Life Through my Camera Phone

It's been a busy month of August. I'm not sure exactly all that we've been up to. I haven't downloaded pictures from my camera in a while, but I DID take a look at the pictures on my camera phone. Here's what I found.

This is Luis laying in the grass in my aunt Clare's yard (in Atlanta). He was fascinated by her cat (the small white spec that Luis is looking at) and spent a long time watching her. We were there for my Grandfather's funeral. While the reason for the family get-together was sad, the get-together, was, in fact, just the kind of weekend that Grandfather loved best - family, friends, games, stories, laughing and good food.

This is Luis at the Science Museum. Diego, Luis and I went on a Sunday afternoon and had a GREAT time. We also became members (so expect more pictures from here).

This is Luis in his "tall pants". Despite the 105-degree days, Luis had a week where he insisted on wearing his tall pants.

While in Atlanta, Randolph, Eston (my cousin, not my nephew), Hamesh (my cousin Louisa's husband) and I went to Six Flags (over Georgia) for an afternoon. It was a quiet afternoon at the park and we managed to ride 7 of the 9 major roller coasters in under 3 hours. Not bad. Two of the rides, in fact, we walked right on to. Our VERY FAVORITE was the Goliath. It had two 17-story drops. It also, I'm pretty sure, was the longest roller coaster I've ever been on. It was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!!!

Goliath towered over everything in the park!

Me Gusta El Helado

(That's spanish for "I like ice cream"!)

What's on the menu?

Some of Luis's favorite foods:

Jelly with sandwich on top

Bagel with sour cream (cream cheese actually, but he can never seem to remember the name)

Apple without peanut butter

Progress Report - Doing OK!

When Luis was very little, I looked forward to his well-baby check ups: I wanted to hear the pediatrician say that Luis was doing well, as it felt like validation that I was doing a good job as his mom. Back then, there were pretty clear benchmarks based on weight, height and head circumference. Then there were motor developments liking using the pincer grip instead of his whole fist, learning to roll over, crawl and sit up on his own. Now, it's not so straightforward. But today, I had a nice reminder that Diego and I are doing an OK job.

Diego and Luis invited me to go golfing with them this afternoon. I declined, but said I would go next weekend. When Luis reported the news back to Diego, Diego replied, "Mommy's not coming? I am so sad!" Luis paused for just a moment, put his arms around Diego and said, "I'm so sorry that you feel sad. You don't have to feel sad." And then he gave Diego a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

I've long known the expression that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It takes on a whole new meaning when you are trying to teach your child have to live and deal with the big world.

Fort Worth Stockyards

This morning, Diego, Luis and I went to the Fort Worth Stockyards. Fort Worth is about 35 minutes from us, and this was our first trip. They herd cows everyday (except maybe Thanksgiving and Christmas). It turns out, however, that the size of the herd is proportionate to the size of the expected crowd. On a Sunday morning in August, they weren't expecting a big crowd...

First we saw the cows in their pen. Diego and I were impressed with the size of the steer and their horns - both very large.

Luis, on the other hand, was impressed watching them poop. (I decided to take the picture of Luis laughing, not the cow pooping.)

After that, we walked around the commercial part of the area, waiting for the "cattle drive". There was all kinds of "Texas" memorabilia (read: cowboy hats & boots and Dr. Pepper), and almost every store offered to ship your merchandise. It was definitely made for tourists. Luis's two favorite things were the cowboy hats and the "merry-go-round" horses (that were everywhere).

He really, really, really wanted to try on the pink one.

We staked out our little patch of sidewalk to watch the cattle drive right next to a saddled steer and near a dog. Luis was initially much more impressed with the dog (who he rightly identified looked like Ashley). After a while, he warmed up to the steer and eventually agreed to sit on him.

Finally, it was "herd" time. Diego and Luis moved up to the edge of the sidewalk for a better view.

And, about six and a half minutes later, it was over. We found a place for some lunch (in a touristy spot like this, we didn't have to look far). Diego enjoyed beef brisket, a Texas version of BBQ. Luis enjoyed grilled cheese on Texas Toast. And not being a fan of any kind of BBQ, I enjoyed my turkey sandwich.

The proverbial carrot that we used to get Luis to eat his lunch was the promise that he could ride the "horses" again. Since Luis kept up his end of the deal, we kept up ours. Diego took Luis out to ride while I settled up our tab (often, Luis loses his restaurant stamina approximately 3 minutes before the check comes - so one of us takes him "for a walk" while the other pays). This particular ride was a horse pulling a cart. Luis b-e-g-g-e-d me to ride too, which I did. Then, Diego put a quarter in the machine. The way the whole thing lurched - as if the horse really was galloping - made me laugh really hard - which Diego tried valiantly to capture on film. But this scene really needed video.

Just before leaving, we took one last picture of Luis...

PS - When we got home, Luis slept from 1:30p until 5:15p!

The Master of Disaster - The Sequel?

There is a story about me that Sandy loves to share. I was about 6 or so and was home with him on a Saturday when everyone else was away. I was playing outside and fell down a few steps in the back yard. I came into the house, crying and bleeding. Sandy got me patched up and calmed down. The next thing out of my mouth was a plea to go back outside. He relented, and let me go. I'm not sure that more than 30 minutes passed before I was back inside - bleeding & crying - having fallen down exactly the same steps. One of many stories backing up his nickname for me: The Master of Disaster.

Last week, Luis was out playing with his new dump truck. He was running down the sidewalk, pushing the truck in front of him, when he lost his balanced and fell. He got a nice big scrape on his knee. It was just about healed when, on Thursday, he fell inside on carpet, and scraped it all raw again. Friday, he was running around inside the house and skidded on the hardwood floor, and managed to scrape it raw again.

After this last scrape, Luis was really upset. He wanted Diego, who was at work. So we did the best we could, and called him. Through sobbing tears, Luis plainly told Diego that he was running around and fell and hurt his knee again. Then he told Diego that he was crying and sad. Finally, he asked Diego to come home. NOW. It was heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. I imagine it was much harder for Diego who was stuck at work for 5 more hours...

The Greatest Show on Earth

Last weekend, Diego and I took Luis to the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus (also known as The Greatest Show on Earth - which is not really a shorter name). Luis knew about the circus from some of his books and was eager to go. We also invited Bethany and Caleb to join us.

Before the show, many of the performers were down on the performance floor greeting people, performing, and posing for pictures. Luis was eager to go down there, but soon felt overwhelmed by it all.

Luis posed for this picture because I asked him to, he was not overly fond of the clowns

Walking around before the show, Luis was a bit overwhelmed; he preferred to be as high as possible

I haven't been to the circus in at least a decade - I think since my senior year in high school. I was surprised with this show at how much singing and dancing there was. The ringmaster sang between almost every act. It wasn't bad, but it was not what I was expecting. Luis and Caleb were pretty enthralled with most of the show. Caleb sat on his mom's lap and took it all in. Luis rarely sat the entire show - squirming between Diego and I, dancing, jumping, climbing in and out of his chair - but always with an eye on the performers. The tigers were neat to watch, as were the acrobats. But to me, the most amazing act were these motorbike riders inside a big steel sphere. It's difficult to describe, but there are some great pictures here.

Luis's own circus act was to eat his foot during intermission

The show was two hours, with a 20 minute intermission. I think we all would have been happy with a one hour show, but then we would have missed the tigers. Also, intermission allowed me the opportunity to purchase a $5.50 "souvenir" cup of diet coke and a $4.00 bottle of water. I passed on the $12 cotton candy!!!

Diego carried two happy, but very tired boys back to the car

Kitchen Update

The kitchen renovation project is coming along very nicely. They have the floor back in, the cabinets back in and the tile laid and grouted. All that is left is to seal the grout and touch up paint - both of which should happen early next week.

Overall, construction went really well. I am still a bit surprised at seamlessly the project flowed and how little time there was between subcontractors. Jason, the contractor, did a great job scheduling the work and the subs did a great job doing the work. All the same, I am eager for it to be complete.

It looks great AND it is wonderful to have the kitchen back. We celebrated yesterday by inviting our friends Chris & Leah over for dinner.

Lesson Learned

On Tuesday night, we ordered take-out pizza for dinner. The kitchen renovation is on-going and I wasn't able to cook in the kitchen. Luis chose pizza, so we got pizza. Then, as is often the case, Luis ate NO pizza. It was "too hot", then "too cold", then "too spicy", then just plain "I don't liiiiiiike it". Instead, he sprinkled the fake Parmesan cheese all over his plate (and the place mat and the table). This took a few minutes. He would like his finger, dunk it in the pile of Parmesan and then stick his finer in his mouth, declaring, "YUMMY!!". Once the wasn't enough Parmesan to pile up, Luis started eyeing the red pepper flakes. Diego and I issued warnings and said no and told him they were hot and that he wouldn't like them and that it would hurt his mouth. The more we warned, not surprisingly, the more interested he was. And, to be honest, Diego and I were exhausted. So we let him have them. Just like the Parmesan, first he sprinkled it over the pizza and the plate and the place mat. Then he made little piles. Then he licked his finger. (Diego and I braced for the inevitable.) Then he dunked it in the flakes and stuck it in his mouth with blinding speed and a dazzling smile. The smile didn't last long. Tears. "Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow" More tears. "It's hot. My tongue is so hot." "I don't liiiiiiiiiike it." "Mommy fix it."

"My tongue is so hot!"

The New (Outdoor Only) Dump Truck

Luis has been to three birthday parties in the last 6 weeks. At all three, he watched the birthday boy receive this dump truck. And each time, Luis was awed by the greatness of the big, plastic dump truck. So this week, I went to Target and got him his own. [It's apparently the end of the "season" so it was discounted. They don't realize that dump trucks don't go out of "season" for 2 1/2 year old boys!]

He spent 20 minutes yesterday morning picking up sticks in the front yard, loading them into the dump truck and then finding the perfect dump site (the front walk). He then ran up and down the front walk, driveway and sidewalk, pushing the dump truck. This toy is a HIT!

"My Dumptruck is SOOOOO Busy"