Earth Day

I don't like to blame everything on the baby the way that Carlos does ("Where did the baby put my wallet? The baby took the tool...The baby took the keys..."), BUT Charlie does seem to be the culprit in the latest camera loss. He loves to look at pictures of himself and to carry it around saying 'cheese.' I think he must have put it in a special place because we can't find it anywhere. I've been taking pictures with my blackberry so the quality isn't very good...

After spending most of the week in Atlanta we had a fun weekend all together. For the second week in a row we went to listen to jazz at a church by the waterfront. Charlie walks around like he owns the place. He mainly liked roaming around outside, but came in for the good soul food they serve and proceeded to eat most of my dinner. Here he is with Mauricio practicing the drums on stage and wearing Aunt Mary's glasses. Nice look.

He also had 2 recent encounters with sandboxes. We made it to the house of some one who had a sandbox only after led astray by a man with brain damage who claimed to have superhuman strength. Bad call to follow him! Charlie had a fun time once we made it there though he refused to actually get inside the sandbox. He subsequently pushed the little boy to get him away from a toy which was horrorific to me. He often pulls at a toy if he doesn't want to share, but he has never pushed a kid (at least that I know of) so I was mortified. The whole way home he kept saying "Nice to the baby" so I'm hoping that he felt some remorse. On Saturday we found another sandbox set up on the mall and he found dinosaur bones! What a discovery!

We've been trying to get him used to the idea of a baby brother by giving him a baby doll that my mom brought. He is nice to the baby doll though he carries it around by the neck which probably isn't a great habit. He feeds, dresses and lays down with the baby, but clearly that doesn't seem to translate to being nice to other real babies yet.

Recently I have been feeling like my threshold for fulfillment in life has been recalibarated to wanting a healthy and happy family. I was thinking that was me lowering expectations but Carlos informed me that it was just that I was finally gaining perspective on life. And now after gaining perspective, I can also say that my life is complete! Charlie and I saw Sting perform at the Earth Day rally on the Mall!! I've always wanted to see Sting in concert; in fact when I was 9 I thought I was going to marry him. I wasn't the only happy one - Charlie had a blast. He loved the music (especially Robert Randolph's version of Purple Haze) and the crazy costumes. James Cameron was there along with some Blue People. They were kindof scary looking, but I couldn't resist taking a picture. Charlie especially liked a bunny running around with a sign saying "this bunny opposes Cap and Trade." Random. He especially liked the $4 hot dog I bought him. $4.15!!! I hope that is the most I ever pay for a hot dog.

Last weekend we also had fun as Rachel Ralles came to visit. We went on the White House Garden tour (with 10 million other people). Charlie was most impressed by the playground that the Obama girls had installed. I told him if he became the first hispanic president he could play on the playground anytime! That was of much greater interest than being 30 ft from the Oval office (all of which is much smaller than I imagined!). Here is the oval office and Charlie and Carlos in front of the main residence.

Cherry Blossom Fun

Last Saturday Charlie and I went to cheer on the Cherry Blossom parade. I really don't understand parades - a Magic Mountain car would follow a local high school marching band followed by a big balloon garfield - but Charlie loved it. We stood on a ledge and I held him for 1.5 hours as he danced, clapped and cheered.

After that cousins Wallis and Eli came to play which was so much fun. In fact we had a full house - my brother, his wife and two kids along with my mom and my friend were all staying over. It was an interesting set-up - my mom, me and charlie in one room, Nathan, Soogy, Wallis and Eli in another, Janine in another and Carlos on the couch! Unfortunately Charlie woke himself up with a big poo and not wanting to wake everyone up with his crying I took him downstairs where he proceeded to play until he finally curled up next to me on the floor at 4am! It was the craziest evening ever.

The next morning Nathan snuck out early to run the Cherry Blossom race, Soogy, the kids and my mom went to see him run and when Janine's car battery had died Charlie and I rushed her over to the Vice President's house to attend a baby shower! We weren't cleared to enter so she had to proceed on foot from the gate. But the report was the the house is beautiful, tasteful and everything was on schedule - with everyone getting kicked out exactly 2 hours later. The dead battery became a family affair as my brother and mom tried the jumper cables to no avail. Hertz sent a repairman which turned out to be a man in a beat-up Chevy with his 6 year old daughter and a chihuahua in the back. His car died when he tried to jump the car so my brother had to jump his car which in turn jumped Janine's car. A 3 way jump! His daughter had to turn on the car because the chihuahua wouldn't let others in the car! too funny.

In the middle of all this aunt Mary came to work on the garden and Charlie and Wallis had a great time digging in the dirt. Everyone got absurdly dirty.

2 of My Favorite Things

Good weather and 20 months!! We've been having nice weather and 20 months is my new favorite age! I was sure the other 17 months (definitely not the first two months....) were my favorite, but this really is my favorite. Charlie is becoming our little buddy and is very affectionate (especially after he does something he knows he shouldn't do). With the nice weather we've been sitting on the stoop in the morning to wait for Sandra or to watch the trucks come by and unload. In the afternoon we've been working in the garden together. Neither one of us seem to be very good at gardening, but it hasn't stopped us from enjoying being outside before the mosquito invasion. He has his own shovel - or 'shobul' as he says - which he likes to use, but he has limited tolerance for getting dirty. If his hands get too dirty he puts them in my face and says 'durty, durty, durty' until I clean them off.

He has been working on his ABCs as well as his counting. He says ABC, but then skips to J. Who really needs D-G anyways? He says "uno, dos, tres" but only when he is about to throw something. bvgAnd speaking of throwing he has been working on throwing the ball upwards. He looks like he is going to throw it really high in the sky, but like his jumping, it's a whole lot of winde-up and not a lot of distance.

Here he is at a DC United game - he only made it through the tailgate before deciding it was time to go home.

Charlie and I went to see the Cherry Blossoms and while they were beautiful it is a little hard to enjoy when you are sharing a 4 foot wide path with 10,000 other people. Every year I say that I'm not coming again during the festival, but then I always make the pilgramige.