oops!

Oops is the baby's favorite new word! Actually, his version is more like "utzzz" - but nevertheless he finds lots of reasons to say it. My favorite is when he leans over the side of his high chair and intentionally drops the spoon on the floor: "oops" he says and smiles.

He also LOVES being in his buddy Aidan's pool! Aidan turned 1 year old and the babies celebrated with a fun aternoon in the pool and happy birthday hats. Carlito hates hats, but he wasn't quite coordinated to get this one off....Aidan also introduced Carlito to the joy of cherries as seen in the photo in which Carlito is trying to steal Aidan's cherries. He definitely doesn't get the sharing thing yet - though he does like to offer us his food or his pacifier. I guess that's a start...

I spent almost a full week away from the boys! It was so long though the baby seemed to have had a good time without me. Unfortunately I think it meant the full day long meetings meant the end of nursing. bummer.

He got a box full of goodies from his abuela's and tia's trip to Bolivia. So cute! I'll give you one guess who gave him the shirt he is wearing that reads: "soy genial - como mi tia!"

A New Race

A new race is on: Carlos vs Carlito! Carlos is trying to get the backyard to be something more than a dirt hole before Carlito turn 1 year old. Any one care to make a wager on who will win?

Carlito is definitely turning into our little buddy - we go on little adventures, he helps around the house (see him loading the dishwasher) and he is starting to develop a fun sense of humor. He is also ceasing to be my cautious Carlito - He gets up and just walks out of the room! Before he'd drag me around by my finger as he preferred not to walk alone.

His new thing is waving goodbye - which is nice, but we miss his old fist in the air trick. He just stopped doing that recently - I guess it's too baby for him :) He is frugal with his waves and is more likely to give you a kiss than a goodbye wave. But here is a video of him - sorry for the terrible sound. I think he sucked on the camera and ruined the microphone...

Swimmies

Carlito spent his first weekend away from his parents! We went to my college reunion and left the baby with my mom in Philadelphia. He did great - although I warned my mom not to sleep next to him. She didn't listen and told me that she thinks he has nightmares because he grunts, cries and flops around in his sleep. As for our sleep - it was less than I had hoped for. Despite going to bed late I couldn't sleep later than 9am. It was a major bummer.

Yesterday Carlito and I tried out a hotel pool nearby. It was his first venture into a pool and he was a bit freaked out at first - as was I because I don't have swimmies and so he went in with a normal diaper. I would have let him go commando, but I didn't want to get kicked out for any little treats he might leave behind. The diaper was so soaked I could barely get his swim trunks off. Anyway after awhile he loosened up his claws on my neck and started to like it.

In the last couple of months I have managed to lose my passport, my cell phone and our camera. Am I going crazy or what? Luckily we have since found everything, but not before I spent 5 hours and $200 at the passport agency the day before my trip and canceled my cell phone coverage. Although we re-located the camera we haven't had it for the last week so the pictures are a little scarce.

On another note I reclaimed our patio umbrella that flew into the wicked neighbor's yard. After confirming she wasn't at home, I had to slither between the two houses in a space that was exactly the width of my body, but too small for my hips to turn around, and reach through the fence. For some one semi-claustrophobic it was less than enjoyable, but it felt like a small victory....

People Watching

We had a really nice field trip this weekend to Leesburg and visited aunt Mary at Grandale Farm Restaurant. Carlito enjoyed his bottle, while Carlos enjoyed a local wine...

Though he really just wanted the wine...

He also took a break from the Lucketts Fair to have a tea party with a new friend:

Carlito loves to go to the park - and he seems to like people watching as much as actually playing with the playground equipment. He is still hesitant to let go of our hands to walk, but when he focuses on something he charges at it and then tries to step on it (even if it is another little person).
He got a box full of goodies from abuelita Monika and while I appreciated the diapers - Carlito really appreciated the BOX! He sat in there for a long time!

New Tricks

Last week was memorable as Carlito decided that he would start walking, crawling, giving kisses and, proud of his accomplishments, clap for himself. He crawls pretty slowly and his walking is funny because he won't bend and fall down on his butt - He only does the trust fall! Timber - he just falls back straight as a board assuming that we'll catch him before he hits the ground (which is not always the case unfortunately...). Clearly that pre-natal yoga didn't make him very limber. I'm not sure why, but he gets the word "clap" - and he'll clap on demand or when he is impressed with himself. Unfortunately, with all this learning he decided to un-learn how to sleep. He fights his afternoon nap and I'm worried that he is moving to one nap a day. oh no!

He took the LONG trip up to New York like a champ and enjoyed meeting his new cousin, Eli. He pointed at him and made the same "ca" sound he makes when he sees a dog, bird or cat. At 7lbs 2 oz Eli is about the same size as a cat, but much cuter.

Here are some videos of the baby - I am just figuring out the video camera and am thinking I should stick to the digital camera as this was a pain to download.






Nice Hairdo:

Carlito on Amtrak

Technical Difficulties

I have technical difficulties - my computer died, hard-drive dead and pictures gone. If you have seen the computer it is not the surprising that it is dead. It's been 4 long years for that computer as neither I nor the baby are very gentle with electronics. The good news is that Carlos used his magic at work to get some one to extract the pictures. The bad news is that I haven't figured out how to use Carlos' computer well enough to post to the blog.



In the meantime here is a photo of our next big project - the backyard! Unfortunately this was taken almost 2 weeks ago and it still looks the same. This video of him walking is also almost 2 weeks old but you get the point...