2009-09-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

Prohibiting this level of cute. I saw these two and my head almost exploded from the adorable.

FIRST DAY!

2009-09-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

Domi had his first day of school! It went super! Domingo did not want to leave, which is always the way you want the first day to go. It was not a "real" first day in that we didn't drop him off and walk away. That's coming next week. Gulp. But here are some pics from day one.

Summer!

2009-09-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

Ah, the end of summer. I can't believe it's here so soon. But here are some fun pictures from our great week in Michigan, and a few from the rest of the summer.

Happy 36th Monthday!

2009-09-08T20:44:00.000-07:00

Domingo, this past Monday, Labor Day to be exact, you turned 3 years old! Happy happy birthday my wonderful big three year old!

You are so incredible, I am constantly blown away by the amazing things that you do. This past year you have grown and changed so much. If there was even a smidgen of your round soft babiness last year, it has melted away into skinny, scraped up, boyhood. You are turning slowly but surely into your dad. (Just like he's turning into his!) But it could be worse my dear.

Your round tummy and bottom have all but disappeared and you've stretched out so big and tall. We had your 3 year check up a few weeks ago and you are 39 inches tall, and weigh 34 pounds. You are between 75-90% for height, and 75% for weight. The doctor said you are progressing perfectly, and said what a smart cookie you are.

This was no surprise to me of course!
You are such a strong willed and spirited little boy. You want things your way and do not have a problem letting the whole neighborhood know it. We are working on expressing ourselves appropriately, but it's hard. We are also still struggling with sharing. It is so hard for you to let go, even for a moment, of your prized possessions, which happen to be all of them! But, you are getting better, especially with your cousins. I am hoping that this will continue to get easier as we start the next transition next week as you go to your very first day of SCHOOL!

I cannot believe you are going to preschool next week. I am so excited and nervous for you. We've had lots of talks about what school will be like, who your teachers are, all the fun you'll have together, and that Mama and Daddy will get to come to school some times too. You seem pretty excited about the prospect, particularly the possibility of playing with new and different toys.

Another big step we've made over the last few months in preparation for school is POTTY TRAINING!! You are getting so good and letting people know when you have to go, and are having fewer and fewer accidents. Of course, accidents sometimes happen, and you are usually the first to point that out. But so far, the whole process has been a lot less stressful and difficult than I feared. I think we owe it to Esther in part, because she was the one who pushed me to get it started by letting you run around "free range" so to speak, and also in part to your kind of fastidious nature.

As you get bigger, and as your sister does too, your relationship with each other is changing too. You still sometimes get so excited and overwhelmed with the desire to hug and squeeze her (but you would never hurt her) but mostly you just want to keep her from eating your toys.

She on the other hand, still worships the ground you walk on. We are trying hard to teach you to be a caring and kind older brother, because handling that kind of devotion is a big responsibility.

So far I have brought out some old standbys that Tia May used to say to me when I would fight with my sister and brother. And I really think that this is the best part of being your mom, the way my whole world has shifted and I now finally understand and appreciate the things that my parents told me when I was little.
I remember hearing every time I would fight with my sister or hit my brother, that I had to take care of them because when we grew up, they would take care of me. I know you don't believe it now, but it's true.

I remember hearing people talk about having children and how your life is never the same afterward. I believed them, but I didn't understand exactly what they meant. It's not my life that has changed, it is my whole self. I cannot really remember my life before I had you, it's like remembering a dream. I have become a much less selfish person. I've found reserves of patience and creativity I had no idea I possessed. These last three years I've known you have made me a better person. I learn from you every single day, and it's a lesson I look forward to with all my heart.

Love, Mama

14th monthday!

2009-08-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

Just on the heels of your 13th monthday post!
This month you have made some serious strides, literally! Ha! You are officially walking. You are still a bit tentative, and if mama is around, you will pretty much plop down and demand that I either pick you up, or hold your hand to get around. But, you are definitely able to do it, and just need to build up your confidence.
So, I fear, your scooting days are numbered. But this is probably a good thing for the seats of your pants, skirts, diapers, and legs.

You are still not very verbal, although you definitely get your point across when you are NOT HAPPY! You grunt and squeal and dramatically throw your whole body down to the ground when something displeases you. It is very hard to keep a straight face in the middle of one of your baby tantrums. You are good at gesturing when you want something but are not really that into the sign language, although when Domi flushes the toilet you always are the first to wave bye-bye to his poopies. It's very thoughtful of you. (and never ever ceases to crack me up) I'm sure you'll be gabbing away soon enough, since you definitely speak your own language non-stop as it is. So rather than get too worked up over it, I am just enjoying the fact that one of your few words is mama, which you say often.

Some of your favorite things currently are your board books, especially "Donde esta mi ombliguito" and "colors", the dreaded "music cube" which you would play 24 hours a day if we let you, drawing on anything and everything, and of course food. We'll get to your incredible palate in a moment, but first back to the drawing board, HA! Two puns in one monthday post, someone must stop me. But really, you love drawing. One of your favorite pastimes is sitting outside at abuela's house drawing on the side walk with chalk, or sitting in the tub drawing on the tiles with the tub crayons. Or drawing in books with pens, pencils or whatever other writing implement you can find. This leads to much consternation on the part of your fastidious older brother. He looked in a dinosaur book you had "improved" and said, "Mommy, who wrote in this book? I think it was Amalia. I want it to be as good as new."

Don't be too offended that he immediately thought it was you, he pretty much blames you for any destruction he finds. We were in the doctor's office last week for his check up and he picked up a book in the waiting room that had been ripped and immediately accused you.
However, he really isn't too far off and making baseless accusations. I have said on more than one occasion that we should have named you Genghis, or Baby Kahn, or maybe Bob Villa because you are so very fond of dismantling or destroying everything you find. Books, papers, puzzles, blocks, toys, pillows, anything, everything is a puzzle that must be taken apart. You are so curious and adventurous and inquisitive, it's such a difference from your brother who is (and was) content to sit quietly playing with toys, or looking at books for hours on end. You need to be on the move, or taking something apart, or just doing something it's great, and exhausting.

Another big difference between you and Domingo is your ability and love of all things edible. Whereas your brother eats about 10 things total, most of those in the sweet and/or white carb category, you will eat just about anything I put in front of you. Tonight for dinner we had spinach lasagna, and you could not get enough. Domingo had orzo "wiv nufing on it", ah how that phrase never applies to what you are eating. The only foods that you really don't care for are sour things, if the blueberries are too tart, you spit them out, or if I put lemon on the avocado, etc. but other than that, you eat more things than I do. Let's just say that cooked fruit is not taboo for you, and while we haven't given you peanut butter, I'm sure you would not object. Helping you discover all these new delicious flavors are your 4 molars that decided to come out all at once. It has been a painful, sad, hard experience, but through it all, you are such a cheerful happy baby, you only complain when it's really painful and then as soon as the medicine kicks in you are happy as a clam once again. You are so sweet and loving, giving your family giant bear hugs and kisses on demand. I have to mention that this month once again, Mama is the person to be in Amalia's book, and while sometimes it makes me wish I could give the award to someone else for a minute, like say when I want to get two bites to eat, or go to the bathroom in private, usually it just makes me feel so very very loved by the sweetest girl in the world.

Love,
Mama

p.s. here is a video of your brother singing his new favorite song, and you scoot-dancing along. Yeah, you rule.

Little Gigalo from alice on Vimeo.

edited to add: I have no idea why this video is not syncing right, but I've tried to do it twice and it's just not working. Anyway, you can hear the awesome song, and see Amalia's equally awesome moves, so try to ignore the fact that they don't match up if you can!

Milestone!

2009-08-24T19:26:00.000-07:00

I know that I've been a bit delinquent with the posts these days, but I it couldn't go without noting that Amalia took her very first solo steps this week!

Yeah it's exciting I know!

She is still a little timid, and only takes about 3 steps at a time, but I am pretty sure that she'll be running around in no time at all.

In other news, here are two dinosaurs.

Potty training, now with underpants!

2009-08-07T07:15:00.000-07:00

So we've moved on to phase two of potty training, and are using underpants! I started this post a few weeks ago, and never finished. I figure I should update with how it's going. Domi is doing great! He is so proud of his big boy underwear, it eases some of my misgivings about buying the ones with the cartoon cars, or (this is the worst) the dinosaur/Pleistocene movie themed underwear. I have a HUGE problem with the whole premise of that movie, and have made my feelings known to anyone who will listen, so the fact that I actually purchased a promotional type item for my child is kind of absurd. Why is there no other choice in dinosaur underwear? I ask you, why? The only thing that makes me slightly less annoyed is that Domingo knows that mammoths and saber toothed tigers lived millions of years AFTER the last dinosaurs died off. He actually told Esther that!
Well, back to the potty talk. Domingo is really getting the hang of potty training, he is motivated by M&Ms and his fancy pants, and I think, his desire to stay clean and dry. Of course there are accidents, particularly when he is distracted, or really focused on something like an engrossing book, or program or game, but those are becoming fewer and farther between. All in all, I think its working because he is ready, not because of anything that we're doing. So here's to one more milestone under our belts, and a pair of anachronistic undies under our pants!

There was a turtle...

2009-08-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

This is the best song ever. Again, the production values on this video are pretty poor, but the lyrics make up for it.

There was a turtle... from alice on Vimeo.

Musical

2009-08-03T05:39:00.000-07:00

The apples really don't fall far from the trees over here. One of Domingo's favorite things to do is make up silly songs. This is one of Chris and my favorite pastimes, we even used to keep a tape recorder in the car for when the muse would strike. It seems that Domingo has taken up our passion as well. He has made up some really bizarre and funny songs while he's just playing around. For example yesterday he made up a song while sitting in the car. Chris was listening to Paul and Linda McCartney and Domi decided he'd rather listen to his own song:
There was a turtle
peeking in a shell,
when all of a sudden
a dolphin came to eat...
crabs.
(Crabs pronounced "krebs" and followed by peels of laughter.)
I made a video, but it's really hard to see. I'll post it up here asap.

Another perennial favorite is in the morning Domingo will throw blankets on Amalia's head and sing "cabbages around the baby, cabbages around the 'bay-beh'!" It was one of his first and weirdest songs. I still don't know what it means, or why he sings it while throwing blankets.

This one loves music too. She "sings" songs and bangs her little bongo set, or plinks on the piano and looks up with such pride. It's really great. I hope they are in a band together some day.

Happy Late 13th monthday!

2009-07-31T12:55:00.000-07:00

Amalia, I'm late again with your monthday post. What a bad mommy. But, I'm super early for 14th monthday! Does that count?
This month you are full of new developments, the biggest of which is your bipedal mobility! It is really coming along. You are still not so confident on your own, but are really into walking around holding on to my fingertips, or the little car walker that your brother never really took a shine to, or the sofa, or the walls, or anything else you can pull up onto and walk beside. I am nervous that once you get the hang of it there will be no stopping you. Pretty soon we'll be saying farewell to your awesome scooting, and related, your scoot-dancing, which is the best thing I have ever seen.

Another thing that makes me nervous is your newly developed mastery of the stairs. Since there are none at our place, it's really not an every day worry, but today at Abuela's you climbed all the way to the top of the stairs and if you weren't the proudest thing I've ever seen, then I don't know what. Before you'd scoot over to the stairs and try to hoist your leg up to scoot up the stairs. Today you discovered a much more efficient way and zipped up to the top before my gaping mouth could close.
So let's just add one more thing to mommy's list of terrors, Amalia falling down stairs. Excellent. Actually, it's great, and you are just so fearless, I can't help but be proud of you too. You want to be in everything, explore everything, and touch and taste everything! There is very little that is within the range of 3 feet from the floor that hasn't been in your mouth.
In related milestone news, you are getting some more teeth, they do seem to come in all at once with you! You are getting two more bottom teeth, and what feels and looks like several molars. This makes for fitful sleeping and a very crabby baby. Your overnight sleeping is often hit or miss, which since I was very spoiled with you, is rather stinky.

But over all you are such a little sweetheart. You are rarely in a bad mood, even when you are sick (right now you have a hideous cold) you are cheerful and charming. You are the huggiest and kissiest baby I've ever met. (which explains why we are all sick with your cold!) It is so sweet.

I know that some major milestones are just on the horizon. I'm so happy that I'll be here to see them all!
Love,
Mama

Michigan memories

2009-07-28T20:36:00.001-07:00

We had such a wonderful time this past weekend in Michigan. The abuelos, primas et al descended on Grandma and Farfar's cottage like a swarm of locusts, but at least we're locusts that bring our own food!
The weather was beautiful, the water was even warm! We got to spend some quality time with the extended family, and Domi and Amalia had such a great time. The twins are such a stitch, I cannot get over them some times! They were troopers and got in the water every day. Domingo did too, but he is half viking, so the cold does not phase him one bit. Amalia and I were a little more skeptical, and only got our toes wet most of the time. I actually got in to take an anniversary "plunge" with Chris on the 26th to commemorate our iron wedding anniversary!
We are so lucky that these guys will have such great memories from their childhood, going up to Michigan every summer. Sure there was some fighting, crying, and whining, but there was also playing together, sharing, and running around giggling like maniacs, and the kids had fun too. Sofia said after staying up late to have a bonfire complete with s'mores, that it was the funnest night of her life! I don't know about the ranking, but I'm sure it was up there for me too.
Here are a few pictures from this weekend, not nearly enough were taken on our camera, but we'll have to get some pictures from everyone else to post up here.

Hanging with baby Owl

Relaxing in the hammock

Nap time is the best time

On the deck

Too much

2009-07-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

These guys are just much too much.

oh this guy too.

Happy Birthday tia Leticia!

2009-07-13T16:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some great pictures from this weekend. Once again Leticia scores the pool party because her birthday is in July. No fair.

No party entry is complete w/o obligatory food photos. My little sandwiches are not pictured, neither are the delicious peach pavlovas- and I usually dislike dessert- or lemon pound cake. Everything was delicioso.

Someone's standy-standerson!

Mama-love

YUM!

A little too similar to the Shining.

No seriously, YUMMM!

Fun on the 4th

2009-07-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time this past weekend in Michigan. The weather was perfect, even I got in the lake, and that is really saying something. We got to see some great fireworks on the lake, and hang out with our friends, and tia Jennifer and fam, and of course grandma and farfar.
Domi got two mosquito bites, and just like his mama, his face blew up and his eyes are practically swollen shut. Two days of benadryl and he looks a little less like a kling-on now.

Here are some pictures, enjoy!

In the clubhouse.

Smiley on the deck

camera was accidentally turned to black and white

SPARKLERS! Tia Patricia I told everyone your cautionary tale, but no one listens to me.

Beach baby!

Happy 12 monthday!!!

2009-06-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

Amalia, Sunday was your 12th monthday! I was reminiscing with a co-worker about your embarrassing and hilarious birth story, and I really can't believe it has already been a year since my water broke in the middle of a fake trial and the trainer went around to all the courtrooms announcing that I had gone into labor in the middle of our case. I still say that if I had been mistaken and I just peed myself, I would have faked your birth and not gone back to work because I would have died of embarrassment. Luckily for me, you really did want to come out on June 21! The longest day of the year. If I was more poetic, or more of a hippy, I would have insisted we name you Titania or Puck, or at least something pagan, but we stuck with Amalia Mafalda and I still think it fits you like a glove.

We just had your one year doctor's appointment and you continue to be off the charts in size and cuteness.
Length: 31.5 inches
Weight: 27 lbs 3 oz
Head circ.: 18.75 inches

King Kong has nothing on you.

Yes, you are a big baby. Even though you are not walking yet, I'm not too worried about it. You are very motivated to move around, and can get around while your hands are free to pick things up, so you just aren't super motivated to get up and walk. That and it is a lot of mass to get up off the ground!
Of course, you are still eating like a champ. You don't eat baby food out of a jar any more and now eat everything that we do and love it. You are drinking whole milk now since the breast milk stock pile is completely gone. You still nurse at night and early in the morning before you hit the "snooze" button and go back to sleep for a few hours. We'll just have to see for how much longer this continues.

We turned you around in your car seat, only to read an article the next day that it's better to leave you rear facing until 2 years, or 35 pounds, and you should get there in the next couple months, so rear facing you go again!
You are becoming such a social little girl. You love playing with your cousins and watching other kids. You smile and wave and clap, and the best thing you do that I haven't been able to capture on film is dance! You will scoot around in a circle and "raise the roof" with your arms in the air when there is music playing that makes you move. It is so unbearably cute, I need to get a video before you stop doing it.
You are still very clingy with me, and are a little shy with strangers, but you will wave and smile shyly before burying your face in my shoulder.

You still adore, and are adored by your big brother Domi.

It is a source of never ending delight for me to hear you guys crack up at each other for no reason that anyone else can fathom. You have secret jokes, secret smiles, and so much love for one another. It is just the best thing ever. Not that it's always a love fest over here. Domingo still yanks toys away from you, you smack him and grab them back, he throws blankets over your head, you rip them off again and we try to survive the "games" you guys play, minimizing the tears. You have totally become your brother's champion, when he cries because I've turned off the t.v. you look at me and complain loudly like "why did you turn that off, he was watching that!" Or when he gets an "esquina" for what ever reason, you scoot over to where he is and try to comfort him, or get him out. You just want to be with him, and are already a much better sharer than he is. I'm hoping he'll learn some from you.

Amalia in 12 short months, that you have gone from this:

to this:

is nothing short of a miracle. I'm so lucky to have been here with you to see it all.
Love,
Mama

Bjorn Borg family at home

2009-06-20T11:56:00.001-07:00

This is my new favorite thing ever.

I just want to celebrate!

2009-06-19T08:02:00.001-07:00

For lots of reasons!!
Mostly, Amalia turns one on Sunday. We had a really fun party at the Abuelo's house this past weekend. We (of course!) didn't have our camera, just the video, so I don't have pictures. Hopefully some of you who were there will forward your photos to me so I can post some soon.
But even MORE important that my second child turning one, I am DONE PUMPING!!! Oh my that feels good to type, and to say, and to think. Amalia will still nurse in the morning and at night as long as she wants (or as long as I can take it!) but I'm done nursing and pumping during the day!! We are using up the last remnants of my meager stock pile and mixing it with whole milk, and she has no problems drinking that at all.
The fact that I'm done, in all likelihood forever, pumping does not bring me even the slightest bit of wistful nostalgia. I am tempted to make a bonfire with my pump in style as the tinder, but I'm way too superstitious for that. So I'll just pack it up and put it away, somewhere I won't have to see it ever again!
I am pretty proud of the fact that for the second time I have fed my baby only breast milk for the first full year of her life. I don't want a medal or anything, but I just needed a minute to pat myself on the back. Don't worry I won't strain my arm.
The weaning process (which I know has already begun when she started solids) will continue and I'm sure be harder than with Domingo. For one, she doesn't seem to be as verbal as Domi was. She is doing lots of signs, but still only says mama and papa. And two, with D, I think ending nursing happened mostly because I was pregnant with Amalia and it was much more work for him to nurse then to ask for "leche en vaso". He was 16 and a half months and he was talking enough to very plainly ask for leche en vaso not leche mama. So we'll see how this goes, I'm sure there will be false starts, and I'm not under any illusions that the over night nursing will end any time soon, but the fact that there is an end somewhere in the not too distant future is something to celebrate!

Here are some ridiculous pictures I took in our failed attempt to go to the free day at the Shedd Aquarium yesterday. Annie Leibowitz I'm not.
I should have know something was up when at the parking lot, where they usually charge you 16 (they just raised it from 15! Darn city!) was changed to $19 cash only, and a red laser-lights scrolling sign blared out "NO REFUNDS! Expect long lines at the Shedd". Long lines, I assumed were 30-45 minutes to get in, waits for the dolphin show etc. No, these were 2 and a half hour lines to get IN. We decided, much to Domingo's disappointment, that 2+ hours in the (finally) sweltering Chicago humidity with 5 little kids was not going to happen. So we'll try again another day. I wonder what the lines look like today...

Amalia enjoys being a girl. Although she doesn't have enough hair to hold in her barrette.

Domi adores Charlotte. The only reason he didn't leave the park outside the aquarium in a fit of rage was because he and Charlie were holding hands chasing birds. Wait, actually, he did leave crying, because he had to give back a book of Charlotte's and because of extreme overtiredness!

Taking a break from chasing birds.

Combo 32 and 33 monthdays!

2009-06-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

Happy belated 32 and 33rd monthday Domingo!
These past two months have not been all that terribly news worthy.
The biggest thing in our little universe is our sporadic attempts at duh duh DUH... Potty Training. It's capitalized out of respect.
You actually are doing better than I had expected, but we are going about it very gradually and not at all systematically. I read the books, and I think as we get closer to the start of school, we might try the "potty party" and going completely cold turkey with the diapers. Although, Esther's attempt at that resulted in a very smelly couch cushion that took a bottle of febreeze, upholstery cleanser, and a spin through the old wash to get back to normal. So it was a short lived but memorable attempt.
Other than that little gem, we are slowly but surely preparing for you to start preschool in the fall. I kind of don't want to think about it quite yet, since the weather isn't even all that warm and it's JUNE! But think about it we must since the first in a series of meetings about school was last week, and we've been filling out papers, making copies of birth certificates, and generally being in a tizzy since then.
I know that we'll get to have loads of fun this summer, and when school does start, I'm sure you'll be very excited and do just fine. We talk now about school, and teachers, and playing with other kids and sharing. You are eager and enthusiastic about it all except the sharing. You are nothing if not consistent.
You are still such a good big brother to your sister Amalia. You wake up before her and ask your Daddy, if you can play with your "baby sister". It's very sweet. You are also such a good big primo to your newest little prima Lucy. It is really adorable how you "share" your toys with her, showing her puzzle pieces and animals and getting that same crazed look you would get when Amalia was that teeny, like you want to just squeeze her with love. But you are always gentle and sweet, although I know it's hard to keep all that excitement inside. I know as you all get bigger and grow up together, you'll always take care of your little sister and cousin. You are just the sweetest, stubbornest, most willful and adorable boy I've ever known.

Here are some pictures from the last two months. You got to go twice to your favorite place ever, the Field Museum, once with Esther, and once with me. Although, once again when you were with me, you were way more interested in the toys in the gift shop than the exhibits! Only the buttons in the dinosaur exhibit could hold keep you from throwing a fit to get to those dinosaur toys. But you had a great time, got a dinosaur toy, and had hot dogs and chips for lunch. Pretty much a perfect day.
Love,
Mama

I had to include the face of lederhosen induced misery.

MUSEO!

So happy he's kissing the taxedermied animals.

Scooty-scooterstein

2009-05-27T19:52:00.000-07:00

scooty from alice on Vimeo.

Here is Amalia getting around the only way she knows how!

11th monthday!

2009-05-26T17:43:00.000-07:00

Domingo, I'll do a combined 32nd and 33rd monthday for you in June, since I'm apparently not going to get around to it this month, and there really isn't that much exciting going on by way of developments with you kiddo.

But Amalia, you have had quite a month!
You are really working hard in all areas of development.
Let's start with gross motor skills. You are pulling up and standing all over town. You love to be vertical and to move so I can't help but think that you'll be walking before too long. You still are scooting around on your bottom to get around until you figure out the walking thing. We are pretty sure that you won't be crawling on all fours because, try as I might, you refuse to stay on your tummy long enough to learn how. And why should you? You can get to where ever you want to be as fast as any crawler and you don't have to lose your dignity by crawling on hands and knees.

You are still the champion eater in the house. Everything that Domingo turns his nose up at, you will gladly gobble, even somethings that your mother would rather not touch- flan anyone? Amalia says yes!
You love drinking water out of my glass, but refuse to drink anything but milk out of a bottle.
This month we are going to start mixing a little more dairy into your diet to get you ready for WEANING-2009! I have a feeling you will be less than thrilled with this plan, particularly during the overnight hours, but it's all a process, I'm comfortable with that.

What about language? Well you still babble and giggle and "talk" all the time, but your sign language is really taking off. You wave bye bye, ask for more, ask for milk, talk about the lights, books, ducks, birds, food, and itsy bitsy spiders.
You point and clap and also use your hands to pick up teeny tiny little objects as well as smack, pinch and hit your mom, dad, and brother.

Pleased to meetcha!
You actually say mama and dada, as well as a few other things that we can't decipher, but much to my shame, I think one is "television".

You are just about the sweetest baby I've ever met. You are always in a good mood, (unless it's nap time!) and love nothing more than to crack up at your brother's silly antics. Lucky for me, your brother was just as wonderful at this age, so I can't say you are the absolute sweetest baby, it's pretty much a tie.
11 months is a wonderful age, you are starting to interact in a really meaningful way, you understand what I'm saying, and I am starting to understand what you are saying. But you can't run away from me, like a little stinky gentleman that I won't name! It's great. You are so loving and dear. You hug and kiss all your family. You adore Domingo and want to be everywhere he is. Listening to the two of your laugh together is one of the best things I've ever experienced.
You still have the most amazing smile that you flash to everyone you meet, pretty much instantly winning them over. Your smile starts with your big grey-green eyes and then spreads out over the rest of your face to reveal your sharp little teeth. The two on the bottom are finally joined by two new ones on top. You really are the most beautiful baby I've ever seen (sorry D.) but looks aren't everything kid, keep up those signs!

Amalia, I can't believe that you are almost a year old, yet it blows me away that I ever lived in a world where you didn't exist.

Happy monthday,
Love Mama.

I didn't forget I swear!

2009-05-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

Domingo's monthday post has been postponed, rescheduled, placed on the backest of back burners over and over again since the last time I blogged. Various things kept coming up that kept me from writing, for example and in no particular order: the stomach plague that decimated our little abode, the wonderful and exciting addition of little baby Owl aka Lucy, the death of our hard drive, my reluctance to upload pictures to the computer since the death of our hard drive, season finale of LOST which by the way was so awesome I can't stand it. All important things, that prevented me from my blogerly duty of writing about my beloved first born and all his wonderful milestones that he achieved over this past month.
But I'm feeling marginally better, am now only 3 pounds away from pre-Domi weight, thanks to said stomach plague, and I have loads to write about if I can remember everything that has happened over the past month(and almost a half). That is of course assuming that I can get a free moment to post once I get home.

Finally, some more teeth!

2009-05-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

Just what we've always wanted, more crabby babies! After 4 months of wondering when Amalia would get some more chompers, her top two teeth are starting to poke through her red painful gums. Here is a good shot of the bottom two.

Amalia's eyes are really starting to look brown too. In the light you can see lots of brown specks in her dark grey eyes.

Happy Birthday Baby Owl!!

2009-05-04T11:36:00.000-07:00

Congrats to tia Hez and tio James on the birth if their beautiful baby girl! Lucy was born early this morning after a LONG day for new mom and dad. I don't have all the details or pictures, but I know that Hez was a rock star and delivered a big 9 + pound baby girl! Tonight I'm headed over to the very same hospital where Domi Amalia and the twins came into this world to meet little Miss Lucy.
For the past few months we've been referring to Lucy as baby Owl as a nickname and just for fun until we knew what her real name would be. Now we'll just have to explain to Domingo that tia Hez did not have an actual baby owl...

Just had to post this!

2009-05-02T09:28:00.001-07:00

This is the cutest picture I have ever seen if I do say so myself. We're in the middle of a fun crazy weekend. Hopefully I'll post more and pictures later!

What a nightmare!

2009-04-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

Domingo has been waking up crying in the middle of the night a few times these past few weeks. We suspected he was having some nightmares but he's usually too out of it to tell us what's wrong and just goes right back to sleep.
Last night Domingo woke up crying again, and Chris asked him what was wrong. He said "mommy took a bite of my fruit and I didn't want her to take a bite."
Seriously?
This child is not having nightmares about monsters or being lost or getting eaten by dinosaurs, which would make sense since his crazy parents let him watch Jurassic Park and he's only 2. Don't judge! He LOVES the dinosaurs and is totally not phased by all the people eating stuff! He's like, "look mommy, that quetzalcoatlus is hungry, he wants to eat that man." Circle of life.
No, no, my son's biggest fear is that he will have to share his fruit with his mother. Or a toy with his sister, we think he was crying in his sleep about that a few weeks ago, he was mumbling something about "it's my toy!"
This may have been brought on by me a few weeks ago daring to suggest that we share the last ice-cream bar. Domingo just about lost his mind. I mean, no wonder he's having nightmares, I should be locked up.

Meanwhile, Amalia has turned into a total brute! She beats on her brother now with such glee that I almost have to laugh. He will pull a toy out of her hands, or try, and she will yank it right back, or clock him with it. She is just trying to defend herself from his constant selfish toy yanking ways! The other night she smacked Domi over the head with a big hard plastic dinosaur. Domi took it in stride, and just asked for a band-aid for his head, but it probably really hurt.

The drum stick, one of her weapons of choice.

She is such a baby-hulk. She'll get tangled in her play gym but continue to scoot along where she wants to go, just dragging it along behind her. The other day she had a trail of babygym, bjorn, and bumbo tagging along for the ride as she scooted desperately to where she heard Domi and tio James laughing and having a good time. Nothing was going to keep her from playing with those two.

So between Little Miss Smacksalot, and No-Share MacGuiliacuddy we're doing a bang up job over here.

Back it up, way up.

2009-04-27T18:01:00.000-07:00

So this weekend our computer hard drive decided to die. Unfortunately this means that the last year and a half of pictures, videos and precious baby moments committed to our computer are now lost to the ages. I am understandable upset by this. More upset by my own stupidity than anything else. Of course I know you have to back stuff up, of course, I'm not an idiot! We even have one of those little stick thingies that you put stuff onto. And of course we did it one time about a year and a half ago, and then of course we never did it again. More than ever I'm glad that I have this blog that I've been uploading pictures here rather than just waiting to print stuff out and fill in my baby books because, oops! Wouldn't have ANYTHING AT ALL for Amalia's book at this point and the last ones we have of Domi are from when he's chubby and not walking yet!
So we now have a back up hard drive so we will at least have pictures from her first birthday if nothing else.

Happy 10th monthday!

2009-04-23T06:27:00.000-07:00

Amalia, Tuesday was your 10th monthday!
You've made some pretty incredible leaps this past month. You are signing more and more(mas y mas) and you are officially unconventionally mobile!
You've taken after your tia Leticia and discovered the best way to travel is by sitting up and scooting along the floor on your rump. You never liked tummy time, and as soon as you learned a way to avoid it, you would never spend more than a few seconds on your tummy, so it shouldn't be that shocking that you don't crawl on your belly like a normal kid! But strangeness aside, you are fast! I realize it isn't the most efficient way to travel, but you manage to disappear in a flash, and by the time I look up you are in another room!
Because you are the second child, you are doomed to be compared to your older brother. This began long before you were born, when you were just a little bean making me throw up more than Domingo, moving around more than Domingo, and then once you were born, being so much calmer than Domingo, and then screaming inconsolably for hours JUST LIKE DOMINGO!! Fortunately for you, your mother was not so dumb to think that "oh it's just colic, she'll grow out of it" like I did with Domingo, because really, what are the odds of two colicy babies in a row?
Well this trend of comparison continues, and again, I don't know why it surprises me so every time I make this realization, but you are so very different from your brother. You have your own little personality and are your own little person already. You are much more curious and adventurous than your brother ever was, or even is to this day. Where he is very cautious and careful, your throw caution to the wind. He never put things in his mouth, babyproofing for that reason was pretty easy. He was content to sit and look at books or toys for long stretches at a time, and didn't really feel the need to move around much. Part of the reason I think that he didn't walk until he was 15 months was that he really didn't care too much to get any where. He was pretty happy just to sit where he was and play with what he had near by.
You on the other hand cannot get enough of moving around! You want to be where ever you are not. You want to see all the action from a front row seat. And you get there fast with your swish swish, slalom-like scooting.
Along the way you put everything you get your hands on directly into your mouth. You want to eat every new food, gum every toy you pass, taste every surface you encounter, it doesn't matter that it's a public restroom mirror or the tires of your stroller-ARGH! you just want to explore the world and the best way you know how is through your mouth.
The only time something is not in your mouth is when you are trying to use it to talk to us. You are so chatty it's great. You still aren't speaking in words we can understand, but that is definitely our failing and not for lack of you trying to get us to understand! You whisper, scream, giggle, laugh, whine, and babble all the time. You are signing a few words, light, more, duck. And you get so excited when I get excited and clap when you use signs. You clap and smile and laugh, it's so great.
I am so excited for these next few months, not just because you'll be turning one, but for lots of reasons. The sun is coming out and it's warming up, we're going outside more and more. Soon we'll be swimming at abuela's or going to the cottage with grandma and farfar. And even sooner we'll get to meet baby Owl!
There is so much to look forward to. I know that you will be front and center to see it all.
Love Mama.

rhyme time

2009-04-19T19:10:00.000-07:00

We had another fun weekend in Morris with the primas. Domingo continues to be enamored of them, he calls them "my pweemas" or sometimes he says my cousins. He is so thoroughly bilingual now it's funny. He has some weird speech impediments though. He doesn't say r's or l's in English, but has no problem with them in Spanish. He can say libros or lechugas or libelula in Spanish with out a problem at all. But ask him to say lizard or lion or leopard and he says wizard, wion and weopard. The other thing he has started recently is a little bit of a stutter. There is a lot of and a and a and a that goes on over here. I have a feeling that's partly because he's deciding which language to speak, and then his mouth just doesn't work as fast as his brain.
Today he was showing off his funny brain with the girls. They were playing a rhyme game with Chris. They were making up "poems" and saying rhyming words. Domi spent our entire lunch saying words that rhymed with his various lunch items. Rice rhymes with ice, hot rhymes with pot, and apparently porridge rhymes with orange. So much for that old saying that nothing rhymes with orange!
No pictures this time, but I'll get around to posting some more soon.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went to Champaign-Urbana and met up with the primas and family at the girls' Nana and Grandpop's place. Tia Leticia and I ran a race, and then we drove back up to Morris for some Easter fun.
Domi and the twins had a fun Easter egg hunt, but we didn't get any pictures since the egg hunt lasted all of 5 seconds! Domingo found his first egg, realized there was chocolate inside and just started scarfing down the candy without bothering to look for any more eggs. It's probably better that way, since he'll end up eating less candy overall, but his sugar high was immense.
Here are some more pictures from this weekend, and one of Amalia from last weekend and tia Heather's awesome baby shower!

Roxie- just about the best dog ever. Amalia took a minute to get used to this big girl, but as soon as she figured out she wouldn't get licked, Amalia started scooting after Roxie every time she was in view.

Beautiful Easter dress before...

And after!

Domi's deciding what he wants to eat... strawberry or blackberry?

Amalia's floral fashion statement, and chins.

31st Monthday!!

2009-04-07T18:44:00.000-07:00

Domingo, we are ridiculously light on the pictures of you this past month. But we do have a bunch to report. This past month you have exceeded even your usually impressive amounts of willfulness. But you temper it nicely with your sweetness especially around your sister.
You are also keeping me from throwing you to the wolves by all the funny things you say lately, and there's loads. Some of my favorites are "calmate" and "no te frustres mama" when you think I'm getting a little too antsy for anyone's good. Rather than send me into a rage as I'm sure it would if you were a few years older and accompanied by the obligatory eye roll, I actually am reminded that you are watching every move I make, and if I'm frustrated or agitated, you pick up on it instantly. So it really works, I take a deep breath and relax, and then I laugh at you and myself.
You now speak English just as well as Spanish and your vocabulary is skyrocketing. You are so comfortable speaking in English now I get a little worried that your Spanish will slip away, but I am making every effort to keep it up.
You are now sleeping every night in your big boy bed with Papa. We are transitioning ever so slowly to you in your bed alone, and I think it's working. You love sleeping in your bed, and a few weekends ago when you had to give it up for the primas, you were none to pleased. Soon enough you'll be in there by your self, or maybe we'll make you share with your sister! I think it's helping everyone sleep a little better now that we're not all crammed in the bed together, but I do sometimes miss the sweet boy snuggles. It's officially boys against girls now and your sister and I say good night and don't see or hear you again until morning. All this Daddy-Domi time you've been spending has lead to an unexpected Daddy obsession on your part. You are so into your Papa lately, it's great. I must admit to feeling a little heartbreak when I went to console you once at bed time and you screamed, "Yo quiero mi PAPA!" I was so taken aback, since you have never once before wanted anyone else over me if you were upset or crying. I almost cried, then almost launched into a "I carried you for 9 months..." type tirade before I realized that not only does this make perfect sense, it is a wonderful thing that you and your Papa are so very close, and growing closer every day.
The other big news this month is that after months of hand wringing and angst (on my part, you have been blissfully ignorant of all the drama) you will be attending a cooperative preschool next fall! You got in off of the waiting list for one of the schools we applied to in January, and I am so excited and happy. It seems like it will be a good fit for us, as it has everything I wanted from a preschool- finger paints etc. and it has the parent involvement that I think is really important for us both to feel comfortable with the transition to school. The other good thing for me and your Papa is that we'll get to learn how to be good responsible involved parents BEFORE your actual school starts. It's a win-win.
Every day you say or do something insane, or hilarious, or adorable. Everyday I say "man I've got to type that up for my blog". But the thing is, we're so busy actually doing insane, hilarious and adorable things that the time slips by and I forget what it was that was so noteworthy! However, I would rather be there with you than be next door typing up what I heard you say.
Love,
Mama.

Masing her butt off

2009-04-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

I got home from work today and Amalia was pulling up to kneeling on the coffee table, and (according to her Papa) "Masing her butt off". Amalia was just on the cusp of doing all kinds of stuff for so long. She is "crawling" too by scooting along on her bottom. She was pretty stealthy about moving up until the last two days, where you would need a time lapse camera to notice her in motion. You would just look and five minutes later she was some where else. Now she motors across the room on her tush.
And when I asked if she wanted mas puffs, she started signing mas with a fervor that could only come from realizing she is communicating the need for more food!
When she pulled up at the table, she looked over at me with the biggest most breath taking smile. She was just so proud. I had to clap!
I'll get some video up here asap.

Happy 9th monthday, Complete with doctor stats!

2009-03-22T09:08:00.001-07:00

Amalia, yesterday you turned 9 months! Three quarters of a year has gone by in a flash.

You are becoming a very talkative and very sweet little girl. I'm sure you are finding your voice because if you don't scream, you'll never get a word in with your brother around! Dadadada is still your favorite, but you say many others like mamamama, ennnnn, blabla and squeeee!

You are still not quite mobile, for which I'm truly grateful. You can scoot around a little on your bottom if there is something that really catches your fancy, you get to it that way. You still get extremely frustrated when Domingo or I leave the room, so I'm pretty sure you'll find the motivation to move soon enough. You are wanting to pull up on things but due to a few early bonks you are less eager to pull up by yourself, and wait to have some helping hands on you before you try to stand.

You love giving kisses to the little baby in the mirror and playing peek a boo, but you like to be in charge, holding the blanket or book or what ever we're hiding behind. You like other kids too, grabbing and holding them or their toys. This distresses your brother a little as he is still not very good at sharing, but that is your main job these days, helping your brother learn to share.

This month we got to go on vacation with Grandma and Farfar, and even though we didn't get to do much swimming, I'm very excited and hopeful that this summer it will be one of your favorite past times. You love the water, especially bath time, and are just as fearless as your brother when you get water in your face. You just blow it off and either act like nothing happened, or like you are momentarily confused but then it's back to playing and splashing.

And finally, yes, you are still a giant monster baby. We took you to the doctor for your 9 month check up, and you are still off the charts in every category. If they only had a category for gorgeousness you'd be off that one too. The doctor said that we may want to watch a little more carefully just how much we feed you at each sitting, but that she's not really concerned with your weight, since for one, it's on par with your height, and second, you are not moving yet, so once you start, hopefully some of the rolls will disappear. Your brother started off exactly the same way, and now I look at him and wonder if he isn't too skinny. (He's not, he got checked out too, and he's 75-90% in every category now with a totally normal BMI)
Here are the actual numbers:
Weight: 24lbs 7oz
Length: 30"
Head Circ: 18 5/8"

Well Amalia, you've been outside in the world as long as you were inside of me. It still amazes me that you started out so tiny and are now so big and changing every minute. Another month of changes is up ahead, and I can't believe your first birthday is so close on the horizon. I am always torn between wanting to linger on each little stage of your development, and being so excited for what is to come.
Love,
Mama

Vacation 30th Monthday!

2009-03-12T06:48:00.000-07:00

Domingo, this month you are officially 2 and a half! 30 months snuck up on me while we were on vacation in South Carolina, but I'm here to make amends.
This past month flew by as usual.
You continue to amaze me. You are such a smart funny little kid. Although I still think you are a baby, you really look and act more like a boy all the time.

I guess it makes sense that since you are getting bigger that you become more and more like your Papa all the time. You love playing with him, reading with him, joking with him, sleeping next to him, and waking up with him. Watching your relationship change and grow has been one of the best parts of being your Mama.
You have even developed your father's insane love of the freezing cold water.

You won't see me getting in the ocean or the pool unless it's 80+ degrees! Not Domi, you refuse to stay away. And it really was incredible to see your delighted face every time a wave breaks and got you soaking wet. It was like some magic trick that kept happening over and over. You smile with your entire face and laugh a maniacal little laugh. It was so much fun just to watch, I didn't have the heart to keep you away.

We are still in the process of waiting for preschool news, so I don't want to get ahead of myself about that. But I'm pretty confident if we don't get you into one of the places we applied, we'll figure something out.

You are becoming more adventuresome with your diet and have tried more meat and chicken much to my delight. And you are getting less and less difficult about things like diaper changing and putting on pants, but still have fits of "NO!" every so often. Fortunately for you, your parents are very patient.
Actually, I have to take some (or most) of the responsibility. You get your sweetness from your Papa, and you get your obstinate nature from your mother. Transitions are hard for us both. But you seem to have completed the transition with me going back to work by now. Ester and I had a nice long chat yesterday about you and she told me, much to my delight that you have completely changed around her. You aren't jealous of her playing with Amalia anymore, you never want her to leave, you hug and kiss her and don't fight her when it's nap time or diaper changing time. I wish I could say the same about you when I'm home! Doing things like time outs and serious talks about what we do and don't do has been a big part of this last month. But you are doing great, it's all part of the process of becoming a good social being, and I'm learning that it is a learning process!

As the days get longer and warmer we are all coming back to life. I'm so glad I get to be here to play with you and watch you grow.
Love, Mama

And we're back!

2009-03-11T17:07:00.001-07:00

We had such a wonderful time in South Carolina with Grandma, Farfar, and all the gang. It was so nice to get out, even if it was unseasonably cold in Charleston, it was still super fun. I'm recovering from a teen vampire book induced stupor. I never get a chance to read much because I'm usually asleep when I have a free minute. So this past week I was quite addicted (much to tio James's disgust) with these books, and so was staying up late to read. Thank goodness I'm done, so I can finally get some sleep!
Here are some pictures from our great vacation. Thanks again so much to Grandma and Farfar for making it possible, Domi is still talking about going to the pool and what he saw in the aquarium!

And we're off...

2009-02-28T20:32:00.000-08:00

You would think that we were going off for a month via horse drawn carriage to a place where they do not have a Target anywhere with in an hours drive or something. I always have the best intentions of packing light, less is more and all that, but in the end, my pack-rat neurosis gets the best of me.
We successfully packed one suitcase, and three carry-ons. One is entirely full of snacks, one is entirely full of diapers and diapering paraphernalia, and the last has, everything else one might need on an airplane, I think Chris is planning on taking his pillow!
I am now officially ready to go as soon as I take a shower! There is something up with our camera and uploading, I asked Chris to try but he didn't get to it, so hopefully I'll have pictures when we return!

Happy 8th Monthday Amalia!!

2009-02-24T17:46:00.000-08:00

Amalia, you turned 8 months this week and we have definitely been busy. These month days are just zooming by, I can't believe you are getting so big.
The biggest development this past month is the acquisition of your two new teeth. You have made good use of them, eating just about anything that we put in front of you. I think that more are on the way in the very near future since you are still chomping down on everything in site. Fortunately for me, you learned pretty quickly that biting mama is a no-no and doesn't get you any more milk than before.

You are just starting to show some interest in moving around, and will roll from here to there. You are still not a fan of being on your tummy, so I think the army crawl may not happen with you and you might just scoot on your bottom like tia Leticia. You get frustrated when you can't get something that's just out of your reach, and especially when you know who walks out of the room.

You are starting to clap your hands and play "tortitas para mama" our version of patty cake. You are singing and babbling and laughing all the time. You still say dadadada and squeal and scream. My bet is that when the first real word comes, it will be some version of Domi.

I some times wonder and worry that we don't stimulate you as much as we did with Domingo. There are times when I'll just let you play and explore sitting next to me rather than be constantly talking or singing or signing to you. Sometimes, (like now) you'll be grabbing at me "asking" to be held or nursed and I'll put you off for a minute or five with a toy and a tickle. Fortunately you are so good natured that you'll take it and you never hold it against me. Also I figure that you constantly hear your brother who doesn't stop talking, so you are probably getting as much action as you need.
That said I am going to really try to start the sign language this month, and hopefully enlist your brother's help because honestly if he's doing something it's a sure bet that you want to be doing the same thing.

I am pleased to say that as of this month, mama is still your number one.

I love that when I walk in the room you get so excited you bang your hands up and down in front of you, and if I leave, you push your bottom lip out and start to complain. I admit, it's a good feeling to come home from work and see just how much you missed me. I love snuggling up next to you at night and kissing your sweaty little head. It's true, I didn't think that babies were supposed to sweat, but your little round head will sometimes end up in a puddle over night.

This coming month we have some new adventures in store, with your first plane trip planned, and your first trip to the ocean. I can't wait to see your reaction and am so excited to be there with you.

Love,
Mama

25 things Domi and Amalia version

2009-02-13T15:04:00.000-08:00

First born goes first:

1. I am already 2/3 as tall as my mother and I'm only 2.
2. I am named after my abuelo and my Farfar.
3. My first word was pelota, or ball in Spanish.
4. I called my mama "papa" for about a week.
5. My favorite food is peas, but I also love chips, and of course CANDY! Also, I only eat things plain, not "dirty" with sauce or God forbid, butter.
6. When I was 16 months old my parents made a list of all the words I could say. It was over 160 words so they stopped counting.
7. I can say lots more now.
8. I bumped my mouth on the bathtub when I was around 6 months old, it made a dark spot on my front tooth that later turned into a chip.
9. My mother chipped the same front tooth when she was a baby.
10. My mother hopes I don't use my serrated smile to bite my sister the way she used to bite hers.
11. I don't like ice or things that are too hot or cold.
12. I don't like taking naps.
13. I don't like going to bed at night.
14. I don't like getting my diaper changed.
15. I do all the above things grudgingly if you have a little patience.
16. I always want one more book.
17. My favorite book is about dinosaurs.
18. I love all animals, but dinosaurs are probably my favorite, and I love it when you name them for me, and I can name about 50, including parasauralophus, pachyrhinosaurus, and pachycelphelosaurus.
19. I roll my eyes at mama when she makes a mistake about which is which before I correct her.
20. I love all my extended family, but will not hug or kiss them on command.
21. I love my primas, but will not share with them.
22. I love my sister, but will not share with her.
23. When my sister is asleep, I ask to wake her up.
24. To get me to brush my teeth, you have to find a toy that is afraid to brush his teeth and then tell me to help him by showing him how.
25. My favorite word is no, but if I'm pressed I'll make it a no thank you.

Now Amalia's turn

1. I was born on the longest day of the year.
2. I'm named after my Norwegian great grandmother and an Argentinian comic strip
3. I'm already nearly 1/2 as tall as my mother and I'm only 7 months old.
4. Up until January, when I started eating solids, I was made up entirely from my mother's body, except for one single cell that I got from my dad.
5. That one cell takes its toll.
6. I am very ticklish, especially if you eat my toes.
7. Everyone I meet comments on my size.
8. I am actually smaller than my brother was when he was my age.
9. I need to sleep with my feet propped up on something, preferably my mother.
10. My brother is the most fascinating person on the planet.
11. I hate peas, but love every other food including chips.
12. I also love eating paper.
13. My eyes are slowly but surely turning brown and they are amazing.
14. I was not the easiest baby from months 1-4.
15. I'm making up for it now.
16. I now have two teeth and can do some serious damage.
17. I love bath time.
18. I love books, but I love eating books even more.
19. I don't like doggy kisses.
20. When I smile it starts at my eyes and works it way to the rest of my face.
21. I can say dadadada, but mama says it doesn't count as my first word.
22. I am the house champion for poop-throughs. I beat Domi's record for number of times a diaper could not contain me. I bet you can't guess who came in third place.
23. I am definitely pro-chupete and don't know how or why Domingo didn't like them.
24. Before I was born they said I had a tiny head compared to the rest of me.
25. My head is the only part of me that's bigger than Domi's was at this age.

Another belated monthday post!

2009-02-11T16:18:00.000-08:00

Happy 29th monthday Domingo! You are very nearly two and a half and are acting every bit your age. These monthday posts are getting hard to write since you are not really making any new milestone moves, and I don't know what comes next besides getting your drivers license.
One thing I can do is list some things that you no longer are doing. You no longer say hipomotamo, or chipses. You are becoming so articulate in both English and Spanish that the cute mistakes that I love to repeat, like granillas instead of granola are disappearing before I have a chance to note them!
Actually this past month you really have made some pretty amazing leaps in terms of your English speaking. You pretty much are just as fluent in English as Spanish, and I'm slightly troubled to report you are choosing to speak in English when you are playing by yourself sometimes. You easily profile those adults who you think should speak English and Spanish, and speak the appropriate one to each. This means that you don't speak in Spanish to your Dad anymore, usually because he wouldn't understand what you were saying anyway. Your Spanish had passed his a while ago.
In other language news, you are now spelling your name and Amalia's name and are very interested in what letters spell what words. You always say you want to "count" things when you want me to spell them. It's kind of funny.
You are getting so rambunctious, and becoming such a boy. You now run and jump and push and spin and work yourself up in to a pretty good lather, especially when the twins are around. You love those girls so much, and are beginning to show signs of learning to play together rather than just tackling them, or ripping your toys away from them when they come over. Usually the games need to involved running around or chasing, but it's a start.
Speaking of playing, our pre-school search has begun in earnest this past month. I've been visiting schools, you had a "play date" with the French School (where we didn't get to see what went on in the classroom!) and we are applying to enough schools that I think you should be able to go somewhere in the fall. And if not, well, I am coming around ever so slightly to the idea that even if you don't go to school when you are 5, it's not the end of the world. So next year, all of the preschools will be open to you. That said, I think you are really ready now, and if we don't get in anywhere, we'll figure out something else for you to do to get you socialized!

This month you've also had a series of trips, slips, and falls. As you get older, you get clumsier. Or maybe it's just that you get more reckless or more confident in your movement which results in boo-boos. You've taken a tumble down grandma's stairs, which honestly was one of my worst nightmares, but it happened and no one was really injured, your big bruise on your leg went away in a few days, and now you are even more careful, on the stairs at least, then before. I'm there to scoop you up and kiss your boo-boos until they are all better. Luckily for me you are one tough kid. Even after a pretty serious bang up, you stop crying fairly quickly and are back playing before my heart has returned to it's normal pace. But you are now peppered with little bumps and scrapes and bruises that make me catch my breath when I see them. But I've learned something, that kids are going to fall and get hurt, it's better that I just get used to that fact and move on.

You are still sleeping in our room, but honestly it's coming to an end pretty soon. There is just not enough room for your growing flailing limbs. You are sleeping in your bed for naps without any complaints, but do want company if you wake up before it's time to get up. I think pretty soon we'll take on the big boy bed for overnights, but for now I'll just enjoy the close quarters. As you fell asleep tonight, I leaned over and sniffed your sweet little head. Gone is any trace of baby smell, along with all your chubby baby rolls and dimples. You are now all lanky limbs and skinny angles with only the littlest bit of pot belly left.

I recently found this picture of you from last year, and in one year, you've gone from round soft baby:

To little boy:

and I am so lucky to have been there for it.
Love,
Mama

GACK!

2009-02-10T06:04:00.000-08:00

Behind on the old 29th monthday post, AND we got tagged to post 25 random facts about Domi and Amalia by Jane!
This is a facebook phenomenon that I actually kind of love. It lets you be completely self-absorbed for a minute and say little known facts or share distant memories with your friends. For these guys I think it's kind of like a monthday recap. Seriously, what mother doesn't enjoy telling anecdotes about her babies?
I'll have to spend a little more time thinking about what I'm going to write (rather than like now one hand-typing and pumping w/ the other before work!) so in the next day or too.
In the mean time enjoy these recent pics!

I ate WHAT?

2009-02-06T12:30:00.000-08:00

Amalia is little miss eatsalot these days. She is such a social eater, and when ever people are chewing, she watches their mouths with total concentration. In addition to foodstuff, she will put absolutely anything in her mouth, (you know that boot in the picture is about one second from being gummed like nobodies business!) except oddly enough, strained peas. She spits those out like they're on fire. What a mama's girl.

kids stuff

2009-02-04T17:08:00.000-08:00

Another installment of kids say the funniest things.
Yesterday Domingo was going on and on, calling Amalia "little television" in English. It was so bizarre, and I could not get him to explain to me why Amalia was a little television. He just kept calling her that, asking Daddy to read a story to him and little television, asking us to play with him and little television. He said mommy put down little television. It was so weird. Maybe he likes to watch her? I have no idea.

Then this weekend, scathing Sofia was doling out some more of her 3rd degree verbal burns. This time Farfar was the victim. He was talking to Sofia, teasing her a little and asking if she would be his girlfriend. She hemmed and hawed for a second and then said, "no, but I'll think about you when you are in heaven".
?!
Then Sofia and Graciela were playing with another little girl in the children's zoo and when we had to leave the little girl walked us to the door saying goodbye, and Sofia turned to her and said "goodbye, you know we'll never see you again."

Who teaches these kids these things?

Sofia also has a history of being a mini Dorothy Parker. Once when Leticia and I were with the kids at Millennium Park playing in the water fountain, Sofia saw a little girl who was running around naked. She asked the girls mother why she didn't have a bathing suit. The woman replied that she had forgotten to pack one. Sofia, without missing a beat said, "yeah, some mommies forget to pack their kid's bathing suits, but most mommies don't." Ouch. From a three year old, that has to smart. Fortunately the woman was good natured and laughed it off. Leticia and I just looked at each other wondering where on earth she comes up with her material before busting out in hysterical laughter.
I felt I had to document this since Leticia is too busy you know, saving lives and having twins to write down some of the hilarious things her children say.

Special bonus post: Another baby's first edition

2009-01-30T12:53:00.000-08:00

After much drooling, running nosing, fussing and biting everything in grabbing distance, Amalia's first tooth popped out this afternoon. I think she saw Polly's well toothed grin and decided to get on that.
All the better to eat you with my dear!

Getting Schooled

2009-01-30T11:33:00.000-08:00

Today we had the first of our upcoming series of preschool visits. Tomorrow we have Domingo's "interview" with the French school across the street, and then in a few weeks we have another visit, with one more a week later. Hopefully that will be it, and he will "get in" somewhere. All I want is a place that will aid in socializing my dear little anti-sharer. Perhaps with some finger paints, water table, glue, you know all the things I don't want to do inside at home. It's incredibly stressful, and I have to sit back a second and figure out why? I mean it's preschool, it's supposed to be fun right? Not the END OF THE WORLD, or of his ivy league dreams if he doesn't get into the "right" one. (What, your two year old doesn't currently dream of being an Eli?)
The place we saw today was really terrific. But of course, it was so terrific that admission is by lottery, so there is very little pressure because we have zero control over whether he gets a spot. The thing I loved most about the place was what the director said it was not. It is not school. She said it was a place to play. A place to learn how to become a social being, and that is no easy feet, but it's what Domingo craves, he just doesn't know how. I see him stand on the edge of play with his cousins or other kids at the park, and he wants to play with them so much, but it's usually in the form of tackling, or taking all the toys in his field of vision and then being confused when they leave. We're trying hard to show him, but it's better if he has a regular setting and some other kids his age to give it some context.
Another challenge with this is his blasted late birthday. There really are very very few programs that are open to him because of the annoying birthday cut off. I know that there are many differing opinions about this, but I watch Domingo and I know that he would really benefit, and love to be able to go to preschool. I know he's a boy, he is immature, won't be ready for school until he's six etc. etc. But I know my son, he is ready for this next step in growing up. He's ready to share, and play and paint and get dirty, sing songs, meet new kids, and pick up their germs. He's ready for nursery school.
The director said it's not a place where they're learning letters and numbers. That is the easy part. In fact yesterday Domingo was playing with Amalia's stool that has her name in blocks and completely on his own he spelled her name out saying "A-M-A-L-I-A, that's Amalia!" I know, half of the letters in her name are A, but he's not even two and a half yet.
So I'm not worried about the "academic" part of Domingo being ready for school. The social part, yes I am a little concerned. He is perfectly age-appropriate in his behaviors, but becoming a good, social, and conscientious person is a learned skill and I just want him to have as many opportunities to practice as possible. And hopefully try to model that behavior for him at home.

One of "those" nights

2009-01-27T18:12:00.001-08:00

I got home and rather than a hug from Domi he screamed "I don't want to share with Amalia!" Then he said he didn't want Esther to leave, or to come back tomorrow.
We have hit the terrible twos BIG time over here.

This morning he said Amalia was ugly. Tonight he got two "esquinas" time outs, once for being to rough with Amalia, the other for running around naked when it was time to get diapers and pjs on. The second one was a little bit of a gratuitous display of executive power, but if you give a toddler an inch he will pee on the sheets.
Domingo is in serious "testing" mode. Everything is a challenge and it is kind of exhausting. Of course this new development just started when I happened to go back to work, so of course I'm wondering if there is a connection. But I think he probably would be doing this regardless.
At least he is cute, otherwise we'd sell him to the gypsies. Or maybe because he is cute we could get a good price...

Rough and tumble

2009-01-25T07:56:00.000-08:00

This weekend has been a bit of a whirlwind once again. We started out in Morris for a nice get together with some friends at tia Leticia and tio Ian's place. The girls were quick to inform us that we would only get to come if we were good. I think their idea of good revolves around doing what they say, and getting them popcorn on command- hey kind of like my idea of being good.
This was kind of a much belated birthday party for the twins, and a "we're glad your pancreas didn't explode" party for Ian. Too bad Hallmark doesn't make a card for that.
Domingo was very gentle when it came time to beating the pinata. Everyone else, including Ian, was more vicious. We have yet to cultivate that killer instinct. Even so it took some serious beating to get that pinata to fold. I was promised pictures and I'll get them up soon.

Then we high tailed it out of Morris to get to South Bend so Papa could hang out with Farfar and watch Notre Dame lose the basketball game. Why is it that every time these two get together their team does not fair well? Maybe they should take it as a sign?
Grandma and I were playing with Domi and Amalia, and about an hour after I was assuring Grandma that Domi was totally fine upstairs because he is great coming down the stairs now, "he's so careful, he's fine!" of course Domingo tumbled down the stairs. And of course I was walking right behind him and saw the whole thing in sickeningly slow motion, but had my other child in my arms so I couldn't do anything to stop his slow/fast roll down from the top of the stairs. He would've been totally fine, just a little frightened, if not for an unfortunately placed table at the foot of the stairs. He barked his shin pretty badly, but other than that he was totally fine. He cried for a minute, asked me to "heal" him with my magic "sana sana" rhyme, and then when Farfar offered some ice-cream, he was completely recovered. The really irritating part of the whole thing was that he fell because he was trying to be careful. He was walking down and turned to hold on to the railing that was on the other side of the staircase, but it was just a little too high for him to reach. He had in his hands two lizards and two little chicks he wanted to show Grandma, so couldn't grab on to the rail as easily as normal, so he missed the rail and went rolling down the stairs. Fortunately there really was no harm done. To him. I on the other hand am completely traumatized and keep seeing him fall every time I close my eyes. Lets just say it took me a very long time to fall asleep last night. Amalia was also traumatized by the whole affair. In addition to hearing her mother scream right in her ear, she saw her idol literally fall before her eyes. She was screaming and crying much harder than Domingo, and that only increased when I threw her at Chris so I could make sure Domingo was ok.
But all's well that ends well, and luckily no one is permanently damaged (except of course mama- I had just gotten over my terror of Domingo falling down the stairs, I mean maybe three weeks ago, who knows how long it will take me to recover now) and we are having a restful, and cold rest of the weekend in South Bend.

7th Monthday!!

2009-01-22T08:26:00.001-08:00

Don't look so surprised, I'm on the monthday case!

Amalia, yesterday you turned 7 months. Where is the time going?
You keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger! What gives? You are taking a run at your brother's title as chubbiest baby ever.
You are sitting by your self, and rolling all over the place. You still have no real interest in moving anywhere, but I think once you realize that you can follow Domingo, or move to get the toy you desire, it'll all be over for us. Babyproofing will be a whole new ball game with your brother's million and one chokables strewn around the place!

You are a terrific eater, surprise surprise. Esther tells me that you grab the jars of baby food and want to dump the contents in your mouth because a spoon just doesn't get the job done fast enough! For me you have slightly better manners and will tolerate the spoon, but will often get frustrated and you want to do it YOURSELF. This is starting so soon? Aiyiyi! The other thing that fills you with baby rage is when I have a glass of water, or a cracker or anything edible and I won't share with you. Understandable, you are just trying to get me to be a more giving person. I get it. You are happy to eat all kinds of things, and I am once again a little lax on the "introduce one food at a time" thing. But so far so good, and no adverse reactions to anything. Except of course mama's reluctance to share her margarita.

In response to your ever increasing size, we've made the switch from the "snugride" car seat to your brother's old seat, and moved him into a new toddler seat. That was a big deal. Papa almost killed me for picking out a seat that was impossible to install- until he read the internet comments like I told him to!
But you just did not fit in the old seat, your toes dangled off the edge and I could not lift up the seat and your 20+ pounds and lug you around any longer!
You look so grown in the big blue seat that Domi used for so long. I got a little choked up. And the great hand-me-down procession begins! Well, it actually began the moment you were born and you have been living and playing in all your brother's and cousins' great stuff since. And it will continue on down after you with your new baby cousin coming in May! Last night we saw tia Hez and pretty soon we'll have a brand new baby cousin that you can boss around! You won't be the littlest for long, which is a mixed blessing, I know. But it just means one more little wiggler to wrestle around with, and that will be great.

Amalia, you are changing so quickly, I wish my brain had an automatic video recorder so I could record all of your little moments. You are sunny and giggly one second and all rage and storm clouds the next. You are your mother's daughter, and I'm so glad and sorry at the same time! I know exactly how you feel, because I was there too. As I grow up and grow with you, I find in myself more and more glimpses of my mother. This is wonderful and horrifying at the same time. I know that you'll do the same. Hopefully, you'll keep the good, and work on the not so good, and we'll keep improving as we go along. One thing for sure, just like my mom, I'll always be here to frustrate, infuriate, and adore you.

Love, Mama

much belated 28th monthday!

2009-01-15T13:21:00.000-08:00

Domingo, this last month has been a whirlwind. So much has happened, you met a new friend in Esther, you got a giant dinosaur, you have been talking, and playing and running up a storm!
We've been trying to stay warm during the coldest snowiest time of your entire life.

Here you are in the conservatory soaking up the heat and humidity that at least one half of your genes is desperate for.

And here you are indulging your Nordic blood.

You continue to be such a sweet boy. You play with your sister and entertain her for as long as it's fun for you.
There aren't really many new milestones this past month, you still are completely fascinated by dinosaurs, you will sit and "read" your dinosaur books for ever and ever. You love going through the different names of dinosaurs, and animals. Your favorites are still your teeny dinosaurs and your new giant dino named "Princess Sally". Guess who helped you name her.

You are slimming down and getting taller. You are now officially well over 3 feet tall and you weigh the same as your 4 year old cousins. I just wonder when you'll pass them up in both.
We are starting to figure out the whole preschool thing this month. And while it's very stressful for me, I know that you are ready, or will be by the time this fall rolls around. I can't believe that my little baby is big enough to be talking about school!
Even though you are getting to be so big, you are still my sweet boy. You still ask mama for "snuglets" and give your hermanita sweetness and love.
You are my sweet boy.

Love Mama.

I know!

2009-01-14T17:26:00.000-08:00

Delinquent blogger, I know I know. But it's been so cold!
I'm pledging a Christmas themed monthday post for Domingo tomorrow, but today I just want to post Amalia's giant baby stats.
We took her to the pediatrician, and she got measured and weighed and she is still enormous.
Length: 29 inches
Weight: 20 lbs 15oz
Head circ.: 17 and 7/8 inches
all beyond 95% for girls
Just to compare, Domingo was 21lbs 7oz, 29 inches long, and his "pea head" was 17 and 5/8 inches.
The doctor checked her out and said Amalia is doing great. She is sitting pretty much on her own now, but does keel over after a little bit. She's easily flipping over both ways, but has yet to show any inclination or desire to move. She's sucking her toes with gusto and putting everything she can get her hands on in her mouth. I'm dusting off the old sign language book so we can start figuring out what Amalia is after, because she has made it clear that she knows exactly what she wants and we had better get on it!
Here are some pictures to appease until I can get some more content up!

Amalia figured out the bottle pretty quick, she just didn't like being held and fed. Not surprising that she is not slow when it comes to food!

Freezing weather doesn't hold a lot of interest for mother or daughter.

Napping babies are the best!

One down...

2009-01-09T10:27:00.000-08:00

A jillion to go.
My first week back at work went off without a major hitch. Domingo and Amalia did great with Esther, who I have to say, I just love. I was so worried at first because, although I had my issues with Ana, at least I knew that she was great with Domingo, he loved her, and she was happy to work with us for a year and a half. I was really worried that who ever we found to replace her wouldn't be as caring, or trust worthy, or fun. But after the three days last week we hung out, and after this week, I have no worries and can honestly say I can sit at work and not really wonder what's going on at home. At the end of the day on Wednesday, Esther gave me a hug and I felt like she was part of my extended family and had been for years. What a great feeling.
One thing that working and trying to prepare for a half marathon in April and oh yeah, taking care of the kiddos, doesn't leave much time for is blogging!
I have a 27th monthday post that is overdue, as well as a Christmas wrap-up that is needing to get out there before it's groundhog day! So more to come, I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that we all survived my first week back. Now we just need to see if we make it through the next several thousand!

Working for a living

2009-01-04T14:37:00.000-08:00

So tomorrow it's back to the working world for me. I know that the kids will be totally fine, and it will probably be good for them to have some time to themselves, maybe work on that novel they've been talking about. As for me, I know that the first few weeks will probably be really tough. I mean, it's been 6 months of being with Domi and Amalia non-stop. I think over the last 6 months, I've spent maybe 30 hours total away from the two of them. In 6 months. (This includes overnight since we still all sleep in the same bed!) That is a hard habit to break.
I'm sure the first day will feel like a treat, so much time by myself, and even the possibility of going to the restroom alone! It's almost too much. But by the end of the week, I'm sure I'll be very ready to hang out with my little munchkins and not want to go back. But then I know, we'll get into a rhythm, and after a few weeks, it will seem like this was always the set up.
I'm not going to lie and say it's easier this time around, if anything it's harder. I've had such a great time with these guys. Especially Domingo, he is so much fun at this age, and it's so great that we've had this time together. And Amalia is just now getting more and more interactive and more awake and alert. It's hard to leave now that she's less of a scream-body and more of a love bug.
My consolation is once again that I'll be at home more than I will be away, and soon enough they'll be in school- for Domingo maybe even this fall, and so what would I do with myself all day? (I can think of a few things!)
This past holiday weekend was a good way to prepare for this coming week. We got to hang out in Morris, went to the Children's Museum in Naperville, then came back to the city, hung out w/ tia Hez and tio James, hung out with tia Jennifer and family, and now are cleaning up (Chris) and playing dinosaurs (Domi) groaning (Amalia) and blogging.
We've talked about tomorrow, thought about it, planned for it, and now all that's left is to do it. So I'll post an update on the other side. Wish us luck!

Year end round up!

2008-12-31T07:35:00.001-08:00

I can't believe the year has come and gone. (I know the Christmas post hasn't even made it up!)
We've had quite an amazing year. The most exciting part of course was the Cubs choking in playoffs, again, oh wait no, that part was bad. Domingo, Chris and I met the much talked about and much anticipated hermatina, Amalia Mafalda, and Domi's world was never the same.

But I can't say that Domingo has minded thus far. There were a few moments of mommy-jealousy, i.e. put the baby down, make the baby sleep, I want oopa, but nothing like some of the stories I've heard (i.e. send the baby back to God- very creepy tia J.) which was a huge relief. Domingo pretty much accepted her as soon as she arrived and he now adores her and does his best to amuse her. (I'm sure I'll upload a video of Domi doing a line from West Side Story for Amalia and her cracking up, a laugh riot, I know!) From the moment Amalia's eyes could focus, they were trained on Domingo and she is so interested in every move he makes.

There have been several milestones reached this year. Domingo turned two, learned to jump, climb up and down the stairs, became a lover of the swimming pool and the icy waters of lake Michigan, and he discovered his first true and obsessive love: dinosaurs. He knows the name of about 40 different kinds of dinosaurs. He will very often correct me, (and I've become quite the expert from all the dino books we now have) when I mistake one pachycephalosaur for a parasauralophus.

And we haven't even mentioned the milestones Amalia has reached this year! Amalia was born on the longest day of the year, as if to let us know she would fill our days with light. I can't rewrite history though, she was a little stormy those first few months, but once she hit 4 months she was and continues to be a delight. She is so sweet and giggly and rolly and chubby.

She went from a teeny little peanut to a giant drooly dumpling. And those early days of little sleep and teeny diapers are a blur and haze, but you really don't have a chance to be sad about them passing because each new moment, phase, stage is more fun than the last.

This year we said goodbye to Ana, Domingo's babysitter since he was 4 months old, she couldn't wait for us while I was off for 6 months, so she's taking care of another family now, but we are saying hello and welcome to Ester who will take good loving care of Domi and Amalia when I return to work after 6 long great months off. I hope I remember what I'm doing! We've had such a wonderful 6 months together, you'd think we'd get bored of each others company, but it's just not the case! We've done so many fun things this year: museums, zoos, aquarium, swimming at abuela's, vacationing at the new cottage on Lake Michigan, visits from friends, meeting brand new babies, playing at the park, playing at home, learning colors and numbers and letters and reading reading reading! I've had such a great time I don't want it to end. I know it will be hard. Change is always stressful, but it can be a really good thing, just look at the changes our little family has gone through in the past year as proof.

Year end round up in photo-form:

Things that concern me...

2008-12-26T07:56:00.000-08:00

The Christmas wrap up is coming asap. I have to learn that we cannot outsource our memory capturing. So the next time we get a 3 foot triceratops you bet I'll be there, flashbulbs popping!
But now to some things that are a little concerning to me:
1.) Domingo said to me while playing with his new magnet fishing game: "I'm harvesting the sea animals!"
2.) Domingo is completely into Jurassic Park III (not surprising) but is not afraid at all of the dinosaur attacks and says, "look mama, that Spinosaurus is eating the man!" "I want to see the deinonychus (what the veloceraptors of the movie are actually modeled after- and Domingo realized that completely on his own!) chasing the man."
(His favorite part of the movie however, is when this little boy is playing with dinosaur toys- he can watch that 15 seconds over and over and over, and says he wants those toys, mama go to the store and get those toys).
3.) I'm allowing my 2 year old to watch violent dino-related deaths.
4.) Domingo continues to repeat EVERYTHING we say. In the car the other day one of us quoted a line from a movie and Domingo has been repeating it over and over, he knows how to get a laugh.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-26T07:35:00.001-08:00

May the calendar keep bringing happy holidays to you!

6th monthday!!

2008-12-21T11:37:00.001-08:00

Amalia,
When did this happen.

The last thing I knew, I was walking out of a courtroom to head to the hospital, and now here you are a giant sweet beautiful girl. It was just a moment ago when you were so tiny we had to stuff the carseat with towels and blankets so that you would fit in there without bouncing and lolling all over, and now your feet hang over the end and the seat is practically too heavy for me to even pick up!

So in other words, I can't believe how quickly this last 6 months has gone.
We don't really have any new milestone-type developments to report. You are still rockin' the tripod a little longer stretches now, you are flipping easily from tummy to back, but since you hate tummy time, you never go the other way even though I think you probably could. You still do your left leg pump when you are in your bouncy seat or laying down. Your left leg just pumps up and down over and over, if you are bored or mad. It's very unique to you.
You know your name and respond to it, especially if Domingo is saying Amalia. You babble non-stop, and much to your father's delight say dadadadadada. But you also say squEEEEEEE, babababab, and something that sounds a lot like aloogobi.

While I don't think you are quite up to Indian food yet, we will be starting solids this month! I know you are very anxious to eat food because you look at us when we're eating you smack your lips and squeal and even grab at our utensils and plates. You are definitely your mother's daughter.

One of the best things that has kept happening this month is your continued fascination with Domingo. You love looking at him, grabbing for him, laughing at his antics. It's pretty obvious how you feel about your big brother. If you are fussy and we can't figure out why, it's a sure bet that it's because Domingo has wandered away from your field of vision and if we take you to him you cheer right up.
The only other person you do this about is me. It makes sense, you are with us both all day everyday. I have to say, while it's sometimes kind of a lot to deal with, usually it just feels nice to be so loved and needed.

I know I am less than objective here, but I can honestly say that you are the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. You had a much shorter "troll baby" phase than Domingo, and are growing into this gorgeous creature. You are all lashes and dimples (and thighs- I know I'm just stating the obvious here but you are one seriously chubby babe!). Every inch of you is chompable, from your neck rolls to your ankle-chub.
You have the smiliest eyes I've ever seen. If you are even hinting at a smile the first thing you see is your big beautiful eyes crinkle up and then you flash the gums.
Yes, that's right, still just gums. I thought we were going to have another super early teether with you. (Your brother got his first tooth at 4 months pretty much on the nose) But it's been months of drooling, biting, hands in mouth, everything else in mouth, crabbing, crying, and yet NO teeth. Well, it can't go on forever, but I do wish you'd hurry it up.

But that's the only thing I want to rush. This month you and your brother are in for a new adventure as I will be returning back to work, well the kind of work that takes me out of the house at least. I remember last time I was out on leave, I was off for four months, and it flew by, but at the same time felt like it lasted forever. I told myself if I ever had another maternity leave, I would take 6 whole months, and that would seem like enough time. Let me tell you, it's not. There are entries and entries in this blog about how I was so conflicted about going back to work. I wanted to be with your brother, but at the same time was going a little nutso from not having any contact with other adults. I felt like I wasn't using my brain, and my degree in the way I had in my "previous" life. I felt like I would be a better mom if I got to exercise that part of myself too. That hasn't really changed, but one thing that is different this time around is that I'm so much more comfortable and confident in being the "mom" that I can stop worrying for a few minutes and just enjoy you. It's really really nice. I don't know if it's you or me who has made this happen, but I'm so glad we are both able to reap the rewards of the (marginally) less crazy me. I know that you and Domi will be fine when I'm at work. We found someone who is very kind, caring and already loves you both even though she has just met you, but I can't say that I blame her. I know I'll be very sad to see our non-stop time together end, but I think it will make the time we do have that much more special.

Love,
Mama

Tripod! (and other news)

2008-12-15T06:15:00.000-08:00

Amalia is working on the tripod and can hold it for a maximum of 3 seconds before toppling over which ever way her big head is pointing. No offense to the ultrasounders at Masonic, but they were way off when they kept saying that she has a small head. Either that or her head has outpaced all her other growth by a factor of at least 2.

In other news, we were in South Bend this weekend and had two tantalizing failures of seeing family members perform.
First was tio James do a reading of his book The Order of Odd Fish at the library. It's all your holiday shopping done! Although we've seen him read a few times, it's always a good time. We were just 15 minutes late getting there, but that was enough to have missed the reading entirely, but the question and answer period was fun, as were the cookies.
Later we went to Grandma and Farfar's Christmas concert. We stayed for a few songs, but Amalia was exhausted and Domingo only had a short nap in the car, so coping skills were at a minimum, and a long concert that other people perhaps wanted to listen to, was probably not the best place to push the envelope. Domingo has no concept of whispering, and kept asking in a really loud voice, "Where's Grandma?" "Where's the tuba?" "What stage?" etc. I think had one of them fallen asleep, or at least had Amalia been willing to nurse to sleep, we could have made it work. But as it was we left at intermission.

Then Sunday we tried to take Christmas card pictures, this is one from the no pile:

"Listen kid, if we're good we get presents!"

I can't believe it's so near. One bad thing about going back to work the first week of January is that this last month flies by at the speed of light. There is so much to do, so many people to see, it just goes so fast. So it takes a lot of effort to slow it down and savor my last few weeks. But savor I will!

Compare and Contrast

2008-12-10T06:56:00.001-08:00

Who wins the chublet awards?

27th monthday!

2008-12-07T13:26:00.000-08:00

Domingo it's your 27th monthday!
You are entering into the two and a half zone, and I have to say you are a delight.
Not always

but for the most part, you are just a joy to be around.
I have to note some of the really funny things you are doing these days.
You are the make out king of Chicago. You are really into kissing everyone. Not just a chaste peck on the cheek either, a full on the lips long past appropriate length smooch is your style.
You kissed Grandma on the lips for about a minute straight last weekend, and when I told Chris that you had kissed me like that before, he accused me of being jealous. It is no secret that your favorite person in the world is Grandma. I think I'm on that list somewhere near the top, so I have no need to be jealous, but for the record, you did kiss me first.
You also have been saying that everything is "delicious". Beans, popsicles, carrots and cookies are all a rave, five thumbs up. It's really very cute.

You are still totally into music. You sing songs all the time. You sing songs from our cds, hum themes from Totoro, you make up songs, and dance dance dance. You have inherited your father's love of funkiness.
What I cannot get over is how much you love to talk. You are sometimes still a little shy with strangers, but once you warm up to them, you are a non-stop chatterbox. Especially when it comes to animals, and needless to say, DINOSAURS!
Today at the museum you were so excited. You ran around to all the different dinosaurs, naming the ones you knew, and yelling, "what's this one called, what's this one called!" barely even waiting for me to finish before you tried to repeat it. You love naming things, making sure everything is labeled correctly so then you can switch the names around as a funny joke. Nothing is more hilarious than a Tyranasaur-alophus.

Here you are in the "play lab" in the basement of the Field Museum.
I don't want to push you or force you to be into "learning", and fortunately, I don't have to. You are so curious and creative. Here you are having a discussion between the beaver skull and the otter skull. I was over with Amalia and I saw you in a deep discussion so I ran and grabbed the camera. I try to just let you play without cramming all that knowledge down your throat, I know that there will be time enough for knowledge cram, now is the time for play. But I don't need to offer it up, before I can even show you something new, you ask me, what's this called, where does this live, what does this say, what does this eat? And fortunately for me, the why? why? whys? have not started... yet.

We are getting a little better at sharing. I know it's been rough, but there have been a few break through moments of playing "with" other children, of not screaming if someone else takes a toy you had looked at in the previous hour, and of handing over something nicely to your sister. But usually sharing to you means when the other children give something to you not vise versa.

Your idea of playing with your sister:

"What? What'd I do?"

I am so glad that you have each other to keep entertained. She looks at you with total fascination. You look at her and break out in giggles. You always ask me "what is Amalia saying?" when I repeat her groans, or babbles, or giggles, or snorts, you laugh and say YEAH! You love looking at her, holding her hand, you love it when she laughs or smiles at you. And it makes me profoundly happy when you hug her and say "Te quierro mucho mucho muchisimo Amalia."
I know that you won't always be so enamored of each other, but I also know that you will always be there for each other, the way that tia Leticia, tio Gustavo, tia Hez and tia Jennifer are there for us and for you. You will learn, as you have in the last 27 months, that family is everything, and the only thing that really means anything in this crazy world.
Love,
Mama

Happy 1128th monthday!

2008-12-02T07:05:00.001-08:00

We had to come out of our break to wish Tia May a happy birthday. Te queremos mucho mucho muchisimo as Domingo often says.

Hiatus

2008-12-01T12:30:00.000-08:00

With Namblopomo over, we'll be taking a little posting break over here. I think we'll resume with regular frequency in the near near future (there's another monthday on the horizon) but until then, enjoy some photos from this Thanksgiving!

Goody Good-baby

the thinkers

Grandma's is the happiest place on earth

bath boys

End of a long weekend

2008-11-30T16:44:00.000-08:00

And the end of Namblopomo! I had promised two days of substance, only before I realized that November, like September April and June, only has 30 days. So to end my month-long postathon, here are some thoughts that were floating around in my head as I was trying to get Amalia to sleep.
First of all, I am so so lucky to be able to be where I am, and doing what I'm doing. We are all healthy, happy, safe and sound in our little home, and we could not ask for anything more.
I was sitting in the darkness, bouncing and jiggling and cuddling an angry Amalia, trying to get her to calm down, suck on her pacifier and go to sleep. Through the door I could hear and see Domingo running around with Chris, laughing and talking, and playing the spoons, and asking his Papa to put on the blond curly wig I had borrowed from tia Hez for Halloween. I know there are people out there who are not "kid people", don't like children or babies, but I just do not get them. To me there really is nothing as wonderful and hilarious and frustrating and maddening and incredible as spending time with these two little guys.
As I type this Domingo is dumping out all of his little toys one by one while saying "fast, fast, fast, fast, fast!" and "look I'm flying up and up and up and UP!" I don't know if it's a race with himself to beat a personal best dumping record, or if he has to build maximum dump speed to take off.
But back to the dark room. It was only after I stopped looking at the clock, wondering how many more minutes it would take for Amalia to stop crying and go to sleep, only after I put both my feet up on the bed where I was sitting with her and closed my eyes, only after I stopped worrying about getting out of that room, and started enjoying being in that room with her that she relaxed and fell fast asleep. When I felt her little body shudder and heard her little shaky breath finally come out long and relaxed I opened my eyes to look at my sleeping daughter. She is breathtaking. Her perfect smooth round head, her chubby dimpled hands, her crinkly eyed full lipped sleep-smile, and her round little bottom resting heavily in my hand, are here for a fleeting moment. She practically grows as I look at her sleeping. Soon she'll be as fast and talkative and funny and exasperating as her older brother. And while a part of me can't wait for this, a part of me aches to know that this is it for this stage. She'll never have another first Thanksgiving, or Christmas. She'll never be 1 month or 2 or 3 again. Drink up eyes, take in all her chubby rolly sweetness now, before it's gone.
It's good that I have this blog to write down these moments of realization because otherwise, I might forget that I ever stopped to smell the baby, that I really did enjoy all the moments, good and less so, like I promise to do in all my monthday posts.
I can write down these little moments, and although I know part of the magic of memory is gone when I commit these thoughts and experiences to words on paper (or in this case screen) at least I can look back and know that it was real. These moments were real and not some crazy wonderful dream. It happened. I was a mother. I gave birth to her, was there and saw her tiny perfect form, and some day, maybe she'll do the same, and I hope to be there to write it down.

nearing the end

2008-11-29T14:55:00.000-08:00

I just got an email from the NAMBLOPOMO people about this November endeavour of posting every day. it asked did I put something meaningful out there everyday, or just post for the sake of posting. I feel like it was more of the later in my case, but will try very hard in the next two days to post something insightful, just not today. I'm at my in-laws, listening to Domingo in the next room laughing and watching "My Neighbor Totoro" one of my favorite movies, even if it is for kids. He's asking "where is the totoro?" So rather than blog about something profound and wonderful, I'll just actually do something profound and wonderful, spend time with my son.

Whose child is this?

2008-11-28T13:14:00.000-08:00

Once again, compare and contrast:
Domingo's favorite food: peas
Alice's most hated food: peas

Domingo: will not eat meat, or at least not much
Alice: if it didn't once have a pulse it's not really worth eating

Domingo's favorite drink: milk, or grape juice (mostly water w/ a splash of juice)
Alice: that is gross

Domingo's favorite past time: reading, and naming dinosaurs
Alice: likes to read and being read to, but still needs to look up the dinosaur names that Domingo already knows.

But look at those ears, without having to bother with the DNA test, I'm pretty sure he's mine.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

2008-11-27T19:25:00.001-08:00

So much to be thankful for once again this year. Wonderful food, terrific family and friends, what more could we ask for?
Here are the reasons I'm so grateful, today and every day.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving begins!

2008-11-26T06:17:00.001-08:00

We are off to South Bend here in a few minutes. Soon we will be splashing in Tia Laly's pool to work up an appetite for all the eating, and eating, and eating that we will be doing!! Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, it's only made better by having my children to share it with, to make memories with them included, and for these guys to make memories of their own.

5th monthday!! Late edition

2008-11-25T17:54:00.000-08:00

Amalia, Friday you turned 5 months! You are such a big wonderful girl. As we reported last month, you really turned a corner and are now for the most part a very mellow fuss free darling. You still can work up a righteous fury when you feel it's warranted, but those times are so few and far between these days, that we really can't complain. Although at times you can be quite a mama's girl, you still light up when Papa comes into the room. Even if he can't always get you to fall asleep.
before sleep attempt:

after sleep attempt:

As for new tricks or "milestones" as the pediatrician's are calling them these days, you've flipped over a few times from your tummy to your back, and are really close to getting it going the other way too. You get 3/4 of the way over but your chubby little arm gets in the way.
You've definitely learned about "object permanence", or at least mama permanence. When I leave the room you scream and I come running back. The system works.

You are so into putting things in your mouth these days, your hands, feet, toys mama's hair, what ever it is, it needs to be in your mouth! And when you aren't stuffing it, you are using it to talk about everything. You babble and chatter to yourself or your brother all day long. Speaking of Domi, you cannot get enough of that kid. When ever he's around, you are looking at him and he is usually happy to entertain you.

You are growing like a weed. We haven't had an official weigh in/height check recently but I'd estimate you are around 18 pounds and I can't really guess how long. Maybe 27 inches? With your brother I'd get out my tape measure, but now every time I get it out, Domingo steals it from me and tries to wrap it around someone's neck, yours, mine, his, it doesn't matter as long as someone's getting strangled.

See you are almost as tall as tia Sally!

This coming month will bring lots of firsts. I'm looking forward to your first Thanksgiving, your first Christmas, and your first New Years. What I'm a little less excited about is that this will be our last month together 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This is probably a good thing for all involved, I'll be going back to work only part time, and I'll be home more days than I am away, but still. I'm nervous, worried, anxious, apprehensive, and any other synonym for uncertain that you can think of.
But I'm going to look forward to this month, relish every minute, even the screamy ones, and make the most of each day. I owe that to both of us.

Love,
Mama

Oops!

2008-11-25T05:56:00.000-08:00

I blew it! My post a day pledge had to make way for life I suppose. But even though I didn't post yesterday, I'll make up for it by posting a monthday for Amalia today, and I'll try to keep it up for the rest of the month.

Placeholder post!

2008-11-23T19:04:00.001-08:00

This is where some content should be! Or at least a picture of the kiddos.
Friday was Amalia's 5th monthday, but since we went to Morris I didn't have a chance to upload pictures and do justice to the monthday post, so I'll tackle that tomorrow. Procrastinators of the world, unite and take over... tomorrow.