Dibujando

Joaquin is developing his artistic skills lately. Thursday afternoon (after the Balloon Fiesta), I had to do some tutoring, so Joaquin hung out with Grandma. Apparently they talked all about the balloons b/c they decided to make a picture of a balloon. Grandma drew a simple balloon shape with an attached square (gondola) and Joaquin filled it in. He colored a blob of orange, pink and black where the fire should go. Then, despite the round shape of Grandma's drawing, he decided this was the cow balloon. (That's good old Elsie, representing Creamland, "the milk of New Mexico". She is a serious shape balloon, but I guess Joaquin thought the round balloon was close enough.) He drew two circles for eyes, a scribble for a nose, a line for a mouth and several scribbles for hair. ALL BY HIMSELF! And then explained it all to me when I came to pick him up. Okay, so it's maybe not amazing, but it's definitely a milestone since he hasn't done that before. He's starting to color better as well. We scribble a blob of the appropriate color approximately over where it should go. This video is of Joaquin cutting. We're just learning how to use scissors (don't worry, carefully supervised and with this cute little child's pair). He still has to use both hands to push the blades down, so it's not the most accurate or controlled manuever, but he's certainly proud of himself. (Me too.)

Fiesta de los Globos (2009)

Ah the Balloon Fiesta. Happens every year and I still like it. (I'm not alone in this, such is the charm of large numbers of hot air balloons that many Albuquerqueans go every year.) Joaquin of course loves balloons (continuing our trend of enjoying everything transportational or mechanical). We've been watching them from our window in the mornings, a great perk of our current location. Thursday we decide to take the morning off from work, etc. and go to the park. We always try to go on a Special Shapes day b/c it makes it that much more exciting. Joaquin had a great time, his favorite balloons were the Noah's Ark and a few shaped like other forms of transportation (a fire truck, a train, etc.). But I was totally thrilled to see Carmen Miranda back! She's my favorite from when I was a little girl. I've never seen pictures of the actual woman but my childhood self thought the balloon was the prettiest thing ever! She still looks good.

Mis Flores (dos)

Aren't these flowers beautiful? Wednesday Daniel, Joaquin and I went to a potluck at a friends house. Since I was teaching right before, the boys had to pick up some bread to share. Apparently they were admiring the flowers and Daniel asked Joaquin if he'd like to bring Mommy some flowers. Joaquin said yes and when Daniel asked which ones, he pointed and said "the daisies!" Which is so super cute b/c I had just showed him some daisies and told him their name the day before. Not that these are traditional daisies, but close enough. I love getting flowers from my boys.

Mi Primero Chiste

Here's a blog all about Joaquin being silly. First, Joaquin told his first joke - and it was actually funny! To be technically correct it was his first pun which I'm afraid reveals his relationship to my father. I'm not sure this family can take any more punniness. While I was bathing him, Joaquin looks at me and says, "Mommy, do you have gum in your mouth?", I didn't, so I looked at him oddly and said, "No I don't, see?". I opened my mouth to show him it was empty and he says, "Yes you do, right here!" and points to my gums while grinning widely. Then he laughs. Get it? JK! Secondly, this video is Joaquin right before naptime. Frequently the knowledge of impending slumber makes him wildly hyper. If you're tired the only way to keep from falling into the sleep trap of death is to keep yourself frantically moving. Today the combination of approaching naptime and clean sheets was very entertaining. He kept singing songs and telling me funny things from under his blanket. In this video he's attempting to sing "Five Green and Speckled Frogs". He can make it through the first verse but since his subtraction skills are limited (i.e. nil), that's as far as he goes. To translate for those of you who can't understand Joaquin with a blanket over his head, the song goes: "Five green and speckled frogs, sat on a speckled log, eating the most delicious bugs (yum, yum!). One jumped into the pool where it was nice and cool, then there were four green speckled frogs." It's a classic!

Día de Trabajo

Well Uncle Matty has left to return to London, sigh. But before he went, he came and spent the Saturday doing boy things with Daniel and Joaquin. They were building a planter and since there were two adults to one small child some of it actually got done. This is Joaquin in his 'working' clothes. He's responsible for the tool belt, but I put him in the appropriate shirt.












I think they had a good time (don't know for sure b/c I took the opportunity to go shopping BY MYSELF!!!! A pair of boots and a dress later....) but it was certainly exhausting. After lunch Uncle Matty and Daddy went shopping for shoes so that when Joaquin woke up from his nap, they needed theirs! They sat down to 'watch' "Max & Ruby" with Joaquin and couldn't help themselves. Joaquin and I were very amused. They didn't even wake up when I took the picture! Joaquin had to jump up and down near Daniel and say, "Wake up Daddy!" several times before we got a reaction.

Mi Cobija

Blankets are so versatile. Sometimes they're a comforter, sometimes they're a house (as shown in previous blogs). Frequently he 'wraps' whatever toy he is playing with up in it and hands it to me as a 'present'. Not one that I can keep mind you, it's just for the fun of unwrapping. On this occasion, it was hat and then a flag. While the hat is very stylish (if you like babushkas, or is that the Russian grandma who wears a scarf like that? I can never remember), I was mostly amused by his flag. He started flailing his blanket around and watching it flutter. Then he told me it was a flag and that his arm was the pole. I thought he looked just like the color guard from my high school marching band (with much better form I might say), but Daniel says he is one of those macho Italian guys who "trow de fleg" in Sienna Italy. (If you're confused I recommend the movie "Under the Tuscan Sun".) He was truly having a great time and I got several action shots that have great facial expressions. If you feel so inclined, I would suggest you enlarge the pictures to see his devilish grin.

Tío Mateo

Uncle Matty's home! Okay, so he's been home for awhile, you try blogging with the week I just had. Moving on, we went and met him at the airport, which I pumped Joaquin up for. When I told him we were going to the airport he said, "We'll see the American flag, and the yellow flag and the black flag. " I'm thinking, american flag okay, yellow flag is the New Mexico flag, but black flag? Turns out he was right, at the top of escalators are three giant flags, the American, the New Mexican and the POW/MIA black flag. I repeated this story to Daniel who said that yeah Joaquin had told him all about the flags the other day and called it the black flag with the man on it. He notices the weirdest things! Meeting Matthew was fun and while Joaquin was a little nervous, he warmed up quickly since he wanted to go back to Grandma and Grandpa's house to play with "the big guy". Matthew further cemented the friendship by bringing presents of a double-decker toy bus, matchbox (yes they sell those in England too) construction equipment and a propeller-driven squid bathtoy. (This squid is the coolest toy ever! If I can find a way both Allie and Jonah are getting one.) We've had a lot of quality time with Matthew during the day and I wanted to include this video of Matthew and Joaquin twirling in the pool. We spent a really long time in Great-Grandma's pool and practiced our synchronized swimming moves. I'm working on Joaquin's form, he doesn't seem to remember to point his toes and hold his legs out when I spin him. Unless we make more progress we'll never make it to the Olympics. However, it was very fun to spin with Uncle Matty since he's up higher and can swing faster!