Cleveland

Diego, Charlie, big Charlie and I drove to Cleveland for my grandparents' 68th wedding anniversary last weekend. The trip did not start out very smoothly. 30 minutes after packing up the car and the two kids we were back at the house and totally unravelled. We went to pick up uncle Charlie at the train station and then get on the road after stopping to get some food. Well....I was on the edge anyways after not sleeping much all week, I had just come back from spending all afternoon getting shots for our trip, Charlie missed his nap and Diego hates being in the car so he was screaming. As big Charlie went in for pizza a metermaid tried to give me a ticket while I was in the car and that was my limit. I blew up at her and she yelled at me (I'm guessing she probably had a similar crappy day). A nearby cop came over to calm us down...But by then both kids were crying. So 30 minutes and two screaming babies later we went back home to re-group.

Luckily the rest of the trip was not very eventful. We arrived in Cleveland around 2am and Charlie, Diego and I passed out together in one bed. It worked out well except that Diego was up at 6am as always. Charlie on the other hand slept in until 9:30!! That's a first!

The party was wonderful - especially because when we walked in the door Carlos walked towards us! He didn't think he'd be able to make it, but surprised us by showing up in this random suburb of Cleveland. It was a very special event - there were loads of people in a beautiful setting. Diego seemed to bring a lot of joy to people. One woman in particular wouldn't let go of him. It took me a while to realize that she has memory problems which seemed to make her even more pleased with Diego - he was new to her every time she passed by. It was really sweet.

We had fun playing with the cousins and going to the pool before getting back in the car for 7 hours. The pool was great until Charlie slipped off a raft and went under water. It was confusing but I turned around and Charlie was being propped up by Carlos from underwater and the raft was between Carlos and Charlie. Charlie was bobbing up and down so I got scared and jumped in after him too. Charlie was scared but fine and we learned 2 obvious and important lessons: 1) don't swim beyond the shallow end and 2) don't jump in too quickly. I jumped in and sunk so I had to hold Charlie from underwater too. I should have climbed into the water and swam to him.

Passports, Visas and Shots

It's been forever. For posterity sake I think I'll break up the update into different entries so Diego doesn't know how delinquent I am....

Last week we got the kids passports for our upcoming trip to Bolivia/Panama and SHOTS! Diego and Charlie had to sit on boxes on top of stools to get their picture taken at the ghetto photo place next to the passport office. Of course Diego was all smiles and Charlie gave the photographer his special skeptical stink eye. The passports are good for 5 years so I look forward to Diego traveling when he is 5 with his baby photo.

I also spent 3 hours getting shots with the babies. I told Carlos there wasn't anything he could do to make up for how terrible that experience was. I had two pissed off, hungry kids confined in a small room, missing their naps and a nurse who took forever to discuss what shots I should get. When Charlie finally got his shots he went ballistic -he wouldn't stop crying and screaming. Diego got one shot too but seemed less upset about it. By the time I got out of the room I was sweating and the entire office knew who we were. We went to Starbucks to get a treat and Charlie sat and ate and ate and ate - he finished a yogurt with granola and an entire panini sandwich. We also have to deal with visas. Bolivia thought it was a good idea to impose reciprocal visa requirements on Americans so we need to have an invitation letter from a Bolivian, bank statements to demonstrate solvency, shot records, photos and pay $135. Slightly absurd.

Sticky fingers Diego finds little treasures all over the place and puts them in his mouth. I'm in a perpetual state of hypervigilance given that Charlie never did this. The other day I looked away for a second only to hear Diego gagging and then see a WHOLE cherry pop out of his mouth - stem and all! I don't even know how he managed to swipe it from the counter. He has quick hands and he is getting quicker in his crawling. It is still so darn cute to see him scurry along the floor. I tell him to hurry up and he tries his best to shuffle quickly.

I gave up and moved Diego to the guest bedroom. I put Diego to sleep in the pack and play in the guest room and then once Charlie falls asleep I move Diego to his crib. This was after 2 painful weeks of trying to get them to sleep together. The routine had become Diego going to sleep and then Charlie waking him up when he went to bed with screams of wanting to go to the bathroom. He literally goes pee 3 times every night before actually falling asleep. Bedtime routine was turning into 2 hours and Diego is very punctual about getting up at 6am.

This is usually what happens when Diego gets near Charlie's toys....Diego was so cute talking to the train, but then Charlie pushed him out of the way.....

Yet Another Fever

Sadly Diego got sick AGAIN. Poor kid - we drag him all over and he just goes with the flow. We kept him out late to take our Chilean guest to Two Amys pizza. The wait on a Wednesday night was surprising and although Diego enjoyed his first pizza experience he didn't get to bed until 10:30. 10:30! Anytime he goes to bed late he ends up getting a fever. The pizza was good but definitely wasn't worth the 2 sleepless nights that followed.

Despite feeling crappy, Diego was a trooper this past weekend. We went to Dumbarton Oaks for the first time and were amazed by the gardens. Charlie ran around with his Abuela and loved it (She seems to have just as much energy as Charlie does and they leave us in the dust) and even Diego enjoyed crawling around too.

On Sunday we went to Charlie's school for a pig roast. It was a great way to introduce Charlie to his new school and show him that it is a fun place. There was live music, a BBQ, a balloon artist and playing on the playground. I actually don't like the playground much becuase it makes me nervous, but he enjoyed it. Everytime we pass by we try to say something about school. He stopped saying he was going to cry at school and now says "And mommy and daddy are going to go to school with me." I guess it's a step in the right direction and hopefully this helped out too.

Diego is crawling around and it's so cute. Charlie never crawled so I find it adorable to see Diego shuffling across the room. Sandra swears that he says 'agua' and 'mama', but I'm not convinced. He does love agua and anytime I let him loose in our room he crawls to the bathtub, makes grunting noises and tries desparately to turn on the faucet. Charlie continues to have his special sleep habits. I started putting the monitor next to his pillow and told him to talk into it if he needs something (like going pee) instead of screaming and waking up Diego.

Here are some cute pictures that Soogy sent from Uncle Charlie's graduation: