oh man, beso

This morning, Amado was laying in bed between us, trying to get us to wake up. I wanted to keep sleeping.

"Mami! Mami!" he says, poking me in the eye.

I say, "Amado, estoy cansada. Necesito un beso".

So Amado says "Oh man, beso" and thinks about it for a minute before he plops one on me.

asi, mami

Amado is really into the concept of "igual" right now. Anything that is close enough to comment on is "igual".

We are both wearing shoes?
"Igual" he says, pointing to our feet.

Two kitchen towels?
"Igual."

You have a plate with rice and beans and I have a plate with rice and beans?
"Igual" he says, smiling, looking at our plates.

He goes through the world trying to match things up so he can comment on them.

This morning, I was making espresso for me and "whafe" for him (steamed milk with canela). I poured his into his cup and mine into my cup. "Pote! Pote!" he yelled, frantically. He is looking for his popote. I pull one out, which means that he discovers where they are, and he goes over and starts rummaging through the bag.

Great, Im thinking. He is about to dump out all 200 of those straws. "Dejalo, Amado, por favor, dejalo" I am telling him. He runs over to his table, items in hand, waiting for his whafe. I didnt see what he ran over there carrying, so in my head, Im grumbling about the fact that he probably just took 43 straws over to the table. I get to the table and he has two. I start to tell him, "Amado, no necesitas 2 popotes", kind of annoyed, I'll be honest, when he says, "a mi" holding one of the straws and is holding out the other one to me. I realize that he brought over one for me and one for him. Aw.

Now, I dont particualry enjoy drinking my espresso through a blue striped straw. So I think I can just thank him for it and drink my delicious warm beverage the way God intended. I laid my straw down on the table and started to sip my espresso. But no. Amado is not quite sure why I dont get it.

Gently, he picks up my straw and sticks it back in my mug "Asi, mami."
He takes a sip of his whafe, and says "yummy!" encouraging me to do the same.

I take a couple sips through my straw.

"Igual", Amado says, knowingly, nodding his head.

But then he notices an important difference.

Pointing at my cup, he says, "No tapa".

The tapa on his cup is the bain of his existence. He hates that he has to have a lid on his cup and that he can't just drink it normal like the rest of us (he cant, by the way, because he will dump the whole thing over in 2 seconds flat).

So then he notices, igual, but not quite.

He starts to try to wrestle the lid off his cup, reasoning with me, "No tapa, mami, no tapa. Igual." Man, you gotta give in on that one. He is communicating it so well.

So, I undo the tapa, remind him to be very very careful with it.

I am sitting across the table from him, as we are enjoying our morning cafe and whafe, looking at this incredible person I have sitting here with me.

Then, Amado reprimands me. "Uh, oh, mama. Manos. Asi". He is reminding me that without a tapa, i am supposed to hold my cup with both hands. Good thing I have him looking out for me.

baby tattoo

Rory and Tyger's baby came into the world last night! A girl! I unfortunately dont have any more info than that, but I do know that everyone is healthy and happy! Hooray!

Amado and I had a funny exchange about it this morning. We lit a candle yesterday when she was in labor and talked to Amado about how we need to keep them in our thoughts and prayers and how this candle represents that. So he was really interested in the candle all day, saying "Rory" "vela", and pointing to it.

This mornning when he saw the candle, he said "Rory. Baby. Panza", patting his own panza, and I was telling him that the baby was born, that the next time he saw Rory the baby would not be in her panza. We told him this several times yesterday, and it didnt seem to be registering (kind of a hard concept) so I thought to make it more palapable, I should tell him that the baby would not be in her panza because it it would be "en sus brazos".

Amado looked down at his arms, said "Rory, bebe, brazos" and pointed to his Dora tatoos (one on each forearm). He figured that the baby "en sus brazos" meant that the baby would be on Rory's forearms in the form of tattoos.

Si Se Puede! (part 2)

Amado woke up bright and early this morning. Jason and I were taking turns trying to keep him in the bedroom so we could lay in bed for a little longer. Jason read the Si Se Puede book with him and then took him into the bathroom for a morning bath while I laid in bed.

The bath riled him up even more, and he came running out of the bathroom, still naked, his warm, fresh, smooth little body scampering around the room. He threw his little knee up on the side of the bed where I was still laying, climbing up to me.

Simulatenously pulling the covers down and trying to fit his little body in the crook of my arm, he started saying, chanting, really, "Leche, mami. Si Se Puede! Leche! Leche! Si Se Puede!"

Police Activities League

The other night, Jason was making Amado's dinner and we were all in the kitchen. I answered the phone and its some Police Activities League requesting donations, which I declined (shocker). I hung up the phone and said to Amado "A la policia, decimos gracias, pero no gracias!"

At that point, we were all walking into the living room because his dinner was ready. He always eats dinner at his little table in the living room. So, Amado pretty much tries to repeat everything, but sometimes if it is long, he only repeats the end of it. Like "mariposa" is "osa".

So we are walking into the living room, and I say "A la policia, decimos gracias pero no gracias!" Amado pointed to his table (and chair) and said "silla, no gracias!" and plopped down on the floor.

learning

We were playing outside today and Amado said "pompos. poo-poo. ano."
Translation: "Compost. Poo-Poo. Gusano".
He was telling me what his Tia Nina taught him about composting and worm casting for the garden. Cute.