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...

Home Improvements Continue

The kitchen is 99% done. Diego's new crown molding looks fantastic. And, I will say, I am very pleased with the new paint job on the walls. My friend Kim Pexton helped me pick it out - it's Bavarian Cream. The kitchen has such a different feel than it did with the white walls and the dark red trim!

The powder room is also finished. When I went to hook the sink back up (revelling in my old plumber days), I couldn't get the p-trap installed correctly. I called in our good friend and contractor Nick to fix it. I felt a bit like a wimp calling in help for such a simple task. It ended up taking him about 90 minutes to hook it all up (and clean out the completely obstructed pipe that goes into the wall). Luis was fascinated by the work, and by Nick. All day, he followed Nick around (and has asked about him several times since). I am very happy with the new sink and the new paint color.

Swim Swim

Bath time continues to be a favorite part of the day for Luis. Lately, each night, he takes a few minutes to "swim swim" (demonstrated in the second picture). The Frog Legs snack is not a common occurrence - but I thought it was a cute picture.

San Andres, Colombia

We spent Saturday to Wednesday of last week with Diego's family in San Andres, a small island off of the Atlantic Coast of Panama (though it is part of Colombia). We gathered to celebrate Hernan & Mercedes's 40th wedding anniversary. Jules travelled with the parents from Medellin, and JuanFe & RC travelled with us (literally, the same itinerary) from DC. Sadly, at the last minute, Liz was unable to join us from Costa Rica.

(I took my camera, but not a single picture, so this will just be a narrative. Sorry.)

Overall, the trip was a great success. The things that mattered most, went really well. Everyone arrived safely, we got to spend lots of time together. Everyone, especially Hernan & Mercedes got to know Luis (and he them). There was much relaxing - card playing, pool lounging, SCUBA (for RC, Diego and me), good food and yummy fruity drinks. Luis practiced his Spanish, and said daily, la playa (beach), piscina (pool), gracias (thank you), abuela (grandmother), hola (hello) and mas agua (more water). Luis jumped into the pool (from the side) about 500 times - each time, as soon as he cleared the water from his face, he said MORE MORE MORE. We all built numerous sand structures with the super great sand toys that Jules brought.

As a travel companion, Luis could not have been better. Despite our 4a departure from the house on Saturday morning, the 5hr layover in Panama City on the way home, or our arrival at the house at 2.30a on Wednesday night, Luis took it all in stride. He was easy-going and fun-loving the whole time.

All of this goodness overshadows things like the Medellin contingency arriving a day late because the travel agent forgot to tell them their flight had been re-scheduled (and their sitting in the airport for ~ 7 hours on the return because again the travel agent did not notify of flight changes), the 47 mosquito bites Luis got the first night, the fact that our room flooded the second morning (because of pooling AC water in the ceiling - noting the home of the mosquitoes) - we switched to another room immediately, the AC breaking down in the entire hotel (and the resulting feeling that we were vacationing in a SAUNA), the all-out war that the sand fleas launched on Luis's left leg, and what not.

I'm hoping to get some pictures from Jules, JF and RC and will post here.

An Alternative Playground

For a couple of months now, Luis asks if he can play in the car. At first, he would sit in the drivers seat and just sort of grin. Now, he climbs all around, pushing buttons, adjusting mirrors, pulling down the visors, opening the sunroof, and generally exploring.

Yesterday, we were just back from a trip from Alison & Dodie's house and Ashley was with us. When Ashley saw that Luis was staying in the car, she decided that she was also staying in the car. Luis was playing with stickers, and stuck about 10 of them on to Ashley's face. I'm pretty sure that Ashley didn't have as much fun as Luis, but it was a game that kept everyone busy for about 20 minutes - a success in my book.

Apple Sauce

Last night for dinner, Luis had some Apple Sauce. Not this, as you might expect.

Rather, it was this - pieces of apples dipped in ketchup.

I expect my family to chime in about how I put ketchup on EVERYTHING (for a lot of years). This is true. But I must point out I did not encourage this. Luis is just currently really into dipping things into "sauce" and rarely cares about the flavor of the sauce.

Recouperating

We arrived home at 2:30a this morning from our trip to San Andreas, Colombia - where we (Jules, JF, RC, Mercedes, Hernan, Diego, Luis and I) celebrated Diego's parent's 40th wedding anniversary. We need a day or two to recover - to wash the clothes, buy some groceries, read the mail and download the pictures. I hope to get a vacation blog post up soon.