Guess where we are not?!

California! Our plane was due to take off on Sunday, but DC got the craziest snow storm since I’ve been here - over 2 feet of snow! It was beautiful but it stopped everything. We couldn’t venture more than a block from our house and there was no way our car was getting anywhere. Charlie and I have both been sick so with this crazy weather we haven't been out of the house (more than a block) in nearly 3 days now! Here are a few shots from Charlie’s first real snow. He didn’t seem to know what to make of it. He just stood there motionless. Then again I did have him dressed in 10 layers so he probably couldn’t move even if he wanted to…

The first flight that we could get on is for Tuesday at 10pm. We’ve been taking advantage of the time by doing more house work and eating all the food in the kitchen that I never thought we would ever actually eat. I think our freezer is officially void of frozen left overs and the cans on the shelves are quickly diminishing.

Merry Christmas!

First Date

Carlos gave Charlie a haircut and I'm not that happy about it. Charlie looks like a Beatle with short bangs. Surprisingly Charlie sat still on the bathroom countertop as Carlos used the kitchen scissors. His hair was getting in his eyes so I just wanted a little trim, but I'm not happy with the outcome. Here they are:

I think Charlie's temper is starting to show through. Carlos and I got in a fight about the hair and Carlos and Charlie got in a fight about Goldbug. Yep - Goldbug. Charlie pointed to a little green bug and exclaimed "Goldbug!" Carlos said that it wasn't goldbug and Charlie was devastated. He put his head in his arms and started crying. We usually skip that page now to avoid any more incidents.

I was in Atlanta this past week and so to make up for it we had lots of quality time this weekend. Charlie and I went to the Natural History Museum with Stephanie and her niece Stephie and then over to watch the ice skaters at the Sculpture garden. Then we joined a fabulous Bolivian feast at a friend's house and Sunday we joined a cookie decorating party. He really liked decorating the cookies but the outcome wasn't very appetizing! To go to the cookie party we actually fit another car seat in our tiny car! They looked so cute together - I felt like I was chaperoning a first date!

I forgot to tally words last week but I noticed that as new ones come in some others seem to disappear. He won't say 'quatro' anymore, but he has taken up: ojo, boca, teeth, manzana, socks, milk, soup & sopa. That makes 42. He says "Hi dada/mama" or "bye dada/mama" and he says "da ball" though I'm not sure he thinks of it as two words or just one. And for some crazy reason he is convinced that cows say "Baa" - no matter how many times I say "Moo," he says "Baa." No idea where he got his stubborn nature...

Charlie still loves trucks, but airplanes are a close second these days - especially after we saw President Obama's helicopter fly directly overhead and land at the White House. We went to see the national Christmas tree which is in front of the White House and were super disappointed to find it barricaded off and secret service standing gaurd. But then three huge identical helicopters flew overhead and Charlie went ballistic. "Airpa" (his version of airplane) "Airpa, Airpa" he screamed and his whole body shook with excitement. I thought Obama's would have been the middle one, but it was the last one. Soon afterwards the tree lit up and we were able to watch the trains going around the tree. He loved the trains.




Another favorite these days is saying "eew" to everything he finds gross - which includes every crumb, every spot on the floor, every misplaced thread...He says eew a lot - so much so that I didn't think much of it when he said "eew" when we were out walking this weekend. But he kept saying it and finally raised his arm up and screamed "EEEWWW" so I stopped and took a closer look. A bird had pooped on his sleeve! Lucky that he was grossed out and not tempted to touch it.

And finally his other favorite is finding Goldbug in the 'Cars and Trucks and Things that Go' book. On every page a 1 cm yellow bug is hidden somewhere and Charlie loves to find him. Here is a video of him finding Goldbug with Carlos.

Carlos is building some shelves on the 3rd floor and in classic Carlos style the entire room is turned upside-down and full of sawdust. And it's only shelves!! The really annoying part is that it is my office! So I'm sitting in a bed of sawdust. What a joke. Here is a shot of my office space these days...

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