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?"