Monday, June 30, 2008

Salsa Cinderella

Guillermo, over the weekend.

As I've said before, Guillermo loves knights (guarders, as he calls them) and since knights protect castles, he likes them, too. And, because kings and queens and princes and princesses live in castles, he likes them too. So, persuading him to see the puppet show "Salsa Cinderella" today at the library was pretty easy. 

I'm so glad we went. 

Grey Seal Puppets put on the show and it was hilarious. Cinderella was a red chili pepper and the prince was a green chili pepper. ("I'm a pepper, too," he said to Cinderella when he met her). The step sisters were an onion and a bulb of garlic. The show was funny, had good music (salsa, of course) and the puppets were great. Maya was a bit scared of the green chili pepper prince, and, really, I don't blame her. He wasn't the prettiest prince charming I've ever seen. Maya loved the mouse as the narrator, though. The show ran about 45 minutes and Guillermo and Maya sat through nearly all of it before we left to get books. After watching the princess tale, Guillermo made sure to pick out some manly books: Two Incredible Hulk comic books (for kids). I read them to him before he had story time with Will at bedtime. He then asked Will to read them to him. He went to bed a happy, happy guy. 

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Easy sleep


Maya, at the birthday party

This was the kind of weekend in which bedtimes are easy. No crying. No pleas for more books or another drink of water. Not even an extra trip to the bathroom. A simple good night, sweet dreams and they were out, fast asleep.

Saturday started with Guillermo's swim lessons. Maya, dressed in her swim suit and coverup, was pretty disappointed at the Y when she learned she could not swim too. I hope I don't have to take her back, but Will was out of town so I had no choice. We left swim lessons and went to a birthday party for one of Maya's friends. Maya was so excited about the party she woke up Saturday morning and immediately started talking about it. "Birthday party?" "Present." 
It was a swimming party and my kids were great. Guillermo must have missed Will because he splashed and squirted and played with the birthday girl's father nearly the whole time we were in the pool. Most of the kids at  party was 2 or younger and he didn't have much use for them. After the party, Guillermo's good friend came over and not long after he left, Will came home. That night at bed, I asked Maya the question I ask her every night. Did you have fun today? What made you happy? Her response that night: "Cake. Birthday." Funny. I asked her on Friday what made her happy and she said the same thing. "Cake.  Birthday." 

Today, we took the kids to Jordan Lake. I love lakes. I think I like them more than oceans, which is probably strange to people here since the ocean is so close. But, every summer growing up, we would spend at least a week at the lake, camping, skiing, and playing. And making s'mores. Ahh, s'mores. Yumm. 

Today, we found a shady spot under a tree and hit the water. Guillermo had so much fun and felt pretty confident in the water. When he got tired, we built a castle and a moat, though the moat was the more impressive feature of our creation. Maya spent most of the morning with Will. We came home to watch the Euro Cup (Yeah Spain) and Will was giddy with Guillermo cuddled up next to him, cheering on Spain. He even skipped his radio show so you know he must have been enjoying himself to drop his two-hour dose of jazz.


Friday, June 27, 2008

Orange Otto

Guillermo's bus trip was cancelled today. Rats. His teacher was sick. I think I might have been more disappointed than he was though. I gave him the option of staying at school to finish his cardboard car or come do something fun with me. He chose me. Of course. 

We explored a new park and Guillermo played tether ball with a kid from a preschool camp while Maya sat at a kids picnic table and played with a girl named Natalie. It was fun, but hot, really hot. And I was tired, really tired. Maya woke up at 1:30 a.m. and didn't go back to sleep on her own for the rest of the night. We slept for 40 minutes at a time and then she woke up for good at 5:30 a.m. Ugh. I'm exhausted. 

This afternoon we went to the comic book store to see if it had any kids comic books. Guillermo loves reading the Spiderman and Superman comics his friend checks out from the library. The store had kids comics, but the Marvel and DC Comics comics weren't as kid-friendly as I was wanted. Instead, we chose a comic book about a cat named Otto who wished that the world was orange. Perfect. Guillermo is not as crazy as he once was about orange, but it's still his favorite and he still wants to move into an orange house and paint his bedroom orange. 

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Bus trip

We're going on a bus ride tomorrow and I can't wait.  Maya, Guillermo and I took the bus downtown with our friends once since we've been here and they had a great time. This time,we're going with Guillermo's class for a field trip. All week, he's been studying transportation at school and to end the lesson, they will spend an hour on the bus that stops outside is his school. I am so excited. I live for this stuff: field trips, hanging out with Guillermo's school, helping. Guillermo is pretty excited, too. He'll have so much fun and he'll feel so proud and grown-up. Maya loves spending any time she can at Guillermo's school and with his class. Tonight she was saying "Maya, bus" over and over again. I hope we get to sing "The Wheels On the Bus."

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Sick day

Two sick kids equals one long night. 

Both kids were up several times last night with fevers. At one point, I woke Will up from Guillermo's twin bed and urged him back to bed. Later, I realized I had slept for two hours holding Maya in her rocking chair. Luckily, the kids slept until 7:30 a.m. 

Both were pretty wimpy in the morning but by the afternoon, Guillermo was much better. I could tell because Guillermo said he wanted to do something that didn't involve moving his head much, like soccer. When I questioned him about that, he said we could be on the same teams and just kick the ball back and forth nicely. 

Maya was still sick, though her fever was pretty low, and only wanted me. I dragged them to the grocery store to get out of the house in the late afternoon, but mostly we spent the day on the couch, reading and watching TV. 

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Happy chicken



Maya, the happy chicken

Last week Maya came up with a new way to show she's happy. She clucks like a chicken. But, only when she's really, really happy, like when she's wearing her yellow jammies or when she makes it through the tunnel on the playground by herself. One day, she clucked like a chicken and said "gabba, gabba, gabba" over and over again with huge smile on her face. Silly girl. 

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Goodbye

One of the first friends I met in North Carolina moved today. I didn't get a chance to tell her I still remember that day, when she introduced herself when I was pushing Guillermo in a stroller near her house and she was headed to the park with her family. I didn't get a chance to tell her that being a stay-at-home mom was so much easier and so much more fun because she was around. I didn't get a chance to tell her that I valued our friendship so much (but I've told her many times I hope she moves back here). I didn't tell her how much I would miss her and that Monday afternoon at the park would be lonely. I couldn't because when I hugged her goodbye I started to cry. And, I know that she knows all of that anyway. 

Guillermo, whose best friend moved today too, assured me we would be OK. "Soldiers don't cry," he said. We had been playing American Revolution and I was George Washington and he was Moses (from a TV show). "What will we do Monday?" I asked Guillermo. "We'll play with friends" he said, naming off a few.  OK, I said, and I thanked him for making me feel better. "Now, let's play," he said and we were back to the map to find a trail to our next target.

Friday, June 20, 2008

That's My Man




That's my man all dressed up in big boy clothes. Just so you know.

Fun Day

We had a great day today. It was really fun, which is perfect because our best friends are moving, and they aren't just moving to say, Ohio or Michigan. No, they are moving around the world to New Zealand. 

New Zealand! That's not even "we'll miss you, but we'll see you in a few months" far." That's "when you return to the United States, will you move back here?" far. That's "please post lots and lots of pictures and set up a blog site so I can still watch your kids grow" far. That's "can we even talk on the phone or is just too expensive?" far. Not only am I losing my wonderful friend, but Guillermo is losing his best friend, Lazlo, too. And Maya doesn't know it yet, but she's losing one of her best friends, Liska, too. But, enough about that. Today was great and we'll focus on that. 

Early this morning, Guillermo, Maya  and I checked out a new park (not really new, but new to us)  and when we returned home around snack time Lazlo and Liska were riding scooters around the cul-de-sac. The four of them spent the rest of the morning on the scooters, pushing each other in the wagon and just goofing around. 

Later, after they left, Guillermo, Maya and I made a chocolate cake (from scratch, no less) for an impromptu going-away party we scheduled for Lazlo and Liska later that afternoon. Making a cake with a 2 year old and a 4 year old requires A TON of patience, but they had fun and Guillermo loved sifting flower. We set up the bouncy house and instantly a party was born. 

It turned out that some of our friends' friends were coming to say goodbye so they stopped at our house and another couple from the neighborhood showed up with their kids and soon we had a full party that started at our house and ended at the park, finally around 7:30 p.m. It didn't seem to matter to my kids that dinner was chocolate cake and I didn't really care either. I wish all Fridays were this fun. 

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Oh, Female

Guillermo and Maya earlier this week at the Museum of Life & Science

I've noticed a change in Guillermo when I pick him up from school lately. He seems much happier and full of energy and I love it. He's even giving me detailed answers when I ask him what he did at school. 

Yesterday when I asked, he told me all about bees and worker bees and the queen bees. Then, he proceeded to tell me that he was a male and I was a female. Maya was a female too, he said, and papa was a male. That's right, I offered. 

At the park later that day, I was helping Guillermo as he attempted to climb up the slide with a rope. When he figured out how to do it, I let him work on his own while I helped Maya. A few minutes later, I heard Guillermo say "Oh, man." 

"What happened?" I asked. 
"Oh, I meant, Oh, female. Sorry," he responded and went back to work. 

I giggled. Later I told him it was OK to say "Oh, man" even if I was around. 
"You're a girl. You're a female," he said. "I will say Oh, female."

I can't wait to tell his teachers how much I loved the lesson about bees.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Stinky skunk

I took Maya back to story time at the library today. She always cracks me up there. Today was no different. One of the books we read had a picture of a skunk. "Ooh, stinky," the librarian said and plugged her nose with the fingers. 

Maya tried to imitate, but instead of plugging her nose, she stuck one finger up her nostril and said "Ooh, stinky." After she studied the librarian a little more closely, she figured out her mistake and now can plug her nose properly. Thank goodness for that lesson.


Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Maya's birthday

Maya, opening presents.
Eating pizza
Maya's butterfly cupcakes

I'm a little late posting about Maya's birthday party. I left for a weekend in Austin early Friday morning and am having trouble catching up at home now that I'm back. 

Maya's party was fun.  A few of her friends came over Thursday afternoon and we filled the baby pool and turned on the sprinkler. Since Maya loves to paint, we also brought out all of her paints, a large piece of plywood for painting on, and small canvases for each kid to paint their own picture. One of Maya's friends didn't bring her swimsuit so she swam naked. That prompted Maya to insist that she also swim in the nude. That means I can't post any pictures of the actual playtime at the party. After painting a swimming a bit, Guillermo and his friend started painting themselves and soon all the kids were covered in paint. 

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Stacking blocks

Maya turns 2 on Thursday. My baby girl. We're planning a small party at our house. Maya loves to paint so I bought finger paints and finger paint paper, a large piece of plywood, more paint brushes and tempera paint, and small canvases so each kid could create their own work of art to take home. Guillermo wants me to fill up the baby pool so he can show the girls how to get in and out of the pool. (???) We borrowed a friends' bubble machine and we could inflate the bouncy castle, although Maya is a bit scared of it.  We'll have pizza and cupcakes and the party should be a hit. 

Maya's birthday also means she's earned another trip to the doctor. She hates going. I love it. I feel like the pediatrician is a parenting coach and while I'll roll my eyes at anyone who actually calls a real parenting coach, I'm always ready with a list of questions for my kids' doctor.  Turns out, he has a new series of questions for me about Maya. His office now requires parents coming in for scheduled checkups to answer a series of questions online about how their children are developing. Since you can't be with me in the doctor's office Thursday, here's a sneak peak at Maya's development:

Yes, Maya can point to the correct picture when I say dog or cat, can imitate a two-word sentence, can follow directions like "get your book," can identify pictures of many objects, can use two or three words that represent different ideas together, such as "Papa's chair." She can't however, use at least two words like "me," "I," "mine" and "you." She does have "mine" down pretty well, but that's only one. 

Yes, Maya can walk down the stairs holding my hand and can even walk down a few stairs by herself, but only sometimes does she kick a ball by swinging her leg forward. She can't jump with both feet leaving the floor. 

She can turn the pages of a book by herself, feed herself with a spoon, stack seven (and even more) blocks on top of each other and put toys where they belong when she is cleaning up from the day. She pretends a block is a telephone, she finds a stool to stand on if she can't reach something, she pretends to feed her doll, and she's pretty good at maneuvering a play shopping cart. She still says "Maya does it," rather than "I do it," and doesn't mimic me when I draw a line on a piece of paper. 

On the computer screen, she seemed to be doing pretty well. Impressive really, in my unbiased opinion. But, then tonight, I asked her what she wanted for her birthday. She said two, as in "Maya will be 2." Hmm, we have some work to do. I liked her answer better the other day. When I asked what she wanted for her birthday, she smiled and said "Cake." 

That's my girl.  


Monday, June 2, 2008

Star Wars

Guillermo, playing with his lightsaber.


Maya, dancing. 

Here are a couple of videos of Maya and Guillermo showing off their moves. Enjoy.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Itsy Bitsy ...




We filled the little pool up with water today for the first time this summer. Maya and Guillermo had a great time, especially because Will's father is in town. Maya insisted she was swimming, even though she wouldn't even sit down in the water. Guillermo and his grandfather played water baseball. I love summer!