Mother's Day!

Mother's Day tea! 

 

 It's been awhile!  Spring is here and so is the pollen.  The weather is perfect and poor Carlos can barely stand to be outside. The sad thing is that once the pollen subsides, the mosquitoes and heat are likely to appear and torment Carlos.  Despite his aversions to being outside, we've been enjoying spring with little league games, dining outdoors, birthday parties and pick-up kickball games.


Charlie loves playing in little league.  They have graduated to coach pitching which is fun, though not always successful.  Here is Charlie hitting the ball and then watching his hit, not the base....We have a slight issue with Charlie's ability to end a game of catch - meaning once you start playing catch he will not end it.  "2 more catches....no, that wasn't enough....I didn't like that throw, one more....just one more..."  And on it goes....Almost every session of catch ends in tears because he doesn't want to stop.  Diego, on the other hand, is more than willing to put down his mitt and say he is tired!

This past weekend I left Carlos with kids at little league so I could play soccer.  Based on the pictures it appears that he left Diego to handle Sofia while he sat in the tiny patch of shade....you tell me...

The picture below is for my grandmother who might appreciate that all  three kids are enjoying tennis these days....though Sofia seems to enjoying eating the racket more than hitting the ball with it.  And you can probably guess that their record rally was 2 or 3 hits.  Another picture for my dad who would appreciate the kids' love of tracks.  We found an indoor track and finally got Diego to run an entire lap.  The kids are running a race this weekend so we'll see how it goes.  Sofia set up an obstacle course for the boys with the cones.

Sofia is in a screaming phase which isn't always pleasant.  She knows what she wants, but can't communicate it so just screams at the top of her lungs until we do something about it.  It's highly effective because it is so loud that we hurry around trying to find out what she needs to get her to be quiet! I do appreciate that she is assertive, even if it is ear piercing.  She seems to love random objects and balls more than any of the billions of toys we have for her.  She actually seems to dribble the ball.  ok, yes, I'm probably  imposing my values on her, but she definitely has some good soccer thunder thighs right now so she might be my soccer star :).

Sofia also likes to accompany everyone to the bathroom.  It drives me crazy how she likes to hang out in the bathroom - on more than one occasion she has stuck her hand in the toilet.  The silver lining of that seems to be that, in a house full of boys, I've finally convinced everyone to put the seat down!  Here she is getting in Diego's business!

Easter and Spring Break

I guess they have outgrown me in the last 2 years....

The kids have had a fun few weeks - Spring break, Easter, cousin time and good weather!  I forgot how magical Easter can seem to kids.  We went to Philadelphia to spend Easter with my mom and the cousins. Soogy, my mom and I filled well over 100+ eggs with random things and Nathan made clues for each of the kids to lead them to their Easter basket.  The loved it.  Diego ran in circles with excitement finding the eggs around the yard.  They also got to decorate eggs and t-shirts.

We stayed an extra day and the kids had fun sifting through my mom's wood scrap pile and making a sculpture.  They opted for glue and clamps though I was trying to be open to hammer and nails in hopes of pretending not to be an over zealous parent (http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/03/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/).  It did get me thinking that they should start doing more wood working.

For spring break Charlie did the DC United camp and Diego got to hang out with Sandra's daughter Leslie.  In the afternoon Coach David did a few soccer clinics which Diego got to join and he loved it!  I was so happy to see him playing with the big kids and happy about it.  He has been dragged to so many classes for Charlie that I'm excited for him to finally start playing.  When he saw me, he ran off the field and beamed "I kicked the ball!"  Clearly he wasn't touching the ball much, but it didn't matter.  The coach said he can do soccer camp this summer.

Charlie got to enjoy two more Nationals games this week.  He and Carlos went with Cici to an evening game and then we all went this past weekend.  It was a gorgeous day for a Nats game, but Sofia only lasted through the 4th inning before I had to take her home.  Maybe in a few more years...

Sofia mainly liked the bobblehead...

Spring is Here!

We think spring is finally here!  We’ve been having such fun taking advantage of the longer days and warmer weather.  It seems just as hard for me to “give up” on the day as it is for the kids – hence the fact that they’ve been getting to bed crazy late recently.  We’ve found many new fun places to go biking and scooting.  Charlie has taken to riding down stairs and Diego does kamikaze scooting.  In the afternoons on weekdays Yards Park is nearly empty so Sofia and I stand on the bridge and let Charlie and Diego do a big circuit around the park.   Hains Point is also a fun ride with the Cherry Blossoms in full bloom.

Sofia loves to be part of the action.  She LOVES playgrounds – and slides in particular.  I wonder if the person who invented slides knew that kids would like to climb them just as much, or more, than going down them.  Sofia likes to just sit at the base of the slides and/or climb up.  Going down seems to be very passé to her.  She also loves Diego’s scooter and tries her best to figure out how to use it.  Mostly she just walks next to it.  Although she can walk, she doesn’t have a lot of confidence and ends up crawling mostly.

We celebrated her birthday with some SAIS friends who also have little babies. As you can probably tell from the angle, Charlie took the pictures of us singing Happy Birthday with cupcakes in hand.  Here is Sofia on her birthday interacting with a littler person.  

This past weekend cousins Wallis and Eli came for a visit.  Within 24 hours the house looked like a bomb went off, but it was totally worth it given how much fun they had.  They worked so hard out back digging up my planters and spreading the dirt over the whole patio.  They each had different tools and carefully spread the dirt to every corner .  Good thing our backyard is so small!  While Charlie went to his Little League game (where he got all 3 outs as first basemen and was VERY proud of himself), the rest of us went to see the Cherry Blossom parade and then walk down to the Tidal Basin.  It always amazes me how many people come out for the Cherry Blossom festival.  The Tidal Basin was packed.  In the 36 weekend hours remaining, the kids dyed Easter Eggs, went biking, established secret hiding places through-out the house, turned the third floor into a playroom and found anything else dangerous in the house to occupy themselves.   Finally Eli said to me: "It feels like we've played with EVERYTHING in this house!"  By the time Sunday evening rolled around, I passed out while putting the kids to bed.  That was a first for me! 

I took a field trip with Diego to see Step Afrika at the Hill center.  He was super into stepping. We've been having playdates with his favorite friend, Bruce - who Diego fondly calls "Brucey".  They are hysterical together.

We've been enjoying Happy Hour at 7th Hill Pizza - $5 individual pizzas!  Charlie ate 9 pieces the other day. 

 In other news, we finally turned out basement apartment into a short term rental through VRBO and airbnb.  Having dealt with both now for the past two weeks, VRBO feels so old-economy compared to airbnb.  It is so much more cumbersome and bureaucratic. I put up the apartment online about two weeks ago and it is booked through most of July.  Perhaps my pricing is bad!  I'm hoping that during the winter months when things are slower in DC, the kids can use it as a fun play space.  We'll see how the whole experiment goes...Here are a few pictures of the place:

Sofia Turns 1!!!

Sofia turned 1!!  And she started walking just in time!  She took her first real steps over on Sunday afternoon - 2 days before her birthday!  She looks a bit like a zombie when she walks, but it is super cute.  She doesn't say much other than "Hi" to everyone she sees.  She still likes to be in the bjorn so she can wave and greet everyone on the street.  Her hair has barely grown and she looks funny with 5 teeth in various stages.  She is the best.

It’s so amazing to think that a whole year has passed.  I still think of her as my little baby.  Then again, I still think of Diego as my little baby too.  Even Charlie said "it doesn't seem like she should be a year. it seems like she was just born a little bit ago."  That said, it is hard to imagine how our family existed without her. She is such a wonderful addition and I absolutely adore her.  I love watching her play intently with random toys(though unfortunately her favorite toy seems to be shoes); I love how much she adores her brothers (though I don’t adore how they torment her); I love that she still loves to nurse (though I didn’t love her recent solid food strike).

After my recent trip to Atlanta, Sofia went on a full food strike.  For almost a week she refused to eat any solids.  She only wanted to nurse.  I thought it was the cold she had or her THREE teeth that came in at the same time.  It might have been partially that, but I also think it was her protesting my departure.  I think she is going to be quite stubborn.

The boys thoroughly enjoyed Sofia's birthday for her.  We made her some banana muffins which the boys decorated with icing, they stuck a candle in each one, sang her happy birthday, blew out the candles themselves and ate the muffins themselves.  Poor Sofia had no idea what was going on. 

  

 In other news, Diego had family day at school which was pretty cute, although he didn't sing that much: http://youtu.be/wj2go5W5EtM.    He has developed close friendships with a few boys in his class.  Charlie played with the girls in Pre-k3 and only recently has focused on hanging out with boys.  Diego, on the other hand, has no interest in playing with the girls! all boy, all of the time!