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".