Otoño en Albuquerque

There are three major clues that it's fall in Albuquerque, lots of rain, the smell of roasting chiles and balloons popping up in the morning sky. By all signs fall is just around the corner. Joaquin and I went to Pro's last week and saw a ginormous chile roaster going. Joaquin was entranced by the flames and the noise and we stood for a good five minutes watching the spectacle. We even got to see them finish a batch and put in new ones. Joaquin was definitely intrigued by how the roaster opened and then closed enough to be turned around and around through the flames. I showed him how the chiles got all blackened and told him that made them taste good. Sounds like fun right? Well he definitely remembered it. Friday night we went out to eat at Indian Kitchen and saw some folks we knew celebrating a birthday. They had brought several balloons and kindly gave Joaquin a green one (green for Joaquin! That's for you Kara). Joaquin said thank you but seemed underwhelmed until we got home. Then he spent 30 minutes or so 'making chiles'. He would pretend to pour chiles in, close it up and then spin the balloon around and around talking about the chiles getting black and yummy. Then he would give us chiles. He actually was quite resistant to going to bed since he needed to make more chiles. This is a video I got the next morning.

He pretends more and more every day and they totally crack me up. Last night during the missions banquet at church he spent the evening in the nursery with his buddy Lindi. I didn't go get him so I didn't see it, but apparently they were in the cribs (there for little babies who need naps) pretending to sleep b/c they were 'tired'. He also acts out episodes of Max & Ruby (it's amazing how much of it he can quote, he's totally turning into Kara's son) or pretends he's playing with Max. Love it!