Overseas infatuation

We're not really YouTubers at our house.  At least, we weren't.  One day I was searching for Beatles cartoons, and noticed a "currently watched" video called "Charlie Bit My Finger...Again."  I'm not sure why it intrigued me enough to click on it, but Gabriel was in a trance from the moment it started to play.  Apparently these little guys from across the pond have been pretty popular, but we are a bit slow to catch onto these trends.  We started watching all the Harry and Charlie spots, and after Gabriel saw Charlie Commando Training, he was hooked.  He wanders around the house chanting "Daddy" with his little English accent, and continually pulls us to wherever the laptop is so he can watch it again.  And again.  And again.  I find it fascinating, because we've since tried to get him to watch all sorts of spots with other toddlers, and none of them get even a wink of interest from him.  But for some reason, Gabriel feels some kind of connection with Charlie.   I only wish Charlie had said more words in his video.  Gabriel could use some coaching!

Sad day

The more I think about it, this man could possibly be my favorite actor of all time.  I had just decided last night to try to catch some more of his movies, and today I hear the sad news that we lost him last night after a long battle with cancer.  When certain actors pass away, it really feels like you've lost a friend.  It also seems to be when the human presence they had in real life outweighed the stage presence.  Paul Newman seemed to be a no-nonsense, giving, talented and private person who loved his family.  He used his celebrity in all of the right ways.  He will be very missed.

Where did this week go?

Well, Gabriel had a great birthday party.  We are so blessed to have so many friends and family that came to celebrate with us.  He was a little overwhelmed, but wandered around hugging all the kids multiple times while joining in on the badminton every once in awhile.  It turns out he was coming down with another cold, so had a reason for being a little loopy.  But all in all I think he had a blast, and figured out that all of the commotion was for him.  Our goal was to not have anybody get bored, so I hope we achieved success.  I have a few pictures, but am waiting for my Dad to send more before I post any.

I spent the week before the party continuing to do my Fall cleaning, trying to really spruce up every room in our house.  I lemon-oiled all the wood surfaces, cleaned the baseboards and doors, dusted and wiped down the ceiling fans, cleaned the plantation shutters and blinds, and shined up the kitchen really well.  That was all while he was at school Wednesday and Thursday.   Saturday I did regular housework and Sunday we were full throttle from sunup getting food ready, decorating and setting up all the stuff in the backyard.  We had to enlist our parents to help us (God bless 'em!) or we would not have gotten everything done in time.  And this was after careful planning for weeks!  Needless to say, we were completely exhausted Sunday night.  And I ended up with a cold, too.

Gabriel had a good 2-year check up, and made it to the 36" mark on height.  Jav's grandfather had a theory that as an adult, your height will be doubled whatever your height is when you turn two.  The theory rang true for Jav, his sister and cousins, and after I looked at my baby book, it's accurate for me too.  His checkup went well with only one concern about his speech.  He's not saying many words, and our doctor recommended seeing a speech therapist to get tips on helping him along.  I have been pretty concerned about it, because slow speech is one of the signs of autism.  But we filled out the questions regarding autism signs, and he doesn't have any other signs.  I think it's more about not having to say anything to always get what he wants.    Which will be a hard habit for the parents to break, but we will try.  

One really good thing that happened this week was that Gabriel is starting to get adjusted to his Day School.  It's hard when he only goes twice a week because he thinks we're not going back and then gets all upset again when we head that way.  When we left the house this week, he had what I call his "Kevin face", for all of you who have seen the movie Parenthood and love it like I do.    He was very worried from the moment we left the driveway, and started getting really upset about halfway there when his little sense of direction confirmed the worse:  We were heading back to THAT place.  I put my hand on his knee and started calmly telling him that it was ok to be away from Mama for awhile, and that he would have so much fun playing with the other kids and going outside and singing songs and working on art.  The little guy actually listened to me and did his best to put on a brave face, which made me feel even guiltier.  But when I picked him up, they said he'd had his happiest day ever.  And the next morning he actually walked into school instead of me having to carry him, and didn't get upset until I handed him over.  This was BIG for us, and I felt so much better about the whole thing afterwards.  We were considering pulling him back to one day a week, but I think we'll leave things alone for now.

Parenting can be such an internal battle at times. I want everything for my kid, but I don't want him to end up spoiled.  I want to push him to grow and learn, but I don't want to push so hard he feels like a failure.  I want him to experience all sorts of things, maybe even things I never got to try or do, but then I feel like I'm overwhelming him.  I think the best thing to do is just love him with patience, understanding and listening.  Listening to him and paying attention to my gut feeling about the right thing to do.   

Happy Birthday, my sweet little man!

Not a good way to start out your Birthday morning!

Things were considerably better by the end of the day!

Gabriel got to spend the morning first with Jav's Mom and Dad, then with mine.  (This also gave Jav and I time to finish getting the house spruced up for the party tomorrow.).  Then after a good nap we went to Mass and said lots of birthday prayers.  Then it was on to Campo Verde to eat his favorite meal (a cheese quesadilla), and watch the train circling the restaurant.  We had the best waitress, who had a sixteen-month-old at home and was close to having another one, bless her!  She brought Gabriel a little ice cream sundae when she found out it was his birthday.  Needless to say, she got a really big tip!  

Munchkin, I hope you had a fun birthday.  My heart just about bursts with love for you.

What we've been up to

Gabriel's first day of school (taken after he got home that afternoon since I forgot beforehand.

Path - Phase I.  Redone and now done.  My sweet autumn clematis is finally blooming at the upper right corner of the picture.

Gabriel started his Day School last Wednesday.  It wasn't so bad leaving him that morning.  He ran to the toys and never looked back.  But they said he had a pretty rough day after that.  The next day he didn't cry until I handed him off and told him a quick goodbye before practically running back down the hall so I couldn't hear him.  

Then, of course, he had a cold by Sunday night.  Damn germs!  

It wasn't so bad at first, and I even took him to school yesterday thinking he was a little better.  But after having a very short nap he was obviously going downhill yesterday afternoon.  So I kept him home today.  We've had a really fun day.  We've watched way too much public TV, read lots of library books (his favorites multiple times), worked some puzzles, and he had a really good nap.  This seemed to help because he was running around like a whirlwind, babbling his little baby words, chasing the cats, and generally acting like his old self again.  

I've already noticed that he seems more interested in the alphabet and counting, which could just be due to "getting" Sesame Street all of a sudden.  I really miss him during the day, but I'm trying to keep myself busy with Fall Cleaning.  I like to clean this time of year instead of Spring to get ready for the biggest party we throw all year - Gabriel's birthday.  I've cleaned all the eaves under the roof, washed off all the outside of the house (including all the windows), and cleaned off the front and back porch really well.  

We had Jav's family over for his Mom's birthday Sunday morning.  I've never done a breakfast/brunch before, and we had a really good time.  Then we went to noon Mass with her, which is the Spanish Mass and can be a little crazy.  Gabriel slept through most of it, making me almost pass out between his overheated little body and the fact that the chapel wasn't air conditioned.  

We've also finally finished Phase I of our path.  Phase I, II, and III actually turned into Phase I.  I hated the first one we had done.  I finally got my nerve up to tell Jav, and he was very patient with me and even helped me pull it up and redo the whole thing.  Next Spring we'll continue it to the back of the yard, probably only one side a year (of course, these interlocking pavestones were more expensive than the gravel and stepping stones we originally tried).  But I am so much happier with the way it's looking now.  

And finally, we're really gearing up for his party on the 21st.  We're going to pray it doesn't rain because we're setting up both a ping pong table and a badminton net in the backyard (if we can figure the thing out this weekend).  I originally wanted to do a Teletubbies party, but it's getting hard to find stuff for Teletubbies.  They are sort of on the way out.  So I switched to Curious George, a show that both Gabriel and his Mama are finding more and more appealing the more we watch it.  I'll be on total birthday mode for the next week.  

Why just today?

Hmm......  Why can't the presidential candidates stop belittling each other and focus on their own positive attributes on all days, not just this one?

Fun late summer evening

A few weeks ago, we had my niece Macy spend the night.  We had a delightful day.  She and Gabriel and I visited the Trinity Park duck pond before lunch.  Then after naps, she helped me decorate for my Mom and Dad's very small anniversary party that night.  It was just Jav and I and the three grandkids (Cade was spending the night with them while my brother and April attended a charity event that Pier One throws every year.)

We had a nice dinner, and were sort of wrapping things up when I remembered I wanted my Dad to see our new path (post to follow one day).  So we all headed outside.  The kids didn't even put any shoes on.  It was so pleasant, we ended up staying out there for about an hour.  The light was just right to take pictures, but even the pics don't show what a good time we all had.  And it was totally spontaneous.  It was one of those occasions I don't think we'll ever forget, it was so fun.