Customer in Training

Diego is finally eating cereal!!

It seems that we have unleashed a shopping monster! After 2 years of watching his parents do the shopping Charlie acted like a natural when he got behind the cart. Luckily the cart wasn't that big or else we would have ended up with half the grocery store. Even with a small cart we left with about $10 worth of stuff that we didn't want. At one point I was picking something out and heard him ask "mommy, I like this?" He was hugging a whole chicken that must have been at least half the size of him.

I also let him make his own PB & J sandwich this week. As you can see - not much ended up on the bread. Anytime he got a clump of peanut butter out of the jar he couldn't resist sticking it in his mouth. He needed a lot of water after that exercise.

We went to Philly to visit grandma last weekend to give Carlos a break after 3 LONG nights alone with 2 kids! We had a great time visiting grandma and going to a kids playspace and the Franklin Institute. The big heart is still pumping and looks like it still has the same coat of paint as when I was a kid...Charlie really loved the place and tried to negotiate hard when it came time to go: "Ok - ok - ONE more time at the train" and after another visit to the engine he said, "ok - but ONE more time at the airplane THEN we can go." This went on and on. Despite a great weekend (or maybe because of it) the ride back was terrible. Diego kept crying and anytime he seemed to calm himself or cried himself to sleep Charlie would scream "AHHHH!" to wake him up and the crying began again. I stopped twice to give them a pep talk and settle their non-word, yet very vocal dispute but Charlie continued scaring Diego anytime there was a lull in the crying. This went on for all but 30 miles of the trip. I was pissed and told Charlie he was a jerk. To which he laughed and said "I'm not a joke." Clearly he didn't know what jerk meant despite my less-than-sweet voice. Here are some pictures from the Franklin Institute including one from the photo booth there.

Brotherly Love

It's crazy to think that little Diego is already 5 months old! What happened to my newborn?! He has been rolling over for a few weeks now, but really only to avoid tummy time. If, by accident, he rolls onto his stomach he looks annoyed and quickly goes back to his back. He doesn't have much of an urge to move anywhere else. Charlie takes his job as Diego's biggest source of entertainment somewhat seriously. As part of his brotherly duty Charlie "reads" books for Diego, plays music for him and dances for him (as shown below). Another part his brotherly duty seems to be tormenting him already. He gets really close to Diego's face and kindof kisses him yet kindof scares him and kindof rocks him in his bouncey chair yet kindof bounces him towards whiplash. I'm still not sure if he is acting out of love or spite. Diego does his younger brother duty of annoying Charlie by grabbing at him whenever possible. It especially annoys Charlie when we are reading books at night.

I've been trying to find more mutually enjoyable excursions. Given that our lives revolve around our children I figure that we should find things to do and enjoy together - other than just looking at trains. Art museums seem to be a good joint activity so last weekend we went to the National Gallery of Art. Charlie sat for a while in a class meant for 4-7 year olds talking about Alexander Calder but it was clear that it was over his head. The teacher asked the kids to describe what makes a painting different from a sculpture. Charlie is pretty good about identifying sculptures, but verbalizing it is definitely beyond him. So after 15 minutes he decided it was time to move on.

This week I was in Atlanta for work and well....it was pretty tough on everyone - mainly Carlos. Trying to coordinate 2 kids going to sleep is tough especially when one of them is out of diapers!!!! Poor Carlos had to pack the kids in the car at 8pm to go to the store to get diapers. On top of that Diego didn't sleep well. It was a long few days for Carlos....

Insomnia and Rice Cereal

When it comes to sleeping Charlie out-smarts us everytime. For the last month he has been refusing his naptime 50% of the time and thus turning into a little gremlin by 5pm. When he couldn't open his door he would pace around looking for distractions. Then he realized that he could enter his little closet and turn the light on which made finding distractions easier. So we moved his toddler bed against the closet door (no door just a frame) and that lasted for about a day. He found that he could crawl under the bed to enter the closet and turn on the light and find something to play with. So we put up a barricade and moved the bed against the barricade which was against the closet. He figured out a way to push the bed over and push the barricade away and slip into the closet. Once we successfully blocked the closet he turned his attention to opening the door to his room. After days of flagarantly leaving his room and declaring himself awake he learned that he wasn't supposed to leave the room so he'd crack the door open and state some demand. He would peek out and say "I want to read a book" or "I did a poo and need to be changed" or "I want the blanket"....So we put something on his door handle so he couldn't open the door. With no where else to turn he got packages of diapers, stacked them on top of each other and climbed up to turn on the overhead light. MAN! Babies always win!

Despite his sleeping issues Charlie is 90% back to being a total delight. Unfortunately that 10% monster seems to come out anytime we want to get out the door or get back in the door. Yesterday we took him to a pool - he kicked and screamed when we tried to leave the house and then kicked and screamed even louder when we tried to leave the pool.

Here he is trying to use the breastpump with his belly button

And trying out Diego's toys.

My bag of sugar Diego remains as sweet as ever. Last night he was snuggled in my armpit in bed (where, to be honest, he ends up most nights) and I awoke to a little hand caressing my face and two beady eyes looking up at me. I'm guessing that he was actually just trying to grab my nose in search of something to eat, but it was a nice way to wake up.

This weekend I tried giving Diego rice cereal and he HATED it. His face puckered up and then he pursed his lips and refused any more. Here is his face after he tasted it and then not letting me get any more in....

Here are Charlie and me trying to get Diego to giggle.