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.