Papá y Joaquin

November has been rather mild so we've been enjoying more outside activities in an attempt to make the most of it. I actually enjoy being outside now more than in the summer since the sun isn't beating down on me mercilessly. Daniel and Joaquin spent the Saturday mommy was at Homespun Holidays going to the zoo. They apparently had a fun time looking at the animals and an even more fun time playing on the playground. The zoo has this fantastic jungle gym of immense proportions that Joaquin is brave enough to climb all of. Apparently heights and wibbly floors don't bother him, just tunnels. He has yet to make it really far into any McDonald's playsets without adult chaperonage. Probably a good thing considering the uncleanliness of said tunnels. So Joaquin channeled his inner monkey while Daddy took pictures. They even had a picnic on the grass (that Daniel packed and brought with them, isn't he an amazing Daddy?). We've also been trying to finish projects before the weather gets too awful. We've been working on some planters for all my bulbs for a ridiculous amount of time. Unfortunately Saturday's seem to get eaten up recently, but we have made some progress. This picture is Joaquin and Daniel sanding pieces so we could paint them. Both Joaquin and I have a cold and the dust from the sander caused us to cough so we pulled out the dust masks. Joaquin was relatively cooperative about wearing his, but it was actually rather hard to look at. This picture doesn't really do it justice, but he had an adorable somewhat poignant look about him. It was vaguely reminiscent of those heart-wrenching pictures of small children in countries ravanged by some disease. Those little eyes peering over the white mask were very touching. Luckily he didn't ask for a pony or anything else unreasonable while wearing it b/c I probably would have given it to him!

El pequeñín

Joaquin grew another half inch lately, which makes two inches since April. If you think of that as a percentage of his total height it's absolutely ridiculous. It's also really sad b/c his little body really looks like a boy and not a toddler. He's getting so leggy (evidence; picture on left) that it makes my heart hurt a little. Fortunately he still does lots of things to help me realize how young he still is. First of all, despite being extremely verbal (I'm saying that semi-sarcastically at first it was nice to be able to talk, then I was proud, now I'm just tired of answering questions!) he's still difficult to understand on occasion. My favorite - the kieled sign. He shouts out in the car "Kieled, Kieled!" which means he's seen a Yield sign. Now it's just fun and I say, "oh yeah I see the yield sign" but before I figured out what he was talking about, he got very frustrated at me. I'm most entertained when he tells me, "Mommy we're going to kieled". It sounds like I have a baby gangster in the backseat urging me on a hit. He also has trouble with automatic, he swallows the beginning and ending vowels almost completely. We were walking to the bathroom in the grocery store the other day (he now loves to visit the potty at any store we're at - do you know what bathrooms are like at grocery stores? Let's hope you never do) and he asks me in his piercing voice, "Is this potty a maggot potty?" While I'm looking at him confused a woman walks by looking at me in horror. I don't know what she thought, it's not like maggot potty is an obvious bad word or something, I would have simply assumed I didn't understand what he was saying, but whatever! Finally he told me, "Is it a maggot potty or do we have to flush it?" All was made clear. He's also such a baby still about clothes. He really has little to no interest in dressing or even undressing himself. We practice and he can kind of do it, but not without serious supervision. However he was apparently enjoying his after nap semi-nudity the other day and protested strenuously when I put a shirt on him. Since I ignored him (the house was cold!) he tried to take it off himself with this result. After I finished laughing at him I did take it off him but it did make me realize he's light years from self-sufficiency even in small matters. Finally, he's still a ridiculously messy eater. Most of this comes from taking too big of bites so bits fly off the spoon when he puts them in his mouth, but some comes from weird habits he has. For example, he refuses to let us cut PB&J sandwiches into manageable sizes. He wants the whole two slice sandwich in one piece. And then he just eats straight down the middle letting the sides ride up his face and smear his cheeks with crumbs, jelly and peanut butter. Lovely clean-up that. This annoys Daniel excessively (I think it just seems really inefficient which is hard for Daniel), so he has attempted to show Joaquin how to eat from the sides as well without any noticeable success. Why change an eating pattern that works just because it makes a mess that you don't have to clean up? Anyway despite new height and potty training, he's still really little. Thank goodness!

La mente de Joaquin

Joaquin loves to pretend. He's also pretty good at pretending while by himself. This is nice for two reasons; 1. Mommy doesn't have to come up with a game and pretend with him (fortunately, since I'm not that creative lately) and 2. That means I can sit and listen to what is going on in his head! And it is hysterical. So, for your enjoyment, here's a few stories that tell you what is going on in Joaquin's head.

When I get Joaquin up in the morning he has frequently been lying there thinking of ways to play with his toys. He'll jump up and start playing for awhile before I can persuade him to eat breakfast. On this particular morning he wanted to play kitchen and he started putting food in his 'blender'. His blender is a little bug trapping box from a Chick-fil-a kid's meal. It's round and has a lid which is all the resemblance to a blender it actually has, but it has been a blender almost from the moment he got it. First he squeezed normal things into it like an orange and an apple (well plastic versions of normal things), but then he moved on to much more inventive things like broccoli. He started by chopping it nicely on his cutting board and then 'squeezed' it into his blender. I don't know what he was making as he never actually blended it, but it would have been unusual.

This story is very old, but it was so entertaining that it shouldn't be forgotten. Shortly after our trip to the Dixon apple farm, my mother and Joaquin were talking about how the leaves would all turn colors and fall from the trees. Since our little dwarf peach tree turns colors and looses it's leaves very early, it was already a pretty orange color at this point so Joaquin said, "like my peach tree". "Yes," my mother said, "and then all the leaves will fall off." Joaquin thought for a moment and said, "And then it will have apples."

One day Joaquin and I were stretching (long story) and I showed him how to put his feet together, fold his knees and flap them up and down to pretend to be a butterfly. (This is something we did at the one year of ballet I took as a child.) He loved this and we flapped and then jumped up and sat back down again on yellow dandelions, purple dandelions (every flower was a dandelion at the time) and umbrellas (I don't understand either, he came up with it). He's adapted the leg flap since then, but this is a game he demands frequently. Incredibly adorably he calls me 'Mama Butterfly' whenever he wants to play this game or whenever he's feeling affectionate.

He's also been obsessed with an old book from my childhood called "The Color Kittens". Since the kittens have buckets and buckets of paint to mix colors with, he tells me frequently, "when I was a kitten I would have buckets and buckets of paint to paint with". (The tense confusion is original to Joaquin) I find this very amusing especially since now my name has changed to 'Mama kitten'.

He also sees the world in family groupings. Couples confuse him so he usually refers to the other half of a couple as their friend. He has many stuffed puppies that are all a family; Mommy puppy, Daddy puppy, Baby puppy and Wiggly. (Don't ask me why Wiggly is his own dog, Joaquin doesn't think in terms of siblings yet since he doesn't have one so Wiggly is just the odd man out.) Sadly Daddy puppy is infrequently played with since he's usually at work! Daniel thinks this is horrifying assuming Joaquin think's he's always at work. I think four puppies is just too many characters to play with so Joaquin is getting rid of him nicely. He also likes to give them pretend bones (he tells me he's carrying them in his pocket every time we take Wiggly in the car with us. Just in case Wiggly gets hungry.) and beans (that's what he calls dog food - it does bear a distinct resemblance to pinto beans, the beans he's most familiary with.)

He's also getting to the point where he's very decided on some points and I can never convince him I'm right. For example, he's decided that the black parts are wheels and the hubcaps are the tires. I can never make him believe that the wheels are the wheels and the tires are the tires. In fact he gets quite angry at me and insists it's the other way around. Such distrust in my abilities, considering I've never really steered him wrong it's a little weird. But he's got a very organized little world in his head and he hates when I disrupt it.

El Avión

Joaquin absolutely loves to pretend he's an airplane. Very normal for a little boy I think, but he puts a twist on it. Instead of spreading his arms out wide for wings, he puts them straight in front of him and moves his hands around making engine noises. His arms are the engines of his airplane and when you ask him where his wings are, he will point to his shoulders. This was the inspiration behind his Halloween costume. For Halloween, Joaquin was a ..... Southwest 737! I made it myself out of posterboard (honesty forces me to admit that Daniel helped me shape it, but I honestly designed it all myself and painted it!) Joaquin was somewhat annoyed by the fact that he kept running into things, but endured for the sake of candy collection. (I told him no one would give him candy if he didn't have a costume, which is at least somewhat true.) He also had fun vrooming his engines and pretending he was an airplane while he looked like one. We trick or treated around our neighborhood, stopping by all the families with kids and then visited the Sturdy's before heading to Grandma and Grandpa's. Joaquin got the hang of trick or treating quite quickly once his first proclamation of "trick or treat" was met with gushes of "how cute" and a handful of candy. In fact his trick or treats became so loud we had to calm him down. After we got to my parents he spent the evening helping them pass out candy while Mommy and Daddy went to go see Dracula, the musical? It was a fabulous Halloween.

La Calabaza

A few days prior to Halloween, we decided to finally carve our pumpkin. I bought it a few weeks ago and then it sat in the garage. (Yes, we're weird, don't know what to tell you.) Then Joaquin came home from WOW with a little pumpkin that he had decorated with stickers and marker. It had an M and a D on it for Mommy and Daddy. Apparently when they went to write his name on it, he asked to include us. How cute is he!?! Anyway since he liked his pumpkin so much I was inspired to remember the pumpkin in the garage (thank goodness, it would of rotted eventually!) and Daddy and Joaquin carved a Jack O'Lantern. Daniel was all set to create an artistic masterpiece, but as it's Joaquin's first Jack O'Lantern and I like my husband with all his fingers intact, we settled for traditional. Actually Daniel made some impressively round eyes and skinny ears, so maybe he is ready for some serious cutting next year. We also roasted the seeds which tasted fantastic! Made me wish our pumpkin was seedier. Of course right after Halloween all the pumpkins will be on sale, hmmmm... Seems a waste since I don't like eating any other part of the pumpkin.

Como Padre Como Hijo

One very darling thing came out of our visit at Dora and Bill's. The picture to the left is a scanned copy of a picture of Daniel at three years old. Dora was not a picture taker so there aren't many pics of Daniel as a baby. I love this one! It's hysterical to me how un-Daniellike Daniel looked as a small child. But he does look a heck of a lot like Joaquin. Dora made a copy of the picture for us and even gave us the robe which is still in fabulous condition and fits Joaquin perfectly! We've been taking pictures of Joaquin in it trying to find one that had a similar pose and a similar flavor but, per usual, Joaquin hasn't been terribly cooperative. We had a fun photo session where he kept getting too into the books we gave him as props and refusing to look at the camera. I sympathize, but it was frustrating. So here he is buried in a book and here's the one vaguely successful shot. (Don't worry Dora, I'll kept trying and post this one on Walgreens.) Don't they look amazingly alike?

En Colorado Springs

So back in October, after we left Patience, Joaquin and I picked Daddy up at the Denver airport. (We got a ticket for Daniel to come help us drive back for $40! Can you believe that?) Then we drove down to Colorado Springs and spent the night with Dora and Bill. Joaquin was obviously overjoyed to be at a place where he was the focus of all adult attention. While I reveled in not having to care for Joaquin (I hate single parenthood, even if it's for a few days), he and Mi-mo had a great if extremely hyper evening. Putting him to bed was exciting, I had to threaten to spank him if he giggled one more time. (Does that make me evil?) We woke up the next morning to a winter wonderland. (I love how we spent a week of lovely weather in Ft. Collins and then Colorado Springs was freezing!) Despite the chill, Joaquin couldn't resist that lure of snow and Mi-mo's playset, so he, Daddy and Mi-mo played while I took pictures and tried not to freeze. (Totally not packed for that kind of weather!) Despite being an absolutely wimp about hot weather, Joaquin loves the cold. I guess it's no surprise, Albuquerque had insane amounts of snow the year he was born, which was totally a sign! He can play outside in the cold until he really is too cold, so I had to bring him in eventually. Fortunately we had purchased mittens in Ft. Collins so his hands weren't frozen. In fact the mittens helped me realize it was a little too cold for prolonged play. He tried to cross the monkey bars (with a little help, he can hang, but the swing to the next bar requires adult support) and then started just touching the next bar instead of trying to hang on. Noticing his lack of participation, Daniel lowered him and then realized his mitten was still stuck to the bar. Anyway it was a nice little mini-vacation after our visit with Patience and Joaquin behaved relatively well for the ride home. He refused to take a nap but spent the hour and half I wouldn't talk to him or let him watch Max & Ruby pretending things. It was hysterical to listen to and try to understand what he was doing. He spent a good twenty minutes crumbling his blanket and twirling it around talking about how it was going "chuga chuga in the dryer". (I think he means the washer since that really does go chuga chuga, but it's his game.) Got home safe and sound before the winter blizzard hit Santa Fe (seriously, came through like an hour before it got ugly) and dove right back in to everyday life.