2014

Not much has happened since our trip so I thought I'd take stock on where the kids are as they start 2014.

Charlie is becoming a boy, boy, but is still very sweet. He loves everything related to sports, though he still mainly likes to just play soccer, swimming, baseball and kickball.  He likes me to read him the sports pages in the newspaper and would be happy to go see a game of anything.  He finally seems to like playing with boys more than girls.  A little too much for my taste....There seems to be a lot of wrestling and battling these days.  He loves lego and is currently scheming to make an entire lego city.  We've literally spent whole days building various lego sets.  He is diligent and will practice piano or practice writing, but not always happily.  I signed him up for skating lessons with a friend of his who is much better on ice skates (in fact Charlie doesn't know how to skate at all) but he dutifully did the lesson; it was tough to watch so I can't imagine how hard it was for him. He fell on his butt so many times and the teacher's tough love attitude meant she never once helped him up.  He got up every time and kept going and only when I met him on the side after the class did the tears start flowing.  That's Charlie.  He takes very good care of his brother and sister.  They fight, but in general, Charlie looks out for Diego.  My favorite thing now is watching him learn to read - it is such a fun process to witness.  He can read Frog and Toad stories by himself now and we promised him any lego set he can dream up when he reads a whole Jack and Annie Magic Tree House chapter book by himself.

Charlie organizing our bathroom closet

Diego - my little peanut - can be as cute and sweet as ever....when he chooses to be.  He can be so charming that it melts my heart - like when he tells me that we are "chefing" when we make banana bread together; or when he says "mommy, I love you so much...will you come play with me?" or when he gives me the biggest, tightest hugs when we say goodnight. When he hears Sofia wake up he runs into her room and sits next to her crib talking to her.  But often he is trying to find his own space in the family which ends up with him in tears or us frustrated.  He waits patiently while we drag him along to Charlie's classes and contentedly plays by himself often.  He adores Sofia, but can be rough with her.  He won't jump into activities so getting him to join a class without Charlie is nearly impossible.  Unlike Charlie, he doesn't love school and would rather stay home playing with his toys.  He seems to have stopped crying a lot at drop-off, but he still gets sad and tries to hold it inside.  He puts his head down and his whole body seems to whimper - it hurts my heart to see.  We tried to get the boys one big bed to share and kept a little mattress under the bed for guests.....but Diego insists on sleeping in the little bed on the floor.  It drives me nuts.  I hate the idea of him putting himself in the little bed.  I suppose we'll be getting rid of the big and little bed and investing in bunk beds.

Sofia is proving to have quite a personality.  She has just started crawling and wants badly to walk, but is tentative.  I had thought she'd be walking by 10 months, but may need to revise that guess.  She can pull herself up and most mornings I find her standing in her crib waiting for me.  When she wants to stand (which is often) there is NOTHING you can do to get her to sit.  She stays stiff as a board and won't bend at the waist.  It's almost comical.  If I absolutely have to put her down when she is in a standing mood I need to lie her down because she will not bend to sit down.  When she doesn't get what she wants or if I take something away from her she looks right at me, clenches her fist and screams at me.  It's kindof funny and kindof scary.  She is also very charming - she smiles, waves hi and bye and has a flexing party trick.  With little prompting she'll put her fists over her head and flex - sometimes so much so that she turns red.  She loves to nurse and would much prefer to sleep next to me.  She can easily sleep from 7pm-7am, but sometimes chooses not to!

The house - Carlos' baby - is, as always, under construction.  My office is still being converted to an office/guest suite.  We've yet to finish the shelves in the living room and now Carlos is dreaming of better sound proofing for the basement when the tenants move out....

where my desk SHOULD be....

the guest bathroom

the deck....someday....