Amado has had some good ones this week so I though I would share a couple.

The other morning, he had woken up and we were both trying to squeeze another couple minutes of sleep out of him. He decided to focus his efforts on Jason who he is generally more successful with. He stood at the foot of the bed right by Jason and yelled, "prendete, maquina!".

A couple nights ago, Amado woke up a few minutes right after Jason and I climbed into bed. It was about midnight. He sat straight up in his little bed for about 30 seconds, and then said "Necesito escuchar el corazon de mami." My heart melted a bit, thinking, wow, he woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to get comfort by being close to my heart. How sweet is that?! So Jason said, "Porque?" And Amado replied, "Necesito chequiar su presion". Always the enfermero. So he climbed into bed with us, climbed on top of me, put his head on my chest, and then said, "Okay, mami. Tu estas bien. Te quiero mucho."

Amado's dentist office sent a very cheesy Christmas card with a photo of all the dental staff on it. Amado really likes it, especially because I told him that it came in the mail for him. After carrying it arouond with him for awhile, he looked at it and said "El tiene una sonrisa muy fea". (which he doesn't). And Jason said "Jeez, thats kinda harsh. Thats king of a mean thing to say". Amado said. "Es tu opinion, papi? Yo respeto tu opinion."

Tonight, I had just finished explaining to Jason that Amado did want to sleep with his socks on, when he tossed them into the hamper. I said - "why did you do that?!" And Jason, kidding arounf, said, "es que mami no explpico bien". So I asked Amado, which was the problem, that I hadn't explained well or that Jason hadn't listened well. Amado (correctly) answered that his papi hadn't listened well. To be funny, Jason said "que?". To which Amado (never one to miss an opportunity for a joke) replied in a patronizing voice, "Es muy complicado. No te voy a explicar".

Halloween 2008

Yes, those are his ladybug garden boots. He is not too concerned with authenticity.


Amado y los otros bomberos de Las Semillitas, Lucio y Luca

One of the very best things, and this is something I hope I remember when I am an old old lady, is how sometimes when we are cuddling in bed together, Amado grabs me tight and says "Me gusta tu amor". There really might be nothing better in the world.

Amado's School Pictures

Las Semillitas 2008-2009
photo by Rocio, mama of Eitan

Monkey on my back

Since Amado was small, I have (lovingly) called him the 'monkey on my back'. Not because he actually is a monkey on my back, of course, but because sometimes when he gets silly and riled up, he acts like a baby monkey, usually jumps on me, you get the idea. Anyways, I've called him this for years now, and I have never explained the non-literal meaning to him.

So today, after he used the bathroom, I was getting his chonies back on him, and he had one leg in them already when I realized I was putting them on him backwards.

"Oh, mijo, lo siento", I said. "Estan alreves".

He let out a big, heaving sigh and tried not to smile.

"Oh mami, tu eres el mono en mi espalda" he told me.

si se puede, part 5

Amado attended a vigil last Friday night, to stand in solidarity with a family in the Mission. This family is fighting their landlord, who is harassing them and trying to intimidate them, because she wants to evict them so she can raise the rent.

He spoke on the mic for the first time. Can you guess what he said?

Si Se Puede!

amado's presidential commentary

So, many of you know that Amado is new to the tv watching world. We held out till he was 3 to let him see any TV/movies/film - I can share if you are interested why, though don't want to bore everyone here.

So, he has seen a couple Pocoyo videos (highly recommended to all you with and without kiddos) and a couple youtube things and that's pretty much it. Last week, he was playing while we watched the vp debates but mostly just played with Jason. Tonight, him and I were home alone, so I put on the presidental debate while we played. He was excited about seeing Obama, because he has been hearing alot and talking alot about him. He loves the "si se puede" obama video on youtube. When he watches it, he puts his little fist in the air and pipes up to participate in the the "si se puede" parts.

I thought I would share a couple choice moments from tonight.

After about 5 minutes in, Amado asked, "cuando van a cantar?" (I think he was thinking of the aforementioned video).

About 5 minutes after that, Amado asked, "cuando van a decir 'si se puede'?

Amado thought that this white guy with a mustache in the audience was funny-looking (not quite sure why). He laughed and tipped himself over as the camera passed by thus guy, and then popped up to point him out to me. The camera had moved on by that point, so Amado craned his neck, trying to peer through the upper corner of the TV, to see if he could see him still.

At one point, McCain said "Senator Obama". Amado said, "Oh, el habla espanol." I was like, um, I dont think so dude. And Amado said, "si, dijo 'cien obamas'. Que bueno! Cien Obamas! Cien Obamas! Queremos Cien Obamas!"

a balanced breakfast

We made pastelitos the other day with canned pumpkin, and had some left over, so last night we were discussing what we could do with it. I suggested we put it in his avena this morning, and we was thrilled by the idea. So this morning, it was the first thing on his mind.

I whipped it up real quick, set his avena in front of him and like I do every morning, went into the other room to start getting dressed. He called to me to come sit with him while he ate. He was really enjoying that pumpkin avena, and wanted to have some company. I told him that I needed to get myself together and then I would come sit with him. When I came to sit down, he said, "mami, tu no vas a comer?"

Now, I never eat breakfast with him. I usually grab a yogurt or an banana on the way out the door and eat when I get to work. But this morning, this struck him as particularly troublesome. "Mami, tu no vas a comer?"

I told him I would just grab an apple and eat it later.

"Oh, no, mami. Eso no es bastante. Tu necesitas comer algo con proteina. Algo como...avena....con calabasa....o....algo asi. Es muy importante, mami."

He popped another spoonful of his beloved avena in his mouth, and then slid the bowl across his little table to me. "Toma, mami. Este es para ti. Tiene proteina. Por favor, comelo".

!

I need you to all check out www.antiracistparent.com. Right now. Recognize anyone?

and a flashback moment...

do you remember when he was this small? and this silly? well, he is still this silly...
this is his "si se puede" stance combined with his "monster face".

Gracias, Cocinero

If you have been to a restraunt with Amado, you have most likley seen his obligatory head-poke into the kitchen after the meal to thank the cocineros.

I am in the world of higher education on a couple fronts - as a student in a school of Education, as someone who works with underrepresented first generation college students as my job, as a researcher who is studying youth and student activists. Something you hear alot about is giving kids of color role models of successful people so that they can see themselves in these people and also aspire to great things, not feeling limited by what society tells them about who they are and what they can accomplish because of the color of their skin, their last names, their accents.

The subtext here, of course, is that these role models are doctors, lawyers, professors. People who are 'successful'. And I hear that. I can see why that is important to people. But there is something else I think we need to be just of mindful of, actually, more mindful of. And that is teaching our kids to thank those people who stay out of sight, who are literally and figuratively in the shadows, and who work hard to give us what we have.

Not just the cocineros, of course, but the people who picked the grapes for his fruit salad, the mamis who stooped over the chicharro plant so they could appear on his plate. When we drive through Downtown Oakland when its already dark outside, he sees the tall buildings completely illuminated inside. Without fail, he asks us, "porque las luzes estan prendidas? " We explain, long after people leave their jobs, they are home with their families and friends, relaxing, but the janitors have to stay and clean. They work hard and they don't get paid a lot. "Porque?" he asks, concerned. Some kinds of work are not valued as much as other kinds. Its not fair, its not the way things should be, we say. "Como la mama de Carlos," he says knowingly, rembering the little boy in the book "Si Se Puede" that he loves, about the Justice for Janitors Strike.

One of the things thats hard about raising a monolingual Spanish speaking kid who is VERY friendly is that he often is in situations where he really wants to communicate, and he is not understood. In the park, with a plane flying overhead, he says to another kid, "wow! mira el avion!" and only gets a blank look in reponse. Or sometimes the kid will look quizically at me, and say, "What did he say?"

But in the kitchen, with the cocineros, its all good. It doesn't matter if he just ate Pad See-Ew, Pupusas, or Pollo Asado. He is always understood in the kitchen. They are always Latino.

He admires the cocineros, he appreciates them. He knows what they do and he knows how important it is. He knows its hard work. He looks up to them. He is amazed by them, at what they are able to pull off. He appreciates them. And that's how it should be.

Amado and his good buddy Imani, protesting the Migra last Friday.
Protest sign made by Amado (did you check out the Spiderman and Dora stickers?)
Brown-Black unity has never looked so cute.

jumping the broom

We went to Malachi and Alicia's wedding this weekend and Amado had a blast. There was lots he really enjoyed about it, but his favorite part of the ceremony was when they jumped the broom. I was sitting next to him the whole time, translating into his ear - what was happening, how jumping the broom is a part of the African-American tradition, how it shows that they were jumping into a new life together as a family. He loved it - couldn't take his eyes off it. He loved watching it, loved clapping, loved the idea of it.

Today, I was on a field trip with his class. We went to Habitot, and then ate lunch in the park. After lunch, when the kids were playing in the park, Amado stood up on this cement block thing with two other kids. He yelled, "estamos en una boda!" I was like, okay, he has boda on his mind - that's cute. Then he says, "vamos a brincar la escoba!" as they jumped off the cement block together.

buddies

Wednesday is garbage day. Amado LOVES garbage day. He peers through the porch railing, commenting on each move of the truck. But the best part is talking to the garbage workers.

So today, first sound of the recycling truck, amado drops everything and tears out the door. The truck is still one house down from us, but as soon as Amado appears on the porch, the garbage trabajador who is hanging off the side smiles. A big huge smile. The kind of smile I give to Amado when I have been gone all day and havent seen him.

"Hey!" he yells.

"Hola! Gracias!" Amado yells back.

"We missed you the last two weeks! The route isnt the same without you!" he yells!

We were in Chula Vista visiting my mom and dad. And the garbage guy noticed. And commented. And was happy he was back. That is so awesome. What a cool kid, that even the garbage guy would comment on his absence!

my boy is growing up...

Three interrelated updates.

1. We have a potty chart in the bathroom, we put it up on Sunday evening. The thing is that each time Amado goes in the inodoro - pee or poo, we are equal opportunity - he gets to paste up an estrellita. 10 estrellitas equals one treat. He decided the treat would be helado (its actually plain flavored frozen yogurt, but shhh). Today, he reached 10 stars!! So we dropped eveything and headed out the door for helado con mochi y moras.

2. Amado went to see Dr. Bean yesterday for his check-up. You can sort of predict a child's height by the time they are 3 - there is some formula I cant rememeber right now. Anyways, Dr. Bean told us that Amado will probably be 6'2" or 6'3". Seriously. Oh. My. Lord. He gets a kick out of saying that he will have to look down to say hi to me. "Hola mami" he says, craning his neck way down like he is talking to an ant, then he explodes in a fit of giggles.

3. Based on the recent potty victory, Amado really likes to talk poo-poo. Tonight, as I was dressing him for bed, he started singing a song that he created, to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell":

Poo-poo huele feo
Poo-poo huele feo
Hi-ho-dee-airy-o
Poo-poo heuele feo

summer time means frambuesas

si tu puedes!

Today, Amado and I were leaving Berkeley Bowl. We were walking to the car, which was parked on the street, when we saw that there was a garbage truck in the Berkeley Bowl parking lot, picking up the Berkeley Bowl dumpsters. Well, most of you know Amado's love of the garbage truck. So we stayed to watch.

Little did I know that this show was gonna go on and on. They are really turning out a lot of waste over there at the Berkeley Bowl. Dumpster after dumpster was hoisted up, its contents tossed into the truck. Now, this is actually very interesting, I now know, since Amado has shown me the light. But I do have my limit. I mean, jeez, we were standing there for like 10 minutes. So then, I break the news to Amado, look, man, after this dumpster we are going. Okay, he agrees.

Of course, the truck stops mid-lift of this dumpster. Lord. I am trying to be patient, can't believe I didnt give the "last dumpster warning" on the previous dumpster. So in my impatience, I say, "come on, camion! sigue, sigue!"

Amado jumps right in. I guess my urguing must have reminded him of "La Pequena Locomotora Que Si Pudo" because he started cheering on the camion de basura. "Sigue, camion de basura! Si tu Peudes! Si tu pedes!" He picked up a little rythm with that one. "Si! Tu! Puedes! Si! Tu! Puedes!" he is chanting, jumping up and down with his little arm in the air.

And it worked.

The camion roared back up and lifted the load into the truck. Its amazing what a little cheering and support can do. Amado turned to me, completely satisfied and said, "wow, yo ayude este camion." Not surprised, just proud.

amado and tariq ali

my baby, when he was a baby...hanging out with tariq ali

three

today, my boy is three! my computer battery is about to die, so i'll leave it at that and write more later. please send him all your love, good wishes, and prayers for a happy day and year.

no cell phones, please

Today, Amado and I were outside playing soccer. My phone rang, and I thought it was one of my students who has really been struggling, so I wanted to pick up. I apologized to Amado - I really try to not take calls when we are playing. I feel like its disrespectful to him and makes him feel like he is less important than my phone calls. Its just a personal policy that I try not to break. But today, I thought it was this student, so I picked up, and it turned out not to be that student, but I got stuck on the phone for a few minutes because I had picked up in the first place. Arg.

So, as I hung up the phone, I apologized again to Amado and asked him if we could keep playing. He didnt give any kind of attitude or anything, but before we started playing again, he said, "Mami, con este juego no se permite telefonos".

"Si, mijo, te prometo" I told him, feeling kind of bad.

"Porque necesitamos correr rapido, y el telefono se puede caer". I thought it was interesting that he was kind of diluting his pointed message, by telling me it was because my phone could break and not because it was rude for me to take a call while we were playing.

"Si mijo, y tambien porque estamos jugando juntos, y necesito enfocar en ti" I said, trying to make explicit the intervention I thought he was trying to make.

"Si mami. Pero tambien es porque tu necesitas enfocar en la pelota" he says, as it whizzed by me.

more pics from our day off

pictures by Hossam

showered with compliments

The other day, we were driving home from somewhere really close by. Amado asked for a certain song on a CD that was under the seat. Jason told him, "look, we're one minute away from home, im not gonna look that cd". Amado protested, and partially to mess with him, Jason said, "Il sing it for you instead!"

As he started to sing, Amado told him, "I dont want you to sing it, I want them to sing it". And I cant quite remember how or why, but it was clear that he got the sense that maybe he had gone too far and hurt his papi's feelings.

So, to make it right, he said, "Papi, tu eres bonito, y muy importante. Tu eres como un avion. Y tambien, muy saludable".

a day off

Monday is a day off. So we set out early, bought bagels and coffee, and went up to the Berkeley Rose Garden to enjoy each other. Here is Amado, exploring.

the most important meal of the day

Another supermom moment for the record. This one goes along with when I locked Amado in the house by himself and smashed through the window with a hammer.

So this morning, Jason got up early with Amado while I slept in a bit. Awesome. But that extra shut eye time apparently didnt make me any sharper. So I get up at 8, feeling all great and refreshed, and me and Amado start our day (Jason is at class). We do dishes, put away his books, toss in a load of laundry, sit around and sing some Jose Luis Orozco songs, talk to my mom and dad on the phone. We're doing big things.

At one point, Amado sees this bag of nuts that Mayssun brought over yesterday and he says "oh, queiro almendras!" So I pull the bag down for him and he goes to town. I didnt think much of it because he does love nuts, but at a certain point, Im like - hey man, slow it down there. choose three more and then we're gonna put the bag away". In my defense, he didn't tell me he was still hungry, he just agreed.

So awhile later, its like 10:45 at this point, we are playing outside and I get hungry for breakfast. So I tell Amado, hey come up with me so I can make my breakfast and I'll bring it down to eat outside so you can keep playing. And to sweeten the deal, since I knew he wasnt gonna want to come back in, I said "yo puedo compartir mi comida contigo". I figured this was fine since 11 is usually about when he has a snack.

Amado says, "Mami, quisas yo puedo tener mi propio plato". I turned to him and then all of a sudden it occurred to me. "Amado, comiste esa manana?"

"No" he shakes his head.

Oh crap. I totally assumed Jason had given him breakfast this morning. Forget the fact that there were no breakfast dishes, that his table was filled with books he played with yesterday, and the tiny bit of milk that was there last night, saved specifically for his breakfast this morning is, um, yeah, still in the fridge. I had actually seen all these things but hadn't put them together.

Oh man. I felt so bad. I was apologizing to him, and laughing. "Im so sorry mijo!"

He knew I screwed up, which is halariously funny to him. He kept laughing and rubbing it in, "no comi mami! no comi!". I have a feeling Ill be hearing about this one for awhile.

Amor a Todas Horas

To all the other women, working hard every day to raise children who will fight for an end to oppression, who will speak out against injustice wherever it appears, who will make us smile when we are old by telling us that they will always carry on the struggle. Today we celebrate us, and we celebrate our beatiful children who make us the mamas we are.
Feliz Dia de Las Madres!

jellybeans

Today, the kids at school had a Cinco de Mayo celebration (yes, everyone is clear it is the 6th, but they needed time to prepare). The kids made pinatas, the maestras filled them, and then today they had their big bash - potluck, pinata breaking, etc.

So Amado came home with his bag of goodies, which included raisins, cacahuates, and 4 jelly beans. Amado has had no prior experience with jelly beans. He is all excited, telling me about his day, telling me all about the party, how hard he hit the pinata, and then he shows me his goodies.

"Mami, esos frijolitos chiquitos se comen, asi - crudo!"

ready to jump

another photo by Hossam

happy amado

amado, primero de mayo, 2008

whafe, does a body good

photos by hossam

disculpa, senor amado

Today, we were playing in the yard, as Jason was firing up the grill for dinner. I was making a phone call, and I see Amado backing his little car up (you know, the Fred Flinstone kind, where they make it move by walking, event though they are sitting) , getting close to the parilla. I got scared, and yelled (because English comes easier than Spanish) "Amado! Stop!" He did, and fred-flinstoned himself in the other direction.

I hung up the phone, and Amado said to me, "Mami, no me digas 'stop' porque yo hablo espanol".

a mi me gusta quien soy yo

There is a great children's book called "Ay Luna, Luna, Lunita" by Yanitzia Canetti. Its about a farm full of animals, and each night the moon comes up and each of the animals says "Moon, I feel so unhappy, my life is so sad, I dont like who I am, I want to be another animal. Will you please grant me this wish before you go down in the morning? (I'm paraphrasing and translating, so in the original version, you know, it sounds all poetic.) And the famer wakes up each morning not knowing this has all happened.

And each night, the moon grants the wish and turns vacas into gallos and burros into perros etc etc etc. So as you go through the book, each animal says this. Towards the end, we find out that there is one animal who asks the moon a different request each night. The gallo says "I am so happy, my life is so great, I learned so much today, how luck I am to be me! Moon, will you grant me one wish?" So the moon says, "well, what is it?" And the gallo says "Tomorrow, I want to be a better gallo than I am today, but I do not want to lose any part of who I am today. I love my crest, my feathers, and my color. I want to be the same gallo, but cada vez mejor". And the moon grants his wish.

And the farmer wakes up each morning, completely unaware that all the animals have been changed, and the only one who looks any different to him is the gallo, who "parece distinto". And sometimes, the farmer confuses his beautiful feathers with the rays of the sun.

So tonight we read "Ay Luna Luna Lunita" for bedtime. Amado loves this book. And when we finished, Amado turns to me and says "A mi me gusta quien soy yo".

find another seat, white man

Yesterday, Amado and I flew back from Chula Vista. I messed up and forgot to do the on-line check in thing and ended up being up the flunky #53 and 54 in the A boarding group. Rats. Southwest airline stopped letting families with small kids preboard, which really pissed me off, but that's another issue.

So, there we are, number 53 and 54. I'm trying to not get stressed about the fact that we are gonna get a crappy seat and also because I am having an allergy attack and not feeling like being fun mom. But fun mom is who is required on an airline ride.

So, imagine my surprise when we load onto the plane, and there are two empty seats in the first row! The first row! The one with the leg room! And the space for a cramped toddler to get on the floor and stretch out! The seat that can serve as a surface for running around play cars and mini fire trucks! The first row!

Well, the first row also has a large white man in it. I do not care. I will sit next to Big Foot if he is in the first row with two empty seats next to him.

"Are those seats taken?" I ask.
You would have thought I was trying to board the plane with a muddy dog and tried to sit him on this man's lap. "Well, I mean, not that I'm aware of, but you cant sit here with, with, him" he gestures at Amado.
"Yes I can" I say.
I know that what he was thinking was that it was an emergency exit row so a kid couldn't sit there. I didn't bother to say anything else, I just plopped us down.

Then, Amado, with his perfect timing, starts speaking loudly. In Spanish. This clearly makes the already awful reality this man is in, the horror of sitting next to us, all the more terrible.
He starts looking around for an escape route. I enjoy my son's company, even more than normal, because he is scaring this man away.

It takes about 60 seconds for him to get up and move to another seat.
Victory is ours.
I lean back and close my eyes - remember Im having an allergy attack and feel awful.

And then my sweet boy, who ran this man off, lays his little hands on my head and tells me, "esta bien, mami. tu puedes dormir. yo te voy a despertar cuando la senora viene con los pretzels y el jugo." A minute later, he taps me on the cheek, to confirm that he has it right, "mami - tu quieres jugo o cafe? yo creo que tambien tiene cafe".

seedling

another photo by Hossam

familia

photo courtesy of Hossam

esprouts

Amado loves him some sprouts. I have no idea how you translate "sprouts", so this is one of those learning moments I allow to pass us both by. Today, he corrected my english and told me that they are not, in fact, called "sprouts" but "esprouts". Then he said, "mami, yo creo que los esprouts son un mitad fideo, y un mitad ensalada". I think so too.

not so 'effing cute'

Today, my mom and dad took Amado to this kid science center thing in Balboa Park. I sat in the sun and did work for 3 hours while they ran around together, learning about gravity and nuetrons and other things I am not particularly up on myself. Anyways, at one point, this little girl was wheeled by in her stroller pushed by her two parents (i assume). She was a little younger than Amado, probably 2 and a half. And these people (i assume) had put her in this awful shirt. It was pink with ruffled sleeves and said "i'm so effing cute". Im not sparing you the profanity - thats actually what the shirt said.

effing cute.

Now, I'm not shocked by profanity. Its not like I am profanity averse. A good profane word comes in handy here and there. And lord knows, I utter profanities to myself on a daily basis as I manuevre my brown skin all over the UC Berkeley campus. But anyways, this shirt!

I mean, one - praising a little girl for being cute by putting it on her t-shirt makes me feel yucky. Its like, society does not need another reason to look at her and just see thats she's cute and nothing else - not that she shares well or kicks strong or sings with all her heart. Nah, my kid, she's cute. Effing cute, as a matter of fact.

Second, "effing" cute? come on. Its not clever, its not witty, its not funny, its just kind of inappropriate. If she repeated that, would it be cool? "Hey dad, this egg you scrambled for me is effing nasty". That would not be funny at my house.

todos somos lideres

Amado really has an affinity with Cesar Chavez. I think I shared with many of you a few months back that I was at his school for my parent shift and his teacher was reading a book to them about Cesar Chavez because the weeks theme was on leaders.

She pulled out the book and Amado rose to his feet and YELLED "Cesar Chavez dice si se puede en palestina!" (he combined two chants).

The other day, Jason and Amado were looking for a recipe on food network.com and Amado was looking over Jason's shoulder. The recipe Jason clicked on was from Emeril. And Amado yelled "oh! es Cesar Chavez!". Cant say I see the resemblance but I like the effort.

Last thing, not on Cesar Chavez, but on Si se puede. I showed Amado the Obama "Yes We Can" video the other day. He likes Obama and even knows a catchy little Obama jingle. Anyways, once I told him that "Yes We Can" means "Si Se Puede", Obama's popularity skyrocketed with this little guy. So we are talking about Obama, and I start explaining how Obama is an organizer, and he's Black, and he is running for president. Amado is captivated. So I say to him "Obama es un lider". And Amado replies to me "todos somos lideres, mami".

looking out for me

On Mondays Im with Amado all day and then Jason comes home and I leave to go do work and school stuff. So, this Monday, I was gathering my stuff up to leave. Amado and Jason were side-by-side cooking dinner in the kitchen. I went in to give kisses goodbye and Amado says to me:

Mami, si tu necesitas algo, podemos venir, okay?

I felt that was so sweet, totally unprompted, totally unnecessary. He just wanted me to know he is here if I need him, him and his papi.

Gracias, mijo, I said.

Then he said, :Si tu necesitas algo, llamanos, okay mami? okay?"

policia

we're in Puerto Rico for the holidays. Last night, We were at a big plaza for a celebration for Dia de los Reyes. There were hundreds of people so there were cops around. Amado got a special treat that night - helado. So he is sitting there with his helado de coco and this policeman walks by. He doesnt even look at Amado but for some reason, Amado feels the need to warn him so he yells: "Policia! No comas me helado! Es mi helado! Tu no lo puedes comer!!"