Carlito Turns 1!

On Monday Carlito turned 1 year old! He and I went to Reno this weekend to visit Carlos' family and had a little birthday party. His eyes got wide when people starting singing Happy Birthday to him and even wider when he stuck his spoon in the cake and got a lick. He hasn't really had any sugary food yet so I didn't think he would necessarily like it....but no, it was love at first lick. He kept trying to get his spoon back in the cake.

He loved chasing the dogs around screaming "guh, guh" - his version of 'dog'. The little pug Missy liked playing an adaptation of catch with him, but the boston terrier Louis was terrified of him and would leave as soon as the baby came within sight. The only time the dog got close was when we went on walk and Louis got too tired to walk any further and Carlito let him hitch a ride in his stroller....Although Carlito doesn't like sharing much there was a lot of sharing as Carlito played with the dogs toys and Missy stole both his toothbrush and his pacifier. It was pretty funny when we saw her walking around sucking on the pacifier!! Cleaning her teeth seemed to be less exciting.

His favorite toy turned out to be a bear which sings a special rendition of "Will you still love me when I'm 64." He learned to turn it on by squeezing its hand and then stood there dancing and clicking his tongue. Hopefully this means he'll be more musical than Carlos and me.

Baby's hair

When I arrived home tonight from Atlanta Carlos told me he had a present for me. A present! wow! So I closed my eyes and held out my hand only to receive a hairball. Carlos cut Carlito's hair when he knew that I was far enough away that I couldn't stop him. He was determined to do cut it himself, despite my pleading otherwise. Carlito was asleep when I arrived so I have no idea what it looks like, but I'm not looking forward to it. Here are some shots with his curls and all, hanging out with friends, cousins and talking on the phone




This was the last week with Sandra and Leslie for two months and we hated to see them go. The entire family came over and brought him gifts for his (upcoming) birthday. He loves Leslie and below is a video of him trying to copy her.

Fun In Philly

Carlito and I celebrated July 4th in Philadelphia as Carlos suffered through work deadlines and house construction errands in DC. Guess who had the better weekend?! Carlito got to hang out with his cousin Wallis (20 months) and his new cousin Eli (2 months). Wallis was fun for him to watch, but for her Carlito was kindof a terror. While she would delicately and correctly play with toys, he would charge up to her and grab anything he could - often stealing her toys. He also got to see his uncles and aunts and loved walking around the kitchen working on unloading kitchen drawers as the big people made dinner.

We went to my old highschool Germantown Academy to play some tennis inspired by the 16-14 game absurdity of Wimbledon and then he ended up walking all the way around the track by himself. One lap must have been more than a 1/4 mile as he is terrible about staying in his lane. We were trying to figure out how far that must have felt for him and based on his 3" stride we figure that it was about 2 miles!

After a great weekend I had a hectic day with a last minute work event and no child care. That's a nightmare. Luckily the yoga ladies are the best and all volunteered to take on the Carlito challenge. Here is how Kathleen described it: "Good fun --- dancing, sharing, sympathy, crying, jealousy -- the works!" I think the pictures show it all: