Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Trunk or Treat



Tonight was the first night of our three nights of Halloween celebrations. 

Guillemo's school hosted a trunk or treat so we decorated the back of our station wagon with black and orange streamers and balloons. It was minimal effort but it looked pretty good, especially once I got the kids on track on how it should be done.  We decorated it at home so once we arrived at the party, all I had to do was open the back and viola, a party! In addition to trick or treating, there were carnival games and free popcorn and hotdogs. How great is that? 

The kids were so tired that when they got home, they didn't even ask to eat any of their candy. It wasn't even 7 p.m. but Guillermo didn't sleep well last night so he really was tired. I think Maya just didn't know that she could ask for the candy since she doesn't remember last Halloween. 

If we were responsible parents, we would have put them to bed right away, but by the time they picked up their toys, changed into their pjs and told Will about the party, it was nearly 8 p.m. Neither Will nor I wanted to miss the Obama infomercial so we turned on videos for them, handed them some candy and went to watch Obama. 

Tomorrow we are going to the library for spooky stories, crafts, treats and costumes and on Friday, it's Halloween. I love Halloween now that I'm a parent. We even put up spider webs (and caught a bee in one of them), a small plastic fence with scary skulls, and a few signs that indicate our house is haunted. 

Friday, October 24, 2008

Pacing, waiting

Tonight, in another attempt to stall the bedtime process, Guillermo declared that the crickets chirping outside his window were too noisy. He insisted the ceiling fan in his room wouldn't drown out the noise, as we attempted that at least one other time. What he really wanted was my air purifier, which is pretty good about blocking noise, but I refused to give it up again. 

Instead, I suggested a radio and his eyes lit up at the idea. I told him to wait for me in his room and I'd be back with MY clock radio. 

"Sometimes when humans wait, they walk back and forth, like this, right?" Guillermo asked, as he paced in his room.
"Sure," I said. 
"And, they put their hands like this," he said, clasping them behind his back. 
"That's right," I said. "You wait here, OK?" 
"Yes, they do this where they are waiting," he said as he paced in his room. 

So, I went back in my room, set the clock radio on an appropriate radio station (WXYC, the UNC station, of course) and then hauled it off to his room. He must have gotten tired from all the pacing because he was sitting in a chair. Soft music was playing on the radio when I plugged it in near him.  
"Night time music," he said, smiling. 
I tucked him in under his yellow unicorn blanket followed by his Spider Man blanket just as the DJ came on the radio to announce the songs that had just finished playing.  
"That's OK," he said. "I like the talking, I like the news when I can't see it," Guillermo said. 

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Goodbye, Grandpa



I returned home tonight from a quick trip to Missouri, where we buried my grandfather. He died early Sunday. He had been sick for some time and in May moved to a nursing home with my grandmother when he needed more medical care. 

Maya and Guillermo are too little to have memories of him, I'm afraid, but I have lasting memories. I remember that he always woke up early, he loved to talk, ate slowly, really slowly, and always had a smile for me. He was a very kind man who loved his wife and children. 

He and my grandmother had a trailer, and later a motor home, at a campground near their home for more than 30 years. Visiting them there was so fun because the campground also had a water slide, a pool, a park and a go-cart track, though I think that came later. Plus, there were hayrides and an amphitheater, where we saw the play "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" many times. 

We lived about three hours away from my grandparents but we spent most Christmases together when my sister and I were younger. I remember being so sad one Christmas because it was snowing so much they couldn't make it to our house for Christmas morning. For several Christmases, my grandfather gave me whatever toys he would get with his breakfasts at Hardee's. I think one year I received four little pound puppies; another year I received four California Raisin figures. 

He would bring us Dilly bars from Dairy Queen at least once when we visited and he and my grandmother always left coins for us to put into the piggy banks they kept for us at their house. Mine was either a yellow pig or a blue pig (I can't remember which was mine, and which was my sister's). We played lots of card games with them, including our family favorite Tripoly.

He was a longtime Democrat and a St. Louis Cardinals fan. He worked in the parts department of a car dealership for more than 50 years, either as a parts manager, or, after he retired, as a parts assistant.  

I know my grandfather is in a good place now, and so I'm OK with his passing. What makes me so sad is knowing that my grandmother lost her partner of more than 60 years. She is still at the nursing home, unable to go home because she has alzheimer's disease. It's advanced enough for her to forget that my sister and I visited her this morning before we left to catch our flights, but not advanced enough for her to forget that my grandfather is no longer with her. 

"It's just going to take some time" to get used to him being gone she told us this morning, her red eyes bright with tears. When my sister and I left the nursing home, I peaked at her through the outside window. She was sitting in the same chair she was in when we left her, her head resting in her left hand. Her eyes were closed. 

I'm trying so hard right now to replace that image in my mind with a happier one. It's just going to take some time. 

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Voting Day

The Vizuete's voted! Here are some pictures of our big day. We love that we finally live in a swing state. I'll have more on this next week, when I blog about it on trianglemom2mom.com Mark your calendars. I know you can't wait.



Bananas

We've reached a point at our house when pretty much all Guillermo and Maya do is fight, it seems. If they are talking to each other, they are arguing.

Here's a sample from breakfast:
Maya was sitting down, eating cereal and a banana. Guillermo sat down across the table, and positioned the cereal box in front of him so he couldn't see Maya.

Guillermo: I’m blocking Maya’s slimy banana with the cereal box.
Me: You don’t want to see the banana?
Guillermo: No, I think I’m allergic to bananas.
Me: OK.
Maya: Nana. I have a Neenee. 
Maya: Oh, my nana has a hole in it.
Me: Well, then don’t hold your banana that way.
Maya: Look at the hole.
Me: Don’t hold it that way.

Later, Maya finished her breakfast and decided to stand right next to Guillermo’s chair while he was eating.

Guillermo: You smell like a banana.
Maya: Ooooh, Guillermo said I a neenee.
Guillermo: No, I said you smell like a banana!
Maya: I Maya!
Guillermo: You smell like a banana!
Maya: I Maya!
Guillermo: You smell like a banana!
Maya: I no smell like a nana.
Guillermo: You have banana on your face!
Maya: No!
Guillermo: I told you her smells like a banana.
Maya: I no smell like bananas.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Morning Talkers

This morning I woke up to Maya talking. Normally, I wake up to her cries "I'm done sleeping!" so I was a bit intrigued.  

As I got closer to her room, I could hear Guillermo talking as well. "Great," I thought. "She woke him up, too." It was 6:30 a.m., late for her, too early for him.

I stopped between their doors. Maya was in her crib in her room and Guillermo was lying on the floor in his room, his favorite sleeping place again. Their rooms were still dark.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked. 

"I'm done sleeping. I want out," Maya said. 
"I was telling her how she could get out of her crib," Guillermo said. 

What did you tell her, I asked as I picked Maya out of her bed. 
"I told her she could get a ladder or a slide," Guillermo said. 

"Good ideas," I told him.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

"Ewoks eat berries they find"

We signed Guillermo up to participate in a language study at UNC. He hasn't participated in any studies since he did one at UT when he was really young, but I thought this one might be fun, and more importantly, give us something different to do for a few mornings in September.  

The study ended up being a lot of fun. He played games and told stories and ate snacks and drank from juice boxes and seemed to love every minute of it. While he was in the testing room, Maya and I sat in a small room filled with toys and books. At the end of each of the three sessions, Guillermo would show up in that room full of energy and incredibly happy. He had a great time. 

As part of the study, we received a speech and language assessment. Guillermo's language skills were great, the review found, but what made us laugh were some of the quotes from Guillermo the researchers chose to highlight. Here are a few. (We didn't have any context either).

"I thought you said 'pitcher' like in a baseball!"
"Ewoks eat berries they find."
"Hey, that parachute doesn't have a human on it. It has a box!"
"Hmm, that might be a king penguin ... although it's a little big."

And, the report said that Guillermo helped clarify situations when the examiner didn't understand by saying "Okay, one more time ...."

His kindergarten teacher is going to love him. 

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Kick the Can

Guillermo and Maya celebrating Will's 32 birthday earlier this month.

We had a wonderful day outside. It was beautiful here, sunny, probably upper 70s. We took the kids to the nearby elementary school and tried to fly our shark kite. We did pretty well and Maya and Guillermo had so much fun trying to jump and catch the kite when it started falling toward the ground. When they grew bored, we took them down to the track and they took off running. Guillermo ran a full lap in Crocs, stopping only once. Maya took off after him and made it more than halfway around before she called for help. When I arrived, she wanted me to run with her, in the same lane, of course, so we finished off our lap. 

Later, while Will went to his radio show, I took the kids to the park and then when we came home, I taught them how to play kick the can! 

We used to play kick the can a lot during the summers when I lived in Iowa. I grew up in a wonderful neighborhood. Trout Valley was filled with kids, big backyards and riding lawn mowers. One side of the neighborhood was surrounded by a corn field, and a creek bordered another side. We spent a lot of time fishing and stomping in the creek and playing in the corn field. Somebody's parents had built a wonderful treehouse in the trees that lined up against the field.  We all went to the same elementary school (and the older kids went to the same junior high and high school) and many of the kids my age played on the same soccer team in the spring and fall. We had neighborhood 4th of July picnics, complete with parades and games and when the creek flooded, as it seemed to do often, everyone would pitch in to help clean up our neighbors' homes. Many of our parents became good friends, which meant they would spend Saturday evenings at one home while the kids played at another home, with the older siblings babysitting until we were old enough to babysit the younger ones. Or, we would play outside and many times that meant we played kick the can in my cul-de-sac. (OK, it's entirely possible we played kick the can only a few times, but the fun memories make it seem like we played the game every night!)

Playing today reminded me so much of growing up, though there were only three of us today, instead of a small army back then, and it was a bright sunny day instead of a dark night. Guillermo loved kicking the can (a black bean can, if you must know) and only wanted to hide. Maya's favorite game these days is hide and seek, though she usually only wants to hide with Guillermo, so she had a great time, too. I think we probably played 10 rounds, getting them good and tired for bedtime tonight, the goal of any weekend day!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Best Friend


Maya has a lot of best friends these days, it seems. Frequently it's me (and I love that!). 

"Mommy," she says as she wraps her arms around me. "Best friend." 

Other days, most days, it's Guillermo, even though I admit I push this on her, frequently telling her that Guillermo is her best friend. 

The other day, though, Maya switched best friends three times. It started in the morning, when she saw her teacher from a class she takes at The Arts Center. "There's my best friend," Maya said pointing to the woman. 

Later, on our way to a playdate, Maya said "Sophia, best friend." 

And, as we left the playdate to pick up Guillermo, Maya again remembered her brother. "Guillermo, best friend. Guillermo, little buddy."

The "little buddy" thing cracks me up, too.

Will frequently calls Guillermo his little buddy so Maya has started doing it, too. One day she was sitting on the curb in front of our house watching some kids play. Guillermo ran toward her. 
"Come here, little buddy," Maya said to him. "Sit down." 

And as he sat, Maya patted him on the back, "little buddy."

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Taekwondo No More

Well, I hyped Guillermo's taekwondo effort for no reason, it appears. He had three private lessons and did great. He followed instructions, listened well, and loved it.

He then went to a group lesson to see if he was ready. My poor kid was so small compared to the others. Most of them were probably between 6 and 8 years old and they towered over Guillermo. 

First, the class did a few warmup runs to one end of the gym and back. Guillermo was easily among the slowest and when the first group of kids passed him on their way back to the starting line, Guillermo just turned around and ran after them, even though he hadn't even made it to the halfway mark.  A bit later, some kids weren't listening, so the group had to do pushups and Guillermo couldn't do one, though he tried and thought he did 10. (I know the punishment is a bit extreme for a 4 year old, except Guillermo didn't care).

Later, the instructor led the group through a 20-step drill and while I am sure part of the drill was repeated at least once or maybe twice during the 20 steps, poor Guillermo couldn't keep up. When the group was facing left, he was facing right, when others were turning one way, he was turning the other way. I would have felt bad for him, except he had such a big smile on his face and he didn't care. He was just having fun. 

After the lesson, the instructor told us he thought Guillermo should wait until January or next year to join in because at 4, the instructor said, Guillermo isn't going to really be able to memorize the steps (I'm sure there is a better word than steps). He thought Guillermo would just be going through the motions.  He did say we could work out some deal with him so Guillermo could go once a week just so he keeps learning the discipline and respect part (and so he continues having fun). Will is all for that, but I'm not so sure. The good thing about us being told to wait is it saves us a ton of money. Taekwondo is expensive and I don't think this once a week special is going to be too cheap either.