This morning, Amado woke me up, and said, "Antes, cuando tu estabas dormida, tu veias como una reina".

talking to the baby

This morning, when we were laying in bed waking up, Amado said, "yo tengo una pregunta para el bebe".

I asked him what it is.

Then, he leaned down to my belly, and said "Baby? Cuando es tu cumpleanos?"

Then he put his ear down to see if he would get a response.

He stayed there for a long time, and I was wondering if he was gonna hear an answer.

"Solo puedo oir tus rinones" he said.

according to amado, its a girl

We took Amado with us a couple weeks ago to the sonogram appointment. Last night, him and I were talking about the baby, and he pulled out this stuffed cow he has had since he was a baby.

"Esta vaca es para un bebe" he told me.

I asked him if he wanted to keep it for our baby. He does.

"Sabes, mami. Es una bebita. Una nina" he told me.

"Tu crees?" I asked.

"No creo. Yo se." he told me, with a smile.

"Como tu sabes?" I asked,

"Porque la vi, en la computadora. Yo vi su cara, y es nina. Que bueno porque eso es lo que yo queria. No podemos eligir, pero yo se - es nina."

sweet boy

Amado and a friend of his take a swim class together. The other day, they got to swim class and the regular teacher was sick, so there was a substitute. Amado was surprised, but his fishiness took over and he jumped in. His friend was much more thrown, and was really reticent to get in. He wasn't up for this curveball. His mom was trying to coax him into the water, but wasn't being successful.

Jason suggested to Amado that maybe he wanted to go help out. Amado hopped out of the water, went over to him, and said, "Luca, como estas? Estas bien?" Then, totally unprompted, he said "Luca, yo tambien extrano a nuestra maestra. Pero yo puedo ir con esta maestra. Yo puedo hacerlo. Puedes hacerlo conmigo? Vamonos." It worked.

What floored me about this with that this is textbook parenting book style. He delt with the situation in exactly the way the parenting books say you should: he validated his feelings, and then tried to make him comfortable with the situation by letting him know that they were in it together.

How awesome. What a sweet, tender, mature way to interact with the situation. I so love his sweetness.

easy to impress

Yesterday, we were on the porch about to leave for school. It was pouring rain, and this guy rode by on his bike, and he was wearing one of those very practical but very-silly-looking bright plastic full body rain coverup jumpsuit things. (If you are not sure what I am talking about, I found this super dorky couple on google images that really do a great job at conveying the outfit). He looked funny, and as he rode by I looked at Amado so I could make a joke, but he was looking in the other direction.

"Mira, mijo! Mira ese traje!" I told him.

I thought we could have a good laugh at it.

"Wow." says Amado, very deadpan.

"Que elegante."

I'm still not sure if he was making a joke or not. It's hard to tell with this witty guy.

pulpo mama

The other day, I was trying to get Amado ready for school, get myself ready for work, and do about 14 other things. I was getting his socks on him, and he fired out 3 requests/mandatos in a row - I don't even remember what they were. "hand me that, do this, do that...."

I was losing patience, and I told him the same thing I have told him many times - "Amado, soy una persona. Yo tengo dos manos. Solo puedo hacer una cosa a la vez. "

"Perdon, mami" he said, truly apologetic.

We were silent for a couple seconds, as I struggled with his socks, and then he said - slowly, thoughfully - "pero los pulpos si. los pulpos si pueden hacer muchas cosas, porque tienen muchas manos! pero esta bien, mami. tu no eres un pulpo. esta bien".

through amado's eyes

The other day, we were rushing down Telegraph Ave to get to Sproul Plaza for the televised view of Obama's inaguration. As we rushed by the new Beard Papa's (logo on left) cream puff place, Amado pratically collapses in a fit of laughter.

"Que paso?" we ask.

"Mira!" he can hardly get the words out. "Ese senor esta comiendo un telefono!"

way to be a jerk, mom

When I picked up Amado from school yesterday, I noticed he was wearing different pants than when I had dropped him off. The teacher was talking to other parents so I waited to ask her about it. When I got him in the car, I asked "how come you have different pants on?" even though I already knew the answer.

"Oh." he said. "Yo hice pipi".

Now, I'll be honest, I was frustrated. In my defense, Amado had a couple other accidents this week, because he insited he didn't have to go, because he didn't want to stop playing.

So, I was trying hard to not make him feel bad, but I was frustrated at his lack of attention and effort. I told him, "look man, if this keeps happening, I am going to make you sit on the toilet every 30 minutes regardless of how much you complain". He apologizes. I tell him he doesn't need to apologize, but he does need to pay better attention to his body. He agrees.

So today, when I am dropping him off at school, I look in his cubby because of course there must be some pants in his little bag, in need of washing. As I pull them out, his teacher Ada sees me, and says, "Oh! I forgot to tell you! He had an accident yesterday". I told her, "yeah, I figured, because he had different pants on". Then she said, "yeah, it was cute. what happened was that he was laughing so hard, he was just cracking up, he was laughing so so hard, that he accidentally peed".

Oh man.

My lovely, silly, joyous kid who loves to laugh and make other people laugh had an accident because he was having a good time. Way to be a jerk, mom. Its so easy to get frustrated over dirty laundry or a sloppy clean-up job, that sometimes I forget to appreciate that when you are loving life and having a good time, things can get messy.

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.