A Day at the Park (a month ago)

Diego, Luis and I discovered a new park near our house, where we all enjoyed playing!

Bowling

When Uncle Randolph was visiting (almost 3 weeks ago, now), he joined Luis, Franklin and me for a morning of bowling. I was a little nervous about how much fun we would all have -- but it was FANTASTIC.


We put the gutter bumpers up, which ended up helping all of us. Franklin used the ramp for his first turn, but then decided that he could propel the ball down the lane on his own after that. While he was correct - he always got the ball to the end of the lane - there were a few times Randolph and I thought it might come to a complete stop mid-way. There was plenty of time to wait for Franklin's ball to get down the lane (and then back up again). While waiting, Franklin struck some very amusing poses.

Luis used the ramp to send his ball down the lane (and a lot of help from me). He bowled a strike his first time up. But by far, his favorite part of the bowling was cheering for everyone. He would say "Rockin'!" after each person's turn.


He also loved hanging out with his Uncle Randolph!

Halloween

I'm a little behind here, with Halloween posts. What can I say, it's been busy. Because we were travelling on Halloween (to Dallas, which will be a separate post), I took Luis out Trick or Treating on Thursday. Our friends were very happy to oblige us with treats a day early. And since it was Luis's first year dressing up, he didn't think it odd that he was the only one. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures on Thursday. These are from the Saturday before (when Diego was still here).

We tried the bumble bee costume first, but that wasn't such a big hit. The jaguar costume went over much better. Luis has loved Grand-daddy's jaguar for a long time, so I should not have been surprised...

For a long time, Luis's version of "dancing" was holding out his arm, bending his elbow 90-deg, and twisting. In the last couple of weeks, he's picked up some new moves AND gets his whole body into it. Here's a couple of stills of "Dancing Jaguar".

A Great Moment

Yesterday, Luis and I were playing down in the basement. I was folding laundry, when Luis called out "Mommy mommy mommy mommy mommy". I turned around to see this:
It's the first stack of blocks I've seen him build. I realize it's a normal developmental stage that ALL babies go through. But for some reason, I was really, really excited about this. I can't explain why, but my heart jumped. I high-fived Luis and gave him a big hug and cheered (an activity he particularly enjoys). While Luis indulged my celebration, he clearly didn't think this was such a big deal. But I did. Still do.

Oliphant Chuckerbutty McDow's Future Halloween Costume - Not Luis's

Randolph and Lauren are expecting Oliphant Chuckerbutty any day now (Due Date is Nov. 12). It will still be a couple of years before (s)he's ready, but I think this bumble bee (yellow jacket) costume will be a big hit with them. Not so much with Luis. He cried the whole time he had it on. Turns out he's more of a Jaguar kind of guy, though we shouldn't be surprised. Stay tuned for THOSE pics.

[Many thanks to Alison for loaning us so many costumes to chose from!]

Why You Don't Take Your Toddler to the Mall at 4p

I took Luis the the LL Bean store yesterday afternoon to look for a fleece vest for him and for me. Luis spotted the above dog about 15 seconds after we walked into the store. Because Luis is my first child, I actually thought that he could hold the dog while we shopped, but not actually leave the store with the dog. Turns out I was wrong. (Also turns out that stuffed animals at LL Bean are pretty pricey.)

I also wanted to buy him a pair of slippers because he mostly refuses to wear socks and/or shoes in the house so his little feet are often like ice cubes (because I mostly refuse to turn the heat up above 70). The only slippers they had in his size were these bear slippers. I actually think they are super cute. I hadn't intended to spend $17 on slippers -- but once I put them on his feet for a "test fit" they did not actually come off his feet again until bath time (the checkout guy was sweet enough to come around the counter and scan them ON Luis's feet).

We also stopped by to look at the "fisheeez" and the "rox" inside the store - LL Bean has a mini pond. I was sad that Diego wasn't there to properly name all of the fish; the only one I could identify was the cat fish (which Luis preferred to call the doggy fish).

Playing Ball in the House

Jules made this ball for Luis (and a matching one that is currently "hiding") and gave it to him when she was visiting in India. The ball's popularity has soared recently - both with Luis and with Ashley. This coincides with Luis's new talent: throwing. The current game is this: Luis throws the ball up into the air. Ashley catches and runs a few laps around the house, shaking her head. Luis then runs behind her, calling out "Ashwee dwrop it Ashwee dwrop it Ashwee drop it Ashwee drop it". Eventually, Ashley does, and the game starts anew.

LEAVES!!!!

Luis has discovered the joy of jumping in piles of leaves. Lucky for him (really, for all of us), we can pile our leaves at the curb and 3x in the fall the County comes and sucks them up - i.e. no bagging for us. Within the last 2 weeks, people on our street have started the leaf piles. Luis LOVES them. I took a ton of pictures and had a hard time narrowing them down... After about 20 minutes of playing in 4 different leaf piles, Luis invite me to join: Mommy Jump Leafs; Mommy Jump. Who can resist such an invitation? I'm only sorry that there wasn't anyone else to take pictures.

Walking through the pile

Jumping into the pile

"Sleeping in the leaves"

Feeling the Love

Visiting Muffles & Nick

Once upon a time, Luis and Muffles were good friends. Muffles liked to curl up and share a lap with Luis. Luis liked to curl up and share the dog bed with Muffles. The fact that Luis wasn't mobile helped the relationship significantly. When we went to Mumbai, Muffles went to Nick's. We were very sad to see her go, but were also confident that she'd be happy there. And by all accounts, she has been.

Today, Luis and I took a field trip out to Nick's place to visit Muffles. I hadn't seen her since July '07 and was missing her (especially since we've been back in the house). Luis has no memory of Muffles, but is very keen on animals. And, he's keen on Nick.

It's a bit more than an hour to drive out to Rixeyville (each way), but the trip was TOTALLY worth it. Luis loved visiting Nick, seeing the "ki-ee kat", Nick's two dogs (Tess & Thor), the tractor, the motorcycle, the quad bike, Nick's CD collection and all of Nick's "jumping beds" (a term and action he learned from his McDow cousins in Fairfax). I loved seeing Muffles. (Luis loves to hug and kiss animals - all animals. But it wasn't until I saw myself hugging and kissing Muffles that I realized where he learned to do that.) Below are some pictures of Luis's favorite things at Nick's.

You Tell Me

Does this look a kid who, only 20 minutes after this picture was taken would crawl up onto my bed with a spray bottle of Clorox Cleanup and douse BOTH of the hand-made Indian quilts I had on my bed?

The New Neighbors

It's that time of year again - Halloween. Diane has been working on her decorations over the last two weeks. And some of it is pretty scary. But not to Luis. Diego took him over when the clown first went up. Luis's reaction? To hug the clown. And when Luis saw the gargoyles, he hugged them too (and, he calls them doggies). I took him over a few days later. Luis was not only still not afraid (or even hesitant), rather he was feeling rather charitable. He offered some of his water to the crows, the gargoyles and the clown.

And he hugged everyone again. Several times.

It's Official - We're headed to Texas!

Yesterday, Diego accepted the position of Assistant Director, Aviation Department with the City of Dallas. He starts on Monday, October 27th! The job is a great career opportunity. He'll be working at Love Field, helping to transform it from a small regional airport that only launches short flights to one that offers many long-haul flights. (Congress has repealed the Wright Amendment which placed lots of restrictions on Dallas Love Field after DFW opened in 1976.) Between now and 2014, there will be a tremendous amount of expansion and construction at Love Field that Diego will oversee and direct (this is my description, not Diego's so apologies if it isn't exactly right).

Diego will head down weekend after next to start work on 10/27. Luis and I will head down the next weekend (10/31) for a Dallas Discovering/House Hunting trip. Maybe we can live near these guys??

Then, we'll probably head down again before Thanksgiving to (hopefully) wrap up the house search. With both Thanksgiving and Christmas being celebrated with family on the East Coast, I think our official departure from EST to CST will be after Christmas when we drive the car and the dog to Dallas.

More news as it evolves...